Rouages: “Supporting teachers in educational and digital transformation”
Savine Volland and Agathe Hubert are educational engineers. Under the responsibility of the Information Systems and Digital Technology Department, they support teachers in transforming their teaching methods and using digital technology. As part of the video series "Rouages"(Cogs), produced by the University of Montpellier, they present their missions, which are true pillars of the modernization of higher education.
In 2015, with the merger of the universities, UM acquired a team of educational engineers. Integrated within the Information and Digital Systems Department (DSIN), there are now six of them supporting teachers in transforming their teaching methods through the use of digital technology. The team is reinforced by other engineers within the UFRs, schools, and institutes. " Our missions can be broken down into two main areas, " explains Savine Volland. " On the one hand, there is the purely educational approach, and on the other, there is the technological dimension."
Make your classes more dynamic
From an educational perspective, digital technology has revolutionized practices and opened up new ways of teaching. Face-to-face classes are now just one of many possible options. "We can transform these classes to make them available remotely. We can imagine hybrid formats where part of the class takes place in a lecture hall and another part remotely, or even offer a class in both formats, which is known as co-modal learning," explains Savine Volland.
But the use of digital tools is not always synonymous with distance learning. On the contrary, new mobile applications now make it possible to energize and make lectures and tutorials more attractive by creating greater interactivity between teachers and students or between students themselves via chats or discussion forums. "At UM, for example, we have a license for Wooclap license that allows students to answer questions or vote on proposals using their cell phones via text message or a browser, take quizzes, interact live with the teacher to ask for additional explanations, and more."
From the teaching scenario to posting on Moodle
Whether it's distance learning or face-to-face classes, educational engineers are there to advise teachers and help them develop a teaching plan. "We work with them to think about their goals and the concepts and messages they want to convey to students. We will also look at the resources they have available, those they would like to create, and with all of this, we will build the course together," continues the engineer. Gamification is also part of the educational engineers' arsenal, with the development of increasingly popular serious games.
Video conferencing, virtual classrooms, exercises, games, branching scenarios based on the digital versionof "Choose Your Own Adventure "books, e-learning modules with Storyline, assistance with writing and structuring content with SCENARIchaine ..."We also have communication tools that make it easier for teachers to contact their students, for example through forum announcements," points out Agathe Hubert. In short, there is a wide range of possibilities that more and more teachers are discovering via the Moodle platform.
"This platform allows them to put their teaching resources online and create assessable activities such as tests and essays," explains the engineer. Today, there are around 2,500 teachers and more than 44,000 students actively using the platform. This trend has only accelerated during lockdown, with educational engineers providing six times more support than during normal periods. However, as Agathe Hubert points out,"we shouldn't embrace digital technology just because it's trendy. Our goal is to provide added value for teachers and students."
Want to try a MOOC?
The educational engineers also assist teachers and university departments, schools, and institutes in designing MOOCs, producing videos and materials, and uploading them to the national Funmooc platform. MOOCs inevitably involve video, which is a new development in the teaching profession and not always easy to master. To help them with this step, educational engineers work closely with the DSIN's audiovisual team. The department also provides all the necessary equipment: "We have a studio with a teleprompter and a green screen for projecting documents. Teachers who wish to do so also have access to self-service recording booths," says Agathe Hubert.
There are two ways to benefit from the support of UM educational engineers: either individually and at a time that suits you through the University's service center, or by responding to the call for projects launched annually by the University to encourage educational transformation.