Digital Education for Student Success
Enhancing in-person classes, adopting hybrid teaching models, and introducing new assessment methods… Since 2016, the University of Montreal has been developing a policy to support digital pedagogy, as evidenced by the organization of training sessions for faculty and the rollout of new tools. All of this is aimed at a single goal: promoting the success of its 50,000 students.
On March 22, more than a hundred people—157 to be exact—gathered to learn and exchange ideas at the PédagoN’UM event organized by UM.“For the first time, participants from other universities joined us to discuss and make progress on these topics,” says Yohann Pottier, head of the Digital Services Department (SUN/DSIN). The focus of this 2022 edition: the assessment of knowledge and skills, featuring a presentation of new tools developed for this purpose, particularly theKaruta e-portfolios currently in the pilot phase at UM. “This tool allows us to assess not only knowledge but also skills, placing real emphasis on what we call students’ practical skills and incorporating a self-assessment approach, ”emphasizes David Cassagne, Vice President for Digital Technology in Education.
FlexiEval for Better Assessment
This initiative builds on the work launched by UM in 2019 as part of the FlexiEval project, which aims to build a digital ecosystem for assessing knowledge and skills; the project’s results, following the completion of its three-year term, have proven to be very positive. Among the successes: the partnership established between the University of Montpellier and Wooclap, an app designed to address two challenges well known to educators: the difficulty of capturing students’ attention and measuring their knowledge. In practice, the app functions as an interactive platform that allows instructors to design quizzes or interactive exercises that students access during class using their smartphones. It is a direct and quick way to automate the assessment of students’ knowledge while actively engaging them in the lesson.
“This type of practice is part of what we call ‘enriched in-person learning,’ explains David Cassagne. Here, digital technology serves as a tool to enhance interactions between professors and students, making the professors’ content more engaging and stimulating the students’ attention. ” More recently, UM was once again selected as a winner in a national call for proposals with its Pair’sEval project. Developed in partnership with the Montpellier-based startup Challenge Me, this project aims to foster collaborative learning and evaluative judgment through a platform dedicated to peer assessment.
Enhanced in-person learning is intended to be a benefit for both students and teachers, some of whom are already engaged in the so-called “flipped classroom” approach, which emphasizes a more interactive and practical way of learning in the classroom. The Moodle platform, which makes courses and/or supplementary content available, is a prime example of this.“The idea is not at all to shift teaching to 100% distance learning, as some may have feared, but rather to take advantage of in-person classes to prioritize interaction with students,” adds Yohann Pottier.
AgilHybrid: Even More Freedom
AgilHybrid’s goal is to avoid a complete shift to fully remote learning while also embracing the benefits of a hybrid in-person/remote model. This other flagship digital education project at UM has been supported since 2020 by the MESRI as part of France Relance, as well as by Muse and the Occitanie Region, for a total funding of 2.3 million euros.“71 classrooms are now equipped to deliver co-modal instruction, allowing students to choose between in-person or remote learning,” explains David Cassagne. “In addition, 125 courses are currently being adapted to a hybrid model incorporating asynchronous remote learning.”
The so-called“asynchronous”learning format consists of online modules that learners can access at their own convenience. Audio files, videos, multiple-choice quizzes, interactive content, and more are all educational resources that students can access freely and at their own pace.“One of the advantages of asynchronous learning is that it also allows for a greater diversity of participants—including working students, students pursuing dual degrees, those in continuing education, and international students—since this content can be more easily adapted for an international audience. Here again, digital pedagogy is a powerful tool for student success,” continues the vice president.
29 courses offered
A message that is increasingly being heard within the teaching community, whose members no longer hesitate to embark on this new adventure thanks to the numerous training programs offered by SUN/DSIN and the support provided by instructional designers (video Rouage: Supporting Teachers in Educational and Digital Transformation). Course design, gamification, student interactions, and new assessment methods—“29 training sessions were offered this year to faculty members at the University of Montpellier and the National School of Chemistry of Montpellier (ENSCM), Institut Agro, and CIHEAM IAMM, 19 of which are open to students throughout France as part of AgilHybrid,” says Yohann Pottier. This program has continued to grow in popularity over the past two years. In 2022, more than 300 students at the UM benefited from these courses.