An Unusual Back to School for 40 students enrolled in the new CARRIERE program

Press release
Embargo until tusday P.M.
Québec City, September 2nd, 2003 — It was back to school today at the Institut St-Joseph, a highly-regarded private educational institution in Québec City. For 40 students at the Institut, this return to school was eagerly awaited, as it also marked the beginning of a new study program that revolves entirely around cyber-education. Happily installed in front of their personal laptop computers, the students enthusiastically embarked on their first day of the CARRIERE (CAREER) program.
An innovative program
««CARRIERE, (Communauté d’Apprentissage Reliée en Réseau de l’Institut St-Joseph En Recherche d’Excellence), is the name of our new study program, which primarily involves more active participation by the children in the learning process, as well as greater utilization of new technology and concrete experience,² indicated Mr. Mario Asselin, Principal of the Institut St-Joseph. ³With 40 students, 22 of whom are in grade 5 and 18 in grade 6, the Institut couldn’t wish for a better context to launch the program,² added Mr.Asselin.
Accompanied daily by four full-time teachers who share a network culture and a keen interest in cyber-education, the children will explore our ever-changing world. With an emphasis on intellectual excellence, the students will, among other things, be asked to work on engaging projects both independently and as part of a team but always within a network. A weblog will be placed at the disposal of each student. The teachers will be relieved of one part of their regular duties with the students to concentrate on improving the tool as the school year progresses!
The weblog, a visionary tool to facilitate learning
The weblog is basically three publication spaces belonging to each student who will learn to fully control their appearance, content and organisation. One space is private, accessible by the child’s parents and teachers, another is open to students in his group, while the third will be entirely public! A file-management system will allow students to select, save and classify items, use them for presentations, share their content with classmates, and record their thoughts on integrating learning. The weblog will contain all work carried out by the student throughout the school year, at every stage of development and serve as an evaluation tool for the teacher.
Passionate, committed students
The first group of students in the CARRIERE program is comprised of computer enthusiasts (like most young people today), who demonstrate an ability to work independently and an open-minded spirit. They are endowed with a sense of responsibility and a curious nature (aptitudes for team work), enjoy thinking things through, games of logic and are highly creative. As this learning program requires a sustained commitment by the students, they were selected on the basis of their learning style rather than their intellectual capacity.
Cutting-edge technology
Implementing this type of program requires a wireless network (« Airport » from Apple) for all Internet connections, as well as link-ups between the computers of the students and teachers (iBook from Apple), development of high-performance mechanisms associated with the digital portfolio (in collaboration with iXmédia), and especially, drafting a Code of Ethics. ³We had to establish a Code of Ethics (french) for the students in order to exert a certain degree of control over the content disseminated and to maintain a high level of quality, especially with respect to chat type discussions and web publications. At this point, the code can be considered as a precedent in the context of school digital publication, as to the best of my knowledge, it is the first of its kind,² emphasised Mr. Asselin.
Invaluable partners
It goes without saying that launching the CARRIERE program requires a commitment from several partners. Thus, the Institut St-Joseph would like to extend their thanks to the Board of Directors (Governing Board), the Institut St-Joseph Foundation, the religious communities and Université Laval for their support. From a technological perspective, the program would not exist without the close collaboration of Apple Canada, Microsoft Canada, iXmédia and ICEM. The CARRIERE program was also made possible through the financial support of RESCOL, Industry Canada and private donations from Friends of the Institut !
Moreover, this elementary school is pleased to count on Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier to develop an extension of the CARRIERE program at the high school level. Beginning in September 2004, Collège Saint-Charles-Garnier will open its doors to the first graduating students of the CARRIERE program at the Institut St-Joseph, who will be able to pursue their cyber-education based studies.
Recently-recognised by RESCOL Canada’s SchoolNet’s Network of Innovative Schools and a member of the MEQ network of targeted schools for four years, the Institut St-Joseph is continuing its mission based on learning approaches that place a greater emphasis on making students responsible for their own learning and for community commitment. ³By positioning ourselves in terms of applying information technology to education, we can say that the Institut is greatly contributing to the advancement of the modern knowledge economy,² concluded Mr.Asselin.
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Source: For further details contact:
HT Communication
Helène Turcotte
Tel.: (418) 694-6268
Institut St-Joseph
Mario Asselin, Principal
Tel.: (418) 527-1072

Tags: "Some posts with English content" Pédagogie et nouvelles technologies