Stéphane Allaire

Partnerships for Knowledge Building: An Emerging Model

Knowledge Building is approached in this study from an organizational perspective, with a focus on the nature of school-university-government partnerships to support research-based educational innovation. The paper starts with an overview of what is known about effective partnerships and elaborates a conceptual framework for Knowledge Building partnerships based on a review of literature and two case studies of school-university-government partnerships. In one case, a Ministry of Education wanted to bring more vitality into schools of small remote villages, and in the other case another Ministry of Education wanted to renew its school-based international cooperation profile. Emerging from this work is a three-component model for going to scale with Knowledge Building partnerships: Knowledge Building as a shared vision; symmetric knowledge advancement; and multi-level, research-based innovation. Characteristics of, and conditions for, effective partnerships for Knowledge Building are elaborated, and an emerging model is developed to help communities establish effective partnerships and contribute to this evolving model.

The Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP): Scaling Up Professional Development Using Collaborative Technology

Classroom-based knowledge building requires advanced pedagogies and collaborative technologies. It qualifies as disruptive innovation: progressively more impressive accounts of what students and teachers can accomplish alter beliefs regarding developmental, demographic, and cultural barriers. To establish knowledge-building communities requires effort from within as well as from outside the classroom. The Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP) has been rooted in school-university-government (SUNG) partnerships, along with their locally based networks of innovation. The chapter starts with a conceptualization of professional development in the digital era, and the main constituents of the Remote Networked School (RNS) initiative are presented. Next, a description of the SUNG partnerships follows. Emphasis is on agency, as it was observed in the RNS and in the SUNG dynamics of partnerships for classroom-based knowledge building: knowledge building as a shared vision, symmetric knowledge advancement, and multilevel, research-based innovation. Following is a descriptive analysis of the Knowledge Building International Project (KBIP 2007–2014) using Engestrom’s (1987) third-generation activity theory framework (Engestrom and Sannino 2010). Referring to Engestrom’s expansive learning cycle (1987), further analysis is provided regarding the overcoming of double binds for KBIP expansion as an activity.

Synthèse critique des connaissances sur l'écriture électronique à l'aide du blogue au primaire et au secondaire

This article offers a critical synthesis of the knowledge obtained in the wake of the work of the Comite d’experts sur l’apprentissage de l’ecriture (Committee of experts on learning to write), which published a report entitled, « Mieux soutenir le developpement de la competence a ecrire » (Better Support for the Development of Writing Skills) in January 2008. The synthesis focused on scientific texts that deal with the practice of electronic blog writing in elementary and high school classrooms. The period covered extends from January 2004 to May 2010. Results indicate that a blog’s contexts of use can favour students’ motivation to write, add authenticity to the writing process, and lead students to produce numerous texts. The qualitative aspect of these texts, however, has been little discussed until now. In light of the compiled texts, conceptual and methodological considerations are also proposed as potential avenues for future research.

Patterns d’interactions écrites asynchrones entre des classes branchées en réseau

Resume : L’etude s’inscrit dans le contexte de l’initiative quebecoise de l’Ecole eloignee en reseau (l’EER) visant a enrichir la qualite de l’environnement d’apprentissage des petites ecoles rurales. L’etude s’interesse de facon specifique aux interactions asynchrones qui surviennent entre des classes distantes geographiquement par le biais d’un forum electronique de coelaboration de connaissances (le Knowledge Forum®). Nous nous sommes penches sur le cas specifique d’une commission scolaire en documentant la facon dont les interactions qui ont eu lieu entre les eleves de ses ecoles impliquees dans l’initiative se sont orchestrees sur une periode de deux annees scolaires. Pour ce faire, nous avons principalement utilise des analyses quantitatives descriptives. Les resultats demontrent la viabilite du modele de mise en reseau pour faire interagir des eleves de classes differentes de sorte qu’ils puissent beneficier d’un plus large bassin d’idees. Ils revelent aussi que la collaboration en reseau s’organise autour de differents niveaux de complexite et que cette derniere varie selon les temps de l’annee scolaire. Abstract :This study was conducted in the context of the Remote Networked Schools (RNS) initiative that aims at enriching Quebec’s rural schools learning environment. Specifically, the researchers studied how geographically distant classrooms interacted on Knowledge Forum®, a web-based collaborative space. The particular case of a school board was studied by documenting how school learners interacted asynchronously over a two year period. Descriptive quantitative analyses were applied. Results show the viability of the RNS model for student to student interaction in a way as to increase the idea pool. Results also reveal that network collaboration self-organizes at different levels of complexity, ones that vary according to the school-year schedule.

Implementing Interprofessional and Citizenship Education in a Regional University: Carving Paths, Crossing Boundaries in Complex Adaptive Systems

Barr (2007) and Carpenter and Dickinson (2008) have argued that context helps define the content and strategies required to design, implement and evaluate interprofessional education (IPE). Two aspects of context—strategic and theoretical—define the ongoing initiative we present in this chapter. On a strategic level, this project is at the confluence of two opportunities at Universite du Quebec a Chicoutimi (UQAC): a relentless drive by the university’s senior leaders to integrate interdisciplinary practice in teaching and research, and their firm commitment to strengthen the links between the university and its surrounding community (UQAC, 2013). Like other universities in North America, UQAC faces the challenge, amid shrinking financial resources, of readying its students in the health professions for the increasing complexity of chronic care, an ageing population, and the higher digital connectivity and rapid transportation of people, goods and services (Fraser & Greenhalgh, 2001; Soubhi, 2007). Although the financial environment has placed discouraging challenges on several professional programmes, by combining resources and aligning visions, partnerships between university departments and between the university and community organisations can help resolve some of these challenges. The present initiative seeks to leverage the strength of these joint alliances by adopting Interprofessional and Citizenship Education (IPECE) as an organising principle to prepare graduates in the health professions for collaborative practice and civic engagement, two essential skills sets in a rapidly changing and complex health care environment (Committee on Quality of Health Care in America—Institute of Medicine, 2001).

Elementary students’ affective variables in a networked learning environment supported by a blog: a case study / Variables affectives des élèves du primaire dans un contexte d'apprentissage en réseau soutenu par un blogue: une étude de cas

This study documents to what extent writing on a blog in a networked learning environment could influence the affective variables of elementary-school students’ writing. We grounded our framework more specifically in theory of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985), relationship to writing (Chartrand & Prince, 2009) and the transactional theory of Rosenblatt (1991). Our research team used both pre and post-tests to measure affective variables and we conducted the analysis on the basis of inferential and correlational statistics using SPSS 17®. We also used qualitative analysis to identify writing intents and topics of blog posts. Results indicate, in particular, an increase in motivation to write in pupils who used the blog, whereas the number of comments made per post did not seem to have any definitive impact on this subject.

Soutenir le cheminement de stage d’apprentis enseignants au secondaire par un environnement d’apprentissage hybride / Supporting the advancement of student-teachers in their practica with the use of a hybrid learning environment

Resume : Dans un contexte de pratiques educatives en renouvellement, la recherche participative etudie l’apport d’un environnement d’apprentissage hybride pour l’analyse reflexive de stagiaires en enseignement secondaire. Des analyses qualitatives et quantitatives descriptives illustrent le potentiel des dispositifs mis en place pour soutenir l’integration a un contexte de stage innovateur, une reflexivite diversifiee et la coelaboration de connaissances. Abstract : In the context of evolving educational practices, participatory research is used to study the contribution of a hybrid learning environment when used by student teachers in secondary teaching for reflective analysis. Both quantitative analysis and qualitative descriptives illustrate the potential of the devices and strategies used to support the student teachers in their integration into an innovative practicum context, a diversified reflective practice and knowledge building.