No 4, December 2020

The development of distance learning is a complex instructional engineering task involving new pedagogical, technological and organizational challenges. Work practices are gradually developing in this field but are still not well established in many settings engaged in it. Is this work context likely to foster the emergence of conflicts within work teams? We sought to answer this question by conducting an online survey that has been completed by 80 professionals who have participated in online distance learning design projects in various settings. The results reveal that conflict situations are indeed observed and shed light on their frequency, the objects they have focused on, and their observed effects. If poorly managed, these conflict situations are likely to compromise the quality of distance learning.

The study aims to understand the formative potential of 360° video in teacher education, used to support professional intervention in Physical Education (Éducation Physique or EP). It focuses on analysising a student's viewing activity of a classroom video sequence in EP and aims to describe the student's experience. The results show that the use of 360° video is accompanied by the construction of new intervention knowledges and immersive experiences close to those experienced in real classroom situations, in which the student would engage in a co-intervention activity with the teacher being viewed. They reveal a formative valence of using such digital resources, which remains to be deepened with the study of other cases.

Few sociological surveys have analyzed the influence of the « disciplinary matrix » (Lahire, 1998) in the structuring and differentiation of students' practices. Nevertheless, the disciplinary matrix is decisive as it is a force of socialization that structures the studying methods. According to the discipline (e.g. course notes, photocopies, press articles, books), these surveys specifically highlight a differentiated use of educational resources. This is not without interest: focusing our attention on the conditions of appropriation of educational resources takes on particular significance. We know that ultimately the conditions of appropriation of disciplinary knowledge are at stake, a determining factor in completing university courses. However, these surveys have been carried out at times when what is commonly known today as the "digital media," and particularly "educational digital media", were, if not developed at all, at least under-developed, especially at university. What then is the influence of digital media on these matrix logics? Would they be outdated, thanks to digital media? The article implicitly questions the logics through which digital devices and contents are considered at university: would an offer eluding an analysis of the differentiation principles internal to the university be bound to limited impact?

The growing emergence of technology is no longer a surprise to anyone. Over the past few years, researchers have advanced several hypotheses and presented many results on the benefits of using educational technologies on learning (Bulfin, Johnson & Bigum, 2015). Several studies have focused on the impact and effective use of different educational technologies in all subjects in school. Nevertheless, physical education seems to be the black sheep. As a result, the sport seems to be a neglected area compared to other learning areas (Casey, Goodyear & Armor, 2016). However, just like learners, athletes could also benefit from using educational technologies to develop their athleticism. This work seeks to understand how educational technologies can contribute to athleticism by trying to answer the following question: How can gamification, immersive virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) contribute to the development of athleticism? In order to answer this question, a literature review was conducted to explain how gamification, immersive VR and AI can develop athleticism. Following the latter's analysis, the development of a theoretical framework based on theories applied to the sporting context is presented to propose the development of athletic qualities uniting three innovative technologies of the 21^st century and two sports theories.

The MOOCs’ offer is characterized today by a diversity of developing models in all education areas (e.g. schools, companies, higher education). This article focuses on one of these models recently introduced in university settings: the MOOC integrated into a graduate course. Based on an analysis of students' experiences, we seek to understand both their motivation and their use of pedagogical resources and communication tools (synchronous and asynchronous) at their disposal. In this particular context, results show that successful students differ in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and their use of live videos. Some areas for improvement are suggested to optimize the integration of a hybrid MOOC in the academic curriculum.

The Classe du futur project aims to rethink classroom design in teacher training. This project is in line with the desire to offer flexible learning environments in university settings while preparing teachers for 21st-century challenges. In a concerted effort, design and education sciences students proposed a classroom planning design of existing space on the university's campus (UQAM). The result of those efforts is presented in this article. It also offers an occasion to reflect on the value of interdisciplinary research projects and classroom characteristics that enable active learning in university settings.

With this article, we enrich the debate on what is meant by "quality" in distance education, based on the assumption that there is no unanimous and easily controllable conception of quality. To this end, we conducted a survey of 12 actors in a distance university who play different roles in course design, media coverage and dissemination, student supervision and evaluation, and finally, academic coordination and management. Our results show that each actor's definition of quality depends mainly on their role in distance education, but that certain conceptions are nevertheless shared.

John Durham Peters, professor of English and of Film and Media Studies at Yale University, is known for his work on the history of media and communication. His first book, Speaking into the air: A history of the idea of communication, gained worldwide fame thanks to its transdisciplinary outlook on humanity’s thirst for communion, which it finds not in cables and signals, but in its very human condition. In The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media, he invites readers to expand their understanding of media beyond mass media. François Cooren, professor at Université de Montréal’s Department of communication, invited John Durham Peters to give a presentation for the department’s 40th anniversary and took the occasion to discuss with him about his conception of communication. The two men exchange their views, among others, on the need to get past the separation between an apparently immaterial realm of communication and the material world it would merely represent. Benjamin Peters, assistant professor at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, joins them and shares his interest in how digital media intersects with regimes of space, time, and power.

Georges-Louis Baron is Professor Emeritus in Educational Sciences at the University of Paris and Christian Depover is Professor at the University of Mons. In the book published in July 2019, of which they are the coordinators, they deal with digital technology's effects on education. The wealth of references they use shows how this topical issue is only a continuation of what researchers, practitioners, and even prescribers have been asking themselves for many years. Among the many strengths of this book we note that it is part of an academic tradition that seeks above all to present a distant vision of the effects of digital technology on education. The quality of this work also lies in the analyses of the diversities that are put forward. This book is to be recommended to learn about the real effects of digital technology on education and training.