No 12, November 2022

This thematic issue is a follow-up to the ROC 2021 conference on the theme "Digital Solidarities in Education: An Emerging Culture". From the presentations and exchanges that took place, a shared desire emerged to define the parameters of the "territory of questioning" (Bouchard, 2011) of digital solidarity in the service of learning. The community of researchers and practitioners thus reports on digital solidarity initiatives for teaching and learning in response to the challenges of «pedagogical continuity» as well as the roles of the actors. Beyond the inherent limits of this vast project, the ten contributions to this issue reflect possible fields of action for developing a culture of digital solidarity in education.

The link between research and practice is central to teaching. However, research in second language acquisition is often criticized for lacking clear implications for practice. The link between research and practice is fundamental if we want to optimize the choice of appropriate material in the classroom (Haukås, 2016). This study presents the preliminary results of the first phases of a project to support learners’ needs by focusing on the formative impact of microlearning capsules to support classroom teaching. Microlearning capsules were created to offer a learning activity and exercises with automatic feedback (direct and indirect) in an authentic language learning context (hybrid and distance learning). The capsules' content focused on learners' most frequent challenges (grammatical, lexical and morphological) in writing identified in corpus analysis at the targeted level. The corpus was based on texts written by learners of a third or additional language (Catalan) and microlearning capsules and exercises were offered to a Catalan learning community to support classroom learning. The main results show that the capsules based on learners' challenges are perceived as useful by learners. Also, the ecological approach used contributes to strengthening the link between research and practice by offering teachers of minority languages access to material from research through a community of practice.

This article presents the deployment of a community of inquiry (CoI) using active pedagogy with digital technology. Using Garrison's theoretical model (CoI) (2016), this research-action-training aims to analyze the implementation of the CoI in the context of professional development as well as the usage of digital technologies in teaching practices. The collected data consists of written traces of asynchronous discussions as well as answers to open-ended questions. The analysis of the results showed us that collaboration, flexibility, and modeling examples of digital use helped the professional development of the participants.

This article reports on a questionnaire survey conducted with 51 students enrolled in winter 2021 in four training programs at the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles. A  literature review first describes the needs of learners in a distance learning context, particularly in relation to motivation, distance interactions and digital learning environments. The methodology of the survey is presented. A discussion is then initiated between the data collected and the scientific literature regarding the characteristics of students and their relationships with teachers, school environment and learning styles. Two aspects of digital solidarity in action are highlighted: accessibility to qualifying training and commitment to educational success. In conclusion, the importance of initiatives that promote solidarity, such as support for learners in a digital context, is highlighted.

In addition to allowing easier access to knowledge for all, the development of digital learning environments (DLEs)  presents a new range of pedagogical possibilities. Indeed, the data infrastructures intrinsically linked to Web technologies open up a new field of possibilities. This is the case for the Gerermadouleur.ca online platform, which provides a set of resources dedicated to people suffering chronic pain to help them better manage it. As part of the development of this platform, the team studied the use of these data infrastructures to propose new offers and functionalities to support learning. Following a rapid prototyping methodology, a module for tracking learning paths was developed in collaboration with potential future users. In addition, a system for collecting and observing user interaction data with the platform was set up using the xAPI standard, to improve the functioning of the site and the various resources.

In the wake of the digital transition of the Quebec educational system, educational establishment directors and school administrators  were mandated to plan, enforce and manage the implementation of digital technology. However, the professional practices and management strategies deployed in this context belong to a domain for which few studies in education exist. This article presents some of the results of a study entitled Gestion et leadership pédagonumérique (Gravelle et al., 2021), conducted in collaboration with the Quebec Ministry of Education (MEQ) in the spring of 2021. The first objective of the study was to expand the current knowledge base about the roles, professional practices and management strategies of educational establishment directors and school administrators who have implemented digital technology. The second was to promote the sharing of experiences between practitioners. Based on exchanges held within the context of a community of practice, six fields of action listing various management strategies used by the participants were identified. Based on the sharedexperiences and professional practices, the article questions the notion of digital pedagodigital leadership, which appears to be a driver of innovation at the service of digital integration.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, teachers have had to adapt to different teaching and learning modalities. In a changing context, it seems important to focus on teacher engagement since their engagement could positively influence that of their students (Klassen et al., 2013; Roth et al., 2007). Engagement of individuals in the labour market is studied along three dimensions: absorption, vigour, and dedication (Schaufeli et al., 2006). In a school context, attention is given to the socioaffective dimension of engagement, the energy spent building relationships with students and with colleagues (Klassen et al., 2013). Identifying these dimensions is essential for understanding variation in teacher engagement, especially in the context of adapting teaching and learning due to the unannounced shift to ADF. In semi-structured interviews with faculty members, we focused on their engagement when teaching shifts to distance education. Our results allow us to identify situations or individuals that influence their commitment: successive adjustments, variable techno-pedagogical conditions, unequal support from parents, as well as a feeling of social and pedagogical isolation.

The Serious Game on University Student Digital Competency is an open educational resource to support university students in the development of digital competency, as defined in the Quebec Digital Competency Framework (Cadre de référence de la compétence numérique du Québec, MEES, 2019a). The development of this serious game expresses the commitment of the Université du Québec network with regard to the Digital Action Plan for Education and Higher Education (Plan d’action numérique en éducation et en enseignement supérieur, MEES, 2018). By using the pedagogical strategy of serious games, which is still little used in academia, this project aims to encourage learners to learn via digital technology for a digital world (CSE, 2020). This article presents the thoughtful and documented axes relating to the development of this educational resource likely to arouse motivation, stimulate curiosity and creativity and offer university students innovative learning contexts. Emerging findings and data are presented according to a united working structure, i.e., multisectoral and collaborative, between experts from the Université du Québec network. They are also rooted in the results of a student consultation process to meet the needs of the population targeted by the serious game.

Digital competency development among teachers is an essential issue for ensuring that the potential of digital technology is adequately operationalized in a learning context. To do this, the evaluation of the pedagogical use of digital technologies must adequately account for the state of the situation and then to implement strategies that respond to the needs of different communities. In this vein, this article analyzes the development of a self-assessment tool for pedagogical uses of digital technologies. The tool was developed in collaboration with the community, is based on cognitive processes and levels of conceptual interaction frameworks and uses the Designed-Based Research approach for its methodology.

Open Educational Resources (OER) are seen by UNESCO (2015) as a means to address the growing need for higher education in the world beyond economic inequalities. In Quebec, where specialized French-language educational materials are sometimes scarce, it seems appropriate to focus on pooling resources and inter-institutional solidarity. In this context, the fabriqueREL (OER Factory) was founded in 2019 as an organizational and operational structure stemming from Quebec's digital action plan for education and higher education. The mission of the fabriqueREL is to make OER the preferred teaching medium in higher education in Quebec, notably by accompanying the development of projects for the creation, adaptation, sharing and use of OER, but also by promoting the values that support open source and interprofessional and inter-institutional collaboration. After a few years of activity, the fabriqueREL is already helping Quebec catch up with the English-speaking world in this area. Despite some challenges, several factors support the growth of OER in higher education, including a growing interest in the values associated with OER.

Digital solidarity is both a concept under construction and an emerging culture. What about digital solidarity in education in Quebec in 2022? The two-worlds thesis (Aigrain, 2005) allows us to define the dilemma. On the one hand, large commercial enterprises aim for profit, control markets, and manipulate behaviour. On the other hand, strategies of digital solidarity are being deployed locally: free software, open science, network culture and sharing. In Quebec, many teachers opt for the commercial form. They could be inspired instead by the theory of the commons (Ostrom, 1990) in support of digital schooling.