First major partnership between Cégep@distance and an Anglophone CEGEP

Techno-pedagogy and distance education:
Champlain Regional College and Cégep@distance
join forces for three years

From left to right: Ryan W. Moon, Project Manager (Cégep@distance), Mark Wallace, Director of Continuing Education, and Kenneth Robertson, Director General (Champlain Regional College), Patricia Hanigan, Director General (Collège de Rosemont), Don Shewan, Campus Director of the Saint-Lambert campus (Champlain Regional College), Suzane Cormier, Development and Partnership Coordinator, and Viet Pham, Director (Cégep@distance), at the Saint-Lambert campus.

Montréal, July 5, 2012 – On June 11th, a three-year partnership agreement was signed between Champlain Regional College and Cégep@distance. The first three projects that the two institutions will tackle together include the creation and use of tools and teaching materials for the Applied Business Management program, real-time online instruction for Introduction to College English, and the joint development of tools for Recognition of Acquired Competencies (RAC) and gap training.

The Champlain Regional College Board of Governors recently decided to turn to external resources to develop its distance education options. “Following the board’s decision, we approached Cégep@distance for its expertise in techno-pedagogy and distance education. Our discussions were fruitful and resulted in this agreement,” explained Kenneth Robertson, Director General of Champlain Regional College. He made a point of praising the contribution of Christian Corno, the outgoing Academic Dean of Champlain Regional College towards the negotiation of this agreement.

Patricia Hanigan, Director General of the Collège de Rosemont, is also pleased with the partnership. “In 2005, Cégep@distance received a mandate from the Ministère de l’Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport to meet the distance-education needs of the English-speaking community. A partnership like this is a real win-win approach that provides Cégep@distance with an opportunity to strengthen its offering for the English community by meeting the needs of the students and faculty at Champlain Regional College,” she added.

It is no surprise that the first major Cégep@distance partnership with an Anglophone CEGEP is with Champlain Regional College, because the two institutions have always had a good relationship. “Champlain Regional College has never hesitated to send us visiting students, and we really appreciate its vote of confidence in the quality of our courses and services. I am very pleased that Cégep@distance is going to venture out into new methods of course distribution with Champlain College, because this is the path that Cégep@distance really wants to explore,” concluded Viet Pham, Director of Cégep@distance.

The box below provides an overview of the first cooperative projects between the two institutions.

• Cooperation on an accelerated bridge program for a DEP/AEC in Accounting and Management
Cégep@distance will develop techno-pedagogical tools for the diploma of professional studies (DEP) in Starting a business and for the attestation of college studies (AEC) in Applied Management, in partnership with Champlain Regional College and two school boards. While some of the tools will encourage online cooperation among students, others will allow them to review key notions outside of the classroom. We are also planning a hybrid course that uses self-supporting learning materials from Cégep@distance in combination with in-class teaching at Champlain Regional College.

• Cooperation for Introduction to College English
Real-time online teaching for Introduction to College English course will be offered this summer by Cégep@distance to students from the Saint-Lambert satellite campus in Huntingdon, in partnership with Heritage College in the Outaouais. This is the first mandatory English course for the diploma of college studies (DEC) program, and a pre-requisite for the next three English courses. Students will be able to continue their education at their home college in the fall.

• Cooperation for the development of RAC tools and gap training
Champlain Regional College, which has offered a well-received RAC service for the past few years, will take advantage of Cégep@distance’s techno-pedagogical expertise to enhance its tools and acquire support in the development of gap training modules for various programs.

Cégep@distance offers the Anglophone community a selection of mandatory general education and complementary courses required to earn a diploma of college studies (DEC), as well as university pre-requisites, Social Sciences courses, and a special prep course entitled Preparing for the English Exit Exam. Cégep@distance also offers personalized learning support, supervision and educational monitoring to each of its students. For more information, please visit cegepadistance.ca/en

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Information
Jean-François Lapierre
Communications Advisor
514 864-6464, ext. 4733
jflapierre@cegepadistance.ca