DARIUS SHAHHEYDARI
PONTIAC April 15, 2020
Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced on March 22 that daycares, elementary, high schools and CEGEPs will remain closed through to May 1st in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID 19.
This announcement has now paved the way for a couple of online learning platforms, such as Western Quebec School Board (WQSB) and the Open Schools websites, to provide new virtual learning resources for students, who are encouraged to continue to chisel away at their academics from home.
Open Schools, ecoleouverte.ca, brings together several other educational websites into one platform with the intention of providing parents with tools for tutoring their kids. It is tailored for pupils in the french education system and includes links to a range of learning devices, from TED Talk videos to games where users can learn English.
Its Western Quebec School Board counterpart is the website westernquebec.ca.It has started to provide a new learning resource for students in response to the shutdown of schools as well, called “Backpack: Learning from home”
This resource features the Western Quebec Virtual Library, which encompases various tabs, such as e-books, research links and Alloprof – a feature which permits students to get in contact with their teachers from wherever.
“As time passes, more resources will be added for different learners, for students with special needs” said the WQSB’s Director General Mike Dubeau.
According to Dubeau, Quebec’s Ministry of Education also declared there will be no new curriculum being taught to students for the remainder of this school year. Dubeau said one of the reasons is that not every student is going to have access to the technology required for this.
The Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, also announced there will be no ministry exams applicable for grade 6 and grade 11 students this year. Teachers are, however, going to consolidate what has already been taught through the online platforms.
Students will only be assessed based on their accumulated mark prior to the shutting down of the schools.
“If we come back in May, and that’s a big if, we still have May and part of June for teachers to finish up their evaluations,” said Dubeau. “There are still a lot of evaluations to be done,”
Given the scenario of schools opening up again in May, the curriculum will be tinkered with so that the material, which was initially laid out to be taught over three or so months could be taught in a month.
A second scenario would be that the schools remain closed through to September.
The WQSB is awaiting directions from the ministry of education to see what they would be doing in this case, with the only information received so far being that teachers will use their professional judgement as to how they would want to evaluate students – this being taken through a case-by-case basis.
Graduation ceremonies will be a school-based decision as to when and how they will be taking place.
“Personally, I believe students have worked a long time to get to the point when they are going to graduate, so if we cannot have the graduation by the end of June, I’m sure schools will organize a graduation when it is safe to do so,” said Dubeau.
The commission scolaire des Hauts-Bois de l’Outaouais (CSHBO) also provides a resource website, cshbo.qc.ca, with a link to the ecoleouverte.ca site
France Lagarde, an educational resource director of CSHBO, said the content put out by the province’s ministry of education is well adapted for the students, but is unfortunately only available online. This poses a problem for students who do not have access to the internet.
In order to solve this issue, Lagarde, along with four other helpers, is putting together booklets which contain optional french and math activities and mailing them out to every CSHBO student.
For preschool and elementary school students, packages include colouring sections and cutouts which can be reused in different activities as well as printed books for the students who have just learned how to read
High school students will also be provided suggestions for fun activities to maintain learned concepts, along with a couple of practicing exercises for the older ones who will be attending college next year.
Furthermore, all teachers who have internet access have given personalized activities to their group and reached out to them using different social media tools to give students the opportunity to maintain their academic knowledge – or just to be able to have social contact.
“For a lot of these kids, school is the only thing they had. Socializing is so important, it is part of the process of growing up, of becoming an adult. They have been cut off from that,” said Lagarde.
Bouffe Pontiac, a charity organization in Campbell’s Bay, collaborates with CSHBO to provide meals to students from families in need.
CSHBO also has special education technicians contact every student to check in and see how they are coping with the new restrictions.
“We can afford the time because we are such a small school board, in numbers,” said Lagarde. “If we know that there is a family where either the parents are going through a tough time or the child is going through a tough time, there is an immediate line of communication.”
This process will continue on a weekly basis until further information about the reopening of schools is revealed.
Cameron Rowat is a graduating student of the province this year. He said he is planning on using the online school portal, but is unsure how to use it since he hasd not received any emails when contacted on April 5.
Studying from home has been more difficult for Rowat since communication with teachers poses new barriers.
“You could email them but it’s a lot less efficient than actually talking,” said Rowat.
Rowat is also feeling the uncertainty of the situation passed down from the level of officials
“I’m in physics, advanced math and chemistry, so I don’t know what’s going on with those ones,” he said. “They are still kind of in the dark.”
