This text is part of the special section Higher Education
Higher education in the region has had the wind in its sails since the start of the pandemic. Here are some measures that have been taken to ensure an optimal university experience for students who choose to settle in the regions.
Train managers in teleworking
In the past two years, the workplace has been completely disrupted and had to reinvent itself. Faced with this new era of digital work, the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC) has set up continuing education in teleworking. The training is available in nine capsules available online since October 21.
The webinars revolve around themes such as the modalities of telework, the characteristics of telework or even health, safety and well-being in telework.
“Since the start of the pandemic, teleworking has been a new reality for many organizations and companies. This training was designed with regard to the needs expressed by the community to better meet expectations. UQAC is very proud to be able to offer accessible and personalized university-level training,” says Réal Daigneault, Acting Vice-Rector for Partnerships, International and Indigenous Affairs at UQAC.
To access the training free of charge, interested persons must register by completing the online form.
When the game gets serious
In order to provide future students with a mastery of new technologies, but also to train future workers in Industry 4.0, several departments of the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières (UQTR) have joined forces to create a new kind of teaching: the serious game.
Professors Pascal Forget (Department of Industrial Engineering), Jean-François Audy (Department of Management), Marc-André Gaudreau (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and Audrey Groleau (Department of Educational Sciences) as well as research professional Jonathan Lapalme from the National Integrated Center for Intelligent Manufacturing (CNIMI) and two undergraduate students in industrial engineering form the multidisciplinary team behind this project, which greatly modernizes teaching in the manufacturing sector.
The game, which will be done as a team, will place the participants in a manufacturing context. Each student will be given a leadership or production responsibility, such as painting, assembly, and shipping, with specific goals. The teams will then receive orders and must, in a fictitious way, create the requested outputs.
Pascal Forget, director of the project’s creation team, explains the educational aspect of the game: “At certain times in the game, we will deliberately introduce disturbances into the course of operations. In a manufacturing context, these complications lead in particular to bottlenecks. They can occur, for example, when workstations operate more slowly than others, which affects production. After a few games, students will find that the use of Industry 4.0 technologies allows them to better coordinate their efforts, make more informed decisions and improve their productivity. »
According to him, it is crucial to make traditional learning more fun and accessible for those who attend the course. While serious gaming already has a high profile among children, its benefits would be just as viable among young adults and adults. However, this strategy is too little discussed when we talk about the university course.
“By using the game approach, we want students to take more pleasure in learning and better retain the concepts taught. For a game to be entertaining, it is necessary in particular to give the participant a stimulating mission, to reward him quickly for his progress and to offer him a level of difficulty that is neither too easy nor too difficult”, explains Pascal Forget.
For him, creating a game is not a new affair. In 2012, the professor created an apocalyptic game for undergraduate students in industrial engineering.
“The goal of this serious game is to place learners in a Third World War situation, with quick decision-making stakes. I called on a director, a graphic designer and actors to create this game, which notably includes video clips,” reports the professor.
The game designed ten years ago by Mr. Forget is still very popular with students. It is this initiative that has strongly encouraged the current multidisciplinary team to embark on the creation of a brand new game on industry 4.0.
A new preclinical teaching pavilion at the Rimouski regional hospital
Decisive turning point for medical students: a stage in the construction of a new preclinical teaching pavilion at the Rimouski regional hospital has just been completed since the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, carried out the first sod of the ground on November 4th.
Christian Dubé and Caroline Proulx, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for Bas-Saint-Laurent, made the start of work official. Joining them were the vice-rector for external and international affairs and health at Université Laval, Rénald Bergeron, the rector of the Université du Québec à Rimouski, François Deschênes, as well as two members of the management of the CISSS du Bas-Saint-Laurent and Chaudière-Appalaches.
This new pavilion will help increase admissions to the Université Laval medical program as well as the admission of people from the regions. As of fall 2022, 18 students will be able to be welcomed each year in Rimouski.
This project is part of a process aimed at relocating the doctorate in medicine to new premises, either in the city of Lévis and in the city of Rimouski, in order to deal with the issues of accessibility and quality of services related to medical practice in the region.