Union organizations in the education sector fear that the deterioration in the state of CEGEPs in Quebec will contribute to an increase in the number of courses offered online. The quality of teaching and the student experience could suffer, they say in Dutywhile CEGEPs assure that this digital shift is not a way to save money.
It is difficult to obtain an accurate picture of the transition to a growing offer of distance learning courses that has been taking place in the province’s CEGEPs for several years. By email, the Ministry of Higher Education states that it does not compile any data for this purpose. Several CEGEPs, among the 26 joined by The dutyhowever, confirmed that the number of courses offered entirely online, for regular or continuing education, has experienced marked growth since 2019.
Thus, at the Cégep de La Pocatière, the number of courses offered only remotely in regular training increased from 4 to 17 between 2019 and today, while it jumped from 19 to 28 courses within the Cégep de l Abitibi-Témiscamingue, which has three campuses in the region. Data provided to Duty by the Cégep Virtual training center, which oversees the online course offerings of 16 partner CEGEPs, indicate that the number of registered students increased from 1,142 in 2019 to 3,346 last year.
“Online training is a fundamental phenomenon that is progressing and will continue to progress. It is, in my opinion, inevitable,” said in an interview the president and CEO of the Fédération des cégeps, Bernard Tremblay, according to whom this shift “goes beyond the convenience linked to the pandemic.” “It’s something that is completely present, which will continue to be present, we have to live with the phenomenon,” he continues. He emphasizes, however, that it is “fundamental” that the increase in the offer of online courses does not take place with the aim of “saving physical spaces” in CEGEPs, which have an important social role. “The place must be stimulating to facilitate academic success. »
However, both the National Federation of Teachers of Quebec (FNEEQ-CSN) and the Federation of College Education (FEC-CSQ) fear that the use of distance learning courses will be seen as a way of reacting to the rapid growth in the college network’s asset maintenance deficit, which now exceeds $700 million. In short, these courses replace those given in obsolete premises that the CEGEPs would not have the means to renovate.
“The easy solution, when there is no more space in CEGEPs and premises are condemned, […] it’s distance learning,” says the vice-president of the FNEEQ-CSN, Yves de Repentigny. Teachers from three CEGEPs joined by The duty are also concerned that the use of online courses will increase their workload in addition to reducing the experience – and motivation – of students.
“Teachers organize themselves to give similar content and for students to learn, but the student experience is less,” also believes the president of the FEC-CSQ, Youri Blanchet. “I understand that we use distance learning when there is an emergency,” he continues, noting that certain CEGEPs sometimes have to renovate part of their infrastructure and thus temporarily close part of their classrooms. “But the important thing is that it is not established in a lasting way,” notes Mr. Blanchet, who also notes that fewer and fewer summer courses are offered in person in certain CEGEPs, due to of the competition offered by online possibilities.
Worried teachers
The Cégep de Bois-de-Boulogne, which has seen its student population grow in recent years, has for its part migrated many of its continuing education courses online in recent years. Their number increased from 14 to 52 between 2019 and today. However, at a time when this CEGEP holds the sad position of the college establishment with the greatest asset maintenance deficit in Quebec, several teachers fear that this digital shift will accelerate and encroach on the current training offered to students.
“This is a big concern for us,” confirms the president of the Teachers’ Union of Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne, Annie Martel. Its members thus voted for a resolution at a union meeting on March 19 to ask the Cégep that distance learning “not be used to compensate for the lack of premises,” we learned. The duty. The document also demands that “teachers are not under any pressure to offer distance learning courses”, indicates Mme Martel. Because this recourse “is not the solution” to the financial challenges of CEGEPs, she insists.
The easy solution, when there is no more space in CEGEPs and premises are condemned, […] This is distance learning.
“We don’t save any money with distance learning. If there is one thing, [ça entraîne] undoubtedly additional costs,” notes the technopedagogy coordinator at Cégep de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Isabelle Lessard, who emphasizes that “each videoconference class costs around $100,000.” Teachers must also be trained so that they can properly do their teaching. The coordinator believes, however, that the use of distance learning courses in certain contexts is essential, in particular to prevent the closure of courses welcoming very few students, a situation faced in particular by the Amos campus.
The Cégep de La Pocatière emphasizes for its part that the demand for online courses is increasing from its students, in particular to facilitate a certain balance with family and professional life. “We want to meet the different needs of the student population,” specifies the establishment, which also indicates that all of its summer courses will be offered online this year. None of them were in 2019.