The Université de Sherbrooke is one of the largest French-speaking educational and research institutions in North America. People-centred, welcoming, and inclusive, UdeS with its high value-added technology and innovative services, partnerships and entrepreneurship, contribute to making it one of the most appreciated universities in Canada by its students. UdeS has set itself apart by its educational approaches that reinvent teaching practices to better support student learning, and by their relevant themes that drive forward their research units. The institution provides research and student communities with methods for each individual to achieve their highest potential. Its partnerships allow them to work on innovations that are well anchored to the reality.
The Université de Sherbrooke, located in one of the most dynamic university cities in the region, offers its students the opportunity to benefit from an academic education that is recognized and valued around the world. There are approximately 7,200 employees at the Université de Sherbrooke. It is host to more than 31,700 students and another 6,000 who are registered at the University of the Third Age. Currently over 2,600 students from over 100 countries and territories throughout the world attend the UdeS.
The institution’s goal is to accelerate the development of research by providing its community with the means to solve complex problems requiring multidisciplinary approaches, and having a significant impact on society. The Université de Sherbrooke has the highest increase in its research activities in Canada over the last 10 years.
The Université de Sherbrooke also ranks among the world’s top 10 universities in sustainable development with the international STARS Platinum certification. Through the implementation of its teaching and research mission, its ambitious cultural policy and its deep and multifaceted involvement with numerous partners from all walks of life, it contributes to the social, cultural and economic development of the communities that it serves.
For more information, please visit the Université de Sherbrooke website: www.usherbrooke.ca
- About Université de Sherbrooke: About Université de Sherbrooke – Université de Sherbrooke (usherbrooke.ca)
- À propos du milieu de travail et de vie : Milieu de travail et de vie – Emplois – Université de Sherbrooke (usherbrooke.ca)
- Live in Sherbrooke – Quality of life: Living — Sherbrooke Innopole (sherbrooke-innopole.com)
At UdeS, equity, diversity and inclusion are not just policy. Beyond numbers, the university is firmly committed to making them core values in research, applied at every level of decision-making.
The Université de Sherbrooke values diversity, equity, equality and inclusion in employment within its community and invites all qualified individuals to apply, particularly women, members of visible and ethnic minorities, Indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities in compliance with the Quebec Act respecting equal access to employment in public bodies. The screening and assessment tools can be adapted according to the needs of persons with disabilities who request them, and this, in complete confidentiality. The Université de Sherbrooke also encourages people of all sexual orientations and gender identities to apply. Priority will be given to Canadians and permanent residents. Learn more about equity, diversity and inclusion at UdeS.
Strategic Research Chair in Technology Enhanced Learning at the Université de Sherbrooke
The Management Team at Université de Sherbrooke is in the process of setting up a Strategic Research Chair in Technology Enhanced Learning, and wishes to recruit a world-class professor to develop research in Technology Enhanced Learning, a theme that is part of their Strategic Plan for 2022‑2025.
This highly regarded professor will help recruit additional early and mid-career professors, and train students in a higher education setting. This person will take the lead of major strategic grants by developing an interfaculty vision and collaborating with other leading institutions in the field. The Chair and its team will have the mission to raise the profile of the institution and contribute to making it a recognized leader in the field of Technology Enhanced Learning.
Université de Sherbrooke Precursor with its innovative approach in education
UdeS stands out for its educational innovations and for the practical nature of its programs of study, which rely heavily on active-learning and inclusive approaches to support student success. Université de Sherbrooke has been the first university to incorporate Alternating Study and paid Internships (co-op system) into its programs over 50 years ago. Thanks to inter-faculty collaborations (involving the Faculty of Education), it has implemented project-based and problem-based learning in the Doctor of Medicine program since 1985, and then in programs from the Faculty of Engineering.
Its curricula are designed to promote the development of collaboration, engagement, reflexivity, digital literacy, as well as eco-citizenship, with its education based on small groups, and on a multitude of professional approaches and situations, including flipped classrooms, authentic simulation activities, case studies, clinics, assignment completion, entrepreneurial initiatives, teaching labs and outdoor education.
The Université de Sherbrooke wants to be a leader in Technology Enhanced Learning in the field of Research in Higher Education
Research on technology enhanced learning has already taken several forms in our university context, including: 1. A growing selection of Online/Distance education facilitated by different technology enhanced learning environments; 2. A supervision of internships at a distance (by remote video monitoring); 3. The use of the digital portfolio in many programs; 4. A digital educational support for the teaching staff; 5. The use of virtual patients in medical practice training; etc.
Technology Enhanced Learning is a rapidly evolving field. Advances in virtual reality and other digital media, the emergence of the Metaverse, as well as the new possibilities offered by artificial intelligence and big data, for example, have the potential to transform education in a university context and thus optimize the training of learners. That being said, the promising educational practices using such digital technologies in a university context have yet to be established. In what context will these technologies be beneficial to learners? What are their strategic uses? What are the limitations associated with these approaches? These are very active areas of research.
Research chairs foster research and innovation in cutting-edge fields. They enable their chairholders to reach new heights in terms of knowledge advancement in their fields of specialty.
This Strategic Research Chair project focuses on the use of digital technologies to improve teaching and learning in a university setting.
It is with this perspective that we want to:
- Promote learner-centered learning by improving the basic processes of learning (motivation, engagement, reflection, socialization, building knowledge and skills, assessment of learning, etc.);
- Accelerate the implementation of project-based and practice-based education by creating real learning environments, supported/enhanced by digital technologies, and that also approximate real practice;
- Support lifelong learning by providing continuing education opportunities that can adapt to fast-evolving practice contexts.
In short, the objective of the Chairholder of the Research Chair in Technology Enhanced Learning will be to support the development and design of innovative teaching/learning approaches and methodologies integrating the use of digital technologies, to deepen teaching/learning experiences and to evaluate the associated benefits and limitations, to transfer the best practices to different disciplines and educational contexts in higher education.
Conditions
This Chair will initially receive an allocation of $1.5M from the University Leadership Priorities Fund, which will be matched by a faculty contribution. Of this $1.5M allocation, $1.25M will be used to build the base capitalization of the Chair, generating predictable revenues of $50K per year over the long term. This base capitalization can be maximized to reach a total capitalization goal of $2.5M to $5M per Chair in the fundraising campaign. In addition, a start-up budget of $250K per Chair would be made available in the form of operating expenses at an average rate of $50K per year, for 5 years. In return, the faculty wishing to hire a professor holding this Chair will commit to paying $50K per year for 5 years to cover salary supplements, if any, and other research expenses. Thus, this Chair will generate a minimum of $150K per year in awards for the first 5 years and the long-term awards will depend on the ability of the Chairholder, the faculty and the UdeS Foundation to obtain additional funding from partners. In the event that a partner contributes at least $1.25 million, which is the counterpart of the initial capitalized investment by the UdeS, the Chair could bear its name or a name agreed upon by the partner and the Management Team of the Université de Sherbrooke.
Submit your candidature
Candidates who wish to apply must submit their application before Friday, July 28, 2023 5 pm. All applications must include a Letter of Interest in French highlighting the exceptional character of your application, as well as your vision in the field of research and Higher Education research, and the networks who can potentially contribute to enrich it. You must also include your curriculum vitae, and share with us some examples of related contributions of major significance with the theme of the Research Chair in Technology Enhanced Learning, along with three letters of support from experts in the field. Applicants may also attach to their application details of any special circumstances that may have led to a slowdown or interruption in their research and training activities. The UdeS will take these particular circumstances into account when examining the files.
Requirements
- Hold a doctorate in a discipline deemed relevant or experience and education deemed equivalent.
- Have a strong interest and aptitude for teaching, higher education pedagogy, as well as for research, development and innovation.
- Demonstrate the ability to supervise graduate students.
- Have a significant and internationally-recognized experience in research.
- Have a record of publications in peer-reviewed journals of international standing, attesting to the excellence of the research record.
- Demonstrate leadership qualities, initiative and excellent abilities to communicate and interact effectively and smoothly with internal and external partners.
- Have experience in interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary research, and also in knowledge transfer, is considered an asset.
- Committed to comply with the requirements for a responsible conduct in research.
- Have the ability to teach in French or to achieve this ability quickly.
- An ongoing commitment towards graduate student teaching and training in Higher Education.
- Ability to secure external research grants or funding.
- Excellent communication skills in French and English.
All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.
Candidates who wish to submit their application must send their curriculum vitae before the deadline of Friday, July 28, 2023 at 5 pm, via email at: krobert@electi.ca. You will receive an acknowledgement by email that your documents have been received.
Subject: Chairholder of the Strategic Research Chair in Technology Enhanced Learning – UdeS
Employment Start Date: to be discussed
