The e-learning portal of SOFAD (Société de formation à distance des commissions scolaires du Québec)

Administrators who wish to acquire access codes for learners first needs to create an administrator account.

This request must be approved by SOFAD. The administrator will be informed of SOFAD’s decision by email.

Once this account is created, the administrator will have access to an interface allowing him or her to:

• • buy access codes;
• • distribute these access codes to students;
• • assign an instructor or a tutor to each learner.

All administrators can use online payment to buy access codes but only administrators of schools or centres located in Canada have the privilege of paying by invoice.

Information on the courses and the learners

The Catalog page lists available courses. For each course, one click gives access to a course description and to a demo of the online course. Whereas the Catalog page indicates the price for the individuals, the course description will gives the institutional price.

The courses offered on this portal have been developed for learners in an individualized setting, at home or in a school or centre.

Three categories of learners can use SOFAD’s online courses:

• learners registered in distance education with a school board;
• learners registered at an institution overseen by a school board;
• independent learners who want to take a course without being registred with a school board.

The learning setting and pedagogical support for each category of learner is different. Whereas the distance education learner has the support of a tutor, and the learner in an institution has the support of an instructor, no institutional support is provided to the independent learner.

In all cases, the courses offered on the eduSOFAD portal provide multimedia and interactive content and, when appropriate, interaction with other students or the instructor.

For learners registered in an establishment or in distance education, the role of the instructor or of the tutor is to support and help them and to facilitate their learning.

Usually, the course proposes tasks that the student sends electronically to the instructor or tutor for correction and comments.

Learners registered at an institution or in distance education with a school board will have access to an official supervised exam once they have completed the course. An independent learner who wishes to take an official exam will have to contact a school board institution, make the necessary arrangements and pay for the costs determined by the school board.

Information on services offered to the instructors

Different services are offered to instructors and tutors who need first to create their own account with eduSOFAD.

Once this account is created, instructors can ask for free access to any online course so as to become familiar with its content and design and to prepare themselves for using it with their learners.

Learners wishing to use an online course will also need to create their own account with eduSOFAD.

Once an administrator has acquired access codes, he or she can distribute one to each learner and assign them an instructor from his or her institution.

Instructors have access to an interface allowing them to follow their learners and go directly to the student's course planner. Through this same interface, the instructor has access to an answer key and zones for providing comments and feedback about the learner's work.