The research project "Pedagogical innovations for attractive agricultural training with strong social and environmental responsibility: Example of peri-urban agriculture in the regions of Meknes, Morocco, and Montpellier, France" (AUP-ADESFA), started in July 2020 It was necessary to adapt immediately to the health constraints imposing the co-creation of an online course based on innovative pedagogies and tools, in collaboration between a Moroccan team and a French team. The challenge was great on a subject such as the AUP!
Progress of the project
The project-based approach that was planned to be used in the e-learning course was therefore applied in the operation of the project itself. A series of online workshops made it possible to share respective experiences, build a common culture of pedagogy, take control of digital tools and design learning scenarios capable of maintaining learners' motivation at a distance.
5 chapters have been scripted for the digital training, representing approximately 40 hours of training, 80% of which online. Initially, these chapters were designed for an audience of professionals and trainers. They will be enriched to be offered in the agricultural engineer training of the ENA during the next re-accreditation of the programs scheduled for 2024.
The objective of this training is to help participants understand the importance of UPA on an international scale, its role in the food and nutritional security of populations, its issues and challenges for the sustainability and resilience of cities facing global changes, as well as the specificities of the Moroccan context. And this with an alternation of Moroccan and French concrete cases.
Results
The course was tested at the end of 2021 via the Moodle platform of ENA Meknes, with 20 Moroccan participants from organizations such as ENA, DEFR, ONCA and CAFM.
The work of the participants was of high quality and bears witness to their efforts, interest and involvement.
The difficulties encountered, mainly related to mastering the tools, were resolved thanks to the adaptability of the teaching team. They provide avenues for further improving the training, which is already leading to several results:
- The video capsules developed as part of the course will be made available to the new specialization course in "Agro-ecological engineering" of ENAM from spring 2022
- 53 technical agricultural training institutes under the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests will access these resources via the ENAM Moodle platform
- The trainers of the technical institutes participating in the training-test will integrate these tools and resources into their courses
- as well as ENAM teacher-researchers, who will use them either face-to-face or remotely
- Finally, one of the participants in the training-test will carry out a thesis on AUP.
The learner participants praised the richness of the training, both on the theme of AUP and for learning digital tools that they will be able to implement in their professional practices.
As for the teaching participants, after having created this course in collaboration with the French team, they tutored it independently and successfully, really taking in hand the innovative tools and methods implemented.