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This is the transcription of Benoît Dubreuil's opening conference at the last Congress of Information Professionals (CPI), delivered on November 7, 2023.

In this article, we discuss the academic performance and impact of distance teaching of mathematics in the Moroccan education system. This educational science research, based on exploratory thinking, aimed to show the impact and challenges of distance teaching of mathematics within the Moroccan education system through examining this fundamental question: How could school programs, pedagogical organization, and the performance of pupils and teachers in Morocco best address the challenges of distance teaching of mathematics? The answer is based on a qualitative analysis of the content of the documentation that frames the teaching-learning process and the evaluation of mathematics in Morocco and, on the other hand, on the projection of research hypotheses in the field through various strategies inspired by our research objectives.

Keywords: curriculum, education system, e-learning, evaluation, technology, Morocco

Background: While educators observe gaps in clerkship students’ clinical reasoning (CR) skills, students report few opportunities to develop them. This study aims at exploring how students who used self-explanation (SE) and structured reflection (SR) for CR learning during preclinical training, applied these learning strategies during clerkship.Methods: We conducted an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study involving medical students. With a questionnaire, we asked students how frequently they adopted behaviours related to SE and SR during clerkship. Next, we conducted a focus group with students to explore why they adopted these behaviours.Results: Fifty-two of 198 students answered the questionnaire and five participated in a focus group. Specific behaviours adopted varied from 50% to 98%. We identified three themes about why students used these strategies: as “just in time” learning strategies; to deepen their understanding and identify gaps in knowledge; to develop a practical approach to diagnosis. A fourth theme related to the balance between learning and assessment and its consequence on adopting SE behaviours.Conclusions: Students having experienced SE and SR regularly in preclinical training tend to transpose these strategies into the clerkship providing them with a practical way to reflect deliberately and capture learning opportunities of the unpredictable clinical context.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted medical education systems worldwide. Between March 2020 and December 2021, 111 MD students at the University of Toronto completed two-week quarantines due to hospital or community exposures and experienced disrupted clinical instruction. We explored the experiences, barriers, and supports of these quarantined medical students to identify program development opportunities and improve student supports.Methods: We used a qualitative descriptive approach to explore experiences of clerkship students quarantined due to COVID-19 exposure. Methods included an online survey with open-ended questions and an audio-recorded interview. We analysed the demographic survey responses using descriptive statistics. Subsequently, we conducted descriptive thematic analysis of the narrative survey responses and transcribed interview recordings.Results: Concerns reported in surveys (n = 23, response rate 20.7%) and interviews (n = 5) included themes of illness uncertainty, racial tensions, confidentiality of COVID-19 status, unclear academic expectations, and financial burden. Supports included friends, family, and MD program administration. Recommendations related to communication, administration, equity considerations, supports, confidentiality/privacy, and academics.Conclusion: Supporting student wellbeing and learning is at the core of medical training. Enhanced understanding of health profession trainee needs during COVID can improve institutional supportive responses to students routinely and during times of crisis.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the perceptions of Indigenous medical students on postgraduate admissions through an Indigenous admissions pathway (IAP), and to determine what factors may influence Indigenous medical students’ choice of residency training program.Methods: We distributed a survey to self-identified Indigenous students at settler Canadian medical schools. The survey questioned the students’ acceptability of an IAP, and what factors would influence application through an IAP. Analysis included descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of open-ended questions.Results: Thirty-six participants responded to the survey. Location and proximity to family or support system were the most important factors in choosing a residency program. Participants identified mentorship from Indigenous physicians and community involvement as being important features of a residency program that has an IAP. Eighty-one percent of participants felt the availability of an IAP would influence their choice of residency program. Fear of judgement or stigma, concern about entrance requirements, and program logistics were identified as barriers to applying to residency through an IAP. All participants believed that an IAP would have a positive influence on the healthcare system more broadly.Conclusions: An IAP appears to be an acceptable residency application format to Indigenous students but cannot exist in isolation. It is important for programs to consider the needs and safety of Indigenous trainees within residency programs.

The pandemic has exacerbated structural (e.g., unemployment, precariousness) and psychological (e.g. fear of the future) uncertainties and has made it possible to highlight in the media a sector already under strain, that of health. Starting from this double observation, the study looked at the effects of this crisis and its perceived media treatment on students in this sector. How have their motivation for continuing their studies and their career objectives, as well as their perceptions of work and of themselves, been re-examined? In addition, in line with studies on the role of perceived social support (PSS) in training retention, this variable was also taken into account. At the beginning of 2021, a survey by questionnaire (44 questions, including 15 open-ended) was carried out in France of 170 health students. The following were explored: academic and professional motivation, PSS, concern about the future, self-efficacy beliefs, professional perceptions, and perceptions of media treatment of the health sector. The results indicate that the students studying exclusively or partially online experience a drop in their motivation to study but maintain a strong motivation to carry out their career objectives. Unlike the PSS, perceived media treatment does not appear to be linked to the different variables studied across the entire sample. Finally, the group of students wishing to abandon their studies (n = 13) is characterized by a lower PSS and a more fragile motivation than the rest of the sample. This group also takes a more negative view of the treatment of the health sector by the media. In addition to comparing the results obtained with those of a Quebec survey, the discussion focuses on the practical implications. 

Keywords: Health students, Étudiant en santé, Choice of path, Choix de parcours, Perceived media treatment, Traitement médiatique perçu, Soutien social perçu, Perceived social support, Covid-19, Covid-19

The text aims to think about the middle class and its role in the 2018 presidential elections, which took Jair Messias Bolsonaro, from the Social Liberal Party (PSL), to the Planalto Palace. As a main thesis, the text argues that the middle class does not have a class identity of its own and thus assimilates the cultural references of the upper classes. As a consequence of this absence of its own ideology, the middle class, in an attempt to differentiate itself, demonstrates prejudice against the popular classes. To understand this issue, the text is divided into three moments. Initially, a historical analysis of the formation of the middle class is made; then the emergence of the “new” middle class is discussed; in a third moment, the perception of the middle class about the global economic crisis that started in 2008 is presented.

Keywords: Bolsonaro, Brésil, Élection Bolsonaro, Classe moyenne, Subjectivité, Brazil, Bolsonaro election, Middle class, Subjectivity