Acfas awards ECP's Susanne Lajoie with research prize for exceptional contribution
Canada鈥檚 most prestigious French-language鈥痩earned society announced the recipients of its research awards on December 8听at its听77th virtual gala ceremony, the non-profit organization听, l鈥橝ssociation francophone pour le savoir, awarded Professor Susanne Lajoie the Prix Jeanne-Lapointefor her remarkable contribution to education.
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A visionary in the field of instructional design and learning technologies
Susanne Lajoie, a Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Advanced Technologies for Learning in Authentic Settings, was awarded the 2021听听for her visionary and transformational research in the fields of instructional design and learning technologies. She is the second recipient of the prize that was created in 2020. The prize is sponsored by听le Minist猫re de l鈥櫭塪ucation et par l'entremise du Conseil sup茅rieur de l'茅ducation, et par le Fonds de recherche du Qu茅bec - Soci茅t茅 et culture.
Lajoie鈥檚 research focuses on the convergence of educational psychology, learning sciences, artificial intelligence, and digital learning. She designs and builds interactive, technology-rich learning environments (TREs) that help students develop expertise in the context of solving real-world problems, engaging their emotions, and advancing their thinking.
鈥淚t is a great privilege to receive the Acfas Jeanne-Lapointe prize for research in education. My belief is that everyone is capable of learning with the right guidance and emotional support,鈥� said Lajoie. 鈥淢y research demonstrates how technology can be designed to adapt instruction to specific learning trajectories to maximize learning and performance outcomes and enhance engagement. I am honoured that my research efforts are being recognized by this Acfas award.鈥�
She has continued to extend her research beyond academia by working directly with schools, the medical community, and industry partners to bring about profound transformation in educational practices to various fields. For example, Lajoie co-led an initiative that developed a digital and video-based tool called HOWARD that assists medical students in Montreal and Hong Kong to learn how to monitor and manage emotions when communicating bad news to patients from different cultural backgrounds. Her TREs are also used to train medical students to practice their diagnostic reasoning in a safe environment which can reduce dangerous diagnostic mistakes in the future with real patients.
One major project that greatly increased international visibility to Lajoie鈥檚 work in Quebec was called听Learning Environments Across Disciplines听(LEADS), which brought together educators, psychologists, computer scientists, engineers, physicians, and students across six countries, 18 universities, and 13 partner organizations to design and implement TREs of their own. A total of 19 LEADS projects helped teach 21st-century skills to students from middle school to university in multiple domains.
Lajoie was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018, in addition to being a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association in 2009, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association in 2002. In 2015, she received Acfas鈥檚 Prix Th茅r猫se Gouin D茅carie for research excellence in social sciences.
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- Find Dr. Lajoie's Acfas听
- on the Acfas website
- Le Devoir article: ""
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