BanqO! - A platform to help you create, manage and review Individualized Education Programs (IEP) or Transition Programs

The development of this software is part of a research and development longitudinal approach called Pedagogical Value Analysis (PVA).

The PVA is an adaption of the Value Analysis (VA) performed by three researchers: Sylvie Rocque, Ph.D., full professor at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Montréal, Jacques Langevin, Ph.D.,  full professor at the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Montréal and Diane Riopel, Ph. D., Full professor at the Department of mathematics and industrial engineering at the University of Montréal (1998). It is an adaption of the VA to the specificity of education for designing and developing educational products.

The VA approach remains the same at the concept level, with regard to the techniques and procedures used. VA is widely used in engineering and several areas for the design and evaluation of products, procedures or services, in order to fully meet user needs at the lowest cost (Tassinari, in 2000, Petitdemange, in 1987). From the Airbus to the ARIANE rocket, car manufacturers to the Montreal Biodome designers, the construction and health sectors, VA applications have kept increasing in state-of-the-art domains. This method is aimed at achieving goals optimally through a fine preliminary analysis of the needs of all potential users, which enables to guide the design towards a product specific to each user, once the future product’s functions are defined. Once identified, a solution is found for each of the functions, thus leading to a prototype. The prototype is tested for evaluation and improvement.

In short, this method allows to determine the value of a product, service or program established, based on meeting needs and costs. Having said that, this process of design and evaluation is iterative and leads to various researches.

That being said, this technology was developed based on a long term research through a three step process conducted and coordinated by Nathalie Myara, Ph. D., associate professor at the Faculty of Education at the Université de Montréal. Step 1 included determining all legal aspects revolving around the IEP process, identifying emerging and existing problems and a piloting a rigorous systematic need analysis. Step 2 included a thorough functional analysis and the creation of an IEP functional specification matrix for creating and assessing optimal IEP. Step 3 included the development, the implementation and the evaluation of solutions, tools and instruments.

What follows is a list of the associated research topics. If you are interested in this research, please contact us.

- Comparative study of Individualized Education Programs: quality and implication of the main stakeholders

- Effects of a digital support tool on the level of the approach and template of an Individualized Education Program

- School transition: Assessment report of the impacts of BanqO

- Prototype testing for Individualized Education Program users: observed use efficiency and explanatory factors.