We have just learned of the passing of our dear colleague Éric Bruillard, Emeritus Professor at Paris Cité University and specialist in the use of information technology and educational materials in education and training.
Since the beginning of the years 2000, Eric had made an active and outstanding contribution to IARTEM, culminating in his election as president of the association after the 2017 conference. A highlight of Eric’s leadership of the association was his organisation of IARTEM’s successful international conference in Paris in 2024.
A technophile rather than a tech-obsessive, Eric combined a critical yet constructive perspective on the use of information technology in education. Critical because he never succumbed to the hype surrounding the latest innovations, and constructive because he himself developed and participated in a wide variety of teaching methods involving computer tools.
A mathematician and computer scientist by training, he initially focused on the didactics of computer science before broadening is work to include the uses of digital tools in diverse training contexts. Attentive to the multiple effects of introducing these innovations’, he demonstrated that these tools, without support and collective dynamics, can exacerbate educational inequalities, contrary to the claims of those who advocate for personalised learning through digital tools. ‘Digital technology can personalise education,’ he wrote, ‘but often with a focus on individual performance at the expense of collective management, favoring competition over cooperation. As various analyses have shown, personalised learning too often goes hand in hand with depersonalised education.
Both amused and irritated by the recurring discourse on ‘educational revolutions’, he pointed out that the major challenges were not necessarily ‘technological’. As he liked to remind people, hybrid teaching has existed for as long as homework and the problems it poses! ‘When it comes to innovative uses, what works are bottom-up innovations.
Pedagogy isn’t proven, it’s tested. I would add that I don’t like the expression “digital pedagogy”; it’s the tools that are digital, not the pedagogy itself (which has nothing to do with digital).’
We extend our deep and sincere condolences to Éric’s family and friends.
Adapted by the executive bureau from https://u-paris.fr/societes-humanites/hommage-a-eric-bruillard/
IARTEM 