J. Lapalme
Digital media.
Metropolis Blue Foundation
Teaching, pedagogy, blogging, Twitter, social media, Web 2.0, poetry
Tweet Pals, 2010-2011
An initiative of the Metropolis Blue Foundation's Educational Programmes, Tweet Pals was an innovative project designed to provide young Canadians aged 13 to 16 with a unique linguistic and cultural experience through correspondence in their second official language, on the social network Twitter and on a blog.
The programme was designed to improve students' linguistic abilities. Through the exchanges, students discovered how their correspondents lived in other parts of the country.
Under the guidance of a journalist (Katerine-Lune Rollet @katconseil) and a media artist (Julie Lapalme @cuckoografik), students familiarized themselves with current Web 2.0 technologies as well as social media etiquette. They developed their language skills by writing posts on the project's blog, as well as microblogging (Tweets) on the Twitter account.
In 140 characters, Francophone students wrote in English to Anglophone students about what mattered to them in their daily lives. Anglophone students did the same, in French. Selected Tweets from each group were edited and their grammar, spelling and syntax were corrected by group members. They were then posted on the blog in order to be commented on and discussed by their authors.
Responsibilities
- Developed, prepared and conducted workshops offered to participating schools in Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Saint-Boniface and Vancouver
- Facilitated the integration of classroom curriculum by communicating regularly with teachers and students
- Established blogs and networks to be used in the project; provided technical support and maintenance
- Provided technical advice and best practices to students to facilitate the use of software and increased knowledge exchange on various social networks used in the project
Outreach
Presented project at Webcom Montréal 2011 in the "Succès québécois : Métropolis bleu et Localmind" program with Katerine-Lune Rollet & Florence Alligrini.
Tweet Pals hosted on Blogspot.