Twitter and Educators in francophone Canada: quite the buzz!
Last week, I intercepted a link from my Twitter timeline to the Education Canada article, Twitter and Canadian Educators . It really caught my attention, for all the right reasons: “An emerging group of leaders in Canadian education has attracted thousands of followers. (…) to accelerate the transformation of our Canadian education systems.”
The folks interviewed in that article are all part of my personal learning network (PLN) and I try to read most of their blog posts. They inspire me. They educate me. They each make a difference and I’m fortunate to count them in my PLN. Naturally, I was curious to see the francophone EduTweeters included in the longer PDF list included in the article and I was initially surprised to find only one name (but what a name!), which I then signaled in a tweet. But then, I had to remind myself of the original intent of this CEA post: Firstly, to show non-tweeters in education all the value and power to network with educators passionate about learning, and secondly, to enable everyone to expand their own PLN’s by adding people who share similar interests.
That is the underlying reason why I generated a list of francophone Canadian edutweeters the following day.- so that francophone educators can extend their learning networks and so that our English-speaking colleagues and friends can appreciate all the ‘edubuzz’ happening « dans la langue de Molière ». And also so that hashtags such as #ClavEd, #Clair2012, #inno2012, #TEDxWB will be more familiar to English-speakers as they cross their Twitter timelines. Essentially, we all share the same ambitions (and challenges, and success stories) of truly transforming education and learning in this 21st century, where schools should be much different than what they typically are today. I see nuances, different colours and traits between the francophone and anglophone edutweeters. I will not try to explain such a generalization (remember, perception IS reality) but I can tell you that reading about all these “colours” is to my greatest professional benefit.
In an effort to bridge the two Canadian Twitter solitudes, I offer to my English-speaking colleagues a sample of very worthwhile edublogs from the francophone community:
- Les jobineries by Gilles Jobin, Gatineau QC, writes about literature, math and visions of a renewed education system and effective professional development
- Relief …contre la planéïté, by François Guité, from Quebec City. Great penmanship, where quality is greater than quantity.
- Cyberportfolio de Roberto Gauvin: As principal and leader of a very innovative K to 8 school in Clair, NB, Roberto is a key actor in francophone Canadian education. Under his initiative, his teachers and students have been blogging since 2004.
- In scholam, by Sébastien Stasse, Montréal QC. Presently a principal in an Armenian community school, Sébastien describes himself as an eternal learner and has a special interest in learning assessment.
Hopefully these suggestions will help you develop a more complete picture of Canada’s active Twitter scene in education. It belongs to each of us, and it’s up to us to get the most out of it.
Meet the Expert(s)
Jacques Cool
EdCan Director - Consultant en éducation
Jacques Cool est natif du Nouveau-Brunswick et y a travaillé dans le système d’éducation publique pendant 31 ans ; enseignant de sciences, spécialiste en évaluation au CMEC, responsable provincial de programmes d’études et de la formation à distance au secondaire, coordonnateur en leadership des élèves, gestionnaire en e-learning à l’Université de Moncton, technopédagogue au Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick.
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