When Prune Lieutier co-founded her children’s podcast production company, La puce à l’oreille, in 2018, she had no idea of the magnitude that the project would take on in the Quebec education system. Today, the Montreal-based nonprofit has produced more than 250 podcasts, and about 20% of its revenue comes from mediation activities in schools.
While the use of digital tools in schools has dropped by 9% since the start of the pandemic, according to a recent report by the Academy of Digital Transformation (ATN) at Université Laval, podcasts have been spared by this trend. On the contrary, M.me Lieutier affirms that they are “increasingly popular” thanks, among other things, to their educational virtues.
“The sound creation workshops allow young people to be more aware of their environment, since they are asked to isolate the sounds that surround them,” she explains. In francization, it’s also very interesting, because creating a podcast is less intimidating than giving an oral presentation. Students learn even more by self-correcting during editing. »
Mathieu Labine-Daigneault, president and CEO of the Association des orthopédagogues du Québec, who has been practicing the profession for 10 years, maintains that listening and the creation of podcasts will become essential in the coming years as interesting “complementary avenues”. . “Traditional paper-and-pencil methods can be tricky for students with dyslexia,” he says. We are therefore going to opt for digital tools like this one, which gamify learning. It is certain that we will see more in orthopedagogy. »
Accessibility on platforms
Youth podcasts also have the advantage of being more accessible to their audience than radio or television programs, for example, with many parents abandoning traditional cable services. Radio-Canada OHdio recently enhanced its youth content with its new online collection Oh! Children on board.
The digital news platform for young people, Les As de l’info, also offers a number of podcasts, as well as audio versions of its written articles. “Podcasts allow children to learn, with or without their parents, without screens. They are very popular with young people who are more reluctant to read,” says Ève Tessier-Bouchard, director of Les As de l’info.
La puce à l’oreille, which has become the main reference in the production of youth podcasts in Quebec, has also co-produced certain podcasts now available on the M platform.me Tessier-Bouchard. Prune Lieutier and her team therefore produce both content that young people can listen to outside of school, as well as podcasts from mediation workshops, commissioned by schools directly.
“The share of our turnover from our workshops in schools (20%) increases every year, she says. There is a positive ripple effect within the education system. Young people also really like finding their own content on platforms like Spotify or on social networks. It makes them very proud. »
Several approaches
The podcast producer, who holds a doctorate in children’s literature, adds that the themes covered and the approaches to production in schools can vary according to several factors, including the age and learning difficulties of the students.
“We usually start by asking young people to pick up specific sounds in their school,” she says. Then they are given more abstract challenges, such as identifying the sound of friendship. It gives cute results. A child once said that “friendship is the sound of two coats rubbing together”. I loved. When they have more experience, they are then made to work on scriptwriting. »
Mme Lieutier proudly recalls other examples, such as a workshop in a primary school with pupils from 6e year, where the podcasts of La puce à l’oreille were part of a larger set of thematic activities. “The young people worked on the personal narrative in writing at the same time. They were delighted to be able to explore this subject through sounds and orality. »
An expanding market
La Puce à l’oreille is now extending its activities outside Quebec thanks to the support of the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie. The organization has worked with young people in Morocco and Louisiana, as well as with French-speaking communities in Nunavut and Ontario.
“We realize that there were more needs than we thought,” says Mme Lieutenant. We also opened a team in Quebec, in addition to the one in Montreal. We are also receiving more and more orders from libraries and the private sector. »
This enthusiasm therefore contrasts with the state of the entire digital transition within the Quebec education system, which is taking place rather slowly. “Since 2014, there has been a fairly marked decrease in the percentage of schools that have had experimentation initiatives or pilot projects,” says the report by the ATN, mandated by the Ministry of Education.
“Podcasts are easier to set up than audiovisual projects,” explains Ms.me Lieutier, because they require little equipment and because the material remains inexpensive”. As part of its Digital Action Plan for Education and Higher Education, the Government of Quebec therefore promises to further “support” access to “digital educational resources”, including “videos, podcasts, digital books and data banks”. ‘pictures’ online.
“In education, as in all youth media, the trend is to gamify tools, while maintaining the same rigor as before and allowing young people to improve their reading skills,” concludes Ms.me Tessier-Bouchard.