Abstract:

In this paper I will describe an example of how ICT (Information and communication technologies) can be used in teaching literature at upper secondary level in Sweden in a way that lets the pupils become more active producers of knowledge in a flexible learning environment and promotes a globalized view of literature, especially of French literature, which goes beyond the nation’s borders.

I will thus analyze the results of an assignment in a class of Swedish pupils learning French as a foreign language. The assignment is to find information, in pairs, about a francophone author and to present it in a way that involves several skills. The most important task is to present the information using Glogster, a social network that allows users to create free interactive posters. A glog, which stands for graphical blog, is an interactive poster, in which the public can interact with the content. The users can insert different elements, such as text, images, photos, audio files or video files into their glogs, creating thus a multimedia presentation instrument. The glog is published on the site of Glogster, which means that it can be shared with all the users on the site. It can also be embedded in wikis or blogs, and shared via other social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.

In structuring the assignment I will make sure that ICT will not only be used as a tool for retrieving information. Even if this aspect is a part of the assignment, since the pupils have find information in a first step, the form of the Glogster forces the pupils to process this information in many different ways in order to present it. The point is that the presentation must be understood by the other pupils in the class, so the information cannot be presented in the form in which it has been found originally. The pupils will for instance not be allowed just insert a link to an Internet site with information about the author in question, since such information requires too much time in order to be understood by their classmates. That is why an oral presentation will be made in which the glog will be used as a form of support.

Thus, even the information retrieval involves an element of creativity, since the pupils must process the data and rewrite it in their own words. Besides, even the use of photos involves an important element that is often ignored in classroom work with ICT: the copyright. Since the glogs will be published, it is important that the material inserted in them does not infringe copyright, which means that pupils will have to find photos that are not protected by copyright, for instance through creative commons. This is an important thing to be understood by the members of our new information society.

Another way to enhance the pupils’ creativity is by encouraging them to produce their own multimedia material to be inserted in the glogs. The pupils can for instance produce their own audio files or video files where they can pretend interviewing the author or play a scene from his/her oeuvre.

The globalization aspect is present from the start already, since the project deals with literature in other French speaking parts of the world than the country’s European mainland. Besides, both ICT and a problem-based project are perfect tools to open up the classroom to the outside world.

Keywords:

Francophone Literature, ICT, Glogster.