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TORONTO – With a $2 million investment in Toronto’s Voilà Community Help platform, the Department of Official Languages ​​aims to boost learning in the Metaverse, that alternate digital reality that allows students to interact through avatars. Avoided in French Ontario, this technology could quickly reach OIF countries.

Behind this funding is Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor’s idea of ​​linking artificial intelligence to official languages, to a certain extent to put them at the service of bilingualism.

Voilà Community Help has been developing for several years a universe of virtual learning of French as a second language through the metaverse, shaped like a campus where the avatars of students and teachers from 35 school boards across the country meet and mingle.

Discussing, doing homework, writing on a board, making videos, seeking help from a teacher… There are many options available for students in grades 1-12.^e year so that they can improve their knowledge and skills in French after classes from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The integration of artificial intelligence then makes it possible to collect information about each student’s learning in order to personalize their needs and expectations.

At the same time, the Toronto organization is developing another project, this time with the aim of learning from early childhood. With MétaLingo, children from 2 to 6 years old can interact with animators and other children their age through adapted and progressive activities and games in French.

“Early childhood plays a critical role in fostering language transmission, identity formation and maintaining the demographic weight of Francophones in the country. These investments will thus make it possible to respond to new needs and priorities in French-language education, starting from early childhood,” says Ms. Petitpas Taylor.

The ministry’s funding, which will extend over two years, must enable both the optimization of the technology and the use of the program. “The first thing to do is build the platform and make sure the kids are comfortable on it. The second is to hire teachers who are able to teach from 11am to 3pm,” explains Hosni Zaouali, President of Voilà Community Help.

No French Ontarian school boards

Nearly 35 school boards are currently connected to the campus. None of them are Franco-Ontarians. “We have French-speaking councils like the one in Vancouver, but not in Ontario,” Mr. Zaouali concedes. “They didn’t express the wish and we may not have communicated well on our part. We must try harder to reach them. »

As the development of artificial intelligence accelerates and raises more questions about its ethical contours, the President of Voilà Community Help points out that the regulation of this technology is at the center of his concern.

“It’s a large piece of paper on my desk and it reflects the responsibilities and values ​​of every company operating in this rapidly changing field. No authority regulates what we do with data and education. So we surrounded ourselves with aid tech specialists to help us distinguish what is ethical and what is not. »

And to compare the competitive use of artificial intelligence technologies as a “race against time”. “But we don’t deploy anything that hasn’t been tested and regulated with the necessary firewalls to prevent overflows. »

Global ambitions at OIF level

His organization recently signed an agreement with the World Organization of Francophonie (OIF) for the deployment of their technology in the 88 member countries. Its goal: to reach thousands of students thanks to a universal French-speaking campus accessible regardless of their equipment, which explains the rudimentary graphics of the platform. “We want to keep it as simple as possible so that you can be involved without technological discrimination, whether you have a powerful computer or not. »

Replacing the classroom with virtual learning is out of the question for the minister. “We don’t want to replace teachers or classrooms. It will remain an additional tool that strengthens the children’s self-confidence,” she wants to clarify.

And finally: “This tool was used in Ontario, New Brunswick, British Columbia, across the country. “It is incredible to know that young people will have experiences and activities in a linguistic minority. »