Ping Pong

Fifth-Year Degree Project.
Ping Pong is a mediation tool for inter-class correspondence, designed for elementary school students. Its purpose is to connect French-speaking classes from around the world through playful and interactive virtual encounters.

This digital platform expands the school's sphere of influence and introduces a new way of corresponding by collectively learning from one another.

Figma - Photoshop - Illustrator - After Effects - Premiere Pro - InDesign

Thesis work – Cultural-ity:

Identity, a composite notion at the intersection of modern human sciences, forms the backbone of individuality, shaping personal choices and behaviors. At once statutory and grounded in ideological values, identity can give rise to interpersonal conflict, social tension, and major geopolitical issues that challenge our ability to live together. This compels us to reflect on key questions such as free will, intercultural communication, crisis anticipation, and the management of identity-based conflicts in order to better understand this complex subject.

Thesis cover

With younger generations shaped by increasingly uniform cultural influences, they must be empowered to recognize and take agency over their own identity.

Each class has its own unique profiles and cultural identities. Video correspondence enables regular meetings between French-speaking primary school classes from around the world, within a pedagogical and playful framework.

Pairing is determined by a random draw based on school level and geographic distance, ensuring the richest possible intercultural experience. Structured, recurring workshops take place simultaneously in the paired classrooms, fostering interaction between students beyond the sociocultural boundaries of their schools.

Class pairing through an academic exchange platform

Scheduling of exchange appointments

Scripting and introduction of interactive workshops

Workshop moderation and guidance

Coordination of a supervised inter-class dialogue.

Production of a school exchange certificate.

Quarterly cycles

Scheduled video sessions guided by Ping Pong represented by the platform’s mascot, these sessions follow a structured and timed format. Students engage in collaborative, interactive exercises designed to foster intercultural exchange. Instructions, speaking turns, and time management are handled by the system, allowing teachers to focus on observation and support. All interactions take place in a secure, educational environment tailored to young learners.

Video projection of exercise interface

Webcam call during interaction

Creation of the virtual class profile by the teacher. It contains key information for complementary pairing.

Automatic pairing with a French class of a different profile. The classes are paired for a three months period.

Joint scheduling for teachers to set a meeting (weekly or twice monthly) during the next week

Proposal of three engaging exercises tailored to class profile singularities, followed by teacher validation.

Next week’s meeting is confirmed. Paired classes will receive a reminder one hour before the workshop begins.

Classes receive a printable correspondence certificate for each student, a physical keepsake of their intercultural journey.

After three months of regular exchange sessions, the pairing ends and a reward is granted to congratulate the students.

Start of video interaction, moderated by the AI ping-pong referee. Speech turns are timed and coordinated with the help of our mascot.

The workshop begins with in-class preparation for the video session. Classes have limited time to complete individual or group tasks.

Entering the session workflow. The two classes participate synchronously and with timed coordination.

During the development of the project, I had the opportunity to test my prototype in real conditions. With the help of a collaborator, we carried out an experiment in two local primary schools. I organized and animated two simultaneous workshops, connecting classes of similar age and level via video. We succeeded in creating a creative and enriching experience for the children. Their feedback reflected the joy and curiosity they felt in meeting peers from outside their usual environment.

Ping Pong, our mascot, delivers instructions, manages the timer, and serves as the AI moderator for student interactions between classes. As the platform’s authority figure, it helps maintain order and eases the teachers’ workload during the workshops.