Digital Café at Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School: Exploring Digital Creation Careers and Challenges

From October 6 to 8, 2025, Printemps numérique hosted a Digital Café at Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School in Montréal’s Saint-Michel neighborhood, offering three days of workshops and immersive experiences to senior high school students and their teachers. The event aimed to develop young people’s digital skills, spark their creativity, and encourage critical thinking about digital technology.

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The Essence of Digital Cafés: Empowering Youth to Become Digital Citizens

The Digital Café is a signature activity of Printemps numérique, dedicated to promoting digital literacy in Québec.

Designed as a space for discovery, experimentation, and dialogue, the concept aims to equip young people to become creative, critical, and responsible digital citizens.

This edition at Louis-Joseph-Papineau continues a long-standing collaboration between Printemps numérique and the school, particularly with Myllene Caetano Alves, Multimedia Arts teacher. Through this partnership, many youth from the Saint-Michel neighborhood are introduced to the challenges of digital creation and transformation in an educational and inspiring environment.

Activities Combining Exploration, Creation, and Reflection

“IA & Toi”: Creating and Understanding in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Held in the school auditorium, the “IA & Toi” workshop offered an accessible and playful introduction to how artificial intelligence (AI) works and the issues it raises.

As part of the ” Défi IA & Toi“, students worked in teams to create and personalize a digital version of the historical figure Louis-Joseph Papineau using Sora, an AI tool. This experience helped them better understand the challenge’s themes — digital responsibility, collaboration, and ethical reflection surrounding AI use.

The 360° Dome: An Immersion into the Careers of the Future

Set up in the school’s entrance hall, the 360° dome provided a unique visual and sensory experience. Students discovered future careers in digital arts and creation, attended 360° art film screenings, and watched a video capsule they co-produced, showcasing their creative experience with AI.

“It was my first time inside a dome, and I thought it was really fun! The AI workshop made me want to sign up for AI & You as soon as I get home. I’d love to take the training and join the contest to create a historical avatar. I really like creating images with ChatGPT and want to get better at it.”
— Evelina Mathieu, Grade 10 student, Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School

“The workshops in the Dome really piqued students’ curiosity. Those already interested in digital creation recognized themselves in the artistic content, which was very stimulating for them. Playing with images and transforming them with AI, like in the AI & You workshop, is something many already do — but not always the right way. It’s important to offer training that addresses AI’s limits, its negative uses, and more responsible ways to use it. We’d benefit from offering more creative activities like these!”
— Mr. Rabel J-R, Grade 9 French teacher, Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School

Open House: A Moment of Sharing with Families

On the evening of Wednesday, October 8, families were invited to explore the 360° dome and see the students’ work during the school’s open house event. This initiative, organized in collaboration with the school, helped extend the educational impact of the Digital Café and strengthen ties between the institution, parents, and the community.

Preparing Québec’s Digital Future

The success of this Digital Café edition at Louis-Joseph-Papineau High School marks a promising return of the initiative for the 2025–2026 school year. The students’ enthusiasm, combined with teachers’ recognition of its educational value, confirms the relevance of such programs.

As a key player in digital literacy in Québec, Printemps numérique continues its mission: to prepare youth for technological transformations and their impact on society.

Book a Digital Café

Les activités en littératie numérique jeunesse du Printemps numérique sont présentées par , et réalisées grâce aux précieux partenariats avec, l’initiative fédérale CodeCan 4.0 et le .

Youth digital literacy activities by Printemps numérique are presented by Hydro-Québec and made possible thanks to valuable partnerships with IVADO, the federal CanCode 4.0 initiative, and the Secrétariat à la Jeunesse du Québec.