Sebastien Jacques

Sébastien Bissey

Arnaud Martin

Multidisciplinary Project Based Learning Within a Collaborative Framework A Case Study on Urban Drone Conception

Keywords: Collaborative framework, multidisciplinary project-based learning, urban drone conception. I

published or not. The documents may come

INTRODUCTION

Since the implementation of the Bologna standards, many strategic changes have been made to European Higher Education including competency-based education [START_REF] Peris-Ortiz | Innovation and Teaching Technologies -New Directions in Research, Practice and Policy[END_REF], [START_REF] Heywood | The Assessment of Learning in Engineering Education: Practice and Policy[END_REF]. Today, competencies and learning outcomes are still two major pillars used to compare higher education between various countries and universities. One advantage of the competency-based learning (CBL) is that this approach is centered more on students [START_REF] Ghanbari | Competency-Based Learning[END_REF], [START_REF] Sidorenko | The System Analysis in Language Teaching and Learning for Technical Students in Russia[END_REF]. It means that they are the drivers of the educational process. This encourages them to develop critical and creative thinking, and promote interaction, while honing interpersonal skills [START_REF] Menacho | Competencybased learning management systems: Practices using remote laboratories to improve the use of the subjects and get required competences[END_REF].CBL has rapidly become an absolute requirement for accreditation organizations such as, for instance, the Engineering Degree Commission (CTI), which is responsible for the accreditation of engineering programs, the development of quality in engineering education, and the promotion of engineering curricula and careers in France and abroad (i.e. Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Viet-Nam, China, Morocco…) [START_REF] Patil | Accreditation of engineering education: review, observations and proposal for global accreditation[END_REF].

Nowadays, the management of research projects is one of the most effective ways of assessing students' curricular and cross-curricular competencies [START_REF] López-Pastor | Formative assessment strategies and their effect on student performance and on student and tutor workload: the results of research projects undertaken in preparation for greater convergence of universities in Spain within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)[END_REF].Initiated by John Dewey over 100 years ago with the famous quote "learning by doing", project-based learning (PBL) has rapidly emerged as a dynamic approach to teaching. This method enables students to explore real problems and challenges of daily life, while boostingthe process of getting knowledge and skills, and the ability to work individually or in small collaborative groups [START_REF] Fried-Booth | Resource Books for Teachers: Project Work (Second Edition)[END_REF], [START_REF] Quay | John Dewey and Education Outdoors -Making Sense of the 'Educational Situation' through more than a Century of Progressive Reforms[END_REF], [START_REF] Yu | Project Based Learning in Teaching Communication Skills in English as a Foreign Language to Engineering Students[END_REF].PBL, which is focused on students, is typically used in engineering curriculum since students are particularly driven by the need to design and create an end-product. The "need to know / need to do" principle also drives the learning process and inspires them to delve deeper into concepts.

Engineering schools and universities are regularly challenged to propose new teaching methods in order to find the best solutions to assess students' competencies and consequently improve the educational process [START_REF] Lozano | Declarations for sustainability in higher education: becoming better leaders, through addressing the university system[END_REF]. Collaborative learning may be an interesting approach since it acts as a synchronous activity resulting from a continued attempt to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem [START_REF] Issa | A Framework for Collaborative Networked Learning in Higher Education: Design & Analysis[END_REF].According to Vygotsky's theory, which points out the collaboration between teacher and students, this method promotes interactivity, social context, and technologies [START_REF] Moll | Vygotsky and Education[END_REF].

This article critically reviewsa multidisciplinary PBL which has been recently implemented in the last year of an electronic engineering curriculum. The research project has been focused on the design and manufacturing of an urban drone. This kind of Unnamed Aerial Vehicle (UAV), whichhas jumped on popularity over the past few years, has already proven its worth as a robotic platform usable for research and education [START_REF] Krajník | AR-Drone as a Platform for Robotic Research and Education[END_REF].The multidisciplinary nature of drone is without doubt since it crosses many disciplinary lines such as electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, and on-board computing. The ultimate challenge is here to bring this ambitious research project to a successful end, while ensuring the assessment of students' skills. In addition, the purpose is to relate for the first time 3 departments of a French engineering school, a faculty of science and engineering technology, and a start-up company through a collaborative partnership model. This paper serves several purposes. First of all, the context of the research project is introduced. In particular, the objective is to get a better understanding of the ins and outs: the collaborative framework and particularly, the interactions with the different partners, the skills that were tested at various levels of the project and the methods used to assess the students' competencies. Then, the hardware PAPER MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING WITHIN A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN DRONE CONCEPTION and software architectures of the urban drone are described. In particular, this section of the manuscript focuses on the students' work. Finally, a discussion is proposed to demonstrate the relevance of this multidisciplinary PBL within a collaborative framework for higher education in electronic, mechanical and computer engineering.

II. METHODOLOGY

A. Context reminder and Research Project Objectives

The multidisciplinary and collaborative research project described in this paper has been initiated in 2013 within the graduate school of engineering (Polytech Tours) of the University of Tours (France). Polytech Tours, which is a multi-site school, hosts 270 students in its preparatory course (in partnership with the faculty of science and technology), 850 students in the engineering specialties (5 engineering specialties in the following areas: electrical and electronic engineering, computer science, industrial computing, mechanical engineering, and urban planning and environment engineering) and 90 students in the PhD course. A significant number of pedagogical activities (for example, the research projects included in the engineering curriculum) are also supported by the research units in the field of the graduate school of engineering.

Over the last year of the engineering curriculum at Polytech Tours, the students must complete a research project over one hundred hours. Regarding the traditional PBL approach supported by the institution, all students of the same engineering specialty (e.g. regarding the electrical and electronic engineering specialty, 30 students are involved) are expected to work in pairs. They are supervised by a teacher specialized in the field. The research topics are proposed by either the research unit in the field or an industrial partner.

The case study on urban drone conception described in this article is the result of a cooperation between Polytech Tours and anindustrial partner. In particular, the research project has consisted in establishing closer links between three out of five engineering specialties offered by the institution: electrical and electronic engineering, industrial computing, and mechanical engineering. The ultimate challenge in this multidisciplinary and collaborative PBL approach is to coordinate the teams mainly according to a common schedule, and material and software resources that must be shared.

This kind of project was proposed during two successive academic years (2013-2014, and 2014-2015). However, the objectives of the study were quite different to avoid that a student cheats a competency from year to year, because he can collect and exchange information with previous students. In the first academic year (2013-2014), the project team designed and built a first prototype of the urban drone taking into consideration the industrial needs. In the academic year 2014-2015, the purpose was to add new functionalities to the urban drone, increase its robustness, and analyze its cost-effectiveness before finally becoming a marketable product.

In the next sections of the article, a feedback from two years of experience on this research project is detailed.

B. Project Team Composition and Roles of Each Partner

Each academic year, 6 grade 5 (last year of the engineering degree) students (2 in electrical and electronic engineering, 2 in industrial computing, and 2 in mechanical engineering) were involved in the research project. They were supervised by 3 teachers (one from each area of competence) during 100 hours. These engineering students worked with 4 other students from the faculty of science and technology (integrated preparatory cycle). As regard the latter, the research project should both contribute towards the assimilation of knowledge and help them to practice some basic concepts in engineering science. Moreover, this kind of study tends to promote dialogue, critical mind, and intellectual and social openness. It is important to note that the engineering students and the students in its preparatory course were evaluated using the same set of competencies. However, this does not mean that the level of requirement was the same. Finally, a group of 10 students (6 engineering students and 4 students from the integrated preparatory cycle) was particularly interesting to create a learning atmosphere where the learners were comfortable to both discuss freely about the ins and outs of the project, the allocation of roles and responsibilities, and to make mistakes without fear of criticism. For all students, urban drone represented a friendly finished industrial product. The choice of this case study greatly contributed to maintain student motivation throughout the project, since it was applicable to the real world.

For the 3 teachers, their roles were facilitative rather than didactic. They had to recognize and set up situations to ensure that the project ran smoothly while integrating technologies when appropriated. They had to ensure that all students fostered the knowledge and skills at their own pace. That could be achieved only by structuring problems and managing the learning process.

The urban drone as an end-product was proposed and supported by a start-up company that is specialized in the development of drones dedicated to aerial views. The solutions currently put forward by this company are centered on the concept of multi-rotor drone. Such marketed equipment is typically composed of 4 to 8 motors arranged in the shape of a star that are remotelycontrolled. In this project, an urban drone composed of 4 motors was designed and manufactured.The start-up company contributed its expertise and technical support to both students and teaching staff. It did not have the responsibility to manage the research project, but its involvement was required for envisioning and strategizing.

C. Learning Outcomes and Methods of Assessment

As can be seen in Table I, 4 competencies were particularly assessed during the project:

-The ability to master the main scientific and technical disciplines necessary to design, deliver on, test, and validate an innovative product (competency named "C1"). -The ability to master the methods and tools for engineers necessary to fulfill the project expectations (competency named "C2"). -The ability to demonstrate capacity for teamwork and team leadership to stimulate innovation (competency named "C3"). -The ability to comply with industrial / social / environmental standards, and PAPER MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING WITHIN A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN DRONE CONCEPTION society's rules and values (competency named "C4"). Adequate methods of assessment and practices were requiredto ensure that all studentswere well-supported in the learning process.

Regarding the first competency named "C1", the studentshad tomeet the level of mastery(it corresponds to an accomplishment of the activity independently).They had to be particularly proficient in establishing a functional analysis of the whole system. Several laboratory experiments (case studies) were proposed to focus on specific items of the urban drone (i.e. the mechanical part, the motor system, and the on-board electronic part). This method of assessment is helpful to deliver immediate feedback about students' performance. They can take actions to correct their problems.These issues were incorporated in the final report and presented during an oral session planned at the end of the project. The students had also met the level of mastery in sizing, designing, manufacturing, testing, and validating the functioning of the urban drone. All stages of these learning outcomes hadbeen tested during laboratory activities, had to be summarized in the final report, and be presented during the oral session. It is important to note that each student had to keep a logbook in which he had to record all significant information on a day-to-day basis. This method of assessment was helping to ensure that he was able to develop a critical analysis, and provide experience feedback.

The second competency named "C2" was focused on the mastering of the main methods and tools for engineers necessary to fulfill the project expectations. The level of mastery was required. Many case studies (laboratory experiments) were proposed to evaluate the methods used to organize the students' work to successfully meet the milestones and deliverables. This stage was particularly interesting to point out their autonomy, creativity, and openness. Another important learning outcome consisted in summarizing the main results in the final report. Moreover, those results were explained during the final oral session. One point was very challenging. Indeed, the students had to be able to interact with both specialists and non-specialists of urban drone conception. Special oral sessions in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs) were organized by the teachers. FAQs allowed all participants (both specialists and non-specialists) to acquire information and clarifications to help them properly understand the challenges, the key milestones and deliverables that were crucial to meet the project outcomes. For the teachers, preparatory work was typically necessary to centralize all issues for organizing debates.

The third competency named "C3" was focused on teamwork and team leadership. The level of application was required (it corresponds to the accomplishment of an activity with assistance). The members' responsibilities to the group were tested through various oral situation simulation exercises (laboratory activities). Those exercises encouraged students to think about how teams should work together, and to rate the quality of collaboration. The teachers' role was very important in that case since they had to periodically check a task management chart. This chart was composed of:

-The title and objectives of each task.

-The name of the student who was responsible for task. -The date on which task was due.

-The date on which task was completed. The number of tasks were sufficient to evaluate the ability of each student to manage the project team. Finally, group discussions were planned to identify and anticipate trends and potential innovations around urban drone conception. These group discussions helped the students be proactive.

The last competency named "C4" evaluated the ability to comply with industrial / social / environmental standards, and society's rules and values. The students had to achieve the project objectives in compliance with the main industrial requirements in terms of quality, health / safety etc. In that case, a level of mastery was expected. All results had to be summarized in the final report, and presented during the final oral session. Society's rules and values corresponded to the exemplary behavior of each student during the project. The level of mastery was expected too. In particular, all students had to maintain regular attendance and punctuality at all stages of the study.

III. DRONE ARCHITECTURE AND STUDENTS' WORK

A. Architecture and Operating Principle

The urban drone manufactured during the project is an electrically powered quadcopter. It is composed of a carbon-fiber support structure, plastic body, four highefficiency brushless motors, sensors and control board, a camera, and indoor and outdoor removable hulls. Figure 1 shows the operating diagram of the whole system. It is composed of 4 main parts: a steering system, a power supply, a brushless motor system, and an on-board electronic system.

The urban drone is fully controllable using a touchpad or a joystick. The touchpad can be replaced by a computer that integrates a graphic user interface (GUI) with LabVIEW. The GUI is in charge of reproducing the displacements of the urban drone during its flight. The power supply is composed of 14.8 V dc (direct current), 6,600 mAh Lithium Polymer (LiPo) battery, and a switched mode power supply (SMPS). The SMPS is in charge of both regulating the voltage from the battery to control the motor system, and converting it down to 5 V dc to supply the on-board electronic system, while protecting the battery against full discharge. The dc-dc converter embeds an integrated switching regulator, and a synchronous-rectified design.It warrants a high efficiency (higher than 90%). It is important to note that the choice of the LiPo battery technology is a trade-off between its cost / effectiveness ratio, and its compactness (the dimensions and the weight of the battery are 25.5 mm  87 mm  138 mm and 640 g, respectively). Even if its specific energy (about 150 Wh/kg) is lower than the Lithium-ion (Li-ion) technology (up to 265 Wh/kg), the LiPo battery is also chosen for safety reasons (e.g. high overload resistance, reduced electrolyte leakage).

The motor system is composed of four 920 rpm/V brushless motors. This kind of motor is chosen because of its electrical features (standard current: 15-25 A, maximum current: 30 A), and compactness (dimensions of PAPER MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING WITHIN A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN DRONE CONCEPTION the stator: 28 mm  24 mm; weight: 56 g). Each motor is coupled with an electronic speed controller (ESC). This kind of system is 3-phase inverter that embeds a pulse width modulation (PWM) control system. The output current in continuous mode is equal to 30 A. In burst mode, it can reach 40 A up to 10 seconds. The dimensions and the weight of the ESC are 55 mm  25 mm  9 mm and 25.8 g, respectively.

Regarding the on-board electronic system, there are two compute modules. The first one is a Raspberry Pi platform to control a camera (5 Mpx digital camera, 1,080p video). The second one is an Arduino Uno module, connected to an inertial measurement unit (IMU), to drive the brushless motor system. The two platforms can communicate using a serial interface (universal synchronous / asynchronous receiver / transmitter -USART). It is important to note that the Raspberry Pi module is helpful to capture information from the steering system. To analyze and develop a product: mastery of functional analysis.

Level of expertise *** .

Laboratory experiments.

Report.

Oral presentation.

To apply knowledge to size, design, manufacture, test, and validate a product.

Level of mastery ** .

Laboratory experiments.

Report.

Oral presentation.

To develop a critical analysis, and provide experience feedback. Level of mastery ** .

Project journal / Logbook.

Report.

Oral presentation.

To learn new skills. Level of mastery ** .

Laboratory experiments.

Report.

Oral presentation.

C2. Ability to master the methods and tools for engineers necessary to fulfill the project expectations.

To integrate a project management system. To plan and organize work to successfully meet milestones and deliverables.

Level of mastery ** . Laboratory experiments.

To summarize the results and report them to wider audiences including those without a technical background.

Level of mastery ** .

Frequently asked questions.

Report.

Oral presentation.

To develop autonomy, creativity and openness.

Level of mastery ** . Laboratory experiments.

C3. Ability to demonstrate capacity for teamwork and team leadership to stimulate innovation.

To be a team-player and foster a dynamic collaboration. Level of application * . Laboratory experiments.

To demonstrate team leadership. Level of application * . Laboratory experiments.

To identify and anticipate trends, potential innovations in the field. Level of application * .

Group discussions and sharing of resources and ideas.

C4. Ability to comply with industrial / social / environmental standards, and society's rules and values.

To achieve the project objectives in compliance with industrial procedures (quality, health / safety…).

Level of mastery ** .

Report.

Oral presentation.

To apply the team's strategies, values and codes. Level of application * . Laboratory experiments.

To have an exemplary behavior (regular attendance, punctuality…). Level of mastery ** . Laboratory experiments.

PAPER MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING

B. Summary of the Students' Work 1) Operational Needs, and Prototype Development

This phase, which was particularly fundamental in the first year of the project,consisted indemonstrating that the various components of the urban drone were well-sized according to the operational needs. The aim was also to propose a prototype of the whole system. In particular, this prototype should be improved during the second academic year by adding new functionalities. For the students, this phase provided the opportunity to explore concepts based on operational needs, existing technology availability, risks and accessibility.It is important to note that the students of the class of 2014-2015 had all results of their colleagues to support continuous improvement.

The functional analysis of the urban drone started with the estimationof the flight duration. The calculation was based on the electricity source (14.8 V, 6,600 mAh LiPo battery) that was provided by the start-up company. The students estimated the power consumption of each device of the whole system in steady-state from its functional specifications and an extensive literature review. The results are summed up in Table II. The urban drone consumes only about 266 watts in steady-state operation. From its electrical features (14.8 V, 6,600 mAh), the energy consumption of the battery is about 98 Wh. Therefore, the flight duration is slightly above 20 minutes. This value is higher than the typical one (15 minutes) for marketed urban drones.

Figure 2 shows the prototype of the UAV that was fully developed by the students in 2013-2014. A marketed injection-molded plastic frame was used. This kind of frame is composed of 4 arms. Each brushless motor was directly positioned at the end of each arm. The students designed and manufactured 4 pads that were fixed on the arms. Each pad is composed of a printed circuit board (PCB) that incorporates a set of 5 LEDs. The aim was to correctly assess the urban drone's displacements (forwards / backwards). The LiPo battery was fixed at the backside of the frame thanks to the arms. Then, the students built two mounting boxes to protect the on-board electronic part against mechanical shocks. To this end, they used 3D printers available into the fabrication laboratory of the graduate school of engineering. Regarding the brushless motor system, the electronic speed controllers were put on the arms of the system. It is important to note that the students achieved the electric wiring of the urban drone. Finally, the whole system meets the specifications imposed by the start-up company. The urban drone is compact (330 mm  330 mm  150 mm) and light (1.56 kg), and the on-board electronic system is relatively simple and quite inexpensive (about 20% of the total cost of the prototype). This prototype was submitted to the start-up company and presented via video conference. After the review, authority was given to the team to test the solution and propose some improvements.

2) Validation of the Solution, and Proposals for Improvement

Before the validation of the solution, the students confirmed the correct functioning of the communication between the steering system and the urban drone. In particular, it was possible to drive correctly the brushless motors by pressing the buttons of the joystick. The students also verified that information from the IMU could easily be collected. All these steps confirmed that the industrial computing part was correctly set up.

Then, the prototype was thoroughly tested.Before fullscale tests, the students evaluated the correct functioning of the prototype in a secure environment. Testing was conducted at the laboratories of the graduate school of engineering. Those tests were approved by the start-up company. In particular, the drone was fastened by its 4 arms to a heavy framework. The aim was to ensure its stability and precision in case of low flying heights (from a few centimeters to nearly 1 m). Then, outdoor tests were performed under the supervision of the start-up company. The experimental results revealed that each brushless motor can deliver a thrust of about 700 g. Thus, the whole system can provide a thrust of about 2.8 kg, which is sufficient for its flight.

However, the user did not have information about the autonomy of the battery. It was a problem, particularly in case of an extended flight of the urban drone.As can be seen in Figure 3, to solve this issue and avoid the crash of the UAV, the students proposed an electronic system to measure the voltage across the battery and provide visual and audible warnings. This solution was validated by the start-up company. It was implemented by the students in the second year of the project.

One of the major drawback of the existing prototype was also the wireless communication (Wi-Fi) between the steering system and the on-board electronic part. Indeed, it was not possible to control the urban drone for distances over 100 m. To solve this issue, the students proposed to use XBeeRF modules which represented embedded solutions providing wireless end-point connectivity to the UAV. This kind of module uses the IEEE 802.15.4 networking protocol for fast point-to-multipoint or peerto-peer networking. Using this technology, it could be possible to control the urban drone over a distance of up to one kilometer. To implement the solution in 2014-2015, two RF modules were necessary: the first one coupled with an antenna at the steering system side, and the second one at the on-board electronic system side. Regarding the on-board electronic part, the Arduino Uno platform could be coupled with an Arduino Wireless XBee shield. Moreover, the students proposed to replace the existing camera (which was controlled by the Raspberry Pi platform) by an autonomous camera. Therefore, the Raspberry Pi module could be removed thanks to this solution. The cost of XBee router was about the same as the Raspberry Pi platform. Nonetheless, this solution may be more expensive because of the autonomous camera. For instance, the students proposed to use a GoPro camera. Such device increases the cost of the whole system (the costs of a camera module for the Raspberry Pi platform and a GoPro camera are about 20 Euros and 400 Euros, respectively). Despite its extra cost, this solution was considered by the start-up company as a potential alternative. The main reason for this is thatXBee module has a typical function named "Doze" which authorizes the system to hibernate. Using this operating mode, the average power consumption of the XBee module was about 0. IV. DISCUSSION The aim of this section of the manuscript is to demonstrate the relevance of this teaching method. First of all, the transcripts of grades assigned by the teachers are analyzed to convey the level of achievement of each student at the end of the course. Then, the multidisciplinary and multi-partner PBL approach is evaluated through five-point Likert scaling.

A. Transcripts of grades

Each academic year, all students' skills were evaluated by the teachers. The competencies listed in Table I were particularly rated.

For each competency, all learning outcomes were rated using a numerical value based on a 0-5 scale with higher scores representing better performances and greater achievements. An equivalent grade was assigned to each mark of the 0-5 scale, with "A" being the highest and "Fail" denoting failure. A competency was considered to be validated when the average grade of the related subcompetencies was at least equal to "C".

All students validated the course whatever the academic year. Table III shows the score distributions of the learners surveyed. In comparing both academic years, the results are approximately the same. The average and standard deviation of all learning outcomesare equal to 4.2 and 0.3, respectively. This means that, on average, a student reached a grade slightly higher than "B". Regarding a traditional PBL approach supported by the institution (research project led by 2 engineering students within the same specialty and supervised by a teacher), the average grade is typically between "C" and "B". As a consequence, this study points out very positive experiences. This should encourage most of teachers to experiment this approach to learning. From Table III, the competency entitled "Project control and decisionmaking" returned results which were worse than expected.The students must make extra efforts to work independently. During the research project, the teachers spent too much timewith the learners, and sometimes solving complex issues for them. This point will require particular vigilance for the next research projects using the multidisciplinary and multi partner PBL approach.

B. Five-point Likert scaling

All students involved in the research project completed a detailed questionnaire, which was composed of 8 items, to gather their perceptions about this teaching approach. Each item in the survey was quantified by a Likert-scale Likert scaling can be easily adopted to measure students' attitude toward engineering and technology [START_REF] Shana | Engaging Students through Blogs: Using Blogs to Boost a Course Experience[END_REF]. The popularity of the method comes from several facts:

-This kind of scaling can be easily constructed and modified.

-The method has demonstrated good reliability.

-It is possible to collect and analyze a large quantity of data with less effort and in less time. Table IV summarizes the results. A total satisfaction score of about 84% was obtained, whatever the academic year (84% in 2013-2014, and 84.5% in 2014-2015). This is an extremely positive outcome. Despite these optimistic results, additional communication efforts will have to be increased for any future research project using this teaching approach. In particular, roles and responsibilities of the partners will still need to be clearly defined. The engagement of the industrial partner will probably have to be increased in all steps of the project, from the definition of specifications to the evaluation of students' skills.

V. CONCLUSION This paper provides firsthand experience of multidisciplinary PBL implemented in a French graduate school of engineering during two successive academic years. The main topic addressed has consisted in studying and manufacturing an urban drone in a multi-partner framework. This kind of industrial end-product crosses several scientific disciplines including electrical and electronic engineering, on-board electronics, and mechanical engineering. Four partners were particularly involved in this research project within 100 hours: 3 departments of the school of engineering (electrical and MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING WITHIN A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN DRONE CONCEPTION electronic engineering, industrial computing, and mechanical engineering), and a start-up company.

To complete the project within its allocated time, the ultimate challenge had consisted in better coordinating the various phases (planning of the workpackages, management of human, material and financial resources), while ensuring that the students acquire knowledge and skills.

The results demonstrate that this learning approach is overwhelmingly positive since it empowers student learning. In this study, the students tookparticularly greater responsibility. This teaching method also supports and encourages more exchange between the learners and the partners.

Regarding accreditation organizations, such an approach stimulates a student project by providing a multi-disciplinary team with both clearly identified responsibilities and ambitious targets.

Figure 1 .

 1 Figure 1. Operating diagram of the urban drone

Figure 2 .

 2 Figure 2. Example of the prototype of the urban drone manufactured by the students in 2013-2014

Figure 3 .

 3 Figure 3. Proposal (electric diagram) for a battery alarm system. Such a solution was implemented in the final prototype of the urban drone in 2014-2015

of 1 to 5 ( 1 =

 51 Strongly disagree [SD], 2 = Disagree [D], 3 = Neutral [N], 4 = Agree [A], 5 = Strongly agree [SA]).

TABLE I .

 I COMPETENCIES ASSESSED, LEARNING OUTCOMES, METHODS OF ASSESSMENT

	MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING WITHIN A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN
				DRONE CONCEPTION
	C1. Ability to master the
	main scientific and technical
	disciplines	necessary	to
	design, deliver on, test, and
	validate	an	innovative
	product.
	Competency assessed	Learning outcome	Expected level	Method(s) of assessment

TABLE II .

 II POWER CONSUMPTION ESTIMATION OF THE URBAN DRONE IN STEADY-STATE

	Element of the urban drone	Power consumption (W)
	4 brushless motors	256
	4 electronic speed controllers	2.5
	1 set of LEDs	6
	1 Raspberry Pi platform coupled with a camera	1.65
	1 Arduino Uno platform	0.25
	TOTAL 	266.4

  PAPER MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED LEARNING A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN DRONE CONCEPTION

TABLE III .

 III TRANSCRIPTS OF GRADES: SCORE DISTRIBUTIONS. THE STUDENTS' RESULTS OF THE CLASS OF 2013 AND THE CLASS OF 2014 APPEAR IN BLUE AND GREEN, RESPECTIVELY. FOR EACH CLASS, 10 STUDENTS WERE SURVEYED (6 ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND 4 STUDENTS FROM THE INTEGRATED PREPARATORY CYCLE).

	Competency (C)

assessed and learning outcomes (LO) Grade A Grade B Grade C Grade D Grade E Fail C1. Ability to master the main scientific and technical disciplines necessary to design, deliver on, test, and validate an innovative product.

	LO 1.1. To analyze and develop a product: mastery of functional	40.0%	40.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	analysis.	30.0%	50.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	LO 1.2. To apply knowledge to size, design, manufacture, test,	30.0%	50.0%	10.0%	10.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	and validate a product.	50.0%	30.0%	10.0%	10.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	LO 1.3. To develop a critical analysis, and provide experience	50.0%	40.0%	10.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	feedback.	50.0%	30.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	LO 1.4. To learn new skills.	50.0% 60.0%	40.0% 30.0%	10.0% 10.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%
	C2.

Ability to master the methods and tools for engineers necessary to fulfill the project expectations.

	LO 2.1. To integrate a project management system. To plan and	20.0%	50.0%	30.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	organize work to successfully meet milestones and deliverables.	20.0%	60.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	LO 2.2. To summarize the results and report them to wider	30.0%	40.0%	30.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	audiences including those without a technical background.	20.0%	40.0%	40.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	LO 2.3. To develop autonomy, creativity, and openness.	40.0% 30.0%	20.0% 40.0%	30.0% 30.0%	10.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%
	C3.

Ability to demonstrate capacity for teamwork and team leadership to stimulate innovation.

	LO 3.1. To be a team player and foster a dynamic collaboration.	60.0% 50.0%	40.0% 50.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%
	LO 3.2. To demonstrate team leadership.	40.0% 40.0%	30.0% 40.0%	20.0% 10.0%	10.0% 10.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%
	LO 3.3. To identify and anticipate trends, potential innovations in	20.0%	40.0%	30.0%	10.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	the field.	30.0%	20.0%	40.0%	10.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	C4

. Ability to comply with industrial / social / environmental standards, and society's rules and values.

  LO 4.1. To achieve the project objectives in compliance with industrial procedures (quality, health / safety…). LEARNING WITHIN A COLLABORATIVE FRAMEWORK: A CASE STUDY ON URBAN DRONE CONCEPTION

	MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROJECT BASED
		50.0%	30.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
		50.0%	30.0%	20.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	LO 4.2. To apply the team's strategies, values, and codes.	60.0% 50.0%	40.0% 50.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%	0.0% 0.0%
	LO 4.3. To have an exemplary behavior (regular attendance,	50.0%	50.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
	punctuality…).	70.0%	30.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%

TABLE IV .

 IV SATISFACTION SURVEY SUMMARY FROM LIKERT SCALING. THE STUDENTS' RESULTS OF THE CLASS OF 2013 AND THE CLASS OF 2014 APPEAR IN BLUE AND GREEN, RESPECTIVELY. FOR EACH CLASS, 10 STUDENTS WERE SURVEYED (6 ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND 4 STUDENTS FROM THE INTEGRATED PREPARATORY CYCLE)

	Question	SD = 1	D = 2	N = 3	A = 4	SA = 5	Average score	Satisfaction score
	1. Scope, ends and results, interactions with partners	0.0%	0.0%	20.0%	30.0%	50.0%	4.3	86.0%
	(engineer students, teachers, and industrial partners) are clear and explicit.	0.0%	0.0%	10.0%	40.0%	50.0%	4.4	88.0%
	2. Terms and conditions for project assessment are clear,	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	50.0%	50.0%	4.5	90.0%
	explicit and well-known by the engineering students and tutors.	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	50.0%	50.0%	4.5	90.0%
	3. Urban drone is an appropriate platform usable for	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	10.0%	90.0%	4.9	98.0%
	multidisciplinary PBL within a collaborative framework.	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	20.0%	80.0%	4.8	96.0%
	4.Multidisciplinary research project reflects the knowledge and skills acquired by students during engineering training	0.0%	0.0%	30.0%	50.0%	20.0%	3.9	78.0%
	(scientific, technical, economic, financial, industrial,	0.0%	0.0%	20.0%	50.0%	30.0%	4.1	82.0%
	behavioral…).
	5. Multidisciplinary PBL within a collaborative framework	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	40.0%	60.0%	4.6	92.0%
	encourages engineering students to be active throughout the research project period.	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	50.0%	50.0%	4.5	90.0%
	6. Multidisciplinary PBL within a collaborative framework	0.0%	10.0%	20.0%	50.0%	20.0%	3.7	74.0%
	facilitates communication between students and teachers.	0.0%	10.0%	10.0%	60.0%	20.0%	3.9	78.0%
	7.Multidisciplinary PBL within a collaborative framework	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	60.0%	40.0%	4.4	88.0%
	encourages thinking and collaboration.	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%	50.0%	50.0%	4.5	90.0%
	8.Multidisciplinary PBL within a collaborative framework	0.0%	10.0%	30.0%	60.0%	0.0%	3.5	70.0%
	brings new opportunities of learning by involving external people.	0.0%	0.0%	20.0%	60.0%	20.0%	4.0	80.0%

AUTHORS

S. Jacquesreceived the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from University of Tours, Tours, France, in 2010. Since 2012, he has been with the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of the graduate school of engineering named Polytech Tours as an Assistant Professor. He has also been with the research group on materials, microelectronics, acoustics and nanotechnology (GREMAN CNRS UMR 7347). His learning and research activities include electronic systems, power converters, renewable energies (photovoltaics) and reliability of power systems (e-mail: sebastien.jacques@univ-tours.fr).

S. Bisseyreceived the engineering degree in electrical and electronic engineering from Polytech Tours, University of Tours, Tours, France, in 2013. He is currentlycompleting his Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering at the University of Tours. In particular, he is with research group on materials, microelectronics, acoustics and nanotechnology (e-mail: sebastien.bissey@univ-tours.fr).

A. Martin is currently an Associate Professor of electrical engineering in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department of the graduate school of engineering named Polytech Tours, University of Tours, Tours, France (e-mail: a.martin@univ-tours.fr).

Submitted, 01July 2016. Published as resubmitted by the authors on 01September 2016.


Michel Bert
email: michel.bert@univ-lyon2.fr

Ddl

James Costa
email: james.costa@ens-lyon.fr

What counts as a linguistic border, for whom, and with what implications? Exploring Occitan and Francoprovençal in

Introduction

Debates on the limits of the numerous Romance varieties spoken in what was once the western part of the Roman Empire have been rife for over a century (e.g. [START_REF] Bergounioux | Le francien (1815-1914) : la linguistique au service de la patrie[END_REF], and generally arose in the context of heated discussions over the constitution and legitimation of Nation-states. More recently, the creation of new administrative regions within the context of the European Union has also sparked a lively debate on the names and limits of languages as those institutions seek to legitimise their existence drawing on historical and linguistic elements.

The current debates on limits between language varieties in what is essentially a continuum of related forms of speech are by no means new. The nature of those limits was especially important in the 19 th century as Nation States sought to found their existence on cultural and linguistic homogeneity. The linguistic bipartite division of France between French, the language of the north, and Occitan, spoken in the south was clearly problematic for philologists, especially in northern France, and politicians alike. This original bipartition was to be erased gradually, as Occitan relentlessly recedes as the language of everyday interactions in the south. The shameful existence of Occitan, and the ideological problems this generated for the construction of a homogeneous nation, later led the linguist Bernard [START_REF] Cerquiglini | Une langue orpheline[END_REF] to call Occitan the Iron-mask.

Situated at a distance from the major centres of debate on French and Occitan, removed from the major debates that have taken place over regional languages in France since the 1960s (in the Basque Country, Brittany, Catalonia, Provence etc.), the Rhône-Alpes region is a recent administrative construct that was organised around Lyon, one of the major centres for the diffusion of French from the 17 th century onwards. It is nevertheless traversed by several linguistic limits, the main one being the border between Occitan and Francoprovençal.

While issues generated by questions of limits had so far remained within the relatively closed domain of linguistics, the emergence of an interest in language policy on the part of the regional government is currently modifying previous equilibriums. This recent intervention of a new social actor in language debates calls for a reassessment of the role of limits regionally. Indeed, linguistic limits often tend to be constructed as boundaries by the implementation of measures of language policy, with effects in terms of language education planning for instance.

In Rhône-Alpes, linguistic limits are now gaining importance because they are seen as one potential tool for the legitimation of the existence of the région. In fact, while the regional government is promoting both Occitan and Francoprovençal on an equal footing, it is concomitantly downplaying the importance of this internal boundary to promote a feeling of linguistic closeness that would help legitimise its own existence as a coherent cultural area.

In this particular context, the link between identity and language is naturally of a rather complex nature. Given the number of social actors involved, and the differences in conceptualising identity that this diversity entails, we have chosen to follow [START_REF] Avanza | Dépasser la « construction des identités » ? Identification, image sociale, appartenance[END_REF] sociological approach to identity and thus to break up this notion into three more specific categories. To them, identity is best approached in terms of identification, social image and belonging. Identification refers to the process through which individuals are ascribed to particular categories (for example ethnicity or religion) by legitimate institutions. Social image refers to the production of discourses, images and symbols designed to represent a particular group or territory. Again, social images can be produced by institutions, but also by various types of associations and groups (e.g. NGOs) as well as by travel guides. The issue at stake is the production of an authoritative representation of a social group or geographic area through discourse. This is typically an area where the production of what counts as accepted and shared reality is created, reproduced or contested. The final category, belonging, refers to what groups or individuals tend to affiliate with. Such groups can include ethnolinguistic groups when the categories are available, and belonging is constantly subject to reproduction, renegotiation or contestation, internally or externally.

Based on several years of ethnographic sociolinguistic and dialectological research in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence regions in south-eastern France (see for instance [START_REF] Bert | Rencontre de langues et francisation : L'exemple du Pilat[END_REF][START_REF] Costa | Revitalisation linguistique: Discours, mythes et idéologies. Approche critique de mouvements de revitalisation en Provence et en Écosse[END_REF], this chapter focuses on how social actors construct limits with language, and why. We are therefore asking the following questions: to whom are limits important? Who can turn limits into boundaries, that is, legitimised limits with concrete effects on groups and individuals in terms of the creation of social difference? How are those limits constructed in discourse and spatial representations? And, most importantly for social actors themselves, what does this entail in terms of identity for the different groups involved? The types of actors we focus upon in this chapter are linguists, speakers, language advocates and institutions (the State and the regional government -or Conseil Régional -based in the regional capital, Lyon).

This chapter first presents the Rhône-Alpes region as one where linguistic limits are particularly salient and meaningful for an array of different social actors. We then analyse how traditional social actors (linguists, speakers, language advocates) construct limits through language (or refrain from doing so), emphasising convergences and divergences between those limits. We finally explore the role of the regional government (as well as of the State) in naturalising or contesting limits, and in legitimising certain boundaries through language policy, at the expense of others.

Language(s) in the Rhône-Alpes region.

The current French administrative regions (there are twenty-two in 2012) were created, one could say invented, between 1942 and 1960. They were subsequently given more power by the central Government between 1972, when the regions were transformed from economic to administrative entities, and 1982, when the newly elected socialist Government passed a series of major decentralisation laws.

All republican governments in France have consistently striven not to revive the Provinces that composed the Kingdom of France until the Revolution at the end of the 18 th century. Thus two centuries later, the new régions are composed of several départements1 but they are purposely created so as not to replicate the borders of the former Provinces. The Rhône-Alpes region, for example, comprises parts of the former provinces of Lyonnais, Languedoc, Dauphiné, Burgundy, and Savoy (see map 1, below). It should be noted that Savoy is itself a recent addition to France; it was annexed in 1860 together with the County of Nice at the time when the Italian State was formed. During the process that saw the establishment of régions, even long-established entities such as Brittany were partly dismantled, and the Nantes region (the Loire-Atlantique département) was joined to four others to form the Pays de la Loire region. Conversely, Provence was incorporated in a wider region called Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur with the former County of Nice and parts of the Dauphiné (and, until 1970, with Corsica). Finally, regions such as the Région Centre or Rhône-Alpes are new names invented in the 1960s and based on geographic features. Rhône-Alpes itself consists of eight départements (see below, map 2)2 , thus constituting a very large area (43,698 square kilometres).

MAP OF PROVINCES / REGIONS

Map 1: The Rhône-Alpes region in France, and the main provinces that existed in south-eastern France before the Revolution3 .

In a context where any distinctive particularity can be seen as a potential threat to French unity, it comes as no surprise that no cultural or linguistic elements were taken into account when the regions were designed. All the current regions of France, with the possible exceptions of Corsica and Alsace, embrace very diverse cultural and linguistic areas around a regional capital. Former or traditional limits were broken down and torn apart in order to create new, apparently more rational entities that could not be seen as competing with the citizen's main locus of identification, that is, the French nation.

As a region constructed by administrators, Rhône-Alpes is particularly emblematic of those new administrative units that paid no heed to limits that were meaningful to the populations. It therefore encompasses a multitude of historical, cultural and linguistic limits that still bear some effects in the everyday lives of people. In terms of linguistic situation, two Romance languages are traditionally spoken within the regional territory: Francoprovençal and Occitan4 . While the départements of Ain, Isère, Loire, Rhône, Savoie and Haute-Savoie are usually described as Francoprovençal-speaking areas, most of the Ardèche and Drôme are habitually depicted as Occitan-speaking (see map 2 below for the départements of Rhône-Alpes, and map 3, showing the limit generally accepted by linguists and dialectologists between Occitan and Francoprovençal).

The reality of both ensembles is however more complex, and several important dialectal limits run through the Rhône-Alpes region, especially throughout the Occitan domain (see below, 3.2). Also, one must carefully differentiate between both languages: with regard to Francoprovençal linguists tend to consider that there are no marked dialectal areas [START_REF] Martin | Le francoprovençal[END_REF]. Occitan in Rhône-Alpes, on the other hand, is usually divided between Provençal, in the south of Drôme and parts of southern Ardèche, Languedocien in southwestern Ardèche, and Vivaro-Alpin in the remaining parts of Drôme and Ardèche (see [START_REF] Sumien | Classificacion dei dialèctes occitans[END_REF] for a summary of the classification of Occitan dialects).

MAP OF DEPARTEMENTS

Map 2: Départments of Rhône-Alpes Francoprovençal and Occitan are both Romance languages that arose from the evolution of the Latin brought by Roman colonisers during the conquest of Gaul two thousand years ago. This particular brand of Latin evolved from a mostly Celtic (Gaulish) substratum, and was subsequently modified by the Germanic invasions that took place at the end of the Roman period and at the beginning of the Middle Ages. The relative importance of the Germanic superstratum is still a matter for debate, but most linguists consider that Francoprovençal was less affected by this latter influence than the Langue d'Oïl domain, and Occitan even less so. Overall however, both languages are part of the same Romance continuum, and in our own experience are largely mutually comprehensible by competent speakers.

LANGUAGES OF RHONE ALPES

Map 3: Francoprovençal and Occitan in Rhône-Alpes5 Rhône-Alpes thus comprises a bundle of social, historical, cultural and linguistic limits. Conversely, some cultural limits are indexed through discourses on language. And the same limits are not meaningful in the same way to all social actors. The first social actors we review are linguists, whose historical role has consisted in the delimitation and naming of 'languages' in the modern sense of the term, as discrete and bounded entities, out of the Romance linguistics continuum.

The languages of linguists: Occitan and Francoprovençal

Linguists are central actors in the narrative we wish to recount here, in particular in the case of Francoprovençal. They are especially influential when it comes to processes of identification, as their work defines what limits are acceptable to delineate a language. This latter process in turn has consequences on how people appropriate, or reject, the language that linguists ascribe to them.

This section examines what limits are relevant to this category, and how linguists effectively generated borders that established Francoprovençal and Occitan as languages in their own right, in the modernist sense of the term -that is, as discrete and bounded entities connected to a well-identified territory.

Occitan doubts and certainties

The story of Occitan in its current form is now ancient and evolved mostly outwith the boundaries of what is now Rhône-Alpes. The administrative language of several areas in the Middle Ages, Occitan underwent a revival of interest from as early as the beginning of the 19 th century (see Martel, 2010a). What counted as Occitan was defined in the mid-nineteenth century by dialectologists [START_REF] Merle | Visions de "l'idiome natal" à travers l'enquête Impériale sur les patois (1807-1812) : langue d'oc, catalan[END_REF], amateur philologists such as Simon Honnorat (Martel, 2010b;[START_REF] Merle | Le chemin d'Honnorat : Histoire d'A, ou la langue telle qu'elle doit être[END_REF] or Frédéric Mistral [START_REF] Mistral | Lou tresor dóu Felibrige, Raphèle-les-Arles: Culture Provençale et Méridionale[END_REF][START_REF] Mistral | Lou tresor dóu Felibrige, Raphèle-les-Arles: Culture Provençale et Méridionale[END_REF]), the renowned Provençal writer and lexicologist6 . The northernmost boundaries of Occitan were thus established long ago (and refined more recently -see [START_REF] Bert | Rencontre de langues et francisation : L'exemple du Pilat[END_REF][START_REF] Bouvier | L'occitan en Provence : le dialecte provençal, ses limites et ses variétés[END_REF][START_REF] Martin | La limite entre l'occitan et le francoprovençal dans le Pilat[END_REF][START_REF] Tuaillon | Limite nord du provençal à l'est du Rhône[END_REF], and run through the northern parts of the Ardèche and the Drôme départements (see map 4, below).

MAP OF OCCITAN DIALECTS

Map 4: Occitan dialects in France, Italy (eleven valleys in Piedmont) and Spain (the Val d'Aran in Catalonia) Yet internal dialectal boundaries within Occitan are more problematic. The main limit for linguists is the ca/cha isogloss, which runs through the whole Occitan domain (and indeed throughout the whole Western Romania) from Italy to the Atlantic Ocean. South of that line one encounters such forms as cantar (to sing), vaca (cow) which are realised as chantar, vacha north of that limit. This particular limit serves to mark the distinction between northern Occitan dialects (Auvergnat, Limousin and Vivaro-alpin) and southern ones (Gascon, Languedocian and Provençal)7 . As far as Rhône-Alpes is concerned, linguists do not recognise any east/west divide as particularly relevant to linguistics, and attribute no specific role to the Rhône in separating specific dialectal groupings.

MAP OF THE CA/CHA LIMIT Map 5: The ca/cha limit separating northern and southern Occitan dialects

The work of linguists, while originally not meant for that particular purpose, in effect provides elements for different groups to identify with -hence the struggle that accompanied the establishment of Occitan as a distinct language. The existence of a sharp limit between a single Occitan language in the south of France, called langue d'oc throughout the 19 th century, and French in the north, is now a central one in French dialectology but its existence was the object of fierce philological disputes at the end of the 19 th century [START_REF] Bergounioux | Le francien (1815-1914) : la linguistique au service de la patrie[END_REF]. It could indeed be understood as questioning the unity of France and of the French people as one. Philologists such as Paul Meyer and Gaston Paris thus strove to prove that there was indeed no real linguistic boundary, and that all the dialects of France formed a linguistic tapestry, gradually merging into one another to form a linguistic reality organised around Francien, in their view the former dialect of the Paris area.

It should also be noted that nowadays a few sociolinguists consider that Occitan is a recent invention, and that what actually exists is a mosaic of several 'Oc' languages (langueS d'Oc) [START_REF] Lafitte | La "Langue d'Oc" ou leS langueS d'oc?[END_REF]. In effect, this would create boundaries within the Occitan domain of Rhône-Alpes, but it does not question the limit between Occitan and other languages north of the domain.

Francoprovençal, an elusive linguistic reality

What lies beyond Occitan, further north, is however less clear. Some speakers of what is now considered as Francoprovençal did become members of the Felibrige, the literary association established in 1854 in Provence by Frédéric Mistral to promote Occitan8 . Yet, those authors from the Francoprovençal domain never sought to promote their own local varieties in their writings, and instead wrote in the standard Provençal that Mistral had codified. Those writers had no feeling of belonging to a common entity, and never referred to the dialects of their own areas as one language with its own particular name.

Nowadays however, linguists consider that present-day Romance-speaking France can be divided into three traditional linguistic domains: Langue d'oïl in the North, Langue d'oc in the south and Francoprovençal. This latter domain was identified as a coherent linguistic area only in 1873 by the Italian dialectologist Graziadio [START_REF] Ascoli | Schizzi franco-provenzali[END_REF][START_REF] Ascoli | Schizzi franco-provenzali[END_REF]) within the context of the debate outlined above between Northern and Southern dialectologists regarding the existence of dialects in France.

Originally, Francoprovençal was defined not only because it displayed some unique and distinctive features, but also because it shared other features with either Occitan or Oïl varieties -hence its name, originally spelt as franco-provenzale. Other names have since been proposed by linguists to avoid confusion (Rhodanien, Moyen-rhodanien, Southeastern French, Burgondian -because of an alleged important Burgundian superstratum) but without ever being retained.

Yet, beyond the question of its name, the limits of Francoprovençal soon became an important issue, as their drawing encroached more or less upon other languages, Occitan in particular. Eventually, two sets of phonetic features were retained: linguists distinguished Francoprovençal from Occitan in relation to the particular treatment of Latin A (as in rosa, villa and so forth) when preceded by a palatal consonant, whereas the presence of words stressed on the penultimate syllable (paroxytons) was used to differentiate it from Oïl varieties in the north of the domain.

This linguistic domain was further legitimised by the broad conjunction of its shape and limits with that of the drawing of Roman roads leading from Lyon to Aoste in present-day Italy and Geneva in present-day Switzerland, as can be seen on Map 6 below. Within this particular framework, Lugdunum (Lyon), the religious capital of Gaul could then suitably be represented as a political centre that gave the necessary political impetus to the development of Francoprovençal as a discrete language.

MAP OF ROMAN ROADS

Map 6: Roman roads from Lyon to Aoste and Geneva, and the Francoprovençal domain It should be noted that, as far as linguists are concerned, there are no obvious internal dialectal boundaries in Francoprovençal, despite several attempts to establish some [START_REF] Hasselrot | Le francoprovençal se compose-t-il de deux groupes principaux, un septentrional et un méridional ?[END_REF][START_REF] Martin | Le francoprovençal[END_REF]. Thus, linguists do not construct internal limits as an issue, contrary to what takes place among activists (see below).

One may deem thoroughly arbitrary the operation that saw the birth of Francoprovençal as a language (see also [START_REF] Tuaillon | Le franco-provençal: progrès d'une définition[END_REF]; other choices may potentially have resulted in a different definition of that linguistic domain. Map 7 below shows the isoglosses that run from east to west through the Drôme département, some of which could indeed also have been chosen to draw a limit between both Occitan and Francoprovençal.

MAP OF ISOGLOSSES DROME

Map 7: Isoglosses running from east to west in the Drôme département (based on [START_REF] Bouvier | Les parlers provençaux de la Drôme. Etude de géographie phonétique[END_REF] The linguistic choices outlined above now have consequences on the lives of the people living in those areas that, at the end of the 19 th century, were largely unforeseen. In effect, Occitan has been taught in schools since 1951, yet Francoprovençal cannot be taught officially. The level of vitality and organisation of Occitan activism in Rhône-Alpes, due to the existence of strong activist networks in the Montpellier and Toulouse areas, is considerably higher than that of Francoprovençal.

At present however, there is a general consensus among linguists on both the existence of Francoprovençal as a language in its own right, and on the border between both languages in Rhône-Alpes. No obvious area of transition is ever retained on linguistic maps, and linguistic work carried out in the region is able to assign speech to either one or the other language. In doing so, linguists act as an organised body of scientists prescribing a particular type of identification with one language or another: a particular village or speaker is either connected to Occitan or to Francoprovençal.

It should finally be noted that one amateur linguist, Pierre Bonnaud, a former professor of geography at the Université de Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne, has argued in favour of the existence of one Medio-Romance language that would encompass what is currently known as Francoprovençal as well as the Occitan dialects of the Alps, Auvergne and Limousin. Such a proposal, had it been widely adopted, would have led to a considerably different linguistic panorama in Rhône-Alpes: Occitan would only be spoken in the far south, while most of the region would find itself almost homogeneously within the domain of 'Medioromance'9 .

The voice of speakers and their perception of sociocultural limits

This section will now turn to another sort of actors in the definition of linguistic limits. It present the various ways in which ordinary speakers of both Francoprovençal and Occitan conceptualise the limits of the local language they speak, and identify with such varieties to construct their identity as speakers of minorised regional languages. They are grouped together as there is no significant difference between the speakers of both languages as established by linguists.

Language as a local reality

To most ordinary speakers, i.e. speakers who do not consider themselves as language advocates or activists, the local language or patois as they still generally refer to it [START_REF] Bert | Etude FORA: francoprovençal et occitan en Rhône-Alpes[END_REF] is bounded either by their village, their travels or their social network. The names usually attributed to the patois, i.e. Patois of X, where X represents any given village, confirms this. The patois therefore fits a lived and close-by reality, and its boundaries fit those of personal experience. In terms of linguistic identity, individual belonging is therefore primarily connected with the village, possibly a grouping of a few villages, and, most importantly one speaker's limits may therefore not correspond to those of another speaker. Boundaries are thus traditionally not fixed, and can evolve according to interaction contexts, or to events such as the arrival of a newcomer.

For example, during the fieldwork we conducted in 2007-2008 for the Francoprovençal and Occitan in Rhône-Alpes (FORA) study [START_REF] Bert | Etude FORA: francoprovençal et occitan en Rhône-Alpes[END_REF], one woman in southern Drôme (aged 87) could therefore name the villages where, according to her, people spoke the same patois as she did -this included several towns and villages in the vicinity, but also the town of Montpellier several hundred kilometres south, where her son-in-law's father came from. Other nearby villages were however excluded from her list.

What is consistently confirmed however is a clear emphasis on the maximisation of difference with close-by localities (see also [START_REF] Dorian | Defining the Speech Community to Include its Working Margins[END_REF] who comments on the obsession of speakers of endangered languages for variation), and a certain minimisation of foreignness with more distant locations. In other words, ordinary speakers identify linguistically with locality rather than with larger linguistic entities, which comes as no surprise. What is however more remarkable is the lack of correspondence between the limits drawn by linguists and those identified by speakers in their everyday discourse and practice, as will be shown in the next section.

Divergence between linguists and ordinary speakers

We have noted a definite lack of coincidence between the limits drawn by linguists and those meaningful to speakers. This is manifested both when speakers invoke limits that are irrelevant to linguists, but also through the fact that ordinary speakers usually thoroughly disregard the linguistic borders defined in linguistics.

Alleged cultural limits expressed in linguistic terms

To illustrate the first type of divergence, we take one particularly significant example in the Occitan domain, that of the Rhône. The Rhône is a major river that runs from north to south between Lyon and the Camargue area further south in Provence and flows into the Mediterranean. It marks the limit between the départements of Drôme and Ardèche in Rhône-Alpes, and further south between the Vaucluse in Provence and the Gard in Languedoc.

The Rhône corresponds to no particular isogloss, as indeed all major isoglosses run from east to west. The border between the Provençal and Languedocian dialects of Occitan lies further west on the Vidourle river. However, members of Occitan speech communities on both sides of the river consistently invoke the Rhône as a major linguistic border. People dwelling on the other side of the river are said to either speak very differently, even in a bizarre fashion, as in the case between areas in northern Drôme and Ardèche; or in some cases their speech remains unknown due to lack of contact.

Although the Rhône corresponds to no particular isogloss (see map 7, above), it has nevertheless been a political boundary since the early Middle Ages, if not before. It marked the border between the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire, between Provence and Languedoc. It now signals the difference between the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Languedoc-Roussillon regions. In this particular case, it is therefore a stronger, sociohistorical, sense of belonging that generates a border that is subsequently connected with linguistic issues. In this case, linguistic limits are constructed on the basis of former political boundaries, whereas in historical modernity, linguistic limits are often naturalised into ideal, ethnic boundaries and subsequently used to delineate political entities.

Limits established by linguists unnoticed in ordinary discourse and practice

Conversely, ordinary speakers consider some essential limits established by linguists meaningless. We take three examples from different areas in Rhône-Alpes: 1. the northern border of Francoprovençal; 2. the border between Occitan and Francoprovençal; 3. an important dialectal border within Occitan, in the south of the region.

a. The northern limit of Francoprovençal

Our first example concerns the northern border of Francoprovençal. In the north west of the Francoprovençal domain, the accentuation on the penultimate syllable, the distinctive feature defining Francoprovençal in relation to Langue d'Oïl, has recently disappeared. As this is a recent evolution however, and as linguistic traces remain, linguists consider that what people speak in this area is still Francoprovençal.

However, in a local association of language enthusiasts where speakers from that area and from further south meet up on a regular basis, participants have consistently failed to notice the realisation of that particular accentuation, or lack thereof. In fact, when speakers resort to the written medium, some mark the unstressed final vowel and others do not. Yet this feature goes unnoticed in the ordinary speech of other fellow association members.

That is to say, that particular feature is not just unnoticed, it is not semiotised -it is not discursively constructed as a distinctive feature allowing the construction of difference between speakers.

b. The Occitan / Francoprovençal border

Our second example shows that such important linguistic limits as language borders can be meaningless to ordinary speakers. This example is drawn from fieldwork conducted by Michel Bert on the Occitan / Francoprovençal border [START_REF] Bert | Rencontre de langues et francisation : L'exemple du Pilat[END_REF], and more specifically in more than twenty villages at the limit between the north of Ardèche and the south-east of the Loire. As explained above, this limit is founded upon the difference of treatment of Latin A preceded by a palatal consonant. While it does not preclude mutual comprehension, this difference leads to important structural consequences on Francoprovençal, in particular in terms of verbal, nominal and adjectival morphology (such as different conjugational paradigms between verbs in -a and verbs in -i or -é; feminine nouns and adjectives with final -a or -i, vs. Occitan -a).

Yet this feature went unnoticed by all speakers, except in one village (Tarantaise, where the speech is Occitan) where some had noticed that in Le Bessat (Francoprovençal), only a few kilometres away, some words ended in -i instead of -a.

This shows last example is therefore particularly interesting, as it emphasise how different ideologies can lead to different constructions of speech as language, and how such differences we now deem essential can easily be dismissed within other ideological frameworks. Traditionally, speakers on both sides of what is now considered a linguistic border called their language patois, and difference was emphasised or downplayed for reasons of local politics rather than in relation with the establishment of wider entities we now call languages. c. The ca/cha limit within the Occitan domain Finally, we mentioned above (see map 5 above) the existence of an essential demarcation in Romance linguistics involving the evolution of Latin CA and GA. This line runs through the north of Italy and most of the Occitan domain, and allows to distinguish not only between northern and southern Occitan, but also between essential features of major European languages such as French, Spanish and Italian. Compare for instance French chanter, Francoprovençal, Rumantsch Grischun and Northern Occitan chantar vs. Southern Occitan, Catalan, Spanish cantar and Italian cantare. It is therefore of primary importance, and in some areas in Provence it permits the construction of northerners as Gavòts, a mostly derogatory term.

However, essential as this border may be to linguists or speakers in other regions, speakers in the southern Drôme area who live on this very limit do not see it as it relevant, and in informal conversations seemed only to realise its existence when we happened to mention it. Even then, it was not seen as a relevant feature to create a difference between individuals and groups.

In the Suze-la-Rousse area in southern Drôme however, a much more important distinction consisted in the local, and often mentioned and laaghed about opposition between the pronunciation of the -ion/-ien suffix, for instance in the word informacion / informacien (information). This particular feature, more common in the Lower Provence area and relatively marginal in that area of northern Provence was constructed locally as a meaningful way to distinguish people.

Importantly, this emphasises the absence of predictability of what may or may not count as important linguistically in the construction of social difference. In terms of identity construction however, this means that identification (in this case by Academia) and folk feelings of belonging are potentially in conflict. As a consequence, 'speaking the same language' can indeed signify very different things to different people according to their ideological motivations.

Language advocates: languages as bounded, discrete entities

This section reviews the diverse positions adopted by language advocates or activists in Rhône-Alpes. Their position is a very complex one, as they must seek legitimacy from both science (mostly in order to gain access to symbolic and material resources allocated by the Institution) and the people (so as to be efficient in promoting the use of the language). In this respect, the histories of language advocacy diverge considerably on both sides of the Occitan/Francoprovençal border, mainly for reasons that originate outside Rhône-Alpes, in Provence and Languedoc.

However diverse those movements may be, they are clearly part of a wider, pan-European approach to language that tends to combine language, territory and identity in an essentialised fashion. Those social movements draw on linguistics to produce ideal linguistic territories with well-defined language boundaries.

Francoprovençal activism: from scattered local movements to the promotion of 'Arpitan'

The existence of Francoprovençal activism is recent, little organised outside Savoy at least, and is less inclined to voice radical language policy claims than the Occitan movement. Francoprovençal was, until the 1960s, mostly the preserve of dialectologists. In the 1960s however, a brand of activism emerged in Savoy during the process that saw the establishment of the Rhône-Alpes region. Language was seen as a tool that supported the claim of Savoyard autonomists to demand the creation of a Savoy region within France (Bénédicte Pivot, 2012, personal communication).

It comes as no surprise that Savoyard language advocates were keen on promoting the existence of what they perceive and promote as a well-defined and well-delimited Savoyard dialect, although this corresponds to no particular linguistic evidence.

More recently, some younger Francoprovençal language advocates have sought to organise the movement around the concept of 'Arpitan', with some activists seeking to promote a common orthographic system and possibly a standard version of the language. The term Arpitan erases the potential idea that the language is a mixture of French and Provençal, and further naturalises it as a coherent, discrete and bounded domain with external boundaries. That is to say, Francoprovençal would no longer be the construction of a handful of linguists; it would be a language that was simply waiting to be discovered.

The aim of this latter movement is clearly part of a modernist project, and apparently seeks to fuse identification with belonging, and eventually with the production of social image through music, art and other cultural and political manifestations.

The Occitan movement, 150 years later

The Occitan movement is, on the other hand, far more ancient (in its modern form, it goes back to 1854), and far more complex (see for instance [START_REF] Abrate | Occitanie 1900-1968 : des idées et des hommes[END_REF][START_REF] Costa | Revitalisation linguistique: Discours, mythes et idéologies. Approche critique de mouvements de revitalisation en Provence et en Écosse[END_REF][START_REF] Martel | Vingt-cinq ans de luttes identitaires[END_REF][START_REF] Martel | Un peu d'histoire : bref historique de la revendication occitane, 1978-1988[END_REF][START_REF] Martel | Le Félibrige[END_REF]. The Occitan movement has since then been rife with ideological debates that served to express various statements of power. Debates on orthographic issues preceded and have accompanied the development of the Felibrige to the present day.

Other debates were to follow suit regarding the denomination of the language (langue d'oc or Occitan), and, more recently, there have been attempts to redefine the various dialects of Occitan as autonomous languages, thus turning internal dialectal boundaries into language boundaries. This means that according to what revival movement activists affiliate with, they do not construct linguistic borders, and accordingly their sense of belonging, in the same way. Consider the following two maps, which represent the meaningful borders according to whether one subscribes to an Occitanist view of the world (map 8), or to its Provençalist counterpart (map 9). The first point of view follows (and tends to reify) that of most linguists since the 19 th century, while the second adopts (and often essentialises) the point of view of some ordinary speakers from the Rhône area10 .

MAPS: OCCITANISTES / PROVENÇALISTES

Map 8: The southern part of Map 9: The same zone according to Rhône-Alpes according promoters of Provençal as a distinct to the Occitan movement language

In this case, language movements combine issues of identification and belonging, as such movements struggle to impose their own perception of regional linguistic identification. Each particular view in turn indexes different conceptions of culture and politics11 [START_REF] Costa | Du local au global : essai de clarification idéologique préalable. Discours concurrents et revitalisation linguistique en Provence[END_REF], and seeks to modify feelings of belonging of both a large number of language advocates and of ordinary speakers. A considerable target is also the institutional level, which is key to the legitimisation of identification processes, and to the production of social image aspect of identity. Ultimately however, what is at stake with the definition of limits as language boundaries is access to symbolic and material advantages, such as prestige and funding.

Institutional voices: National and regional

As stated in our introduction, what makes Rhône-Alpes particularly interesting and relevant to the study of language and borders is the recent emergence of a new, and inherently legitimate social actor in the process of language naming and delimiting, the regional Government. The regional government thus has the potential to generate social image, promote identification to its own vision of what it means to be rhônalpin, including linguistically, and to influence the sense of belonging of the inhabitants of the territory. In practice, it competes with an array of other types of actors, not least the state and the départements that compose the region.

The regional government has however adopted two main attitudes as far as regional linguistic boundaries are concerned: on the one hand, it has sought to legitimise and officialise the linguistic division of its territory externally, following the divisions identified (or chosen) by linguists, for example through its opposition to the national government in terms of language education planning. It has therefore advocated in favour of a wider national recognition for Francoprovençal in its current form. Simultaneously, it has attempted to partially erase that border internally, in order to justify the emergence of a Rhônalpine identity and to legitimise its existence as a recent administrative entity.

Region and Nation

The state is a particularly influential institution, as it controls the education system. As far as Occitan is concerned, the state has followed the boundaries established in the 19 th century, despite attempts by some Provençal language advocates to institute Provençal as a distinct entity.

It has been legal to teach some regional languages of France since 1951, but Francoprovençal is not part of them. Following language advocates' demands that the language be taught over the past twenty years, various government decisions have assigned Francoprovençal to either the Oïl domain (and therefore, as a dialect of French, it does not require particular teaching provisions), or as a dialect of Occitan, which can therefore be taught (see Grinevald & Bert, forthcoming). The latter option is considered a nonsense by language advocates locally.

Legitimising the boundaries of Francoprovençal as established by linguists is therefore a strong requirement for the Rhône-Alpes regional Government in the establishment of a regional language policy that treats both regional languages on an equal footing. At an official level, only the borders defined by linguists carry enough weight to justify political action.

Promoting a regional identity

The interest of the regional government in the regional language spoken within the territory of the region began in 1007, when it commissioned a sociolinguistic survey on the use of Francoprovençal and Occitan [START_REF] Bert | Etude FORA: francoprovençal et occitan en Rhône-Alpes[END_REF]. Since then a number of measures of language policy were passed with respect to both languages.

Given the lack of either historical substance or cultural unity to justify and legitimise the existence of Rhône-Alpes, it is precisely this diversity that has come to characterise the region and the social image the local Government wished to promote in official discourse (see [START_REF] Costa | De l'un et du divers. La région Rhône-Alpes et la mise en récit de ses langues[END_REF]. Consider for example the following extract from the regional Government's website: Rhône-Alpes tire son unité de ses mille et une facettes géographiques et climatiques. Mais ce sont avant tout ses habitants qui font chaque jour de Rhône-Alpes une région dynamique, attractive où il fait bon vivre. [...] La région Rhône-Alpes est placée au carrefour naturel de grands axes de communication nationaux et européens. Cette situation en fait une Région ou la diversité est le maître mot. Ce puzzle à la fois géographique, climatique, sociologique et culturel pourrait être un handicap. Rhône-Alpes en a fait sa force12 . Rhône-Alpes draws its unity from its multifaceted geographic and climatic character. But above all, it is its inhabitants that relentlessly make Rhône-Alpes a dynamic, attractive region where life is agreeable. […] The Rhône-Alpes region lies at a natural crossroads between major national and European roads. This situation makes the Region one where diversity is a central keyword. This geographic, climatic, sociological and cultural mosaic could be a handicap. Rhône-Alpes has made it its strength.

Of central importance is precisely the necessity to naturalise the existence of Rhône-Alpes despite its recent creation, and to create a charter myth that ensures that the entity is legitimate as an administrative entity. In this respect, language proves to be a useful tool for the regional Government, which can focus both on linguistic diversity as part of its constitutive diversity, and on the closeness of both languages to assert the coherence of the region as more than an administrative construct.

Indeed, in its public documentation regarding the language as well as in the text that was provided to members of the regional assembly when the principle of a linguistic policy was first adopted, the language border tends to be erased [START_REF] Costa | De l'un et du divers. La région Rhône-Alpes et la mise en récit de ses langues[END_REF], in particular through the use of the expression 'vernacular languages', that allows no language name to be given 13 . Conversely the similarities between speech on both sides of the limit are emphasised, in order to contribute to legitimise the idea of Rhône-Alpes as a coherent ensemble. Thus, despite an official discourse on diversity, unity is still sought through the existence of common features such as language, in a movement that reproduces, in a much lighter version, the construction of France as 'one and indivisible' in the 19 th century.

Issues of limits and boundaries are, as we can see from this example, clearly connected to issues of social image production, and can be used to emphasise or neutralise tensions that can arise from the presence of diversity within a given territory. That is to say, limits can be transformed though discourse into difference or sameness, depending on what political agenda is at stake at the time when discourses are produced.

In our particular case, the limits of speakers are ignored by regional politics, because they emphasise the ultra-local. The limits of Savoyard as put forward by activists have also been erased for political reasons, in order to obliterate a potential conflict with the Savoyard autonomist movement, especially at a time when the region was also celebrating the 150 th anniversary of the union or annexation, depending on social actor's point of view, of Savoy to / by France. Finally, the region acknowledges and legitimised the Occitan vision of the south of the regional domain. This allows avoiding the creation of a new internal linguistic division, and aligns regional choices with those of other Occitan regions.

Conclusion: Performing diverse and potentially conflicting aspects of identity

That linguistic limits are social constructs is, of course, by no means a new element in the sociolinguistics of language borders. What makes this particular case interesting is both the lack of coincidence between the limits constructed by linguists and those meaningful to ordinary speakers. Language advocates and institutional actors are subsequently compelled to take position with respect to those diverging point of view. Significantly, the limits of speakers are usually disregarded. The meanings those limits convey wane with the gradual passing of traditional speakers. The ideologies that led to those limits are also disappearing, and new ideologies, based on the mutually legitimising alliance of linguistics and institutions, are gradually imposing a new type of discourse on the minority languages spoken in Rhône-Alpes.

Linguists, speakers and activists therefore perform various, conflicting, aspects of identity though the semiotisation of linguistic features. In short, they carry out a type of struggle over classifications that index values and ideas that are far removed from linguistic concerns.

A first conclusion to this chapter could be that in Rhône-Alpes linguistic limits are important to every type of social actor involved with regional languages at different levels. Limits can subsequently be turned into boundaries for population management purposes, they can be used to generate or legitimise difference and identity.

A second conclusion, one with more long-term implications, would be that much more research is needed as to the type of social meaning that is invested by social actors in various interactional situations. This article only paints a very broad picture of a reality that remains much more complex. The type of linguistic policy that the Rhône-Alpes regional government wishes to implement is of course (for now) fairly inconsequential for most of the population of the region, given the small numbers of people involved. Yet it may trigger new dynamics, and generate new types of behaviour in link with the linguistic borders language policy inevitably creates or naturalises.

In the administrative division of France, the département is one of the three levels of government below the national level. Départements were created during the revolution to break down former provinces, and now constitute an elected intermediate administrative level between the Communes (towns) and the Régions.

On the process of région and département naming, see[START_REF] Boyer | Localiser, identifier, valoriser[END_REF].

All maps, except map 3, were designed for this chapter by Olivier Bodson, whom we wish to thank here.

The number of speakers of either language is now very low, with less than 1% of the regional population speaking either Occitan or Francoprovençal. Locally however, for example in Ardèche, Ain or Savoy, percentages can be significantly higher, especially among the older population[START_REF] Bert | Etude FORA: francoprovençal et occitan en Rhône-Alpes[END_REF]. The issues at stake here are therefore mainly symbolic.

Map courtesy of the Rhône-Alpes region. This map is used by the regional Government when promoting the language, and shows the limits between both languages as generally represented in traditional dialectology.

Mistral, who was the instigator of the Occitan language movement as we know it today and an inspiration for many revivalists, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his literary achievements in 1904.

See also below, 4.2.2.

For example, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Paul Marietton in Lyon and the Abbé Cerlogne in the Val d'Aoste.

For a map of the 'Medioromance' area, see for example http://www.creuse.fr/IMG/pdf/16-Creusois-23.pdf (accessed 20/07/2012).

There is a general consensus in Romance linguistics to consider the Occitan domain as one single entity. Some sociolinguists, however, support the view that Provençal is a distinct language (e.g.[START_REF] Blanchet | Le provençal: Essai de description sociolinguistique et différentielle[END_REF].

In particular, proponents of Provençal as a separate language tend to promote more keenly such cultural activities as the wearing of the Provençal costume, and to over-emphasise their ties with rural, workingclass Provence. On the other hand, they view the Occitan movement as middle-class led and oriented. No study has yet been conducted in terms of voting practices however.

Rhône-Alpes Regional Council website, http://www.rhonealpes.fr/23-dynamisme-en-rhone-alpes.htm. Accessed 20 July 2012.

Also, note that in French, the plural is not heard when the expression is used orally.