welcome wisconsin . partnership between the office of the lieutenant governor and epals
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome Wisconsinwww.wisconsinconnects.net
Partnership between the Office of the Lieutenant Governor and ePals
Web 2.0 Tools and Social Networking
for Global Collaborative
Learning
Are your students connected?
What is ePals?ePals Global Network – Internet’s largest social learning network
reaching 13 million teachers and students in 200 countries for teacher-supervised, cross-cultural penpal exchanges, project-sharing and project-based learning, literacy and foreign language skill practice
ePals SchoolMail – Safe, protected, multilingual email designed for school safety. “Walled Garden” with only K12 students inside
ePals SchoolBlog - Safe, protected blog predetermining who can participate, access and post. Great for writing journals, events, projects. Parents can have full/partial access.
In2Books + Projects – Literacy skill resource, National Geographic, IBM eMentoring, Intel Classmate PC/World Ahead project
Are you a web 0.0 or web 1.0 or web 2.0 teacher?
• Web 0.0: read textbooks, books only
• Web 1.0: email, webquests, look up information online
• Web 2.0: Refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design, that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications; such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, and blogs.
When asked which skills are important for students to be successful in the 21st century, 69% of students in the U.S. responded:
The ability to work with people from all over the world!
What collaborations do you have now?
• Within school?• Within district?• Within state?• Outside U.S. borders?
• How do you find partners?• How do you communicate?• Any ePals users here?
Goals
• Teaching with global connections• Stories of collaboration and projects for learning • Using free tools to find and connect: ePals
– Wisconsin Connects! www.wisconsinconnects.net– Global Community (classroom matching)– SchoolMailTM
– Teacher and student forums
• What are my first steps? How do I add global collaborative learning to my classroom?
• More resources
ePals Exchanges
The grade 2 students had so much fun reading emails from their new friends. They learned many ways they were alike as well as different.
The student groups wrote about different aspects of their schools and videoed themselves to create a "documentary" about their school and community. We then exchanged "culture parcels" with the other class.
Louisiana and United Kingdom
Project Overview• Friendly letters with email
• Compared cultures
• Completed “documentary”
First…Practice!• On paper
• With each other
Friendly Letters
Collaboration across the Digital Divide: New York Students and their ePals in Botswana
A story of global connections that transcend socio-economic status, culture and place.
Students from the Guangxi School, China
A story that embraces shared language and cultural awareness.
Collaborating with Their California ePals………
http://sites.epals.com/cpauchnick/
http://sites.epals.com/pauchnickc/
Welcome Wisconsinwww.wisconsinconnects.net
Collaboration
Collaboration
Goals
• Teaching with global connections• Stories of collaboration and projects for learning • Using free tools to find and connect: ePals
– Wisconsin Connects! www.wisconsinconnects.net – Global Community (classroom matching)– SchoolMailTM
– SchoolBlogTM
– Teacher and student forums
• What are my first steps? How do I add global collaborative learning to my classroom?
• More resources
• Connecting classrooms in 200 countries & territories
• Reaching 13 million students & teachers
• 2,000 new schools/month
• Policy managed & Teacher supervised
• Trusted pipeline to the world’s classrooms
Welcome Wisconsinwww.wisconsinconnects.net
First Email with Built-in Language Translation
Safe and Protected Student Email:
• Safely integrate student email in appropriate, educational ways.
• Preview students’ incoming and outgoing email messages.
• Ensure that messages are appropriate to age, setting and context.
Level 1 All messages must be approved by the monitor, whether they contain profanity or not.
Level 2 Messages containing profanity must be approved by the monitor, but unflagged messages will reach their recipients automatically. The monitor will also receive a copy of every unflagged message.
Level 3 Messages containing profanity must be approved by the monitor, but unflagged messages will reach their recipients automatically. The monitor will not see unflagged messages.
Level 4 All profanity filters are off.
Filter Levels
ePals SchoolMail
This is a close-up of what you’ll see in the middle of your screen when you log in to monitor student email.
Note: Click “flagged student messages.”
Class/Monitor Students are limited to mailing other students who have the same monitor. Choose this access level if you want students to use email only for internal exercises within the classroom.
School Students are limited to mailing students and teachers in the same school. Choose this access level if you want students to use email only for school-based projects and communication.
District This option, available only if your ePALS SchoolMail™ system includes multiple schools, limits students to mailing students and teachers at schools created within your system. Choose thisaccess level if you want students to use email only for district- and school-based projects and communication.
.
and…….
Six Access Levels(if set up as a district account)
ePals SchoolMail™This restricts student communication to other students with an ePals SchoolMail account regardless of school / district
ePals Global Allows students to communicate with other students Community with active accounts in the ePals Global Community.
Internet This option allows your students to email anyone with an email address, whether they are inside your district, part of ePALS or using the Internet through other means. Choose this access level to allow students to email anyone, anywhere.
Six Access Levels
Goals
• Teaching with global connections• Stories of collaboration and projects for learning • Using free tools to find and connect: ePals
– Wisconsin Connects! www.ltgov.wisconsin.gov – Global Community (classroom matching)– SchoolMailTM
– SchoolBlogTM
– Teacher and student forums
• What are my first steps? How do I add global collaborative learning to my classroom?
• More resources
Start with ePals in 3 easy steps:
Step 1: Come up with a GREAT idea!
Step 2: Find Partners
Step 3: Create a Plan
Project Search
Project Search
Step 2: Find Partners
• Submit your ePals Classroom Profile to share your project idea
• Wait for profile approval
• Reach out to other classrooms through Classroom Match
Search by Location
1st - Select a Continent
2nd - Select a Country
3rd - Select a classroom from the list of profiles
Eliminate language barriers with translation tool!
English version of the Spanish profile
Active Participation in the Community Starts with a
Classroom Profile
Creating a Classroom Profile is an important first step in active participation in the global community.
Teachers can’t contact other classrooms without having a profile submitted and approved.
ePals Global CommunityClassroom Match –
Create Your Classroom Profile
A Successful Profile Includes:
1. Age-range of class
2. Language(s) the students speak
3. Location of the classroom
4. Location of desired partner
A Successful Profile Includes:
5. Collaboration tools (email, postal mail, blogs, video conferences)
6. Length of desired collaboration
7. Frequency of desired collaboration (weekly, monthly, at holidays)
8. Topic of desired collaboration (You can update this when you have a new project in mind!)
ePals Global CommunityClassroom Match –
Submit Your Classroom Profile
Step 3: Create a Plan
• Create a Project Outline
• Introductory Lessons– Introducing Internet Safety to Students– Written Communication: Letter Writing
vs. Email vs. Texting, etc.– Set Expectations (email rubric)
Step 3: Create a Plan
• Create a Project Outline • Look at state standards • Introductory Lessons• Email within your OWN classroom
– Round robin story writing– Current event response– Vocabulary integration– Data collection and analysis
• Go global with ePals
Step 3: Create a Plan
• Create a Project Outline • Look at state standards • Introductory Lessons• Email within your OWN classroom• Go global with ePals
– Yearlong ePals– Project-based ePals
Goals
• Teaching with global connections• Stories of collaboration and projects for learning • Using free tools to find and connect: ePals
– Wisconsin Connects! www.ltgov.wisconsin.gov – Global Community (classroom matching)– SchoolMailTM
– SchoolBlogTM
– Teacher and student forums
• What are my first steps? How do I add global collaborative learning to my classroom?
• More resources
Training and Resource Bloghttp://sites.epals.com/ePalsTraining
• Training resources • Reaching the NETS with ePals• Integration ideas• Video resources• Classroom resources• Sample parent and student permission
forms
Join the Conversation
• Do you have any questions about ePals?
ePals SchoolM@il – Customer Fulfillment
ePals has a team of Activation Specialists that will assist you every step of the way:– Provide assistance in uploading accounts for your teachers and
students– Provide online training materials for you and your teachers– Schedule “Getting Started” webinars– Offer “After-School” webinar sessions for you and your teachers
To contact our team or schedule a Webinar session please send an email to:
86
ePals SchoolM@il – Online Tools
• SchoolM@il Login Location:
www.epals.com
• SchoolM@il Administrator’s Guide can be found at:
http://www.epals.com/schoolmail/admin/support/manual/SM_Admin_v26.pdf
• SchoolM@il Teacher’s Guide can be found at:
http://www.epals.com/schoolmail/documentation/SM_Teacher_v20.pdf
• “How to Get the Most Out of ePals”
http://www.epals.com/help/#s07 87
ePals Customer Fulfillment Team• Victoria McEachern, Vice President, Customer Fulfillment and
Management
• Rita Oates, Ph.D., Vice President, Education Markets
• Jacky Little, Account Activation
• Julie Martin, Sales Administrator
• ePals Customer Fulfillment Team (General Delivery Mailbox)
• ePals Support Team (unlimited email support)
88
