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Writing- ePals

Page history last edited by Lauren Richards 11 years, 9 months ago

 

 

 

By: Lauren Richards and Rob Walker

 

 

 

What is ePals? 

ePals Global Community™ is a free “social learning platform for school communities to safely connect and collaborate” (web).  ePals has built the world’s largest and fastest growing K-12 learning network which serves approximately 800,000 educators and reaches millions of teachers, students, and parents in approximately 200 countries and territories.  ePals allows educators to create, organize, and customize Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis, forums, dynamic calendars, homework dropboxes, and LearningSpaces for individual classrooms, team projects, school clubs, and local and global collaborations.  ePals acknowledges the important and meaningful role peer-collaboration and authentic relevant real world connections play in 21st century classrooms.  ePals' mission is to “support lifelong learning through collaborative experiences that empower and inspire.”

 

Why it Works:

“Unlike traditional social networks, where a person usually connects soley with people he or she knows in the "real world," the ePals network connects students both "down the block" and literally around the globe with people they may not know, but with whom they share a common interest” (web).  ePals’ Web 2.0 tools emphasizes project-based learning, differentiated instruction, and real-time collaboration.  “Students are more engaged in the learning process because they are interacting and working together with peers and educators within these groups" (web).  In result, this promotes teamwork, digital literacy skills, higher-level thinking, and communication as well as global interest and awareness.

 

 

 

How to Use ePals:


 

 

 

Use in the Classroom:

ePals can be applied to many different content areas, the most prominent of them being literacy as it deals directly with communication. ePals can be used in the teaching of letter writing.  Students can be taught the different parts of a letter in tandem with another class from another part of the world. To practice their skills as well as a form of assessment, students from each class can send each other’s letters through email.  In addition, the lesson in letter writing can also be used to teach students basic grammar skills. The “pen pal lesson” can be expanded upon by having the teacher project letters from the chosen class on the white board and go over the different parts of the letter, giving the students a concrete example of what they are learning.

 

The communication aspect of epals allows for lessons in several other content areas as seen in the examples below:

 

Math: Students can learn the use of a different number system such as Mandarin through communication with a Mandarin speaking classroom, and the students can also provide demonstrations through email and video of their use of the English number system, therefore both practicing necessary numeric ability and learning how another culture uses math.

 

Geography: Students can create maps of their hometown, citing important landmarks and geological formations.  They could then exchange the maps with other students from another classroom in a different part of the world.

 

Literature and Music: Students can send copies of their favorite songs to other classrooms and the other classroom can send their favorite songs in return. The songs can be broken down into the chorus, bridge, etc. and then sung to the opposite class, through an emailed recorded video.

 

 

Additional resources for application of epals in the Classroom:

 

A Class in Florida Connects with their European Peers:

http://images.epals.com/downloads/esm_case_study.pdf

 

An explanation of ePals and how it was used to connect with classrooms in Asia:

http://www.slideshare.net/ritaoates/authentic-k12-global-collaboration-with-epals-at-asia-society-conference-7811

 

An epals project that focusses on social studies:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35265795/Six-NETS-S-Standards-Six-Student-Projects

 

An in-depth look at how to use epals:

http://images.epals.com/downloads/ePals_Guide_Garton_012708.pdf

 

A lesson plan template on how to use epals for 6th graders:

https://sites.google.com/site/eportfoliosamanthaastolfi/web-2-0-tools-lesson-plans/epals-lesson-plan

 

 

Works Cited:

 

"EPals Global Community." EPals Global Community. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2012.

       <http://www.epals.com/>.

 

"EPals Global Community." N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012.

       <http://jatakacs.edublogs.org/files/2010/01/logo_ePALS_hi_res.jpg>.

 

Epals - Getting Started. TeacherTecVids, 25 May 2011. Web. 15 June 2012.

       <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HRF12PV-yag>.

        

 Epals - The Basics. TeacherTecVids, 25 May 2011. Web. 15 June 2012.

       <http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=meR2DLQH5p8>

 "Tech Savvy Education." Â» Just Another Wilkes.discoveryeducation.com Blogs Weblog. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012.                          

       <http://wilkes.discoveryeducation.com/christinedgw/>.

 

 

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