Welcome Wisconsin

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 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 ePals SchoolMail – Safe, protected, multilingual designed for school safety. “Walled Garden” with only K12 students inside ePals SchoolBlog 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 In2Books + Projects – Literacy skill resource, National Geographic, IBM eMentoring, Intel Classmate PC/World Ahead projectProjects

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: , 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 21 st 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! –Global Community (classroom matching) –SchoolMail TM –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 s 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

Partner class Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom

Project Overview Friendly letters with 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………

Welcome Wisconsin

Collaboration

Goals Teaching with global connections Stories of collaboration and projects for learning Using free tools to find and connect: ePals –Wisconsin Connects! –Global Community (classroom matching) –SchoolMail TM –SchoolBlog TM –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 Wisconsin

Your Teacher Homepage

Unique Features of SchoolMail 1.Language Translation: ePals SchoolMail is the first with built-in Language Translation. 2.Safe and Secure: Options for monitoring student work (SchoolMail was made for school use with qualities that teachers asked for!) 3.World’s Largest Online Learning Community: Use ePals SchoolMail to communicate with students, parents, peer educators, and members of the global community.

First with Built-in Language Translation

Safe and Protected Student Safely integrate student in appropriate, educational ways. Preview students’ incoming and outgoing messages. Ensure that messages are appropriate to age, setting and context.

Level 1All messages must be approved by the monitor, whether they contain profanity or not. Level 2Messages 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 3Messages containing profanity must be approved by the monitor, but unflagged messages will reach their recipients automatically. The monitor will not see unflagged messages. Level 4All 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 . Note: Click “flagged student messages.”

Class/MonitorStudents are limited to mailing other students who have the same monitor. Choose this access level if you want students to use only for internal exercises within the classroom. SchoolStudents are limited to mailing students and teachers in the same school. Choose this access level if you want students to use only for school-based projects and communication. DistrictThis 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 this access level if you want students to use 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 Communitywith active accounts in the ePals Global Community. InternetThis option allows your students to anyone with an 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 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! –Global Community (classroom matching) –SchoolMail TM –SchoolBlog TM –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

Step 1: Come up with a GREAT idea! Check out The Way We Are Classroom Project to start a popular project x?DivID=TheWayWeAre_overview x?DivID=TheWayWeAre_overview Compare how you celebrate a holiday (Mardi Gras) in your area with how it is celebrated in other classrooms across your state or across the world!

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 1 st - 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 Community Classroom 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 ( , 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 Community Classroom 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. vs. Texting, etc. –Set Expectations ( rubric)

Step 3: Create a Plan Create a Project Outline Look at state standards Introductory Lessons 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 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! –Global Community (classroom matching) –SchoolMail TM –SchoolBlog TM –Teacher and student forums What are my first steps? How do I add global collaborative learning to my classroom? More resources

Training and Resource Blog 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 – 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 to: 86

ePals – Online Tools Login Location: Administrator’s Guide can be found at: _v26.pdf Teacher’s Guide can be found at: pdf “How to Get the Most Out of ePals” 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 support) 88