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ePals 101: BringGlobal Collaboration
andCommunication
Into YourClassroom
Rita Oates, [email protected]
www.epals.com
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What are YOUR issues with global
collaborations in schools?
Any ePals users here?
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What are YOUR issues with global
collaborations in schools?
Communications like emailnot allowed in district
Hard to find class outsideUS to collaborate with Safety of
student data Students speak English
only Computers for testing only Standards rule Money
Time in school
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What collaborations do you have
now? Within school? Within district?
Within state?
Within U.S.?
Outside U.S. borders?
How do you find partners? How do you communicate?
Any ePals users here?
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Hill City Elementary
Bringing the world to rural Kansasthrough social networking
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Statewide projects with ePals
Maine: 150,000students
Wisconsin: 800,000students
Pennsylvania: 1.8 millionstudents,Classroom For theFuture
program
Kansas: 400,000
students, on thestates KanEd portalColorado: 800,000
students througheNet Colorado
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Example profile:
Students learning to speak English
250+ Turkish teachers
have submitted profiles in
the past year, and most
seek English speakers.
Experienced ePals user since 2004!
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10
Back-to-School Pledge Drive: Go Global!
ePals has created a Pledge to Take Your School
Global campaign asking teachers, parents andstudents to commit
to take at least one action this year toconnect their classroom
with learners in another part of theworld.
10
Campaign Overview:
The campaign unites school communities, organizations and
associations around a single,
simple mission:
Empower a new generation of learners to build a meaningful,
authentic understanding of
diverse cultural perspectives as they prepare to participate in
an emerging, global society.
www.epals.com/pledge
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Goals
What is ePals?
Stories of collaboration
Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail
What are my first steps?
More resources and whats new!
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Learners Connect, Communicate and Collaborate
Largest K-12 social learning network globally, reaching more
than 25 million students, teachers and parents in 200
countries
Leading provider of cloud-based, policy-managed email and
social learning solutions for schools and districts
CONNECT COMMUNICAT E COLLABORATE
25 Million Students &
Teachers Worldwide
Next Generation Email and
Communications
Social Learning
Environment for
Collaboration and
Community
Largest Community of
Connected, Global
Classrooms
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Connecting 700,000classrooms in 200countries &
territories
2,500+ newschools/month
Policy managed andTeacher supervised
Trusted pipelineto the worldsclassrooms
TRUSTe certification
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ePals Brings Next-Generation Solutions to Schools
free -- students and their teacherslocate, connect with and
workcollaboratively with another class
free -- secure onlinecommunication for students,parents,
teachers andadministrators, instant translation in
58 languages. Problem word filterand ability to control how
widelystudents can send/receive email.
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ePals Brings Next-Generation Solutions to Schools
NEW in Feb. 2011! Safe, secureonline communication for
students,teachers, administrators, parents. ICTadministrator can
establish school-
safe usage policies. Used by NewYork City Schools.$4/student +
setup fee. No ads.
A virtual workspace optimized for creating,
sharing, managing and collaborating oneducational content.
Integrated web 2.0tools: SchoolBlog, wikis, forums,
digitalportfolios, cloud-based storage and ePalsSchoolMail, all
with industry-leading safety
and security for K-12 schools.
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16
World Class Partners and Customers
Example Customers
> 900K students
140 countries
1.1MM students
1,700 schools
Integrated withstate-wide portal
Opportunity of 460kstudents
63,000 students
94 schools
Provides state-wideportal
Opportunity of 850kstudents
Content and Technology Partners
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International
Partners One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) (on all desktops,
third world countries)
Intel Classmate PC (designed for K-6 students,widely used in
Portugal and other countries)
* Ministry ofEducation, Kenya
* LEAP, Thailand* Eduteka, Latin America, 75,000 teachers
andSpanish-language content
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Goals
What is ePals?
Stories of collaboration
Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail
What are my first steps?
More resources and whats new!
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We'd like you to meet our ePals from BrazilMrs. Russell's First
Grade
Glenwood Elementary
Vestal, NY
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School: EMEIF "Terezinha do Menino Jesus Porto Wu"Town: Santa
BrancaState: Sao Paolo
Country:B
razil
Hello From Sao Paolo, Brazil
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Our school in Brazil has palm
trees. What kind of trees are
outside your school?
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Our square is being rebuilt.
See how our town is a hilly place!
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Collaboration across the Digital Divide:
New York Students and ePals in Botswana
A story of globalconnections thattranscend socio-economic
status,
culture and place.
After school, we play in thefield next to the school.
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Students from the Guangxi School, China
Shared language andcultural awarenessChina-San Diegoages
16-18
English language teacher inChinese school has manyfemale
students
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Their California ePals
These teachers haveworked together for
eight years.some
projects are just a few
weeks or months!
Teacher Candace Pauchnick fromPatrick Henry HS in San Diego
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Member since 2001
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http://www.epalscorp.com/about/news/press_feb08_06.html
Email Improves Reading andWriting Test Scores
State standardized test scores from aNewark Public Schools 4th
grade classshow significant reading and writing
improvement through twice weekly use ofemail letter writing with
fellow classmatesand a peer classroom in Italy.
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Louisiana and United Kingdom
The students had so much fun reading emailsfrom their new
friends. They learned many waysthey were alike as well as
different.
The student groups wrote about differentaspects of their schools
and videoed themselvesto create a "documentary" about their school
andcommunity. We then exchanged "cultureparcels" with the other
class.
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Loudoun County (VA)
Public Schools Students study communities in grade 3. Contact
classrooms from elsewhere in Virginia
(urban/rural/suburban) and exchange information abouttheir
communities.
Children grasp the idea of rural, urban, to compare totheir own
suburban as they communicate with peersfrom these areas.
Next the class has a collaboration with a classroom in anarea
like theirs but in another country!
Teachers use videoconferences with classrooms.
Students use presentations and Google Earth toshowcase their
communities.
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Most Popular Long-term Matches
#1 English as a Second Language teachersoutside an
English-speaking country want topair their students with
English-speaking
students#2 Teachers of foreign language want to pair
their students with native speakers (teacherof Spanish wants
Spanish speakers inMexico)
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Spanish class in S. Korea
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Not one more thing -- but a newway of advancing learning
goals
Spelling or vocabulary words homework
You assign to write in sentences
Instead, include words in an email to a partner
Students get extra credit for posting aresponse to a question in
the StudentForum
Encourage students to read in the StudentForums on topics that
interest them
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One-email exchanges too!
Students create 10 questions for a classroom ina country they
are studying in Geography, thingsnot in the book they want to
know
Students search global community and find fivepotential partner
classes
Students copy profiles into a Word file
Students submit questions and profiles to
teacher Teacher writes to the other teachers, pasting in
the student questions..
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Sample one-email from teacher
Dear (teachername),
My geography class in Iowa has questions aboutyour country.
Could you please have a few
students answer these questions in an email tome?If possible I
would like to have the answers bySeptember 26.
Here are the questions:
Thanks so much for your help. Please let us knowif we can answer
any questions about Iowa or
the USA!
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Join the Conversation
Did any of these stories resonate withyou?
How would your students benefit fromthese types of
experiences?
Do you know of possible partner schoolselsewhere?
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Goals
What is ePals?
Stories of collaboration
Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail
What are my first steps?
More resources and whats new!
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Finding a global partner
Search by map
Search by classroom
Search by project
Look at the New Schools scrolling on the
home page of ePals for the newest profiles OR search in Project
Forums orTeacher
Forums for very specific matches
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Search by Map1. Select a continent
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2. Select aCountry
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3. Select a
classroomfrom theprofiles,
with
newestprofiles
posted on
top
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Eliminate language barrierswith translation tool!
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Translation to 58 languages!
Most common languages listed first
Less common languages listed second
Both in alphabetical order This is an expansion as of late June
2009
from eight languages
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Cautionsabout your assumptions
What age students are in Primary School?
What age students are in a school called
College? Or a colegio?
When does the school year start and end?
When are vacations or holidays?
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Collge in France = pre-university students
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Be specific about what you want!
What do you study? Use keywords from your curriculum Geography:
Mexico, Brazil, Russia
Do you want to use an ePals project? Which one?
When does your school year start and end? March-June is end of
year in Iowa New school year in Chile starts in March
Interesting way for your students to practicewriting to
non-English speakers Make them more aware of how they say things
so
they arent confusing!
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How do you get a profile?
You fill out some basic contact info
You write your profile
We have real people who read andapprove themor ask for
revisions!
Teachers cant contact other classroomswithout having a profile
submitted andapproved.
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ePals Global CommunityClassroom Match Create Your Classroom
Profile
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A Successful ProfileIncludes Extra Info:
1. Something interesting about your school orareaclose to the
ocean, a volcano, in thecapital city, enrolls only female students,
etc.
2. Collaboration tools you might use (email, postalmail, blogs,
video conferences, Skype)
3. Length of desired collaboration (For 3 weeksin October)
4. Frequency of desired collaboration (weekly,monthly, at
holidays)
5. Topic of desired collaboration (You can updatethis when you
have a new project in mind!)
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ePals Forums (also free)
Student Forums We mediate the forums, so you dont have to read
and approve
postings.
Your students can collaborate with other students safely,
overthe weekend.
Your students can search and read student postings to see
whatothers have said, a great way to practice authentic reading
andwriting!
Project Forums make it easier to find matches for
ePalsprojects
Teacher Forums for topics you generate
Parent Forums to help parents learn from other parents
Adults can post in adult forums; students in StudentForum
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StudentForums
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StudentForum:SocialIssues
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Student viewpoints from Turkey, USA
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Goals
What is ePals?
Stories of collaboration
Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail
What are my first steps?
More resources and whats new!
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SchoolMail:built for school use
Features teachers asked for
Teacher moderation:
incoming/outgoing option
Multiple levels of filtering
Teachers can get copies for alternativeassessment
Translation to 58 languages
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SchoolMail usernames
Student: [email protected]
Teacher: [email protected]
No extra charge for custom subdomain asmaine.epals.com in
district with 10,000+ st.
Use existing names or we create them
Roles and responsibilities assigned
Batch upload from SIS (49K students in 2+hours)
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Safe and Protected Student Email:
Safely integrate student email in appropriate,educational
ways.
Ask students to use academic language,
spelling, punctuation and practice skillsvaluable in the
business world.
Preview students incoming and outgoing emailmessages.
Use email messages for alternative assessment. Ensure that
messages are appropriate to age,
setting and context.
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Note: Click flagged student messages.
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Dashboard for Teacher-monitored Email
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Problem Words Highlighted in Red
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Most powerful K12 emailsystem in the markettoday:
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SchoolMail365
Role and Group-based Policies
Hierarchical, K12 role and group-
based policies Only communication solution withthese powerful
tools Admins determine who can receiveemail based on school
district policies,student age, etc.
Smart School Directories and
Contact Lists
Email address books are auto-populated based on school
policiesand each persons role and
communication rights Parents can easily email theirchildrens
teachers
100% e-rate eligible product (not
free)
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Best-of-breed security + safety technologies
Role-Based PermissionsEach user is assigned a role in
theirLearningSpace community (student, teacher,parent,
administrator).Policies determine whether a role can creategroups,
view connections, and invite groups tocollaborate.
Controlled ConnectionsA policy can be set to manage student
interaction
with other members of your LearningSpacecommunity.High school
students may not be able to viewprofiles or request connections
with K-5 students,unless they are in the same group.
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Best-of-breed security + safety technologies
Content ModerationWritten content (blog and forum
posts,comments) can be reviewed beforepublishing or removed
afterward by a
designated moderator. Inappropriate Language Filters
Multiple spellings of inappropriatewords written in a blog,
comment ormessage are automatically flagged andremoved.
Questionable content inemails sent to designated moderator.
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Goals
What is ePals?
Stories of collaboration
Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail
What are my first steps?
More resources and whats new!
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District issues to consider
Do you need to go through a districtcommittee or director or
your principal?
TRUSTe certification for all ePals!
At the bottom of each page of ePals, youcan see: Privacy
Policy
Advertising Policy Terms of Use
Copyright and Trademark Policy
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School-wide setup
We prefer to provision all teachers in yourschool with free
ePals accounts, eventhough only a few may want to start right
away. You provide a list of all teachers, and we
can create teacher user names.
We can upload student names with abatch upload tool and that can
createstudent account names (unless you havenames you want to
use)
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Project-Based Learning
Free to use, adapt
Developed jointly with NationalGeographic
Also feature great teacher-created projects
International School
In Pudong UN Day
Grade 4, Mrs. Smith
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Start with a Specific Project
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Clear Plan for Email Exchanges in the Project
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Brief Lesson Plans
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Great teacher-created projects
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ePalsTeacher
Ambassador
ContestWinners
Publish student work to a worldwide audience
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Publish student work to a worldwide audience
Vi i di i th illi
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Viewing audience in the millions
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Join the Conversation
Do you have questions about gettingstarted with ePals?
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Goals
What is ePals?
Stories of collaboration
Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail
What are my first steps?
More resources and whats new!
How Tos Manuals
-
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How Tos, ManualsUnderHelp from home page
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Back-to-School Pledge Drive: Go Global!
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90
Back to School Pledge Drive: Go Global!
ePals has created a Pledge to Take Your School
Global campaign asking teachers, parents and
students to commit to take at least one action this year
toconnect their classroom with learners in another part of
theworld.
90
Campaign Overview:
The campaign unites school communities, organizations and
associations around a single,
simple mission:
Empower a new generation of learners to build a meaningful,
authentic understanding of
diverse cultural perspectives as they prepare to participate in
an emerging, global society.
www.epals.com/pledge
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New: ePals Email Extras
http://www.epals.com
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Choices of Email Extras
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Student tab: Smithsonian on ePals
Customer Fulfillment and
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Customer Fulfillment andAccount Management
ePals has a team of Activation Specialists thatwill assist you
every step of the way: Help upload 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
Provide tech administrators assistance with site support
issues
To schedule a Webinar session:[email protected]
P l C t T
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ePals Customer Team Rita Oates, Ph.D., Vice President, Education
Markets
[email protected] Victoria McEachern, Vice President,
Customer Fulfillment and
Management
[email protected]
Steve Hodgin, Director, CustomerActivation
[email protected] Jacky Little, Account Activation
[email protected]
Julie Martin, Sales Administrator
[email protected]
ePals Customer Fulfillment Team (General Delivery
Mailbox)[email protected]
ePals Support Team (unlimited email support)
[email protected]
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ePals LearningSpaceTM
Safely have multiple web 2.0 tools, a digital locker,email,
blog, wiki, online portfolio, and much more. Its thenext generation
of web 2.0 for schools! (safer thanFacebook, Ning or Google)
https://learningspace.epals.com View video tour and interviews
with users Sign up for a webinar Sign up for a 30-day pilot
Open architecture: plug in other applications within
thesafe/secure settings.
A school or district purchase. Teacher Lounge for sharing best
practices One district has purchased LS to effect a cost
savings
of $500,000 a year. Items formerly printed and shippedto schools
will now be available in their LearningSpace.
S l L i S T h i
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Sample LearningSpace: Teacher view
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http://learningspace.epals.com
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Join us!Twitter:@ePals
@RitaOates
Rita Oates, PhDROates@corp epals com
