Authentic Global Collaboration at Asia Society Conference 7-8-11

8/6/2019 Authentic Global Collaboration at Asia Society Conference 7-8-11

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Lets Connect: Integrate AuthenticGlobal Collaboration and Communicationin Student Learning

Rita Oates, PhDwww.epals.com


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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 youfi

nd 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: 800,000Pennsylvania: 1.8

million students,Classroom For theFuture

Kansas: 400,000students, on thestates KanEdportal

Colorado: 800,000students througheNet Colorado


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Example profile: Students learning to

speak English

120+ Turkish teachers

have submitted profiles in

2011! (All seek English

speakers.)


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ePals user since 2002


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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 COMMUNICATE 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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ePals is Where Learners Connect

ePals solutions enable schools to deploy ePals safe and collaborative next generationlearning all accessed through the SchoolSafe education desktop

CONNECT

COMMUNICATE

COLLABORATE

Largest social learning network globally. Links all ePals students andteachers to participate in collaborative projects, join community discussionsand connect with other classrooms in a safe environment.

Distributed Learning PlatformCREATE

Enterprise-grade, cloud email and communications specifically designed for K-12. Robust policies set by the school govern all communications and manageaccess to third-party learning applications.

Social learning environment for community and collaboration. Designed forproject-based learning and group collaboration in vir tual workspaces across afull suite of safe social media tools.

ePals SchoolSafe desktop is where students and educators

go daily to connect, communicate, collaborate and discover

content and apps in a safe, policy-managed environment

ePals Solutions SchoolSafe Desktop Unifies Solutions

LEARN Curriculum-based literacy program matches students with e-mentors to

enhance reading, writing and critical thinking skills. First in a series of learningapplications built on the ePals platform.

Provides partners with access to ePals education cloud platform capabilities,enabling them to rapidly build and deploy policy-managed, collaborative, nextgeneration learning applications surfaced on the SchoolSafe desktop.


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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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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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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?






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Waterloo Junior High Schoolin Waterloo, IL, USA is part ofthe Globally Connected World!

Your school can be also. It is just a Snap!


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Bill TheobaldW

aterloo Junior High,W

aterloo, IL


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Bill Theobald 32 Years at Waterloo

Junior High School inWaterloo, IL, USA

6th

Grade SocialStudies Boys Basketball (24

years) Girls Volleyball (30

years) Old Dog who learned

some New Tricks! Im not a techie!


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Travels with Mr. T A nine-weekGeographyTravelogue for

students in grades6, 7, and 8.

Grade 6concentrates onWesternHemisphere

Grade 7 on EasternHemisphere

Grade 8 focuses onCurrent Events


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6th

Grade Keypals 6th Grade Encore

students have

Keypals inCanada

Ms. Pat Cone,Hafford School,

Hafford,Saskatchewan,Canada


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7th Grade Keypals

7th grade studentshave Keypals inTrieste, Italy.

Professori FabianaDegrassi, teachesEnglish as a SecondLanguage (ESL) at

InstitutoComprensivo,

Trieste, Italy

My wife and I visited theDegrassi family in Italy afterseveral years of collaboratingthrough ePals!


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8th Grade Keypals

8th grade studentshave Keypals inPointe a Pitre,

Guadeloupe, FrenchWest Indies.

Professors LucienneZecler and LenaRacon teach Englishas a SecondLanguage, CollegeFront de Mer, Pointea Pitre, Guadeloupe,French West Indies


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Find a Cooperating International

Classroom1. Use ePals Connect feature to find

classroom partners. Look at NewProfiles and post your request inTeacher Forum.

2. Discuss with students Safe use of theInternet.3. Decide on a project or activity.4. Select or assign Keypals.5. Send your cooperating classroom an

Excel file with first names, gender, andePals addresses of your students.6. Learn to Approve or Delete emails

as the Monitor of your account.7. Enjoy exchanging ePals emails

worldwide.


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For Fall 2008 collaboration,I posted in Teacher Forum

on July 28


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Two days lateroffer to connectwith a school in Bangladesh


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Teacher Forum: Post looking formore partners for Bangladesh

schools


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Relief International-SOL

Bangladesh January 7, 2009 - Email from ReliefInternational in Washington, D.C.

Would you be interested in submitting an

application to travel all-expenses-paid toBangladesh as part of Teacher Exchange 2009?You would be one of two teachers from the U.S.leaving February 14 and returning February 28.


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Chosen for the trip

Selection letter received January 15.

Your application indicates that you are a

deeply invested teacher and global citizen,and that you have worked to develop

connections with Bangladeshi students

throughRI-SOL

YouthC

onnect Worldwide.


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Student Exchange 2009

Lazina Sharmin, the (RI-B) chaperone,brought four of the most wonderfulstudent-ambassadors to Waterloo, IL,USA.

Mohammed Hasibur Rahman, ShubhamRoy, Jannatul (Netu) Ferdous, and Afsana

Mannan gave the city ofWaterloo, IL alesson in Culture.

See Picture ShowStudent Exchange

2009


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Where We Are in 2009-2010

40 Pairs ofWaterloo, IL, USA - Comilla,Bangladesh Keypals have completed theePals Project The Way We Are

Each pair ofWaterloo, IL, USA - Comilla,Bangladesh Keypals collaborated while12,000 miles apart.


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Continuing Friendship:

Fundraising for a 2

nd

computer inComilla school Student Hat Day

as Waterloo

students conduct afundraiser, Bucksfor Bangladesh, topurchase a second

computer station fortheir Keypals inComilla.


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We use Skype to talk withInternational Keypals

www.skype.com

Used by organizations and people worldwide, free.

For cost of a $50 webcam you can talk to students,

classrooms, or family members Face to Faceanywhere in the world.

Meet my great teachingpartner, ProfessoriFabiana Degrassi,Instituto Comprensivo,Trieste, Italy. Projected on wall in gymso all can participate!


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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 PaoloCountry: Brazil

Hello From Sao Paolo, Brazil


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The School in Brazil

-How does it look like ours?

-How does it look different?


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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 their ePals in

Botswana

A story of globalconnections thattranscend socio-economic status,

culture and place.


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Students from the Guangxi School, China

Shared language

and culturalawareness, China-San Diego, ages 16-

18


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Their California ePals

These teachers haveworked togetherfor

eight years.some

projects are just a few

weeks or months!


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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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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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Louisiana and United Kingdom

The student groups wrote aboutdifferent aspects of theirschools and videoedthemselves to create a

"documentary" about theirschool and community. Wethen exchanged "cultureparcels" with the other class.

The students had so much fun reading emailsfrom their new friends. They learned many waysthey were alike as well as different.


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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 wantto pair their students with students inEnglish countries

#2 Teachers of foreign language want topair their students with native speakers

(i.e., teacher of Spanish wants to haveSpanish speakers in Mexico)


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French class in Spain


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Spanish class in S. Korea


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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

Students search global community and findfi

vepotential 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 Massachusetts hasquestions about your country. Could you please

have a few students answer these questions inan email to me?If possible I would like to have the answers bySept. 26.

Here are the questions:

Thanks so much for your help. Please let us knowif we can answer any questions about

Massachusetts!


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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?






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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 pageof ePals for newest profiles

Search in Project ForumsorTeacher Forums forvery specific matches


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Search by MapSelect a continent


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Select aCountry


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3. Select a classroom from the profiles


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Eliminate language barrierswith translation tool!


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English versionof the Spanish profile


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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 calledCollege? Or a colegio?

When does the school year start and end?

W

hen are vacations or holidays?


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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, but start of school

year in Chile

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

W

e have real people who read andapprove themor ask for revisions!

Teachers cant contact other classroomswithout having a profile submitted andapproved.

ePals Global Community


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ePals Global CommunityClassroom Match Create Your Classroom Profile


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A S f l P fil


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A Successful ProfileIncludes:

1. Age-range of class

2. Language(s) the students speak

3. Location of the classroom

4. Location of desired partner

A S f l P fil


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A Successful ProfileIncludes:

5. Collaboration tools (email, postal mail, blogs,video conferences)

6. Length of desired collaboration (3 weeks inOctober)

7. Frequency of desired collaboration (weekly,

monthly, at holidays)

8. 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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Student Forums


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Student Forum: Social Issues


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Student viewpoints: Turkey, USA


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Goals

What is ePals?






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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 alternative

assessment

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)

First Email with Built in Language Translation


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First Email with Built-in Language Translation


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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.

Filter Levels


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Level 1 All messages must be approved by the

monitor, whether they contain profanityor not.

Level 2 Messages containing profanity must beapproved by the monitor, but unflaggedmessages will reach their recipients

automatically. The monitor will alsoreceive a copy of every unflagged

message.

Level 3 Messages containing profanity must be

approved by the monitor, but unflaggedmessages will reach their recipientsautomatically. The monitor will not seeunflagged messages.

Level 4 All profanity filters are off.

Filter Levels


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Note: Click flagged student messages.


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Si A L l


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Class/Monitor Students are limited to mailing other students who have thesame monitor. Choose this access level if you want students touse email only for internal exercises within the classroom.

School Students are limited to mailing students and teachers in thesame school. Choose this access level if you want students touse email only for school-based projects and communication.

District This option, available only if your ePALS SchoolMail systemincludes multiple schools, limits students to mailing students andteachers at schools created within your system. Choose this

access level if you want students to use email only for district-and school-based projects and communication.

and.

Six Access Levels(when set up as a district account)

Si A L l


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ePALS SchoolMailThis restricts student communication to other students with anePals SchoolMail account regardless of school / district.

ePals Allows students to communicate with other students with active

accounts in the ePals Global Community.

Internet This option allows your students to email anyone with an emailaddress, whether they are inside your district, part of ePALS orusing the Internet through other means. Choose this accesslevel to allow students to email anyone, anywhere.

Note: as a teacher, you might then go to Filter Level 1 andpreview all outgoing and incoming messages.

Six Access Levels(widening the walls)


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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 create

groups, 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?






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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 accounts, even though only afew may want to start right away.

You provide a list of all teachers, and wecan 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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Types of Global Projects

Empathy for othersvisits,pen pals

Finding new ways to enrich andengageglobal citizenship

Desire for social justicepeace studies,fundraising, activism

S i h S ifi P j


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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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Clear Plan for Email Exchanges in the Project


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Brief Lesson Plans

G t t h t d j t


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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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Viewing audience in the millions


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Viewing audience in the millions

J i th C ti


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Join the Conversation

Do you have questions about gettingstarted with ePals?

G l


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Goals

What is ePals?


Finding a global partner

How to use ePals SchoolMail



How Tos, Manuals


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o os, a ua sUnderHelp from home page


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Ne ePals Email E tras


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New: ePals Email Extras

http://www.epals.com

Sign up online


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Sign up online

Choices of Email Extras


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Choices of Email Extras

Smithsonian The Natural World


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Smithsonian The Natural World

Further Learning Opportunities


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Further Learning Opportunities

ePals 101 webinar:http://epals.101.sgizmo.com

Global Education conference in November:http://globaleducation.ning.com/

Customer Fulfillment and


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Account ManagementePals has a team of Activation Specialists that

will 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]

ePals Customer Team


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ePals Customer Team Rita Oates, Ph.D., Vice President, Education Markets

[email protected] VictoriaMcEachern, Vice President, Customer Fulfillment and

Management

[email protected]

Steve Hodgin, Director, Customer Activation

shodgi

[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]

ePals LearningSpaceTM


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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) 95% e-rate eligible.

https://learningspace.epals.com

View 10-minute video Sign up for a webinar Sign up for a 30-day pilot

Open architecture: you can plug in other applicationswithin the safe/secure settings.

A school or district purchase. One district has purchased LS to effect a cost savings of

$500,000 a year. Items formerly printed and shipped toschools will now be available in their LearningSpace.

Sample pages from new LearningSpace


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p p g g p


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Join us!Twitter:@ePals

@RitaOates

Rita Oates PhD

Documents

Authentic Global Collaboration at Asia Society Conference 7-8-11