ePals: Global Collaboration - Safe & Easy (mod 11)

ePals is an excellent resource for teachers working to promote global collaboration in their classroom. It can be as simple as signing into ePals, creating an account, and finding a classroom across the globe with which to cooperate. Teachers can start small and just have their students match up with one student with whom to exchange emails - a web 2.0 version of the 'pen-pal'. Students benefit from the experience in several ways, for instance, they practice reading and writing, exchange ideas with those students living in another part of the world, and learn about the similarities and differences of those 'pals' from another culture. The concept that the world is a small place and we are all sharing it is amplified in this setting.

The other way ePals can be utilized in the classroom truly demonstrates how the Internet and Connectivism can help our students grow intellectually. Epals makes it simple and easy for teachers to "connect" with a global community of learners. Teachers can choose a "Focus Area" such as Water or The Way We Are, and develop a project for their students. Teachers can click on to "How to Connect" or the "Forums" to find another class across the globe embarking on the same topic. This is a great way to create a dialogue with another class and enhance critical thinking.

For instance, I would find a class in another country studying Water and create a project. Using Niagara Falls or Lake Erie as our natural water resources we could collaborate with a class that has a similar natural resource. This could serve as a springboard for similarities/differences with regards to current environmental issues and other issues that have evolved with these natural resources. As students pose questions to one another they have to think about how an issue that has influenced their "pals" water resource would harm/help theirs if it happened to them. Students would be pushed to think at a higher level and also come to the realization that the environment is really a 'global' matter.

Another possibility would be for students to engage in cross-cultural learning by collaborating with a class to explore various daily functions, customs and holidays. For example,What are supermarkets like where you live? We do not go to "supermarkets" we shop in outside markets or separate stores, i.e. the bakery and the fish store. Students can learn culture through these interactions at an early age. This can help to create a harmonious 'global' feeling and encourage all students to learn foreign languages, which is really a problem in U.S. schools.

I think the ePals program is essential to creating a true connectivist future filled with global dialogue. The exciting aspect of ePals is that it incorporates many of the ideas discussed in this course. In addition, it is a safe and secure program making it easier for teachers to collaborate. The ePals overview mentions, the emails and blogs are "monitored and filtered according to any standard." It goes on to say, "ePals blocks SPAM, pornography, and cursewords." Since ePals is self-policed teachers do not have to worry as much about the safety as they may with their own blogs. Teachers can focus on enhancing the collaborative, cross-cultural, critical-thinking, and technological skills of the future Web 2.0 generation of students.