Epals



= Communication Tool: Epals = Group Members: Elise and Shyra

Brief introduction of the tool
ePals is a free and safe online collaborative learning community/resource for educators. ePals can be used for an entire school or for a classroom and can be accessed from any cmoputer with internet access. ePals can even be used to connect with classrooms outside of your school.


 * ===//Advantages of the tool//===

Efficiency: ePals is an effecient way for students and teachers to communicate. Teachers and students can connect with teachers and students around he world with just the click of a button. It also has resources for project or lesson ideas that can be easily accessed. Effectiveness: ePal allows users to complete projects by communicating through email. Teachers can simply email students instructions to assignments to teachers withougt having to print anything out. Epals also makes it simple for teachers to find projects and lessons. Enhancement: ePal enhances the way students and teachers communicate. It also enahances the way projects are completed.


 * ===//Disadvantages (limitations) of the tool//===

ePals is completely reliant on technology, schools must have access to the internet and an adequate amount of computers so that each student can access their account. The learning space feature provided by ePals is not free. Schools may be interested in using this tool, but not have the funds to purchase it. ePals may also be a too complicated for students in younger grades, as a result I would only use this tool for 3 grade and up. However, it may also be a bit childish for students in high school.

Application of the tool in your subject area
Think of one example of integrating the tool in teaching your subject area. What will the teacher be doing? What will students be doing?

ePals is great for elementary students because it allows them to communicate with other students their age, throughout the world. For example, students could be learning about early American History and use ePals to talk with students in other countries to see what they are also learning about history. This allows them to compare and contrast the things that they are learning and better understand the topic. The teachers job would be to go on ePals and find a classroom of the same grade level, that is also studying history and that would like to discuss with her class. The teacher would want to focus on what country the classroom is coming from just to make sure that the other students have a good understanding of English. Once the teacher finds the classroom, her students can begin communicating with the students. A great thing about Epals is that it allows students to have an email account that can be watched over by the teacher. This ensures that students are doing what they are supposed to and actually communicating with their new "friend." The students can ask questions back and forth to discuss what they know about history.

Find a tutorial on YouTube
Go to YouTube and look for tutorial videos on your project (be sure to watch them as some are far better than others!) Once you find the video you want to use, find the embedded html code. Copy the code. To insert the video into this wiki, when you are editing the page, click Widget >> Video >> YouTube >> Paste the embed html code in the text box >> Save. Once you've inserted the video, delete these instructions :-)

//List of key features showe////d in the YouTube video://
This YouTube tutorial shows how to do a couple neat things with Epals. It first shows how to create an account. Then the tutorial shows how to use "Focus Areas" to find interesting topics. Students can then go on and post things under the different focus areas. It also explains how a teacher can communicate with other classrooms throughout the world. By simply clicking on a country the teacher can find another classroom for her students to communicate with. Another great thing it features is how to search for forums or project forums.

Useful Resources
If your classmates want to learn more about your topic, where should they go? Please recommend at least three websites and provide a brief description on each one.

http://www.epals.com/groups/about/pages/epals-overview.aspx This website will take you to the ePals Overview Site. This site helps to further explain how ePals works, what the advantages of the site are, and even has tutorials and testimonials. http://www.epals.com/groups/about/pages/classroom-match.aspx This is another site that will give more information if interested in the "Classroom Match" which was previously discussed. It explains how to find a classroom match and how to search for different topics. http://www.epals.com/groups/about/pages/schoolmail.aspx This link will take you to a tour of how to use School Mail on ePals. It helps to expalin the many benefits of using this safe, monitored email program.