The document provides an overview of ePals, a global collaboration platform that connects over 25 million students, teachers, and parents in 200 countries, focusing on safe, policy-managed communication and collaboration in educational settings. It includes features such as email, online forums, and project-based learning opportunities, aiming to enhance literacy and cultural exchange among students from various backgrounds. ePals also offers tools for teachers to manage interactions and integrate technology effectively within classrooms.

1. ePals 101: Bring Global Collaboration and Communication Into Your Classroom Rita Oates, PhD [email_address] www.epals.com

2. 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 ?

3. Hill City Elementary Bringing the world to rural Kansas through social networking

4. Statewide projects with ePals Maine : 150,000 students Wisconsin : 800,000 Pennsylvania : 1.8 million students, Classroom For the Future Kansas : 400,000 students, on the state’s KanEd portal Colorado : 800,000 students through eNet Colorado

5. Example profile: Students learning to speak English 150+ Turkish teachers have submitted profiles since November 1! (All seek English speakers.)

6. ePals user since 2002

7. Goals What is ePals? Stories of collaboration Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail What are my first steps? More resources and what’s new!

8. 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

9. ePals is Where Learners Connect ePals’ solutions enable schools to deploy ePal’s safe and collaborative next generation learning – all accessed through the SchoolSafe® education desktop CONNECT COMMUNICATE COLLABORATE Largest social learning network globally. Links all ePals students and teachers to participate in collaborative projects, join community discussions and connect with other classrooms in a safe environment. Distributed Learning Platform CREATE Enterprise-grade, cloud email and communications specifically designed for K-12. Robust policies set by the school govern all communications and manage access to third-party learning applications. Social learning environment for community and collaboration. Designed for project-based learning and group collaboration in virtual workspaces across a full 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 LEARN Curriculum-based literacy program matches students with e-mentors to enhance reading, writing and critical thinking skills. First in a series of learning applications built on the ePals platform. Provides partners with access to ePal’s education cloud platform capabilities, enabling them to rapidly build and deploy policy-managed, collaborative, next generation learning applications surfaced on the SchoolSafe desktop. ePals’ Solutions SchoolSafe Desktop Unifies Solutions

10. Connecting 700,000 classrooms in 200 countries & territories 2,500+ new schools/month Policy managed and Teacher supervised Trusted pipeline to the world’s classrooms TRUSTe certification

11. ePals Brings Next-Generation Solutions to Schools free -- students and their teachers locate, connect with and work collaboratively with another class free -- secure online communication for students, parents, teachers and administrators, instant translation in 58 languages. “Problem word” filter and ability to control how widely students can send/receive email.

12. ePals Brings Next-Generation Solutions to Schools NEW in Feb. 2011! Safe, secure online communication for students, teachers, administrators, parents. ICT administrator can establish school-safe usage policies . Used by New York City Schools. $4/student + setup fee. No ads. A virtual workspace optimized for creating, sharing, managing and collaborating on educational content. Integrated web 2.0 tools: SchoolBlog, wikis, forums, digital portfolios, cloud-based storage and ePals SchoolMail, all with industry-leading safety and security for K-12 schools.

13. World Class Partners and Customers > 900K students 140 countries 1.1MM students 1,700 schools Integrated with state-wide portal Opportunity of 460k students 63,000 students 94 schools Provides state-wide portal Opportunity of 850k students Example Customers Content and Technology Partners

14. Partnerships 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 of Education, Kenya * LEAP, Thailand * Eduteka, Latin America , 75,000 teachers and Spanish-language content

15. Goals What is ePals? Stories of collaboration Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail What are my first steps? More resources and what’s new!

16. We'd like you to meet our ePals from Brazil Mrs. Russell's First Grade Glenwood Elementary Vestal, NY

17. School: EMEIF "Terezinha do Menino Jesus Porto Wuó" Town: Santa Branca State: Sao Paolo Country: Brazil Hello From Sao Paolo, Brazil

18. The School in Brazil

19. Our square is being rebuilt. See how our town is a hilly place!

20. 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.

21. Students from the Guangxi School, China Shared language and cultural awareness, China-San Diego, ages 16-18

22. Their California ePals These teachers have worked together for eight years….some projects are just a few weeks or months!

23. Email Improves Reading and Writing Test Scores State standardized test scores from a Newark Public Schools 4th grade class show significant reading and writing improvement through twice weekly use of email letter writing with fellow classmates and a peer classroom in Italy. http://www.epalscorp.com/about/news/press_feb08_06.html

24. Not “one more thing” -- but a new way 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 a response to a question in the Student Forum Encourage students to read in the Student Forums on topics that interest them

25. Louisiana and United Kingdom The students had so much fun reading emails 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.

26. Loudoun County (VA) Public Schools Students study communities in grade 3. Contact classrooms from elsewhere in Virginia (urban/rural/suburban) and exchange information about their communities. Children grasp the idea of “rural,” “urban,” to compare to their own “suburban” as they communicate with peers from these areas. Next the class has a collaboration with a classroom in an area like theirs but in another country! Teachers use videoconferences with classrooms. Students use presentations and Google Earth to showcase their communities.

27. Most Popular Long-term Matches #1 English as a Second Language teachers outside an English-speaking country want to pair their students with students in English countries #2 Teachers of foreign language want to pair their students with native speakers (i.e., teacher of Spanish wants to have Spanish speakers in Mexico)

28. French class in Spain

29. Spanish class in S. Korea

30. One-email exchanges too! Students create 10 questions for a classroom in a country they are studying in Geography, things “not in the book” Students search global community and find five potential 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…..

31. Sample one-email from teacher Dear (teachername), My geography class in Massachusetts has questions about your country. Could you please have a few students answer these questions in an email to me? If possible I would like to have the answers by May 26. Here are the questions: <paste in the students’ questions> Thanks so much for your help. Please let us know if we can answer any questions about Massachusetts!

32. Join the Conversation Did any of these stories resonate with you? How would your students benefit from these types of experiences? Do you know of possible partner schools elsewhere?

33. Goals What is ePals? Stories of collaboration Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail What are my first steps? More resources and what’s new!

34. 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 or Teacher Forums for very specific matches

35. Search by Map 1. Select a continent

36. 2. Select a Country

37. 3. Select a classroom from the profiles

38. Eliminate language barriers with translation tool!

39. English version of the Spanish profile

40. 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

42. Cautions…about 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?

46. 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 practice writing to non-English speakers Make them more aware of how they say things so they aren’t confusing!

47. How do you get a profile? You fill out some basic contact info You write your profile We have real people who read and approve them…or ask for revisions! Teachers can’t contact other classrooms without having a profile submitted and approved.

48. ePals Global Community Classroom Match – Create Your Classroom Profile

51. A Successful Profile Includes: Age-range of class Language(s) the students speak Location of the classroom 4. Location of desired partner

52. A Successful Profile Includes: Collaboration tools (email, postal mail, blogs, video conferences) Length of desired collaboration (3 weeks in October) 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!)

53. ePals Forums (also free) Student Forums We mediate the forums, so you don’t have to read and approve postings. Your students can collaborate with other students safely, over the weekend. Your students can search and read student postings to see what others have said, a great way to practice authentic reading and writing! Project Forums make it easier to find matches for ePals projects Teacher Forums for topics you generate Parent Forums to help parents learn from other parents Adults can post in adult forums; students in Student Forum

54. Student Forums

55. Student Forum: Social Issues

56. Student viewpoints: Turkey, USA

57. Goals What is ePals? Stories of collaboration Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail What are my first steps? More resources and what’s new!

58. 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

59. SchoolMail usernames Student: [email_address] Teacher: [email_address] No extra charge for custom subdomain as maine.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)

60. First Email with Built-in Language Translation

61. Safe and Protected Student Email: Safely integrate student email in appropriate, educational ways. Ask students to use academic language, spelling, punctuation – and practice skills valuable in the business world. Preview students’ incoming and outgoing email messages. Use email messages for alternative assessment. Ensure that messages are appropriate to age, setting and context.

62. Filter Levels Level 1 All messages must be approved by the monitor, whether they contain profanity or not. Level 2 Messages 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 3 Messages containing profanity must be approved by the monitor, but unflagged messages will reach their recipients automatically. The monitor will not see unflagged messages. Level 4 All profanity filters are off.

63. Note: Click “flagged student messages.”

66. Six Access Levels (when set up as a district account) Class/Monitor Students are limited to mailing other students who have the same monitor. Choose this access level if you want students to use email only for internal exercises within the classroom . School Students are limited to mailing students and teachers in the same school. Choose this access level if you want students to use email only for school-based projects and communication . District This 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 email only for district- and school-based projects and communication . and…….

67. Six Access Levels (widening the walls) ePALS SchoolMail™ This restricts student communication to other students with an ePals 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 email 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 email anyone, anywhere . Note: as a teacher, you might then go to Filter Level 1 and preview all outgoing and incoming messages.

68. Best-of-breed security + safety technologies Role-Based Permissions Each user is assigned a role in their LearningSpace community (student, teacher, parent, administrator). Policies determine whether a role can create groups, view connections, and invite groups to collaborate. Controlled Connections A policy can be set to manage student interaction with other members of your LearningSpace community. High school students may not be able to view profiles or request connections with K-5 students, unless they are in the same group.

69. Best-of-breed security + safety technologies Content Moderation Written content (blog and forum posts, comments) can be reviewed before publishing or removed afterward by a designated moderator. Inappropriate Language Filters Multiple spellings of inappropriate words written in a blog, comment or message are automatically flagged and removed. Questionable content in emails sent to designated moderator.

70. Goals What is ePals? Stories of collaboration Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail What are my first steps? More resources and what’s new!

71. District issues to consider Do you need to go through a district committee or director or your principal? TRUSTe certification for all ePals! At the bottom of each page of ePals, you can see: Privacy Policy Advertising Policy Terms of Use Copyright and Trademark Policy

72. School-wide setup We prefer to provision all teachers in your school with accounts, even though 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 a “batch upload tool” and that can create student account names (unless you have names you want to use)

73. Starting a Collaboration using ePals in 3 easy steps : Step 1: Come up with a GREAT idea! (or choose one of our projects, such as The Way We Are ) Step 2: Find Partners from profiles or search the Project Forums Step 3: Create a Plan and Timeline or Calendar of Email and Events (use example from our projects)

74. Project-Based Learning Free to use, adapt Developed jointly with National Geographic Also feature great teacher-created projects SCIS-Pudong UN Day G4, Mrs. Smith

75. Types of Global Projects Empathy for others… visits , pen pals Finding new ways to enrich and engage… global citizenship Desire for social justice… peace studies, fundraising, activism

76. Start with a Specific Project

79. Clear Plan for Email Exchanges in the Project

80. Brief Lesson Plans

81. Great teacher-created projects

82. ePals Teacher Ambassador Contest Winners

83. Publish student work to a worldwide audience

84. Viewing audience in the millions

86. Join the Conversation Do you have questions about getting started with ePals?

87. Goals What is ePals? Stories of collaboration Finding a global partner How to use ePals SchoolMail What are my first steps? More resources and what’s new!

88. How Tos, Manuals Under Help from home page

91. New: ePals Email Extras http://www.epals.com

92. Sign up online

93. Choices of Email Extras

94. Smithsonian – The Natural World

95. INTERRoBANG

96. Customer Fulfillment and Account Management ePals 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_address]

97. ePals Customer Team Rita Oates, Ph.D., Vice President, Education Markets [email_address] Victoria McEachern, Vice President, Customer Fulfillment and Management [email_address] Steve Hodgin, Director, Customer Activation [email_address] Jacky Little, Account Activation [email_address] Julie Martin, Sales Administrator [email_address] ePals Customer Fulfillment Team (General Delivery Mailbox) [email_address] ePals Support Team (unlimited email support) [email_address]

98. ePals LearningSpace TM Safely have multiple web 2.0 tools, a digital locker, email, blog, wiki, online portfolio, and much more. It’s the next generation of web 2.0 for schools! (safer than Facebook, Ning or Google) https://l earningspace.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 applications within the safe/secure settings. A school or district purchase. Teacher Lounge for sharing best practices, etc. One district has purchased LS to effect a cost savings of $500,000 a year. Items formerly printed and shipped to schools will now be available in their LearningSpace.

99. Join us! Twitter: @ePals @RitaOates Rita Oates, PhD [email_address] www.epals.com