nets-t white paper epals 2010

8/9/2019 NETS-T White Paper ePals 2010

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Global Citizens. Digital Citizens.Achieving the National Educational Technology Standards

for Teachers (NETS-T) by Using ePals with Students.


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13625-A Dulles Technology Drive Herndon, VA 20171 USA Ph: 703-885-3400 Fax: 703-885-3490 2010 ePals, Inc. All rights reserved.

On June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Egypt, President Barack Obama delivered a speech emphasizing

the need to invest in online learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new

online network, so a young person in Kansas could communicate instantly with a young person in

Cairo.1 For educators, this clarion call was familiar. At essentially the same time, ISTE (International

Society for Technology in Education) was completing a revised set ofNational Educational TechnologyStandards for Students (NETS-S) and Teachers (NETS-T), and starting revisions on NETS-A for

administrators, an update of the original three standards issued in 1998.2 The updated standards attemptedto boost the powerful and effective integration of technology in the classroom. While technology has

transformed many aspects of everyday life, in the average school classroom, technological advances have

come more slowly and tend to be separated from classroom learning, rather than integrated into it. Calls

for accelerating this transformation in education arise from many quarters of society, as shown by thePartnership for 21st Century Skills3, Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing

America for a Brighter Economic Future4, and a host of other corporate, governmental and media reports.

As Kansas to Cairo has become an inspirational catch-phrase, a quiet revolution progressed. It has the

power to reshape the behaviors that have minimized impact on classroom performance of substantive

technology use (NAEP, 2004, 20075; Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 20046). The president of ISTE,

Dr. Helen Padgett, said:7

Foundational Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills are needed throughout

society, and todays students will be expected to apply the basics in authentic, integrated ways to

solve problems; complete projects; and creatively extend their abilities. ISTE's widely adopted

digital-age standards, theNETS, help students prepare to work, live, and contribute to the social

and civic fabric of their communities. They help teachers model and integrate digital-age skills

across content areas and provide a road map for school leadership in an emerging global society.

By collaborating in the ePals global community, and systematically employing its communication

and collaboration tools and curricula, teachers and students can truly experience digital-age

teaching and learning. At the same time, learners and educators build pathways to mastering the ISTE

National Educational Technology Standards for both Students (NETS-S) and Teachers (NETS-T).

1Obama, B. H. (2009, June 4). Remarks by the President on a New Beginning, Cairo University,

2 The revised NETS-T, NETS-S and NETS-A can be found at the ISTE website:

http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS

3Partnership for 21st Century Skills, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

4National Academy of Sciences, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1146

5National Assessment of Educational Progress,http://www.nces.ed.gov/ltt,

http://www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/

6 Partnership for 21st Century Skills, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

7 Padgett, H. (2010, June 18). Global Learning for All Students in the Digital Age, EdNET News Alert,

http://www.ednetnews.com/story-4916-20.html
http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETShttp://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETShttp://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETShttp://www.21stcenturyskills.org/http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1146http://www.nces.ed.gov/ltthttp://www.nces.ed.gov/ltthttp://www.nces.ed.gov/ltthttp://www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETShttp://www.21stcenturyskills.org/http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1146http://www.nces.ed.gov/ltthttp://www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS


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Defining What Needs To Be Done: NETS for Teachers and Students

In 2009, ISTE completed a refresh of educational technology standards for students, teachers, and

administrators. Articulating these standards was a critical first step, but the real test will be to

implement them. This will be especially challenging with the revised NETS-T because they stem from the

following premise:Effective teachers model and apply the National Educational Technology Standards

for Students (NETS-S) as they design, implement, and assess learning experiences to engage students

and improve learning; enrich professional practice; and provide positive models for students,

colleagues, and the community.

The revised NETS-T standards explicitly challenge educators to employ 21st-century pedagogy, using 21st-

century tools, within a global context. The emphasis on creativity, communication and collaboration

raises the bar for the types of learning experiences all students should have. They question how theseexperiences will reinforce the rigor, relevance and relationships called for in various school reform

initiatives8, and makes it imperative that we move beyond high stakes testing, replacing teaching to the

test with preparing for real life. Gaining digital fluency poses different challenges for teachers andstudents. Communicating and collaborating online in safe, secure and supportive communities of practice

represents the environment required to transform education. The characteristics of 21 st-century pedagogy,

as nicely framed in a recent white paper by Ciscos Global Education group9, includes: placing the learnerat the center, drawing from a repertoire of teaching strategies and skills, implementing interdisciplinary

and project-based work, and leveraging authenticity.

More than ever before, bringing the global dimension and dialog into learning has increased importance. IneSchool News, author Laurence Peters noted that the existence of networks like ePals means that we no

longer have an excuse to continue to use technology in schools as a glorified electronic textbook, useful

purely as a labor-saving device. We can start using technology to let young people communicate and

collaborate with their peers around the world. These networks have solved some of the key barriers tointernet use in schools, chief among them security issues that worry teachers and parents alike.10 In his

book, Global Education, Peters outlines many different ways that ePals projects and communication toolscan extend, enrich and enhance education.11

Another leading educator, Curtis Bonk of Indiana University, devotes most of a chapter of his recent book,

The World is Open, to the power and educational possibilities of ePals.12 As Dewey, Papert, and other

learner-centered educators would have hoped, the focus on ePals is on meaningful projects, rich in socialinteraction, data collection, and information exchange, Bonk said. For those needing structure, ePals

projects list essential questions, objectives, culminating activities, projects elements, and standards to be

met. If you do not need the structure, then you can creatively design and advertise your own project.

Outstanding examples of teacher-designed projects from the 2009-2010 school year are featured in the

8SREB,http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/Outstanding/op2004.asp

9 Equipping Every Learner for the 21st Century, http://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-

economic/docs/GlobalEdWP.pdf10Peters, L. (2009, November-December). From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the rise of the globally

connected student, eSchool News, p. 32.11Peters, L. (2009). Global Education: Using Technology to Bring the World to Your Students.

Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education.12Bonk, C.J. (2009). The World is Open: How Web Technology is Revolutionizing Education. San

Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/Outstanding/op2004.asphttp://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/Outstanding/op2004.asphttp://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-economic/docs/GlobalEdWP.pdfhttp://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-economic/docs/GlobalEdWP.pdfhttp://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/Outstanding/op2004.asphttp://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-economic/docs/GlobalEdWP.pdfhttp://www.cisco.com/web/about/citizenship/socio-economic/docs/GlobalEdWP.pdf


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ePals Ambassador Contest winners, providing a wide variety of types of collaborative activities for

different age groups and subject areas.13

ePals: Where Learners Connect

ePals provides more than a dozen years of pioneering leadership in a key area of 21 st-century skills,centered on the challenges posed by the new NETS-T standards. ePals, Inc. is a fast-growing education

technology company that offers K-12 schools, teachers, students and parents a safe and secure global

online communications and collaboration platform for building educational communities, providing

quality digital content and facilitating 21st century learning. The worlds largest K-12 learning network,

ePals Global Community consists of more than 600,000 educators and reaches more than 25 million

students and parents in 200 countries and territories. (www.epals.com). The company's mission is to

support K12 learning through safe, collaborative experiences that empower and inspire. Student

safety has been considered in the core design of ePals products. They have received TRUSTe

certification, an independent statement of the safety and privacy of student information.

In 2010, a more sophisticated level of connection has been enabled through the new ePals

LearningSpace, which combines the free offerings of ePals with additional features.(learningspace.epals.com)

While general market communication and social networking products can and are being used in the

classroom, very few, if any of them, were designed specifically for it. Most of these off-the-shelf tools lack

the necessary security features that would make them appropriate for use in education, thus many schools

have limited their use. In addition, these general products offer none of the embedded instruction and

activities that transform mere tools into significant aids to learning.

A special focus of ePals is to empower the most economically disadvantaged students throughout the

world with academically rigorous learning experiences. This is accomplished in a number of ways,

including through low-cost computing initiatives such the Intel-powered Classmate PC and the One

Laptop per Child program (OLPC). This equipment allows ePals to connect students in developed nations

with students in marginalized developing nations. The powerful and safe email tool, SchoolMailTM, is

offered free to K12 schools worldwide as a way to encourage global communication and collaboration.

Also, through the ePals foundation and supporting sponsors, In2Books, ePals flagship literacy program, is

made available to hundreds of classrooms and thousands of 3 rd-5th graders in underserved communities

around the United States. Finally, ePals has also partnered with the New Partnership for Africa's

Development Council to connect African schools with the ePals global community and with government

groups such as the Ministry of Education in Kenya14.

ePals Projects and their associated curricula cover a wide range of timely, content-rich, interdisciplinary

topics. They are based on Vygotskian principles of modeling and apprenticeship that have been shown to

significantly improve comprehension, writing, and other literacy-related skills. Through its In2Books

curriculum, ePals nurtures analytic thinkers by having students read, write, and think about real-life

situations with an intellectual e-Mentor (an adult pen pal) who is a central part of the experience.

13 ePals Announces Winners of 2010 Teacher Ambassador Contest, eSchool News Online, June 18,

2010, http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/06/18/epals-announces-winners-of-2010-teacher-ambassador-

contest/14African Students and Educators to Connect with Peers Around the World through ePals Internet

Learning Community, Nov. 8, 2007, http://www.cblohm.com/news/ePals/EP_071108/


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In2Books has built a research-based model for improving literacy, critical thinking and subject matter

understanding. Instruction focuses on genre and content area study, informed book choice, and genre-

related literacy strategies for comprehension, vocabulary, fluency and writing. Research results have

shown that students involved in the In2Books curriculum perform statistically better on standardized

reading tests than peers not taking part in the program and have an increased interest in learning 15,16.(www.In2Books.com)

The pedagogical principles shared by ePals and the NETS are significant and mutually reinforcing. The

NETS involved thousands of educators, focusing on what students should know and be able to do in the

digital age, as well as on what skills and knowledge teachers require to guide such growth. ePals draws onthe daily experiences of more than 600,000 in 200 countries and territories who are making digital

learning come to life for their students. Teachers can examine the kinds of challenging, authentic, andsupportive environments ePals provides to develop reading, writing and critical thinking skills to help

deepen our understandings of how to meet the challenges posed by the new national technology standards

for teachers.

The 2009 Horizon Report17 seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large

impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression within K12 education around the globe. The

2009 report identified two topics on the immediate horizon: collaborative environments and onlinecommunication tools:

o Collaborative Environments The value placed on collaboration is increasing in the workplace as

professionals are expected to work across geographic and cultural boundaries more and more

frequently. Many teachers recognize the importance of collaborative work and are finding that

online tools to support it provide them and their students with opportunities to work creatively,

develop teamwork skills, and tap into the perspectives of people around the world with a wide

range of experiences and skills that differ from their own.

o Online Communication Tools Communication tools are a part of most students daily lives

outside of school. Instant messaging and online chats via desktop video conferencing are common

means for social interaction with family and friends. As technology provides ways for teachers to

help shape the constructive use of communication tools in the classroom, a new world of

experiences is opening up for students. With most applications costing little or nothing to

implement, few other technologies available today have the ability to remove geographic and time

limitations from school environments more quickly than online communication tools.

ePals combines and delivers these two emerging technologies in a powerful product called ePals

LearningSpace. ePals LearningSpace is a virtual workspace optimized for collaborating about, creating,

sharing, and collaborating on educational content. Students, teachers, and parents experience purposeful,

project-based learning in a collaborative and controlled environment using social media tools, and have

access to a growing library of high-quality content, digital storage areas for personal school files, and ePals

SchoolMail, all with industry-leading safety and security needed for a K-12 school system.

15Gambrell, L., Hughes, E., Calvert, W., & Igo, B. (2008). Authentic literacy tasks: Reading, writing, and

discussion. Clemson, SC: Research Report Submitted to ePals/In2Books.

16 Teale, W. H., & Gambrell, L. B. (2007). Raising urban students literacy achievement by engaging in

authentic, challenging work. The Reading Teacher, 60, 728-739.

17Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith, R., and Smythe, T. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition.

Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.


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ePals LearningSpace encourages creativity, collaboration and connectivity. Classrooms have their own

groups, which include safe web 2.0 communication tools -- including email, blogs, wikis, forums and

media galleries. Students and teachers have digital lockers for developing shared portfolios, such as

school-related documents including Word, PowerPoint, PDFs, video and audio files. Members create their

own individual and classroom profiles and, within district and school-approved contact groups (includingstudents, teachers, parents and even guest lecturers and experts) have the ability to contact other members

for collaboration. Access to the ePals Global Community for collaboration beyond a school or district is avalue-added application. Learn more at learningspace.epals.com


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Getting to Transformation: ePals and the NETS

It is important to remember that the NETS (for students, teachers and administrators) are not linear, but

recursive. Each reinforces the other, and may be returned to several times over the course of any particular

project. They only seem linear here because we are using print as our medium! Accordingly, we explorethe five NETS-T goals in contexts that demonstrate how the communication and collaboration capabilities

of ePals support the development and mastery of these skills. Lets look at what ePals has learned aboutcharting practical paths to NETS goals for students and their teachers. Sidebars provide some examples

from the winners of the 2010 ePals Ambassador Contest.

NETS-T 1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Teachers use their knowledge of subject

matter, teaching and learning, and

technology to facilitate experiences that

advance student learning, creativity, and

innovation in both face-to-face and

virtual environments. Teachers:

a. promote,support, and modelcreative and innovative thinking and

inventiveness.

b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems

using digital tools and resources

c. promote student reflectionusingcollaborative toolsto reveal and

clarify students' conceptual

understanding and thinking,

planning, and creative processes.

d. model collaborative knowledge

construction by engaging in learning

with students, colleagues, and others

in face-to-face and virtual

environments.

ePals Project Snapshot: NETS-T 1 In Action

The Adventures of Ming the MinibusThomas Beckett, Hong Kong

www.epals.com/ambassadors or directly athttp://www.epals.com/media/p/234736.aspx

Thomas Beckett, a teacher from Hong Kong,

started his Ming the Minibus series as a publicsafety campaign. With the help of ePals, his

project developed into a collaborative,interactive book-writing series.

Interested classroom teachers download foldable

versions of Ming the Minibus and transform it to

a 3D version. They take digital photographs of

Ming around their hometowns. Through emailand videoconferences with Mr. Becketts

classroom, students describe their hometowns,

the interesting sites and the places in which they

photographed Ming.

For example, an IB Primary Years Programme

elementary school, Bolton Academy in Atlanta,

Georgia, interviewed Mr. Beckett through a

videoconference. Students explained the

significance of their chosen locations. Back in

Hong Kong, Mr. Becketts students edit the

emails and photos into PowerPoint books, to

share with ePals around the world.

During the past 10 years, students from morethan 40 countries have participated, taking

Ming to such varied locations as Lithuania,

Reunion Island, Australia, Kansas, and Mexico,

and bringing to ePals around the world a new

understanding of both where they live, andplaces theyd like to visit.
http://www.epals.com/ambassadorshttp://www.epals.com/media/p/234736.aspxhttp://www.epals.com/ambassadorshttp://www.epals.com/media/p/234736.aspx


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NETS-T 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate

authentic learning experiences and

assessments incorporatingcontemporarytools and resources to maximizecontent

learning in contextand to develop the

knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in

the NETS-S. Teachers:

a. design or adapt relevant learning

experiences thatincorporate digital

toolsand resources to promote

student learning and creativity.

b. developtechnology-enriched

learning environmentsthat enable

all students to pursue their individual

curiosities and become active

participants in setting their own

educational goals, managing theirown learning, and assessing their

own progress.

c. customize and personalize learning

activities to address students'

diverse learning styles, working

strategies, and abilities using digital

tools and resources.

d. provide students with multiple and

varied formative and summative

assessments aligned with content

and technology standards and useresulting data to inform learning and

teaching.


The Great Bean Race

Suman Sood, India

www.epals.com/ambassadors or directly athttp://www.epals.com/media/p/234524.aspx

The Great Bean Race is a scientific

collaboration led by Suman Sood of West

Bengal, India. Several classrooms of 10-13 year

old students around the world had a specific

amount of time to see how tall they could grow

lima bean plants. Students from the USA had the

additional challenge of converting

measurements to metric to compare results

with their ePals.

Each team of students included a group recorder,

who wrote down plant data and created a plant

graph, a timekeeper, who verified that importantdates were met, a group reporter, who drafted

emails and tookdigital photos of the plants, anda group leader, who kept other classmates

apprised of the project. Daily tasks included

water the plants, checking soil for moistness,

monitoring sunlight. Data was recorded in

graphs and plant logs. Students also shared

results with their ePals through email exchange.

The collection of scientific data was brought to

life by the email exchange, where students also

talked about their daily lives, the plants that grow

in their hometowns, and their cultural similarities

and differences.


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In self-report surveys, teachers have said they felt inadequate in adding technology into the curriculum18,19.

Providing children with rich learning experiences involving technology does not happen by accident,

and it requires highly skilled teachers at the helm, including veteran teachers who may feel insecure about

their own technology skills. To assist all teachers, ePals offers a place where teachers can go to develop

such skills and see best practices modeled. Project-based learning is an effective strategy for creating

meaningful activities that provide a meeting ground for core subject knowledge and its applicationthrough the use of 21st-century skills. ePals provides a powerful and supportive environment for

conducting digital-age learning while simultaneously embedding professional development through

actual case studies.

ePals supports teachers by providing exciting authentic learning experiences on subjects of global interest

and understanding, such as global warming, maps, habitats, water, natural disasters, and digital

storytelling. The most commonly used project across all grades and subject areas, The Way We Are, often

precedes other projects as a way to initiate students into collaborative learning. From the teachers

perspective, the projects are comprehensive because they include alignment with state and national content

standards, lesson plans, related content and vetted websites, suggested culminating activities, and

substantive informal assessment rubrics. After a teacher has participated in one project, the idea of creating

ones own project becomes much more feasible. A teacher working on one of the ePals projects can use

Project Forums to find a professional learning network of other teachers who are also interested in or have

used the same project. The modeling and support from peers in a global setting adds a new dimension toteacher professional development.

For students, these projects promote deeper understanding of global issues, literacy and critical thinking

by:

1. Activating prior knowledge and building context

2. Incorporating genre study

3. Developing students academic vocabulary

4. Asking and answering essential questions

5. Directing students through a series of purposeful email exchanges

ePals also makes it easy for teachers to find partner classrooms in countries of their choice. They can use

Classroom Match, search for classes interested in a specific project, or search by map or specific criteria to

collaborate on:

a. An ePals/National Geographic Project

b. An ePals Member Project

c. An original project

18Becker, H. (1999). Internet use by teachers: Conditions of professional use and teacher-directed student

use. Teaching, learning and computing: 1998 national survey. (Center for Research on Information

Technology and Organization Report No. 1).19 Smerdon, B., Cronen, S., Lanahan, L., Anderson, J., Iannotti, N., & Angeles, J. (2000). Teachers' tools

for the 21st century: A report on teachers' use of technology (NCES Publication No. 2000-102).

Washington: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, NationalCenter for Education Statistics.


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d. Language practice

e. Cultural exchanges

f. Data collection for science, math or other subject areas

In addition, ePals makes it easy to locate and qualify curriculum design and materials by providingeducators with an abundance of high quality content and lessons relating to a particular subject. Educators

benefit from powerful partnerships. For example, ePals/National Geographic projects are anchored around

content from National Geographic, providing direct access to primary sources of the highest quality.

Teachers can select those elements relevant to their classroom needs and enjoy the experience and

satisfaction of creating their own custom units. This process engages teachers in virtual authentic

professional development experiences.

In a specific area like writing, ePals also offers teachers support to help students use writing for purposeful

subject area learning. To write effectively and meaningfully, students need to learn what they are talking

about. This brings reading, research, and information literacy into an authentic context, where learning

becomes deeper and more sustained. The NETS-S standard Research and Information Fluency is an

essential skill that can explicitly be developed in completing ePals projects. Along with planning strategiesto guide their inquiry, students involved in the projects are guided by the teacher in locating, organizing,

analyzing, evaluating, synthesizing, and ethically using information from a variety of sources and media.

Further, ePals projects provide opportunities for students to evaluate and select information sources and

digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks. In other words, students are not left to their

own devices to go beyond Google; instead, they have scaffolding to help them learn these strategies and

skills.

It is noteworthy that NETS-T standards 1 and 2 challenge both teachers and students to go beyond what

is in the book, to generate new ideas, products, or processes, and to create original works. This focus on

originality applies equally to arts and sciences. Burniske and Monke20 remind us that chief among the

classroom practitioners responsibilities while creating global, telecollaborative projects is the

establishment of a forum for student expression, a forum that nurtures exploratory discourse rather than the

recitation of homogenized thought (p. 57). The intention of applying what is known in order to extendknowledge itself is a defining characteristic of powerful ePals projects. These projects often result in

creative writing, videos, as well as simulations that explore complex systems and issues, or identify trends

and forecast possibilities.

20Burniske, R.W., & Monke, L. (2001). Breaking down the digital walls: Learning to teach in a post-

modem world. Albany: State University of New York Press.


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NETS-T 3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and

work processes representative of an

innovative professional in a global and

digital society. Teachers:

a. demonstrate fluency in technology

systems and the transfer of current

knowledge to new technologies and

situations.

b. collaboratewith students, peers,

parents, and community members

using digital tools and resources to

support student success and

innovation.

c. communicaterelevant informationand ideas effectively to students,

parents, and peers using a variety of

digital-age media and formats.

d. model and facilitate effective use of

current and emerging digital tools to

locate, analyze, evaluate, and use

information resources to support

research and learning.

ePals Project Snapshot NETS-T 3 In Action

Natural Disaster & Severe Weather Investigation

Mike Fitzgerald, Missouri, USA

www.epals.com/ambassadors or directly at http://www.epals.com/media/p/230424.aspx

To teach his students how geography impacts

daily lives, Mike Fitzgerald of St. Louis,

Missouri, looked for collaborative partners

who lived in varied geographical regions that

experienced severe weather. His students

communicated via email to interview ePals and

learn about their experiences with severe

weather.

Using the ePals/National Geographic Natural

Disasters Project as a guide, students

conducted interviews with ePals in Turkey, who

shared their knowledge of earthquakes, and

students in the Philippines, who shared their

experiences surviving Typhoon Ondoy.

American students described their experiences

with tornados and demonstrated tornado drills.

Using video, digital photography and voice

thread technologies, students created videoessays of experiences with natural disasters and

public service announcements. They also held

a school-wide fundraiser to raise money for

victims of natural disasters. By examining the

various types of natural disasters and where they

occur, students learned how their geography

changes their lives in large and small ways.

This standard applies the power of networked knowing. Classrooms may be the last remaining venue forthe sage on the stage as almost every other domain in society has moved to a more socially constructed

source for the knowledge that fuels growth. By encouraging teachers to bring these practices within theclassroom walls, they open possibilities to strengthen learning in even more powerful ways, applying

another ePals experience:Learning with another person, adult or peer, is deeply motivating and

inspires individuals to reach further for understanding.

ePals In2Books program, for example, harnesses this lesson by providing an ideal community service

opportunity for busy employees to make a real difference in the lives of children www.In2Books.com.
http://www.epals.com/ambassadorshttp://www.epals.com/media/p/230424.aspxhttp://www.in2books.com/http://www.epals.com/ambassadorshttp://www.epals.com/media/p/230424.aspxhttp://www.in2books.com/


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Millions of children lack the literacy skills they need to succeed, and ePals uses cutting-edge technologies

to connect students with volunteer e-Mentors who can help them meet this need. Adult pen pals model for

teachers and students what it means to be an innovative professional. In2Books curricula show how 21st-

century pedagogy unites a learning community of students, families, teachers, and pen pals. This

continuous support network encourages members to share resources and learn from one another. It alsodevelops personal relationships that challenge students intellectually, increase their personal and

professional aspirations, and reinforce home and classroom learning experiences.

The NETS-S standard 2 places a premium on Communication and Collaboration, which is essential for

students to play their role in a global society. The ability to read, write, reason and speak is the gatekeeper

to all other academic progress. In the 21st century, literacy takes on an expanded definition, one in which

everyone must function as reader, author, editor, researcher, publisher and information professional at onetime or another. Communications can take on more forms than ever before, and students need to become

fluent in each of them. Moreover, the comprehension and creative aspects of locating, interacting with and

applying information in all forms are entry-level expectations of 21 st-century employers. Understanding

people from other places, across the country or across the globe, is more important today than ever before.

ePals has a unique feature to support cultural understanding and improved literacy through safe email

exchanges with classmates around the world using the first email system with built-in instant languagetranslation (currently in 59 languages and thousands of language pairs).

Research has consistently shown the benefits of student email writing exchanges. Neilsen21 notes that as

students composed questions for their keypals and wrote introductions of themselves, their literacy

enabled them to extend their reach beyond the school and the curriculum as they knew it. Soon worksheets

on vocabulary were abandoned for a chance to write to a real person they did not know and might never

know, but who would write them back. (p. 136) Charron 22 reported that fourth grade students in New

England who had ongoing ePals communication with students in Australia increased both the quantity and

quality of their writing, gained cultural learning, and increased higher level thinking skills through problem

solving about cultural differences. Reading, writing, and cultural learning occurred simultaneously.

Teachers reported the ePals exchange focused on meaningful writing and provided a motivating peeraudience for feedback on student writing. Even though both groups of students spoke English, some of

the differences in language use between the two countries prompted students to reread their writing and

ensure a clear understanding of their messages.

Lankshear, Snyder, and Green23 noted the importance of the social nature of learning in connection with

written language acquisition. The more transparently we embed specific learning tasks in meaningful

social practices, the more likely it is that learners will grasp not only the operational aspects but theimportant cultural and critical dimensions as well (p. 138). Demski shares some examples of powerful

global collaborations in her overview of ePals connections.24 Oates suggests how teachers can use ePals to

extend beyond textbook learning or canned webquests into critical thinking in a social learning network,

21Neilsen, L. (1998). Coding the light: Rethinking generational authority in a rural high school

telecommunications project. In D. Reinking, M. McKenna, L.D. Labbo, & R. Kieffer (Eds.), Handbook ofliteracy and technology: Transformations in a post-typographic world (pp. 129143). Mahwah, NJ:

Erlbaum.22Charron, N. (2007, May). I Learned That There's a State Called Victoria and He Has Six Blue-Tongued

Lizards! The Reading Teacher, 60(8), 762769.23 Lankshear, C., Snyder, L., & Green, B. (2000). Teachers and technoliteracy: Managing literacy,

technology and learning in schools. St. Leonards, Australia: Allen & Unwin.24

Demski, J. (2008, November). E-Palling Around. THE Journal.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2008/11/01/epalling-around.aspx


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creation of questions, and authentic communication with other students.25 I would want my students to

connect with students and teachers in the places we were studying. The Internet makes such connections

easier than ever before, Oates said. Schools and teachers must be challenged to use the tools and

techniques of today, not the ones of the past. Learning in the 21st century requires critical thinking, adept

use of technology, and global collaboration, and we should offer all these to our students on a regularbasis. Let's make the best possible uses of the new tools available to us so that our students are better

prepared to participate in the global community.

ePals/National Geographics Maps project provides opportunities to introduce emerging technologies

including Geographical Information Systems (GIS), GoogleEarth, and other innovative technology tools.

By investigating current tools, we can develop understandings of how our worldview expands through the

creation and use of new tools (from compass to sextant to satellite).

25Oates, R.H. (2009, September). "How to Learn in the 21st Century,"Educational Leadership ,

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/How_to_Learn_in_the_21st

_Century.aspx


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NETS-T 4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global

societal issues and responsibilities in an

evolving digital culture and exhibit legal

and ethical behavior in their professionalpractices. Teachers:

a. advocate, model, and teach safe,legal, and ethical use of digital

information and technology,

includingrespect for copyright,

intellectual property, and the

appropriate documentationof

sources.

b. address the diverse needs of all

learners by using learner-centered

strategies providing equitable access

to appropriate digital tools and

resources.

c. promote and modeldigital etiquetteand responsible social interactionsrelated to the use of technology and

information.

d. develop and model culturalunderstanding andglobal

awarenessby engaging with

colleagues and students of other

cultures using digital-age

communication and collaboration

tools.


Creating a Global Community of Learners

Jodi Rehrig, New Jersey, USA


Inspired and determined to make her students

more globally aware, Jodi Rehrig and colleagues

turned to ePals. The teachers knew thatchallenges to this goal included locating a secure

online community, finding age-appropriate

sites, and establishing safe procedures to edit,

monitor, and approve student messages.

Jodi and her colleagues turned to ePalsSchoolBlog as the solution to their goal. A

major part of their initiative was helping students

master internet safety and proper email

etiquette. As students learned online skills, they

created email how to videos, teaching basic

email skills such as creating an address book andadding attachments.

Teachers posted current events on ePals

SchoolBlog and asked students to respond to a

variety of articles. Lessons were given onblogging etiquette.

Next, the class found ePals from Sweden, Italy

and Ghana. Students exchanged emails with

their ePals and also as responded to international

current events items posted on the classroom

blog. Part of the students lessons focused on

how to properly respond to a peers point of

view, how to disagree in an appropriate

manner and how to work with a global

audience. Students became motivated to do

research from home so that they could ask theirePals interesting questions

If students are prevented from learning appropriate and safe digital behaviors in school, how can we

expect them to fully take their place in society? The much-reported misuse of web 2.0 tools and social

networks by teens centers on students who have not had appropriate instruction in safe, responsible


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practices in school. Instead, paralyzed by threats and fear, far too many schools withdraw to a head in the

sand posture that in effect says bad things may happen out there, but at least they wont happen here!

ePals provides a better alternative, starting with the core technology basis of its product. Using role-based

computing practices from industry, not often used in education, teachers may specify which students may

communicate with which others and to monitor that communication. ePals controls who may enter into its

global community, thus providing a large group of K12 students and teachers without the concerns ofgeneral-market products. Student data is protected. As testimony to the rigor of ePals in these areas,

company products carry TRUSTe certification, which not all educational products can achieve. These

developed processes and tools, combined with effective education, help students develop ethical behaviors,

positive attitudes and leadership while learning to use information and technology safely, legally and

responsibly. ePals incorporates the best of evolving technologies in a safe and secure environment.Students and teachers engaging in discussions in forums can find fully vetted related content through

Explore More, ePals contextual search engine.

Teachers and administrators can determine who can read comments, posts, and emails. Educators can keep

their students messages within the class, share them with other classes, their schools, or the ePals

community, as they believe meets their educational needs. By demonstrating their judicious control of the

use of the service, teachers model responsible behavior for students.

Once this is in place, the NETS-S goal of Digital Citizenship for students to demonstrate personal

responsibility for lifelong learning and exhibit leadership for digital citizenship becomes attainable, as

they have been placed at the center of their own learning.

In addition, the ePals project Digital Storytelling provides a list of copyright-free sounds, music and

images that teachers and students can use. Teachers can thus model respect for intellectual property while

engaging students in digital construction activities.

NETS-T 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Teachers continuously improve their

professional practice, model lifelonglearning, and exhibit leadership in their

school and professional community by

promoting and demonstrating the

effective use of digital tools and

resources.Teachers:a. participate in local andglobal

learning communitiesto explore

creative applications of technology to

improve student learning

b. exhibit leadership by demonstrating a

vision of technology infusion,

participating in shared decision making

and community building, and developingthe leadership and technology skills of

others

c. evaluate and reflect on current

research and professional practice on a

regular basis to make effective use of

existing and emerging digital tools and

resources in support of student learning

d. contribute to the effectiveness, vitality,

and self-renewal of the teaching

profession and of their school and

community


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Six NETS-S Standards; Six Multi-Disciplinary ProjectsElizabeth Simmons, GA, USA


In an effort to intertwine all NETS-S standardsinto her year-long curriculum, Elizabeth

Simmons of Georgia, USA, created six multi-

disciplinary projects, upon which she

collaborated with her partner classroom in

England. Over the course of one school year, her

students shared Native American Writings

(NETS-S 1), Monster Writing Contest (NETS-S

2), Weather Reports (NETS-S 3), Million Dollar

Project (NETS-S 4), ePals The Way We AreProject (NETS-S 5) and an in-class survey of

their technology experiences (NETS-S 6). As

her students developed close friendships with

their ePals, their motivation soared, and the

projects, some of which were not originally

collaborative, took on new strength as authentic

learning experiences.

In sustaining its online professional learning community for more than a decade, ePals has learned that

effective professional development for teachers is authentic, ongoing and has real time relevance and

specificity to what is happening in the classroom. Job-embedded professional development, supported by

coaching and mentoring, has been shown to be the most effective strategy for creating real change in

classroom behaviors26resulting in 80-90% transfer, compared with 5-10% adoption from theory, practice

or demonstration alone. Schools implementing ePals learning space report that they have found it a

powerful way to extend professional development activities beyond workshops and beyond the boundaries

of individual schools. Materials can be posted, shared, discussed through the groups on LearningSpace,

allowing just-in-time training from peers and experts alike. As we move to more digitally delivered

professional development, the importance of a powerful learning platform like LearningSpace becomes

even more evident.

The NETS-S Technology Operations and Concepts standard provides a good starting place, as it makes

possible the digital communities of practice that support ongoing professional growth. This skill set can bethe easiest to achieve, as it only requires reflective practice. When students and teachers discuss how

use of the Internet, email, blogs, forums and other collaborative tools have contributed to the

experiences that have allowed them to learn, every one of this standards elements comes into focus.

They have the opportunity to select from tools that include multimedia capabilities (such as PowerPoint

presentations and streaming audio and video), calendar, survey, and rich text editor capabilities, as well as

searchable archives for easy access to past postings. Or, teachers can ask other teachers questions and seek

resources through Ask An ePals Teacher or in the ePals Teacher Forums and Project Forums. As teachersdiscuss issues and plan lessons, they are building their technological comfort and expertise.

26Joyce, B., and Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development(3rd ed.).Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

27 ONeill, D.K. and Harris, J.B. (2004-05, Winter). Bridging the Perspectives and Developmental Needs

of All Participants in Curriculum-Based Telementoring Programs,Journal of Research on Technology inEducation, 37:2, pp. 111-128.


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Years of experience with learners and teachers in both the U.S. and Canada have shown the potential of

this innovation (e-mentoring) to support new learning experiences for a host of people whose learning

needs could be better served, report researchers Kevin ONeill and Judi Harris27 in Journal of Research on

Technology in Education. They say telementoring could have a positive impact on millions of students in

K12 classrooms who rarely have the opportunity to pursue challenging, long-term inquiry, because theirteachers lack the confidence or expertise to attempt it alone. The experience of telementoring could also

benefit millions of knowledgeable adults, who would like to volunteer their time to work with youth, butwhose schedules cannot accommodate regular visits to schools.

Conclusion: Now More Than Ever!

From Kansas to Cairo, the journey into digital-age learning has begun. The vision, research and

capabilities are aligned such that every classroom can participate We all have a role in the transformation:

a classroom teacher, administrator, teacher educator, district technology coordinator, curriculum director,

school board member, parent, business leader, or taxpayer. Heres what you can do:

1. Learn about NETS-T and NETS-S sufficiently to discuss them with co-workers, district

administrators, and local and state education policy makers.

2. Ask your school board and district curriculum personnel whether or how their students have

collaborated online with someone outside their school in the past 30 days.

3. Implement an e-Mentoring project like In2Books in your school and give students the

experience of participating in a virtual community.

4. Share your experiences with implementing successful Internet-based collaborative research

projects for the benefit of other teachers.

5. Get involved yourself! Join and actively participate in the ePals Global Community by

finding a classroom and collaborating on an ePals/National Geographic Project.

The bottom line -- its about empowering Digital Citizens and Global Citizens. If a student hasnt

communicated online with someone outside his or her school in the past 30 days, are we really

delivering on the vision?

nets-t white paper epals 2010

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