Epals and Tools

Epals seems like a fabulous site, and an obvious yet necessary step in the development of education tools on the web. The two most valuable aspects of the Epals site seem to be: 1) the platform that it provides for classrooms and individuals to connect to other classrooms and individuals from around the world; and, 2) the projects that it has developed for classrooms to work on.

The site allows classrooms/individuals to use a world map to choose a country from which to contact other classrooms/individuals that are interested in collaboration. Collaboration can include sharing blogs or writing or emails, or working on one of the projects posted on Epals. The projects seem to include a main theme like global warming or habitat, for example, some activation and learning in the home classroom, an exchange of a series of emails between the new penpals, and then the building of a presentation to share.

I can think of a couple different ways to use Epals. For one, if I were teaching in an ESL classroom, I would allow children from different countries to work with people in their former countries, if possible, to help maintain their first language and links to their culture. Throughout this semester I've learned that maintaining a first language is very important for developing a second language both linguistically and culturally.

It would obviously be great for a Social Studies unit if students could interact with students from a culture or country of current study. The same goes for an English classroom if a story/poem/novel were set in a foreign country or another part of the US.

And for the teacher, the projects seem like a good place to get ideas and maybe save some time because the global outline is already finished.

Epals could also be used in collaboration with other tools on the web. I have previously investigated Survey Monkey and Animoto. I can imagine using Survey Monkey in a class with partnering classrooms from multiple countries. I would be fun and informative to make a survey on a given topic (e.g. household size and composition; ages at which people first drive, move out, get married, etc) and then distribute the surveys to the classrooms from around the world and perform comparative studies. Maybe then the classroom performing the study could compare their study to their textbook or their preconcieved notions.

Animoto could be used in conjunction with the projects from Epals mentioned above. Animoto is a tool that allows a user to upload pictures, video, and music and the site then mixes a fairly unique presentation for the user in a matter of minutes.

Microblogging and Professional Development

After reading Can We Use Twitter for Educational Activities and watching Better Learning with ICT - Online Communities in the Classroom, I think that microblogging could be used in a few ways for professional development. It can:

1. Increase access to and number of resources available - resources can increase the breadth of materials used and so keep classes fresh and allow the teacher to employ different styles and types of learning to accommodate a wider range of students. An increased number of resources also makes the teacher’s life easier because the teacher doesn’t always have to generate materials.

2. Increase number of peers - peers are important for bouncing ideas off of. Peers allow the teacher to feel more confident before attempting a lesson because the lesson will have been validated already. Peers have the potential to offer a critical twist to a lesson that may make it successful, or they may present an idea that opens the door for a teacher to discover his own ideas.

3. Create a space for conferencing: twittering could be good as a space for many people to discuss ideas from great distances simultaneously.

4. Stay up to date: another benefit of increasing peers and resources is that a teacher can stay current on new ideas and trends. He or she can stay on top of theory and news in the teaching world.

The Growth of Global Communication and Educational Effects

This video, entitled Did You Know, was quite eye opening and mind boggling. I think I'd begun to realize already that the Internet and high tech communications were still in their infancy in the year 2009, but this video shows us that they are maturing at an exponential pace and that the potential is a great unknown.

The video puts the onus of preparing people for these changes on schools and teachers. Preparation is so important because if a person does not have a skill set to work in the forthcoming environment he will be left behind.

I believe it will also be the responsibility of schools to take advantage of the possibilities. With so many resources available instruction will be able to take an unlimited number of forms and harnessing the potential will be difficult but exciting.

I don't know if the video was implying that technology was a cause for some of the other developments in the world such as English becoming a common language or increased educational opportunities in some countries. I do think, however, that these linguistic and knowledge shifts are notable because it is cause to teach more tolerance to students as they will be dealing more readily with a great diversity of people.

I also think that educating students in learning strategies or exploration strategies will become important because it will be impossible to teach all of the knowledge. It may be the primary job of schools in the future to show students how to become independent researchers and thinkers in the technological realm so that they will be able to keep up beyond their school years.