I have been looking for a website in which my students can communicate with other students, whether that be another city, state or country. The obvious issue is safety; I needed a site that I wouldn’t have to monitor 24/7. The site epals.com fit my needs.
The site is designed with the classroom in mind. It is divided into content sections as well as having areas in which you can search for the type of connection you want to make. It is very interesting to search through the classroom descriptions and read about classrooms around the world.
I would use this site as a means to improve my students’ communications skills. By leveraging blogs and forums, I would be able to get students to really take audience into consideration. My action research project is actually on this very topic, and I will most likely use this application in some form to further my findings.
Using social networks to improve writing is crucial, especially for students whose first language is not English. One tool that the epals site uses is the ability to translate languages. Currently, the site can translate in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean and Spanish. What’s nice is that students will also be improving their foreign language skills at the same time, so the site lends itself with cross-curriculum lessons.
Ultimately, the site’s greatest attribute is the fact that it can connect students to other students and make their voices relevant. Too often, students are mandated to simply write to the teacher and then receive limited feedback (of which is mostly negative). By allowing students the opportunity to participate in a social networking community like this it gives students validation that others support their ideas. It also gives them feedback from a source other than the teacher and is something different and fun. Whenever a lesson can be viewed as unique in students’ eyes, they will more than often, try harder because it isn’t the same old thing.
Visit epals at: http://www.epals.com/
The video below is a brief introduction to the website.
Thanks for the great post on this website. Authentic audience is a great way to address the complaints of students feeling that they shouldn't have to do so much writing as many view practice as busy, meaningless work. Having an audience that will monitor what you say and the quality of your work is a 21st century peer review of sorts. Epal is definitely a site that can be used for that purpose. Further, our group project last month was around building communities using the internet--establishing collaborative academic relationships to solve real world problems. This site, though not previously noted, would have been a great place as a teacher to start the lesson design and plans.
ReplyDeleteOn a lighter note, I used to teach audience to my 6th graders by having them write a letter to their parents, a friend, teacher, principal, president explaining what they did to their babysitter. It was light hearted and the students enjoyed learning the concept of audience with this little introductory exercise. Thanks for your post.
Hi Tom! Great 2.0 Tool suggestion! I liked the fact that the site had specific projects in mind to help connect classrooms instead of being a free for all blogging site. It's nice to have the site making a teacher's research time cut down to maximize the time using it. I also liked how it has feedback about other teachers and students that have already completed projects to help new teachers plan for their experience with ePals. You're right about social networks being a catalyst for practicing writing skills. There needs to be an avenue where texting grammar and spelling just won't cut it. I also think that it's fantastic that there are translators so using different languages doesn't cause a barrier in using the site. When I taught my own special education classroom a couple of years ago, I wish I knew about this site then! We would have definitely used it! Thanks again for the post!
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