There are so many great ways that ePals can be used. Both schoolmail and global community are free resources. With these free resources students can communicate with students throughout the world about various topics. With ePals all communications are monitored by the teacher that not only ensures appropriate content, but also allows the teacher to ask a student to redo their letter. Teachers can also communicate with one another in this global community.
Also on the ePals site are learning spaces and in2books, which are not free. Although they are not free they look like they may be worth the investment. With in2books students can communicate with a mentor about various books they choose to read. This communication allows students to find meaning in what they are reading and also discuss the important aspects of the book. Learning spaces offers a whole array of work-spaces for teachers, students, and parents. Through their dashboard, teachers can manage all their collaborations. Teachers can collaborate with other teachers for lessons, tests and much more. Learning spaces also allows teachers to set up blogs, wikis, forums and more for their students to participate in. With this teachers of various schools can join together their classroom on projects or communications. ePals is full of opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate, communicate, and learn.
With our upcoming unit on my mind, I can see using ePals when talking about currency conversions and better buys. Students could apply their knowledge of currency conversion to communicate with students in other parts of the world and discuss the cost of their most desired items. They can also compare the prices and see if prices vary depending on where you are. Similarly, students could use measurement conversion to share their favorite recipes with their pen pals. I think ePals could be an exciting way to get students interested in a rather tough topic.
