ePals is a web tool that connects K-12 classrooms in more than 99 countries to share content and ideas and collaborate on projects. Educators create a profile that explains who they are hoping to connect with and why. Teachers can search by criteria such as language, age, keywords, and can filter for region, country and class size. The system will identify matches according to your profile. There is a private workspace for classes to communicate with one another. There are also safety filters to apply to the virtual classrooms. Teachers can moderate all messaging and flagged content. There are lesson plans and other resources available on the platform to assist busy teacher in their planning.
After creating a profile, teachers set up their digital classroom. Students can then be connected to pen pals and start experiencing high quality activities. The site partners with the Smithsonian Institute and McGraw-Hill. Teachers can also customize their own learning experiences to connect their classroom to international classrooms. There are many safety measures taken in the design of this web tool that are at the discretion of the educator. There is also a screening process that verifies teachers before they are cleared to create their classroom profile.
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- This web tool offers access to classrooms around the world.
- Safe communication system that teachers can moderate.
- Teachers can customize their students’ learning experience.
- Excellent pre planned lessons are available for quick lessons.
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- Collaborating with another classroom can be difficult.
- Planning learning experiences can be difficult to coordinate with partnering classrooms.
