The World Is At Our Fingertips!

The ePals program is "a unique collaborative environment optimized for global K-12 education" which can be used in the K-12 classrooms to integrate authentic learning experiences.  This program can be integrated in the classroom in many different subject areas and for many different reasons.  Some of these examples are as follows:

• The program provides opportunities to work closely with classrooms around the world.  When learning about another country, a class could easily contact a classroom in that part of the world to discover what their daily lives look like. 
• The program allows students to e-mail back and forth.  This is a great way getting the students to write (or type) for an authentic purpose.  Finding out about others cultures, daily lives or just their personal interests would be an engaging experience for students.
• The program provides lessons that teachers can use for different purposes.  The lessons explain all aspect of the delivery and how the ePals program is integrated.
• The program can be used to display writing pieces with others.
• The program could be used as a book talk with other students who are reading the same books.  This takes the discussion beyond the classroom walls where the student will experience authentic book talk.

These are just a few ideas of how this program could be used in the classroom.  It seems like this would be a worthy investment for districts in order to provide student with a more authentic learning environment.  The world, literally, the world, is at our fingertips!