Moving in the right direction with epals

Many websites exist that offer teachers and students an electronic way to communicate. So what makes epals stand out from the rest? First, its recent collaboration with the IB (International Baccelurate ) program to create and manage a virtual community for IB students and educators, that will foster global experiences and interactions as a part of their learning model. Epals considers itself to be the largest K-12 learning

network with contributions from over 200 countries and territories. This is another reason that places this

learning network in a catergory of its own and recently attracted the New York City Public Schools, which is the largest school district in the US, to select it for its epals Learning Space. This partnership which includes schoolmail service, also features teacher and students collaborations, streaming video, images, projects, forums, and live conferences. All of these functionalities will be available to the students, parents, and faculty within the district. The site offers different forums for students, teachers, and parents. In addition there is a convenient translator that can assist with understanding.By using state standards and content specific curriculum the epals provides possible assignments as well as postings of possible collaborations being requested by teachers. Waiting for messages from your epals can be timely, but not to long ago our mail was delivered on horseback. As an educator , I would like to find a teacher working on similar content( not curriculum) and design lessons that would allow our students to work together and see the universal aspects of mathematics. This point is often discussed but epals is a excellent way to allow kids to experience it for themselves. The folks at epals have the right idea and communicating globally is moving in the right direction