ePals

Leslie Ford's review of ePals:
ePals SchoolM@il is a free school-safe email for students in grades k – 12. It is easy to use, has instant language translation, and allows teachers and administrators to monitor email content. ePals provides free accounts for every student, teacher, and administrator. ePals allows teachers or administrators to control, monitor, and block email messages and any content that is unwanted. Beyond just being an email program, ePals is also a collaborative learning experience. Through the ePals classroom match, students will increase their literacy and gain cultural understanding through safe email exchanges with peers around the globe. ePals also has a “projects” listing where teachers can view a number of projects they may want to undertake with their class. __Strengths__ __Weaknesses__ ePals would be useful in grades k – 12, but probably more easily utilized in grades 2 – 12. ePals allows users to collaborate on science, geography, history projects, or any other number of projects. The projects part of this site has lesson plans, learning objectives, and other resources that help a teacher get connected to classrooms across the world in just a few easy steps! This site would also be a great enhancement to any foreign language program because students could practice writing in another language. ePals SchoolM@il is completely free to use. Every student, teacher, and administrator is provided with a free email account. I found ePals as I was searching for different key pal websites. You can find ePals SchoolM@il at [] All that is needed to access this website is a computer and Internet access. I am excited to use ePals with my students!
 * Easy to manage and has intuitive web-based controls.
 * Provides a safe email environment with keyword filters to ensure appropriateness of email messages.
 * Has spam and virus controls to prevent unwanted, inappropriate messages and can scan attachments for viruses.
 * ePals increases literacy through the class exchange email program.
 * ePalsSchoolM@ail is the first student email with built-in translation to break down language barriers and increase learning about different cultures.
 * While ePals has a great deal of resources, that is also a downfall of this site. There are a number of subpages and it can be difficult to navigate the site at times.
 * The ePals tour doesn’t cover everything necessary to get the most out of ePals.

I have to admit that I did not read this review when it was first posted. Several units later I found a lesson at ePals to use for my Project Based Learning experience. I wasn't sure how using ePals would work. While going through the lesson I thought I would just omit the ePal portion. I just didn’t want to sign up for access to another website, especially if it was going to be more work that it was worth. Later, I recalled seeing someone do a tech review on ePals. So, I went back through the archive and found Leslie's review. Her review made it apparent that using this site might not be as bad as I first thought. The quick reference of strengths and weakness was greatly appreciated. In light of Leslie’s review, I think I will not omit the ePal part of the lesson.
 * __Reflection:__**