The Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration was developed to help teachers use the Internet to "reach out" globally. These materials were prepared as part of the Department of Education's International Education Initiative.
This guide is designed for online access. On every page, teachers will find many projects and suggestions to begin or expand classroom projects that reach across the globe.
In every section of this on-line guide, we have also provided links to elementary, middle and high school projects and links to organizations that are involved in international education via the Internet.
Disclaimer: Please note that many new online projects are continually beginning, while some projects are ending. This guide includes a sampling of projects as of July 2005, and is subject to change. Although every attempt was made to provide a representative sampling of online projects, some projects may have been unintentionally left out. Thank you to all the project facilitators for your contributions to the projects descriptions, and your ongoing hard work and enthusiasm, and to all of the students and teachers whose participation and commitment make these projects a success.
Disclaimer of Endorsement: The documents posted on this server contain hypertext links or pointers to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links and pointers are provided for the user's convenience. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Further, the inclusion of links or pointers to particular items in hypertext is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these outside sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.
As you begin to explore the possibilities for cross-cultural interaction, global
classroom projects, and new learning opportunities, the following organizations
can assist you in your efforts.
ePALS Classroom Exchange - Connects users from around the globe, providing the tools and meeting places to create a worldwide community of learners. The tools include ePALS SchoolMail™ and SafeBrowser™ as well as built-in language translation designed for schools. Whether you want project ideas for your class-to-class partnership, or discussion areas where you can contribute your views on a matter, ePALS strives to make it easy for members to make meaningful connections with each other. http://www.epals.com
Global Connections and Exchange Programs
An online resource on the website of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
of the U.S. Department of State that includes links to classrooms worldwide through
a range of programs.
http://www.exchanges.state.gov/education/citizens/students/
worldwide/connections.htm
GEM – Global Education Motivators
Founded in 1981, GEM has consistently worked with students, teachers and administrators
through on-site and distant learning workshops and classroom program support to
promote a better understanding of the world and its people. GEM has always maintained
a close association with the United Nations as well as several other affiliations.
GEM provides various videoconferencing applications and offers packaged videoconferencing
programs that can be customized through brainstorming with teachers to fit the
individual classroom situation.
http://www.gem-ngo.org/
Global Gateway - A database for schools and colleges (5 - 19 age range) looking for partner schools anywhere on the planet to develop international education projects. It is managed by the British Council, but it is open to all schools. http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/
Global Junior Challenge - The Global Junior Challenge is a
world-wide competition launched by the City of Rome to award prizes to the best
projects using new technologies for education training purposes of youth up to
the age of 29. Their webpage has a service to find new partners for your project.
You can see which projects are looking for partners by country or register your
own project in the Partner Search database so that others can see your details.
http://www.gjc.it
Global Nomads Group
Founded in 1998, the Global Nomads Group (GNG) is a non-profit organization dedicated
to heightening children's understanding and appreciation for the world and its
people. Using interactive technologies such as videoconferencing, GNG brings young
people together face-to-face to meet across cultural and national boundaries to
discuss their differences & similarities, and the world issues that affect
them.
http://www.gng.org/programs/current.html
Global SchoolHouse - GSH has a registry of collaborative projects organized by topic, grade, and project date. Among the resources on the page:
iEARN – International Education and Resource Network
A global, non-profit network for classes of students aged 5-19, iEARN has been
facilitating student and teacher-designed on-line collaborative projects and face-to-face
meetings since 1988. Over 20,000 schools in 110+ countries participate in approximately
250 iEARN projects covering all aspects of the curriculum.
Kidlink - Global, non-profit organization. Has rendered free services to youth through the Internet since 1990. In 2005, Kidlink had over 100 public and private conferencing communities for youth and adults (mostly teachers and parents) in over 30 languages, a private chat network for participants only, and a multi-lingual web site of more than 100,000 pages. Services were supported by 500 volunteers living in over 50 countries. Most are classroom teachers. Home page: http://www.kidlink.org
Kidlink's objective is to empower, educate, and prepare children and youth through the secondary school level for global inter-personal networking. Its motive is provided at http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/backgrnd.html.
Kidz Online – A nonprofit educational organization whose mission is dedicated to preparing K-12 students and teachers to live and work in the information age through innovative peer-to-peer technology training distributed using advanced digital technologies. To accomplish this, Kidz Online provides hundreds of free educational streaming videos and lesson plans; free registration at the site allows users the ability to download these resources for use on their local computer systems and networks.
In addition, Kidz Online produces over forty live, interactive video webcasts
each year. These webcasts support Kidz Online and a variety of other educational
and non-profit institutions in their efforts to use modern communication tools
to connect with national audiences.
http://www.kidzonline.org
Schoolworld Internet Education – A division of Schoolworld
Internet Education Foundation. It offers the opportunities for direct interaction
with schools from around the world and provides a platform for using the Internet
for teaching enhancement.
http://www.schoolworld.asn.au/
TakingITGlobal – An on-line community for young people interested in making a difference. The highly interactive website provides space for youth expression, connection to opportunities, a platform for youth voice, and support for action.
The site has featured themes that are updated on a regular basis and are developed
together with members and external partners. Among recent featured issues were:
Rural Youth (developed together with the Food and Agriculture Organization), Human
Rights (developed with the International Center for Rights and Democracy), and
the Millennium Development Goals, in partnership with the UN's Millennium Campaign.
Through the site, young people can connect directly with their peers from more
than 200 countries, read their inspiring profiles, and debate common concerns
through active discussion boards, instant messengers, and personal 'weblog'
(diary-like) pages. In August 2005, TakingITGlobal launched a new version of its
community, with new features and more exciting opportunities for young people
to take part.
http://about.takingitglobal.org/
Telecollaborate! The website provides the tools for teachers
to design, develop and publish their telecollaborative projects. A good collection
of telecollaboration resourses including links to project directories, and useful
online applications for project developers.
http://nschubert.home.mchsi.com/
ThinkQuest – an international student competition, sponsored by the Oracle Education Foundation. Teams of students and teachers are challenged to create websites on educational topics and compete for exciting prizes. The completed websites are published in the ThinkQuest Library (http://thinkquest.org/library/index.html), a rich learning resource used by millions. http://www.thinkquest.org/
Web Accessibility Initiative - WAI has created "Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites" to provide a high degree of usability for persons with disabilities. http://www.w3.org/WAI/
EUN Community http://community.eun.org/ The website provides teachers and learners with tools for building online communities, sharing files and news articles, participating in online forums, instant messaging, and publishing web pages. There are communities focused around curriculum subjects, school projects or created by educators to discuss professional issues.
Etwinning – School partnership in Europe
The project provides the opportunities for two schools from two different
European countries to start partnership and take advantage of ICT tools to work
together to obtain pedagogical, social and cultural benefits. Students are motivated
by an opportunity to learn about each other, their school culture, and family
while practicing their ICT skills at the same time.
http://www.etwinning.net/ww/en/pub/etwinning/index.htm
SchoolNet Africa: Learning through Networking - SchoolNet
projects in about 30 African countries demonstrate growing interest from governments,
schools and the private sector. The demand for SchoolNet Africa has evolved from
national school networking programs. The Cape Town Declaration (September 1999)
by representative school networking projects from 10 African countries called
for the establishment of SchoolNet Africa. A key player is SchoolNet South Africa.
One of the website sections, Learner Center provides space for international online
collaboration among young people.
http://www.schoolnetafrica.net
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Everyone involved for a while in the English language teaching profession has
witnessed dramatic changes in the past thirty years. Different methods and approaches
have been developed to adapt to learning theories and second language acquisition
theories. Today, and even though there still are many unanswered questions, researchers
seem to have come up with a systematic body of information in the field.
Teaching is understood as the facilitation of learning or enabling the student to learn. Teaching involves setting the conditions for learning by understanding how a learner learns. This understanding will determine the teaching style, the approach to be used, the method and the classroom techniques, procedures and activities. The theory of teaching will determine also how to create motivation for effective learning, how the content area, (language in this case) needs to be structured and sequenced and how to facilitate language acquisition.
Since the 1970s psychologists and linguists have placed emphasis on interpersonal relationships, the nature of communication and the interactive process of language. As a result, the language teaching profession has responded with methods that emphasize communicative competence, and that stress group work, interaction and cooperative learning. Teachers find themselves trying to move away from the teaching of rules, patterns and definitions "about the language" (linguistic competence) towards teaching students how to communicate genuinely, spontaneously and meaningfully in the second or foreign language (communicative competence).
In the past two decades the interest in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) has been placed in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This focus has centered on teaching speaking and listening skills in real life situations, on writing for specific communicative purposes, and on "authentic" reading texts.
David Nunan (1991) cites five characteristics of CLT:
The challenge for the EFL teacher has been how to provide students with real, authentic opportunities to interact in the target language. Technology has certainly played an important role in its effort to bring more authentic materials to the classrooms. Tapes and video-lessons have provided a chance to listen to and watch native speakers in action. Some educational computer software companies have developed interactive models, which in general are limited in the kind of responses they allow from the student. None of these technological innovations has had the impact nor the potential for opportunities for interaction as does the Internet, whether synchronous or asynchronous. Internet based technology provides an invaluable tool for second and foreign language teachers to put the theories and concepts of CLT into practice. Several international networks of schools provide:
Some of the implications of using Internet based collaboration for second and foreign English language teachers are:
Adriana Vilela
Perhaps no other area in the curriculum gets so much benefit from Internet
based international collaboration in projects. The nature of second language learning
differs from other subject areas in the sense that the projects are not limited
to specific content areas. Rather, the projects need to be assessed and chosen
according to the level of difficulty or complexity of language structures for
the learners. Projects are not usually planned for ESL, but teachers can easily
adapt them to their teaching objectives.
For the sake of providing a general framework, the table below shows the broad grammatical items and skills that learners need to be able to participate in projects. Although the examples are for ESL, the same framework applies for learners of Japanese, Spanish, French or any other second or third language.
You may take these language-acquisition projects to the various discussion groups working in specific languages. One place to bring project ideas, such as those below, to multi-lingual discussion groups is via Kidlink: http://www.kidlink.org/english/general/kidproj.html. iEARN also has projects in over 30 languages.
One excellent resource for language-teaching and interacting with others teaching specific languages is Virtual Language Center: http://www.linguanet.org.uk, sponsored by the National Centre for Languages (CILT). The website provides discussion forums for teachers/learners to bring project ideas and ask questions about second/foreign language teaching and learning. LanguagesICT http://www.languages-ict.org.uk/, another website from the CILT, provides a gateway to information and guidance for language teachers on integrating ICT into the classroom.
Level 1: Beginners
At the beginners level students are to be able to describe persons, animal and places using the simple present tense. They can narrate everyday activities and routines and communicate likes, dislikes, needs and preferences. They can also comprehend and give simple instructions. They can build or respond to surveys and write a simple report.
The Monster Exchange Project
Students try to communicate an original monster image into another child's mind
using writing skills and technology. Each classroom is split into groups who then
design original monster pictures. The original monster design is then described
using learned writing skills and the descriptive writing process. The description
is written knowing that the audience will be another student trying to draw the
same monster just from reading the description. The partnered classes then exchange
their descriptions via email and the WWW. These students are then challenged to
use reading comprehension skills to read the descriptions and translate them into
a monster picture that it describes. The true challenge involves getting a redrawn
picture as close to the original picture as possible without looking at the original
and only using the exchanged written description. The written descriptions, original
monster pictures, and redrawn monster pictures are scanned and uploaded to the
WWW using the browser based Monster Gallery Builder. The Monster Gallery Builder
is entirely form based and does not require the teacher or student to know any
HTML code.
Level 2: Pre-Intermediate Level
At this level students can describe and narrate using the past tense and the present perfect. They can also use the language of comparison. They can make future plans and talk about conditions and hypothesis using the conditional structures.
Folk Tales Project
The purpose is to study Global Community and Cultural Diversity through folk tales.
Kids today know "Three little Piglets", "Sleeping Beauty"
and "Cinderella". Unfortunately they know little about folk tales of
their own country. And they know nothing about folk tales in other countries.
Each classroom is split into groups. Groups read different folk tales from around
the world. Students discuss the folk tales with the whole class. Students may
e-mail their reactions to the folk tales and interact with other classes. Students
decide which folk tales they would like to share with other classes in the world
and write their stories. Students develop computer skills in word processing,
image digitizing, and e-mail. A folk tale provides an opportunity to learn customs,
traditions, beliefs, and views. Demonstrates students share their own culture:
Yes Real Life Issues: Provides the teacher with an opportunity to share folk tales
from 14 countries.
Level 3: Intermediate to Advanced Level
At the intermediate level students can read and write more complex pieces that include reporting what others said (interviews), use of passive constructions, and use of the conditional type three: "If I had known beforehand I could have prevented it."
A Vision
"A Vision" is an international literary magazine that publishes art,
poetry, and prose created by secondary school students. Its purpose is to use
art and the medium of creative writing to demonstrate that despite linguistic,
cultural, ethnic and racial differences, teenagers around the world share the
same hopes, fears, interests and concerns. This project has received an award
from Columbia University for Best High School Publication in the United States
two years in a row. Students develop computer skills such as word processing,
image digitizing, and e-mail. While participating in the project they have a chance
to demonstrate cross-cultural awareness, respect, and appreciation; they share
their own culture. Teachers can adapt activities to their ESL needs.
Level 4: Advanced Level
At this level students are able to read and write argumentative pieces, discuss book and movie reviews and write articles for school magazines. They can engage in advanced on-line argumentative discussions.
PEARL World Youth News
A student news service inspired by Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal
reporter who was murdered in Pakistan. Daniel Pearl used journalism and music
to connect people of diverse backgrounds. His skills as a foreign correspondent
and his commitment to promoting understanding have inspired this initiative.
In partnership with the Daniel Pearl Foundation, this initiative creates a unique international news service run by secondary school students from around the world. Adhering to the highest journalistic standards, participating students will select the issues to be reported, and write, edit and publish their articles on a web-based news service called PEARL World Youth News.
First Peoples' Project
This project links indigenous students around the world with an exchange of ideas,
culture and art. People from indigenous groups in Argentina, Australia, Canada,
Guatemala, Hungary, Mexico, Thailand and U.S. are currently involved. Each year
students produce art work and writing on a specific theme. For instance, the theme
for the 2004-2005 exchange was Traditional Food. The theme for 2005-2006 exchange
is My Community Past and Present. Another aspect of the project is Humanitarian
Effort, an annual fundraising effort to raise money to help support the Karen
schools involved in the project.
Global Arts Project: Art Miles
Students, schools, organizations, after school program participants, design and
create murals that will be grommeted and seamed together with murals created by
children from all over the world. There are twelve themes involved in the project;
The Multicultural/Diversity Mile, The Environmental Mile, and The Indigenous People's
Mile, Sports Mile, Women's Mile, Fairy Tale Mile, Hollywood Mile, Music Mile,
Senior Mile, Peace, Unity and Healing Mile, Mentor's Mile. Children should work
together to decide on what theme they want to work on. It is important to let
them know that this mural will go on tour in museums and their work will be seen
in many countries, on websites, on TV, and in the future in publications and magazines.
Ultimately, the idea of their names being included in the Guinness Book is a big
thrill for them.
Kids' Space
Kids Gallery. Launched in 1995 with the first participants from the U.S., U.K.,
Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong, the project now attracts readers from over 150
countries. Students submit original art work to share with other classrooms. Some
means of digitizing the art work (flatbed scanner, digital camera, or original
digital artwork) is also needed for this project.
Share Your Music With Me
Share Your Music With Me is a program where students around the world create and
compose original pieces of music. Compositions can be vocal, instrumental or a
combination. Music can be posted as sound files so we listen to the music or it
can be posted as manuscript so other students can perform it. Original music that
could be shared both in the written media as well as the performance media.
Grandmother and Me
Students from around the world are encouraged to tell everyone the name they call
their grandmother, ways they spend time (or did spend time) with their grandmother
and why she is very special. The Grandmother and Me project gives students an
opportunity to celebrate culture, language and generations with other Kidlink
students using the writing process and art. Additionally, students will: participate
in their own language (as well as English); record names given to grandmothers
around the world; list reasons why grandmothers are special; write a collaborative
story about grandmothers; spend time visiting and talking to their grandmothers;
share stories, recipes, songs and other interesting information provided by grandmothers;
examine, organize, graph, analyze data and draw conclusions from the grandmother
entries; use art to express ideas and bridge language barriers.
Kids' Internet Radio Project
Using the software, tutorials, and facilities offered by the project, students
produce their own streaming internet radio show. Students' shows are then broadcast
live, and can be retrieved from the web archive by future listeners. Listeners
can provide their comments and suggestions to youth producers through anonymous
communication channels offered through the project website. Equipment and internet
access requirements are minimal.
Kindred/The Family Project
Students research events in the lives of members of their family or local community
to find the impact of world or local history. They are asked to interview members
of their immediate family (mother, father, brothers, sisters), extended family
(grandparents, uncles, aunts), neighbors or friends in the local community. They
should ask them about experiences in their life that have been affected by the
events of world or local history. Events may include war, natural disasters, migration,
important discoveries, monuments, famous places and so on. Students should focus
on the impact for the family.
The Kindred Project has been recognized as a "Commended Project" by the Cable&Wireless Childnet Interational Awards for 2000.
Laws of Life
An essay project in which students write about their personal values in life.
The Laws of Life Project invites young people to express in their own words what
they value most in life. Participants will submit essays about their laws of life
in which they describe the rules, ideals, and principles by which they live, and
explain the sources of their laws of life (reading, life experience, religion,
culture, role models, etc.). Participants respond to each other's essays and interact
with each other electronically. They will also be able to report on any dialogue
or events that occur in their learning communities as they participate in the
Laws of Life Project, and are encouraged to use what they learned about values
to initiate change within the community through action projects. A teacher's guide
is also available in the project languages from iEARN.
Possible project/classroom activities: Writing essays about one's laws of life, Providing respectful yet open feedback on another participant's essay, Responding to feedback that one's essay generates, Reporting on any discussions that arise in one's classroom or group from writing Laws of Life essays.
Learning Circles
Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small
number of schools located throughout the world. Each session is 14 weeks. To join
a Learning Circle, you must be a member of iEARN and complete a Learning Circle
placement form two weeks before the beginning of the session. There are three
general Learning Circle themes by which classrooms are grouped. Two are listed
here in the Language Arts section, while the third, Places and Perspectives can
be found in the Social Studies section of the guide.
Computer Chronicles - This theme promotes writing across the curriculum. Interaction online revolves around producing a newspaper called The Computer Chronicles. Each class has the opportunity to sponsor one or more sections of the newspaper as their Learning Circle project. They solicit articles from their partner classes and edit them to create one section of the newspaper. This section is combined with the other sections sponsored by circles partners to form the completed newspaper, the Circle publication.
MindWorks - Mind Works is a writing theme designed to enhance creative and expository writing as well as develop different forms of self-expression. The goal is to help student learn how to communicate their thoughts and feelings in writing, then share and compare them with other students from distant places. The Circle publication for Mind Works is a literary magazine that might be called Creative Minds, Mind Works or a name selected by the group. The sponsored projects could be a specific form of writing such as: personal narratives, place poetry, city dialogues, school fables, local myths or personifications of local products. Or students can select a topic to sponsor and request different forms of expression on subjects like the family, jobs, schools or cities.
Lewin
Lewin is an anthology of student writing. Writing can be in any format and on
any topic. A publication is produced of student writing which is distributed to
all contributing schools. The project is being coordinated and published by a
group of students and teachers in Australia and Pakistan. "Lewin" means
"messenger" in an aboriginal language.
Moving Voices
Moving Voices started in 2004 as a pioneering project integrating digital
film-making into the curriculum. Students create a two-minute digital movie on
the theme "what I want the world to know about my school." Teachers
are encouraged to integrate digital video-making into social studies, language
learning, geography, civics and community building and other disciplines, and
to engage with a community of learners interacting and collaborating online.
As the whole concept of creating a digital movie can easily seem too big, risky, and demanding, iEARN Moving Voices team set out to provide rationale and help in terms of curriculum design and professional development for teachers as well as help in the form of individualized support with managing students, technical issues and ensuring that learning opportunities are leveraged in customized and specific ways.
Playwriting-in-the-Round
Classes will collaborate with 2 other classes to write the scripts of three mystery
plays. Each play will consist of (3) acts with one act written by each of the
classes in the script circle. Each class will write the script for the first act
of the play. They will pass the script to the next group and receive Act I from
another group. They will then write Act II and pass the script to the next group
in the circle. This sequence will continue until each group has written three
acts. When the originating group receives their completed play, they will develop
the technical lists and mail the completed play to everyone in the circle. Supporting
materials and activities will be posted on the project website.
Virtues
A project in which students highlight, investigate and write about virtues that
make a difference in their lives, their country, and around the globe. They will
reflect on their own experiences and inspirations and present them in the form
of stories, poems, articles, narratives and artwork. Possible activities: Story
time, drawings, role plays, debates, discussions, research, audio/visual presentation,
gallery walk, creative writing. Students' contributions would be published on
the web and also in the second annual Virtues book. The project is to demonstrate
that we live by certain virtues without which we cannot live effectively.
Who-Am-I?
An educational program is a means for kids and youth to get friends in other countries.
This eight-month, multi-lingual program assists by guiding them to knowledge about
themselves, their place, rights, friends, families, roots, and by bringing them
in contact with youth around the world. Runs in parallel in many languages. To
teachers, Who-Am-I? is a means to classroom instruction within their curriculum:
writing, research, social studies, history, geography, foreign languages, economics,
mathematics, science, the arts, current awareness, as well as personal development,
Internet networking skills, information and communications technology skills.
It is also a means to networking and cooperation with other teachers throughout
the world.
Astronomy with a Stick (AWS) and Day into Night (DIN)
You can help your upper elementary students experience these relationships through
indirect observations of the Sun on the school playground and with models built
in the classroom. AWS activities provide a continuous exercise in critical thinking
and combine well with practice in the use of mathematics and language skills.
The science information and skills gained in the activities form a foundation
for future studies in astronomy and geography.
Accompanying project is Day Into Night, which is designed to introduce the basic concept of nighttime astronomy, by relating it to students through familiar activities of Astronomy With a Stick.
Registered classes will be able to share data, different ways they are using AWS in their classrooms, stories and myths about the sky overhead, and other information.
Connecting Math to Our Lives
This project helps students see how they can use math to analyze issues of importance
to society and to take action to promote greater equity in their school or community.
Students may choose from a number of activity options, including "statistics
and society," "promoting equity at our school site," and school/community
survey and data analysis.
ENO-A Global Web School for Environmental Awareness
Sponsored by the European Commission and National Board of Education, ENO creates a global school environment with over 200 schools from 75 countries participating in a year long program that is actually part of their curriculum. The purpose of ENO is to raise environmental awareness. There are two lessons per week and you must apply during the previous school year in order to participate. Registration information is available at the site.
Global Lab: An Integrated Science Program
Global Lab introduces students to science as inquiry, engaging them in collaborative
scientific investigations. For their studies, students choose a local "study
site" as the context for authentic, hands-on, integrated science exploration.
Students analyze their study site from biological, physical, chemical, and geographic
perspectives. They create qualitative descriptions, take quantitative measurements,
analyze remotely-sensed images, and work with physical and biological models.
GLOBE: Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment
GLOBE is a worldwide network of students, teachers, and scientists working together
to study and understand the global environment. Students and teachers from over
15000 schools in more than 100 countries have worked with research scientists
to learn more about our planet. GLOBE students make environmental observations
at or near their schools and report their data through the Internet. Scientists
use GLOBE data in their research and provide feedback to the students to enrich
their science education. Global images based on GLOBE student data are displayed
on the World Wide Web, enabling students and other visitors to visualize the student
environmental observations." Students share environmental science data worldwide
with one another through the GLOBE website and in this way develop awareness,
respect and appreciation for one another's cultures and environmental habitats
Demonstration that students share own culture and learn about others: Interactive
science data sharing builds understanding and awareness of one's own cultural
context as well as the cultural contexts of others
Human Genetics
Students learn how people inherit their physical characteristics, or traits, by
collecting data about specific, easily-seen human features such as free/attached
earlobes, straight/curved thumbs etc. After analyzing the data students make conclusions
about traits controlled by dominant genes and how often such dominant genes occur.
They carry out surveys, propose hypotheses, and use the data compiled by students
around the globe to test their hypotheses.
Journey North A Global Study of Wildlife Migration
Description: Track Wildlife Migration and Spring's Journey North The journeys
of a dozen migratory species are tracked each spring. Students share their own
field observations with classrooms across the Hemisphere. In addition, students
are linked with scientists who provide their expertise directly to the classroom.
Several migrations are tracked by satellite telemetry, providing live coverage
of individual animals as they migrate. As the spring season sweeps across the
Hemisphere, students note changes in daylight, temperatures, & all living
things as the food chain comes back to life.
Lab's Alive
Lab's Alive is an exciting science and environment project for students offering
a wide range of activities and collaborative experiments held simultaneously in
a number of different countries. Opportunities exist for links by email, web,
video conference (IP and ISDN) and digital image exchange.
Solar Cooking Project
Participants are invited to experiment with alternative energy uses by making,
testing and using solar cookers. Recipes, construction tips, experiments and research
findings will be shared on line and compiled on a web site.
Possible project/classroom activities include: designing original solar ovens, comparing insulation materials, comparing heat trap materials, comparing the effects of climate changes on solar cooking, writing letters to local newspapers about the benefits of using solar energy, creating a web page about solar cooking, and many others.
Weather Watch
Students compare the weather outside their window and across the globe by checking
the online media and comparing the information with the on-site reports from their
partners sent by e-mail.
YouthCAN (Youth Communicating and Networking)
Students facilitate an online network of students using telecommunications technologies
to undertake and/or share environmental work locally and around the world. Students
write about and interact on environmental issues facing their communities during
the year. Since 1995, a youth planning committee has coordinated an annual event
in April, which brings together youth of the world to share how they are exploring
environmental topics and becoming part of the solution to environmental problems.
The primary YouthCaN event involves over 1,000 students at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Other events take place around the US and in other countries-linked through the Internet and video-conferencing with the students in New York City. A second major event is held in the Middle East - YouthCaN Med.
Achievers International Exporting Success
UK based international trade program for students of all ages and abilities. Students
form a company and trade products with their foreign partner school(s). Emphasizes
modern technology through the use of e-mail, video-conferencing and on-line training
materials.
Currency, Money and the Barter System
In this project you will be learning about how students use currency around the
world and you will compare the values of money, goods and services while sharing
ideas and collaborating on a project that looks at the history and value of money
from around the world. This project includes the design of a "kid currency"
to teach each other's epals about their own national history and landmarks.
School 429 in Moscow Russia, Teddy Bear Project Partner of Sunnyside Elementary School in Washington State, USA.
The Bullying Project
The Bullying Project allows students worldwide to share feelings and thoughts
about bullying and teasing with peers worldwide and to remove some of the feelings
of loneliness. The students who have developed the project wanted to use the power
of the internet to let their peers know that people dealing with the issues of
bullying and teasing ARE NOT ALONE. That being bullied and teased is NOT THEIR
fault and they can do something about it. Students can contribute their personal
reflections, music, poetry, and films.
City Quest!
Students explore their towns’ history, architecture, and places of interest
and create a Tourism section for the City Quest website. By doing this, they can
promote their community, appreciate international collaboration, and still have
some fun.
Faces of War
This project studies the life experiences of ordinary people in traumatic historical
circumstances. We are creating here an opportunity to reconsider history and to
scale it to the dimensions of individual people rather than politics, ideologies,
or national movements. This project binds generations and cultures through sharing.
A range of cross-curriculum components are available: Global Art, Writing Exchanges,
and Transcripts of Interviews with local veterans of war/strife as well as with
students in conflict situations. This work will be published in the "Faces
of War" magazine and on the WWW: Faces of War.
Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger
Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger is a global education initiative designed to help
youth discuss and understand issues of hunger, malnutrition, poverty and food
security and to stimulate them to participate in activities to create a world
free from hunger. On World Food Day, 16th October - and throughout the year -
students and teachers from all over the world come together to discuss how lessons
plans have been adapted locally and explore ways to raise awareness.
For this project three lessons are provided for primary, intermediate and secondary. Participants are invited to discuss and share with peers around the world the issues of hunger and poverty in their local/national context and how the Feeding Minds Fighting Hunger lessons plans have been used in their classrooms. New ideas, activities and lessons from around the world will be collected and distributed each year.
Fight Against Child Labour
This ongoing project continues to bring together young people in research on and
discussion of issues relating to children's rights and the burdens carried by
millions of children through excessive and harmful labor.
Friends and Flags
Friends and Flags is a collaborative learning project that combines authentic
language learning with promoting multicultural awareness. Classrooms that have
registered for the project are placed in learning circles of 6 countries per circle.
Circle partners are encouraged to communicate via email, discussion lists, chat
rooms, message boards and on the project website. Each class in the circle also
prepares a cultural package which includes a student written country book for
the other 5 classes in the circle. These packages are mailed in the post. This
MANY to MANY exchange enables all classes to create authentic and tangible multi-cultural
learning centers.
Helping Hands
Students research online information, conduct interviews and participate in Forums
with their peers from around the world on topics related to kids living on the
streets. After research, interviews and class discussions, students write an essay
about homeless children in the targeted country.
The Junior Journal
The Junior Journal is an online newspaper edited and published exclusively by
children, dealing with global issues.
Learning Circles
Learning Circles are highly interactive, project-based partnerships among a small
number of schools located throughout the world. Each session is 14 weeks. To join
a Learning Circle, you must be a member of iEARN and complete a Learning Circle
placement form two weeks before the beginning of the session. There are three
general Learning Circle themes by which classrooms are grouped. The social studies
theme Places and Perspectives is listed below. Two additional language arts circles
can be found in the Language Arts section of the guide.
Places and Perspectives - Places and Perspectives encourages
students to explore regional history, culture, government, and geography by sharing
their knowledge with people from different locations. The goal is to help students
understand how historical events and geographic conditions interact to help shape
their lives and gives them a deeper understanding of themselves, their families
and their communities. Each classroom sponsors a project for a section in the
Places and Perspectives Review. For instance, a classroom might sponsor a section
on local legends, interview native inhabitants or the elderly, describe the historical
attractions of the area, examine local constitutions, or compare weather patterns,
map studies.
Learning Democracy Through International Collaboration
The project focuses on student rights and duties, tolerance and freedom, civic
responsibilities and engagement. This way secondary school students will be able
to enhance democracy knowledge which hopefully will lead to their active participation
in the community. For eight weeks the participating classes will be posting their
responses to the project questions presented prior to the project start and respond
to the messages posted by their international partners.
National Cuisine and Traditions
Participating students send their partners pictures of themselves with a short
introduction and essay “My Favorite Foods”. Later they exchange recipes
of their foods and try to cook their partners’ dishes, take photographs,
and write their reflections. Students then meet online to discuss their experience
and ask their partners about their cuisine.
Peace Corps: Coverdell World Wise Schools Program
Coverdell World Wise Schools (CWWS) seeks to engage learners in an inquiry about
the themselves and others in order to broaden perspectives, promote cultural awareness,
appreciate global connections, and encourage service. School classrooms can be
paired with a Peace Corp volunteer during the school year to learn together about
the country and community in which the Peace Corps volunteer is working. They
can read from the CyberVolunteer archives, in which they can find rich letters
from Peace Corps volunteers, accompanied by lesson plans. The Water in Africa
project allows teachers to access unit lesson plans on water issues, with photos
and stories about water in communities throughout Africa that have been provided
by Peace Corps volunteers. Online videos about several countries served by the
Peace Corps are available for free viewing.
Postcard Geography
Class-to-class exchange of picture postcards (purchased, computer or handmade).
This project creates opportunity to foster global friendships and can be a gateway
to class-to-class exchanges of all kinds.
Women in My Country
There are three dimensions of the project:
1) Women's Social Status in one's country (A historical study and comparing women's
social status in different types of governments)
2) Politician Women in one's country (A historical Study from ancient times til
now)
3) Introducing outstanding women (scientists, researchers, artists, writers).
The project helps the students gain a deeper knowledge of human beings in general
while they study historical, sociological, and biological differences between
women and men. Thus, they won't categorize people into two opposing groups, or
strong and weak ones. Instead, they consider women and men as different human
types. Doing the project at an international level, we can compare women's social
status in different nations. Studying similarities and differences may result
in deeper understanding.
The Teddy Bear Project
An international teddy bear exchange using email. After registration teachers
are sent a partner class to work with in this project. The classes send each other
a Teddy Bear or other soft toy by airmail. When it arrives the bear writes home
a diary message by email at least once a week describing its adventures, the places
it has been, as well as the things it has seen and done. Available for Prep/Kinder
to Year 9 the project aims to encourage authentic writing by providing the children
with a real audience. They write their email messages as if they are the visiting
bear. The project provides an opportunity for students to develop understandings
about cultures other than their own.
UNICEF Voices of Youth
A project created by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for young
people who want to know more, do more and say more about the world. Through readings
on the website, participating in forums, children and adolescents in different
countries explore, speak out and take action on global issues that are important
to them and lead to creating a world fit for children. On a regular basis, Voices
of Youth also hosts special chats on child rights issues in which adults and decision
makers are occasionally invited to participate.
Voices of Youth is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child that ensures young people’s rights to participate in decision making processes, to express opinions freely, and to be equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about change in their own lives and in their communities.
Experienced teachers will advise that you and your classroom start by getting involved in an existing project online, rather than trying to start a project of your own. Participating in other projects is a great way to meet other potential partners, and learn about the many different projects initiated by teachers and students throughout the world. It can be a great way to develop ideas for how to integrate collaborative projects into your classroom, without having to take on the role of facilitating the involvement of other classes your first time participating. As you begin participating in other projects, you will soon find that you have global colleagues and peers to turn to should you wish to coordinate a project of your own in the future. In this way, your classroom truly becomes a global community member that can draw on the breadth of a network as your classroom develops throughout the year. And, you will certainly develop ideas about how you would want to structure a project as a facilitator after experiencing at least one yourself.
Once you do feel in a good position to start a new project, a basic model developed early on by Margaret Riel, when she was at the AT&T Learning Network, and now used by many of the projects in iEARN, is that of "Learning Circles." The Learning Circle model may offer a helpful structure for starting a new project. A general overview is provided below, with more detail available in an online Learning Circle Teacher's Guide available at http://www.iearn.org/circles/lcguide/.
A Learning Circle is created by a team of teachers and their classes joined in the virtual space of an electronic classroom. The groups remains together over a period of months working on projects drawn from the curriculum of each of the classrooms organized around a selected theme. At the end of the term the group collects and publishes its work.
Learning Circles promote theme-based project work integrated with the classroom curriculum. Learning Circles also encourage interactions among teachers providing a very different model of professional development.
The Learning Circle Teacher's Guide is organized around the six phases of Circle interaction:
Online professional development courses
IEARN-USA offers online teacher professional development courses on integrating
collaborative project-based learning into classroom teaching using Internet and
technology. The courses bring together K-12 teachers from the U.S. with their
peers in other countries who wish to integrate technology into their teaching,
using online collaborative projects that meet their local/state/national educational
standards. Participants who successfully complete course requirements receive
certifications from iEARN and, in some cases, professional development credits
from their states' educational bodies.
http://www.us.iearn.org/professional_development/
online_courses/index.php
iEARN Mulimedia Guide provides teachers with a step-by-step
assistance in integrating online collaborative projects into their curricula,
designing new projects, finding partners, and sharing the project outcomes.
http://us.iearn.org/professional_development/
multimedia/index.html
Project Planning and Direction.
Includes resources through a list of steps in designing and carrying out a project.
Step 1: Choose the curriculum-related goals. Step 2: Choose the activity's structure(s)
Step 3: Explore examples of other online projects. Step 4: Determine the details
of your project. Step 5: Invite telecollaborators. Step 6: Form the telecollaborative
group. Step 7: Communicate! Step 8: Create closure.
http://virtual-architecture.wm.edu/Designing+Directing/
Making Networked Projects. An introduction to planning and
conducting your own simple, networked, collaborative-learning projects.
http://www.globalschoolnet.org/GSH/pbl/making.html
Finding Partners. In general, if you have a project to announce, GSN Project Registry http://www.gsn.org/ is a resource for getting the word out. If you are looking for a classroom on your own then Global Gateway http://www.globalgateway.org.uk/ or ePALS http://www.epals.com are perhaps better places to turn. If you are interested in bringing your new project idea to an existing network of online educators or in joining existing curriculum-based projects, iEARN http://www.iearn.org, http://us.iearn.org is a network of over 20,000 schools in more than 110 countries.
Learning to use new tools of technology (email, website publishing, videotaping, and videoconferencing) for local to global curricular collaborative projects requires professional development support and technical support. Teachers who have been successful in doing International collaborations have found that building a support community is essential. No one person can learn to be an active participant in this environment alone.
Start by building collaborative support at your local school level. For professional development, partner with several other teachers in your building who are also interested in International collaborations. Start by getting familiar with using email amongst your classes within your building where you can get together face-to-face to reflect on how your uses and skills at using the Internet are developing, to ask each other questions, and to give each other support. Together you can look to resources for International collaborations to enhance your curricular goals.
As teachers are collaborating online to build International projects, a good starting point is to introduce yourselves to one another through email. As you share your teaching and learning goals, work towards identifying common curricular topics that your students are doing and that they can then share with one another.
It isn't always necessary to generate a new curricular topic in order to do online International collaboration. There are many common topics among elementary age classrooms around the world that can be the focus of local to global collaborations. A valuable place to start is to have your students begin by communicating with global peers on topics they already know well so that the content is something they are familiar with and are eager to share. Children can write best when they are writing about that which they know well. Provide plenty of in-class learning experiences around the curricular topic your class has chosen to share online so that all your students can inclusively be participants in the global conversations. Your students will be better able to contribute meaningful content in their online collaborations if they are communicating from classroom learning that is rich in content and experience.
When communicating online, have your students include not only the topic content they are sharing but also questions of inquiry to their global peers that invite ongoing dialogues. It is important to mentor students in appropriate content for global communication that generates positive interactions. Likewise, as they receive communication from global peers, it is important to respond with an affirmative appreciation for what they are learning from one another. The purpose of local to global communication is to build dialogues of understanding.
Include your school or district support personnel in your collaborative effort so that they can provide technical expertise. Many parents are developing Internet skills at their places of work and can also become valued mentors for you and your teaching colleagues. University Schools of Education are increasingly offering professional development courses online which can help you get started. When starting to connect internationally, it helps tremendously to join an already active network with projects you can join that are lead by experienced teachers.
As you are mentored and become familiar with using the Internet for collaborative curricular projects, you can begin to generate and design projects. Many teachers have found that as they build a community of teachers with whom they can collaborate, they continue to do projects with these same teachers. You and your global teaching peers can develop an ongoing collaborative community of teaching and learning together. As you gain new students each year, you and your online colleagues can repeat the projects you have doing together in previous years and continue to build your local to global collaborative curricular teaching and learning expertise! As we build communities of teachers and students who collaborate globally to learn within real world contexts and issues of importance, we have the greatest hope of making this world a better and more positively sustainable place now and in the future.
By Kristi Rennebohm Franz
Seattle, Washington
There are many resources that serve as guides and tutorials for creating effective online learning and collaborative projects. Several examples follow. We urge you to visit these sites to find materials that will meet your needs.
Affirming Email Behavior
Assembled by the facilitators of IECC: Craig Rice, Bruce Roberts and Howard Thorsheim.
A list of email behaviors which can affirm people's feeling of recognition and
increase their sense of engagement and well-being.
www.stolaf.edu/people/roberts/psych-121/affirming.html
Classroom strategies
How to motivate students. How to get support from your school, including administration
and IT. How to get community support. How to fit VC in your lesson and schedule.
Netiquette for Students
http://www.virtualclassroom.org/
The Internet Handbook. An Inclusive Magnet for Teaching All Students
This resource book is aimed at helping teachers use the Internet as a tool to
educate all students in your classroom, including students with disabilities,
auditory and visual learners, students from rural areas, those who do not speak
English as their first language - in short, everyone. Making the Internet accessible
to these children will also help ensure their participation in international collaborations
on the World Wide Web.
http://www.dinf.ne.jp/doc/english/Us_Eu/conf/csun_98/csun98_111.htm
Cross-Cultural Understanding
Peace Corps Coverdell World Wide Schools has produced a number of publications
that include lesson plans and activities for various grade levels aiming at raising
cross-cultural awareness, respect, and effective communication between students
and their, peers in their own communities and worldwide. The publications are
available online at http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws.
Project-Based Learning
This guide will help you to understand collaborative, project-based learning on
the Internet. We use the term NetPBL (Networked, Project-Based Learning) to describe
this kind of learning.
http://al.gsn.org/web/index.html
(See also the hard-copy publication: "Project-Based Learning: A strategy
for Teaching and Learning," by the Center for Youth Development and Education,
January 1999.)
Virtual Architecture
How can we design curriculum-based telecollaboration and teleresearch that are
worth the time, effort, and expense involved? Thinking tools for teachers ("wetware")--structures,
purposes, sequences, and functions--can help provide practical answers to this
rarely-asked question. Judi Harris' Virtual Architecture site describes this unique
approach to project design and provides many examples of curriculum-based projects
that illustrate each type of wetware.
http://virtual-architecture.wm.edu/
Source: Judi Harris, Pavey Chair in Educational Technology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, judi.harris@wm.edu
Here are three teachers' practical suggestions and tips to help you and your students as they connect to their peers in projects across the globe.
Working Internationally? With the World at Your Fingertips, Review this Top Ten List!
MANNERS 1. When doing a project, it is not just business as usual, manners are a big part of the way things are done. Don't just plow ahead with the work. Take time to get to know the people in the project you are working on. Read a little about the culture. Be polite. Test your politeness IQ.
LANGUAGE 2. In many other countries, people take the time to learn a language, and therefore can converse in one of several languages. Learn a language or, become familiar with phrases you may want to know. It is a courtesy to the other participants. http://www.epals.com gives a translation, but so far only in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese. There are other translation sites all over the web. But this one is for children.
WHERE IS THIS PLACE? 3. Go to http://www.nationalgeographic.com and look at the interactive map of the country you are working with. Learn the absolute and relative location, something of resources of the region, the landmarks and icons, and the movement of ideas across the region. (A little in-depth of the history and culture will help a lot)
CULTURAL MAP 4. If you are working with one country or in exchange, take time to learn a little about the culture. Even though it is just an online project, if you understand the country a little more, differences will not be such a daunting problem. Cultural differences will prove to be quite interesting.
HIGH TECH TO LOW TECH 5.There are many levels of technology in international places all over the world. Usually a project has a certain level of technology that is required, but be aware of the rules for the project. Some people pay for the time they are online. Keep with the rules. Don't do extra email unless it is called for.
POLITICS 6. It is a good idea to read the newspapers of the country you are working with if it is one country. You get windows of information, information about holidays, and special events, and unusual news and tragedy. There are lots of sites that give this information. You might also peruse the Embassy website for information.
TIME 7. Choose a world time site or set of sites. (for example, http://www.kidlink.org/KIDPROJ/test/dualclock.html) There may be other resources, such as a different interactive maps, times, tides, and holidays.
REGION 8.What is the region like if you are working with a country? How does this affect the country/ What are the resources of the region? The industry? Who are the people who live here? What is the historical culture? Indigenous resources? Natural features? What would be on their disaster map?
RELIGION 9. Religion is a part of the culture of a country. What are the prevailing religions or religion, and what are the ways in which this might be reflected in your project?
CULTURE 10. There is pop culture and there is culture. We have media culture and fast food culture and some icons of our country that are a part of world culture based on the media. As we are a young country, there are elements of culture and history of other countries that may not be so important to us. But in other countries, as you work or travel, you will find that culture with a capital "C" is really important. It is more than Mickey Mouse, McDonalds, and Mattell. Be aware that there may be a lot of misrepresentation of countries from a cultural perspective in the US. We may also have only a small knowledge of the history as well. The cultural map may be the most important of all.
Source: Bonnie Bracey, World Summit for Children, E-mail: bbracey@aol.com, http://www.iearnlb.org/bridge/f2f/onlcoltips.htm
Do not assume that other students will know if you are male or female by your first name. If you want them to know that you are male or female, tell them.
Almost all other countries use the metric system for measurement. A temperature of 30 degrees may seem cold to you but it be warm to your partners. (30 degrees Celsius is 86 degrees Fahrenheit.) Convert your measurements to metric in your communication. Most often the other student will have to translate the rest of your communication into their first language. Science Made Simple has a metric converter that is easy to use. http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html
If you use slang expressions be sure to explain what they mean.
Remember how tedious it is to look up words in a dictionary. Use simple English words. Consider how phrases are translated literally. Can you imagine what someone would think if you wrote you had dirty blond hair?
Explain abbreviations when you use them.
Remember that most of the world uses a 24 hour clock. Three in the afternoon would be written 15:00. (You add 12 to number for the P.M. hours)
Most other countries will write dates with the day, month, year or even year, day, month rather than our system of writing month, day, year. Write out the name of the month to avoid confusion.
Remember the reader cannot see your face in your communication. Humor may often be interpreted literally and misunderstood. Use emoticons (smiley faces and other symbols) and punctuation such as asterisks to make emphasis. Be certain to state your emotions, do not assume they are known.
Most of the world learns British English language rather than US English. Words such as centre or colour may look misspelled but are correct for them.
Source: Diane Midness, iEARN-USA, dmidness@us.iearn.org
As the Internet provides connectivity among nations, it generates opportunities for connectivity within K-12 educational realms. As we come to realize the full potential of using the global reaches of the Internet within our school classrooms, we come to realize that we are able to build local to global, multicultural understandings of human experiences across and integrated among all content areas including literacy, social studies, science, math, languages, economics, history, politics, agriculture, vocational, arts, and service learning curricula.
It is important that their global collaborations be embedded in a overarching philosophy of international education. In local to global collaborations using the Internet, the philosophy of international education is to provide action learning in real world contexts and experiences where students are given both opportunity, encouragement, mentoring to:
embrace, experience, understand and honor the commonalties of histories, experiences, and perspectives that they discover among global peers as affirmation that their are others like them;
embrace, experience, understand and honor the diversities of histories, experiences, and perspectives as opportunities to understand the world in new ways and to understand that these diversities bring positive strengths and insights to our human experiences;
understand, experience and honor that multiple versions of ideas, content, experiences and perspectives do exist and can be mutually accepted and sustained side by side ...by not automatically assuming that differences will negate one another because only one way can be right or only one idea can work;
understand and experience that their local action learnings about community, culture, geography, resources, lives, and hopes of work and play, of struggle, conflict and achievement have connection to the issues, conversations, and struggles, realities, hopes and dynamics of nations;
understand and experience through local to global action learning that the process of knowing about the world, both historically and in the present, is a generative process with ongoing revision of knowledge with new, previously unavailable or unknown information and insight;
Source: Kristi Rennebohm Franz, adapted from her article "Towards a Critical Social Consciousness in Children: Multicultural Peace Education in A First Grade Classroom". The Ohio State University College of Education Journal Theory Into Practice. Vol 35, Number 4, 1996.
Tips and Q&A from Joan Vandervelde's Web page and minilectures that she has used with teachers in online classes. This is based on a compilation of questions she has received in the past three years.
Q: What if my school does not allow individual email accounts?
A: Students do not have individual e-mail accounts in many schools. In these situations students write their messages with some word processing software. The letters are saved on a disk; then sent as an attached file to the teacher in the other location. Another option is to cut-and-paste the letters to an e-mail template to form one large letter to be sent to the other school. The recipient then prints the letters or saves them as individual text files.
Q: My district uses Internet protection software that prohibits some free email sites because they also include chat rooms. Also, our students do not have email addresses for school as do the teachers. Besides Yahoo and Excite, how else can students get free email accounts to use for school?
A: There are WWW sites, such as Edmail (http://www.lightspan.com/). It is geared to students and educators and doesn't allow chats. A very restrictive filter such as, I-Gear, will filter out Hotmail and Mailexcite, but will allow Edmail.
Q: How are learning partners assigned?
A: Once a connection is made students first names and interests are exchanged. One teacher pairs the teams of students and the exchange begins. The students are instructed to introduce themselves. They are coached about "Netiquette" and security issues, and asked not to release last names, addresses or phone numbers. At this point, the exchanges can take two different forms. The students can write informally about anything they desire or participate in a structured exchange in which they share specific information. In the initial stages of the exchange it is helpful to do a mini-unit about the location in the other country.
Q: What are the pitfalls?
A: A problem is school calendars. This is especially important when working between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Schools in South Africa, South America and Australia are not in session due to summer vacations in December and January. Starting a project with one of these schools in November is almost impossible since their school year is ending. Similarly, they are in session during June-August when it is difficult for northern schools to engage in project work.
Q: One of the articles wasn't real encouraging about the completion rate of projects he conducted or participated in - with that in the back of my mind...what kind of time line and maintenance would be necessary to make this activity be better than a classroom, or school activity?
A: A common problem in e-mail exchanges is a lack of interest if the project goes on for too long. Three months seems to be the limit for simple keypal exchanges. Beyond that, the classrooms need to be engaged in project work to sustain the relationship. Specific information exchanges usually have a set time limit. Once an exchange is initiated it is important for both teachers to communicate in a timely fashion. If there is a problem (computer problems, teacher illness, etc.), it is important to inform the other school by phone or mail. This will minimize the disappointment of students at the other school. The key to success is the enthusiasm and excitement combined with the work of the collaborating teachers. If both teachers are positive about the exchange then students will share the enthusiasm. A teacher must realize that the exchange is not self-generating. Students will have to be reminded of deadlines, will need encouragement and a sense of direction for these projects to succeed. The extra effort can result in a memorable learning experience for your class. In general, teachers should interact first, establishing timetables, expectations, etc., before students start exchanging messages.
In this regard, the hardest projects are those between just two schools. Remember, if one school cannot participate for any reason in a one-on-one partnership, neither school can continue. Joining a group project minimizes such difficulties.
Q: When is a collaboration project not a good idea?
A: If you do not have a reliable computer to access e-mail, then a collaborative project is not a good idea. It's essential to have access to a computer at home or school because it's too time consuming to use an alternate location like a public library or a friend's computer. It is also not a good idea unless you are willing to commit time to the project. Some projects that look easy on paper may involve unforeseen activities. Unless you are willing to complete the project, do not get involved.
Q. I would feel uncomfortable using e-mail on a regular basis with no monitoring of messages.
A: It's appropriate to review the writing as if it were an assigned paper since this is a school assignment.
Q: How should collaborative projects be graded?
A: You can grade it as a technology activity (word processing). You can grade it for letter writing skills, or as an activity in a content area. It helps to provide a rubric to inform students in advance of the expectations and points earned, etc. as part of the evaluation process
Three-part Series of Questions:
Q: My district's AUP is very strict when it comes to students using email. In other words, they can't and don't use it at school. As a teacher, I like the idea of students communicating with other students around the world and country. Other than having the teacher do all of the emailing, how can we integrate some of these neat projects into our curriculum? and
Q: What if keypal projects don't match my curriculum objectives or I can't manage the email situation? and
Q: I teach over 700 students a year and I do not want to set up 700 e-mail accounts. I could choose 1 grade level which would be approximately 230 students.
A: Two other options to consider are: Classroom to Classroom projects and Classroom to Expert projects. These are especially good activities when the objective is to provide a larger information base to draw from, broader set of ideas and opinions. Students from all over the world are frequently involved in short term process-oriented data collection and data sharing projects. These work especially well in science, social studies, language arts and math curriculum areas.
Q: I would like to know specifics of how we can send projects over e-mail, such as menus students make (My students create a restaurant menu, and it would be nice to have them critiqued, and in return, our class could critique theirs.
A: Probably the best way to exchange projects is via files that are attached to an email.
Q: It seems that almost all activities I read about deal with writing, language, culture, science...... anything but math. I will be able to use email in my Consumer Math class because it is a lot like Economics. However, how can I effectively use email or video conferencing in a regular math class?
A: Colleges and universities have special projects for students involving math. Many of these are collaborative. Others involve collection of real time data. Students in two or more locations can solve real time problems using e-mail and video conferencing. A search of collaborative projects by subject areas can yield math projects for students from K-12. Bluewebn from PacBell http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/categories.html Class2class collaborative lessons http://mathforum.com/class2class/ MathMagic http://mathforum.org/mathmagic/
Q: My school district has a very strict policy concerning the posting of pictures and information about our students on the internet. Is there a way to ensure that the conference connection is secure and free from potential hackers, predators or people who shouldn't be there?
A: Your school district's policy is a prudent one. There is no way to insure that the conference connection is free from predators. There have been cases where parents have sued a school district because a child's face and name were displayed in a school Web page. Their contention was that since the school's address was available on the site it was remotely possible for a predator to contact their child after school. In Australia, the government regulations now forbid all childrens' pictures and names on Web pages. It is possible to use a photo "soap" product that blurs a face in a closeup. Another idea is to use group photos and make the picture so small that you really don't see the childrens' faces, and it can't be enhanced.
Q: Although the readings seem to emphasize getting the word out about the project you will be managing, even seeming to aim for the greatest possible number of participants, I see a major problem brewing. How can we make certain that we do not wind up with far more participants than we can handle? If that is the case, how do you decide who you accept and who you eliminate?
A: When you send out a proposal for a project, limit the number of participants. If you get more than you need, thank them for their interest, but explain that all slots are filled. Offer to keep their e-mail addresses for any future projects you or your colleagues might create.
Q: To what extent can a teacher who is conducting a project put his/her students in charge of operations? What are the elements that can be student-managed, and what are the ones that MUST be managed by the teacher?
A: If the class is a responsible one, and the children are mature, it's great to assign tasks. A rubric enumerating tasks at the beginning of the project would be helpful in this situation. A few examples of tasks might include: download and print out e-mail messages, file and record messages, respond to messages, etc. If there is a need for digital photos, students can be trained to do this task, edit the photos, size them for email, etc. If there is data collection outside of school (e.g. water temperature, recycling information, etc.) the students can handle the task and enter recordings on a spreadsheet. These duties need teacher supervision, but can be done by students.
All correspondence should be approved by the teacher and sent from school or the teacher's home. School to school or teacher to teacher correspondence is the safest way to handle contacts. It is possible for a teacher to manage the student tasks, but the responsibility for the final product rests on the teacher.
Source: Joan Vandervelde - University of Wisconsin-Stout School of Education
vanderveldej@uwstout.edu
Following are examples of postsecondary programs working with K-12 schools in creative uses of the Internet in connecting classrooms globally.
Interactive Communication and Simulations (ICS)
Based at the University of Michigan School of Education, the Interactive Communications
and Simulations (ICS) project is a dynamic program of exciting and innovative
educational telecommunications exercises. Using accessible telecommunications,
students can spend part of every school day in a "global classroom."
ICS exercises have been designed to help teachers teach, mostly by encouraging
active learning, learning through design, and providing flexibility so that teachers
can integrate the on-line and classroom experiences. All of its projects link
participating students with teams of university student mentors, whose role is
to support and challenge the students in their endeavors.
During the 2004-2005 school year, ICS was offering curricular exercises in a variety of areas. These include role-playing simulations on the Arab-Israeli conflict and Global Student Congress where participants developed resolutions bringing their concerns to the global community. They also conducted a global issues forum built around vicarious travel called Earth Odysseys. Student writers are linked both with peers and with university student mentors in the International Poetry Guild, and they are currently piloting their newest exercise, the Rivers Project, a collaborative venture with Japanese educators which connects students around the world in the study of history, culture, ecology, geography, politics, and art related to rivers and water.
International Communication and Negotiation Simulations (ICONS)
Offers educational simulations of international relations at both the university
and high school levels. Students at a participating institution represent the
decision makers of a selected country and negotiate solutions to global problems
via the Internet with peers around the world.
The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens
Institute of Technology sponsors and designs a number of interdisciplinary
projects that K-12 teachers throughout the world can use to involve their students
in online collaboration with their peers and analysis of real time data from the
Internet. The projects are linked to the National Science Standards and NCTM math
standards they support.
http://k12science.stevens-tech.edu/currichome.html
In addition to the sources cited on the pages in this Teachers Guide, we would like to thank iEARN-USA and the following persons for helping create this Guide:
In addition, many educators submitted their advice and projects for possible
inclusion in this Guide and others provided valuable feedback on it prior to publication.
It has not been possible to include all the project suggestions and we request
the understanding of these educators. Photographs have been provided by Kristi
Rennebohm Franz and Carolyn Fulton.
Last Modified: 08/27/2008
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