Using Safe Collaborative Technology in the Globally Connected
Using Safe Collaborative Technology in the Globally Connected Classroom e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Technology Professional Development 2012 -2013 CATS #2919 e. Pals Inc. Confidential
A Collaboration Story e. Pals Inc. Confidential
To comply with e. Rate guidelines, Wilkes County Schools are required to have an email account for students in grades 3 -12. We are currently using e. Pals for student email and collaborative learning services. This subscription is paid for through e. RATE funding. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Today’s Focus e. Pals Inc. Confidential
What is e. Pals School. Mail? • e. Pals School. Mail is the recognized leader in school-safe email for students in grades K-12. • e. Pals School. Mail is an easy-to-use product with an interface similar to other email systems. • e. Pals School. Mail offers opportunities through the Global Community to communicate and form partnerships with peers and classrooms in over 200 countries bringing to life the concept of global citizenry. • e. Pals School. Mail provides multilingual email solutions to classes, schools, families and districts worldwide offering instant language translation into 58 different languages. • e. Pals School. Mail has TRUSTe certification of student privacy. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
How is e. Pals School. Mail different? • It is like regular email with the addition of “policy management” and monitoring • It allows teachers and administrators to monitor mail written by their students • It offers different types of accounts, with different roles and abilities for each • It enables classrooms to connect and collaborate in meaningful ways e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Adult Account Types • District Administrator – manages the overall School. Mail license – may create all accounts (sub-administrator, teacher, monitor, student and parent), add schools, define grades and set policies for users – grants privileges to sub-administrator • Sub-Administrator – can perform same functions as district admin but cannot add schools – can make changes for users only in schools where access has been granted • Teacher – any adult member of your school community, including educators, media specialists, counselors, principal, etc. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Additional Account Types • Monitors – oversees communication to and from students – one is assigned to each student account – is essential for filtering to ensure that the communication is appropriate and on task • Student – is only for students in your school/district. – filters and access parameters are set for all student communication and define who and how the student may communicate • Parent – for parents wishing (and allowed) to participate in the school communication system e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Getting Started You’re going to need: • Usernames and passwords for your students and yourself • A computer with access to the Internet • Basic knowledge of using email • Willingness to reach out, connect globally, and try something new e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Logging in as a Teacher • Type www. epals. com in the Internet address bar. • Your username will be your WCS username followed by the letters wcs (i. e. scottbjwcs). • Your password will be on the back of your index card. • Click Continue. • When prompted to change your password, I would suggest your WCS password. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Logging in as a Student • Type www. epals. com in the Internet address bar. • Student usernames will be first name, last initial, and possibly random numbers (i. e. scottb 35). • Student default passwords will be either password 123 (6 th grade)password 12 or a random password. • Click Continue. • When prompted to change their password, I would suggest they use their NCWISE numbers. • Passwords can be reset by the school administrator or the teacher. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Your Homepage • After logging in, you’ll see your Homepage. • Scroll down to see the entire page. • When finished, you’ll need to click MORE to see Sign Out. This will ensure your account is secure. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Your Homepage • Highlights Projects, Activities, etc. • Allows you to easily access your mail and the student mail you are monitoring. • Offers access to resources that will help you get the most out of e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Your Homepage Toolbars • The Toolbar at the top of the page gives you access to tools in the e. Pals Global Community, such as Projects and Classroom Match • The Mail Toolbar provides access to functions within your School. Mail account, such as your email and files e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Updating Profiles • There are two types of profiles within e. Pals: personal and shared. • Your personal profile is used to customize your e. Pals account. It is not available to the general public or other teachers using e. Pals. • Your shared profile is an optional way for you to introduce yourself to other members of your school, district, and/or the e. Pals School. Mail™ and e. Pals. communities. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Creating a good profile e. Pals Inc. Confidential
e. Pals School. Mail Interface • Click on See all email from the menu. • Notice the “My Mail” and the “Monitored Mail” tabs. • Student accounts will look identical to this, but without the monitored mail tab. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Using School. Mail Email Let’s practice: ü Sending a message ü Managing folders ü Filing messages in folders ü Setting up a signature ü Using the Spam Control feature ü Managing Auto-Reply e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Managing Contacts in School. Mail Because you are a teacher and are already set to monitor students, you will find student accounts in your contact list. Students, however, will need to build their own contact list. So, it’s important to know about: • Adding individual contacts • Adding new groups to contacts • Importing contacts e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Using School. Mail to Share Files may be uploaded to e. Pals for storage or sharing purposes. Files can be categorized in the following ways: • My Private Files • My Shared Files - can be viewed by your students, colleagues, and School. Mail Administrators • Other Shared Files - students cannot view these, but adult users may be able to • My Students’ Files – only on monitor accounts e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Monitored Mail • Email monitoring lets you bring email technology into the classroom while maximizing the likelihood that it will be used in appropriate, education-specific ways. • Monitored email means that students’ incoming and outgoing email messages are previewed by a monitor before reaching their recipients. • The monitor can ensure that the message is appropriate to age, setting, and context. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Filtering Settings The four filter levels are: Level 1: All student messages must be approved by a monitor. Level 2: The monitor receives a copy of all student messages but approval is only required for messages containing words from the flagged words list. Level 3: The monitor will only receive messages containing flagged words; these messages will require the monitor's approval. Level 4: All content filters are off. Students can send and receive messages freely. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Monitoring Settings • Flag Attachments: Monitors can be asked to preview any message that comes with any kind of attached file (such as photos, documents, sound clips, etc. ). • Access Level: The e. Pals School. Mail Administrator decides whether email communication is allowed within the class, within the school, within the district, within the e. Pals School. Mail Community, with members of the e. PALS. community, or with anyone, anywhere on the Internet. • Flagged Words: Monitored email is checked by the e. Pals School. Mail system for the presence of words on the Flagged Words list. These might include profanity, epithets, or other inappropriate language. The e. Pals School. Mail Administrator can add and remove words from the basic supplied list. The words on this list can affect whether or not you need to preview a student message and are used to indicate messages with questionable content. • Email Filter Languages: The Flagged Word list is available in multiple languages. The e. Pals School. Mail Administrator can choose to have it look for inappropriate terms in any or all of: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese and Japanese. e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Monitoring Student Mail • Outgoing messages are those sent by your students • Incoming messages are those being sent to your student • All messages without the green OK sign will need to be approved before they are sent or received • After approving, rejecting, or deleting a message, it goes to the Processed Mail folder e. Pals Inc. Confidential
The Monitored Mail Console e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Monitored Mail Flags e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Connecting with Others Sample letter for getting started with a classroom in the Global Community: e. Pals Inc. Confidential You may connect with others in several ways: • Set up email pals within the class, school, or district • Find classroom matches in the e. Pals Global Community • Click on Project and/or Collaborate to find a partner
Using Instant Translation • Select Instant Translation from your menu • Copy and paste text that needs translation • Choose the appropriate languages for the translation • Click the Translate button • Remember this software is effective for conveying the “gist” of the message, and is NOT a perfect translation • Is a great way of breaking the language barrier and opening up global communications e. Pals Inc. Confidential
Connecting with Others e. Pals Inc. Confidential
e. Pals and Common Core Resources See the video. A One Stop Common Core Solution e. Pals Inc. Confidential
References All images and video from Microsoft Office or epals. com (used with permission). e. Pals Inc. Confidential
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