I have created an online pen pal site to be used as a communication portal between my students and, currently, another third grade classroom in Massachusetts. This project has been an aspiration of mine since 2006 when I began classroom “snail mail” pen paling. Due to the large amount of time between receiving letters, I’ve never felt that the pen paling students have made true connections. Additionally, since the letters are usually far and few between, students easily lose interest. By creating an online version of pen paling, students will be interested, able to quickly correspond, share multi-media projects, and develop necessary technology skills.
Online Pen Paling:
· Engages and motivates students to write
· Promotes quick correspondence between students
· Allows students to share multi-media projects
· Teaches students necessary Web 2.0 and technology skills
· Must be routinely monitored by all teachers involved
Creating an online pen paling site proved to be more difficult than expected. My first obstacle was finding a safe, secure, and education-based blogging site. I happened to stumble across epals, which is a site created for the sole purpose of global student/classroom communication. Perfect. However, to register I needed a district provided username and password. As of yet I have not been provided with these. So, I decided to use a very familiar educational blogging host, Edublogs, to create my site. Although using Edublogs was not my original plan, in the end I’m satisfied. It is a program I feel comfortable using and manipulating. I hope in the future this choice will help minimize frustrations.
Concerns revolving around online pen paling reveal safety and privacy issues. In fact, these concerns arise any time a student publishes personal information and original work on the Web. When creating my site, I kept these issues in mind but quickly realized that I wasn’t sure what was necessary versus extraneous. For example, I originally wanted to create a site that could only be viewed or accessed through a login. Since Edublogs does not have this feature I chose to simply click the “private” option, which keeps it from getting publicized. I had to wonder if this was secure enough. Thinking about it, I came to the realization that my pen paling site will not have anything more personal or revealing than the photos, movies, pictures, and academic work featured on my website, which is freely viewed. So, as long as a parental consent is signed, I feel comfortable not having a viewing login. I do, however, realize that student posts will have to be strictly monitored for inappropriate content such as identifiable information (last name, street address) and cyber bullying situations.
An online pen paling site does not fulfill its function if students are not able to easily correspond with each other. Part of that ease is clear navigation. My site is simple and straight forward. Each student pair (one from Alaska and the other from Massachusetts) has a page where they can correspond. This page is clearly labeled and easily accessed from the home screen. Another part of that ease is simple posting. Currently, I am the only user on my Edublogs account, and therefore am the only one that can write a post. Anyone, however, can write a comment. My original plan was to have students communicate by using the comment box. However, there are some drawbacks to this technique. First of all, one can only share pictures and movies through posts (not comments), and second, in order to post a comment students must enter an email address. The email address issue can easily be solved by creating strictly monitored email accounts through epals (I experimented with this) but the multimedia issue cannot. In order for students to post multimedia content, I would have to train them how to navigate the controls in addition to creating an individual username and password for each student, which in turn would have to be memorized. After weighing the pros and cons, I’ve come to the conclusion that for my first year of implementation my main goal is to promote written communication. Therefore, the comment communication will suffice. However, if a student wishes to upload multimedia it can be done through my account (with my supervision, of course).
I foresee both great success and challenge with my project. The primary academic goal behind pen paling is written communication and the structure of a letter. Therefore, before my students type their letters I will require that they hand write and edit them. Since this has always been a requirement, the added component of accessing the Internet and typing the letters is an added responsibility. One solution is to require students to post at home. If they are unable to meet this request then classroom computers can be used. Another struggle may be the communication and dedication between teachers. There will be significant prep and time required to maintain the online pen paling site. All teachers involved must facilitate and monitor their students’ participation. With challenge also comes success. The students involved in this project will have the intrinsic motivation to improve their writing skills, knowing that others will be reading and responding to their work. Through this communication students will form friendships and self confidence while simultaneously improving their technology skills.
