Global Network Memo

Memorandum

To: Beth Linn, Principal, Apple Grove Elementary School

From: Angela Kitchens, 3rd grade English and Social Studies Teacher, Apple Grove

Elementary School

Date: 4/22/23

Re: Review of Global Education Networks

IntroductionThe importance of preparing and teaching our students how to work and function in a diverse society is being encouraged by the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC). The aim of CCSS and PARCC is to prepare our students how to be functioning citizens in the workforce and part of this requires them to be global citizens. We must begin teaching students about global education and its importance to society. Global education “places particular emphasis on curriculum process as content and is accordingly characterized by approaches to teaching and learning which are both experiential and participatory” (Hicks, 2009).

Apple Grove Elementary School is a school that has experienced an increase in diverse cultures over the years in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS). The school system has a mission statement which says “the Prince George’s County Board of Education will advance the achievement of its diverse student body through community engagement, sound policy governance, accountability, and fiscal responsibility” (PGCPS, 2015). Although our mission statement does not mention the importance of teaching our students to be global citizens; we must address this topic and our responsibility to prepare our students for a culturally diverse world. As our school leader, I feel that you can implement and encourage staff to being working on ways to teach our students to be global citizens through the use of global education networks.

Every educational goal we strive to help our students meet is guided by standards. I will use the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for student to demonstrate the potential of three global education networks in reaching standards. After reviewing my analysis of the three networks, I encourage you to select one that would be beneficial to the goal of global citizenship amongst both students and teachers.

1

http://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards/standards-for-students

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/

http://www1.pgcps.org/

http://www1.pgcps.org/applegrove/index.aspx?id=3286

Global Network Analysis Memo

Network AnalysisI have perused multiple global education networks and narrowed down three networks I feel would be great choices for our school. The global education networks are ePALS, iEARN, and Flat Connections. I will provide an analysis of each network in relation to content, resources, and how the networks can meet CCSS and ISTE standards in third grade.

ePals

ePals Homepage (ePals, 2015)

ePals is a global education network that allows “teachers to create real world, culturally- enriching learning experiences for their students” (ePals, 2015). The website allows opportunities for classrooms around the world to connect and complete projects together. ePals allows students to participate in the Smithsonian Invent It Challenge where they create an invention and enter it into the competition. On the Global Community page, teachers have the opportunity to choose whether they want to connect with a classroom to complete a project or select a project to join where they can collaborate with various classrooms participating in the project. In addition to this, teachers can create their own projects on this page.

2GLOBAL EDUCATION NETWORK REVIEW

http://www.epals.com/login.php

http://challenges.epals.com/inventit2015/winners/

http://www.epals.com/#!/main


ePals Find classroom page (ePals, 2015)

Once coming to the Global Community page, the find classroom and projects links are located on the toolbar. After deciding whether you want to join a classroom or project, you can narrow down your options by language, age, class size, region/country, project type, duration, and subject. ePals is a free global education network, which makes it’s a popular choice for global collaboration with teachers and students. This has proven to be one of the biggest strengths of the website because there is no fee to access this website or to participate in projects as some other global education networks. Furthermore, ePals structure of collaboration and communication when participating in a project is well organized and resources are easy to locate. Once registered on the website, students and teachers have access to blogs, forums and galleries for communicating and sharing finished products (ePals, 2015). This allows teachers the privilege of monitoring what their students are doing and posting providing a safe environment for all. Majority of the projects will include a brief description of the project and its purpose. There are areas to post objectives, standards, additional resources, and details about the project; although, these are not always filled in.

3

http://www.epals.com/find-project.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&commoncore=&country=&duration=0&language=0&p=1&project_type=0&region=&search_text=

http://www.epals.com/find-classroom.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&country=&language=0&num_students=0&p=1&region=&search_text=


ePals Join project page (ePals, 2015)

The following is a screenshot of a project that can be used in third grade English/Language Arts:

Bringing the World Together Project

4

http://www.epals.com/project-detail.php?id=56b51e18-6631-4809-8670-0dd46536bb92


Bringing the World Together Project page (ePals, 2015)

The Bringing the World Together project focuses on connecting two classrooms from different countries to teach each other about religious and/or cultural holidays and celebrations. In the description of the project the coordinating teacher states her class would like to learn about how “holidays and celebrations are celebrated due to religion or culturally” (ePals, 2015). Students could teach students in the other class about birthday traditions, 4th of July, Christmas, religious celebrations, etc. This project would have students gather information on the topic of their culture or religion they would like to share and produce a writing piece, drawing, or other form of graphic to share their information. There is a workspace where students would be able to post their completed pieces and communicate questions or have discussions with one another. The purpose of the project is to expose students to cultural differences and similarities and gain a deeper understanding about their own cultural celebrations/holidays. In addition to this, the project encourages writing skills and effective collaboration amongst students.

This project meets several writing CCSS (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Some of these standards are listed below:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

5

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/3/

Global Network Analysis MemoCCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.A

Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.


With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

The following are some ISTE standards met by the project (International Society for Technology in Education, 2007):

2. Communication and collaboration

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

3. Research and information fluency

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.

6



iEARN

iEARN Homepage (International Education and Resource Network, 2014)

iEARN is a “non-profit organization made up of over 30,000 schools and youth organizations in more than 140 countries” (International Education and Resource Network, 2014). The iEARN global education network consists of 150 collaborative projects from around the world. Projects are centered around providing participants an opportunity to collaborate and participate in ongoing projects with classrooms from different parts of the world. The majority of projects on this website focus on helping our planet, cultural awareness, and character education. Once you register with iEARN you have access to the collaboration centre and search area where you can locate ongoing or upcoming projects. There is a $100 annual membership fee to be able to participate in projects and post to projects, forums, and blogs. Another option is $400 annual fee for an unlimited number of teachers to access iEARN. One of the strengths of this global network is the range of projects from content area to cultural awareness. One of the weaknesses is the cost of membership to join; the cost for one teacher is $100 and this may be unattainable due to budget cuts in the school district and allocated funds not being available.

The collaboration centre is where you can begin locating projects to participate in by age, subject, and language. Once you input your preferences in, a page with projects meeting your requirements is displayed. The projects provide descriptions of the project, expected outcomes, and class activities to be completed for the project. In addition to this, there are galleries of completed activities and pieces that have been done in the past and currently. One of the weaknesses I found with the iEARN projects is the lack of objectives or standards that the project will meet. Also, additional resources such as handouts or websites are not guaranteed to be included with each project. That factor depends on the coordinators of the project.

7

https://collaborate.iearn.org/search/groups

https://collaborate.iearn.org/spaces


iEARN Membership registration page (iEARN, 2015)

8


iEARN Collaboration centre page and search page (iEARN, 2015)

The following is a screenshot of a project on iEARN’s website that can be used in third grade English/Language Arts:

My Country project homepage (International Education and Resource Network, 2015)

The My Country project provides students an opportunity “for students from around the world to express themselves through essays, drawings, poetry, on different aspects of their country; this will help know better each other and create a better understanding between people” (iEARN, 2015). Throughout the projects, students will focus on an aspect of their country ranging from daily lives, clothing, music, national holidays, school life, etc. Students will create different types of pieces from poems, drawings, taking pictures, or creating multimedia pieces to share information they’ve researched about their country. Students are able to communicate questions they may have about the country in the forum or blog on the project page. The final piece of the project will have students create a digital book or website posting the information they’ve learned about the other country and their thoughts and ideas.

9



CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.1.C

Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.


Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.


Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.


1. Creativity and innovation

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.



5. Digital citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.

10



Global Network Analysis MemoFlat Connections

Flat Connections Homepage (Learning Confluence Pty Ltd., 2015)

Flat Connections is a global education network that “includes technology infused challenge-based and project-based experiences across the globe through personalized approaches to learning for all” (Learning Confluence Pty Ltd., 2015). The website states “Flat Connections is about global collaboration that supports intercultural understanding and global competency through learning together” (Learning Confluence Pty Ltd., 2015). Flat Connections boast an environment that is technology infused, challenge based, and project based for students.

Flat Connections About Us page (Learning Confluence Pty Ltd., 2015)

11

http://www.flatconnections.com/


Flat Connections Projects page (Learning Confluence Pty Ltd., 2015)

The Flat Projects page is where you will locate the global projects for students to participate in. Instead of including projects that have been developed by teachers around the world there are five specific projects separated by grade level/age. Each of these projects has a wikispace website where you collaborate with classrooms participating around the world. All of the projects have a project manager that oversees and provides support to teachers throughout the project. Most of the projects promote digital citizenship skills and raising cultural awareness. Given that this global network only has five options for projects, I can see some teachers turning away from this website because they would like to have more options for projects. Also, there is a fee to participate in the projects and the prices are very steep.

Flat Connections prices (Flat Connections, 2015)

12

http://www.flatconnections.com/flat-projects.html


The following is a screenshot of a project on Flat Connections website that can be used in third grade English/Language Arts:

A Week in the Life wiki homepage (Flat Connections, 2015)

The Week in the Life project aims to have students explore global issues and have discussions on how these issues affect their daily lives. The curriculum for the project “is interdisciplinary, including concepts for how we live, how we communicate, cultural understanding and global awareness” (Flat Connections, 2015). Students focus on one topic and the issues surrounding that issue and write about their ideas and findings on the topic; they can also create presentations or complete drawings. This project did not state how long it will last, but based on the content I believe this could be a semester long project. The final piece of the project has students create VoiceThread presentations on what they’ve learned about their assigned topics and posting it into their groups wiki page.


CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.7Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.8Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

13


http://aweekinthelife15-1.wikispaces.com/


CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.1Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.








5. Digital citizenship

Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.

14



Recommendations and ConclusionePals, iEARN, and Flat Connections are three popular global education networks that aim to promote global collaboration and digital citizenship skills among students around the world. These three websites provide opportunities for teachers and students to connect with classrooms in other parts of the world. Each of these websites has its strengths and weaknesses. Given the current issues with our school and county budget choosing a global network that has a high cost to participate would not be ideal at this time. With that said, I highly recommend ePals as the global education network that would best suit Apple Grove Elementary School teachers and students. The availability of various classrooms and projects on ePals provides our teachers an opportunity to locate a project that best suits their students and reaches both CCSS and ISTE standards. I would not recommend Flat Connections due to the limited number of projects available to participate in and the cost required to participate in projects. As we gain experience with using global education networks for collaboration, we may look into the use of iEARN further down the line. iEARN has a variety of projects where multiple classrooms from around the world participate at once which provides students to gain cultural awareness of places they may not be familiar with. I encourage you to visit the ePals website and look at the various projects to see how we can utilize them for instructional purposes. I believe the use of ePals in our classrooms will provide us our first step towards teaching our students how to be global citizens and interact with culturally diverse populations.

15

Global Network Analysis MemoReferences

Prince George’s County Public Schools. (2015). Mission statement. Retrieved from

http://www1.pgcps.org/aboutpgcps/

ePals. (2015). About us. Retrieved from http://www.epals.com/#!/info/about/

ePals. (2015). Class in India seeks partners for Lokasmanvaya: bringing the world together

project. Retrieved from http://www.epals.com/project-detail.php?id=56b51e18-6631-

4809-8670-0dd46536bb92

ePals. (2015). Find classroom. Retreived from

http://www.epals.com/find

classroom.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&country=&language=0&num_student

s=0&p=1&region=&search_text=

ePals. (2015). Home. Retrieved from http://www.epals.com/#!/main

ePals. (2015). Projects. Retrieved from

http://www.epals.com/find

project.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&commoncore=&country=&duration=0&

language=0&p=1&project_type=0&region=&search_text=

Hicks, D. (2009). A rationale for global education. UNESCO. Retrieved from

16

http://www.epals.com/findproject.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&commoncore=&country=&duration=0&language=0&p=1&project_type=0&region=&search_text



http://www.epals.com/#!/main

http://www.epals.com/findclassroom.php#age_range=0&collaboration=0&country=&language=0&num_students=0&p=1&region=&search_text





http://www.epals.com/#!/info/about/


Global Network Analysis Memohttp://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/popups/

mod18t05s02.html

International Education and Resource Network. (2015). About. Retrieved from

http://www.iearn.org/about

International Education and Resource Network. (2015). Collaboration centre. Retrieved from

https://collaborate.iearn.org/

International Education and Resource Network. (2015). Home. Retrieved from

http://www.iearn.org/

International Education and Resource Network. (2015). Membership registration. Retrieved

from https://collaborate.iearn.org/us/register

International Education and Resource Network. (2015). My country. Retrieved from

https://collaborate.iearn.org/space-2/group-108

International Education and Resource Network. (2015). Search. Retrieved from


International Society for Technology in Education. (2007) National educational technology

17


https://collaborate.iearn.org/space-2/group-108

https://collaborate.iearn.org/us/register

http://www.iearn.org/

https://collaborate.iearn.org/

http://www.iearn.org/about

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/popups/mod18t05s02.html

http://www.unesco.org/education/tlsf/mods/theme_c/popups/mod18t05s02.html

Global Network Analysis Memostandards for students. Retrieved from


Learning Confluence Pty Ltd. (2015). About. Retrieved from

http://www.flatconnections.com/about-flat-connections.html

Learning Confluence Pty Ltd. (2015). Flat projects. Retrieved from


Learning Confluence Pty Ltd. (2015). Home. Retrieved from


Learning Confluence Pty Ltd. (2015). Home: A week in the life. Retrieved from


Learning Confluence Pty Ltd. (2015). Subscriptions. Retrieved from


National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School

Officers. (2010). Common core state standards for English language arts and literacy

in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Retrieved August 1, 2015,

from Common Core State Standards Initiative: http://www.corestandards.org/

18

http://www.corestandards.org/





http://www.flatconnections.com/about-flat-connections.html


Global Network Analysis MemoPGCPS. (2015). Apple Grove Elementary School. Retrieved from


PGCPS. (2015). Mission statement. Retrieved from http://www1.pgcps.org/aboutpgcps/

TakingITGlobal. (2007). Best practices in global education and collaborative technologies.

Retrieved from http://tig.phpwebhosting.com/tiged/TIGed-MTC.pdf

19

http://tig.phpwebhosting.com/tiged/TIGed-MTC.pdf



Documents

Global Network Memo