Meeting the NETS-S and NETS-T

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• Meeting the NETS-S and NETS-T
• Using ePals Free Tools

Rita Oates, PhD roates_at_corp.epals.com www.epals.co
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NETS-T White Paper

• Provided at NECC 2008 when NETS-T were refreshed,
  written by Ferdi Serim, who was on the NETS
  committee.
• Revised with examples from ePals Teacher
  Ambassadors for ISTE 2010
• Available from ePals to share with others
• Nicole will have to post on her wiki

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Six NETS-S Standards and Six Student Projects

• Elizabeth Simmons
• Grade 4, Sharon Elementary School
• Suwannee, GA
• Forsyth School District

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The Way We Are

• Free ePals project
• Paired with a school in UK for activities
• Janet Gough, Cockerham Parochial School, was the
  other teacher
• Extended this project so that we could accomplish
  all the NETS-S standards with our students
• http//www.epals.com/media/p/234664.aspx

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NETS-S

• 1. Creativity and Innovation
• Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct
  knowledge, and develop innovative products and
  processes using technology. Students
• a. apply existing knowledge to generate new
  ideas, products, or processes.
• b. create original works as a means of personal
  or group expression.
• c. use models and simulations to explore complex
  systems and issues.
• d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.

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The Native American Writings

• As a template, the class followed a detailed
  Native American Writing Blueprint.
• Within a five-paragraph essay, the student became
  the voice of a landform, animal, plant or power
  sharing the environment with the tribe.
• By using sensory language, the environment was
  pictured, activities of the men, women, and
  children described, impact of the explorers felt,
  state of the tribe today given, and a prediction
  made about the future of the Native American
  tribe.

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NETS-S

• 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. Students
• a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers,
  experts, or others employing a variety of digital
  environments and media.
• b. communicate information and ideas effectively
  to multiple audiences using a variety of media
  and formats.
• c. develop cultural understanding and global
  awareness by engaging with learners of other
  cultures.
• d. contribute to project teams to produce
  original works or solve problems.

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Monsters - Descriptive Writing

• A Story Starter was provided as a graphic
  organizer.
• Each child sketched and colored a picture of a
  monster
• Each student wrote a narrative describing the
  creature, detailing its adventure. All writings
  were posted to the class website under the
  Student Spotlight link.

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Monsters - Descriptive Writing

• The monster writings and drawings were published
  onto the English schools website under the ePals
  link. The UK students read the American monster
  writings, carefully picturing descriptive words
  and phrases.
• After reading the stories, they drew the monsters
  described and viewed our original pictures to see
  how closely their drawings matched.
• Both classes voted for three drawings that most
  clearly resembled their sketches. Winning
  drawings were linked to their website, and the
  artists were awarded gel pens.
• English winners and American winners were posted
  to the bulletin board outside the classroom.

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NETS-S

• 3. Research and Information Fluency
• Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate,
  and use information. Students
• a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
• b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate,
  synthesize, and ethically use information from a
  variety of sources and media.
• c. evaluate and select information sources and
  digital tools based on the appropriateness to
  specific tasks.
• d. process data and report results.

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Weather Charts

• Students documented the weather in 30 United
  States cities tracking temperature, wind speed,
  precipitation, sunrise, sunset, and phases of the
  moon.
• To record the information, each student got a
  blank weather chart with a link to the national
  weather bureau and city tourist sites and
  compiled a Weather Chart Hotlist.
• A list of questions was provided to guide
  research.
• After tracking the weather for ten days, trends
  were graphed and displayed for the grade level on
  the bulletin board outside the classroom.
• To fulfill persuasive writing standards, using
  the tourist hotlinks provided, the student
  provided reasons and examples why the traveler
  would enjoy visiting the city at that time of
  year.
• Extension ask questions about the other city on
  the ePals forums or through a single email to
  another teacher in that city.

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NETS-S

• 4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and
  Decision Making
• Students use critical thinking skills to plan and
  conduct research, manage projects, solve
  problems, and make informed decisions using
  appropriate digital tools and resources.
  Students
• a. identify and define authentic problems and
  significant questions for investigation.
• b. plan and manage activities to develop a
  solution or complete a project.
• c. collect and analyze data to identify solutions
  and/or make informed decisions.
• d. use multiple processes and diverse
  perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

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Million Dollar Project

• Before starting, each child was provided a
  project guideline, checklist, rubric, and
  pre-formatted spreadsheet. The guidelines gave an
  overall description of the project, parameters,
  and possible resources.
• Students could spend 1 million on college, home,
  transportation, hobbies, home furnishings,
  vacations, charities, taxes, gifts for each
  family member, and a gift to the teacher
• Offering a handy pacing guide, a checklist made
  research at home more efficient and productive.
• Built on Rubistar, the rubric informed both
  parents and students how the project would be
  graded.
• A completed copy of the pre-formatted spreadsheet
  was conveniently furnished with the other three
  handouts in a folio for quick reference and
  storing printed materials.
• That exchange of information with our ePals
  provided a great deal of information for the
  global Venn diagram inside the classroom.

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NETS-S

• 5. Digital Citizenship
• Students understand human, cultural, and societal
  issues related to technology and practice legal
  and ethical behavior. Students
• a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and
  responsible use of information and technology.
• b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using
  technology that supports collaboration, learning,
  and productivity.
• c. demonstrate personal responsibility for
  lifelong learning.
• d. exhibit leadership for digital citizenship.

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The Way We Are

• Both the English school and the American school
  continued a yearlong ePal project titled The Way
  We Are.
• Students ask specific, cultural questions that
  were answered by their ePals abroad by email.
• Placing the results on a unique Venn diagram in
  the back of our room, tendencies were updated
  daily, comparing life in both cultures.
• Global awareness of the class skyrocketed, as the
  weather in both countries was checked daily and
  current information about life on two continents
  posted.

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NETS-S

• 6. Technology Operations and Concepts
• Students demonstrate a sound understanding of
  technology concepts, systems, and operations.
  Students
• a. understand and use technology systems.
• b. select and use applications effectively and
  productively.
• c. troubleshoot systems and applications.
• d. transfer current knowledge to learning of new
  technologies

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21st Century Skills

• A class survey indicated that familiarity with
  software including
• Microsoft Office, Open Office, PowerPoint, Photo
  Story, Excel Spreadsheets and email
• Technical facility in keyboarding, jump drive,
  video flip cameras, digital cameras and scanners
• Knowledge of utilities such as spellcheck,
  grammar check, Flesch-Kincaid writing levels,
  thesaurus.com and other online research tools

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Check the Projects on ePals
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Other ways to help (free)

• Project Forum
• Teacher Forum, ePals Wanted

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Student Work Posted to Worldwide Audience
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