Anybody using ePals?
I got an email about new free tools from ePals, including a blog and email for students. Just wondering if anyone has used these resources, including setting up ePals? If so, what did you think about them?
I know about a lot of free blog sites, but how about other email for students? We are currently using Gaggle.
I know about a lot of free blog sites, but how about other email for students? We are currently using Gaggle.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marcia Hersh on -
Thanks for your response, Wade. I need to spend more time at the site to find out who all out there is looking for ePals. My first couple of clicks only showed about a dozen classrooms looking for kiddos to correspond with. We have a visiting teacher from China this year and it has sparked some interest in learning about other cultures. I am excited to get some classrooms started on this.
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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on
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I'm surprised epals email for kids is free. I thought when I looked a month or so ago there was a per kiddo charge. I would think you could find someone here at Classroom 2.0 who would would share penpal kids with you. I also wonder, with the numbers of ESL kids and kids from other countries in our schools could something be set up with them and through people they might know who live in their home countries. Just a thought.
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Permalink Reply by Marcia Hersh on
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You are right Nancy. I think I could probably find some classes through here to match up with some of my classes. Your comment about the epals mail made me go back and double check. I hadn't looked specifically at the mail piece to see if it was truly free...yep, it is now! : -)
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I've used think.com for student email (K-6) for about five years--it fills the bill for security, as a matter of fact it's too closed for my taste but the kids love it and love the rinky dink web space that goes a long with it. Good Luck in your future projects.
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Permalink Reply by Or-Tal Kiriati on -
We set up an account for the school with google (that's http://partnerpage.google.com) and it gives us, among other things, the option to set up an email box for each student or teacher for free. The main advantages are that this is a web based email you can read anywhere, but you can also set up a pop access so it will work with your outlook or other email programs.
Of course the other advantages are included in the page you get. Ours is start.hillels.info (using the school's domain) and each user gets to personalize it to his or her needs and wants.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Carey on -
I've worked with ePals twice: first when I brought them in as the student-safe email service povider for Scholastic.com, then again several years later for service offered by Cablevision. Having vetted their technology and worked with the founders, I can vouch they've got a reliable product and a commitment to providing a safe email, blogging and collaborative environment. One post here made reference to the closed nature of the ePals platform but actually that's the whole point, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to keep out those with unsavory motives. You could say that ePals offers social media tools with training wheels but they serve a purpose. I'm sure glad I had out-riggers when I was learning to ride a bike back in the day, and when I didn't need 'em anymore off they came. Same deal with ePals.
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I said think.com is too closed for my liking. I've never used epals. N.
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Permalink Reply by Richard Carey on
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Ooops. My bad.
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I actually looked at epals as a think.com alternative but there was a fee for student email when I looked, another poster said it was now free. N
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Permalink Reply by Richard Carey on
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Since their recent merger with In2Books the original ePals email service is free as a loss leader. Not sure about their blogging or global community products. Suggest you visit www.epals.com for the latest.
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Permalink Reply by Marcia Hersh on
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Thanks for all your info! I am certainly taking a closer look. Our district is taking a pretty conservative approach with student email, so I like the fact that it is closed in nature. When I was checking out the site, I did notice that their blogging is free. I will have to look at that though, as there are many free blog sites that have some great features and are easy to use.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Krauss on -
Interesting about ePals, it's now free because it's been reimagined as an engine for social good. This NYT article explains the purpose and the business model that allows free service to education. I liked Richard's post about training wheels... that's what I'm looking for. Investigating ePals now...
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