So what are the NETS? According to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) website their new National Educational Technology Standard (NETS) of 2007 “identify several higher-order thinking skills and digital citizenship as critical for students to learn effectively for a lifetime and live productively in our emerging global society.” The NETS Project has developed a set of profiles describing technology literate students in four grade brackets (Pre-K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12). “These profiles are based on ISTE’s core belief that all students must have regular opportunities to use technology to develop skills that encourage personal productivity, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration in the classroom and in daily life. Coupled with the standards, the profiles provide a set of examples for preparing students to be lifelong learners and contributing members of a global society.” When I looked at the profile for technology (ICT) literate students I became much more aware of what is expected of me in my students technology education.  When I looked at the third profile “Engage in learning activities with learners from multiple cultures through e-mail and other electronic means” I immediately thought of ePals. I didn’t know much about this organization. There is a great video on their site and a document that explains how ePals can help in reaching the NETS.  EPals was created about 12 years ago with 10 classrooms in 4 countries. Now there are 16 million students and teachers in 200 countries. “The company’s mission is to support lifelong learning through collaborative experiences that empower and inspire.” This free service to schools provides the means for students from around the world to connect over their website. Pen pals learn about each other’s countries and cultures. To enhance communication between students of different languages ePals has language translation software in both their community site and in their email browsers. This translation software has provided an additional benefit for non English speaking parents. These parents use the translation software to overcome previous problems of communicating with their child’s teacher. This software if provided free to schools and they gave access to the parents.  EPals provides safe collaborative tools designed for K-12 use, specifically emails and blogs. The project sharing part of this organization would address three of the K-2 profiles:  

2. Identify, research, and collect data on an environmental issue using digital resources and propose a developmentally appropriate solution.  

4. In a collaborative work group, use a variety of technologies to produce a digital presentation or product in a curriculum area. 

10. Demonstrate the ability to navigate in virtual environments such as electronic books, simulation software, and web sites.

EPals projects promote the use of higher order thinking skills. When students have an authentic reason for writing they are motivated to do their best work. Students will write much more for a peer that they are working with and learning with. Working within the ePals framework would also address the seventh profile, “Demonstrate the safe and cooperative use of technology.” I will definitely have to look into ePals for my class next year.