Our main goal is a global dialogue.

"KidSpace" is a  on-line environment that allows teachers and students to collaborate in global projects by providing a wide range of easy-to-use features and functions.  "KidSpace" makes it easy for students and teachers to publish and share their global dialogue on the web by creating webpages which contain images, sounds, short animations, text,  and videos.

KIDLINK PROJECTS: TEACHERS BASIC GUIDELINES

During the project you should  communicate regularly  with  your partners and with coordinator in order to better cooperate, improve students'dialogue, monitor how the project is progressing and check the coordinator's latest  instructions. 
Communication will take place mainly  in the Kidlink Forum where will be activated one forum for each project. But other tools are welcome.
enlightenedAs these are cooperative projects, please do not partecipate if you are not able to keep checking your inbox and the Kidlink Project Forum.   Silence and lack of dialogue is mortal for every collaborative projects!

 

What the students need to do to get friends and to get involved in a global project

Let your students achieve a good dialogue with others and turn their attention to what is required to get one!

  • Register ( be honest and thorough) 
  • Create page (keep to assignement of the project and give your contribute the best you can)
  • Add Comment (visit the pages of your partners, leave meaningful messages if you want start a dialogue, check comments added in your page and reply quickly).
  • Share Kidmail (all kidlinkers has a private kidmail; click on the nickname and send a message)
  • Talk by KidCom (Each project has a safe room to talk with students involved in the same project. Ask your teacher for the invitation) 

 

Teachers basic tips to support students dialogue

 In "Kidspace", the dialogue is done by students when they interact with each other by inserting comments in the pages of their partners  with the approval of their teachers, by exchanging  Kidmail or by talking in KidCom.

-Teachers have to encourage their students to visit the pages of their partners in the project. On the bottom of each page you can click on  the nickname of the page's author and, (if you are logged) read his/her profile. Exhaustive and meaningful answers in the registration make more easy the acquitance and get friends. Everybody can update their registration answers if they like write them better.

- Students can also use Kidmail  to start the dialogue, but also and mainly, they have to use the option Add Comment in order to a success of the project and to leave public messages in their partners'pages.

- Sometimes comments can be very trivial, with only a word like e.g. "Cool" or "Wow"... but kids should be helped to built better relationships with a more structured dialogue. Look at Conversional writing - colloquial tone at Dialogue Teory- 

- Students can dialogue by chat too. For each project is possible to open a moderate chat (KidCom) where students involved in the project can talk.

- Teachers can support their students'work, by writing in their pages comments  with suggestions to improve what they do or to encourage.

 Let your students have dialogue and give time for this. The project will profit from it! yes

Making pages and  comments visible 

  • If the teachers participating in the project do not activate their students pages and  comments written on their pages, the dialogue dies.
  • Not only, these youth learn that it has no sense to write comments in our pages, as they are not approved.
  • For this reason it is necessary that the emails with which teachers are registered, are operational and always controlled. yes

  • Keep checking your inbox to watch if there are  new comments or new students page to activate.

 Teachers that do not approve youth comments, will therefore be reminded by email about unapproved comments and if they still do not approve comments, they will have their pages inactivated

Click here to check: Useful Help Links for Pages Managers

About images in KidSpace

Obey copyright laws and only use images that you have expressed permission to use on the web. Teachers placing student images on the web should have permission from parents to do this. Encourage use of student drawings instead of clipart. Directions for uploading image files to KidSpace are found in the "Help" link on the top bar on any KidSpace page.  For page managers