Online tool used by instructors to connect with classrooms from around the world
It started at an educational technology conference hosted by Jennifer Williams, a prominent figure in educational technology, last spring that Kathi Kersznowski, a technology integration specialist in the Washington Township School District, attended. At the conference, she discovered an online tool that could take elementary school students’ experience to the next level.
The tool, named “Empatico,” is a way for teachers to connect with classrooms around the world via webcam and microphone. The teachers fill out information about their classroom on the website, empatico.org, and the website uses an algorithm to connect them with a classroom at least 300 miles away.
“It’s in the business of connecting classrooms, connecting elementary kids to other classrooms,” Kersznowski said. “It’s global. It’s not just classes in the United States, it’s classes all over the world.”
Kersznowski took the information from the conference back to Washington Township only to realize the teachers didn’t have the proper equipment to use the web based platform. Each elementary school library had 10 webcams that were available to be checked out. This wasn’t enough for Kersznowski.
“I wrote a letter that summer to Empatico,” she said. “I told them I heard Jennifer Williams speak and she inspired me. I love your website, but we’re at a bit of a loss here because we don’t have the technology to do this. I’d love to bring this to my students, we want them to connect globally and meet children from around the world and we don’t have what we need.”
A few weeks later, Kersznowski received a response from Empatico. It donated 180 webcams to the district for every homeroom elementary teacher in Washington Township.
“Their goal is to connect 1 million children by 2020,” she said. “We are their first-ever Empatico school district.”
This means every elementary classroom in the district, grades kindergarten through five, will experience Empatico twice this year.
Kersznowski and fellow technology integration specialist Jessica Soulliard act as technology coaches for the teachers in the district. They helped teachers set up Empatico accounts. The teachers have been using this technology since the beginning of the school year.
Soulliard and Kersznowski said the classrooms have connected with places across the country, like Kentucky and Florida, in addition to foreign countries like Mexico and British Columbia, Canada. They even had a teacher connect with a British classroom.
The teachers post about their experiences on Padlet, a website that acts as a digital corkboard. One of the teachers outlined an exchange with a Floridia classroom — the Washington Township students thought the Florida students would be wearing glasses, hats and shorts, while the children from Florida thought the students from Washington Township would be wearing winter coats and only have an interest in hockey and skiing.
“It’s about understanding differences and celebrating similarities,” Kersznowski said. “Finding out people who we thought were really different from us are still people. I saw a quote the other day that said, ‘We build too many walls and not enough bridges.’ I think that says it all. We’re trying to build bridges.”
Soulliard expanded on Kersznowski’s sentiment.
“Empatico means empathy, and that’s what we’re trying to instill,” Soulliard said. “Kids care about people they know. These exchanges are making them feel like they know, or are getting to know, these other children. We’re trying to celebrate and have the kids recognize so they can be more empathetic and compassionate.”
