To set the stage for your students and prepare them for eCards, use any one or a combination of the activities described in the Teacher's Guide:

• the Discussion Questions activity
• the Sample eCards activity
• the Big Question/eCard Solution activity (Sample eCards)

For more student handouts and printable materials see the For Teachers menu above. Expect to spend between 30 minutes and an hour introducing eCards.

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Taking students through eCards

Students create eCards in four steps:

1. Choose a topic (1 period)

2. Conduct the research (3 periods)

3. Create a message and graphics (2 periods)

4. Send the eCard (1 period)

Depending on your approach, you can expect it to take 7 or 8 class periods for students to create one eCard.

Step 1. Choose a Topic

Students log into the eCards website with the classroom ID and password that you give them. Go to the Classroom Accounts menu to maintain to your classroom ID or request a new one.

Students have a look at the different Topic Resource Centres and choose the topic that interests them most: Wind Energy, Solar Energy, Nuclear Power or Energy Success Stories, for example.

They submit a paragraph about their choice of topic to you online.

Step 2. Conduct the Research

With their topics selected, students can begin their research. Each Topic Resource Centre includes a short video as well as a written discussion that integrates facts, information, graphics and photographs.

For more insight into their topics, students can use the online Ask an Expert

To complete their research, students answer four online Research Questions (also available for download from the Teacher's menu) and send them to you for approval.

You will see a status message beside the eCard that says Await teacher review. To see and review the student's answers, click the Review button.

Enter your feedback in the box provided below each student answer. To approve the research, check the box, signalling to the student to move on to the next step and begin creating an eCard. Or, to let the student know the answers need more work, simply leave the approval box unchecked and save your feedback.

Step 3. Create the Message and Graphics

Alone or in small groups, students consider what they want to communicate and to whom.

The Advocating Change handout and the Teacher's Guide both suggest ways to lead the class in working through questions of audience, tone and online communication.

You may want to integrate peer review during Step 3, giving students a chance to discuss their eCards with one another as they take shape.

The Plan

Students describe their plans by answering three questions in the space provided on the Create an eCard page.

1. Who are you choosing to send your eCard to and why?

2. Explain your choice of image. What are you trying to convey?

3. Is your message consistent with your image and your chosen recipient?

The Message

Students write a message of approximately 100-200 words and also generate a title for their eCard, keeping in mind their intended audience. For more information, see the Advocating Change handout and the suggestions in the Teacher's Guide.

The Graphics

Student-created graphics are essential to the eCards, and they can take many forms:

• an image created using a computer paint program
• a digital photo
• a scanned drawing or painting made by hand.

Whatever approach students take, they end up with a saved .jpg file that they can upload into their eCard. For more information on student-created graphics, see the Creating Images handout.

Graphics contribute to what an eCard communicates to its intended audience.
an image created using

• a computer paint program
• a digital photo
• a scanned drawing or painting made by hand.

Refer to the Technical Requirements section of the Teacher's Guide for a discussion of the accessibility and availability of these approaches.

In class, you can provide students with the handout Creating Images with a Paint Program, Digital Camera or Scanner.

Whatever approach students take, they need to end up with a saved .jpg file that they can upload into their eCard.

Step 4. Assemble and Send an eCard

When students are happy with their eCards, they submit them to you for your final approval.

You will see a status message beside the eCard that says Awaiting teacher review. After adding any comments in the spaces provided, you can send the eCard back to the student for revisions or you can check the box to approve the eCard.

Once you have approved a student's eCard, it is ready to send!

To send an eCard, students enter the email address of the recipient. Their sent card first goes to you for a quick review - you oversee every eCard the class sends. If you click to approve it, the eCard is delivered to the intended recipient.

Assessing Student Achievement

The eCards activity includes assessment rubrics for Geography, Language and Media Literacy - available from the Teacher Materials menu.

To conclude and evaluate the eCards activity, you may also want to consider a wrap-up activity: students could select one other student's eCard from the Class Gallery, for example, and send it to the recipient of their choice (with your one-click approval, of course). See the Teacher's Guide for more suggestions.

For more information about teaching eCards, consult the Teacher's Guide.

You could:

• involve the whole class in a discussion about what worked and what could be improved upon,
• ask students to select one other student's eCard from the Class Gallery to send and to explain why they chose it,
• plan to do subsequent eCards with the class where the wrap-up activity can also serve as a lead-in to the next round of eCards.

We hope you enjoy teaching eCards as much as your students enjoy creating them!