Tapped In Newsletter: January 1998

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********** ...ON THE TAPIS **********
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Issue # 6 January, 1998
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...ON THE TAPIS is a monthly letter with updates on TAPPED IN and related events. Check our website to learn more. Contact us if you forgot your password or user name.

Quote of the Month:
You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.
--Galileo

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[1] Upgrades and improvements to TAPPED IN
[2] AFTER SCHOOL ONLINE
[3] TAPPED IN Quick Notes
[4] Why TAPPED IN?
[5] About ...ON THE TAPIS
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[1] Upgrades and improvements to TAPPED IN
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Over the holiday we added and improved several areas TAPPED IN. First we added a new name. We are still http://www.tappedin.sri.com/, but we are also http://www.tappedin.org/. The endings on a URL have come to designate commercial business status and non profit status. When SRI got on the web (way way back in the early web days) those designations did not exist. SRI is a non profit organization. TAPPED IN lives at SRI and is also a non profit. We hope this change does not cause confusion. We have both names, and we will continue to have both names for a long time (maybe forever, but that's a really long time).

Other improvements in TAPPED IN include significant improvements to TAPestry (the java applet that allows you to enter TAPPED IN without any additional software). For more information about TAPestry see our Help page.

And last but not least, we made some improvements behind the scenes that will make things work better and smoother. If you have any suggestions for new features in TAPPED IN, let us know.

[2] AFTER SCHOOL ONLINE
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After School Online took a short winter break and starts up again January 19th (That's Martin Luther King Day--if you can login to TAPPED IN).

After School Online is every Monday and Tuesday from 3-4 pm Pacific (6-7 Eastern). We've added new East Coast Edition on Wednesday at 1-2 pm Pacific (4-5 Eastern). We call the Wednesday afternoon session the East Coast Edition, but you can live anywhere and come to any session (whatever your schedule allows).

Our schedule for January is as follows:
(Asterisk designates the new Wednesday East Coast Edition)

**********Brand New this month!!***********
Cancer and aging--what's the relationship?
(Jan 20 and Jan 26)
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Current research hints at connections between cancer and the aging process. What do we know about the relationship between cancer and aging? What are the prospects for lessening the likelihood of cancer and the effects of aging? Erik Wilson, a biochemist at the University of California, San Francisco discusses the current state of knowledge and speculates on future possibilities. Learn how some elements of aging may protect us against cancer and learn what action we can take to protect ourselves.

-Getting more support from your administration
(Jan 21* and Jan 27)
By popular demand, Barbara Chriss will continue to lead discussions on how to get more support for new curriculum, mentoring, workshops, training, and just support in general. Come by to talk with Barbara and benefit from the experience she has gained from 27 years of teaching, including 17 years as a school principal and curriculum/staff development specialist.

-Incorporating the Internet into your classroom
(Jan 19 and Jan 28*)
Extends our earlier "All about the Internet" sessions. Patti Schank and Judi Fusco will answer questions about the Internet and lead a discussion on different ways teachers are using the Internet in their classrooms, and how you can incorporate it too. They will provide references to research and pointers to Websites developed by teachers.

[3] TAPPED IN Quick Notes
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**This newsletter is shorter than usual because we just entered a new phase in TAPPED IN. We'll tell you all about it in our next newsletter.

**Look for information about a MATH discussion time starting in February hosted by The Math Forum.

**We want to welcome Linda Polin's Learning & Design Course from Pepperdine University. Linda and her class will be visiting TAPPED IN for some of their online course work. For more information about Linda check out: http://moon.pepperdine.edu/~lpolin/

**Congratulations to Laura Bashlor for being our 600th member. Laura is a science and technology teacher at Shumate Middle School in Gibraltar, Michigan. Welcome Laura!! We're glad to have you here!

[4] Why TAPPED IN?
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This a new feature we will run in the newsletter for the next several months to answer some of the questions we have been asked about TAPPED IN.

Q. I stumbled across TAPPED IN on the web and signed up for membership....What can I do?

A. If you happened to stumble across TAPPED IN on the web, WELCOME! Thanks for coming by our site and for taking time to join us! TAPPED IN is a place for teacher professional development. We hope you can log in and take advantage of our activities. We offer discussion times for teachers around different topics, and everyone is welcome to attend (these times are listed in item [2]).

We also have many partner organizations that provide the content for TAPPED IN. These organizations have rooms on the second floor of the TAPPED IN virtual conference center. Everyone is welcome to visit these rooms and learn more about the partner organizations, and what they have to offer. You can go anywhere inside the TAPPED IN conference center. Occasionally a group will "lock" a door, which will prevent you from entering an area. If a door is "locked" it's probably because they are having a meeting inside and don't want to be interrupted. Feel free to explore TAPPED IN as much as you want, you can't "hurt" anything, and we love to have people exploring and building!

When you log in for the first time, look to see who else is online and talk to them. If you log in between 8 am and 6 pm M-F (pacific), you will most likely run into Mark, Patti or Judi. Contact us if you would like to make sure there will be someone online.

[5] About ...ON THE TAPIS
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Postings of all ...ON THE TAPIS issues are available online. Contact us if you have any questions about your subscription, login name or password, or if you have any news items that you want to share with the community for ...ON THE TAPIS.