Tapped In Newsletter: January 2006

...On the Tapis
January 2006
Issue 98

In This Issue

[1] Tapped In Mini Expos in the works...
[2] Tapped In Technology Tips
[3] News Nuggets
[4] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[5] About ...On the Tapis

Quote of the Month - "The highest result of education is tolerance." - Helen Keller

[1] Tapped In Mini-Expos in the Works...

In the coming months, TI Mini-Expos will include:

Hurricane Central Help Center - A discussion on how TI members can provide mentoring and assistance to teachers and students displaced by the Gulf Hurricanes.
English in the World - An exploration of how ESL/EFL teachers approach the learning of the English language in all its permutations.
K-12 Career Fair - Targeting K-12 students with career ideas as they navigate the often confusing territory of choosing a career are on the planning schedule.

All Mini-Expos will have both synchronous and asynchronous components. If you are interested in helping plan any of these Expos or would like to participate in the collaboration that will take place during each Expo, join the TI Mini Expos Group and post to the appropriate folder on the discussion board. To join a group in Tapped In, log in, SEARCH GROUPS, enter the group name, go to the group ID page, and join or request to join the group.

[2] Tapped In Technology Tip

Potpourri of Assorted TI Interface Tweaks
PEOPLE: Log in to TI, go to the Tapped In tab/sub-tab PEOPLE and see what fun new items have been added to the page.

TIME ZONE SETTING: When a person fills out the membership form their time zone for the interface is automatically set. This allows new members to automatically see the calendar of events and all times in the interface in their time. (If you became a member before this feature was added, you will still need to go to the Calendar one time and set the time.)

GROUP ARCHIVING: Although not new, many groups are reaching their renewal date, causing concern among those not familiar with the dreaded "this group will be archived" message! The maximum length of time for any group when it is created is one year, after which the group must be renewed or be archived. An automated message is emailed to all members of a group although only the owner or moderator can renew the group. If you are concerned that your favorite group is going to disappear and you don't want that to happen, go to the group room and post a request to the others in the group to support renewal.

K-12 GROUP COLLABORATION: Many thanks to Jeff Cooper who posted a request about K-12 Group Collaboration to the TI Needed Features Group and to our amazing TI Wizards who made this happen! Jeff felt that the ability to collaborate between two groups was an extremely useful tool, but to have students from one K-12 class collaborate with students from another K-12 class, the teacher needed to allow access to *the entire K-12 campus*, thus allowing private chat messages to be sent from other K-12 student groups. Jeff requested a TI "tweak" that would permit collaborating groups to visit each other's room without having to open the entire SAC campus to them.

[3] News Nuggets

Bill Hilton Jr. has added a wonderful new feature to his Nuts About Nature program! Visit http://www.hiltonpond.org/NutsAboutNature.html or join Bill's Nuts About Nature discussion in Tapped In on January 17.
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The NanoSense project led by Tapped In staff member Patti Schank has released a new high school nanoscience unit, Clear Sunscreen, that explores the how light interacts with matter in old and new (nano-based) sunscreens. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can sign up for a free nanoscience workshop for high school teachers and their students on Saturday February 11 at San Jose State University.
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The Dec/Jan Issue of Learning & Leading with Technology has articles by Tapped In members Glen Bull, Bill Ferster, Pamela Livingston, and Kathy Schrock, and an article on the ISTE SIG Handheld Computing for which TI member Debbie Bordelon is the secretary.
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Career Ideas for Teens in Education and Training, a new book by Diane Lindsey Reeves with Gail Karlitz, includes interviews with and comments from TI members William Howe and BJ Berquist.
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The Jan. '06 issue of School Arts Magazine contains articles by TI members Pam Stephens, Nancy Walkup, BJ Berquist, and Craig Roland.
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Congratulations to the following TI members who received awards during the 2005 EduBlog competition:

* Best individual blog 2005 awarded to Rudolf Ammann, Aaron Campbell, and Barbara Dieu: Dekita.org
* Best example/case study of use of weblogs within teaching and learning 2005 awarded to Dave Cormier and Jeff Lebow: Ed Tech Talk
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Tapped In member Vance Stevens' article on the Webheads In Action Online Convergence for TESL-EJ can be seen here.
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Tapped In member Dafne Gonzalez shares the exciting news that she has received Universidad Simon Bolivar's Biannual Award for Best Innovation in Information or Communication Technology Mediated Teaching. First edition. Dafne graciously stated that the award would not have been possible without the Webheads and their continuous support in many of the activities she has designed for her students.
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Do you have a News Nugget about yourself or another member of the Tapped In Community? Send your News Nugget to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org.

[4] Tips and Comments from the Experts

A warm thank you to Sandra Shattuck for the following pithy comment about participation in TI, "Ya never know what present is waiting for you at Tapped In!" If you haven't visited the TI community in a while, maybe you should log in to see what present awaits you.
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If you have a comment or experience to share with the Tapped In community, please submit the information to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org or post to How You Use TI.

[5] About ...On the Tapis

Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.

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