Tapped In Newsletter: November 2000
..ON THE TAPIS
November 2000
Issue 36
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In This Issue
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[1] Expanded WebQuest Matrix
[2] WebCT Guest Series Calendar Change
[3] Technology Tips
[4] Palm Education Pioneer Grant Program
[5] SIG Gem of the Month
[6] What others are saying about us...
[7] Choosing Well-"BUILT" Web Sites
[8] SFL Assistive Technology Guide
[9] About ...On the TAPIS
Quote of the Month
"Our future will be ensured only through the proper and effective use--the collective use--of our minds. That is the essence of the challenge for knowledge work and knowledge work teams: creating a distributed mind." - From The Distributed Mind: Achieving High Performance Through the Collective Intelligence of Knowledge Work Teams. Kimball Fisher, Mareen Duncan Fisher
[1] Expanded WebQuest Matrix
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If you've found the matrix of example WebQuests to be useful in the past, you'll want to take a fresh look at the site. Bernie Dodge has been eliminating a few of the older examples that are mostly based on retelling tasks, and adding about 150 new ones submitted over the last year. He anticipates adding another 50 or so before November is over. Join Bernie on Tuesday, November 14, 4pm PST/7pm EST for a tour of the best and quirkiest additions. See http://edweb.sdsu.edu/webquest/matrix.html.
[2] WebCT Guest Series Calendar Change
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Dickie Selfe, Clemson University, will be at TAPPED IN on Saturday, November 18, 1:30pm PST/4:30pm EST. The topic is Electronic Communication: Inside a Professional Development Workshop. Make sure to mark this change on your calendar!
[3] Technology Tips
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Learning is Fun?!
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Objects in TAPPED IN can serve many purposes...not the least of which is to provide a fun and familiar artifact as a tool to learn object creation and manipulation. Pets are a universal favorite with their low maintenance, easy learning curve, and a chance to bring a virtual version of your own pet online to show him or her off. If you are interested in creating a pet, a sample pet and tutorial have been placed in the After School Online room. You can email the tutorial on making a pet to yourself by going to the ASO and typing: /mailme tutorial
Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: Community of Practice
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TAPPED IN is a Community Of Practice. This means, in part, that the over 8500 members who serve as leaders, workers, and supporters of TAPPED IN can provide resources for your professional development. TAPPED IN has many web pages to assist you, whether you are on a personal PD journey or are leading a group of educators into the cyberhalls of TI learning. The HELP pages cover everything from the introduction of the TAPPED IN interface to designing your own office and adding rooms. For examples of how others have used TAPPED IN in their classrooms visit the Teacher's Corner.
[4] Palm Education Pioneer Grant Program
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SRI International and Palm, Inc., are collaborating to provide a set of Palm hand-held computers to over 100 classrooms throughout the United States. The Palm Education Pioneer grants are targeted for teachers in K-12 schools who want to equip an entire classroom with Palm computers.
The deadline for Round I grants is fast approaching. Round I grants are intended for teachers who have existing ties with research projects or school of education programs. The deadline for Round I applications is December 1, 2000. If you are planning to submit make sure you visit the website and fill out the short form to indicate you will be sending in a proposal by November 15. Another set of proposals will be accepted in March 2001.
For more information on the program, please see the website at
http://palmgrants.sri.com.
[5] SIG Gem of the Month
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Judie [guest] says, "WOW! There's so much to learn here. I'd better start reading about it, and sign in (for practice) before we meet again. And I'd LOVE a transcript."
Special Interest Group (SIG) Discussions try to meet the needs and address the issues of specific groups of educators. Currently active groups include the Social Studies Forum, Technology in the Classroom, KIKO, Foreign Language, Targeting Librarians!, WebQuests, K-3 Resources, School Administrators, Alternative/Correctional Ed, ArtsSites, PAarts, and School Counselors.
Read the transcripts of past discussions in the TAPPED IN archives and join us for the next session. Register for the MEET ME mail to receive the weekly/monthly topics for each discussion group.
[6] What others are saying about us...
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At its best, Ms. [Linda] Polin says, [TAPPED IN] can provoke discussions that are richer than traditional class sessions. "It can fulfill that fantasy we faculty all carry around in our hearts of the intense late-night coffeehouse intellectual discussion." Quoted from The Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/free/2000/10/2000102401u.htm.
[7] Choosing Well-"BUILT" Web Sites
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TAPPED IN member, Ivan Baugh has an article in the November/December issue of MMSchools at http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/default.shtml/. Consumer education has long been an essential part of the curriculum. Until recent years, it consisted of evaluating advertisements and marketing strategies to determine which item to purchase or what advertisement to believe. With the advent of the Internet and its attendant growth, a new dimension has developed. Given that anyone can publish material on the World Wide Web, how do we evaluate the information we find on the web? Ivan's research on this topic leads him to propose a five-star approach, using each letter of the word BUILT to promote meaningful evaluation.
[8] SFL Assistive Technology Guide
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The second edition of the popular resource booklet for parents,
Assistive Technology Guide is available for FREE on the Schwab Foundation for Learning web site. The Schwab Foundation for Learning is a non profit serving parents and educators of children with learning differences (LD). The Assistive Technology Guide has been updated to reflect the pace of technological change since the Guide was first published in 1996. This easy-to-read booklet discusses the types of assistive technology currently available, and helps parents decide which ones are appropriate for their child. Technologies covered in the Guide include those for written language, reading, listening, organization and memory, and math. See http://www.schwablearning.org
[9] About ...On the TAPIS
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Postings of all ...ON THE TAPIS issues are available on the TAPPED IN website. Contact us if you have any questions about your subscription, password or user name, or if you have any news items that you want to share with the community for ...ON THE TAPIS.