Tapped In Newsletter: February 2001
...ON THE TAPIS
February 2001
Issue 39
In This Issue
[1] Member Perspective: Lynn Shafer
[2] So what is an ASO discussion like anyway? By Kari Craig
[3] SIG Gem of the Month
[4] New SIG's Forming
[5] Technology Tips
[6] Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference
[7] What others are saying about us...
[8] Round II of the Palm Education Pioneer Grant Program
[9] WebCT 2001: Transforming the Educational Experience
[10] About ...On the TAPIS
Quote of the Month - "The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done - men who are creative, inventive and discoverers." - Jean Piaget
[1] Member Perspective: Lynn Shafer
Lynn Shafer is an online facilitator for PBS TeacherLine. She is a former ESL teacher in the Fairfax County (Virginia) Public Schools. She is finishing up her coursework in George Mason University's Ph.D. program. She studies language, culture, and instructional technology issues. One topic that she is exploring is how culture and context might affect interactions among online communities of practice.
I like TAPPED IN because it is an additional way that I can communicate with other teachers. I particularly like it when conversations become layered with what is said out loud to everyone, public thoughts that are shared, and private whispers. That's a pretty cool three-dimensional way to flesh out a conversation. I hope that, in the future, we can find more ways to use online communication to approach topics in more than a linear manner.
See all our member perspectives.
[2] So what is an ASO discussion like anyway? By Kari Craig
Ever wondered what goes on during an After School Online discussion? Read below to see a summary from the New ENC Online discussion led by Gail Hoskins (GailH) on September 12 of last year. If you haven't attended an ASO discussion, check out our calendar of events. We'd love to see you there!
New ENC Online! Led by Gail Hoskins
Most groups start off with introductions of participants so that people can learn a little about who is there. After introductions, Gail presented background information on ENC (Eisenhower National Clearinghouse). ENC's focus is on teaching materials for K-12 math and science. The ENC website, http://www.enc.org also has info about federally funded programs. Gail's agenda was to provide an overview of the ENC site. She projected the site and highlighted parts of the web site... the news section, the web links, the digital dozen, lesson plans, professional resources, articles (there was one on TAPPED IN). After a demo search on the site, Gail wrapped up the session by projecting a web page that included all of the links the group had looked at during the session. Comments by participants were that it was an excellent session... very well organized and presented. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the session and was impressed with the ENC site!
[3] SIG Gem of the Month
Special Interest Group (SIG) Discussions try to meet the needs and address the issues of specific groups of educators. For currently active groups take a look at the calendar of events. The following dialogue is from the National Board Certification Discussion Group transcript.
GayleB says, "The process was so valuable to me that I am a support person to other people going through it."
Judi [to GayleB]: "this may be jumping the gun a bit, but you are hoping that you can help others here online as they go through it if they don't have some one locally?"
GayleB says, "Yes, I'd like to get something started online if that would be a help"
JohnSco exclaims, "It would - last year there were several groups in my area, but none this year!"
Judi [to JerylH]: "are you currently going through NBC?"
JerylH says, "I am doing the ecmc art certification this year"
JerylH says, "I did a pilot of one entry for them last year"
GayleB asks, "John, could I help by reading any of your rough drafts?"
GayleB says, "Sometimes it helps for someone outside of your field to be one of your readers."
JohnSco says, "Yes, by all means.
JerylH says, "I need to bounce ideas off from people who know about early childhood art but it makes me a little nervous when I know there is no one who has passed yet."
Read the complete transcripts of past discussions in the TAPPED IN archives and join the NBC Discussion Group on February 26. Register for the MEET ME mail list to receive the weekly/monthly topics for each discussion group.
[4] New SIG's Forming
Technology Coordinators Confab
Technology coordinators are invited to meet and share experiences, problems and solutions in staff development, purchasing and financing technology in the schools. These discussions are scheduled for the second and fourth Monday at 3pm PST/6pm EST in William Wilson's (WilliamCW) virtual office.
7-12 Science Teacher Confab
The purpose of the Science Teacher Confab, held the first and third Thursday at 6pm EST in William Wilson's (WilliamCW) virtual office, is to provide a time and place where middle and HS science teachers can get together informally and share ideas, resources and problems on the utilization of technology in the classroom. Elementary science teachers are welcome.
[5] Technology Tips
Where's my stuff??!
You've been collecting objects from SUPPLIES and now you wonder what happened to all the cool stuff you got. Perhaps you got a puppy but can't remember where you left it. Click on MY ITEMS at the top of the TAPPED IN screen and you'll see all your objects listed and the location and number of each object. Clicking on an object in MY ITEMS also lets you edit that object and change its name.
Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: Renaming an Object
Personal_Recorder_12345 doesn't have much of a personal ring to it! If you want to rename any object (recorders, notes, etc.) type
/rename <name of object> to <new name>.
You can also use the object's number instead of the old name when you want to rename. I'm thinking now that Tom Cruise is available I'm going to rename my recorder by typing: /rename #12345 to Tom Cruise. I bet Tom will really enjoy following me around (I think I'll like it, too!).
[6] Teaching in the Community Colleges Online Conference
Keiko Schneider (KeikoS) and Donna Hendry (DonnaMH) have had abstracts accepted for the TCC Online Conference. To find out more about this conference go to: http://leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/tcon2001/
[7] What others are saying about us...
Thanks to Jennifer Wagner (JenW) for sending us information about TAPPED IN being mentioned in techLEARNING Magazine! http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/012001/inservice.html
[8] Round II of the Palm Education Pioneer Grant Program
Application forms are now online for Round II of the Palm Education Pioneer Grants targeted for K-12 teachers who want to equip an entire classroom with Palm computers. This program is being run by SRI International and Palm, Inc., to provide a set of Palm handheld computers to over 100 classrooms throughout the fifty United States and analyze the results in those classrooms. For more information on the program, as well as application guidelines and forms see http://palmgrants.sri.com
[9] WebCT 2001: Transforming the Educational Experience
WebCT's 3rd Annual Conference will be held June 22-27, 2001, at the Hyatt Regency & Hotel Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadal. See http://www.webct.com/2001 for more information.
[10] About ...On the TAPIS
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.