Tapped In Newsletter: February 2002
...ON THE TAPIS
February 2002
Issue 51
In This Issue
[1] Member Perspective: Maria Avgerinou
[2] TAPPED IN Resource Web Page Renovations!
[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets
[4] Technology Tips
[5] Coming Soon to a Time Zone Near You!
[6] About ...On the TAPIS
Quote of the Month - "Education is not merely a means for earning a living or an instrument for the acquisition of wealth. It is an initiation into a life of spirit, a training of the human soul in the pursuit of truth and the practice of virtue." - Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
[1] Member Perspective: Maria Avgerinou
Dr. Maria Avgerinou (MariaAv) is a Visiting Assistant Professor in Instructional Technology, at the Department of Educational Technology, Research and Assessment, College of Education, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois.
Maria's Perspective
Although I was only recently introduced to TAPPED IN, I have already used it extensively with my students, internationally-based colleagues and their classes, and with the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) delegates last November.
As my teaching for this academic year concentrates on distance and online education, for many of the synchronous communication sessions (small groups) I organize for my graduate classes, I prefer to use TAPPED IN as it is an extremely user-friendly, versatile, and reliable platform. Students of various Information/Technological Literacy levels, including those that do not possess the latest technology at home, have repeatedly reported how comfortable they are communicating through TAPPED IN.
I often invite colleagues working in the same subject area, to join my classes as guest tutors. Sometimes we also extend the team-teaching experience to include their classes as well. Again, TAPPED IN has proved to support our online activity admirably!
Finally, when we organized the Annual Conference of International Visual Literacy Association, at Malardalen University Sweden last November, TAPPED IN was used to support the virtual presentations of delegates that were unable to travel outside the US as a result of the recent American tragedy.
See all our member perspectives.
[2] TAPPED IN Resource Web Page Renovations!
We have been renovating our main TAPPED IN Resource web page to make it easier for you to read and navigate. The resource page is divided into subject-related categories. Each link will take you to another web page consisting of a collection of various resources pertinent to that topic. If you are searching for some useful sites, visit http://www.tappedin.org/info/resources.html. If you have resources that you would like to contribute, please contact us. Please include a short description of the site you recommend. Thanks!
[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets
Chuck Merritt invites San Francisco Bay Area TAPPED IN members to the March 9th ICUE-Silicon Valley Technology Conference at Palo Alto High School. ICUE is the local (San Mateo and Santa Clara counties) affiliate of CUE (California) and NECA (US.).
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Phyllis Berry's assignment for her master's is to investigate and explain the API awards. A survey is available for teachers and anyone interested in contributing data. For more information contact Phyllis at pberry_22@yahoo.com
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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] Technology Tips
Time Zone Friendly Calendar
The Monthly Calendar of Events displays Pacific Time by default. To see the events on the monthly calendar displayed in your local time, go to the calendar and click on the your time zone near the top. Contact us if you don't see your time zone listed and would like us to add it.
Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: Search the Member Directory
TAPPED IN members can search the membership directory for members in a specific country by clicking on the Member Directory in Reception and entering the name of the country next to the "find in directory" button. To find the contact information for a member in that country, click on their name.
[5] Coming Soon to a Time Zone Near You!
TAPPED IN's rapidly expanding international membership presents exciting opportunities to meet colleagues from around the world. But, time zones create a major problem when events are being scheduled for the TAPPED IN Calendar and the TAPPED IN Community. Most events occur during times that are convenient for US members, but this schedule often creates participation difficulties for members and participants in time zones outside the US. The TAPPED IN staff would like to help support members outside the US who wish to take advantage of the 24/7 availability of TAPPED IN to start their own discussion groups and forums that draw on the talent and experience of local educators. There are several web pages that can help in learning how to lead discussions, but sometimes authentic experience is the best teacher.
The HelpDesk staff, a microcosm of the international membership with representatives on nearly every continent, is ready to assist your group of researchers, teachers, librarians, tech coordinators and administrators maximizing the use of the features of the TAPPED IN Community of Practice (more information on CoP's in the next newsletter). For more information or to set up a special tour of TAPPED IN's features and how they can help your educators, contact us.
[6] 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.