Tapped In Newsletter: January 2002

January 2002 News ...ON THE TAPIS
January 2002
Issue 50

In This Issue

[1] Member Perspective: Kimberly Flack
[2] New! Member Resources Web Pages
[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets
[4] Technology Tips
[5] AAUW Community Action Grants
[6] ETC...
[7] About ...On the TAPIS

Quote of the Month - "The source of genius is imagination alone, the refinement of the senses that sees what others do not see, or sees them differently." - Eugene Delacroix

[1] Member Perspective: Kimberly Flack

Kim Flack (KimberlyRF) is an Instructional Specialist Coordinator working at ASSET-KAET-ASU in Flagstaff, AZ, training teachers to integrate technology into their everyday activities and curriculums. Kim taught high school Special Education and Journalism for 10 years prior to joining ASSET.

Kim's Perspective

"Hi, welcome to TAPPED IN. Can I help you with anything?" The words on the screen spoke softly to me, and sounded in my ears like a clerk as I first enter a store to shop. I wasn't sure whether to click the X in the top of my screen quickly and run. I couldn't do this. Teenagers did chats, people on talk shows did chats, but teachers? I just didn't know. This was unfamiliar territory.

I found myself typing back. "Hi, I'm here for the Crazy 8s Summer Carnival." My response suddenly went from my typing area to the conversation above. I had entered cyberland, chatzone, TAPPED IN and there was no turning back. Suddenly people smiled, waved, nodded. The chat screen became alive with human interaction and a voice directed me to the appropriate location and said I could follow someone.

With a simple keystroke accompanying the word follow (/follow) I was able to attach myself to another educator and begin the conference. I was fascinated with the whole process.

See all our member perspectives.

[2] New! Member Resources Web Pages

We are developing a new section of the TAPPED IN web site: a place where community leaders can share their own personal resources for educators, their favorite sites related to their area(s) of expertise, and After School Online (ASO) sessions they lead at TAPPED IN. The new web page is at http://www.tappedin.org/info/members.html. Check out the members we have listed there already - you may find some wonderful resources and learn more about the TAPPED IN community leaders too! If you lead an ASO discussion group and are interested in contributing resources and a little background information about yourself to share with the TAPPED IN community, please email us. We will work with you to create a Member Resource web page.

[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets

Michael Hutchinson has been selected Indiana Computer Educators Teacher of the Year, 2002. Michael has been a TAPPED IN community leader since February 1998. Read more about Michael at his Member Resources page at http://www.tappedin.org/info/members/mh.html.
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Diane Hunter is presenting at the Indiana Computer Educators Conference (where Michael is getting his award!) Her presentation involves using computer art with learning math shapes and writing a follow up story.
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As an Action Research Project for her master's program, Phyllis Berry is forming a support group for teachers. The group will meet weekly in Phyllis' TAPPED IN office. Starting with the techniques in Positive Behavior in the Classroom, possible solutions (behavior contracts, class meetings, how to get parent's support) will be shared.
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John Elfrank-Dana has an article in ISTE's Dec/Jan issue of Learning and Leading with Technology magazine. In this article John explains how, having no programming experience, he was able to build an entire database interface using wizards that come with FrontPage 2002.
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The TESOL 2002 Conference has two TAPPED IN members presenting. Vance Stevens is leading a discussion on Webheads in Action: Community formation online and its role in language learning. Arthur Mckeown's topic is Human resource management in ELT, and in particular issues around equality between native and non-native speakers as teachers. See http://personalweb.smcvt.edu/gsl520/TESOL/ev_online02_TESOLblast.htm for more information about TESOL 2002.
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TAPPED IN was mentioned in the January 11, 2002 Scout Report. See http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/sr/current/.
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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

Do you have a new email address?
To continue receiving your transcripts and other TAPPED IN mailings and information, you must update your email address if it has changed. To do this, simply contact us with your member name and new address.

Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: ASO Discussion Proposal
If you have an idea for a discussion, or would like to lead an After School Online session or series of sessions, please submit a proposal at http://www.tappedin.org/info/surveys/asoprop.html or contact us. We will contact you via email (please include your current and correct email!) to discuss your idea. If you are applying to lead a session we will give you more information on how to prepare and how we can support you during your presentation.

[5] AAUW Community Action Grants: by Laura Reasoner Jones

I am a recipient of a Community Action Grants from the AAUW (American Association of University Women) Educational Foundation. My partners and I are using the AAUW Research Report: Tech-Savvy Girls: Educating Girls in the New Computer Age, to create a video to use with parents, teachers, counselors and AAUW groups. This video will highlight the report's findings that girls know they can be involved in technology, but that they don't want to. We also will provide a user's guide with resources for the video viewers to help the girls they care about.

I am a Teacher-in-Residence at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, working on a project to show accomplished teaching while integrating technology into the curriculum. I know that the concerns brought out in the AAUW report (poor teacher training, uninviting computer culture, violent content of most games, etc.,) are real and girls are turning away from IT classes and professions in large numbers. Not only are they doing themselves a disservice in economic terms, the whole computer industry is losing out by girls' non-participation.

As a follow-up to last month's ...On the TAPIS note about the grants from AAUW, I would highly recommend that teachers apply if interested in making changes for girls and women in your community. (The deadline for applications is postmark January 15. For more information call 800-326-2289, email: info@aauw.org or visit http://www.aauw.org/fga/fellowships_grants/community_action.cfm. Contact Laura at ljones@nbpts.org.

[6] ETC...

LEARNTEC is a major European Congress for Educational and Information Technology that draws more than 7,500 participants from all over the world to discuss innovations and applications. LEARNTEC 2002 will be held in Karlsruhe, Germany, 5-8 February. For a detailed description go to TechKnowLogia Supplement at: http://www.Techknowlogia.org/TKL_Documents/Supplements/Learntec.pdf or visit the web site at http://www.Learntec.de.
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Say Yes to Children is a global movement to improve the lives of children and adolescents everywhere. See http://www.unicef.org/say_yes/. The UN Special Session on Children will take place from May 8-10 2002.
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The U.S. Department of Education lists an early childhood grant opportunity at http://www.ed.gov/PressReleases/12-2001/12202001.html.

[7] 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.