Tapped In Newsletter: May 2002
...ON THE TAPIS
May 2002
Issue 54
In This Issue
[1] Around the World with TAPPED IN
[2] Member Perspective: David Weksler
[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets
[4] TAPPED IN Represented at NECC
[5] Technology Tips
[6] About ...On the TAPIS
Quote of the Month - "Physicists and astronomers see their own implications in the world being round, but to me it means that only one-third of the world is asleep at any given time and the other two-thirds is up to something." - Dean Rusk
[1] Around the World with TAPPED IN
MarkPC says, "[The Social Studies Forum] is a great idea. I have actually been on the NYTimes education forum, but the response time is usually a couple of hours instead of seconds."
Louise [guest] [to MarkPC]: "Wow. I didn't even know that the NYTimes had an education forum. But you're right, this immediate response is pretty cool."
[Louise Maxwell, from A&E and the History Channel, was Michael Hutchinson's guest host for the May 8th SSForum.]
Immediate feedback is just one of the features of a real time discussion held in TAPPED IN. The above conversation took place before a public event that was posted on the calendar, but similar comments are heard frequently from other discussion groups and classes. Dianne Allen, a community leader in TAPPED IN, is interested in starting a discussion group for Aussie/NZ/Western Pacific Rim members. Because Dianne, who is located in Australia, understands the global time zone conflict and the universal desire for real time immediate response she would like to establish a group in TAPPED IN that is interested in networking at a "down under" time. If you are interested in joining Dianne's group, contact her at dlallen@ozemail.com.au. And, if you are interested in starting a group in your part of the world, post a message to the MEET ME mail list or contact us.
[2] Member Perspective: David Weksler
David Weksler's introduction to TAPPED IN began in 1996, when he managed to get past the front desk at SRI in Menlo Park, CA and found himself sitting at Mark Schlager's desk (Mark is the Director of TAPPED IN). David leads the K-12 Math discussion group twice a month.
David's Perspective
It's Mother's Day, 2002, I'm at my sister's house in Pennsylvania and my folks are also here visiting. My brother-in-law has set the table with a huge variety of breakfast goodies.
I'm rushing to log into TAPPED IN this Sunday morning. I'm looking forward to "see" who has shown up for the Sunday morning "Webheads" group at TAPPED IN. This group is composed of an international group of English as Second Language instructors and researchers and although I lead a math discussion in TAPPED IN, I so enjoy the dynamics of this group that I don't mind being out of the loop.
Before I can even type "hello", I've been greeted by 6 or more people who have gotten online earlier: they are in Pennsylvania, Spain, Germany, Abu Dhabi, Detroit, France, Argentina (it goes on). It's amazing. While I'm helping make breakfast (not really helping very much), I'm also chatting with this International group of ESL educators. It's AMAZING!
See all our member perspectives.
[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets
The TAPPED IN Summer Carnival 2002 will be held on July 17 from 8am - 8pm PDT. Dianne Allen (see [1]) is seeking TAPPED IN members interested in extending the time for the Carnival to facilitate global participation. If you are willing to contribute as a helpdesk volunteer or event leader, contact Dianne at dlallen@ozemail.com.au.
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If you're interested in learning more about using Virtual Field Trips in the K-12 classroom, you may enjoy, "The Big Pocket Guide to Using & Creating Virtual Field Trips" by TAPPED IN member and discussion leader Kim Foley. More info on this book is available at the Field Trips Site.
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TAPPED IN is in EdWeek's Technology Counts. Click here to read the report.
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The recently released Keystone Arts Education Network web page has TAPPED IN linked as a resource on Technology Resources And Standards For the Arts In Education (see http://www.keyarts.ws/techresources/bookmarks.html).
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The New Curriculum, started by TAPPED IN member John Raymond, an educational technology consultant living in Connecticut, is designed to provide essential resources to help teachers integrate technology into their classes, and includes annotated links and a bi-weekly column or two on practical tech integration ideas (see http://www.newcurriculum.com/index.php).
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TAPPED IN was included in the April 26, 2002 Blue Web'n Update that lists weekly additions to Blue Web'n, a searchable online library of Blue-Ribbon Web sites sponsored by Pacific Bell.
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ASCD's April 2002 issue of Educational Leadership on Customizing Our Schools features Bob Pearlman's article on "Reinventing the High School Experience."
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A new article on the role of the library-media teacher in today's schools, "School Librarians: Guide to an Evolving Species," was recently published in Classroom Connect Newsletter. It is currently available at author and TAPPED IN member Joyce Valenza's site at http://joycevalenza.com/SchoolLibrarian.pdf.
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The May issue of Learning and Leading with Technology includes articles written by TAPPED IN members Judi Harris, Chris Dede, and Barbara Clark.
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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] TAPPED IN Represented at NECC
TAPPED IN Director, Mark Schlager, is co-presenting a session at NECC (on June 18 at noon) with Social Studies Forum host, Michael Hutchison, and Pepperdine University Online Master's Program creator, Linda Polin. The session, Online Teacher Professional Development Communities: Lessons Learned and Future Directions, discusses strategies for and myths about online teacher communities and professional development.
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Although it took Ferdi Serim 50 years to make his first record, the second is coming out at NECC. See http://oii.org/MEB if you're curious.
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The K-12 outreach group at Vanderbilt University is doing a workshop at NECC on June 17 entitled, "Videoconferencing in the K-12 Classroom: Who's Doing It, Why? Should I?" For more information contact TAPPED IN member Susan Kuner at susan.kuner@vanderbilt.edu.
[5] Technology Tips
Using Whiteboards
Whiteboards can be found in most rooms in TAPPED IN. They can be useful for structuring a discussion. The discussion leader may have an agenda that she wants to cover during a meeting. Posting to the whiteboard keeps everyone on task as the information can be easily referred to as the discussion progresses. To post text to the whiteboard, click on WHITEBOARD on the room drawing and scroll down on the whiteboard to the text input window. When you have entered your text, click on the WRITE ON WHITEBOARD button. If more than one person is entering text on the whiteboard, scroll below the whiteboard text input window and click on RELOAD to see what they have written. (Be careful - those cute little erasers really work!)
Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: Entering whiteboard text into a transcript
The entries on the whiteboard may be important points that have been made during a discussion. Because it is very easy to erase the contents of the whiteboard, and the whiteboard text is not captured as part of the transcript, it's a good idea to save the whiteboard text. You can do this by clicking on PRINT TO NOTE under the whiteboard text input window. This converts the text to a note. Scroll down to the bottom of the note and click on PROJECT to enter the whiteboard text into the transcript as a permanent record.
[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.