Tapped In Newsletter: April 2003

...ON THE TAPIS
April 2003
Issue 65

In This Issue

[1] Mooooooving to TI2
[2] Member Perspective: Jill Thomas
[3] April is National Volunteer Recognition Month
[4] Technology Tips
[5] TAPPED IN News Nuggets
[6] Free SimForest Simulator Software for Inquiry Learning
[7] GLOBE/Operation RubyThroat Workshops
[8] About ...ON THE TAPIS

Quote of the Month - "A world community can exist only with world communication, which means something more than extensive shortwave facilities scattered about the globe. It means common understanding, a common tradition, common ideas, and common ideals." - Robert M. Hutchins (1899-1977) US educator, writer

[1] Mooooooving to TI2

As most of you have already heard, TAPPED IN has created a new improved system (dubbed TI2) that has many additional features built into it, such as group management, file sharing, threaded discussion boards, search, membership and place directories, and instant messaging. More features are coming! More and more After School Online (ASO) sessions, groups, and organizations are moving over to TI2. Don't get left behind! Get your new account for TI2 today! To get an account for TI2, go to the Tapped In home page and click on "Sign up". Your regular TAPPED IN username and password will not work in the new system. If you have any questions or comments about the new system, email us.

[2] Member Perspective: Jill Thomas

Jill Thomas is the Technology Coordinator for Sesser-Valier School District in Sesser, Illinois, a small rural district that includes Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Jill's Perspective

I use TAPPED IN for our Regional Office of Education. We wrote a Federal Challenge Grant 4 years ago. It was funded for 5 years. In a nutshell, our goal was to increase professional development, engaged learning teaching strategies, and the Illinois Learning Standards. We were looking for innovative ways to teach and learn and we felt that TAPPED IN gave us that avenue.

See all our member perspectives.

[3] April is National Volunteer Recognition Month

The next time you read the calendar and log in for an After School Online (ASO) event please take a moment to thank the people who provide these events and help you participate in the discussions. If you ever doubt that the spirit of volunteerism is alive and well, stop and think of the countless hours that the TAPPED IN volunteers and ASO discussion leaders contribute to the community!

[4] Technology Tips

Profiles and Descriptions in TI2
Your membership ID is your introduction to the community members. Help us build a sense of community by making sure you update your profile and description after you have registered in the new version of TAPPED IN. To do this, click on the ME tab, go to Settings, and then Edit Description. What you enter in your description is what people will see when they ID you.

Advanced Tech Tip: Photos and Icons in TI2
A new feature has been added to TI2. You can add your photo and an icon. Currently, photos appear in your description and icons show when you click on the ME tab and go to People (Buddies). To add a photo or icon click on the ME tab and go to Settings. Under Edit Description you will see directions. The size limit for photos is 160 x 160 pixels and the size limit for icons is 40 x 40 pixels. ***Please do not exceed these size limits.

[5] TAPPED IN News Nuggets

TAPPED IN member Ismail Fayed and a team of students and colleagues are the winning team among all participating teams from Africa for the international web contest "Think Quest Africa". You can find out more about the project at: http://www.thinkquestafrica.org/webs/TQA00147.
--------------------
TAPPED IN member and co-moderator of the Euro Language Forum, Barbara Dieu, was nominated for the annual GSN Online Shared Learning Award as recognition for her important contributions as coordinator of Homebase Brazil for This is Our Time Project, an annual global telecommunications project for secondary schools. Barbara is among the eleven finalists from five countries who have distinguished themselves in the area of global collaborative learning. To read Barbara's narrative and find out more about the educators worldwide who have distinguished themselves in online collaborative learning (OCL) visit the Global SchoolNet Foundation site.
-------------------
John Daniels hopes his work (workshops and articles in the Dutch Magazine of Foreign Languages Teachers) help to bring Dutch language teachers to TAPPED IN. John has published conversations and the transcripts from the workshops at http://www.levendetalen.nl/Activiteiten/Tapped%20In.htm.
--------------------
TAPPED IN member Kevan Nitzberg's latest article is up at art-themagazine.com. It is an animated piece combining text and image titled, "Creativity - A Limitless Frontier". See http://art-themagazine.com/pages/insite16.htm.
--------------------
"Don't Let Net Usurp Parent's Job as a Guide for Child's Research", written by TAPPED IN member Joyce Kasman Valenza, appeared in the March 20, 2003, issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer. See http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/technology/5433409.htm.
--------------------
Several Webheads, including TAPPED IN members Dafne Gonzalez and Maria Jordano will be participating in an online Cordoba English Teachers Association (CETA) event on April 25-27, 2003 in Cordoba, Spain: Teaching English: emotion in motion. See http://www.infoceta.org/index.html.
--------------------
TAPPED IN member Teresa Almeida d'Eca has organized a Webheads online event at the April 28-30, 2003 APPI (Portuguese Assn. of English Language Teachers) conference in Sesimbra, Portugal on Rethinking Language Teaching Resources. See http://www.appi.pt.
--------------------
Sara Kajder has just published "The Tech Savvy English Classroom", available through Stenhouse.
--------------------
Kim Foley, TAPPED IN member and discussion leader, announces a new Aquifer Virtual Field Trip, developed with the Spokane Aquifer Joint Board (SAJB). It was designed with middle school grades in mind but there is a lot of information for a wide span of age groups. Go to http://www.tramline.com/trips.htm and click on Aquifer.
--------------------
TAPPED IN member Arlyn Freed's article has been published in this month's TESL-EJ. See http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej24/m1.html.
--------------------
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.

[6] Free SimForest Simulator Software for Inquiry Learning

The SimForest project has developed a simulation-based software prototype and associated curriculum materials to support inquiry learning in biology and ecology classes for grades 7-12 and college level. Students can plant trees from a pool of over 30 regional species, set environmental parameters such as rain fall, temperature, and soil conditions, and watch the forest plot grow and evolve over many years. A forest plot's sensitivity to natural and man-made disturbances can be evaluated, and emergent properties such as species succession can be observed. Graphing and analysis tools are provided to make inquiry more efficient. The software prototype and materials are at http://ddc.hampshire.edu/simforest/. The software is offered free of charge without support or any guarantees. Feedback is appreciated from users. For more information, contact: Tom Murray, Sr. Research Fellow Adjunct Associate Prof. of Instructional Technology School of Cognitive Science, Hampshire College (413) 559-5433 tmurray@hampshire.edu See http://helios.hampshire.edu/~tjmCCS/

[7] GLOBE/Operation RubyThroat Workshops

Operation RubyThroat, administered by Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History, is the first Web-based GLOBE protocol that involves animal behavior observations. Bill Hilton Jr., as a principal investigator, is now authorized to train teachers in GLOBE hummingbird protocols and to designate those educators' schools as GLOBE sites. By participating in Operation RubyThroat, you and your students will join others from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and all seven Central American countries as they monitor migration, feeding, and nesting behavior in Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. You can view the GLOBE hummingbird protocols at http://www.globe.gov and get info about hummingbirds from the Operation RubyThroat Web site. See http://www.hiltonpond.org for info about Hilton Pond Center. Bill leads the Nuts About Nature discussion at TAPPED IN.

[8] 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.