Tapped In Newsletter: February 2005
...On the Tapis
February 2005
Issue 87
In This Issue
[1] Member Perspective: Leo LaBarge
[2] Festival 2005: Creating Connections through Collaboration
[3] knowTIPS: Theory into Practice
[4] Come to the ENC Online Math and Science Fair!
[5] Tapped In Technology Tips
[6] News Nuggets
[7] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[8] Fermilab Engaged Learning and Tech Integration Program
[9] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month - "One of the greatest problems of history is that the concepts of love and power are usually contrasted as polar opposites. Love is identified with a resignation of power and power with a denial of love... What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
[1] Member Perspective: Leo LaBarge
Leo LaBarge is a 6, 7, and 8th grade reading, language arts, and religion teacher at Our Lady Queen of Peace School, Hewitt, N.J. Leo is also a jazz drummer and you can hear that driving beat in his passion for education as he works with his students.
Leo's Perspective
I teach Reading, Religion, and Language Arts in a small Catholic school in northwestern New Jersey. In 2003 I was referred to Tapped In by my college professor. I went on and registered. The help desk volunteers were extremely friendly and, well, helpful. BjB and JeffC helped me set up my office and get pointed in the right direction. I use my office to hold files, and I use the chat and calendar features to meet and talk with educators from around the world. The K-12 student activities campus attracted my attention and I joined the K-12 group. After reading some of the posts, and participating in the K-12 Students in TI2 group, I got very excited about the potential for student use. I had been looking for a secure online classroom facility to use for hanging notes, rubrics, and assignments. TI was that and much more.
Read all of Leo's Perspective online.
[2] Festival 2005: Creating Connections through Collaboration
The goal of this year's Tapped In annual festival is to more actively engage those Tapped In members who participate only occasionally in the scheduled events. The theme of Creating Connections through Collaboration is intended to make Tapped In participants more aware of the features that are designed to serve educators throughout their teaching careers. This year's festival will take place on July 20 from 7:00am-7:00pm Pacific Time.
The Festival Committee would like to invite special interests groups to provide their own pre-event, event, and post-event sessions to help distribute the event responsibilities and provide more event topics. This would also allow special interest groups to offer different strands of participation on a group-specific topic, which might include a pre-festival brainstorming discussion, a panel discussion during the festival, and a reflection discussion as a post festival event. Group members will then do the moderating and publicity for their events. If you are interested in more information or would like your Tapped In special interest group to participate, join the TI Festival group or contact BJ Berquist, Festival Chair, at bjb@tappedin.org
[3] knowTIPS: Theory into Practice
Students from Capilano College/knowplace partnership in Vancouver Canada are offering their first online conference: knowTIPS: Theory into Practice, Surviving and Thriving Online, February 23-27, 2005. This inexpensive conference provides an opportunity to experience different learning communities and to talk and mingle with 17 best-of-the best online speakers from around the world. Topics include: motivating the online learner, eportfolio, counseling online, collaborative egames. BJ Berquist will discuss important traits for online moderators. For more information contact: info@knowplace.ca Also see http://knowtips.ca
[4] Come to the ENC Online Math and Science Fair!
ENC will stage a virtual science fair when Gail Hoskins, senior outreach coordinator, "appears" on Tapped In Tuesday, March 1, from 7-9pm EST. You are invited to join in the fair by touring the resources on display, or bringing a K-12 math or science resource to share. Gail will present some of her "favorite places" from ENC Online. She's also eager to learn about your favorites. You can get in touch with Gail before the event at ghoskins@enc.org or mark your calendar now to check the Tapped In calendar closer to the event.
The complete ENC Monthly Update for Math and Science Teachers is available online.
[5] Tapped In Technology Tips: New Features
Time Stamp Transcripts
Go to Me: Settings and there should be a new option under Communication Preferences to turn timestamps on for transcripts. By default timestamps are off.
Inviting Members and Visitor Access to Groups
You can now invite members from another group you are a member of to join a group. Check out the invite users page under Member Management: Add Members. You can specify by Name and/or by group membership. You can specify another group you are a member of to have visitor access to a group. For example, if you are the owner of group A and a member of group B, you can make B a visiting group for group A. Now B members can enter the A room (with read-only access). This should also work for student groups!
[6] News Nuggets
The Tapped In team was saddened to read the following post to the ENC website. Let's use the power of the Tapped In community to let ENC and DOE know that ENC is a valuable human and electronic resource that is greatly needed in the education community.
"The staff of the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) regret to inform you that the US Department of Education will not continue funding for a national mathematics and science education clearinghouse beyond ENC's current contract year ending September 30, 2005. We believe that ENC has provided a valuable service to the nation's K-12 mathematics and science teachers over the past thirteen years, and we look forward to continuing that work. We are currently developing plans to deliver ENC's products and services through subscriptions to schools and individuals beginning in October 2005. If you would like to be kept informed about ENC's future directions, or if you have comments or suggestions for the staff, please send an email to info@enc21.com "
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NEON is an e-newsletter provided by SEIR*TEC, Regional Technology in Education Consortium at SouthEast Initiatives, through the Instructional Resource Center (ITRC) at the University of Central Florida. The West Coast Edition of NEON is made available through a collaboration of SEIR*TEC and WestEd RTEC. The following was posted in the January 2005 edition of NEON:
COMING SOON TO TAPPED IN - Tapped In brings educators together both locally and worldwide to cultivate a community that supports each teacher as a professional. Resources, experts, mentors, and new colleagues are available to all. Collectively, these elements of Tapped In form a uniquely supportive, career-long online home for education professionals. Some of the topics addressed include: Internet Safety/Cyberbullying, Webheads in Action, LOC Learning Page Chat: Civil Rights, Weblogs in English Language Teaching, and Global Project Based Learning.
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BJ Berquist had an article "From the 21st Century: A Technological Turn of Events" in the weekly online ENC Focus Magazine. The article is available in the archive.
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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.
[7] Tips and Comments from the Experts
Lori Sisson has thought of some great ideas for tech in the classroom, especially for PE teachers. Lori would appreciate feedback from other educators in the PE classroom about some of her ideas, ways to make them work, and what they think about the ideas. If you're interested in participating in a PE group and discussing ideas for tech in the PE classroom, contact Lori via the Tapped In member directory.
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IsisA: Tell your students that Tapped In is great! I am a first time user. I even have friends that have established their own Technology organization and hold meetings through Tapped In. I believe it is a world within the world of the internet.
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Thank you very much for the efforts and time spent in keeping the facility available all the time. I benefit a lot from the meeting archives. Great appreciation from me to the TI team! Christina Tsai
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CleveM: Hi BjB - I'm just setting up my office and settings. I'm surprised how user-friendly this is...congrats on the interface.
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George Reilly is interested in getting into contact with a group which is interested in reflecting on in-service teacher education. George is located in Germany.
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If you have a comment or experience to share with the Tapped In community, please submit the information to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org or post to the How You Use TI link.
[8] Fermilab Engaged Learning and TechIntegration Program
Fermilab announces the 2005 LInC program to mentor teachers in facilitating student investigations on real-world issues. During the one week summer workshop, teachers select and customize a technology-supported inquiry-based project to teach content in their existing curriculum. Then in the fall, they field-test their project with students while sharing ideas and feedback with classmates and engaged learning mentors. Fall weekly meetings will be primarily online so attendees can participate from their own home or school. An optional 3 graduate semester credits are available. Click here for more details and the online application (due March 15).
[9] About ...On the Tapis
Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.
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