Tapped In Newsletter: March 2005
...On the Tapis
March 2005
Issue 88
In This Issue
[1] Member Perspective: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
[2] TI provides new home for Classroom Connect Science & Social Studies Teacher lists
[3] Festival 2005 Seeking Sponsors for COLLABORATION
[4] Tapped In Technology Tip
[5] News Nuggets
[6] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[7] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month - "If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknesses, as unlimited rather than dull and unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities." - Barbara Bush
[1] Member Perspective: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
Sheryl teaches pre-service teachers at The College of William and Mary, and is involved with the Teacher Leaders Network and Win-Win Strategies Foundation, both tenant organizations of Tapped In. As a teacher educator she is an advocate of mentoring and encourages both pre-service and experienced teachers to become involved in Communities of Practice.
Sheryl's Perspective
My official membership at Tapped In has only been in place since July 2004, but I sincerely can't imagine a day going by without stopping in and collaborating with the other educators and students who also use this incredible resource. In fact, part of my course when I was teaching online a few years ago was to require teachers to join Tapped In. I had logged on as a visitor and sensed the value that this virtual learning community had to offer, but had never taken the time to use it personally. Well, since July I have tried to make up for lost time.
One of the first projects I designed using Tapped In was an experiment with electronic mentorship. My involvement with the Teacher Leaders Network gave me access to some of the most accomplished educators in the nation. And while this group is very active, I saw them as being a virtually untapped resource in helping to inform education where it starts - teacher preparation programs. The instructional technology courses I teach in the school of education at William and Mary require a field component. Typically, students are with the same cooperating teacher throughout their education program, which works really well towards continuity. However, it also means limited exposure to a variety of teachers and their differing philosophies. To help round out their experience I established an electronic mentoring component to my course. The results have been fantastic! My pre-service teachers learn how to use a variety of electronic communications through Tapped In's platform that will then generalize in their future classrooms and they also have a medium through which they communicate and collaborate with accomplished teachers from across the nation.
Read all of Sheryl's Perspective online
[2] Tapped In provides new home for Classroom Connect Science and Social Studies Teacher lists
As many of your know, Tapped In members Michael Hutchison (social-studies-owner@tappedin.org) and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach (science-owner@tappedin.org) have been moderating Social Studies and Science Teacher mailing lists for Classroom Connect. Classroom Connect has decided to discontinue the lists. Michael and Sheryl asked their subscribers if they would like to continue the lists on Tapped In, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Tapped In welcomes the members of the two interest groups. Michael and Sheryl invite anyone who is interested to join their list.
Click here to subscribe to the Social Studies List.
Click here to subscribe to the Science List.
[3] Festival 2005 Seeking Sponsors for COLLABORATION
The festival committee has been hard at work CREATING CONNECTIONS THROUGH COLLABORATION. They are looking for partners to sponsor door prizes and awards during the July 20 Festival. Pam Berger, leader of the monthly WebTools calendar events, has already generously donated a one year subscription to InfoSearcher. If you know of an organization or group that would like to COLLABORATE, contact BJ Berquist, Festival Chair, at bjb@tappedin.org
[4] Tapped In Technology Tip
Actions Menu
In the top right of the chat window is the Actions drop down menu. If you struggle with reading the tiny text in the chat window, need to revisit something that someone said earlier in the discussion, or are curious about the text commands that allow users to wave or show an action, this is the tech tip for you! Actions allows you to Detach your chat window, increase the size of the text in the chat window, send text to the pasteboard where you can read and copy previous text without fighting the scrolling/jumping text, and look at Text Command Help to see how to emote and use other text commands. Give these options a try the next time you log in or join one of the Tips and Tricks discussions to tour the main features of the Tapped In interface.
[5] News Nuggets
Leslie Farmer's book, Technology-Infused Instruction for the Educational Community, was published in December by Scarecrow Press.
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Chris Bigenho has created a new Tapped In group, Teaching with the Web K-12, as the result of a presentation he did at TxDLA (Texas Distance Learning Association). This was a "Birds of a Feather" meeting on using the Web for instruction in a K-12 environment. Since participants had only 45 minutes to share with each other and the topic was so involved, it was obvious that this would be a candidate for an online group or CoP. The greatest use of distance education in the K-12 environment still seems to be video conferencing. The power of the web has not really been embraced by the K-12 environment for distance education or the blended approach to teaching. Chris hopes that this group will foster the development of best practices, shared research and readings and experimentation with different ways to use the web as a collaborative thinking tool for the development of teachers and the construction of knowledge among learners.
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Podcasting! The newest revolution! Join the SIGTC (Special Interest Group for Technology Coordinators) for an overview and discussion of the hottest phenomena since blogging: Podcasting. Never heard of podcasting? Here's your chance to learn. Find out what it's all about by joining Karen Connaghan in the ASO room on March 28.
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Dan Balzer announces the launch of NCQ Talk - an educational podcast where a Nerd (N), a Canadian (C) and a Quaker (Q) discuss the intersection of technology and learning. Download the show at http://ncqtalk.com
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BJ Berquist was interviewed for the article, "Building a Stronger Faculty," in the March/April 2005 issue of Scholastic Administrator.
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Curt Tofteland, did an interview with Philomath Films director Hank Rogerson about his film Shakespeare Behind Bars.
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Tapped In member David Wizer co-authored an article, The Administrator's Role: Strategies for Fostering Staff Development, in the February 2005 issue of Leading & Learning with Technology.
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Tapped In members Sara Kajder, Glen Bull, and Susan Albaugh have an article, The Connected Classroom: Constructing Digital Stories, in the February 2005 issue of Leading & Learning with Technology.
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The March 2005 issue of Leading & Learning with Technology includes articles written by Tapped In members Catherine Poling (Blog On: Building Communication and Collaboration among Staff and Students), Bill Penuel (Implementing a Handheld Program: Lessons from a District Level Initiative), Diane McGrath (Project Based Learning: PBL in a Language Immersion Program), and Glen Bull (The Connected Classroom: Looking at Display Technologies).
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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.
[6] Tips and Comments from the Experts
Uver Cabral has been working hard on his dissertation. He logged in recently to express his thanks. "I am extremely grateful for all of you in Tapped In... from the creators to people like the helpdesk volunteers who are always here to help us... Thanks a million... all of you!"
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Tim Robbins expressed gratitude to fellow discussion participants during his first experience in a Technology in the Classroom event. "Thank you all for a very impressive way to share how technology HAS changed the way we teach."
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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.
[7] About ...On the Tapis
Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.
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