Tapped In Newsletter: July 2003

...On the Tapis
July 2003
Issue 68

In This Issue

[1] Don't miss the 2003 Tapped In 2 Launch Festival!
[2] Member Perspective: Gail Hoskins
[3] Yadda, yadda, yadda...
[4] If 3's a crowd, what's a TI2 Group?
[5] Tapped In 2 Technology Tip
[6] News Nuggets
[7] About ...On the Tapis

Quote of the Month - "A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something." - Wilson Mizner

[1] Don't miss the 2003 Tapped In 2 Launch Festival!

Come celebrate the new version of Tapped In by joining with colleagues and friends during a fun filled day of collaboration in teaching and learning during the Tapped In 2 Launch Festival on July 16. The schedule, which includes some old favorites as well as some new special events, starts at 6am PDT/9am EDT with The Early Bird Gets the Worm (at ENC Online) and continues non-stop to Collaborative Internet Tools & Sites at 8pm PDT/11pm EDT. Certificates of Participation will be offered for everyone who registers for and attends three Festival events. These certificates may be submitted to your school district for continuing education credits (Acceptance of the Certificates for Continuing Ed Credits is determined by individual school districts.)

[2] Member Perspective: Gail Hoskins

Gail Hoskins is Senior Outreach Coordinator at the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) in Columbus OH. A K-12 math and science teacher center, ENC is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and produces free print and CD-ROM professional development resources. ENC Online offers almost 24,000 catalog records of K-12 math and science curriculum resources and it logs 1.8 million page views per month. ENC has 125,000 subscribers to its (free) print ENC Focus.

Gail's Perspective

I became a member of Tapped In on July 22, 1997. (I still have that email - mentioning Mark and Patti - and notice that Tapped In did not yet have its own domain then!). I did my first online presentation for Tapped In on February 23, 1999, and, as is my custom at each event I do, provided a web page summary. That is still online at http://www.enc.org/training/tappedin.htm (Caution: just like Tapped In has changed and improved and reinvented itself several times, so has ENC. The links from that page to ENC go to the ENC Online of three iterations ago!) While some members become quite involved in all aspects of TAPPED IN, my use of it has been as a tool for conducting online presentations or training.

Read all of Gail's Perspective on our member perspectives page.

[3] Yadda, yadda, yadda...

Because the information from the "experts" often goes in one ear and out the other, this issue of the Tapis introduces a new column - tips and comments from the Real Experts: the new members of Tapped In. This month features new members' reflections on participating in the July 16 TI2 Launch Festival. The quotations are from students in the Advanced Teaching with Technology class with Course Coordinator, Bernie Dodge, Ph.D.. The instructors for the class were Wendy Parcel, M.A.; Roberto DelBusto, M.A.; and Jim Julius, M.A.
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[The pre-festival tour guides] offered advice on netiquette for the festival or other discussions. The best piece of advice I received is to listen. Do not interrupt a discussion leader and wait for them to ask for questions or comments. If you are attending the festival, I suggest you go to Susan Roseman's discussion about ideas for a successful first day of school in a kindergarten class. She is very excited about it and has some great ideas. - Jackie Frazier
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The Pre Festival Tour was to help those get better prepared for the actual Festival. I wasn't sure who was going to be participating in this chat, but I was surprised to find out it was girls I had taken a summer school class with. So right away I felt comfortable, which was nice. [The pre-festival tour guides] gave some great tips too, like how to detach so you can read more of the chat room dialogues. When they showed us that, I was able to follow along better because I read more of the dialogue. I am definitely going to invest more of my time into this Tapped In program and do some exploring. It was fun. - Bridget Collet
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It was nice to be attending [the discussion] from my own home where I was able to grab a snack half way through the discussion. The group seemed jovial, thoughtful, and welcoming Ð and I wasn't expecting to experience this sense of warmth through the computer. - Wyn Jamieson
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I found using Tapped In and being involved in discussion groups are a great way to network, branch out, and share ideas with other teachers or professionals. As a future teacher, I could use all the help and support I can get. This tool can connect me to my neighboring teachers in the community as well as those who live thousands of miles away. It's amazing! - Michelle Pampo
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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.

[4] If 3's a crowd, what's a TI2 Group?

Kim Griffin reports, "I have created a group for all of my past students over the years and 26 have signed up in less than a week! Nice way to keep in touch and do some interesting things. I am the director of the Middlebury College MA program in Spain. All past students are now high school Spanish teachers, so keeping in touch from Spain and keeping up with using Spanish is important for them. I have contacted over 300 of my past students and project that at least 100 will join the group."
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If you have an example of how you're using the groups feature in TI2, please send to BJ Berquist at bjb@tappedin.org.

[5] Tapped In 2 Technology Tip

TI2 User Interface Guide
To help you become more familiar with the features of the new version of Tapped In (TI2), a new Interface Guide has been created. See the guide before you log in to help you prepare for the exciting TI2 experience and keep the page bookmarked to help answer questions you might have as you move through the new interface.

[6] News Nuggets

Tapped In member and discussion leader Bernie Dodge received the 2003 Editor's Choice award from MERLOT! See http://taste.merlot.org/classics_and_editors_choice/2003/.
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Tapped In member Ferdi Serim has released his new book titled "Information Technology for Learning: No School Left Behind." It examines accountability, research-based practice and 21st Century Skills. The demands of No Child Left Behind can stretch schools (and school people) to the breaking point. No one person has the knowledge, time or talents to tackle all the challenges of learning in a digital age. Information Technology for Learning shows in concise, practical language how to connect your human and technology resources for success. See http://oii.org/IT4L/ for more information.
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Tapped In members Michael Coghlan, visiting in Hawaii, Aiden Yeh in Taiwan, and Dafne Gonzalez in Spain presented for the Ed-Media conference in Hawaii. TI member Buthaina A. Al Othman created a webpage from the session, entitled Voice Online - the Missing Link?, at http://alothman-b.tripod.com/hawaii_wia.htm.
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Take a look at the TESOL-EJ, edited by Tapped In member Vance Stevens at http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/information/tesl-ej/ej25/int.html
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Tapped In members Arnold Muhren and Dafne Gonzalez presented at the IACSEE 2003 Conference in Holland on July 1.
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Tapped In member Midge Frazel has co-authored a new book for teachers on activities f or handhelds in the classroom http://www.midgefrazel.net/pda.html
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Tapped In member and TI2 Launch Festival presenter Jeff Cooper has written a paper on his involvement in the Ikarus Seminar as a moderator and a student in a course with over 300 participants from dozens of countries. For more information on the paper about educational MUVEs contact Jeff at coops@pacificu.edu.
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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.

[5] About ...On the Tapis

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