Tapped In Newsletter: July 2008
...On the Tapis
July 2008
Issue 128
In This Issue
[1] Why all the "hoop-jumping" for a Certificate of Participation?
[2] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[3] News Nuggets
[4] Tapped In Technology Tip
[5] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month - "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) Greek philosopher
[1] Why all the "hoop-jumping" for a Certificate of Participation?
The group Certificate of Participation (CoP) was created in 2006 to generate dialogue about the use of Tapped In for earning continuing ed units (CEU) and certificates of participation for events in addition to the festival. TI is not authorized to offer CEUs so recognition for participation in TI professional development activities is up to individual school districts and administrators.
During planning for this year's festival, the opportunity to revisit this group's original concept was discussed by the Festival team. The Festival Certificates of Participation provide a chance for reflective writing about Tapped In experiences, an archive of comments about Tapped In events, and documentation of the value of Tapped In events to educators. This group discussion board can then serve as an influence to school districts and administrators to accept educator participation in Tapped In for CEUs.
Taking all this background information into account, it was decided that the series of steps ("hoop-jumping") needed to earn a certificate of participation in Festival 2008 was justified. Members must join the CoP group and then must post to a minimum of 3 folders featured on the discussion board. For many who take the pre-festival Tips and Tricks, this is their first experience with joining a group and using the discussion board. Once those learning challenges have been overcome, it is hoped that folders can be placed in the Certificates group room for the regular monthly calendar events and participants, now familiar with the process, can then give feedback/reflective comments on those events.
If enough members of the Tapped In Community choose to engage in these posts, it may be possible for the participant to earn additional certificates of participation (by posting X number of comments/reflective writings to the CoP discussion board) which can then be submitted to their school district or admin for CEUs. The success of this venture will depend entirely on whether the TI Community feels this is something that they will value and support. Let us know if all the "hoop-jumping" is worth it!
[2] Tips and Comments from the Experts
Marie White: thanks - love coming to reception, always get help.
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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 how you use TI here.
[3] News Nuggets
Mark Setton of Pursuit of Happiness posted this on the NCSS listserv. Mark and other POH staff joined us for a Tapped In Social Studies forum back in the Spring.
Pursuit-ofHappiness.org, a non-profit organization devoted to education on the scientific study of human happiness and positive psychology, is convening a roundtable at Yale University on Saturday, July 12.
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The Internet is a powerful information and educational resource -- but effective education on safely navigating the Web gains importance daily as more and more cyberdangers surface.
The Eisenhower Middle School's Tech Team innovated an effective project through which their students develop their own student-focused Internet safety videos. When the Eisenhower School Internet Safety Project began with Tech Team teachers, Angelo Bonavitacola, Marc DeBlock and Harold Olejarz (Tapped In member), joining forces to develop a sixth-grade Internet course to address these issues and to encourage students to be active learners by using the latest technology to learn about the latest 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.
[4] Tapped In Technology Tip
Discussion Boards (cont'd)
Last month, Discussion boards were discussed as a way in which all members of a group can communicate asynchronously. Something that was not covered then is that when a TI member joins a group, that member is automatically subscribed to the discussion board in that group room. This is the reason that TI members who are interested in submitting reflective writing to earn a Certificate of Participation for the Festival must first join the Certificate of Participation group. For the Festival, it is recommended that anyone who joins the group "unsubscribe" from the discussion board so they are not flooded with posts from Festival participants. Unsubscribing does not remove you from the group, just stops you from getting an email each time someone posts to the discussion board.
[5] About ...On the Tapis
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