Tapped In Newsletter: March 2001
...ON THE TAPIS
March 2001
Issue 40
In This Issue
[1] Member Perspective: Donna Hendry
[2] What's Happening in Our Community
[3] SIG Gem of the Month
[4] Technology Tips
[5] TAPPED IN at AERA
[6] About ...On the TAPIS
Quote of the Month - "The source of genius is imagination alone, the refinement of the senses that sees what others do not see, or sees them differently." - Eugene Delacroix
[1] Member Perspective: Donna Hendry
I have been online now for 10 years this coming fall. It's a long time to be using chats of any form. It has always been, for me, a place to find people who are like-minded. I'm reminded of L.M. Montgomery's character, Anne Shirley, who once said, "Kindred Spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world." I had an inkling of what could be done with this technology, educationally speaking, and for years had asked around if anyone had heard of, or would be interested in using it as a forum for education.
See all our member perspectives.
[2] What's Happening in Our Community
Have you seen our Calendar of Events lately? These "After School Online" discussions are led or co-led by volunteer members of TAPPED IN. They provide a wonderful way to share resources, meet colleageus, and learn about the community. We have a wide variety of topics being offered (Social Studies, WebQuests, Science, Technology in the Classroom, Foreign Language, and many more). If you have an idea for a new ASO topic and are interested in leading or co-leading, please fill out our ASO Session Proposal Form.
[3] SIG Gem of the Month
Special Interest Group (SIG) Discussions try to meet the needs and address the issues of specific groups of educators. For currently active groups take a look at the calendar of events. The following dialogue is from the "JigsawHelper.org: Using the Jigsaw Method with the Web" transcript.
ThomasKF asks, "Are there situations/subjects/grade levels that lend themselves to this method -- where it is generally more successful than others?"
ComfortA asks, "However there are those students who are too shy to stand in front of the class and talk. How would you get them to participate?"
CarolynH says, "In group work, many times the group effort is worth more than the sum of the individual efforts."
NikiD asks, "Research into group work in the UK found that children were really doing the same thing in parallel, rather than working as a group. Jigsaw appears to restructure this very well, but does it also prepare children with group working skills?"
FredSt says, "Since the students work in small groups they I find shy students are not quite as intimidated. They don't have to present to the whole class, but just to their Home Group Members."
JulioR says, "I've read about Jigsaw activities in foreign/second language learning and it works quite well. Particularly because these activities seem to foster negotiation of meaning, which is a desirable feature in activies designed for language learning."
Read the complete transcripts of past discussions in the TAPPED IN archives and join the next "JigsawHelper.org: Using the Jigsaw Method with the Web" discussion on March 20. Register for the MEET ME mail list to receive the weekly/monthly topics for each discussion group.
[4] Technology Tips
Making Notes at TAPPED IN
Notes are handy things - the cyber-version of stickies. Notes can be used to introduce yourself to a group or help clarify and define a topic during a discussion. The advantage to using notes is that they allow you to express a lot of information quickly, and people online don't have to wait while you type it all. To make a note when you are logged in to TAPestry (or using a web window with a text client), click on NEW NOTE at the top of your screen. Give your note a name and paste the text into the text box. Click on SAVE. For more information on how to use your note type: /HELP notename.
Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: Scanning Notes
For those of you logging in with a text client like gMUD or Muddweller there is a note in Reception of TAPPED IN that can help you make notes using text commands. When you log in and enter Reception, type: /READ TEXT NOTE INSTRUCTIONS. (You will see this note listed in the text version of What's Here if you type: /LOOK) Type: /MAILME TEXT NOTE INSTRUCTIONS to have the note emailed to you.
[5] TAPPED IN at AERA
In April, Mark Schlager, TAPPED IN's director, and Judi Fusco, researcher and community developer, will be attending AERA (American Education Research Association) and talking about TAPPED IN. If you're going to be at AERA, contact us and we'll try and meet--it's always nice to put names and faces together!
If you want more information about AERA, the conference or the organization, visit http://www.aera.net. If you want more information on the research we are presenting at AERA, visit http://www.aera.net and click on "Online Program" and do searches of the sessions for Fusco and Schlager. You can read about the papers we will be presenting there.
[6] 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.