Tapped In Newsletter: March 2002

...ON THE TAPIS
March 2002
Issue 52

In This Issue

[1] Member Perspective: Shunichiro Ito
[2] Exciting New Events at After School Online
[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets
[4] Technology Tips
[5] About ...On the TAPIS

Quote of the Month - "A man can only attain knowledge with the help of those who possess it. This must be understood from the very beginning. One must learn from him who knows." - George Gurdjieff

[1] Member Perspective: Shunichiro Ito

Shunichiro Ito, known as Shun or ShunI, teaches business communications and Internet English at Bunkyo WomenÕs College, Tokyo, Japan. His current interest is further refining his syllabus for his EFL course based on web exploration projects and computer mediated communication activities. In the long term, he wants to show to EFL teachers in Japan how Internet and CMC resources may be used to provide excellent learning facilities otherwise unavailable in classroom environment.

Shun's Perspective

Sometime ago I wrote an email in response to a request from a certain foundation. The foundation was asking what I actually do using technology in my EFL classes of Japanese college girls. In return for my cooperation, the director sent me a video titled, "Learn and Live" promoting use of technology in education. I learned then what the George Lucas Educational Foundation was doing for teachers. Kids in the video all had their eyes gleaming with interest.

For awhile I had been trying to find teachers or groups of students to meet with my students at TAPPED IN for discussion. Our class hours were so different that I had found none. Then BJ Berquist's suggestion to meet with the WebHeads discussion group led to a breakthrough. For the first time in their life, the girls were interactively communicating online with Vance Stevens in Abu Dhabi, UAR, and Dan Bilitz in Wisconsin.

See all our member perspectives.

[2] Exciting New Events at After School Online

The events offered on the monthly TAPPED IN Calendar reflect the diverse interests of the TAPPED IN Community. As new topics are requested and community leaders develop programs that they want to share, events such as www.edtechnot.com, www.big6.com, Global Project Based Learning, and Operation RubyThroat are added to the calendar. A Special Education Forum will begin in April. In addition to the new sessions, regularly scheduled monthly discussion group leaders are hard at work selecting topics, guest speakers and activities. Be sure to take a look at all these exciting events when you get your monthly calendar.

[3] TAPPED IN Member News Nuggets

Sandra Shattuck, currently teaching adjunct in masters programs in the Departments of Education and English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County is preparing a spring/summer course on world literature for high school English teachers. Sandra is looking for courses that focus on contemporary and non-western world literature and is interested in starting a discussion time at TAPPED IN on this topic. Email Sandra at shattuck@umbc.edu.
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Nini Ebeltoft, Norway and Susanne Nyrop, Denmark have co-written a paper published in the Danish Journal of Education. In the paper, Nini and Susanne briefly introduce TAPPED IN and compare four global networking Internet learning and education communities: KidLink, TAPPED IN, Global Teenagers and Global Educators' Network.
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Loretta Weiss-Morris' special April Fool's Day edition of her e-zine, Quick Training Tips will include, "Terrible Training Tips!" Teachers and trainers from around the world are invited to unleash their dark sides and gleefully send in awful instructional "advice." To see the 2001 edition, please visit http://QuickTrainingTips.com/AprilFool-2001.htm. Email your terrible tips to Loretta at loretta@panix.com.
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There is an article by TAPPED IN member, James Miller in the Winter 2001 issue of the TESOL Journal. The article about MOOs (Multi-object oriented domains) mentions TAPPED IN.
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TAPPED IN member, William Penuel is one of the authors of "Designing Assessments for Student Multimedia Projects" in the February 2002 issue of Leading & Learning with Technology.
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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] Technology Tips

Participating in an After School Online (ASO) Conversation
If you've never participated in one of the events shown on the Calendar, but want to give it a try, it's as easy as 1,2,3. 1) Log in and ask one of the HelpDesk personnel in Reception to direct you to the meeting room. 2) Click on DETACH to make your text window larger so you can follow the scrolling text. 3) Relax and enjoy! The discussion leader may ask you to introduce yourself. It's up to you how much you want to contribute to the discussion. To see what an online discussion looks like take a look at http://www.tappedin.org/info/chat/ For more conversation tips see, http://www.tappedin.org/info/conversation_tips.html.

Advanced Tech Tip of the Month: Search the Member Directory
Professors and tech trainers often bring in classes to learn about TAPPED IN. Many times, the classes are required to participate in an ASO discussion. If the individuals are not familiar with ASO netiquette, and have no interest in a particular ASO topic that happens to conveniently coincide with the training time, the participants can feel frustrated and overwhelmed. To help your groups have a constructively positive experience in TAPPED IN, read the Tips for Trainings page at http://www.tappedin.org/info/trainingtips.html.

[5] 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.