Tapped In Newsletter: December 2006
...On the Tapis
December 2006
Issue 109
In This Issue
[1] Warm Wishes for the Holiday Season from Tapped In
[2] Member Perspective: Jacques Singleton
[3] News Nuggets
[4] Tips and Comments from the Experts
[5] Tapped In Technology Tip
[6] RSS Feed for Tapped In Calendar
[7] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month - "I have re-discovered teaching through my own learning." - Tapped In member, Barbara Dieu
[1] Warm Wishes for the Holiday Season from Tapped In
The TI team of staff, discussion leaders, and helpdesk volunteers wants to thank each of you for being part of the Tapped In community. By logging in for one or more calendar events each month, joining and participating in one of the almost 900 special interest groups, or just receiving and reading this Tapis newsletter, every member of Tapped In brings something valuable to contribute -- a new perspective, knowledge to share, a question, or enthusiasm for teaching and learning. As a community, we see how much each of you cares and wants to help others reach their full potential as an educator. This caring is what sets Tapped In apart from other places. We hope that you find value in being able to share and learn with other educators online in the community.
[2] Member Perspective: Jacques Singleton
Jacques was a special education teacher for two years in the Memphis City Schools and during this time was always interested in incorporating technology in the classroom. Jacques became a professor at the University of Memphis in 2005 and immediately began to teach a class that concentrated on teaching current and future special education teachers about the assistive technology needs of students with special needs. While teaching this class he decided to use Tapped In as a resource.
Jacques' Perspective
I was first introduced to Tapped In by a co-worker through a grant program that focused on using Tapped In as a learning tool at our university. The first training was somewhat intimidating and I was sure that I would not want to use this resource even though it might go perfectly with the assistive technology class I was preparing to teach. I was told that once I used the system about three times I would get to know it well. So I decided that I would give it a try. The first time I got on for about five minutes and the entire website was colorful and a bit overwhelming.
The first few times I saw people logged on and realized they were the help desk. I did not really know what questions to ask so I still did not utilize the help desk. Finally, I decided that I would try to set up two groups for my upcoming class. I attempted to muddle my way through the process until BJ asked me if I needed any assistance. I realized at this time the only way to get through this was to accept help.
Read the rest of Jacques' Perspective.
[3] News Nuggets
A TI thank you to William Bishop for sharing your blogs with us! The links have been added to the TI member blogs page and to the Blogs folder in the EduSources group room. You can do a search in Tapped In under Groups for EduSources to join this group. If you have a blog you would like added to these two resources, please contact us.
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The next TeachersCount best of the web feature is on Music Education. TI member Johnathan Chase's link is included! The feature will remain up for the month of December.
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Please consider visiting this year's nominations for 2006 Edublog Awards. Voting closes midnight GMT Sat. Dec 16. The educational Blogger community has nominated the K12Online Conference blog "Unleashing the Potential" for this year's International Edublog Awards in the category of 'Most Influential Post, Resource or Presentation'! The nomination of K12Online Conference is a great credit to all the presenters, moderators and others who contributed to this event. K12 Online Conference has a group room in TI.
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TI member Kevan Nitzberg's most recent article has a new article entitled, "A Foray Into the Aesthetics of Multi Media Art."
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TI member Craig Roland's article for ArtEd Online, "Open Your Classroom to the World," is in the Dec. issue of SchoolArts Magazine and TI member Pam Stephens' Student-Teacher Survival Guide, "Living with an art budget," is in the online version of SchoolArts.
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TI members Liz Kolb, Julie Duffield, Benjamin Jacobs, Scott McLeod, Glen Bull, and Sarah McPherson have, or have contributed to, articles in the November issue of Learning and Leading 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] Tips and Comments from the Experts
On behalf of the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Web Site Advisory Committee, that uses the services provided by TI to conduct our business and work for our organization, we wanted you and the Tapped In crew to know how much we appreciate all that you do.
TI has allowed us to be highly productive in a short amount of time, especially since our group members are from all over the U.S. and are separated by more than 3,000 miles. One of the most beneficial aspects that you provide is the follow-up transcripts of our chat sessions. Those allow me, as chair of the group, to distill and summarize the key points for our next session. Having this environment has been fabulous and we are grateful for what Tapped In and its key members, like you, have done to make it so easy for us.
With much appreciation, Cris
Cris Guenter, Ed.D.
Chair, NAEA Web Site Advisory Committee
Arts Education/Curriculum & Instruction; Dept. of Education
California State University, Chico; Chico, CA 95929-0222
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TI member Bruce Huddleson commented to Jeff Cooper, TI HelpDesk volunteer, "just wanted to sign in to keep my access active. I use Tapped In to suggest sources for my instructors to meet colleagues, experiencing the same challenges. Tapped In has been helpful to me when I needed assistance."
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Posted to the Reception Discussion Board by TI member William Bishop, "I used the calendar this afternoon and participated in an online discussion in the ArtsSites area and it was great. BJ was the presenter and she did a wonderful job. Anyway, the calendar is very helpful and it can be found on the Tapped In tab. Click on the calendar subtab at the top of the campus map. Also, the discussion and links were great. I liked it so much that I highlighted the discussion as my latest blog post. Thanks. "
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This was posted to the Feedback link on the TI homepage: I use Tapped In to communicate with other special and regular education teachers for strategies, classroom management, new methods and for general information regarding my professional work as a teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS is a tenant organization of Tapped In).
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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.
[5] Tapped In Technology Tip
Discussion Boards
Threaded discussion boards are an asynchronous way in which groups or individuals can communicate between real time text chats. The discussion board works like an email group. A post to the discussion board is sent to all the members of a group or all the subscribers to the board.
There are two ways to subscribe to a discussion board. When you join a special interest group you are automatically subscribed to the group's discussion board. Only group members are able to subscribe and post to a special interest group discussion board. To join a discussion board in a public room such as TI Reception, an event room like the After School Online room, or a private office such as an instructor's office for a class, go to that room and click on Discussion on the blue menu above the chat window on the left. At the top of the Discussion page is a link to Subscribe. You also have the option to subscribe to the Digest version which batches daily posts into one email.
If you find you are getting too much mail and want to cut back on getting posts from a group or room discussion board, again go to that room and click on Discussion on the blue menu. You can either select Digest to batch the posts into one daily email or select Unsubscribe at the top of the page. Unsubscribe will only unsubscribe you from the discussion board, not remove you from a special interest group. You will still be able to go to the room and read the discussion board posts.
[6] RSS Feed for Tapped In Calendar
The TI team is happy to announce that there is now an RSS feed for our Tapped In calendar! You can find it by clicking the XML icon on our calendar page. This feature has just recently been implemented, so any feedback you might have is appreciated.
[7] About ...On the Tapis
Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.
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