Tapped In Newsletter: April 2010
...On the Tapis
April 2010
Issue 149
In This Issue
[1] April is National Volunteer Recognition Month
[2] Learning Hub Showcase!
[3] Tapped In Technology Tip
[4]Tips and Comments from the Experts
[5] Tapped In Tweets
[6] About ...On the Tapis
Quote of the Month: "Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards." - Vernon Saunders Law
[1] April is National Volunteer Recognition Month
Although we appreciate our Tapped In volunteers every day, April is a great time to drop in and say thanks to the helpdesk volunteers and the people who present and facilitate the many calendar events. With an average of 30 events/month that comes to 360 events per year! Each and every event is led by a Tapped In Presenter (volunteer) and supported by Tapped In Helpdesk volunteers.
If you would like to become a member of the Tapped In Team either to lead monthly discussions on a topic of interest to you, or to become a helpdesk volunteer, log in to Tapped In and visit TI Presenters Guide, the support group for people who present discussions in Tapped In, or HelpDesk Central, the group room for helpdesk volunteers. Join the group that meets your needs and go to that group room to read the posted support information. Post an introduction to the group discussion board and become one of the very special Tapped In volunteers that we'll be thanking, not only next April, but all year long!
[2] Tapped In Technology Tip
Mark your calendars for the April 28 1st Showcase of the TI Learning Hub Series. You can help make this an annual event! Dolores Guittar is going to showcase the lessons she and her teachers have learned and applied during their participation in the Learning Hub Series. Do you have a K-12 Classroom that you want to showcase? Did you participate in a Learning Hub Series tour and get inspired to work with your students online? Let us know what you're doing, what worked best for you and what needed some tweaking. E-mail your comments to bjb@tappedin.org or post them here.
[3] Tapped In Technology Tip
Bringing K-12 Students into Tapped In
The K-12 Student Campus is a safe and secure place where teachers can bring their K-12 Students. The teacher creates the classroom in the student campus and assigns usernames and passwords for the students. When the students log in they 'land' in their classroom where they can engage in real time text chats, post reflective writing to the threaded discussion board (good for language learning, literature circles, higher order thinking skills to reflect on a topic) and access files and links provided by the teacher to complete research, webquests, or jigsaw activities. The student campus also contains resource rooms for both teachers and students. If the teacher chooses to collaborate with a resource room owner, then the students will be able to enter the resource room and use the materials in that location.
One of the most valued features of the student classroom/campus is that if the students engage in real time text chat, when they log out their transcripts are emailed to the teacher who can use those scripts for assessment, forward the script to the student for editing, or share the scripts with administration and/or parents. By not being a 'helicopter' teacher (hovering over the students) the student is given the opportunity to take ownership for their behaviors in a social networking environment while still being secure and safely monitored. After all, many of our students go home and log in to their Facebook account or other social networking service. Who will teach the students if they don't learn safe behaviors in school?
To learn more about the Student Campus and the K-12 Student classrooms you can participate in one of Jeff Cooper's Saturday tours or access the Help files.
[4] Tips and Comments from the Experts
11 Tapped In groups have been selected to be among Bibi Alajmi's study sample conducted for the completion of her Doctoral degree at School of Communication & Information at Rutgers University. Your participation will have a vital impact on her final research results. The names of those who participate will be entered in a drawing (from amazon.com). If you are a member of one of these selected groups and have received emails from Bibi, but didn't think your participation was needed, please take 10 minutes to fill out her survey. You may contact Bibi at bmalajmi @ eden.rutgers.edu
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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 your comment here.
Tapped In Tweets
Tapped In posts are made to Twitter reminding users of events that will occur each day. The responses have been gratifying to say the least! Here's a sample of responses from last month.
TI member Susan Roseman posted: @tappedinorg we [Tapped In] are included here http://www.shambles.net/pages/staff/ListMail/.
Shamblesguru, aka Chris Smith, who composes the Shambles pages, is a member of TI.
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Follow Tapped In on Twitter at twitter.com/tappedinorg.
[6] About ...On the Tapis
Past issues of ...On the Tapis newsletters are available online.
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