One of my widgets is a WIKISPACES counter that tells how many education related wikis have been provided by WikiSpaces, and I can see by the numbers that they are rapidly meeting critical mass in their endeavor to provide 100,000 ad-free wikispaces. I first learned about WikiSpaces from one of their founders who came to TappedIN last year to give us tours and provide personal support for our first wiki experiences. I had tried to make wikis before, but I find Wikispaces is more intuitively developed to enhance your development opportunities.
If you don't have a WikiSpaces wiki yet, just get one! WikiSpaces has provided over 55,000 of the 100,000 education websites, so they are GOING FAST NOW!
Wikispaces is a great place for teachers and those who work in education to build a wiki-website-blog with a space that has no advertisements. Once you get your own education WikiSpace, you can make it as public or private as you would like.
I think wikis are great places to use as websites, and WikiSpaces is the most highly rated by the group who knows words best, the American Librarian Association. In a review of wikis, Wikispaces was recommended as the most versatile, powerful, yet easy to use.
What I like about WikiSpaces is the support you get. If you have a question, you just email the WikiSpaces HelpDesk. From my experience, I think you will get a prompt, helpful response.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Going, Going, Gone! WikiSpaces
Thursday, January 10, 2008
When Quality Counts, n2teaching sez: Be TappedIn
What is my professional and personal perspective of TappedIn? How did I discover Tapped In, the most enduring of all the high quality educational social networks?
I have always thought of myself as a gleaner who shares with my family, friends and community. That is why I enjoy working with teachers and students. I gather curriculum, materials and other necessaries to share with my friends and students. TappedIn is the quality place for me to join my gleaning and sharing activities for one purpose. I can glean and share ideas, techniques, research and experiences with other members of the TappedIn community in my office, private chat and in meetings around the TappedIn campus.
Having taught, at various levels of education, for many decades, my professional and personal identity continues to evolve…adapt or die. I find this online iteration of my professional life is very satisfying, and I want to thank the TappedIn community for their help in this ongoing process.
Frequently, I invite others that I know to join TappedIn also, and I really enjoy that quality experience. It is like being Johnny Appleseed to those online who are interested in education, children and camaraderie.
Call it synchronicity, serendipity or a discrepant event. I am always amazed at how wonderful it was that I found the TappedIn community. I discovered TappedIn, during the winter of 2004, while looking for information about researchers and educators working in the area of projects. This was before the NEW buzz phrase, project based learning and then problem based learning, became ubiquitous.
I was looking for research by Art Costa and information about his work. I knew some of his work had been published by Skylight, so I included Skylight in my search string. I couldn’t find them (they no longer exist in their previous form). I did find references to SRI, so I followed those links, and they led me to TappedIn. As Professor Peabody always told Sherman in The Fractured Fairy Tales, “…and the rest is history”.
After joining TappedIn on January 18, 2005, I started my life in this quality educational community by looking around the campus….checking out my new home. It was pretty overwhelming, but exciting. I continued to look around to, to be a sightseer. Since those heady early days, I learned that a more commonly used term is “lurking”, but that word has such a negative image. I like to think that my TappedIn visits were more like excursions around the virtual city. In some ways, I was a tourist.
On my first excursions to TappedIn, I would examine the map of the campus and the monthly calendar. From the calendar, I found information about the various groups and their activities. I also really liked the emails that I was receiving. The scheduling and information provided gave me confidence to go to TappedIn to follow up on the topic of the email or newsletter. As time went on, I finally made a critical mass of experiences, so I no longer felt that I wanted to be an onlooker.
As those travelers before me, I discovered the TappedIn Reception Room. At first, I didn’t even know what I wanted to know, but BJ Berquist asked me some questions, including, “Had I been to my office?”
Well, I didn’t even know I had an office, but I thought having an office was a great idea. Then I learned the most important stuff, how to meet and greet other people. I love the info icon.
Over the years, I have developed my office, although it still is not up to par. It is open, and I invite you to visit anytime. Also, I have enjoyed developing good working relationships with many other education professionals and lovers of learning at TappedIn.
Between Jeff Cooper, David Weksler and BJ, I really made great learning gains over the past year. Jeff knows so much about the ways of the internet, and his instruction is always on point. While David knows lots about technology, I really appreciate his support knowledge of how to best use technology to teach science and math. BJ always seems to know how to ask the right question, and she is always full of confidence in the human capacity. I have come to know people who live in other countries and other circumstances, and that has been most inspiring.
For teachers, parents, students and other interested people, I believe that TappedIn is the best first choice for a quality community experience. This past spring, I joined the HelpDesk. It seems that there are always visitors, and sometimes I can help. The TI Festival was another fantastic community experience, and I learned so much that I am still sorting through all the information.
My next adventure with TappedIn is to start a professional development group, and I am working on that as we speak.
Having grown up on college campuses across the United States, especially in the South and Great Plains, I really relate my TappedIn experience to those early years. Lots of fun, lots of learning, and lots of inspirational work goes on here at the TappedIn community. People of many different levels of experience and education come together in good company to be together.
The most important reason is personally professional. I appreciate the quality of TappedIn. One of the major needs of educators relates to knowledge overload and the friendship factor. Technology has changed so much since I was young. Our class schedules were given to us on a punch card and the first computer language I really liked was Basic. There are so many more books and materials available for teachers and students, but we still need each other.
No matter where we are in this journey of life, it always seems best when we have great traveling companions. That is what I have found in the online educational community of TappedIn.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
6 +1 Traits of Writing Still Rule
Last night at TappedIN, I signed in to attend a Middle School prof development group, and our presenter was discussing writing and teaching writing.
Ever on my toes, until I land on my face LOL, I discussed one of my favorite topics the 6 Traits of Writing. I will explain more, but there are some links on my del.icio.us site. For those in the choir, would you share a comment?
On my way to a county-wide FCE meeting to learn more about possible lessons for the next year. This is one of my favorite meetings.
TTFN
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
7 Steps For Online Class
TappedIN, an educational social network, is sponsored by Stanford Research Institute, Inc. within their Center for Technology in Learning, an innovator in educational research interests, including TappedIN.
Follow
these seven simple steps to discover TappedIN, the online tech campus.
You can have an office and make protected classrooms for K-12 students.
TappedIN is robust and receptive to the educational needs of teachers,
students and tech leaders:
- Visit TappedIN as a guest. Sign in as a guest. Enable chat.
- After signing in, you will be directed to the Reception Room.
- You have arrived. Usually, volunteers are available to help...if you want.
- Move your cursor to the bottom of the TappedIN Reception Room and read the Quick orientation to Tapped In.
- At the top of the webpage, you will see tabs. Click on the Me tab. Read your message.
- Click on the TappedIN tab and visit the campus, people and calendar of events.
- After that, the "sky's the limit"...read more, join TappedIN, talk online or visit offices.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Integrated Curricula and PBL opportunity
- Want to integrate your curricula?
- Want to start a simple PBL opportunity?
- Want exciting, educational afterschool PBL extensions?
- Want your PBL experience to be successful?
Teachers can sign up to participate in the 2007-2008 Postcard Geography project anytime before September 23, 2007. While there is no cost to register, your school would need to invest in the postage necessary to send the class postcard packet, but that is a nominal expense.
I believe that Postcard Geography will provide any teacher an excellent opportunity to make the greatest impact for student learning and achievement through PBL. The Postcard Geography project is a part of the Cyberbee group and is recognized as a Blue Web'n Site. The project is respectful of teachers' need to protect the privacy of students, so the only information you place in the project database is your name, address, and the number of students that will join you in the Postcard Geography project.
Leni explains the design and process of the Postcard Geography project in an easily understood format. I believe teachers appreciate her attention to detail, especially the resource guidance she provides to help you determine where this PBL will fit with your students, curricula and classes.
The Postcard Geography project is arranged into three age categories: Elementary, Middle, and High school levels. If you are a middle or high school teacher looking for a educational service project, your older students could work with younger students in afterschool programs or as helpers for elementary teachers working with the Postcard Geography project.
Leni's directions are simple, yet effective. Here is a sample instruction from the Postcard Geography website:
"The teacher blog provides a place for participants to share ideas and ask questions. The discussion blog also allows the project moderator to inform participants of address changes and other developments as the project progresses. While you may not wish to post messages, we expect everyone to read them. Active use of the discussion blog is crucial to accomplishing the goal of the project – making sure ALL participants receive postcards!"
If you want your students to participate in an effective, educational, and fun PBL, join the Postcard Geography project.