This is an article about Online Community Groups and the use and benefit of Tapped In to create these environments.
*I love the fact that a transcript of the discussion is emailed to all participants immediately. The teachers are there to build on their knowledge, keep their skills and understanding up to date and a transcript would provide them with an excellent way to remember and give reference back to. It would also allow them to remember to whom they were chatting with if they wished to look that person up again.
*Tapped In allows students to have online discussions as well. But the best part, and most important, is that other members of Tapped In cannot join these discussions unless invited by the teacher. This is extremely important because it is very easy for any person to join an online professional community forum. People in these communities may indeed not be teachers and this tool allows classroom teachers to keep out any unwanted guests. Of course for this to be successful, the teachers themselves have to be careful not to presume that everybody is who they say they are.
*There are times through out the year in Tapped In when you can talk to experts for example like Bernie Dodge about WebQuests. This would be a great opportunity if the children in the classroom were also able to talk directly to Bernie Dodge, or any other important e-learning contributor. Of course for this to happen you may have to make an appointment because it may be very difficult to answer questions from students from all over the globe in one session.
Reference: Bull et al. (2004). Tapped In. Learning and Leading with Technology, 31(5), 34-37.
