Participation in Online Professional Development

Learning about technology and teaching is an ongoing activity that you'll continue long after this course is over. Fortunately, there are many free resources online that will help you along the way. In this assignment, you'll spend an hour participating in an interactive session on your choice of several online professional development options. Almost every day of the month, you'll find discussions taking place on topics of interest to educators. These a wonderful resources that will put you in touch with new ideas for teaching and technology whenever you like.

To get started, go to one of the following and pick a session that is of interest to you:

Most of these sites require little in the way of technology skills to join a session and participate. To begin this assignment, spend time trying to join a chat room that is NOT active. If you run into problems that you cannot troubleshoot, contact someone at the site or your instructor for more information.

Tapped In is the most complex to begin a session. Due to that fact, here are some things to do to make using it easier: To get started, go to Tapped In and get an account for yourself. Click on the Calendar and see what talks are coming up next. It would be very smart to attend one of the guided tours that take place every Tuesday at 2:30pm or Saturday at 11:00am. You'll find the helpers at Tapped In to be the best feature of the place. They're friendly and smart. Here's a one-page overview of the interface at Tapped In.

If you'd like to practice, join Bernie Dodge in his virtual office at one of the following times:

  • (To be determined)

To enter the conversation, select Bernie's name (BernieD) and under the Actions popup button, select Join. We'll just chat about the course or whatever you like. This will provide a low pressure way to get comfortable with Tapped In's interface.

What Counts for This Assignment? Please do not try to count a tour or introductory session to the site as your professional development. You should plan to attend those on your own to get familiar with the environment. A session where theory, practice, and/or strategies for success are discussed and shared are more appropriate for this assignment than an introductory session on the site itself.

A Note About Procrastination: Occasionally a scheduled chat will fizzle out early because of lack of attendance, a missing discussion leader, or technical glitches. Describing such a session will not qualify to complete this project. Take the time to try joining an inactive session before the session you are interested in, just to get comfportable with the technology. It would also be wise to set aside time to attend more than one session so that the one you use for this assignment is done well.

Some Notes About Netiquette: The meetings you will sit in on generally have a discussion leader. It's not a free for all. It's more like a college lecture/discussion than a party or AOL chat room. Looks for devices that indicate that you have your hand raised or that you would like to participate and use them appropriately.

Text-based chat has some unique characteristics. One is that anything said by anyone fills the screen with equal prominence. If the discussion leader makes a point and people are chiming in with side comments, the clutter on the screen makes it difficult to follow what's going on. Speak sparingly.

Please remember that...

  1. You are a guest in something very big. For example, Tapped In is a community of 15,000 teachers with lots of experience and broad interests. It's not just a little piece of our course, so don't chatter with each other about 570 or SDSU. Tune into the other people there.
  2. You represent San Diego State while there. Make us look good.
  3. If you want to say something just to one other person in the room, use a private message function. Only you and they will see what you type.
  4. Pay attention to the discussion and come to the meeting having become familiar with the interface ahead of time.
  5. If you arrive after the session starts, don't apologize. That would be like walking into a lecture hall and shouting out "Sorry I'm late" while the presenter is in the middle of a sentence. Just slip in silently.
  6. You should listen first, and talk only when it's clear that the discussion leader is asking for reactions or questions.
  7. Don't add "me too" comments that clutter up the screen and don't add new information.
  8. Remember to take screenshots (at different times) throughout the session if you want a URL or something someone says. Take notes as needed. In Tapped In, you'll receive a transcript of the entire session via email as soon as you log off, so don't worry if you miss a URL or comment.
  9. Try to enjoy yourself and don't be put off by this long list of commandments. They're here because in the past a few people have wilded their way thoughtlessly through Tapped In sessions and diminished the experience for others. Ideally, you'll like these resources so much after your first experience that you'll join in regularly as part of staying on top of things in education.

You'll complete this assignment by posting to all members of the class a description of the session via a forum on Moodle. It will be evaluated on hte extent to which you...

  • describe the purpose of the chat and provide background about the chat leader;
  • describe who the other attendees were;
  • summarize the discussion;
  • include links to anything useful that was discussed in the chat;
  • conclude with a reflection about what you learned and how you feel about this medium for professional development.

See the course schedule for the due date.

This assignment counts for 10% of your final grade. Your posting should therefore be substantive.