English 4325
English 4325
More Tapped In Instructions
For our course, we will be using Tapped In to meet as a class and to post materials, and one of your assignments is to attend a professional development opportunity at Tapped In. Therefore, you are required to:
- Review the general instructions
- become a member of Tapped In
- attend on orientation session
- join the group, CompTech
Explanation of why you have to join a "group" for the course:
I have an "office" on Tapped In that I use to meet with students as well as other colleagues. The information in my office can get a little confusing if I have multiple things going on. Because our class will be meeting to hold actual class discussions and presentations online, it was important that we had our own space that you as students could "join" as a community. Groups (unlike offices) allows all of us to use, add, edit, and delete resources in a dedicated room of our own.
My hope is that you will help build that group space with links, files, and resources that will be of value to not only this class, but future classes. To that end, please familiarize yourself with all the tools in the CompTech group room, make it one of your favorite places (or your home room), and feel free to add materials.
Instructions for Joining CompTech (the online meeting room)
Before signing on and trying to join the group, please be sure to have read the orientation materials on these coursepages as well as Tapped In's introduction to the interface and Professional Code of Conduct. If you have read those and have gone through the process of registering, logging in, and finding my office (danikab's office), you should have enough of a sense of the environment to follow the instructions for joining our class group.
Once you are online and in my office (so you aren't in the reception
area where people may be talking to you, which you might find distracting at
this point), click on the "Tapped In" tab in the upper right corner
of your screen. The view should change to offer you selections in a purple menu.
From that menu, choose "Groups." A list of letters will come up of
all the groups on Tapped In (you can browse those groups for anything that might
interest you; notice the number of people around the world using this space
for collaborating!). There is an option to "search groups." You can
click on that option and enter CompTech as the search
criteria (alternatively, you can browse the list and find it that way). When
the search returns the group, you will see a little 
next
to the group name. Click on that link to bring up the group information page.
From the information page, you will find an option to "Join" the group. When you select that option, you will become a member of CompTech! At this point, you may enter the room.
Enter the CompTech group room. Use the "Favorite Places" pulldown menu and add this room as a favorite. Next, click on the ME tab at the upper right of your screen. Choose "Settings." You should see directions for setting this room as your homeroom, which I would like you to follow. Once you have made "CompTech" your home room, any time you log in, you will land there (instead of the reception area).
Instructions for Finding Workshops/Meetings on Tapped In
You may want to attend the "Tapped In Tips and Tricks" orientation conducted by the technical experts on Tapped In. While you are logged in, click on the "TappedIn" tab and select "Calendar." Find a time you are able to attend these orientations, and log in at the right time (be sure that your time settings are set to Central Time).
To explore the activities on Tapped In, click on the Tapped In tab. Choose "Calendar" from the purple menu. You will see a calendar that indicates the events going on everyday. If you see something interesting, click on the link to get all the information about it. Pay attention to whether you need to register for the event (if so, you will need to follow instructions to do so; most events do not require pre-registration). These events are "real time," so it would be just like going to a class or workshop on campus. If you want to attend, you will need to go to the meeting site on time. You will want to behave professionally as you interact at the event. You will want to pay attention to what is being said and to participate in a meaningful fashion.
I will likely ask you to attend a K-12 Campus tour at some point in the session so that you will be familiar with potential ways you can use TI for your own classes.
Tapped In generates transcripts of any conversations you have while online. Your complete transcripts are emailed to your registered email address every time you log off.
Instructions for Online Class Meetings
On Tuesdays and Thursdays you will meet online for small group discussions. The reasons for that include allowing you to practice communicating (including "listening") in different contexts, especially that emphasize reading and writing skills. You will also be posting responses to a "Discussion" post due every Friday in Comptech (the prompt will be posted by Wednesday). Be sure to familiarize yourselves with the discussion feature, moving through passageways and joining your group members.
For those group discussions, you will have divided up the articles (you should read them all, but focus on your own). The article that you take, you should read very carefully, look up terms, get contextual information, and be able to identify the main points of the article. In your group discussion, you will present the materials and information for your colleagues. You will be the "expert" on the article and facilitate a discussion about the points in the article. The more productive these online discussions are, the more ideas you will generate for your discussion posts. I will read all the transcripts and give you points based on the level of discussion that occurs. Any questions that you generate within your discussions can be part of the in-class lectures and discussions for the week.
Each group will have a "team leader" who will create an office where your small groups can meet to discuss the readings, generate questions for class discussion, and workshop responses for the discussion post. Team leaders will forward the transcript from the group session (that will be emailed to all of you when you sign off) to danika@utpa.edu after every session.
While you are in the classroom, you may "talk" as appropriate. I encourage you to participate in discussion as much as you feel comfortable with. I expect you to be following the conversation closely, even if you are not "talking." If I am talking at length about something, giving you instructions, or if one of your classmates is presenting, I ask that you not just "talk," but that you use the "action" feature and raise your hand (to do this, simply type :raises hand in the dialogue box. The colon : makes your input an "action" rather than something you say). Aside from being "virtual," our online classes should go pretty much like any regular class, but, you will get a copy of the full transcript by email, so it's like a recorded class for your use.
Pages are updated regularly, but any information here does not substitute for what is covered in class. Attendance is required!