The chat is still difficult, but I think “playing” on it for a bit is needed then I’m going to have to interject some structure.

I chose TappedIn over Ning because I was familiar with it – had a spot there last year, but couldn’t use it and it met with the security that made both myself and my principal comfortable. TappedIn’s terms of use matched our school internet use policy as well. The support there from Jeff is simply wonderful. His experience teaching online and his willingness to share ideas is almost a lifeline for me. In terms of doing an action research project, I needed something I did not have to learn to use before bringing it into use with the students.

The teachable moment, that I most gratefully tip my hat to you for. Your post on teacher power has been the best pro-d I’ve had for this year.
Check back tomorrow – the “Hellcats” are coming on board with me. That post should be most interesting – provided I live to write it!

Thanks for blogging about your virtual learning environment experiences. Your second lesson idea sounds much more manageable, I am interested however in how TappedIn would have allowed them to create a collaborative group discussion post.

I have had similar experiences with chat in all of my classes. They never seem to get tired of using it in inane ways. Still every once in a while I come across a group using it really effectively.

I was really interested to read about the ‘teachable moment’. It really seems like giving students these safe virtual learning environments as places to make mistakes is really important.

One last question. Why did you choose TappedIn over Ning? And does TappedIn allow you to grab an rss feed from the individual student blogs.

Keep on blogging Cindy. I’m really enjoying reading about your experiences.