Tapped In
From FAS Virtual Worlds Almanac
| Use and Demographics | |
|---|---|
| Primary use(s) | Education |
| Registered users | 15,000 |
| Active users | 15,000 |
| Target Audience(s) | Students, Professionals All K-20 Education Professionals |
| Language(s) | English |
| Features | |
|---|---|
| User-generated content | Yes |
| Property/Object Ownership | Yes |
| Intellectual Property rights for content | Yes |
| Private spaces | Yes |
| In-game currency | No |
| Real Money Trading | Yes |
| In-World Marketplace | No |
| Graphical and Content Features | |
|---|---|
| Physics-based | No |
| Complex 3-D, such as a realistic human body | No |
| Location Bookmarking | Yes |
| Search Capability | Users, Locations, Events, Objects, Groups |
| Scripting for objects | No |
| Duplication of content for multiple users | Yes |
| Video projection | No |
| Offline access | Yes |
| Object creation toolkit | No |
| Communication | |
|---|---|
| Text Chat | Yes |
| Private Messages | Yes |
| Can block users in text chat | Yes |
| E-mail Integration | Yes |
| Management and Privacy | |
|---|---|
| Code of Conduct | Yes |
| Moderators | Yes |
| Chat Logging | Yes |
| Age Restrictions | Yes |
| Privacy Policy | Yes |
| Restricted Access in Designated Areas | Yes |
| Communication Filtering | No |
Tapped In is a global online community of education professionals that is owned and operated by SRI International, a nonprofit research institute. Designed by a team led by Drs. Mark Schlager, Patricia Schank, and Judi Fusco, Tapped In provides free online services for educators and students and private buildings for education organizations (for an annual tenant fee).
Contents |
Design and Use
The user interface metaphor is a campus or office park with many buildings, offices, conference rooms, and group rooms created and managed by the users. Each room comes equipped with text chat, a discussion board, and a place to store files and links. Using Tapped In, educators participate in activities hosted by organizations, conduct their own activities, take online seminars, experiment with new ways to teach online, and expand their circle of colleagues. Scores of community volunteers staff a live help desk and lead monthly After School Online colloquia on a wide range of education topics. Collectively, these elements of Tapped In form a uniquely supportive, career-long (and free) online home for education professionals.
Member and Usage Data
About 40% of Tapped In members are K-12 teachers, and 25% of the membership is composed of researchers, university faculty and graduate students, staff developers, school support and administration staff, and pre-service teachers. Approximately 1,200 to 1,500 people log into the synchronous environment on an average day, and spend an average of 43 minutes online. Approximately 2,000-3,000 different members log in each month. Many thousands more use asynchronous capabilities only. The external website averages about 16,000 visits (7,600 unique visitors) and 174,000 page hits per month.
History
Version 1 was established as a MOO in 1996. Version 2, established in 2003, is a Web-based platform. The Tapped In 2 system (TI2) features public, group, and personal virtual spaces; organization and group administrative capabilities; integrated chat, threaded discussion, and private messaging; document and URL storage and sharing, and many other features. Today, Tapped In hosts more than 20,000 education professionals annually in more than 8,000 user-created spaces. Tapped In has supported online teacher education courses and professional development programs offered by more than 50 paying “tenant” organizations.
Scholarly Articles
A full list of articles by SRI and by other researchers about Tapped In can be found at: http://tappedin.org/tappedin/web/papers/
Major papers are listed below.
Screenshots
References
External Links
In the News
- Laura Donnelly, Painless Professional Development, Teacher Magazine, October 1, 2006.
- Stephen Sawchuk, Sites Mimicking Social Networks Set Up for Staff Development, Education Week, August 21, 2008.
- Bull, G., Bull, G., & Kajder, S, Mining the Internet: Tapped In, Learning and Leading with Technology, 2004.
- Valenza, J., K, Online 'campus' for educators to meet, mentor, talk, develop, Philadelphia Inquirer, March 2004.
- David T. Gordon, Linking teachers with technology: Online courses and communities provide ways of delivering professional development and support, Harvard Education Letter, 2003.
Scholarly Research
- Farooq, U., Schank, P., Harris, A., Fusco, J., Schlager, M., Sustaining a community computing infrastructure for online teacher professional development: A case study of designing Tapped In, Computer-supported cooperative work. Special Issue on Infrastructures,2008.
- Schlager, M. & Fusco, J., Teacher professional development, technology, and communities of practice: Are we putting the cart before the horse?, Designing Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning,2004.
- Schlager, M., Fusco, J., Koch, M., Crawford, V., & Phillips, M., Designing equity and diversity into online strategies to support new teachers, NECC,2003.
- Schlager, M., Fusco, J., & Schank, P., Evolution of an online education community of practice, Building virtual communities: Learning and change in cyberspace,2002.
- Derry, S. J., Gance, S. Gance. L. L., & Schlager, M. S., Toward assessment of knowledge building practices in technology-mediated work group interactions, Computer as Cognitive Tools II.,2000.
- Schlager, M.S., Fusco, J., & Schank, P., Cornerstones for an online community of education professionals, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine,1998.
- Schlager, M.S., & Schank, P., Tapped In: A new online community concept for the next generation of Internet technology, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning,{{{date}}}.
