senseiOnline: Online community for teaching Japanese

Keiko K. Schneider (シュナイダー恵子)
（Saboten Web Design／Albuquerque TVI)

概要：「先生オンライン」は日本語教育のためのオンライン・コミュニティーである。世界中の日本語教師だけでなく、日本の英語教師、CALLスペシャリスト、大学院生なども含めて、お互いに助け合うことを目的に運営されている。メーリングリストと教育�"用のMOO（両方とも無料のサービス）を使って、教材、情報交換から、オンラインでの研究発表（「勉強会」）等が行なわれている。この発表ではリストへの参加のしかた、過去のメッセージの検索の方法、またオンラインの研究発表の要領や、実際のセッションの記録の入手のしかたのほか、運営に関してのインターネットのセキュリティー問題等にも触れていき、参加�"を募りたいと考えている。
Keywords: online community, professional development, networking, technical support

1. About senseiOnline

senseiOnline was founded on the November 21, 1999 using eGroups (now YahooGroups) to serve as an online community for teaching Japanese. As of May 22, 2002, it has 733 members.

1. 1 Mission and how it works

It is an online community of those who are concerned with Japanese language/culture education. It will help networking, sharing ideas and supporting each other. It uses free online services: YahooGroups for asynchronous communication and TAPPED IN for synchronous communication.

1. 2 Who are we?

http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/senseiOnline_poll.html
The poll was conducted between 5/6/02-5/21/02.

2. Communicating asynchronously: YahooGroups

senseiOnline uses YahooGroups. The communication is based on listserv. When a member posts a message, it will be read by all members. Members have options to read only at web site, receive daily digests instead of individual messages. Membership is free. As of May 21, 2002, there are 4657 messages, all archived and searchable.

2.1 Security measures and policies

It is not listed in the public directory. Inclusion of the group requires manager approval. Email attachments are not permitted (including HTML mail) in order to prevent the transmission of attached virus. The posts are unmoderated and reply will go to the whole list instead of the individual. Archives are only available for members.

2. 2 How to join

2.2.1 If the email account does not look educational
It is best to identify yourself in a message to the manager (senseionline-owner@yahoogroups.com) with the intent of subscription. The manager sends out a message to confirm the educational affiliation or to inquire the intent of subscription. It is to make sure whoever is joining is not interested just because somebody wants to send spam/unwanted advertisement messages.

2.2.2 If the email account looks educational
Approval is done without further contact. There are a couple of ways to join.
1 Send a blank message to senseionline-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
2 Go to http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/senseiOnline.html and put your email and push purple "Yahoo Groups Join Now" button
3 Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/senseionline/ and click on "Join This Group" link towards right

3. Communicating synchronously: Benkyoukai at TAPPED IN

Also we have a monthly online forum called Benkyoukai. Usually a member is invited to contribute and posts a short paper online (3-5 pages). Participants are asked to review before the live interaction. 50-minute interaction will take place at TAPPED IN (http://www.tappedin.org) The event is announced through senseiOnline listserv.

3.1 What is TAPPED IN?

TAPPED IN is the online workplace of an international community of education professionals. K-12 teachers and librarians, professional development staff, teacher education faculty and students, and researchers engage in professional development programs and informal collaborative activities with colleagues. Guests are welcome, and membership is free.

3.2 How does TAPPED IN work?

TAPPED IN is a modified MOO environment called MEOW (Multi-user Educational Online Workspace). The in-house Java application called TAPestry allows easy web-interface navigation and MOO objects enhance effective communication/presentation and collaboration among educators. (This interface will be upgraded in the fall, 2002.)

3.3 Transcript of the live session

In case you missed a live interaction for any reason, TAPPED IN volunteer prepares an edited transcript of it and makes it available. If you are a member of TAPPED IN, you can send yourself one from After School Online Room. If you are not a member of TAPPED IN, please write to the manager, Keiko Schneider (kschnei@sabotenweb.com)

3.4 Future Benkyoukai

24th benkyoukai on the July 17th, Wednesday, presented by Professor Kyoko Saegusa of University of Colorado, Boulder, will be conducted as a part of Summer Carnival 2002. It will be from 1pm Pacific. The topic is on student-directed activities. Details will be available from benkyoukai page. Future topics are: FLES and secondary collaboration, teaching language with arts, study abroad, studying kanji, distance learning, etc.

References:

(1) senseiOnline Info: http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/senseiOnline.html
(2) senseiOnline homepage (YahooGroups): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/senseionline
(3) Benkyoukai page: http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/benkyoukai.html
(4) Member Handbook: http://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/about/handbook.html
(5) TAPPED IN: http://www.tappedin.org

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