MEGAN FORNESS' REACTION TO TAPPED IN TOUR ON JULY 13, 1998

Before I registered on TAPPED IN, I had no idea what its concept was. As I stumbled through the virtual world after reading a description of the environment, I began to comprehend what was happening. Before logging in for the virtual tour, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect.

I can see both advantages and disadvantages of using a virtual environment such as this one. I will discuss some problems I encountered first in order to lend myself an optimistic conclusion. Since the tour began at noon, I tried, as I was instructed, to connect at about 11:30. I was, to put it mildly, a bit unhappy when my server failed to authenticate my connection... after several attempts. After calling the provider, I was informed that they were installing new software to improve my service. Of course I saw the unfortunate irony in this situation and thus my problem-solving strategies emerged. Luckily, my technologically proficient husband managed to get me connected from work so I could participate in the tour. I shall not go into the details of how we accomplished this because I'm not sure it would be entirely acceptable. So, this brings me the first drawback of using a system such as this...network failure. While I was participating in the tour, I noticed several participants were having problems with "crashed" systems. One of our tour guides was one such unfortunate participant, I think. In addition to technical problems beyond our control, there were other aspects of the tour I felt were undesirable. Communicating with a substantial group seemed a bit confusing at times. Although the rules for proper etiquette were stated and followed for the most part, communication was still periodically confusing. Aside from these minor unpleasant episodes, I enjoyed my virtual tour.

The aspect viewed as most advantageous was the real time environment. Virtually immediate feedback from colleagues was very exciting. The "fun" commands available such as COW and PIG added to the humanistic quality of the tour. It was comforting to be able to retain a sense of humor while using such serious technology. As for the environment itself, the resources are absolutely unbelievable. I anticipate meeting with my math group on Wednesday to discuss our views. It amazes me that this meeting was arranged without "talking" to a person on the phone or in person. I envision several useful purposes for sites like these. As a teacher, I can join discussions with teachers from other places to share and analyze ideas about my subject area. Lesson plans are readily available with access to their authors if I need any clarification. Students may enjoy using a site like this to communicate with students from other classrooms and receive immediate feedback. Finally, the environment itself and the commands therein lend themselves to be user friendly. This site is designed to reflect the floor plan and items in a tangible building with which most people are quite familiar. I anticipate using this site in the future to become a more aware and resourceful teacher.