English Organized

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English Organized

• Using the Intranet to share resources
• Ronalee Henderhan CEP 812

2
The situation

• Each year, new teachers join the
  department.(This year, it will be five!)
• Each year, those new teachers spend countless
  hours creating materials.
• So do veteran teachers.

3
The situation

• That represents approximately 130 years of
  planning and materials.
• If we were able to organize all of those
  materials and store them in a central location,
  that would be a pretty powerful resource.
• Arent we already doing that?

4
The problem

• The climate for sharing already exists.
• But we have no organized system or central
  location for all of our resources.
• We also have no plan for sharing, reviewing, and
  updating materials.

5
The proposal

• The need is for an easily accessible, well
  organized system for sharing resources.
• The proposal is to use the intranet as a central
  location to organize, manage, and share all of
  the available resources.
• Its called English Organized.

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Who will benefit?

• New teachers
• Veteran teachers
• Students

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The benefits

• New teachers will have the support of materials
  used by veteran teachers.
• They will feel more comfortable and confident in
  presenting material.
• They will be able to focus on other areas, such
  as classroom management, because they are not
  spending all of their time creating new materials.

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The benefits

• Veteran teachers will have the opportunity to
  see what other teachers are doing.
• They will have access to a wide array of new and
  innovative ideas.
• They will also be able to focus on other areas
  in the classroom because they wont be spending
  all of their time planning.

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The benefits

• Students will benefit as teachers take advantage
  of all the resources available.
• When teachers expand their knowledge and
  understanding of a concept, they pass that along
  to students.
• So, students will gain a deeper understanding of
  the subject matter as their teachers do.

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The benefits

• The intranet is easily accessible.
• New materials can be posted at any time.
• With password protection and firewalls, only
  authorized users can access it.

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The research

• In Toward the Intranet, Bridget Ricketts outlines
  the benefits of intranet use, including
  financial gains
• Reduced paper usage
• Reduced workload for photocopying and
  distribution

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The research

• Ricketts findings also suggest these benefits
• Increased efficiency
• Increased communication
• Wider access to information
• Higher speeds for delivering more diversified
  media

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The research

• According to the article Using Intranet
  Technology to Foster Organizational Knowledge
  Creation
• Intranet-based publication assures that everyone
  uses the most recent information.
• The intranet provides new staff with an
  attractive alternative to learn about their
  working environments without running the risk
  of revealing their ignorance.
• (Damsgaard Scheepers)

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The plan

• English Organized is presented and explained at
  the August department meeting.
• Interested teachers will begin preparing
  materials to post to the intranet site.
• With the help of student aides, materials in
  hard copy form will be digitized.

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The plan

• By October, the English Organized home page and
  templates will be designed.
• At this department meeting, a tutorial will be
  presented on how to post, update, and access
  materials.
• Interested teachers will begin posting and
  accessing materials on the site.

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The plan

• New materials can be added at any time.
• New or reluctant teachers can start contributing
  at any time.
• Effectiveness will be gauged through discussion
  at department meetings and the use of surveys.

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Success

• English Organized will work because the
  department is already keenly interested in
  effective ways to share information.
• The proposal will find success because it takes
  ideas that are already in motion and fine tunes
  them so that they are more efficient and
  effective.

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Conclusion

• English Organized will bring together the best
  ideas of the brilliant minds in the department.
• It will do so with a savings of time, effort,
  and resources.
• It makes sense to move ahead when the changes
  provide opportunity and improve the efficiency
  and effectiveness of common goals.

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Conclusion
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than
our progress in education. The human mind is
our fundamental resource. John F. Kennedy