Expanding The Community of Practice Communication Network

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Expanding The Community of Practice
Communication Network
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Expanding The Community of Practice
Communication Network

• As a result of our collaboration with the IDEA
  Partnership, the following tool is now now
  available to expand the Center for Improving
  Teacher Quality (CTQs) capacity to improve
  teacher quality and outcomes of students with
  disabilities.

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Table of Contents

• User Instructions
• Features of Each Group Page
• Whats New Feature
• Repository Feature
• Discussion Feature

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• sharedwork.org is a website funded by the U. S.
  Department of Education Office of Special
  Education Programs (OSEP) and sponsored by the
  IDEA Partnership at the National Association of
  State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) for
  the purpose of connecting stakeholders in the
  national Communities of Practice (CoP), including
  the Community of Practice on Teacher Quality
  sponsored by the Center for Improving Teacher
  Quality (CTQ), participating states CoP and
  Practice Groups to develop their shared work.

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• The comments, thoughts, observations, or opinions
  offered on the website are meant for
  communication across individuals in a variety of
  roles and locations that share the goal of
  improving teacher quality and outcomes for
  students with disabilities.  
• Unless otherwise stated, information on this
  website is not intended to represent the
  policies, positions, or intentions of any state
  agency.   Rather, it is a forum for ideas that
  will inform many state agencies.

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This website may be used to

• Encourage state-to-state and within-state
  sharing.
• Announce new products developed by states and
  partner organizations in the CTQ National
  Community of Practice on Improving Teacher
  Quality.
• Announce training events/conferences relative to
  improving teacher quality.
• Seek input from the field on matters of shared
  interest that are being discussed by one or more
  of the CTQ Practice Groups.
• Share promising practices.
• Advise the development of the CTQ National Forum
  and regional meetings.
• Other opportunities that become evident as we
  communicate more routinely.  

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User Instructions

• sharedwork.org

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Instructions to Use sharedwork.org

• Open your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer).
  Type in url address www.sharedwork.org.
• To practice using the site, click on National
  Community of Practice on Teacher Quality.

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Take a minute to register!

• This screen appears with the Disclaimer of Use.
  Read the Disclaimer of Use to Understand the
  Purpose and Rules for ALL USERS of
  sharedwork.org.

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Page 2 of the Disclaimer

• After reading and agreeing to the disclaimer,
  click on I Agree Continue to Sign In to
  continue with the registration process.

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Take a Minute to Register!

• On this screen please complete the contact
  information requested.

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Complete Contact Information

• Please make a record of your password.  You will
  need to enter it each time you access the
  sharedwork.org website along with your user
  name/email address.
• Complete contact information, as requested.
  Select the role (administrator, higher education,
  paraeducation, parent or advocate, policymaker,
  related service provider, student, teacher
  please try not to use other) and your level
  (county, family, local, national state please
  try not to use other).
• Click Submit.

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National Community of Practice on Improving
Teacher Quality Page
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• On this page, connect to the work of the National
  Community of Practice on Improving Teacher
  Quality! For every group page you visit, you
  need to Join This Communitys Mailing List by
  clicking on the button.
• In the left column, click on CTQ Staff.

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Examples of Group Pages National Community on
Improving Teacher Quality

• You will now see CTQs group pages. The public
  groups include
• Case Study States
• Cross-State Case Study
• CTQ Staff
• Practice Groups
• Additional groups will be added in the future,
  based on the interest of the stakeholders.

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Suggestions for Using the Group Pages

• Each Practice Group will define their work, and
  may consider the following types of activities
• Discuss what the outcome/issue means in the
  context of multiple perspectives.
• Identify and define terminology commonly used
  across states/agencies as a basis for sharing
  data.
• Focus on specific outcomes/issues to develop
  solutions, and to bring the work back to the full
  community.
• Develop a catalog of effective practices to share
  on the CTQ National Community of Practice on
  Improving Teacher Quality website.

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Features of Each Group Page

• sharedwork.org

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There are Four Features of The CTQ National
Community of Practice on Improving Teacher
Quality Home Page and Each Group Page

• Whats New
• Repository
• Discussion
• Email to Group

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Whats New Feature

• sharedwork.org

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Whats NewAvailable on CTQ National Community
Home Page and each Group Page

• Whats New
• Add Announcement
• Center for Improving Teacher Quality (CTQ) 2006
  Invitational Forum, Hyatt Regency/Tamaya, Santa
  Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, November 2-4, 2006
• This feature allows us to post upcoming meetings
  and important information.
• Examples of announcements include showcasing new
  products developed by the community and
  announcing training events hosted by one or more
  than one participating agency or organization.
• To post an announcement, click on Add
  Announcement.

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Whats New Adding an Announcement

• National Community of Practice on Improving
  Teacher Quality
• Add Announcement
• Order
• Title
• (Max. 255 chars)
• Announcement
• Formatting text can be accomplished by adding a
  small amount of code to your text. To make text
  bold use ltbgttext to be boldlt/bgt. To make text
  italicised use ltigttext to be italicisedlt/igt.
  Add Cancel

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Whats New Moderator Approval Process

• National Community of Practice on Improving
  Teacher QualityAdd Announcement
• Thank your for your submission. Your submission
  will be reviewed shortly and if approved will be
  added to the announcements.
• Return to Main Page Add Another

• As each group page has a moderator, he/she will
  receive notification of your recommendation and
  approve/ disapprove to display information to the
  public.
• You will receive the follow message Thank your
  for your submission. Your submission will be
  reviewed shortly and if approved will be added to
  the list of documents in the repository. Click
  on Return to Main Page.

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Repository Feature

• sharedwork.org

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Repository Available on each Group Page

• The Repository is where we can post and share
  important files. File folders are created to
  organize the information posted on the groups
  page.
• Examples of files include highly qualified
  teacher/ federal guidance teacher licensure
  recruitment and retention.

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Repository Downloading and Saving a File

• Add Document Manage Folders Show All
• A Highly Qualified Teacher In Every Classroom
• Link to this document http//sharedwork.org/docu
  ments/2005Title2Report.doc
• Posted May, 31, 2006
• This report from the U.S. Department of Education
  identifies the essential principles for building
  outstanding teacher preparation programs in the
  21st century and focuses on the critical teaching
  skills all teachers must learn. In particular,
  the report highlights the fact that all teacher
  preparation programs must provide teachers with
  solid and current content knowledge and essential
  skills. These include the abilities to use
  research-based methods appropriate for their
  content expertise to teach diverse learners and
  to teach in high-need schools and to use data to
  make informed instructional decisions.
• Modify Delete

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• Saving a File -- To download a file
• Right click on the file name.
• Select Save Target As.
• Select location on your computer where you would
  like to save your file (e.g. desktop), and click
  on save. You can now access the file on your
  computer, should you need to update files. You
  cannot work on files inside of the sharedwork.org
  site.

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Repository Uploading to Share a File

• Add Document
• A Highly Qualified Teacher In Every Classroom
• Link to this document http//sharedwork.org/docu
  ments/2005Title2Report.doc

• If you would like to share a document, click on
  Add Document. This is very similar to adding an
  attachment to your email messages!

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Repository Uploading to Share a File

• Type in a brief title and description.
• To add file, click on the Browse button, locate
  the file within your computer you would like to
  upload, click on the file name, click on Open.
• Filename CANNOT contain any special characters or
  spaces. Underscore and hyphens are acceptable.
  If the file you intent to upload contains any
  invalid characters, please change the files name
  before uploading (see next page for
  instructions).
• Click on Add.
• As each group page has a moderator, he/she will
  receive notification of your recommendation and
  approve/disapprove to display the information to
  the public. When you receive this message, click
  on Return to Main Page.

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Renaming a File to Meet Format Website
Specifications

• Renaming a File to Meet Format Specifications
• Locate the file in your computer.
• Right click on the file name.
• Select Rename.
• Since filename CANNOT contain any special
  characters or spaces, retype the name of the
  file.
• Remember, underscores and hyphens are acceptable.
  Spaces between words should be eliminated or
  replaced with underscores.
• Return to instructions on previous page to add
  file.

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Discussion Feature

• sharedwork.org

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Discussions Available on Each Groups Page

• Discussions
• Add Topic of Discussion
• General/Special Education Collaboration
• CTQ has been focusing teacher quality as an
  instrumental strategy for improving results for
  all students.  In
• this framework,collaboration between general and
  special education is critical. One opportunity to
  explore these
• connections is at the annual CTQ Forum.  What
  topics should we feature this year to help you
  focus on special/general
• education collaboration? The planning committee
  welcomes your ideas!
• This feature allows for online, ongoing
  communication between the group on various topics
  or projects.
• Examples include seeking input from local
  stakeholders on matters of shared interest
  asking for input into new or ongoing initiatives
  and searching for existing resources to avoid
  duplicating efforts.

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www.sharedwork.org is only as useful as we make
it!

•  Give it a try.
• Open the lines of communication.
• Browse the national and the state pages.
• Connect to groups to be part of the solution to
  expanding CTQs capacity to realize outcomes!