Office 2000, for example, allows them to save files to the Web simply by clicking the drop-down command in Microsoft Word. There's no need to learn arcane Web-coding commands or software. And all teachers were given desktop shortcuts to their personalized Web folders, making it easier for them to get to and organize their Web data. Adding OSEs to the infrastructure enabled, among other things, the ability to expand lesson-plan sharing among all schools in the district, so that all the teachers could pool plans and share strategies. This was especially important, notes Stephanie Green, coordinator of instructional technology, to achieve vertical alignment.
Web collaboration makes it easier for teachers to get that sort of information.
With Web Discussions, teachers could actually collaborate on, for example, the design of a Web page for a particular class or subject. Teachers could attach electronic sticky notes to annotate one another's work, and see what changes had been made by other teachers. For teachers, Subscription and Notification allows them to keep closer track of the projects on which they're collaborating. They give us all the tools we need to do it. Planning the Infrastructure Woods and his staff decided to streamline the implementation by hosting the service on a single physical server.