The Paperless Path - WHY?
Inservice Education in Disguise

Paperless Home
Why? (Don't miss this!)
Path Guidelines (Just about everything you need to know!)
Memorable Memoranda about Fair Use (What is legal?)
Puckish Peeves (Avoiding things that annoy)
Beguiling Bullets (Neat items and quotes by famous people)
Plug-ins, Players, Readers & All That (You gotta have these!)
And We Thank (Important people and organizations)

Why?

Because your time is valuable.

• Technology is supposed to help you save time. Time for family, friends, and the things you really want to do. It's time to learn how to make that a reality, not just a promise.
• There are ways to learn how to make technology your assistant and to "go paperless" These methods may take a little time to learn, but then don't most valuable lessons?
• Technology is like the proverbial glass of water - either you view it as half-full, or half-empty. Those who take the half-empty view avoid technology whenever they can because they are afraid it will add time to their already busy life. The truth is that by avoiding it may in today's world just be the other way around.
• None of us want to spend anymore time doing rote tasks that could be avoided if we only knew what technology to apply.
• Sometimes the best way to stop feeling overwhelmed is to stop and think about what you can do to lessen your load. How much time could you save by going paperless? Can you really afford to lose that time?

Because technology is here to stay.

• In a world where technology becomes more ingrained into our everyday life, only the foolhardy wouldn't want to know more about it.
• Most young people are very open to technology because they are willing to try anything once and - guess what? - with technology that's a pretty safe bet.
• Attitude is everything when it comes to technology. If you believe that you can figure out how to do a task by using technology, chances are you will.
• Companies are talking about charging extra to send consumers paper bills. The sooner you're comfortable with going paperless, the better off you may be in more ways than one!
• Because it is time (specifically) to stop:
  -- Searching for sites you remember but can't access even if you put them in your Bookmarks or Favorites in your browser
  -- Copying notes by hand from web sites (it is both ergometrically incorrect and a waste of your time)
  -- Noting URLs on little pieces of paper that you can never decipher later or lose.
  -- Putting off organizing your computer
  -- Printing off a page when you only need a sentence or two or a photo (Or worse yet, printing off multiple pages when you only needed one!)

Because it is the Age of Information Overload

• In the face of information overload it is past time for thinking about ways to get organized- now it's time to do it.
• Just as teaching methods have evolved with the introduction of technologies into the curriculum, so must teacher planning and organization mature.
• Just ask yourself, what jobs could you give over to your computer? Are you ready for it to become your method of collecting, organizing, and filing educational materials? It isn't going to do it without your help and guidance, but the computer can be an assistant to you as you ease into a partially paperless path.
• Your computer can become an unbelievable filing cabinet for digital-based teaching materials that you find online, that you receive by email from colleagues, and that you develop yourself.

Still hesitant?

It may give you pause to think about saving all your curricular goodies to the computer because, after all, the computer might crash and you'll lose all your work. You don't have to worry about that because today you can save to an additional hard drive, to a CD, and/or to one of our network servers. (Check with Kathy Hagar about back-up methods for saving your materials beyond your computer.)

And here are some other things you'll pick up on the paperless path:

• Never wondering again about those mysterious prompts that indicate that you don't have the right or the most up-to-date players or plug -ins in your browser, but don't tell you where (and how) to get what you need
• Instant access to video (like the movie at the beginning of The Paperless Path site)
• Quick hook up with the audio features of web sites
• Mastering the ability to get all parts of a web site to work at your command

Knowledge in Disguise

The most long lasting knowledge often comes in the "disguise" of learning by doing. And that's what Inservice in Disguise is all about! So much better than mass after-school meetings where individual needs are not as easily and effectively met. We think it will save you time.

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