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FAQ’s and information centralization
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
We are in the processing of putting all our policies, procedures, and common technology questions in one place. Does our school block or filter? Are teachers allowed to use facebook? Are students allowed to use personal computers? What's the deal with cellphones in classes? How should teachers setup their wireless projector?
These are questions I have heard in the last few months. There is a general sense of "what's the deal?" from teachers and some staff. I really like FAQ's as a way to communicate with an organization about policies and procedures. As a general rule, I find policy manuals dry, boring, and usually unreadable. In some cases, it seems to me like policies and procedures are more about protecting the organization than serving genuine organizational needs. FAQ's, on the other hand are easily browsable, answer real questions, and (if they are spiffy enough) allow for interaction such as rating, comments, and searching. As a general rule, I think FAQ's are a good way to organize and centralize information.
We've got two different FAQ systems brewing at our school, one for parents and one for teachers and staff. I'm using phpmyfaq for the teacher faq, and I love it. Decent feature list, I especially like the ability for users to submit questions, and tagging entries.
The idea of centralizing information is a bit of a misnomer, though. I think it should be more about making sure information is indexable and searchable. When a user has a technology question (or policy question) there should be a clear digital home for resources, questions, and answers.
These are questions I have heard in the last few months. There is a general sense of "what's the deal?" from teachers and some staff. I really like FAQ's as a way to communicate with an organization about policies and procedures. As a general rule, I find policy manuals dry, boring, and usually unreadable. In some cases, it seems to me like policies and procedures are more about protecting the organization than serving genuine organizational needs. FAQ's, on the other hand are easily browsable, answer real questions, and (if they are spiffy enough) allow for interaction such as rating, comments, and searching. As a general rule, I think FAQ's are a good way to organize and centralize information.
We've got two different FAQ systems brewing at our school, one for parents and one for teachers and staff. I'm using phpmyfaq for the teacher faq, and I love it. Decent feature list, I especially like the ability for users to submit questions, and tagging entries.
The idea of centralizing information is a bit of a misnomer, though. I think it should be more about making sure information is indexable and searchable. When a user has a technology question (or policy question) there should be a clear digital home for resources, questions, and answers.
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