The document discusses different methods of communication and sharing information, including meetings, written communication, on-screen information, multimedia, and web-based information. For each method, it outlines how it can be used to update knowledge, inform future developments, and provide strategic direction. It also provides a SWOT analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of each method. The document serves to analyze different communication tools and how they can be effectively used to share information within an organization like a school.

1. Unit 4 P1/M1
Lewis Appleton 1 Miss Johnston
Verbal information
Updating knowledge
Meetings can allow knowledge to be updated about current circumstances and what is
going on and will often be used by businesses, the Howard school uses meetings for
this reason and staff can be informed about any changes.
Informing future developments
During meetings the staff may be informed about things that are going to happen in
the future such as dates for examinations and deadlines that students or teachers need
to meet. This allows the staff to ready themselves for the changes before they happen.
Strategic direction
The use of meetings allows everyone involved to have their say and give instant
feedback on current issues; this means that other methods such as emails do not have
to be used as this would take much longer to show their points. The use of meetings
also withdraws any possible fees for telephone conversations and saves time by not
having to use written communication so this is generally a better method. However if
there is a large amount of people such as the parents of all the students then it is easier
and faster to send an email or a letter.
SWOT analysis
 Strengths
The good things about using this are that both costs of time and money are saved
because telephones or text based communication does not have to be used. It is also
possible for everyone involved to have their say and give feedback very quickly.
 Weaknesses
The limitations of using this are that it can be hard to organise a meeting as everyone
has a small schedule and may not be available, it is also possible that people may not
be as good as speaking as others and therefore they may not reveal their thoughts
about the things being discussed.
 Opportunities
The possible thing about using meetings is that the feedback may make changes to the
problems that will make everyone happier. There is also the opportunity during
meetings to discuss possible future problems and in which ways they will be
combatted.
 Threats
A possible threat of using meetings is that everyone may have many issues and
therefore if not correctly organised everyone may be trying to speak at once, this way
no one will get their viewpoint across as nothing can be heard. There is also the threat
that staff may tell the information to people that they shouldn’t.
Writteninformation
Updating knowledge
Written information can be used in the form of letters to inform people that there will
be changes of things going on within the school, letters can also be sent out in bulk so
this means that many people can be notified at once of the same changes.
Information future developments
Using letters is also a useful way to inform people about changes planned in the future
the school can also use notes for themselves to remind themselves of anything they
need to do later in the day, many staff may use a form of planner to do this.

2. Unit 4 P1/M1
Lewis Appleton 2 Miss Johnston
Strategic direction
This is one of the easiest methods to use when it comes to informing a large amount
of people about a change to something, letters can be sent to many people in bulk
supply and therefore this is useful to reach a large audience of people. The only
limitation of doing this is that there is no instant feedback and if many people reply
then there will be difficulty.
SWOT analysis
 Strengths
The good things about using a written form of communication is that the information
can be sent in bulk to a large amount of people, this way people can easily be notified
about changes. Another advantage is that any notes within a planner are all kept
together and therefore cannot be lost.
 Weaknesses
A big weakness of using written communication such as letters is that there will have
to be postage costs and therefore this could be a large amount of money when letters
are sent out in bulk. Letters also have to be sent to each address meaning a template is
hard to use.
 Opportunities
A possible opportunity of using letters is that the guardians of students will be able to
plan for any future changes they are notified about and this relieves stress from them.
If the letters are something such as a school trip it allows the guardians to prepare
themselves so they can afford the costs, the school has an opportunity here to gain
money.
 Threats
A possible and large threat is that if the recipients of the letters are not happy the
school can be flooded with calls, meeting arrangements and letters back and this could
cause a large amount of stress for the school. Another threat is that the guardians may
not receive the letters due to a change in address and therefore they may miss a crucial
letter such as a meeting arrangement or something about a student.
Onscreeninformation
Updating knowledge
This is a very useful form of communication that can be used to update knowledge
although it only really applies to students. PowerPoint’s can be used so that the
teacher can describe what the students need to learn while they also have something to
read and look at to keep them focused.
Strategic direction
This is a useful strategy as it keeps the students focused and interested in the lesson
while they learn and therefore can be used many times and still have the same
efficiency. Using this instead of reading from a textbook keeps the students focused
instead of boring them.
SWOT analysis
 Strengths
The strengths of using a PowerPoint are that people are focused on the information as
the PowerPoint is usually shown on a large screen and this means that the student has
very little places they could focus on without being noticed. Another advantage is that
PowerPoint’s do not have to be prepared by the teachers and many can be
downloaded online, this way the student still learns the same things and the teacher
has to do less work.

3. Unit 4 P1/M1
Lewis Appleton 3 Miss Johnston
 Weaknesses
A weakness of this is that if all of the information that the teacher is reading out is
already on the board then the students may have read it before the teacher was
speaking and already got bored and unfocused. Another weakness is that if the lesson
is not interactive enough such as answering questions and tasks then the student may
not remember the information as they have not been able to apply it.
 Opportunities
A good opportunity of using PowerPoint’s is that students may be able to have a copy
of the PowerPoint; this means that they will be able to use it to revise of help them
with coursework if they get stuck, because the data is held on electronic devices this
also saves money from printing costs. Another opportunity is that the PowerPoint’s
can have hyperlinks to things such as videos which would be able to explain the
information in another way.
 Threats
A threat of using PowerPoint’s is that if the teacher downloads a PowerPoint then the
information is not fully reliable and may not apply to what the lesson objective is.
Another threat of using PowerPoint’s is that the information can sometimes be more
easily explained using multimedia such as videos on the internet.
Multimediainformation
Updating knowledge
This information is also useful when trying to teach something, if something is being
explained on PowerPoint then examples can be shown in this form as it will reinforce
the thing being taught. An example of this may be teaching how not to do business
and showing a clip from only fools and horses.
Informing future developments
News articles sometimes have video clips to go with them, this way people can be
informed about the future, a good example of this is BBC news. The way that the
video clips can show this is by showing previous research and graphs that show a line
of best fit, this can be used to explain the prediction of something such as rainfall.
Strategic direction
This is often a useful strategy as hardly any work actually has to be done by the
teacher using it and because the information is not static the students keep their focus
on the screen. Students are more likely to remember what they are taught when
something interesting is show with it.
SWOT analysis
 Strengths
An advantage of using this is that there is very little research that has to be done by
the teacher and it can all be explained using a video. Another advantage is that this
information can be used with a PowerPoint to reinforce examples of what is being
taught and the mix of both will keep the students interested and able to apply the
information.
 Weaknesses
A bad thing about using this is that a video may be repetitive and therefore get boring
after a while. Another weakness is that if the teacher has not watched the full video
then they will not know all of the content on it and therefore the information can be
wrong, this also applies if the teacher has not researched the information to check that
it is correct.
 Opportunities

4. Unit 4 P1/M1
Lewis Appleton 4 Miss Johnston
An opportunity is that the students can be shown without having to explain anything
and if the information is on a public website such as YouTube then the students can
also easily access the information from their own homes. Another opportunity is that
the teacher is able to pause at different points in the videos and ask students for their
opinions on what is happening or ask them questions on what has happened.
 Threats
A threat of using this is that some videos may have the correct information but
explain it in a way such as the use of profanity and inappropriate content. Another
threat is that the information may apply to something else, an example of this would
be a lesson about what money is worth and YouTube videos of a game show such as
“the price is right”.
Web based information
Updating knowledge
This is useful to updated people about knowledge because the information is easy to
find and is free, it can also be very detailed about what it explains and can have links
to other sources which would reinforce the information. The site Wikipedia can be
used to find information easily and this can be applied to coursework.
Informing future developments
Using BBC news many details about future developments and plans can be found
easily, this means that anything can be predicted such as the weather and this
information can be used with PowerPoint’s to reinforce what the students are
learning.
Strategic direction
It is useful to use the internet to find information because of how easy it is, a student
only has to search something on Google and they can easily find the information
within minutes. A good thing about this is that many people have access to the
internet and therefore nearly everyone can use this form of information.
SWOT analysis
 Strengths
An advantage of using this information is the way it can be acquired so easily; it takes
just a single search to find hundreds of results. Another good thing is that information
can be simple, which would be easier to explain, or detailed which would explain the
information in more depth such as the purpose of it.
 Weaknesses
A weakness of using this information is that sites such as Wikipedia can be edited by
anyone and therefore the information may be unreliable and vandalised. Another
weakness is that the information can be so highly detailed that it is too difficult to
understand, this often applies to Wikipedia. There is also the weakness that the
information can be too simple and cannot be applied to coursework being done.
 Opportunities
An opportunity of using web based information is that it can be applied to coursework
and be sourced as a reference. The information can also be used to complete large
assignments and research for exams and tests.
 Threats
A threat of using information is that there are sites with inappropriate content that can
be found which may get the student in trouble. There is also the risk of when
searching something on Google there is either no results that apply specifically to
what the student is looking for or there are so many that are too detailed that the

5. Unit 4 P1/M1
Lewis Appleton 5 Miss Johnston
student doesn’t know how to apply it. The biggest threat is that there are malicious
sites which can harm computers with viruses and Trojans through the form of
downloaded files, it is also possible for the computer user to have any passwords
hacked and therefore they can lose all their information.