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LearningWIRE - Issue 15
10 August 1998
A FREE electronic newsletter for net enabled people engaged in training, learning, coaching and staff development.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk
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Copyright (C) 1998 Sift plc. All rights reserved.
May be reproduced in any medium for non-commercial purposes as
long as attribution is given.
In this issue:
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- Distance and open learning materials
- Management development
- New Internet virus alert
- Recent news stories
- Internet Monitor
- Website review: Learning Fountain
- From the editor
This issue part sponsored by
Pavilion Publishing - leading publishers of training resources,
journals and manuals - and organisers of major national
conferences - for professionals in health and social care
http://www.pavpub.com
'Toolkit for Trainers' - the international bestseller, now
available in five foreign language editions. Order on-line
quoting LW15 for 10% discount.
http://www.timpickles.demon.co.uk/fip.html
Sift - Building internet communities for professional groups.
"We scour the net so you don't have to"
http://www.sift.co.uk
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Distance and open learning materials
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If you're looking to find resources on the web to support distance
learning, there are a number of UK-related sites which should
provide lots of ideas and materials.
The British Association for Distance Learning maintain a website
with information about what distance learning is, how it differs
from open learning, and how you can find some of the most
significant providers. Their site is at
http://www.distance-learning.co.uk
Similar in some ways, but more comprehensive, is the site for the
International Centre for Distance Learning which appears to be
maintained by the Open University, and which has recently moved
its address. There is a very comprehensive and searchable
database of both institutions and courses on a wide range of
subjects. There is also an extensive library of materials
including abstracts from published journals over the past fifteen
years. If you're looking for something specific, this site is
well worth a visit.
http://www-icdl.open.ac.uk/icdl/index.htm
If your interest is more restricted to business and business
development, there is an excellent site maintained personally by
Chris Jarvis at Brunel University called the Business Open
Learning Archive. Amongst the interesting resources I found here
were notes on marketing, power and management, business start-ups,
and ethics. It's a great site to browse and I found myself
downloading several pages to read in more detail.
http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/bola/index/html
Management development
======================
One LearningWIRE reader has pointed me towards a couple of great
sites maintained by Prof. Gareth Morgan at York University,
Toronto. Gareth is clearly interested in organisational and
personal effectiveness and has written a wide range of resource
materials which include models, practical theories and easy-to-
read handouts. His personal website is at
http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/gmorgan/index.html
Gareth also appears to have a business in organisational
development, consulting with several corporate clients. Many of
his resources concerned with managing in the new economy,
networking and organsiational effectiveness are well worth reading
and have been published at
http://www.imaginiz.com
TrainingZONE has recently extended it's Links section to include
more web links of direct interest to UK managers and management
development. For example, the Institute of Management site is now
linked at
http://www.inst-mgt.org.uk
The Institute's bi-monthly journal, 'The Professional Manager' is
published on-line at
http://www.inst-mgt.org.uk/institute.pm/index.html
Meanwhile the commercial 'Management Today' is published on-line
at
http://www.managementtoday.haynet.com
Also, don't forget the extensive site maintained by the
Association for Management Education and Development (AMED) who
captured the best URL at
http://www.management.org.uk
Although several parts of this site are restricted to members of the Association, the open access areas are informative and interesting to visit.
New Internet virus alert
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There are several warnings being posted in the last few days (by
Microsoft and AOL amongst others) about a new virus masquerading
as a desirable screen-saver called Budweiser Frogs. Avoid
downloading any file named BUDDYLST.ZIP. The virus destroys hard
drives and there is no remedy at present. Some warnings suggest
the virus is transported in email messages with the subject
"Returned or Unable to Delivery" and advises immediate deletion of
such messages without opening.
Recent News Stories
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Navigator - personal development for men
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Information has been received from a correspondent, James Traeger
(mailto:Traegerjr@aol.com) about Navigator - an innovative
personal development programme for men which has been created over
the past few months and is derived partly from similar work
established by Springboard in the field of self-development for
women.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/artprt.cgx?article_id=1362
Another exciting programme developed by women for women has been
run successfully by Passport. A version of the programme has also
been used by the Home Office. This initiative too is looking to
create a parallel programme for other groups wishing to review
their lives and careers and generate a personalised passport into
the future.
http://www.passport.co.uk
40% increase in business use of the Internet
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Business use of the Internet rose by 40 per cent in the UK in
1997, according to a new report - Moving into the Information Age
- International Benchmarking Study 1998. The report concludes that
firms in the UK are increasingly aware of the opportunities that
new technologies offer, with 86 per cent believing information and
communications technologies are important for business
competitiveness. But with their European competitors taking the
lead in the use of high technology equipment such as ISDN lines,
mobile phones, Local Area Networks and PCs, UK companies with
under 100 staff need to respond to the challenge of exploiting
these business opportunities.
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/artprt.cgx?article_id=997
Internet Monitor
================
Information about how to claim tax relief for approved vocational
training undertaken and paid for by individuals is at
http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/tax/tax.htm
If you're interested in knowing what the Myers-Briggs model of personality (and its associated test) actually do, take a look at http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/tt/t-articl/mb-simpl.htm Personality tests such as this well-known one are being increasingly used as part of recruitment and selection procedures. (Thanks to Dave Davies for this reference.)
Website review: Learning Fountain - contributed by Ian Cook
===========================================================
I was intrigued by the approach of this site
(http://www.learningfountain.com). It was a model of quick access
and practical information. It was designed to sell and its whole
message is about selling. The self confessed aim of the site is
to enable you to design your web pages so that people will learn
and linger and buy. Give people learning and they will give you
their business. The approach is subtle and well thought out.
Produced by Paul "the soaring" Siegel I was intrigued to follow the on-line tutorials in how to create my own learning fountain. These were basic enough to be quick. They were descriptive enough to guide. If you are concerned to set up an effective web site then I can recommend this page. It "walks its talk" with admirable ease of access and speed in loading. Having explored all the links I felt a little over burdened with his message.
I do feel that I learned something.
If you want to see a great example of a learning fountain then
visit Roger Greenaway's site reviewed in LearningWIRE - Issue 5.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rogg.
Overall I would give this site
- **** Friendliness
- *** Usefulness
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TrainingZONE has recently announced an agreement with three publishers - Pavilion Publishing, Russell House Publishing, and Framework on Print - to make resource materials available for download on the site. Look out for the new Toolkit area of TrainingZONE which will be appearing shortly. Downloads will be in Microsoft Word format and will be free to users who have registered with the site.
We anticipate announcing further such agreements to make valuable training and learning resources available shortly.
Tim Pickles,
Editor, LearningWIRE and TrainingZONE
mailto:tpickles@sift.co.uk
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About Sift
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Sift plc is a leading developer of online communities. Based in Bristol, Sift has developed AccountingWEB for professionals in the accountancy profession, and BusinessZONE. At the 1997 Online Information Exhibition at Olympia, Sift were voted European Information Product of the Year (and also runner up as Internet Product of 1997).
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https://www.trainingzone.co.uk ***** The learning community
