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LearningWIRE – Issue 16
19 August 1998
A FREE electronic newsletter for net enabled people
engaged in training, learning, coaching and staff development.
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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:
==============
Recent news stories * Follow up on Distance Learning
Professional Institutes online * Internet Monitor * Hoaxes and
the Gullibility Virus * From the editor
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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 LW16 for 10% discount.
http://www.timpickles.demon.co.uk/fip.html
******************************************************************
Recent News Stories
===================
DfEE moves towards on-line learning for its staff
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The DfEE has published an invitation to tender for an information
technology facility to deliver wide ranging training products
direct to the personal computers of all its staff via the DfEE
Intranet
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/artprt.cgx?article_id=1439
You’re never too old to (continuously) learn
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The lifelong learning adviser to the Clinton administration tell
the IFTGO conference in Dublin of how his 88-year old mother gets
connected to the Internet, surfs every day and has become a
‘lifelong learner’!
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/artprt.cgx?article_id=1487
Develop project for multimedia training
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EU funded, pan-European project to develop multimedia approach to
skills development across an organisation, piloted in UK at Napier
University
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk/cgi-bin/artprt.cgx?article_id=1486
Follow up on Distance Learning (LearningWIRE issue 15)
======================================================
Thanks to Moano Pledger for reminding me:
“Don’t forget the National Extension College when talking about
distance learning providers in the UK. The NEC was founded in 1963
as a non-profit-making trust dedicated to providing educational
opportunities for all. NEC is a fully accredited distance learning
college, which means all our course materials, tuition and student
advice services are independently assessed by the Open and
Distance Learning Quality Council to ensure they meet the highest
standards of educational provision.
Professional Institutes online
==============================
This week, I’ve been looking at some of the websites maintained by
the training and development related professional institutes. You
don’t need to be a member to obtain access to most, and several
publish very useful and relevant information.
International Personnel Management Association
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US-based association of 5,500 members working primarily in the
public sector. Aims to provide ‘leadership, education,
information and representational services to advance
organisational objectives and quality in the public sector.
http://www.ipma-hr.org I found the most interesting section was a
comprehensive digest of links and search engine to a huge range of
US government and federal agencies
http://www.ipma-hr.org/research/explore2.html
Australian Human Resources Institute
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An example of what a good website can look like! Good,
informative, interesting. Nice promotion for their forthcoming HR
Week at the end of the month.
Society for Human Resource Management
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http://www.shrm.org
Again, mainly an American body with quite a lot of pages
restricted to a members login procedure. This is a shame. I
found a fascinating section on their Diversity Initiative which I
really wanted to explore further. However, the Diversity Toolkit,
which is designed to help local groups get to grips with diversity
issues, is only accessible by members.
http://www.shrm.org/diversity
Institute for Personnel and Development
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The principal UK Institute formed a few years ago by the
amalgamation of the Institute for Personnel with the smaller
Institute for Training and Development. This site continues to
undergo development, but to my mind is still too restricted. Much
of the site is accessible only to members who must enter their
membership number and date of birth. Plenty of information about
IPD events and facilities but insufficient content on other
related and relevant issues from other sources
http://www.ipd.co.uk
American Society for Training and Development
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This remains one of my favourite sites. Large, attractive, easy
to access, plenty of content, informative. It’s probably the best
of the sites in this list. Why not go and have a look?
http://www.astd.org
International Association for HR Information Management
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A new organisation, still mainly US based, seeking to link
professionals with a joint interest in both human resources and
information technology. Could be worth watching to see what
develops as new groups are established. Good networking section.
International Coaching Federation
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Mainly an information site for this organisation which links and
promotes personal and business coaches. It has ‘chapters’
throughout America and in several other countries. There is a
contact for England at Brunel University.
http://www.coachfederation.org
Internet Monitor
================
New Deal
——–
Information about the New Deal initiative is now published at
http://www.newdeal.gov.uk
Personnel Development Network
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When I first came across this site, I was quite excited. It
promised to be a single resource point for people and
organisations wanting information about personal and professional
development, human resources in general, recruitment, etc. On
closer inspection, I was more disappointed. Although the indexed
material is well presented and organised, the site seems to offer
little more than extensive listings of companies and organisations
providing products and services. This could be worthwhile if you
want to extend your own marketing, but most of the links seem to
go to pages hosted by the Network, rather than to your own
website.
http://www.pdn.co.uk
Report on the IFTDO conference, Dublin
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Report from the IPD correspondent
http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news.htm
New training and education ministers in the UK government
reshuffle
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IPD news story and analysis
http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news.htm
Hoaxes and the Gullibility Virus
================================
It seems that I fell for the hoax virus reporting which we
reported in LearningWIRE issue 15! My apologies. Whilst there
might be a virus transmitted in a standard data file attached to
an email, so far no one has transmitted one in an ASCII email
message.
The Gullibility Virus is one “that causes people to believe
without question every groundless story, legend, and dire warning
that shows up in their inbox or on their browser. The Gullibility
Virus apparently makes people believe and forward copies of silly
hoaxes relating to cookie recipes, email viruses, taxes on modems,
and get-rich-quick schemes.” OK, we’re guilty as charged.
Seriously, if you are worried about virus transmission over the
Internet, or about particular alerts that you receive, you can
obtain online help from any of the following sources:
Department of Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability at
http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html
Symantec Anti Virus Research Center at
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/index.html
McAfee Associates Virus Hoax List at
http://www.mcafee.com/support/hoax.html
Dr. Solomons Hoax Page at
http://www.drsolomons.com/vircen/hoax.html
The Urban Legends Web Site at
http://www.urbanlegends.com
Urban Legends Reference Pages at
http://www.snopes.com
Datafellows Hoax Warnings at
http://www.Europe.Datafellows.com/news/hoax.htm
In my experience, several reputable ISP are quite good at putting
out authentic warnings when there is a serious risk. It’s a good
idea to subscribe to your ISP’s announcements service which will
send you automated email warnings when these are justified.
>From the editor
===============
The TrainingZONE website should shortly be moving to the Netcom
servers at Telehouse which is much closer to the Internet
backbone. Most users should experience significantly faster
access times to our pages as a result.
We’re building our contacts with the press as we generate further
marketing for the site. If you have features or news which you
would like to see featured in TrainingZONE, please do get in touch
with me. The next issue of LearningWIRE is scheduled for early
September.
Tim Pickles,
Editor, LearningWIRE and TrainingZONE
mailto:tpickles@sift.co.uk
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About Sift
———-
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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Tim Pickles ***** Designing professional toolkits
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk ***** The learning community
