------------------------------------------------------------------ LearningWIRE - Issue 16 19 August 1998 A FREE electronic newsletter for net enabled people engaged in training, learning, coaching and staff development. https://www.trainingzone.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 ****************************************************************** 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 ------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------- 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. http://www.nec.ac.uk 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 ---------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------ 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. http://www.ahri.com.au Society for Human Resource Management ------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------- 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 --------------------------------------------- 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 ------------------------------------------------------- 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. http://www.ihrim.org International Coaching Federation --------------------------------- 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 ----------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------- Report from the IPD correspondent http://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/news.htm New training and education ministers in the UK government reshuffle --------------------------------------------------------- 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 ================================================================== 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). How to Subscribe ---------------- N.B. If you were the original recipient of this message, you do not need to follow these subscription instructions as you are already subscribed to the newsletter. However, if someone has forwarded this newsletter to you, please do follow these instructions. Please invite your friends and colleagues to subscribe by forwarding them this e-mail. To add or remove a subscription, send a message to majordomo@sift.co.uk and in the BODY of the message type: subscribe learningwire youre-mailaddress e.g. subscribe learningwire tpickles@sift.co.uk or unsubscribe learningwire youre-mailaddress ------------------------------------------------------------------ Editor: Tim Pickles mailto:tpickles@sift.co.uk Sift plc., 33 Corn Street, Bristol BS1 1HT Tel:+44 (0)117 930 8881 Fax:+44 (0)117 930 8887 http://www.sift.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------- Tim Pickles ***** Designing professional toolkits https://www.trainingzone.co.uk ***** The learning community