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LearningWIRE - Issue 9
20 May 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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- From the Editor
- Developments at TrainingZONE
- Site review: Technologies for Training
- Surf spots
- A surf through Penbo's learning log
- Web Watch: Are computers male or female?
- About Sift
- How to Subscribe
From the Editor
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Welcome to the ninth in our regular series of update briefings. We're aiming at a fortnightly mailing although this has been a bit erratic in the past month. This issue reports some interesting new developments, and the next issue should provide you with a window into a whole new web field.
An error crept into the proofing of Issue 8: the email address for Kevin McCarthy of the Re:membering Education team should have been re:member@mcmail.com. The colon is deliberate. Apologies to anyone who tried using the wrong address.
Further to the feature on book-buying over the Internet in Issue #6, news this month of further developments. The largest bookseller online - Amazon.com has, until now, been severely restricted in selling books to Europe because of the postage cost that had to be added to each sale to ship the books from their base in Seattle. Things are about to change however, as Amazon.com has placed a foot into the UK by buying Bookpages this week - the second largest UK specialist internet bookshop.
https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/artprt.cgx?article_id=953
http://www.amazon.com
http://wwwbookpages.co.uk
We're looking at carrying very short promotional advertising - for products, jobs, events at the top of future issues. Just a couple of lines to draw people's attention to what's available. Would this be a useful feature? Would you be interested in featuring something in the promotional or sponsorship area to reach our on- line audience of trainers and managers?
As always, feedback, news items, reviews, product comments and contributed features are always welcome for inclusion in forthcoming issues.
Tim Pickles,
Editor, LearningWIRE and TrainingZONE
tpickles@sift.co.uk
Developments at TrainingZONE
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The first phase of our development was to successfully launch LearningWIRE as a regular electronic update. The subscription list is now expanding and we aim to use LearningWIRE as a handy vehicle for keeping people informed of new developments.
However, the main focus has always been on the creation of a highly relevant, focused, value-added website which would provide training and development professionals it the UK with quick and easy access to the information and resources they needed. Our goal is to find the material for you and to save you time. It's taken rather longer than originally anticipated to get to the second phase, but the TrainingZONE website has now been active for several weeks. Several new features have recently been added including news monitors, discussion areas and a coaching zone. By registering your name and email address with the site, not only does the site automatically recognise who you are when next you visit, but also you can configure the site to search for and notify you of new postings related to topics which you prescribe.
If you feel confident about navigating web sites, please feel free to browse. The next issue of LearningWIRE will contain more detailed guidance about how to get the most from the site. The site still has a few hiccups due to the complexity of the underlying technology, so if you do discover a problem, we'd be grateful to know.
In the coming weeks and months, we have plans for a range of new features on the site. If there is content, links, directory entries, key sites, etc. that you would like to see added to the site, as always, please let me know.
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk
Site review: Technologies for Training
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Technologies for Training aims to provide information and advice about technology-based training and computer-based training. It's aimed mainly at businesses (of all sizes) but is equally relevant to self-learners and small organisations wanting to explore the sorts of training and learning resources which are increasingly available electronically. The development of the site has been funded by the Department for Education and Employment
http://www.tft.co.uk
As well as providing information through its website, Technologies for Training aims to establish a network of information points and demonstration centres through out the country. You should be able to walk into these centres, view what is on offer, and give it a hands-on trial. At this stage, the emphasis is upon England and Wales, but negotiations are in hand to extend the service into Scotland and Northern Ireland. Meanwhile Scottish users (and anyone else) should look at the excellent resources developed by the Scottish Council for Educational Technology.
http://www.scet.com
The breadth of material covered by Technologies for Training is considerable. They're interested in all forms of open and flexible learning and guidance using a variety of mediums including CD-ROM and the World Wide Web. (Interestingly, I read recently of a University Business School which is piloting an MBA programme for 60 students across the world using Internet technology alone). The site offers helpful advice and support about using such materials, points you at various sources, and lists the demonstration centres.
There are an interesting series of ten briefing sheets covering a range of topics which can be downloaded in HTML or Rich Text Format. I checked out the sheets on 'Setting up a Learning Resource Centre' which was particularly good, and also, 'Choosing a Consultant' which had some solid and reliable advice.
The design of the site is primarily text-based, without graphical
or interactive features.
My overall ratings on a 1* to 5* range are:
- Content ***
- Design **
Surf spots
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21 May 1998 has been designated as Learning at Work Day, to encourage employers to celebrate learning in your workplace
http://www.niace.org.uk
The Institute of Personnel and Development has decided for a trial period (until July 1999) to make it easier for members to upgrade their membership class (Graduates to Members, Members to Fellows). Those wishing to do so will require one sponsor (not two) and the support of their immediate supervisor.
http://www.ipd.co.uk
Forthcoming weekend courses for women to find support in making changes in their lives, involving very small group workshops, mentoring and support have now been scheduled in London. Also in the pipeline is a pilot course for men, and the publication of a new relaxation tape.
http://www.passport.co.uk
A surf through Penbo's learning log
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Wednesday: A mate of mine who's well connected in Education has tipped me off that there might be a role for me in Blunkett's new stuff on Standards in schools. The White Paper said that 'various educational interests' would unite to drive up standards - well I'm an educationally-interested-person who loves to do prestigious government contracts and of course to 'drive up standards' - so I've e-mailed him to offer my services. There seems to be a Task Force you can join so fingers crossed. E-mail to self 'Add words to CV as follows 'Shortly to be invited to sit on the Standards Task Force' Sounds great . .. nyet?'
Web Watch: Are computers male or female?
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Brian Maule bamaule@pacific.telebyte.net recently wrote this summary of the debate - which hardly follows politically-correct conventions!
As you are aware, ships have long been characterised as being female (e.g. "Steady as she goes" or "She's listing to starboard, Captain!"). Recently, a group of computer scientists (all males) announced that computers should also be referred to as being female. Their reasons for drawing this conclusion follow:
Five reasons to believe computers are female:
- No one but the Creator understands their internal logic.
- The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
- The message "Bad command or file name" is about as informative as, "If you don't know why I'm mad at you, then I'm certainly not going to tell you."
- Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.
- As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
Five reasons to believe computers are male:
- They have a lot of data, but are still clueless.
- They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem.
- As soon as you commit to one you realise that, if you had waited a little longer, you could have obtained a better model.
- In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
- Big power surges knock them out for the rest of the night.
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. 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). You can visit this site at https://www.accountingweb.co.uk
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Editor: Tim Pickles 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
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Tim Pickles ***** Designing professional toolkits
https://www.trainingzone.co.uk ***** The learning community
