Citation
(2009), "What's on the web", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 23 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2009.08123aag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
What's on the web
Article Type: What’s on the web From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 23, Issue 1
From the horse’s mouth
www.newbusinesslearningcenter.com
Much has changed since the New Business Learning Center opened its doors in the USA now more than 20 years ago. They claim on their (rather good) web site to have evolved to become a one-stop resource for successfully achieving business goals – especially for the smaller business.
The New Business Learning Center has moved on from showing you how to start up your business the right way to how to sustain it through challenging times.
They offer free or low cost seminars, in a variety of formats and consulting services by telephone, or through online chats and e-mail.
The navigation bar is tidy and clear and a feature that struck this reviewer as very useful was the “My 2Cents blog” offering comment and advice from the American business community. Here is just one recent quote posted during the Autumn (Fall) financial crisis: “In spite of warnings to the contrary, small business owners have cut back on advertising, customer service, and educational training expenditures.” Good stuff.
Auntie business
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/business
On the BBC site there is a section for learning English and within that a business section. There is a useful page examining the roles and teachings of Business Gurus and a sensible section on business negotiations. As with all the BBC sites, this is highly user-friendly and easy to get around – simple without being simplistic.
For anyone in the USA or UK who deals with those for whom English is not a first language, who employs foreign nationals or has overseas subsidiaries, this may well be worth a look. Certainly it would be a good place to start rather than taking on some of the more dubious “business English” specialists around!
Good place to start
http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk
Probably the quickest (and one of the easiest) ways to find out the basics of the learning and training set-up in the UK is to check out this useful site. It has taken over 40 million hits in the last two years – a statistic that speaks for itself. Concentrating largely on government policy and macro-level changes, it is currently debating the closure of the Learning and Skills Council, the Raising Expectations White Paper and the new arrangements for both pre- and post-19 education and training.
The site is user-friendly and informative and it is easy to access relevant sections. There are no whizzy graphics, no irrelevant photos of happy learners and no irritating pop-ups. A good, plain site.
Blackboard jungle
By contrast, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) site is a bit of a jumble (or should that be jungle?).
Founded in 1916, AERA is concerned with improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation and by promoting the dissemination and practical application of research results.
AERA is a prominent international professional organization, with the primary goal of advancing educational research and its practical application. Its more than 26,000 members are educators, administrators, directors of research, evaluators, counselors; graduate students and behavioral scientists. The broad range of disciplines represented by the membership includes education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.
Aside from the site being a little too busy, someone should have a good look at the home page where hypertext symbols have crept in several places spoiling both look and sense – not ideal for a top education site!
Trying hard
On October 1, 2008, QIA and the Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) transferred their operation to the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS). LSIS is the new improvement body dedicated to the development of the FE and skills sector in the UK.
The creation of LSIS marks a new beginning for the community of providers in the learning and skills sector – colleges, private training providers, local authority adult education services and providers in the voluntary sector. The current interim web site has plenty of information useful to professionals and the layout is reasonably clear. Whether the language is accessible to anyone not in the education/learning field, however, is another matter.
And finally
Two very old guys, friends since college more than 50 years ago, decide to write a book about how jokes illuminate philosophical ideas. It is sent out to 40 publishers and they get rejections from every one of them, with kind notes saying it is fascinating, but nobody would buy it.
The 41st says, “What the hell, we’ll give it a try;” they print a modest amount and cross their fingers. A few weeks later, the book hits the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list, tied for third place. The publisher runs out of books, so they print some more. Meantime, 20 foreign countries buy rights to translate the book, and in time it becomes a bestseller in France and Israel.
Check out Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar.
Best of all
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try the Emerald one!
If you have any favorite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, or wish us to consider your own site, please drop us an e-mail and we will ask our reviewers to check them out.