27th January 2009
Create your own social networking site, like Facebook, for free. Designed for collaborations, workgroups and social groups all kinds, you can create a private social network (you approve membership) or a public one that's open to all. Once people have joined your network, members can share their blogs, message, post, share media and so on. Educators are increasingly using Ning for collaborations and its use…
Read more22nd January 2009
A great day at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth's Enterprise Pavilion. Fifty people focused on supporting small and new businesses, particularly those in the cultural and creative industries. Much discussion on entrepeneurialism, peer learning, mentoring, training, encouraging creativity and innovation, developing leadership skills, understanding markets, building networks... It seems that highly personalised learning experiences are invaluable in giving startups and those considering self-employment the confidence…
Read more19th January 2009
Martin Bean, Open University (OU) Vice Chancellor designate, gave a talk at the OU Milton Keynes on Monday. On appointment he had said: It is an honour to have been selected as the next Vice-Chancellor of The Open University. It is a unique and amazing institution that has changed the lives of millions through its commitment to furthering social justice and to making higher education…
Read more13th January 2009
A recent study shows that everyone, at every level, can benefit from coaching and mentoring. In 2008, seven lower-wage workers were coached over a period of approximately three months to determine if coaching was effective, and what coaching issues may be specific to such workers. It became clear that coaching was indeed a powerful tool for facilitating career development and personal development. A number of…
Read more8th January 2009
Businesses looking to enhance creativity and productivity during turbulent times could find the answer in coaching. Addressing meaning and purpose in coaching sessions helps people to be more creative, more productive and reach their full potential, suggests a survey of more than 1,000 coaches carried out by Coaching at Work and the Association for Coaching. Top of the benefits cited were: increased work productivity (20…
Read more7th January 2009
What's stopping you working for yourself? 12th February saw a BusinessLink event, in Cowes, for women who were thinking of working for themselves or who had been trading for a year or so. Working for yourself has some big advantages. But, whether you have just started or you are just starting to think about whether it could be the right move for you, it can…
Read more2nd January 2009
Oxbridge "has little online "buzz", reports the Times Higher Education Supplement. Oxford and Cambridge are near the top in university rankings but, on the web, do they have a buzz about them? A new league table from Portfolio Communications that measures what is being said about universities online in blogs and on news websites... suggests not. According to the rankings, those enjoying the most positive…
Read more29th December 2008
The CIPD's annual barometer forecast is that the UK economy will shed at least 600,000 jobs in 2009. Overall, the 18-month period from the start of the recession in mid-2008 until the end of 2009 will witness the loss of around three quarters of a million jobs, equivalent to the total net rise in employment in the preceding three years. Mr Philpott said job losses…
Read more16th December 2008
I'm visiting the Open University (OU) today for a technology update on e-learning and media technologies. OU Colleagues whom I worked with in 2007-8 have given me the latest news on learning design, e-assessment, online collaboration and learning media. I'm compelled to give some things a try from here, so keep an eye out.
Read more10th December 2008
If you haven't seen a blog before, don't worry. To read an explanation, take a look at the Wikipedia page on blogs. More fun though is this 3-minute explanatory video, made in the US, which tells you why people find blogs useful for sharing news and linking up with likeminded people. If you simply want to look at some other blogs, you'll find millions on…
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