Apparently the verb to 'google' was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006. The dictionary isn't the fastest off the mark to recognise new social phenomena and, as yet, there is no equivalent verb 'to facebook'.
A long time ago the biggest name in computing was IBM and 'nobody ever got fired for buying IBM'. More recently office applications like WordPerfect and Lotus 123 (accountants were especially keen on Lotus) were kings of the heap until along came Microsoft Office. Now there is the possibility that mighty Google is losing ground. The challenger is Facebook.
Facebook is not only rapidly becoming the most popular website in the world but it also has a crucial advantage over Google because its users have to login. This means that, in theory at any rate, Facebook could collect information about the web resources that its members like and make connections between that data and the equivalent data for each Facebook user in that person's, usually very extensive, social network. So, for instance, if a Facebook user makes it clear that they like a website promoting, say, a certain fashionable clothing brand then Facebook could target advertising for that brand to all that user's Facebook friends. Google has made a fortune in targeted advertising but Facebook might be about to take it to a new level.
If data protection rules and privacy concerns do not prevent Facebook from achieving this goal it should be good news for online service providers, especially those that already make connections between their customers. Elearning students with the Accounting and Bookkeeping College, for instance, already benefit from the online forums that are part of each course and allow them to discuss accountancy matters with each other as well as with their tutor. Accountancy is not always regarded as the most sociable career but social networking might have a lot to offer the accountant in training.
Showing posts with label courses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label courses. Show all posts
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Do It Yourself
After the televised debate last night between the would-be chancellors in the next parliament it is clear that all parties are committed to cutting public expenditure. The current rate of government spending is, after all, unsustainable. Whether they are reluctant to publish detailed plans for fear of losing votes amongst those who will inevitably lose their jobs or whether, as we suspect, they simply don't know where they can save the vast sums needed to balance the books, none of the parties is giving us much detail as to where those cuts will fall.
One unfortunate area of public spending, however, already knows that its budget has been slashed, the further education sector. Long considered to be the 'Cinderella' of the education system, the further education colleges are expecting a £200 million cut this year. We are inclined to agree with the Assistant Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, Julian Gravatt, who says, "We are calling on the Chancellor to help protect these courses and the students they serve. We know that the Treasury is under significant pressure to further curtail public spending but cutting courses that are so essential to our recovery is a false economy." We are not hopeful that the cuts will be reversed, though.
The remedy according to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills is to 'cut funding to lower priority courses' and 'to aim for the largest simplification of the skills landscape for many years'. That way, apparently, colleges will be able to deliver more worthwhile training for less money. In the process the DBIS is hoping that more vocational training will be paid for by the students themselves and their employers. It is easy to see how this might be more efficient but we cannot imagine that it will lead to more skills training.
For most adults what the government is effectively saying is that you should 'do it yourself' when it comes to training for work. Perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that there are good courses available from training providers such as the Accounting & Bookkeeping College like our course for the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers' Certificate.
One unfortunate area of public spending, however, already knows that its budget has been slashed, the further education sector. Long considered to be the 'Cinderella' of the education system, the further education colleges are expecting a £200 million cut this year. We are inclined to agree with the Assistant Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, Julian Gravatt, who says, "We are calling on the Chancellor to help protect these courses and the students they serve. We know that the Treasury is under significant pressure to further curtail public spending but cutting courses that are so essential to our recovery is a false economy." We are not hopeful that the cuts will be reversed, though.
The remedy according to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills is to 'cut funding to lower priority courses' and 'to aim for the largest simplification of the skills landscape for many years'. That way, apparently, colleges will be able to deliver more worthwhile training for less money. In the process the DBIS is hoping that more vocational training will be paid for by the students themselves and their employers. It is easy to see how this might be more efficient but we cannot imagine that it will lead to more skills training.
For most adults what the government is effectively saying is that you should 'do it yourself' when it comes to training for work. Perhaps this is a reflection of the fact that there are good courses available from training providers such as the Accounting & Bookkeeping College like our course for the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers' Certificate.
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