UK firms to increase e-learning spend

Brightwave says over 60% of UK learning and development professionals are under more pressure to measure the impact of e-learning, according to Training Press Releases.

The workplace e-learning specialist adds half of the organisations in the UK are expecting their e-learning spend to rise, while 80% of total training budgets are likely to be cut or stay the same.

"Most training activities are hopelessly inefficient with little proof of their effectiveness. At Brightwave, we have found that investing in engaging, integrated and goal-driven e-learning which supports employees whenever and wherever they need it does prove effective and delivers results," says Brightwave's director of learning services Lars Hyland.

Educating.net says its renovated interactive educational portal meets the newfound capacities of the Web 2.0 and e-learning 2.0, according to Live PR.

Educating.net is one of the oldest vertical portals on the Internet for educational services. The educational portal is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a major new look and function for its Web site.

Of the more than 10 million sites on the Web that might be considered relevant to education, Educating.net has filtered and sorted these down to a manageable 2 000 sites that provide convenience and one-stop shopping for education on the Internet.

New Brunswick is the first Canadian province to sign an agreement with Microsoft to help build "classrooms of the future", says Times and Transcript.

The Partners in Learning programme will provide New Brunswick schools with access to an innovative schools network, and an online community that includes teaching aides and professional development tools. It will also include a live Web portal that will allow teachers to trade methods with colleagues across the world.

Premier Shawn Graham says students and teachers in this province will be able to harness information technologies to open a window to the world. "This new partnership will provide you, the students, the teachers, and schools, new technologies that connect them to a global community and challenge them to be innovative, creative, and forward thinking."