CyberGuide
Click — and Learn!
FROM: JAN-FEB 2003 ISSUE | BY ROBIN DAY
Keeping up to speed with technology at a time when personal calendars have more overlapping appointments than any free time can be quite a challenge. Putting aside a day or two for professional development may be next to impossible. But what if you could learn something in a few 10- or 20-minute sessions at your convenience? The availability of online training and similar resources make it possible to do just that. So let's look at some Web resources for "quick and dirty" online PD.
http://home.sprintmail.com/~debflanagan/main.html
Searching the Web can be as simple as typing a single keyword and clicking go. Of course, one keyword can net you several thousand hits that will take you days to look at. This tutorial on Web Search Strategies will help you find what you are looking for quickly and easily — without having to look through 20 pages of hits. This free site is worthwhile reading for anyone who does online research.
http://www.howstuffworks.com
The HowStuffWorks site is not limited to technology and computing topics, but every time I go there I learn something new. My most recent visit led me to discover everything I needed to know about emerging holographic memory technologies that could eventually facilitate storage of more than a terabyte of data in the space of one cubic centimetre. Now if that's not PD, I'm not sure what qualifies. In my opinion, HowStuffWorks is probably one of the most valuable freebies on the Web.
These are just a couple of the hundreds of online resources that are available for those in search of PD. Check out the CGA-CanadaPD Network at http://pdnet.cga-canada.org for additional resources.
Robin Day, MBA, CGA, teaches financial management at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He is also president of Virtual Information Technologies Inc.E-mail rday@virtualit.ca.