VIRTUAL TUTORIALS "ANY TIME, ANY WHERE"
Students, lecturers and researchers who think they can find good Internet
information on their subject area quickly and successfully may need to
think again. A national web initiative offering free online training in
Internet skills is launched today [May 8] at www.vts.rdn.ac.uk
The Resource Discovery Network (RDN) Virtual Training Suite is a
collaboration between 30 universities providing 40 "teach yourself"
tutorials on the Web from "Internet Physicist" to "Internet Philosopher".
Each tutorial takes the user on a tour of the best of the Web for their
subject, with expert "tour guides" commissioned from universities,
libraries, museums and research institutes across the UK.
The new website was launched by Michael Wills, the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State for Education and Technology, and Sir John
Kingman, Vice-Chancellor of Bristol University, via a live link-up at
simultaneous launch events hosted by six UK universities: Bristol, Edinb
urgh, Nottingham, Kings College London, Oxford (held at Leeds) and
Manchester.
Michael Wills, commenting on the website, said: 'It is going to train
learners to make the best use of the Internet to support their particular
subject focus, and to help them harness technology effectively, efficiently
and economically.' See Michael Wills' speech online at:
http://www.vts.rdn.ac.uk/video/
Sir John Kingman added: 'The ability to locate, evaluate and use
information on the Internet is becoming an essential skill. This new
educational resource will help people in all subject disciplines to learn
more about using the Internet as a source of scholarly information.'
ENDS . . .
Notes for Editors
The RDN Virtual Training Suite is at www.vts.rdn.ac.uk
RDN is a national Internet service for academics and professionals funded
by the Higher and Further Education Funding Bodies via the Joint
Information Systems Committee (JISC), and by Research Councils such as the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
This project was co-ordinated by The Institute for Learning and Research
Technology (ILRT) at Bristol University, in collaboration with the RDN
hubs.
The five hubs are: SOSIG (The Social Science Information Gateway), EEVL
(The Internet Guide for Engineering, Mathematics and Computing), BIOME
(Internet Resources in Health and Life Sciences), PSIgate (The Physical
Sciences Information Gateway) and HUMBUL (The Humanities Hub).
Three more gateways covering geography and environment, sport, tourism and
leisure and the arts and the creative industries are under development.
Issued by the Public Relations Office, Communications & Marketing Services,
University of Bristol, tel (0117) 928 8896, mobile 07770 408757. Contact:
Joanne Fryer
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