文章基本信息

标题：Biz/Ed Internet update
作者：Beharrell, Andy
期刊名称：Teaching Business Economics
印刷版ISSN：1367-3289
出版年度：1999
卷号：Summer 1999
出版社：Economics and Business Education Association

Biz/Ed Internet update

Beharrell, Andy

This ICT section contains an update on Biz/ed by the project team and a piece by Steve Lepper on the Internet. Steve has supported ICT developments in the EBEA for many years and we wish him well in his new post with AngliaCampus.

January, February and March 1999 have been busy months for Biz/Ed (1). In January we launched the new look and feel of the site. February marked the launch of the new `Virtual Economy' (2) which we wrote about in the last edition of Teaching Business and Economics. March has seen a lot of consolidation, but also a variety of new features - an update of the Company Report Profiler and Browser, new Company Facts and new GNVQ resources. During all this time there has also been a great deal of cataloguing activity, and the catalogue now stands at over 1,300 records.

In the latter part of 1998 we carried out an extensive user evaluation. This was done for us by the Internet Developments Team at the Institute for Learning and Research Development (3). A wide range of students were used as guinea pigs for the study and we found out a great deal about how users approached their use of the site.

As a result of the study the site was re-organised into just five headings, and certain parts of the site (like the Forum Section and the Contacts Database) were removed. The main headings are now:

1. Internet Catalogue

2. Learning Materials

3. Data

4. Company Facts

5. Virtual Worlds

The left-hand side of the screen has now become the main means of navigation around the site and clicking on any section or sub-section gives the user instant access to it.

One of the biggest improvements that was made when the site was re-organised was in the way the search mechanism works. Doing a search will now generate much improved results. Every page on the site has been given a full description and keywords, and the search checks all of these. For the technically minded, this process is called adding metadata.

(1) http://www.bized.ac.uk

(2) http://www.bized.ac.uk/ virtual/economy

(3) http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk

Andy Beharrell (Biz/ed Project Manager), Kate Sharp (Biz/Ed Research Officer) and Libby Miller (Biz/Ed Research Officer)