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IoD boosts director training with Kineo


The Institute of Directors (IoD) has worked with Kineo to develop a leadership and management portal for its website.


The institute selected Kineo to restructure its syllabus for an existing blended programme and also to refresh the materials and update the website. The


collaboration between


the two included implementing the Moodle open source learning management system to replace an older tool, creating new learning resources and providing training and support for the IoD’s administrative team.


The IoD has 40,000 members, was founded in


1903, and established by royal charter three years later. The IoD’s director of learning and development,


Ahern: solid platform for expansion


Ryan Ahern, said the partnership provided a solid platform for the Institute’s ongoing expansion at home and abroad, particularly for its chartered director qualifications. Kineo reports that more than 3,000 users have logged into the new Learning Zone site since its relaunch, while certificate exam usage in March this year was 75% higher than in November 2011. Site logs for the week containing the March 2012 exam peaked at 23,777 student visits.


Virtual gaming site


targets Europe The Toonix virtual gaming site for seven- to 11- year-olds is rolling out across Europe, the Middle East and Africa following the UK trial launch earlier this year. Toonix has been in development for the past two years by Atticmedia and is being launched for Cartoon Network Europe. The site’s slogan, “Be whoever you want to be!”, has already attracted 350,000 registered users, who can create and customise individual Toonix avatars and interact through the Flash-based gaming platform. The site’s technology includes a ‘Box 2D’ framework and customised ActionScript physics engine for character and object interactions. Players can also send gifts and stickers, as well as messaging and chatting with friends. The site was developed in partnership with Cartoon Network Europe’s parent Turner Broadcasting, which plans an extensive online and on-air marketing promotion campaign.


Call for rethink on A-level education


High levels of youth unemployment should persuade the government to overhaul the focus and role of sixth-form education, a campaigner has suggested. Sarah Wrixon, head of Salix Consulting, said: “Of


course, knowledge matters, but so do skills, a good work ethic and an understanding of what is useful to employers. And I firmly believe we need to champion that.” Wrixon is the founder of career development website Uni’s Not For Me.


The site is launching a campaign entitled Sixth


Sense that calls for an overhaul of the A-level system and a syllabus to better prepare young people for careers.


The campaign is lobbying for a more holistic


approach to students’ final two years at school and a A-level system that also provides practical skills that will be useful whether they go on to university, a vocational training course or straight into work. It


also calls for an end to league tables “that measure the value of a school purely on its ability to churn out A grades and potential graduates”. Research by YouGov for Uni’s Not For Me suggests


that only 10% of adults believe that the main purpose of A-levels is to prepare young people for the world of work. A separate study last year suggested that nearly half of 18-year-olds did not plan to go into higher education or take up an apprenticeship.


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