E‐learning: new opportunities in continuing professional development
The growth in professional learning is opening up many new opportunities for the application of e‐learning to the world of continuing professional development (CPD). CPD programmes require professionals to engage in annual programmes of professional development, and in some cases revalidation or recertification. To date, most of this activity has been off‐line. Increasingly, CPD requirements will be satisfied through the use of learning resources available on‐line or packaged into specially tailored e‐learning courses. Societies and professional associations – as the primary managers and coordinators of CPD programmes – are in a strong position to expand upon their existing Web‐based initiatives to deliver a new generation of e‐learning services to their members.
E‐learning markets and providers: some issues and prospects
Demonstrates how digital technologies are affecting the organisational learning process, drawing on material presented to an industry forum. Reviews the rise of the knowledge‐based organisation, examines how the Internet has created “e” learning, investigates why organisations are impelled towards e‐learning, provides some estimates of the size of the e‐learning market and outlines the activities of some e‐learning provider organisations. Shows that the corporate e‐learning market is undergoing strong growth with a wide range of providers and alliances emerging and some consolidation expected. Organisations now seek metrics for evaluating e‐learning and quality benchmarks are recommended.
On the use of the Hardening Soil Small Strain model in geotechnical practice
This article highlights the importance of using advanced constitutive soil models in numerical modelling as daily geotechnical practice. In this context, the Hardening Soil (HS) model is presented as the most advanced soil model implemented in the ZSoil finite element code. The article recalls the basic features of the HS model and it explains their role in numerical simulations. The role of pre-failure non-linear behaviour of soils is also discussed. An application of the HS model is illustrated on typical geotechnical problems such as retaining wall excavation, tunnel excavation and undrained loading followed by consolidation.