Internet news
Internet news
Keywords: Occupational health, Learning, Psychology
In this issue we start with a more unusual Web site, Plants for People at: http://www.plants-for-people.org
Based on the premise that we now spend less than 23 minutes each day outdoors, then the air indoors that we breathe is not so healthy, giving rise to a number of illnesses and complaints. The theory presented here is that plants can help reduce the number of headaches, improve productivity, reduce stress levels and even accelerate post operative recovery time.
The Website is functional and, of course, green in colour to emphasise the point perhaps. It contains a slide-show, which was painfully slow to watch and did not seem to add value. Interestingly, the research quoted here (available for downloading) has been conducted by horticultural and/or agricultural students with one school of architecture quoted, too. The term "environmental psychology" appears here and there but there are few robust links to psychological research.
That is not to say that there is no substance to the research quoted here, it perhaps could be presented with some more weight. Also one or two of the pages could not be accessed easily. There is a CD-ROM compatible with Windows 95 available but there was no reference to it on the available pages on the site itself.
Perhaps some stress management researchers would like to comment on the theory that plants in the workplace can help in the ways suggested?
And now for something completely different: how the brain works in terms of learning. http://www.brains.org is a Website hosted by two educationalists. Aimed at helping teachers and trainers in business appreciate how people learn, it does have a focus on the school classroom and curriculum. However, there are some nuggets of information and the book list is a good introduction with a direct link to: http://www.amazon.com to find more details and order online.
The World Lecture Hall can be found at http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/psyThis site provides a series of on-line courses and lectures on a whole host of subjects. Looking at the psychology resources there is everything from a range of introductory courses to specialist subjects such as learning and how to put questionnaires on the Internet. The quality is inevitably variable but the latter example was well presented and considered with many practical hints and tips. Qualitative Research Methods looked interesting until one began to search around for detail. For example, a link to the Quality Research Web Ring at http://www.im.pdx.edu/~kerlinb/qr/produced only a dialogue box asking visitors to add their site and attempts to find more information were inconclusive. It would probably be interesting to visit the main World Lecture Hall site if only to see how psychology courses and subject matter are being taught using technology.
With reference to psychology courses, the University of Wales has received excellent reviews of its teaching and research in the subject (see http://www.swan.ac.uk/psychology/edit/lf1.htm). The psychology department's site currently is being redesigned as inter-active pages due to be completed by the summer of 1999, so by the time you read this issue it should be worth visiting in its new format.
All suggestions of sites for review are welcome. Please send them to Maggie McCourt-Mooney either by e-mail at: MAILTO:m@mccourtt.co.ukor by mail to the address on the inside front cover of this journal.
