Disney Disney And Mental Illness - 1216 Words

Disney and Mental Illness It is well known that children are very easily influenced by what they see in the world, especially in the media. Disney has undoubtedly monopolized the hearts and brains of children all around tihe world, so they have an extreme amount of power in the way they portray things. Whether it be the way they portray gender, families, or mental illness, these portrayals affect their audience on a deep psychological level. The way that mental illness is portrayed is a lot harder to detect than some other topics like gender and families, but they are just as damaging. Disney needs to strive to portray mental illness as something that is genuinely human rather than something that is evil. While it s obvious that Disney needs to adjust their view of mental illness, this goal isn’t something that can be changed overnight. Disney has taken the concept of mental illness and turned it into something to define someone by. The sheer amount of mental illness referenced in Disney movies is somewhat shocking. In a study by Andrea Lawson and Gregory Fouts it was discovered that, â€Å"Combining principal and minor characters, a total of 85% of Disney animated films contained references to characters with mental illness†(Fouts). Disney is also very complex in the way that they portray certain mental illnesses, they take any character that is supposed to be misunderstood and slap on a mental illness, â€Å"Disney seems to be saving that madness is a label that society uses whenShow MoreRelatedThe Correlation Between Disney Movies and Poor Body Image in Young Women1406 Words   |  6 PagesDisney was named the worlds second top media company in the US for the year 2 004. They have produced over 44 â€Å"classics† and are one of the most recognized names in animated film (Peterson).We expose young girls to these animated films at a very young age, yet doing so does not seem to be good for these children. 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Notes On Disability And Empowerment - 1170 Words

Ademola Adeshina Disability and Empowerment This essay will discuss the term - learning disability or (learning difficulties – a term sometimes used interchangeably) and some possible causes. The nature and role of advocacy as a part of the empowerment process will also be considered. All these will be done in relation to Kelly – a person with Down’s syndrome as a case study. It will explain the progress made with Kelly by her support workers and how these can be further developed to ensure a more independent and meaningful life. According to Paul Williams, ‘Learning Difficulty’ cannot be defined (social work with People with Learning Difficulties). Arriving at a generally acceptable definition of learning disability is a difficult†¦show more content†¦The medical model sees learning disability as a condition that needs to be cure in order for disabled people to live a ‘normal’ life. The model sees the disabled people as the problem not the society. In contrast, the social model argues disability to be the result of the way society is organised. According to this model, the society disabled people by way of discrimination and barriers to allow equal participation. With regards to Kelly, we can conclude she has experienced the two models of learning disability. She has a condition known as Down’s syndrome, a genetic condition caused by the presence of an extra chromosome 21 in the body cells. This condition is neither a disease nor an ailment (Down’s Syndrome As sociation UK). Down Syndrome, like Autism, Asperger, Tourette syndrome and Dyslexia are some of the many types of learning disabilities in the UK. In an attempt to explain the level of Kelly’s disability, an in-depth explanation of the various levels of learning disabilities will now be examined. These can be grouped into four categories; Mild, Moderate, Severe and Profound. Mild – people with mild learning disability are usually able to engage in conversation, they may be able to perform some basic activities on their own, they may need support to understand

Key Issues and Handling of Organisation-Free-Samples for Students

Questions: Disucss about the Importance and Role that Better Organisational Behaviour Plays In the Development of Business. Answers: Introduction The report elucidates the importance and role that better organisational behaviour plays in the development of business. In this particular report the case study of Ken Pvt Ltd. has been given which deals with Dogma International and promised the client to provide 10 years newspaper in digitisation format in 2 months. But the agreement was not maintained. After 2 months only 2 years paper were digitised that too with the poor image quality that highly disappointed the client (Kitchin, 2017). On analysing there were various mistakes that have been found which is discussed within the report along with the solution to this challenge. The hindrances and help have been discussed along with the key concepts in relation to organisational behaviour followed by the issues that happened in the case and concluded with the recommendations by giving suggestions to the organisation so that mistakes are not repeated in the future. Identification of key issues Ken private limited is situated in Texas, United States and was established in the year 1991. The main motive of the company is to outsource the knowledge and rendering the technological services. The information is provided to the client in an effective and cost-efficient manner. The company deals in the fabrication service and knowledge service. In the fabrication services the information digitization takes place using XML, mark-up services, setting up the image, conversion of data, creating the technological services to develop services and translation of services. The knowledge services involves within the tact to expand the content, improvement of vocabulary, taxonomy, hyperlinking the important links and marking it up, indexing the content and designing the abstract and undergoing the other editorial services (Walumbwa, Hartnell Misati, 2017). The technological area focuses on the designing, implementation, integrity and deployment to the author, managing and distributing cont ent to the client. The company is renowned enough for its outstanding performance. The company has opened the outlets in America, Europe and Asia where around 5000 employees are employed and net worth that the company holds is $90 million as per the year 2004 (Ken Group, 2015). The case demonstrates that Ken Private limited got the big project to work on the Genesis Times; the Genesis Digitization project wants Ken to create the project for their client Dogma International. Dogma International demanded for digitized newspapers covering the 150 years. Ken assured the client to present the digitisation of 10 years in the 2 months. Due to the occurrence of certain issues the promise was not fulfilled by Ken in the given time duration and Dogma International gave the warning to Ken that in case if the Company is not able to meet the commitment then company might take back the order and revoke the contract. This created the situation of panic for Ken and working gets faster along with the monitoring where the company is lacking and to repair the patches thereby finding out the root cause of the discrepancies. On analysis the study key issues and challenges appeared are that basically there was lack of communication among the staff. The project manager Sharma distributed the work into 2 sections on of them was Indian section dealing with development of technology and then passing it to the Philippines so that they can start working upon the digitisation process. The Philippines section was divided in 5 departments and each section has 1 head that report to the project manager. The issue was that Philippine section was facing the challenge in using the technologies designed by the Indian section and the staffs are not supporting eth project manager as well (Pandey, Breslin Broadus, 2017). When Sharma, called up the meeting no one uttered a single word and neither anybody raised some sought of query at the time meeting. The project manager gets to know about the actual issues when the 2 departments were having their mutual talks and were sharing the complaints with each other. The technolog ies designed were too high then the level of understanding of Philippines section and they were neither briefed about the technology nor were the employees given training to handle the technology and input the data within the designed digital format. Whereas the Indian section claims that the Philippines section are not patient enough to wait for the technology and the employees are not aware enough about the correct usage of technology that has been invented. This cause delay in working and making the client dissatisfied (Morgan, 2015). Describing the issues in context of organisational behaviour concept The organisation comprises of collectiveness of the human being working on the different departments but focusing on the single vision and moving forward in the similar direction. The organisation is an ever changing unit where dynamism takes place and the human resource should be made resistant to these challenges and takes it as the opportunity to create wonders (Goller Harteis, 2017). Organisational behaviour is the combination of human resources from different culture following various traditions. The organisation should treat all the culture and tradition equally and to create harmony there is a need to develop the organisational culture need to be developed and every person employed need to respect it and abide by that culture. The organisational behaviour is the conduct that has been carried out within the workplace. In the organisational behaviour the employees working is analysed and bonding gets created and the group of humans come together to support the facts and they co llectively work for achievement of the goal which lead to simultaneous development of organisation along with the employees thereby ensuring the common growth (Tsang, 2017). There are various challenges that the organisation faces. Comparing these issues with that of the Ken Private ltd. the key concept of organisation and reason for delay could be realised and wise step could be initiated to repair these challenges and adopt it as the opportunity to ensure development (Johns, 2017). The organisational challenges that occur in Ken Pvt. Ltd. are quoted as under: Managerial challenges: The managerial challenge is faced at the management level, as per the case study even the manager is in dilemma as the situation is not clear and even on holding the meeting no one spoke out a single word, no complaint came out and later on the heads of department complaint mutually that manger will favour the technical side only and blame the Philippines section (Tafti, Mahmoudsalehi Amiri, 2017). Also there is the major cause of workforce diversity that is also the cause of problem; the organisation has been divided into the Indian section and Philippines Section. The education and behaviour of the people differs and that cause the understanding issues and conflict arises. Most of the time small thing rise to get big and converts into the disputes (Kashyap, 2017). Work Place Issues and Challenges: When more than two people come together for the common cause there is likely to have the mismatch in choice and disagreements might take place, these are known as the workplace issues and challenges (Cartwright, 2017). The issue that took place in most of the workplace are employee privacy, employee right which is most common issue and for that the legal actions could be opted as well, unionism is another issues and this could be quoted in the context of Ken the 2 sections have been distributed but later on there arouse the cold war and silent fight among the employees. The expectations of employees are also the factor that causes issues they need the hike, motivation and job satisfaction, also the need and level of motivation differs from person to person (Brett, 2017). Organisational challenge: The above challenges at the end affect the progress of the organisation only. The case study also faces the organisational problems, in the clients project there is the occurrence of quality issues. The total quality management is not maintained and in the era where quality consciousness is given high priority the organisation and the employees need to maintain the high quality. This is because of conflict arising among the employees and the gap of understanding. Lack of knowledge among the employees is also one of the reasons (Potential project, 2017). The employees are not able to handle the technology that has been designed and neither the training of advancement has been given. Adaptability does not arrive only with accepting the challenge but also by learning to use it in the effective manner. Another measure that always makes the difference is ethical behaviour of the peers, superior and subordinate. Half of the things get back to place when the situat ions are ethically handled with maturity (Shah, Irani Sharif, 2017). How the issues help or hinder the delivery of project to client As per the case study the issues hindered the project of the client but in other way round helped the manager to learn a lot of lessons from every issues that arises. The manager gains the experience to solve out the situations and deal with the sad employees and handling the angry client as well. The hindrances that occurred while delivering the project was that first of all the committed work was not offered to the client (Tagove, 2017). The promise was made that 10 years newspaper digitisation will be delivered within 2 months whereas the actual delivery was of 2 years newspaper digitisation that is not even quarter of the commitment accomplished. Also the brief project was not as per the standard quality causing high dissatisfaction among the client. The final warning was given to Ken to deliver the assured work with the high quality and completely digitised within the next 2 month. These 2 months could be considered as the help in delivering the better project as in the first ch ance the mistakes came up and the reasons were figured out that were becoming the cause of causing the mistakes (Campos-Melady, Smith, Meyers Godley, 2017). The COO Saiyumn Savarker was called upon to analyse the situation and undertake the evaluation technique to understand the actual situation that is prevailing and what wrong is happening in the process that is causing barrier in the process. On reviewing the situation and having word with project manager Sharma, Savarker was driven deep to know what the actual issue that the organisation and its employees are facing. As the employees made the countless efforts and advanced technology was created and the other team wisely and patiently adopted the technology after handling lot of hectic. The Quality assurance department also assured that quality given was 99.95% accurate and appropriate headlines, sub-headlines, by-lines, images and captions have been quoted (Dunn et al, 2017). When the issue is discussed with Dogma it was figur ed out that the manager did not consulted the Dogma International for once that what actually the requirements are and they are performing the activities as per their method. The help portion that Dogma stated is that the text portion was good and satisfied as per the quality defined but the images were not of the appropriate quality. The images are first thing that the customer notices and get attracted with it. The client was of the view that no one from the contacted company ever contacted them to know the specifications or deal with something to get clarification upon the things. When the same is communicated by Savarker to the project manager Sharma they come up with the reply that they never thought of it and it was not in their knowledge that they should consult the client once a while detailing the concerned with the progress that is taking place and what all amendments does they require. Finally the company was aware about total issues and challenges that occur and complete ly understood the specification that the client require, also now they have the idea that conformation from the client should be timely taken so that the confusion and assumptions are avoided (Burke, 2017). After the hindrance if discussing upon the help portion the complete project made the situation clear and gave each and every person of the organisation dealing with this project about the lot of learning. The handling of technical things, adopting of new things, organisational environment, relations with peers, subordinates and superior are clarified and its importance is learned by the employees and manager as well. The manager learn to handle the stressful situation along with dealing with the client and how the project should be handled, what are the primary things that need to be kept in mind and that are basic to be known and practiced (Conroy et al, 2017). Recommendations After analysing the case study and learning about the whole situations there are certain recommendations that could be made so that better learning could be developed. First of all there is the need to appropriately learn about the organisational structure. The manager should firstly understand about the organisation and what specification does the company carries. The organisational culture has to be studied so that the knowledge regarding internal environment is gained and fighting out with the external environment become easier. When the manager is aware about the internal structure and capability of the company then decision making related to the external environment ease up and manager could smartly deal with the market area and chose those deals that are beneficial for the company after evaluating all the aspects of business, its budget, capacity to take risk, being creative and innovative, ability to adopt new technology and many more things are attached while developing the k nowledge of organisational behaviour (Miterev, Turner Mancini, 2017). When the project was handed over to Ken by Dogma International the foremost mistake that the project manager Sharma did was not clarifying the specifications and directly started working upon it and bifurcating the departments. When the sections were made the cooperation started lacking. The Indian section was designing the technology which was far advanced and the Philippine section was not able to handle those technologies and formats. Both the sections had to sit back and talk upon the issues that have occurred so that clearance is made and they could understand the actual problem all the department is facing. They chose to talk among each other instead of interacting with each other. Even the cooperation with the manager was not there. This depicts that organisational structure and management was not adequate and this completely affected the organisational behaviour (Stanley, Matthews Davidson, 2017). On get ting the warning from client the COO scrutinized the situation and communicated with related parties and came to know about the real reason and then the situation was brought under control. Therefore the manager needs to clear out the specification first and accordingly the responsibility is distributed as per the competencies. Timely meeting should be held to check the progress and discuss the issues if any so that they could be resolved early and employment relations also get maintained that is essential for the growth of organisation and the employees (Johnson, 2017). Conclusion Hence, it could be conclude from the above report that organisational behaviour carries an utmost importance in the regulation and success of business. Due to the lack of management the organisation was not able to achieve the required objective. As happened in the case study between Ken and Dogma International. The client company was not asked the requirements nor were they made to have a check over the project only final submission was made without any prior draft been submitted as a sample. On calling the COO from India to Philippine the expert took a look and made out the way to learn things. Though many issues were created but the employees as well as the managers get to learn from the mistakes and paid attention over the points which were lacking so that the mistakes are not repeated in future. References Brett, J., Brett, J. (2017). Intercultural challenges in managing workplace conflicta call for research.Cross Cultural Strategic Management. Burke, W. W. (2017).Organization change: Theory and practice. Sage Publications. Campos-Melady, M., Smith, J. E., Meyers, R. J., Godley, S. H., Godley, M. D. (2017). The effect of therapists adherence and competence in delivering the adolescent community reinforcement approach on client outcomes.Psychology of Addictive Behaviors,31(1), 117. Cartwright, S. (2017). 7 Workplace well-being: responsibilities, challenges and future directions.A Research Agenda for Human Resource Management, 114. Conroy, S., Henle, C. A., Shore, L., Stelman, S. (2017). Where there is light, there is dark: A review of the detrimental outcomes of high organizational identification.Journal of Organizational Behavior,38(2), 184-203. Dunn, W. B., Broadhurst, D. I., Edison, A., Guillou, C., Viant, M. R., Bearden, D. W., Beger, R. D. (2017). Quality assurance and quality control processes: summary of a metabolomics community questionnaire.Metabolomics,13(5), 50. Goller, M., Harteis, C. (2017). Human agency at work: Towards a clarification and operationalisation of the concept. InAgency at Work(pp. 85-103). Springer, Cham. Johns, G. (2017). Advances in the Treatment of Context in Organizational Research.Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior. Johnson, C. E. (2017).Meeting the ethical challenges of leadership: Casting light or shadow. Sage Publications. Kashya, D. (2017). Organizational behaviour issues faced by todays manager, viewed on 6th November 2017. https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/organization/organizational-behaviour/organizational-behaviour-issues-faced-by-todays-manager/63755. Kitchin, D. (2017).An introduction to organisational behaviour for managers and engineers: A group and multicultural approach. Routledge. Miterev, M., Miterev, M., Turner, J. R., Turner, J. R., Mancini, M., Mancini, M. (2017). The organization design perspective on the project-based organization: a structured review.International Journal of Managing Projects in Business,10(3), 527-549. Morgan. J. (2015). The biggest challenges that most organizations face today. Viewed on 6th November 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2015/10/08/the-biggest-challenge-that-most-organizations-face-today/#757342fb3e2b. Pandey, S. K., Pandey, S., Breslin, R. A., Broadus, E. D. (2017). Public service motivation research program: Key challenges and future prospects. Potential project. (2017). 5 Major organisational challenges that are driving the growth of mindfulness. viewed on 6th November 2017. https://potentialproject.com/5-major-organisational-challenges-driving-growth-mindfulness/. Shah, N., Irani, Z., Sharif, A. M. (2017). Big data in an HR context: Exploring organizational change readiness, employee attitudes and behaviors.Journal of Business Research,70, 366-378. Stanley, T., Matthews, J., Davidson, P. (2017, January). Dimensions of Employee Engagement in a Global Organisation. InAcademy of Management Proceedings(Vol. 2017, No. 1, p. 13248). Academy of Management. Tagove. (2017). Top 5 customer service challenges and how to handle them. Viewed on 6th November 2017. https://www.tagove.com/customer-service-challenges/. Tsang, E. W., Tsang, E. W. (2017). How the concept of organizational unlearning contributes to studies of learning organizations: a personal reflection.The Learning Organization,24(1), 39-48. Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., Misati, E. (2017). Does ethical leadership enhance group learning behavior? Examining the mediating influence of group ethical conduct, justice climate, and peer justice.Journal of Business Research,72, 14-23.

William Shakespeare an Example of the Topic Personal Essays by

William Shakespeare by Expert Prof.Ashley | 23 Dec 2016 Introduction Widely regarded as the greatest writer of all time, William Shakespeare occupies a position unique in world literature. Other poets such as Homer and Dante, and novelists, such as Leo Tolstoy and Charles Dickens, have transcended national barriers; but no writers living reputation can seriously compare with that of Shakespeare, also known as The Bard of Avon. His plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries fro a small repertory theater, are now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before (L H Craig. Of Philosophers and Kings: Political Philosophy in Shakespeares Macbeth and King Lear"). Need essay sample on "William Shakespeare" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed University Students Usually Tell EssayLab specialists:I'm not in the mood to write my essay. Because I want to spend time with my friendsEssay writers recommend: We Write All Kinds Of PapersHelp To Write An Essay Online Professional Writer For Hire Pay To Get Essays Written Buy Essay The prophecy of his great contemporary, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson that Shakespeare is not only the greatest of his age but of all time has been marvelously fulfilled. It may be audacious even to attempt a definition of his greatness, but it is not so difficult to describe the variety of gifts that enable him to create imaginative visions of pathos and mirth that, whether read in the book or witness in the theatre, fill the mind and linger there, He is a writer of great intellectual rapidity, perceptiveness, and poetic power. Other writers have had these qualities. But with Shakespeare the keenness of mind was applied not with obscure remote subjects but to human beings and their complete range of emotions and conflicts. Other writers have applied their keenness of mind in this way. But Shakespeare is astonishingly clever with words and images, so that his mental energy, when applied to intelligible human situations, finds full and memorable expression, convincing and imaginatively stimulating. As if this were not enough, the art form into which his creative energies went was not remote and bookish but involved the vivid stage impersonation of human beings, commanding sympathy and inviting vicarious participation. Thus many of Shakespeares great merits can survive translation into other languages and into cultures remote from that of Elizabethan England (Shakespeare, William). Shakespeare the Man The date of Shakespeares birth is not known. The earliest biographical record is an entry of his baptism in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, on April 26, 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, first appears in the town records in 1552, when he was fined for not removing a dunghill from before his door in Henley Street. He became prominent in town affairs. He was elected a chamberlain of the Stratford corporation in 1561, alderman in 1565, and high bailiff (mayor) in 1568. He signed documents with a mark, but this is no longer supposed to prove that he was illiterate. From 1577 to his death in 1601, there are many signs in the records of financial troubles. He is excused from a levy for the poor, he sells his wifes inheritance, and he does not attend meetings of the corporation, so that another is appointed alderman in his place. Finally, in 1592 he is included in a list of nine who do not obey the law by going to church once a month, a note in the record signifying that this is for fear of process for debt. In 1596, however, he is described by the herald who made a rough draft of a coat of arms for him as a man of wealth and character. The poets mother was Mary, daughter of Robert Arden of Wilmcote, a wealthy landowner and relative of the aristocratic Ardens of Park Hall. Eight children were born to her, of whom William was the third child and oldest son. She died in Stratford in 1608 (S. Schoenbaum. Shakespeares Lives). Early Years No records exist of Shakespeare in his early years, but something is known about the Stratford Grammar School, which he presumably attended. The curriculum of such a school would have been adequate to provide the poet with the basis for such classical learning as he had, although less than what some modern commentators would suggest. The two principal legends about his life in the country are that he was apprenticed to a butcher, for whom he was described as working in high style ---- make an elaborate speech when upon killing a calf. Authenticity of such a story though, cannot now be traced back farther than the late 17th century about 100 years after the events are supposed to have happened. Marriage The first record of William Shakespeare after his christening is a license for marriage, Nov. 27, 1581, in the Episcopal register of the diocese of Worcester. The brides name is given as Anne Whateley of Temple Crafton. The next day a bond of 40 was entered to secure the marriage, without trouble, of Shakespeare and Anne Hathway or Hathaway, of Stratford. The sum was posted by two yeoman friends of the brides father, Richard Hathway of Shottery, parish of Old Stratford, whose will had been proved in the preceding July. Anne Whateley and Anne Hathway is probably the same person, and since the latter is traceable, the Whateley entry is probably a clerks mistake. The special license to which these records refer provided for a marriage after only one asking of the banns. The usual three banns would have carried the wedding into a prohibited period on the church calendar and delayed it for about two months. This delay would have been undesirable because Anne was already pregnant. The baptismal register at Stratford records the christening on May 26, 1583, of Susanna, daughter of William Shakespeare. On Feb. 2, 1585, the same register records the christening of twins, Hamnet (a variant of Hamlet) and Judith, apparently named for a Stratford baker, Hamnet Sadler, a beneficiary and witness of the poets will, and his wife Judith. She lived until 1623, and the inscription on her grave records the fact that she was then 67 years old, which would make her about eight years older than her husband. The Missing Years Nothing is known of Shakespeares life between the christening of the twins and the first record of his appearance in the theatre in London as actor and playwright. Seven or eight years, from about 1584 to 1592, are blank so far as the records go. The actor William Beeston, whose father was a member of Shakespeares company, many years later told John Aubrey, the antiquarian, that Shakespeare had been a schoolmaster in the country. Because of the academic flavor of such early plays as The Comedy of Errors and Loves Labours Lost, this tradition has found favor with modern biographers. There is no record of Anne Shakespeare in London during her husbands stay there, nor is there anything in Stratford until 1597, when Shakespeare, an established man of the theatre, bought New Place. Private Life Shakespeare had little contact with officialdom, apart from walking --- dressed in the royal livery as a member of the Kings Men --- at the coronation of King James I in 1604. He continued to look after his financial interest. He bought properties in London and in Stratford. In 1605 he purchased a share (about one-fifth) of the Stratford tithes --- a fact that explains why he was eventually buried in the chancel of its parish church. For some time he lodged with a French Huguenot family called Mountjoy, who lived near St. Olaves Church, Cripplegate, London. The records of a lawsuit in May 1612, due to a Mountjoy family quarrel, show Shakespeare as giving evidence in a genial way, though unable to remember certain important facts that would have decided the case) and as interesting himself generally in the familys affairs. No letters written by Shakespeare have survived. But a private letter to him got caught up with some official transactions of the town of Stratford by a Richard Quiney, who requested Shakespeare a 30 loan --- a large sum in Elizabethan money. Nothing is further known of the transaction, except that 18 years later, Quineys son Thomas became Judiths husband. He died on April 23, 1616. No name was inscribed on his gravestone in the chancel of the parish church of Stratford-on Avon. Instead these lines, possibly his own, appeared: Good friend, for Jesus sake forbear To dig the dust enclosed here. Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones. (Shakespeare) Poems Shakespeare wrote poems such as Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece which had erotic themes. A third narrative poem, A Lovers Complaint is now credited to Shakespeare although this did receive some doubt as to its authorship. Critics complaint that the dark and gloomy effect had put a stain to what could have been the poems superior qualities (M. Jackson. A Lovers Complaint Revisited). Another poem, The Phoenix and the Turtle was printed in 1601. References: Craig, L H. Of Philosophers and Kings: Political Philosophy in Shakespeares Macbeth and King Lear". 2003 Shakespeare, William. Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 16. 1975 Schoenbaum, S. Shakespeares Lives. 1970 Shakespeare. The Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 24. 1978 Jackson, M. A Lovers Complaint Revisited. In Shakespeare Studies. Susan Zimmermann (ed.). Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press, 267-297. ISBN 0832641202

German Adverbs of Time - Temporaladverbien

German Adverbs of Time - Temporaladverbien Adverbs of time indicate when the action or event takes place. Adverbs of time answer the questions wann, wie oft, wie lange? Er kommt spter. Wann kommt er? Spter. allezeit bald bisher damals eben frà ¼her heute heutzutage immer jahrelang jemals jetzt morgen nachher neuerdings nie/niemals seitdem stets à ¼bermorgen vorher zuerst Adverbs with –s-Many nouns with time-related meanings can be transformed into adverbs by adding the letter –smontags, dienstags, etcsommers, winters but not Herbst or Frà ¼hling morgens, mittags, abendszeitlebens (all one’s life)anfangs Montags gehe ich zur Deutschklasse. Adverbs with two timeframes/points in timeeinst/ once, at one time: used to describe a timeframe/point in the future as well as the past. For example,Einst wollte er heiraten, aber jetzt nicht mehr. (At one time he wanted to get married, but not any more.)Einst wird der Tag kommen, wo ich Großmutter sein werde. (The day will come where Ill be a grandmother.)gerade: used to describe a timeframe/point in time in the present as well as the past that just occurred. For example,Mein Vater ist gerade bei der Arbeit. (My father is at work at present.)Sie ist gerade zur Kirche gegangen. (She just went to church.)

Earn an Ivy League Degree Online

Earn an Ivy League Degree Online Almost all of the eight ivy league universities offer some form of online courses, certificates, or degree programs. Find out how you can get a top-notch online education from Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, or Yale. Brown Brown offers two blended (online plus face-to-face) degree programs. The  IE-Brown Executive MBA program  offers professionals the chance to get a global education over a 15-month period. MBA students work together online and have five week-long sessions in person. The in-person meetings are in Madrid, Spain; Brown University in Providence, United States; and Cape Town, Africa. The Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership degree is an accelerated program for healthcare professionals. The 16-month program requires online students to meet on campus between the start and end of each term – four times total. Brown also offers online pre-college courses for advanced learners in grades 9-12. Subjects such as â€Å"So, You Want to be a Doctor?† and â€Å"Writing for College and Beyond,† prepare students for their upcoming college experience. Columbia Through the Teacher’s College, Columbia offers online certificates in â€Å"Cognition and Technology,† â€Å"Designing Interactive Multimedia Instruction,† and â€Å"Teaching and Learning with Technology.† Students can also enroll in one of two fully online education Masters degrees. The Computing in Education M.A. helps educational professionals prepare to work with technology in schools. The Diabetes Education and Management M.S. prepares health care workers to educate and advocate for improved understanding about diabetes. The Columbia Video Network enables students to earn advanced engineering degrees from home. Virtual students have no residency requirements and have the same access to their professors as traditional students. Degrees available online include M.S. in Computer Science, M.S. in Electrical Engineering, M.S. in Engineering and Management Systems, M.S. in Materials Science, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, P.D. in Computer Science, P.D. in Electrical Engineering, P.D. in Mechanical Engineering. Students may also take individual online courses in medicine and religion through Columbia’s online programs. Cornell Through the  eCornell program, students can take individual courses and earn certificates completely online. Multi-course certificate programs are available in fields such as Finance and Managerial Accounting, Healthcare, Hospitality and Food Services Management, Human Resources Management, Leadership and Strategic Management, Management Essentials, Marketing, Sales Leadership, Product Leadership and Systems Design, and Plant-Based Nutrition. eCornell courses are designed and taught by Cornell faculty. They have set start and end dates, but are taught asynchronously. Courses and certificates offer students continuing education credits. Dartmouth Dartmouth College has a very limited number of online options. Students can earn The Dartmouth Institute (TDI) Certificate in The Fundamentals of Value-Based Healthcare by completing six online courses. The courses are generally not available for those outside of the certificate program. Health professionals are required to view a limited number of one-hour live streaming sessions, which are usually conducted on Wednesdays. Presenters lecture on topics such as Health Care Finance, Shared Decision Making in Patient-Centered Care, Health Care Informatics, and Understanding the Implications of Variation. Harvard Through the Harvard Extension School, students can take individual online courses, earn certificates, or even earn a degree. The  Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree program allows students to earn an undergraduate degree with the guidance of top-notch professors. Potential students â€Å"earn their way in† by earning a grade of B or higher in three introductory courses. Students must complete four courses on campus, but the rest of the degree can be completed through online options. Degree candidates have access to a variety of Harvard resources including internships, seminars, and research assistance. The Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies in the  field of finance or general management degree can be earned by taking 12 courses. Four of these courses must be traditional or blended courses. For distance learning students, blended courses can be taken by traveling to campus for one-weekend session per course. Additional blended Masters programs are available in Psychology, Anthropology, Biology, English, and more. Most require some evening courses on campus. Graduate certificates can be earned fully online and enrollment is open (no application required). Harvard Extension certificates can be earned in the fields of management, sustainability and environmental management, science and information technology, and social sciences. Notable certificates include Business Communication, Cybersecurity, Nonprofit Management, Marketing Management, Green Building and Sustainability, Data Science, Nanotechnology, Legal Studies, and  Software Engineering. Princeton Sorry, online learners. Princeton isn’t offering any courses or degree programs completely online at this time. UPenn While the University of Pennsylvania doesn’t offer any fully online degrees or certificates, the Penn Online Learning Initiative allows students to take  individual courses. Online courses are offered in Arts and Sciences, Executive Education, Nursing, Dentistry, and also English Language Test Preparation. Generally, students interested in these courses will need to apply to the university as a visiting student. Yale Every year, Yale students enroll in virtual courses through Yale Summer Online. Current students or graduates from other colleges are also invited to enroll in these for-credit courses. The course sessions are five-weeks long, and students are required to participate in a weekly live video group meeting with faculty. Some of the class offerings include: Abnormal Psychology, Econometrics and Data Analysis I, Milton, Modern American Drama and Moralities of Everyday Life.

Homosexuality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homosexuality - Essay Example This paper analyses both the genetic and environmental factors involved in homosexuality. One study revealed that â€Å"if one identical twin was gay, the other was also gay 50% of the time. If they were fraternal twins, they were both gay 22% of the time. And if one was adopted, the chances fell to 11%† (Dr.Starr). Ciani et al (n. d) also have pointed out that â€Å"homosexuals have more maternal than paternal male homosexual relatives†. The above statistics and conclusions clearly point towards genetic factors involved in homosexuality. Even though the percentage has slight differences, both identical twins and fraternal twins shows the tendency of becoming homosexuals if they genetic elements of homosexuality. The possibility of existence of homosexuality gene is widely discussed at present. â€Å"Although biologists are still far from answering this question, scattered evidence for a possible gene influencing sexual orientation has recently encouraged scientists to map out a guide to future research† (Is there a homosexuality gene?). Even though, such a gene has not been discovered yet, many of the biologists are confident of identifying such a gene which will answer all the questions related to the reasons of homosexuality. â€Å"Writing in the scientific journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, researchers from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, and Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm report that genetics and environmental factors are important determinants of homosexual behavior† (Homosexual behavior due to genetics and environmental factors). Homosexuality is common in military.

Language development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Language development - Essay Example The next stage the infant goes through usually takes place between seven months of age and one year. This stage is when the child is learning to recognize his/her name, will listen when spoken to, recognizes that certain words have certain meanings (ie; ball, food etc.), and responds to requests like "come here". The toddler is also beginning to learn the vocabulary and concepts necessary for reading. This stage is when the infant uses one and two words at a time and attempts to communicate more with non-crying responses (ie; words) than in earlier stages of development. Just as there are varying times in an individual child's life for each stage, there are also many factors that affect their language development. These factors can include; other skills the child is working on, how parents respond to the child's attempt to communicate and the amount and kind of speaking the child hears on a consistent basis (http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/lang_lit.htm). Other factors can be whether the child is hearing more than one language in the household. The next factor to consider is when a parent responds to a child's attempts to communicate with indifference. The child can respond in kind, quickly learning to become indifferent himself.

UFO Presence In The Universe Essay Example for Free

UFO Presence In The Universe Essay For fifty years, the unexplained aircraft wreckage found outside Roswell, New Mexico, has been in the centre of on-going speculation about alien life forms and US Government and Military cover-ups. It is my personal belief that extraterrestrial bodies are present in this Universe and have landed on earth. There is evidence pointing to the fact that there are aliens present in the universe. Retired military officials will admit to there being extraterrestrials being present on earth. An excellent example of this is what happened in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. When the US Government and Military first found the wreckage of an unidentified aircraft, they issued a press release stating that they had come into possession of an Unidentified Flying Object. The present US Government have passed the Roswell incident off as a closed case their investigations declared the incident to be nothing more than a crashed weather balloon from the top secret Project Mogul and the alien bodies merely to be crash test dummies. There is other life in the Universe and that the crash landing at Roswell in 1947, was an alien spacecraft and not a weather balloon. Leading up to the Roswell Incident UFOs were spotted all over New Mexico and the mid-western coastline. On July 1 of 1947, an unidentified Flying Object appeared on the radar screens of surrounding air force bases. People also saw these objects in the skies that night and the next. On July 4 Independence Day radar screens showed an object pulsate then explode. Some archaeologists in the area were watching the sky and saw the aerial display, as did a large number of the people living in the town. The archaeologists set out the next morning to look for the wreckage they saw fall to ground after the explosion. They reached the crash site about 10am and found wreckage scattered over a site three quarters of a mile long and two to three hundred feet wide. The archaeology team alerted authorities then peered into the rubble to find the bodies of five aliens (the number of aliens is debatable), four of them already dead but one still alive with a severe wound to the thigh. The witnesses are sure they saw aliens in the space ship, not crash dummies, and the wreckage was too advanced to be human technology. A number of witnesses who saw the crash site before the US  Government intervened were interviewed and all gave comprehensive descriptions of the aliens and their flying craft. All descriptions were very similar and if a number of people can give the same detailed evidence, something must have occurred. Many army retirees have come forward to tell their stories concerning the truth of what happened at Roswell. The US Government will probably continue changing their stories of what they say happened (the crashed weather balloon). Only when new witnesses come forward and share their information will the truth eventually be exposed. For months after the incident, thousands of hopeful alien enthusiasts flocked to the alleged crash site to view the most famous alien crash site to date. So much attention was placed on the site that the few residents of Roswell, New Mexico, claimed that they feared the aliens would return and invade. Witnesses claim to have received death threats from the military; they were also told to deny all knowledge of what they had seen. The pieces of the alien spacecraft were taken to Groom Lake Air force Base, also known as Area 51. Area 51 is a top secret military installation designed to house many of the governments secret details concerning alien aircraft. Substantial amounts of money were spent to protect the citizens of the world from receiving the truth about Area 51 and the alien presence among us. Recent developments have occurred when the US government that adjoins the Groom Lake Air force Base, purchased 3,900 more acres. This land was purchased to house what could be up to four hundred newly found pieces from alien aircraft (as shown in documents retrieved from the internet). Now, over fifty years since the uncovering of perhaps the strongest single piece of evidence to support the theory that aliens are present in the Universe, the American Government will still not admit involvement in covering-up the event that took place on July 8th, 1947, in Roswell, New Mexico. Nearly every piece of information points towards the probability that aliens did crash at Roswell and more importantly that aliens do exist. The only argument that does not support the fact that aliens are present is the American Government and military denying it at numerous press  conferences. The American Government and militarys argument are refuted by the numbers of retired military and government personnels testimony. The American Government should not be able to refute the evidence that there is intelligent life on other planets in the Universe because we have a right to know. Bibliography Internet: www.pressreleasenetwork.com www.ufomind.com/area51 Book: I WAS THERE Author: Robert J Shirkey

Wilderness: History and Value Essay -- Nature Philosophy Papers

Wilderness: History and Value History From the very beginning of this nation's history, wilderness has been a fundamental ingredient. The first European settlers found and battled against it upon their arrival. The western explorers and wagon trains sought to wrestle farmland from the wilderness's grip to build cities, farms and homes. It was not until the reality of its finite availability, that it was viewed as anything other than an opponent and menace. These changing attitudes began a new battle for preservation and protection of the wilderness that remained. The nation's attitude transformation was testimony to a new focus and value for wilderness. This new disposition declared that the preservation and maintenance of wilderness is instrumental to our own emotional, spiritual and biological survival. The first European settlers began an extensive nation wide war on wilderness upon their arrival on the eastern shore. The war continued for many years and set the tone for America's relationship with its wilderness lands. Many of the nation's first European arrivals brought with them very Puritanical views regarding the appropriateness of order and disorder as well as fundamental Christian views (Kropf, 1997). In their minds, the unsettled and unestablished lands of the New World symbolized lack of order and therefore the absence of God. Along with disorderly lands there existed native inhabitants who, because they had not subdued the land-putting it to strict agricultural use-were innately inferior. All these attributes assigned to the Indians and the wilderness led the early settlers to firmly believe that the wilderness was the dwelling place of Satan. As God fearing Christians, their greatest calling was the elim... ...nd humanity will suffer. Furthermore, the contents of this continent which have shaped and influenced this nation will be forever lost. Bibliography Brower, David. (1996). Let the Mountains Talk, Let the Rivers Run. San Fransisco: Harper Collins Publishers. Drabelle, Dennis. (1984, Summer). Feral Explorations. Wilderness, pp.24-26. Hendee, John C., Stankey, George H., & Lucas, Robert C. (1990). Wilderness Management. Golden: North American Press. Kropf, Jesse A., "Images of the Overland Trail and Manifest Destiny: A Distortion of Reality". History 369: Dan Flores, University of Montana. Spring 1997. Nash, Roderick. (1967). Wilderness and the American Mind. New Haven: Yale UP. Nash, Roderick. (1984, Summer). Path to Preservation. Wilderness, 5-11. Oelschlager, Max. (1991). The Idea of Wilderness. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Six Challenges for Educational Technology

Six Challenges for Educational Technology Chris Dede George Mason University Many exciting applications of information technology in schools validate that new technology-based models of teaching and learning have the power to dramatically improve educational outcomes. As a result, many people are asking how to scale-up the scattered, successful â€Å"islands of innovation† instructional technology has empowered into universal improvements in schooling enabled by major shifts in standard educational practices.Undertaking â€Å"systemic reform† (sustained, large-scale, simultaneous innovation in curriculum; pedagogy; assessment; professional development; administration; incentives; and partnerships for learning among schools, businesses, homes, and community settings) requires policies and practices different than fostering pilot projects for small-scale educational improvement. Systemic reform involves moving from utilizing special, external resources to reconfiguring ex isting budgets in order to free up money for innovation.Without undercutting their power, change strategies effective when pioneered by leaders in educational innovation must be modified to be implemented by typical educators. Technology-based innovations offer special challenges and opportunities in this scalingup process. I believe that systemic reform is not possible without utilizing the full power of high performance computing and communications to enhance the reshaping of schools. Yet the cost of technology, its rapid evolution, and the special knowledge and skills required of its users pose substantial barriers to effective utilization.One way to frame these issues is to pose six questions that school boards, taxpayers, educators, business groups, politicians, and parents are asking about implementing large-scale, technology-based educational innovations. After each question, I’ll respond to the issues it raises. Collectively, these answers outline a strategy for scali ng-up, leveraging the power of technology while minimizing its intrinsic challenges. Question One: How can schools afford to purchase enough multimedia-capable, Internetconnected computers so that a classroom machine is always available for every two to three students?Giving all students continuous access to multimedia-capable, Internet-connected computers is currently quite fashionable. For politicians, the Internet in every classroom has become the modern equivalent of the promised â€Å"chicken in every pot. † Communities urge everyone to provide volunteer support for NetDays that wire the schools. Information technology vendors are offering special programs to encourage massive educational purchases. States are setting aside substantial amounts of money for building information infrastructures dedicated to instructional usage.Yet, as an educational technologist, I am more dismayed than delighted. Some of my nervousness about this initiative comes from the â€Å"First Gen eration† thinking about information technology that underlies these visions. Multimedia-capable, Internet-connected computers are seen by many as magical devices, â€Å"silver bullets† to solve the problems of schools. Teachers and 2 administrators who use new media are assumed to be automatically more effective than those who do not.Classroom computers are envisioned as a technology comparable to fire: just by sitting near these devices, students get a benefit from them, as knowledge and skills radiate from the monitors into their minds. Yet decades of experience with technological innovations based on First Generation thinking have demonstrated that this viewpoint is misguided. Classroom computers that are acquired as panaceas end up as doorstops. As discussed later, information technology is a costeffective investment only in the context of systemic reform.Unless other simultaneous innovations in pedagogy, curriculum, assessment, and school organization are coupled t o the usage of instructional technology, the time and effort expended on implementing these devices produces few improvements in educational outcomes—and reinforces many educators’ cynicism about fads based on magical machines. I feel additional concern about attempts to supply every student with continuous access to high performance computing and communications because of the likely cost of this massive investment.Depending on the assumptions made about the technological capabilities involved, estimates of the financial resources needed for such an information infrastructure vary (Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997). Extrapolating the most detailed cost model (McKinsey & Company, 1995) to one multimedia-capable, Internet-connected computer for every two to three students yields a price tag of about ninety-four billion dollars of initial investment and twenty-eight billion dollars per year in ongoing costs, a financial commitment that would drain schools of all discretionar y funding for at least a decade.For several reasons, this is an impractical approach for improving education. First, putting this money into computers-and-cables is too large an investment in just one part of the infrastructure improvements that many schools desperately need. Buildings are falling apart, furnishings are dilapidated, playgrounds need repair, asbestos must be removed†¦ otherwise, the machines themselves will cease to function as their context deteriorates.Also, substantial funding is needed for other types of innovations required to make instructional hardware effective, such as standards-based curricular materials for the WorldWide Web and alternative kinds of pedagogy based on partnerships between teachers and tools. (The McKinsey cost estimates do include some funding for content development and staff training, but in my judgment too little to enable effective technology integration and systemic reform. ) If most of the money goes into new media, little fundin g is available for the new messages and meanings that those devices could empower.Second, without substantial and extended professional development in the innovative models of teaching and learning that instructional technology makes affordable and sustainable, many educators will not use these devices to their full potential. â€Å"Second Generation† thinking in educational technology does not see computers as magic, but does make the mistake of focusing on automation as their fundamental purpose. Computers are envisioned as ways to empower â€Å"teaching by telling† and â€Å"learning by listening,† serving as a fire hose to spray information from the Internet into learners’ minds.However, even without educational technology, classrooms are already drowning in data, and an overcrowded curriculum puts students and teachers on the brink of intellectual indigestion. Adding additional information, even when coated with multimedia bells-and-whistles, is like ly to worsen rather than improve educational settings. Professional 3 development needs are more complex than increasing educators’ technical literacy (e. g. , training in how to use web browsers).The issue is building teachers’ knowledge and skills in alternative types of pedagogy and content, and such an increase in human capabilities requires substantial funding that will be unavailable if almost all resources are put into hardware. Third, the continuing costs of maintaining and upgrading a massive infusion of schoolbased technology would be prohibitive. High performance computing and communications requires high tech skills to keep operational and will become obsolete in five to seven years as information technology continues its rapid advance.Yet taxpayers now see computers as similar to blackboards: buy them once, and they are inexpensively in place for the lifetime of the school. School boards rapidly become restive at sizable yearly expenditures for technology maintenance and telecommunications usage—especially if, several months after installation, standardized test scores have not yet dramatically risen—and will become apoplectic if another $50B to replace obsolete equipment is required only a few years after an initial huge expenditure.For all these reasons, investing a huge sum in information infrastructures for schools is impractical and invites a later backlash against educational technology as yet another failed fad. I would go farther, however, and argue that we should not make such an investment even if the â€Å"technology fairy† were to leave $100B under our virtual pillows, no strings attached. Kids continuously working on machines with teachers wandering around coaching the confused is the wrong model for the classroom of the future; I wince when I see those types of vendor commercials.In that situation—just as in classrooms with no technology—too much instructional activity tends to center on presentation and motivation, building a foundation of ideas and skills as well as some context for why students should care. Yet this temporary interest and readiness to master curricular material rapidly fades when no time is left for reflection and application, as teachers and students move on to the next required topic in the overcrowded curriculum, desperately trying to meet all the standards and prepare for the test.Substantial research documents that helping students make sense out of something they have assimilated, but do not yet understand is crucial for inducing learning that is retained and generalized (Schank & Jona, 1991). Reflective discussion of shared experiences from multiple perspectives is essential in learners’ converting information into knowledge, as well as in students mastering the collaborative creation of meaning and purpose (Edelson, Pea, & Gomez, 1996).Some of these interpretative and expressive activities are enhanced by educational devices, bu t many are best conducted via face-to-face interaction, without the intervening filter and mask of computer-mediated communication (Brown & Campione, 1994). What if instead much of the presentation and motivation that is foundational for learning occurred outside of classroom settings, via information technologies part of home and workplace and community contexts? Students would arrive at school already imbued with some background and motivation, ripe for guided inquiry, ready for interpretation and collaborative construction of knowledge.People are spending lots of money on devices purchased for entertainment and information services: televisions, videotape players, computers, Web TV, videogames. Many of these technologies are astonishingly powerful and inexpensive; for example, the Nintendo 64 machine available now for a couple hundred dollars is the equivalent of a several hundred 4 thousand dollar graphics supercomputer a decade ago. What if these devices—many ubiquitous in rich and poor homes, urban and rural areas—were also utilized for educational purposes, even though not acquired for that reason?By off-loading from classroom settings some of the burden of presenting material and inducing motivation, learning activities that use the technology infrastructure outside of schools would reduce the amount of money needed for adequate levels of classroom-based technology. Such a strategy also enables teachers to focus on students’ interpretation and expressive articulation without feeling obligated to use technology in every step of the process. Such a model of â€Å"distributed learning† involves orchestrating educational activities among classrooms, workplaces, homes, and community settings (Dede, 1996).This pedagogical strategy models for students that learning is integral to all aspects of life—not just schooling— and that people adept at learning are fluent in using many types of information tools scattered thro ughout our everyday context. Such an educational approach also can build partnerships for learning between teachers and families; this is important because parental involvement is certainly one of the most powerful levers in increasing any student’s educational performance.In other words, unless â€Å"systemic reform† in education is conducted with one boundary of the system around the school and another boundary around the society, its affordability and sustainability are doubtful. As a bridge across these boundaries, new media can play a vital role in facilitating this bi-level approach to large-scale educational innovation. For example, videogame players are the only interactive devices widely available in poor households and provide a sophisticated, but inexpensive computational platform for learning—if we develop better content than the mindless follies of SuperMarioâ„ ¢ or the grim dystopias of Doomâ„ ¢.My research in virtual reality illustrates how multisensory, immersive virtual environments could leverage learning complex scientific concepts on computational platforms as commonplace as next decade’s videogames (http://www. virtual. gmu. edu). Districts can leverage their scarce resources for innovation, as well as implement more effective educational models, by utilizing information devices outside of classrooms to create learning environments that complement computers and communications in schools.To instead saturate schools with information technology is both very expensive and less educationally effective. Question Two: How can schools afford enough computers and telecommunications to sustain new models of teaching and learning? Educational improvement based on distributed learning—utilizing information technologies external to school settings to enable increased interpretive and expressive activities in classrooms—does not mean that schools won’t need substantial amounts of computers and commu nications.To empower project-based learning through guided inquiry, students must have access to sophisticated information devices in schools (Linn, 1997). Even if this is accomplished via notebook computers and wireless networks moved from class to class as required, with pupils also spending significant amounts of time learning without the aid of technology, districts must allocate more money to purchasing, maintaining, and upgrading computers and telecommunications than has been true historically. Where will educators find the funds for equipment, software, technical staff, ongoing telecommunications services, professional development—the myriad of costs associated with a sophisticated information infrastructure? In the past, this money has come largely from special external sources: grants, community donations, bond initiatives. To be sustainable over the long run, however, resources for technology must come from reallocating existing budgets by reducing other types of ex penditures.Of course, such shifts in financing are resisted by those groups whose resources are cut, and district administrators and school boards have been reluctant to take on the political challenges of changing how money is spent. An easy way to kill educational innovations is to declare that of course they will be implemented—as long as no existing activities must be curtailed to fund new approaches. Such an approach to institutional evolution is one reason why, if Rip Van Winkle awoke today, he would recognize almost nothing in modern society—except schools.Educational organizations are unique, however, in demanding that technology implementation accomplished via add-on funding. Every other type of societal institution (e. g. , factories, hospitals, retail outlets, banks) recognizes that the power of information devices stems in part from their ability to reconfigure employee roles and organizational functioning. These establishments use the power of technology t o alter their standard practices, so that the cost of computers and communications is funded by improvements in effectiveness within the organization, by doing more with less.If educators were to adopt this model—reallocating existing resources to fund technology implementation—what types of expenditures would drop so that existing funds could cover the costs of computers and communications? First, schools that have adopted the inquiry-based models of pedagogy find that outlays on textbooks and other types of standardized instructional materials decrease. While these materials are a smaller part of districts’ budgets than salaries or physical plants, nonetheless they cost a significant amount of money.When students collect their own data, draw down information across the Internet, and interact with a larger pool of experts than teachers and textbooks, fewer commercial presentational resources are required—especially if learners draw on topical data flowin g through information sources outside of schools. Moreover, covering a few concepts in depth rather than surveying many ideas superficially reduces the amount of prepackaged information educators must purchase.A second way to reconfigure existing financial resources is to reduce the staff involved in data entry operations. Educators are inundated with large amounts of recordkeeping functions, and one of the most debilitating aspects of this work is the continuous reentry of identical information on different forms. Businesses have saved substantial amounts of money by altering routine information processes so that data is only entered once, then automatically flows across the entire organization to each place in which it is needed.Were educators to adopt these already proven models for cost-efficient information management, the amount of time and staff required for data entry functions would decrease markedly, freeing funding for instruction-related uses of technology. Third, and on a more fundamental level, teaching is more efficient and effective with new types of technology-based curriculum and pedagogy. At present, substantial re-teaching of 6 knowledge and skills is required; presentational material flows into students’ minds, is retained just long enough to perform on a test, and then is forgotten.Class sizes are typically between twenty-five and forty—somewhat too large for effective project-based learning, yet small given that lectures work as well for several hundred students as for several dozen. The scheduling of class periods is too short, limiting teachers and students to fragmentary presentational and practice activities. Teachers all have comparable roles with similar pay structures—unlike other societal organizations, which have complementary staff roles with a mix of skill levels and salaries. Visions presented in the forthcoming 1998 ASCD Yearbook Dede & Palumbo, in press) depict how altered configurations of human resour ces, instructional modalities, and organizational structures could result in greater effectiveness for comparable costs—even with the acquisition of substantial school-based technology. This case is also made at greater length in Hunter & Goldberg (1995). In the commercial sector, too often these types of institutional shifts result in layoffs. However, because of the coming wave of retirements among educators, districts have a window of opportunity to accomplish structural changes without major adverse impacts on employees.Over the next decade, large numbers of â€Å"baby-boom† educators will leave the profession, and a staged process of organizational restructuring could occur in parallel with those retirements. Coordinating technology expenditures as an integral part of that larger framework for institutional evolution is vital in districts’ planning to afford computers and communications. Question Three: How can many educators disinterested or phobic about c omputers and communications be induced to adopt new technology-based models of teaching and learning?Thus far, most educators who use technology to implement the alternative types of pedagogy and curriculum are â€Å"pioneers†: people who see continuous change and growth as an integral part of their profession and who are willing to swim against the tide of conventional operating procedures—often at considerable personal cost. However, to achieve large-scale shifts in standard educational practices, many more teachers must alter their pedagogical approaches; and schools’ management, institutional structure, and relationship to the community must change in fundamental ways.This requires that â€Å"settlers† (people who appreciate stability and do not want heroic efforts to become an everyday requirement) must be convinced to make the leap to a different mode of professional activity—with the understanding that, once they have mastered these new appr oaches, their daily work will be sustainable without extraordinary exertion. How can a critical mass of educators in a district be induced simultaneously to make such a shift? Studies of innovation in other types of institutions indicate that successful change is always bottom-up, middle-out, and top-down.The driver for bottom-up innovation in a district is the children. Typically, students are joyful and committed when they are given the opportunity to learn by doing, to engage in collaborative construction of knowledge, and to experience mentoring relationships. That these types of instruction are accomplished via educational technology will excite some kids, while others will be indifferent—but all will appreciate the opportunity to move beyond learning by listening.Educators can draw enormous strength and purpose from watching the eager response of their students to classroom situations that use alternative forms of pedagogy. Often, teachers have shifted from pioneers to settlers 7 because they were worn down by the unceasing grind of motivating students to master uninteresting, fragmented topics; and administrators have undergone a similar loss of enthusiasm by being inundated with paperwork rather than serving as instructional coordinators. The professional commitment that kids’ enthusiasm can re-inspire is a powerful driver of bottom-up change.The source of middle-out change is a district’s pioneers. Many teachers entered the profession because they love students of a certain age and want to help them grow—or love their subject matter and want to share its beauty and richness. Often, these teachers feel alienated because the straightjacket of traditional instruction and school organization walls them away from meaningful relationships with their students and their subject. Similarly, many administrators want to serve as leaders and facilitators, but are forced by conventional managerial practices into being bureaucrats and bo sses.Middle-out change is empowered when educators who have given up hope of achieving their professional dreams see pioneer colleagues using technology to succeed in those goals—and realize that, if everyone made a similar commitment, no one would have to make continuous personal sacrifices to achieve this vision. The lever for top-down innovation is the community served by the district. Educators want respect—yet teaching has fallen from a revered professions to a much lower status.The relationship between educators and their community is seldom seen as a partnership; instead, teachers and administrators often feel isolated, forced to perform a difficult task with inadequate resources. Parents, the business sector, and taxpayers bitterly debate the purpose of schools and sometimes attempt to micro-manage their operation. In contrast, when homes, classrooms, workplaces and community settings are linked via new media to achieve distributed learning, much more positive interactions emerge between schools and society.Educators can move from isolation to collaboration with the community, from a position of low esteem to an respected role in orchestrating children’s learning across a spectrum of settings. This shift in status is a powerful driver for innovation. To activate these bottom-up, middle-out, and top-down forces for improvement, educators must take the lead in developing a shared vision for systemic reform, distributed learning, and sophisticated utilization of technology. Making such a commitment to large-scale educational innovation is not only the right thing to do, but is increasingly essential to educators’ professional integrity.In many ways, physicians working in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) face challenges similar to teachers and administrators working in today’s schools. These doctors are responsible for the well-being of their patients, but work within administrative structures that restrict their d ecision making capabilities, that are focused on saving money at least as much as on combating illness, and that do not provide the latest technology or much time and resources for professional development.Yet we expect those physicians to do whatever it takes—fight the system for what the patient needs, spend personal time mastering the latest medical advances and technologies—to help those whom they serve. To do otherwise would be malpractice, a betrayal of trust, a breach of ethics as a professional. Given advances in information technology that are reshaping the knowledge students need and the ways educators can help them learn, we need to accept a professional obligation—despite current institutional constraints—to do whatever it takes in changing traditional instructional practices so that a generation of children is truly prepared for the 21st century. Question Four: How do we prove to communities that new, technology-based models of teaching and l earning are better than current instructional approaches? Few communities are willing to take educational innovations â€Å"on faith. † Many people are uneasy about whether conventional instruction and traditional testing are developing and assessing the types of knowledge and skills children need for their future.However, most parents and taxpayers feel that the current system worked for them and do not want to substitute something radically different unless new methods are proven to be superior. What types of evidence can educators offer communities that innovative, technology-based models of teaching and learning are so much better—given what our society needs in the 21st century—that the substantial cost and effort of systemic reform is more than worth the trouble?Research documents that new, technology-based pedagogical strategies result in at least four kinds of improvements in educational outcomes. Some of these gains are easy to communicate to the commun ity; others are difficult—but together they constitute a body of evidence that can convince most people. These four types of improvements are listed below, in sequence from the most readily documented to the hardest to demonstrate. Increased learner motivation.Students are very excited when exposed to learning experiences that go beyond information assimilation and teaching-by-telling. Guided inquiry, project-based collaboration, and mentoring relationships all evoke increased learner motivation, manifested via readily observable indicators such as better attendance, higher concentration, and greater time on task. All of these not only correlate with increased educational performance, but also are in stark contrast to the attitudes parents and taxpayers formed about most of their schooling.Documenting to communities that students care about what they are learning and are working hard to achieve complex goals is not difficult, given the ubiquity of videotape players and camcor ders. Student-produced videos that show learners engaged and excited are intriguing to parents and taxpayers, who may not fully understand what is happening in the classroom, but are impressed by student behavior divergent from their own memories and likely to result in better learning outcomes.Too often, educators take little advantage of this easy way to open a dialogue about instructional improvement with the community. Advanced topics mastered. Whatever else they believe about the purposes of schooling, parents want their children to have a prosperous lifestyle and know that this necessitates mastering advanced concepts. In the 21st century, being a successful worker and an informed citizen will require the sophisticated knowledge delineated in the national curriculum standards, especially in the sciences and mathematics.Information technology can help students not only to learn these difficult concepts, but also to master the learning-how-to-learn skills needed to keep their ca pabilities current in a rapidly evolving economy. When shown that technologybased instructional strategies enable teaching sophisticated ideas not now part of the conventional curriculum, more complex than the items on current standardized tests, and harder than what they learned in school, taxpayers are impressed. 9 Students acting as experts do.Developing in learners the ability to use problem solving processes similar to those of experts is challenging, but provides powerful evidence that students are gaining the skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century. One of the most striking features of a classroom based on new instructional models is that learners are behaving as do teams of scientists, mathematicians, designers, or other kinds of expert problem solvers. Pupils’ activities in these learning environments mirror the analytic, interpretive, creative, and expressive uses of information tools increasingly characteristic of sophisticated workplace settings.When parents and taxpayers see students perform complex tasks and create intricate products, they are impressed by the similarity between the recent evolution of their own workplaces and the skills children are developing. Better outcomes on standardized tests. The most difficult type of evidence to provide for the superiority of new, technology-based instructional models is what communities first demand: higher scores on conventional measures of achievement.Standardized tests are designed to assess only a narrow range of knowledge, and the other three types of improvements just discussed fall largely outside the scope of what they measure. A major challenge for educational assessment is to develop methods that measure a wider range of skills than paper-and-pencil, multiple choice tests, without bogging educators down in complex, time-consuming, and potentially unreliable performance evaluations.Research shows that students’ outcomes on conventional achievement tests rise when tec hnology-based educational innovations are implemented, but this does not occur immediately, as teachers and learners must first master these new models of pedagogy. To succeed in systemic reform, educators must prepare communities for the fact that test scores will not instantly rise and that other, complementary types of improvements less easy to report quantitatively are better short-range measures of improvement.Overall, the single most effective means of convincing parents, the business community, and taxpayers that technology-based models of teaching are superior to conventional instructional approaches is to involve them in students’ education. Through distributed learning approaches that build partnerships between schools and society, communities have ample opportunities to observe the types of evidence discussed above, as well as to further enhance students’ educational outcomes. Question Five: How can educational technology increase equity rather than widen cu rrent gaps between â€Å"haves† and â€Å"have-nots? Implemented within a larger context of systemic reform, emerging information technologies can produce dramatic improvements in learning outcomes. But won’t such educational usage of computers and communications widen inequities in our society? However ample the access to technology students have in schools, learners differ greatly in the amount and sophistication of information devices in their homes and communities. Isn’t all this effort simply making education better for the â€Å"haves,† potentially worsening our society’s pathological gaps in income and power?Certainly, new media such as Web TV are dropping in price, and almost all homes have videogames, television, and videotape players—but won’t the rich always have more information devices of greater power than the poor, skewing the advantages of distributed learning and increasing inequality? 10 From an historical perspecti ve, innovative information technologies at first widen inequities within civilization, because initial access to the differential advantage they bring is restricted to the few who can afford the substantial expense of this increased power.As emerging media mature, drop in price, and are widely adopted, however, the ultimate impact of information technology is to make society more egalitarian. For example, the world of universal telephone service is a more equitable environment than was the world of messenger boys and telegraph offices. The challenge for current educational policy is to minimize the period during which the gap between haves and have-nots widens, rapidly moving to a maturity of usage and an universality of access that promotes increased equity.At present, most of society’s attempts to decrease the widened inequalities that new educational technologies could create are centered on access and literacy. In schools that serve disadvantaged and at-risk populations, extra efforts are made to increase the amount of computers and communications available. Similarly, educators and learners in have-not situations are given special training to ensure that they are literate in information tools, such as web browsers.To compensate for more home-based technology in affluent areas, many feel that our best strategy is providing teachers and students in low socioeconomic status areas with additional technology to â€Å"level the playing field† (Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997). While a good place to begin, this approach to educational equity is inadequate unless taken beyond access and literacy to also address issues of content and services. The on-line materials and types of assistance that learners and teachers can access must reflect the needs and interests of diverse and at-risk students.For example, I can take homeless people to the public library and show them how to use a web browser to download images of impressionist paintings at the Louvre, but this is not likely to motivate or impress them, since such a learning experience does not speak to their primary needs. Similarly, emerging graphical interfaces such as Microsoft Windowsâ„ ¢ enhance many users’ capabilities, but adversely affect learners with reduced eyesight who cannot effectively manipulate the visual features of these interfaces.The real issue in equity is empowerment—tailoring information technology to give dispossessed groups what they want. For example, I worked with a local team of politicians to explore the implications of information technology for improving public services. They were excited about using community-based information terminals to offer improved access to health care, welfare, education, and other social services for the immigrant and minority populations they served. However, when I began to describe how on-line communication tools could help these groups to increase their participation n voting and to form coalitions fo r political action, the elected representatives immediately lost interest. To truly achieve educational equity, working collaboratively with have-not populations is vital in developing content and services tailored to their needs and designed to build on their strengths and agendas. Otherwise, improving access and literacy will fall short of the success for all students essential to America’s prosperity in the 21st century. Question Six: If we use technology well, what should we expect as â€Å"typical† student performance? 1 If we were to implement systemic reform based on new strategies for learning through sophisticated technology, research suggests that â€Å"typical† students might do as well as â€Å"exemplary† learners do now. Our expectations for what pupils can accomplish are far too low, largely because standard educational processes are obsolete given the progression of information technology, insights into the nature of learning, and shifts in the educational outcomes society needs.In many ways, we live in the â€Å"Dark Ages† of schooling—restrained from making rapid advances toward increased instructional effectiveness by outmoded ideas, ritual, and tradition. Setting our sights higher and using better metrics to measure progress are vital to successful innovation. For example, many people are intrigued by results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which show the United States well behind nations such as Singapore and Japan on math and science outcomes from a globally developed achievement test. Crusaders are implementing reforms to ensure that our students do much better on this test.However, our goal should not be to exceed the level of Singapore on an assessment instrument that, as described earlier, measures only a fraction of what students need to know for their future prosperity—and moreover incorporates a diluted definition of educational quality negotiated a cross many countries with very different populations and national goals. Others advocate using a standards-based curriculum as the touchstone for educational effectiveness, and reformers are centering state and national judgments of educational worth on this measure.Certainly, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards are a major improvement over the hodgepodge math curriculum before their inception, as are the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) standards and similar efforts in other fields. But our metric for whether students succeed should not simply be whether they learn the math mathematicians think is important, the science scientists feel is vital, and so on. Being a productive worker and citizen involves much more than having an adequate background in each field of knowledge.Integrating these concepts and skills and being a lifelong learner with the self-worth, discipline, and motivation to apply this knowledge is of paramount im portance—yet not captured by discipline-based standards alone. New forms of pedagogy are also no â€Å"philosopher’s stone† that can make golden each educational experience for every learner. Some argue that, if only all classrooms were based on constructivist learning or situated cognition or individualized tutoring or multimedia presentations or integrated learning systems or whatever pedagogical panacea, every student would succeed.However, learning is a very complex and idiosyncratic process that requires, for each pupil, a repertoire of many different types of instruction orchestrated together. In other words, no test, no curriculum, and no instructional strategy in itself can guarantee educational quality—even though our current approach to determining schools’ worth is based on these inadequate measures. Instead, we need new standards for a knowledge-based society that combine all these metrics for success and that are based on much higher l evels of â€Å"typical† student outcomes.Successful technology-based innovations have the common characteristic that learners exceed everyone’s expectations for what is possible. Second graders do fifth grade work; nine graders outscore twelfth grade students. What would those ninth graders be accomplishing if, 12 from kindergarten on, they had continuous access to our best tools, curriculum, and pedagogy? Would they be the equivalent of college sophomores? We are selling short a generation by expecting less and by orienting our curriculum, instruction, and tests accordingly.Conclusion My responses to the six questions above sketch a conceptual framework for thinking about the process of scaling-up from islands of innovation to widespread shifts in standard educational practices. These answers illustrate that technology-based systemic reform is hard in part because our ways of thinking about implementation are often flawed. Large-scale educational innovation will never be easy, but can be less difficult if we go beyond our implicit assumptions about learning, technology, equity, schooling, and society.Understanding the scaling-up process is vital for making strategies for change affordable, generalizable, and sustainable. References Brown, A. L. , & Campione, J. C. (1994). Guided discovery in a community of learners. In K. McGilly (Ed. ), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 229-270). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Coley, R. J. , Cradler, J. , & Engel, P. K. (1997). Computers and classrooms: The status of technology in U. S. schools. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Dede, C. , & Palumbo, D. (Eds). (in press). Learning with technology (the 1998 ASCD Yearbook).Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Dede, C. (1996). 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