E-Business - Qatar Airways (3) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

E-Business - Qatar Airways (3) - Essay Example The company has also tied up with private portal Bezruk.com and common forum Frommers Unlimited and has marked its presence in social networking forum Facebook where fans of the airline regularly exchange their experiences with this airline. These e-marketing techniques have provided the airline a very substantial presence and publicity in the e-market. E-business depends on attractiveness and user friendliness of company’s website. The visitor must be completely satisfied after a tour of the site and that can be possible only when the website is designed in such a way that a busy visitor is also able to obtain the required details at the shortest possible time and with the minimum of trouble. The language used in the website also plays a substantial role for this to be achieved. The website of Qatar Airways has achieved this target quite admirably. Qatar Airways has become a deft player in the business-to-business marketplace by judiciously applying the strengths of internet in collecting, collating and analysing information related to tour and conference fliers and travel agents. By sifting the available data, the airline is in a position to identify the most economically profitable strata of business fliers and design its promotions and offers in a manner that is most attractive to the targeted strata. The airline has never been oblivious of its social responsibility and the need to behave like a responsible corporate citizen, not only in Qatar but in rest of the world also. It has undertaken numerous programmes for the benefit of orphans and autistic children in Qatar and has also donated handsomely towards rebuilding activities in China after the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008. It is also aware of environmental pollution and has instituted a programme for fuel efficiency and gradual reduction of dependency on fossil fuel. Qatar Airways has always

How media violence contributes to the violence at home Essay Example for Free

How media violence contributes to the violence at home Essay People have always believed that the various movies and violent dramas that are shown on TV are just but entertainment. In fact, some adults who feel that since they watched television when they were young and it had no negative effects on them tend to think that television violence cannot be a contributor to home violence. However this could not be the case in the present world. This is because the type of programs that were shown in the TVs in the early years did not contain many violent scenes as it is now. Many television programs are characterized with violent acts like abuse and rape, criminal acts and diminished trust. Indeed many researches that have been conducted clearly show that the increases in violence in the television are having a significant contribution to the violence experienced at home. Furthermore, the media portrays that problems both family and social are to be confronted with force or threats of force The effects of the violent scenes on television vary in the adults and children. Children are the ones who are highly affected since they are not able to discern what reality is and what fiction is. This makes them believe almost everything they see as being what the real world is. The present lifestyle has lead to most children spending many hours glued to the television something which itself can affect their behavior. In fact many researchers have shown that both the adults and children who spend most of their time watching television may develop the following perception. First is that there is an increase in crime even if it is not the case (Media Issues). Secondly that they can overestimate the risk of being victimized by crime and lastly they develop fear of crime which in itself sees crime as something that is all around. Some get mislead that violence rarely has negative consequences. In these programs a very high percentage of the violence acts go unpunished. In fact in some, those portrayed as heroes never get punished despite their violent acts. Furthermore, too much violence in the television leads to over aggression among children and in some adults. This has lead to an increase in violent behaviors in the world majorly due to imitation. People who see those being violent on TV try to copy them as models. This character is common among children. Studies have as well shown that children who watch violent shows and even identify with the violent characters are about twice as likely to be violent as young adults. The studies have as well indicated that men are more likely to embrace the violent acts as compared to their female counterparts. Other indicators of contribution of television violence to the home violence include increased desensitization and heartlessness (Christian answers). People tend to be more callous towards those who may have become victims of violence. In this they tend to ignore or just take easy incidences of violence claiming that they are common occurrences in television. This normalizes violence making it to look like part of daily life. Furthermore, in this way it dulls the emotion response to violence’s and its victims. In conclusion the influence of the media content on people has been openly quite evident. Anyone would agree with this. The advertisers use the media to sway consumer’s perception towards given products. This is equally the same to violence in the media which can as well sway peoples’ perceptions towards violence. Due to the above points it is clearly necessary for parents to take action against the viewing of television programs. Parents ought to talk to the children about what programs are good for them and which are harmful. Children should get encouraged to spend most of their time in sports and hobbies or friends other than watching television. Furthermore special banns ought to be put on some programs that have too much violence References Christian answers, Violence in the media – How it affects families? Accessed on August 16, 2010 from http://www. christiananswers. net/q-eden/edn-f012. html Media Issues, Research on the effects of media violence, Accessed on August 16, 2010 from http://www. media-awareness. ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence. cfm

Decision of Ex Parte Datafin plc Analysis

Decision of Ex Parte Datafin plc Analysis A critical analysis of the manner in which the decision in R v Panel on Takeovers and Mergers; Ex parte Datafin plc [1987] 1 QB 815 is being dealt with under Australian law. Introduction The case of Datafin is an accepted element of public law in England; however Australian law is unclear to its applicability as courts reference the principle cautiously in the absence of a case pertaining substantive facts. The Datafin principle provides that a decision-making body may be subject to judicial review whether it is exercises its power from statute or private contract. That is to say, both the source and the nature of the power being exercised are to be considered when determining if a body is amenable to judicial review. In Australia, the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (‘ADJR Act’) provides a statutory right to judicial review however a common law right (which may exist under the Datafin principle) is yet to be decided. Without a final decision from the High Court as to its applicability, the Datafin principle will continue to be dealt with tentatively on a case by case basis. However recent cases from lower and appellate courts indicate that the principle will most likely apply here as it does in England when a case with the relevant facts arises. Current Position in Australian Law There is no clear authority for the adoption of Datafin in Australia despite many decisions with reference to the principle. The closest the courts have come to taking an authoritative position regarding Datafin is the High Courts ruling in NEAT Domestic Training Pty Ltd v AWB Ltd.[1] This case marked a ‘paradigm shift’ in the delivery of administrative governmental services from being almost purely derived from statute to a mixture of private and public bodies.[2] In this case the High Court took an interpretation of Datafin to focus solely on the source of the power with no consideration to the power’s possible administrative/public nature. However, the conclusion in NEAT was very much limited to unique facts of the case and did not intend to be taken as a response to the broader issue of whether Datafin applies in Australia (i.e. whether public law remedies such as judicial review can be granted against private bodies). In this case, the improper exercise of discretionary power was argued by a wheat trader against the Australian Wheat Board (AWB). However since the AWB was a private body brought into effect by the Corporations Law (Vic), it was found that its power was not derived from the statute which NEAT was arguing under (the Wheat Marketing Act 1989). The AWB’s decision-making power was therefore not subject to the ADJR Act which sets out a requirement that decisions must be made â€Å"under an enactment† in order to be amenable to judicial review. Justice Kirby argued an in-depth and seemingly valid dissent in favour of adopting the Datafin principle to apply to the four:one majority decision. He raised the concern that if the wheat board was not amenable to judicial review it would essentially hold almost complete and unreviewable power over Australia’s wheat export industry. Therefore, the interests of the nation (or an issue of public significance) are irrefutably affected by a private body; a point acknowledged but not expressly addressed by Gleeson CJ. A conclusion can be drawn from NEAT that only the source and not the nature of the power is relevant when determining applicability of judicial review in Australia. This conclusion is alarming when considering the Commonwealth could effectively insulate itself from all legal and political accountability if each public decision-making body was privatised in a similar fashion to AWB Ltd.[3] An example of this conclusion can be seen in Griffith University v Tang,[4] where a student excluded from enrolment in university failed in her request for judicial review due to the university not making their decision under an enactment. Despite the university being deemed a ‘public’ decision-maker,[5] the judgements consider the nature of the university’s relationship to Tang to be voluntary (i.e. ‘private’). Therefore the source of power element could not be satisfied removing the need for the court to consider the substantive nature of the power.[6] In reaching this decision, their Honours accepted the reverse possibility that a private decision-maker could be considered ‘public’ and therefore amenable to judicial review.[7] The main implication of the decision in NEAT is that courts have essentially been advised not to make a decision about the applicability of Datafin until it is absolutely necessary.[8] Evidence of this deferral to make a decision about the principle has the courts intentionally not mentioning it in judgements even when parties make extensive submissions on Datafin to base their arguments. For example, the unanimous decision in the Offshore Processing Case[9] did not mention Datafin even once despite multiple submissions by both parties. Gradual Acceptance of the Datafin Principle by Australian Courts In Masu Financial Management Pty Ltd v Financial Industry Complaints Service Ltd,[10] a corporation which dealt with financial industry complaints was deemed susceptible to judicial review. Justice Shaw described the corporation as a ‘public’ body, pointing to government involvement in its foundation and processes. Here it was held that the preponderance of authority in Australia indicates that Datafin is applicable, at least to companies administering external complaints in the finance industry.[11] In contrast, the case of Chase Oyster Bar v Hamo Industries[12]allowed Basten JA to explore the applicability of Datafin where he concluded that the decision Masu and did not amount to authority of acceptance of the principle.[13] Prior to this 2010 decision, Datafin had been referred to in Australian law with ‘apparent approval’.[14] Regardless, the Masu decision provided a foundation for Kyrou J’s later decision in CECA Institute Pty Ltd v Australian Council for Private Education and Training.[15] In this case it was held that the Datafin principle may render a private body to be subject to judicial review if that body is performing a ‘public duty’ or exercising a power with a ‘public element’. Defining a ‘public element’ of a decision, once described as â€Å"question-begging†[16] can be reasonably objectively determined from extensive English case law.[17] In the circumstances of this case, a link to a ‘public element’ could not be established and the matter was instead settled by private law.[18] A similar but more recent judgement in Mickovski v FOS[19] also suggested that the Datafin principle applies to Australian law provided the necessary public element can be satisfied.[20] In this case, an argument was raised that a public element existed by way of requiring a mechanism for private dispute resolution. However Pagone J held that the Datafin test failed as the corporation did not exercise government functions and its power over its members was derived from contract (therefore only allowing private law remedies). In doing so, the judgement cited and affirmed Kyrou J’s reasoning from Masu.[21] Shortly after this decision, the Australian Law Journal published an article by Kyrou J examining Datafin’s applicability to Australian law.[22] Justice Kyrou cited the Mickovski decision as an authority for the rule’s acceptance. However since the paper was published, Mickovski was appealed.[23] In the appeal, although dismissed, Pagone J was overruled in that the Datafin principle did not apply to the facts considering there was no public law justification for the request of judicial review. The Court explained in its dismissal of the appeal that with increasing privatisation of various government functions comes the need for the availability of judicial review in relation to administrative and public functions.[24] At [31], it was said that the Datafin principle provides a ‘logical’, approach to satisfy that requirement.[25] Buchanan, Nettle JJA and Beach AJA went on to conclude that it is doubtful that even a wide interpretation of Datafin would be appl icable to contract-based decisions.[26] Therefore, Kyrou’s argument and call for approval is not discredited and it appears likely that the Datafin test will be appropriate when the relevant facts and circumstances arise in future. It is significant to the current position that Datafin has never been rejected in Australian courts. However cases exist which are unfavourable to its ‘apparent approval’ prior to Chase. In particular, in Khuu Lee Pty Ltd v Corporation of the City of Adelaide,[27] it was specifically stated by Vanstone J in the Supreme Court of South Australia that Datafin â€Å"has not yet been adopted in Australia†.[28] At [30], her honour said â€Å"within intermediate appellate courts there are, at best, conflicting views as to whether [Datafin] represents the common law of Australia†. Should Datafin Apply in Australian Law? Writing extra-judicially, now-retired QC, Raymond Finkelstein stated that the courts’ function in relation to administrative law and judicial review should be to â€Å"ensure that all bodies – private or otherwise – that perform public functions do so in accordance with the law.†[29] Senior University of NSW Professor, Mark Aronson hints at the applicability of Datafin in Australian law and argues that â€Å"public power is increasingly exercised from places within the private sector, by non-government bodies, and according to rules found in management manuals rather than statute books. If judicial review is about the restraint of public power, it will need to confront these shifts in who exercises public power, and in the rules by which they exercise it.†[30] A similar sentiment was held by Kyrou J in his decision in Masu that Datafin â€Å"represents a natural development in the evolution of the principles of judicial review†¦ [It] is essential in enabling superior courts to continue to perform their vital role of protecting citizens from abuses in the exercise of powers which are governmental in nature†.[31] Since the Datafin principle has been adopted in Canada and New Zealand, there is also an argument supported by Kyrou J that on a constitutional level, Australia ‘should be consistent with the law of other important common law jurisdictions’.[32] The arguments put forward are not without criticism however. The evolution of private bodies administering administrative/public functions is considered by some to be a new area of law which requires fresh regulation rather than ‘shoehorning’ the issues to fit into Datafin.[33] This arguably explains why the principle is so reservedly discussed in judgements where the elements of Datafin frequently cannot be made out. The granting of judicial review against a private body’s excision of power which was neither statutory nor executive has occurred only once in Australia (in the case of Masu). Most cases which reference Datafin do so in obiter dicta simply to raise overlaps with other areas of law which have more established remedies and boundaries than attempting to expand administrative law principles. That is not to say more than one area of law cannot co-exist with certainty. Conclusion Despite significant and extensive ‘apparent approval’ of the Datafin principle, it is impossible to determine the validity of the rule in the absence of a High Court decision. However, the number of cases citing Datafin with favourable obiter appears to outweigh the number of cases which reference it with reservation. Whilst the obiter of NEAT recognises Datafin’s applicability in Australian law going forward, the actual decision of the case lends authority against its adoption. Regardless, in the unlikely event that the Datafin principle is rejected, private decision-making bodies performing public and administrative functions will not be immune to judicial review. The increasing trend of government divestment of administrative functions to private bodies will simply be dealt with judicial independence, allowing natural justice to form a either more refined interpretation of the Datafin principle. Bibliography Cases CECA Institute Pty Ltd v Australian Council for Private Education and Training (2010) 30 VR 555. Chase Oyster Bar Pty Ltd v Hamo Industries Pty Ltd (2010) 78 NSWLR 393 Griffith University v Tang (2005) 221 CLR 99 Griffith University v Tang (2005) 213 ALR 724 Khuu Lee Pty Ltd v Adelaide City Corporation (2011) 110 SASR 235. Masu Financial Management Pty Ltd v Financial Industry Complaints Service Ltd (No 2) (2004) 50 ACSR 554 Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd [2011] VSC 257 Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Services Limited Anor [2012] VSCA 185 Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd (2012) 91 ASCR 106 NEAT Domestic Trading Pty Ltd v AWB Ltd (2003) 216 CLR 277 Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth (2010) 243 CLR 319 R (Beer) v Hampshire Farmers’ Markets Ltd [2004] 1 WLR 233 R v Panel on Takeovers and Mergers; Ex parte Datafin plc [1987] 1 QB 815 Textbooks Matthew Groves (ed), Modern Administrative Law In Australia: Concepts And Context (Cambridge University Press, Australia, 2014) Journals Neil Arora, ‘Not so neat: non-statutory corporations and the reach of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977’ (2004) 32(1) Federal Law Review 141 Emillos Kyrou, ‘Judicial review of decisions of non-governmental bodies exercising governmental powers : is Datafin part of Australian law?’ (2012) 86(1) Australian Law Journal 20 Katherine Cook, ‘Recent Developments in Administrative Law’ (2012) 71 AIAL (Australia Institute of Administrative Law) Forum 1 Graeme Hill, ‘Griffith University v Tang – Comparison with Neat Domestic, and the Relevance of Constitutional Factors’ (2005) 47 AIAL (Australia Institute of Administrative Law) Forum 6 Matthew Groves, ‘Should we follow the Gospel of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth)?’ (2010) 34 Melbourne University Law Review 737 Mark Aronson, ‘Private Bodies, Public Power and Soft Law in the High Court’ (2007) 35 Federal Law Review 1 Raymond Finkelstein, â€Å"Crossing the Intersection: How Courts are Navigating the ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ in Judicial Review† (2006) 48 AIAL (Australia Institute of Administrative Law) Forum 1 Other CCH, Australian Company Law Commentary, ‘Internal and external dispute resolution procedures – ASIC’s policy: s 912A(1)(g), (2)’ (at 26 August 2013) [273-300]. 1 Sean Roche, N8844330 [1] NEAT Domestic Trading Pty Ltd v AWB Ltd (2003) 216 CLR 277. [2] Neil Arora, ‘Not so neat: non-statutory corporations and the reach of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977’ (2004) 32(1) Federal Law Review 141, 161. [3] Neil Arora, ‘Not so neat: non-statutory corporations and the reach of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977’ (2004) 32(1) Federal Law Review 141, 160. [4] (2005) 221 CLR 99. [5] Griffith University v Tang (2005) 213 ALR 724 at 750-751 [108]-[110]. [6] Griffith University v Tang (2005) 213 ALR 724 at 766 [159]-[160]. [7] Graeme Hill, ‘Griffith University v Tang – Comparison with Neat Domestic, and the Relevance of Constitutional Factors’ (2005) 47 AIAL (Australia Institute of Administrative Law) Forum 6, 8. [8] (2012) 91 ASCR 106, [32]. [9] Plaintiff M61/2010E v Commonwealth (2010) 243 CLR 319. [10] Masu Financial Management Pty Ltd v Financial Industry Complaints Service Ltd (No 2) (2004) 50 ACSR 554. [11] CCH, Australian Company Law Commentary, ‘Internal and external dispute resolution procedures – ASIC’s policy: s 912A(1)(g), (2)’ (at 26 August 2013) [273-300]. [12] Chase Oyster Bar Pty Ltd v Hamo Industries Pty Ltd (2010) 78 NSWLR 393. [13] Chris Finn, ‘The public/private distinction and the reach of administrative law’ in Matthew Groves (ed), Modern Administrative Law In Australia: Concepts And Context (Cambridge University Press, Australia, 2014) 3, 56. [14] Emillos Kyrou, ‘Judicial review of decisions of non-governmental bodies exercising governmental powers: is Datafin part of Australian law?’ (2012) 86(1) Australian Law Journal 20, 22. [15] CECA Institute Pty Ltd v Australian Council for Private Education and Training (2010) 30 VR 555. [16] R (Beer) v Hampshire Farmers’ Markets Ltd [2004] 1 WLR 233, [16]. [17] Emillos Kyrou, ‘Judicial review of decisions of non-governmental bodies exercising governmental powers: is Datafin part of Australian law?’ (2012) 86(1) Australian Law Journal 20, 31. [18] Ibid, 570, 576. [19] Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd [2011] VSC 257. [20] Ibid, [12]. [21] Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd [2011] VSC 257, [9]. [22] Emillos Kyrou, ‘Judicial review of decisions of non-governmental bodies exercising governmental powers: is Datafin part of Australian law?’ (2012) 86(1) Australian Law Journal 20-33. [23] Mickovski v Financial Ombudsman Service Limited Anor [2012] VSCA 185. [24] Katherine Cook, ‘Recent Developments in Administrative Law’ (2012) 71 AIAL Forum 1. [25] [2012] VSCA 185, [31]. [26] Katherine Cook, ‘Recent Developments in Administrative Law’ (2012) 71 AIAL Forum 1. [27] (2011) 110 SASR 235. [28] Ibid, [26]. [29] Raymond Finkelstein, â€Å"Crossing the Intersection: How Courts are Navigating the ‘Public’ and ‘Private’ in Judicial Review† (2006) 48 AIAL Forum 1-7. [30] Mark Aronson, ‘Private Bodies, Public Power and Soft Law in the High Court’ (2007) 35 Federal Law Review 1. 4. [31] Ibid, 99. [32] Emillos Kyrou, ‘Judicial review of decisions of non-governmental bodies exercising governmental powers: is Datafin part of Australian law?’ (2012) 86(1) Australian Law Journal 20, 30. [33] Matthew Groves, ‘Should we follow the Gospel of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (Cth)?’ (2010) 34 Melbourne University Law Review 737, 749.

Strength of the Human Spirit Revealed by Ivan Denisovich Essay

Strength of the Human Spirit Revealed in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich    Life can be incredibly hard at times; nearly everyone encounters a period of time when circumstances become unbearably difficult. Imagine being assigned to ten years of unceasing and tremendous hardships, as is the plight of the protagonist in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This book describes in detail only one day of Ivan's ten-year sentence in a Russian work camp in the 1950's. During this day, which is like most others, he is starved, nearly frozen, overworked, and punished unjustly; however, as the day unfolds, it is obvious that Ivan will never give up and never give in. The character of Ivan Denisovich is a symbol of the human spirit and its never-ending will to survive, even through the harshest of conditions.    Ivan's day begins with reveille at 5:00, "as always" (significant because this day is just like every other day has been for the past eight years). On most mornings after reveille, he jumps out of bed to have a little time to himself, but today he is not feeling well and rises slowly. Usually, there are many things he could do during this time before the morning roll call: sweep up, carry something for someone, fetch the boots of the gang boss, gather and stack bowls at the mess hall, any number of little jobs.    On the surface, Ivan's actions look noble and kindhearted, as if the well being of others is his main concern. But like most kind gestures, there is an entirely different motive; for Ivan, it is just "another way of getting food"(2). He, like most people in a difficult situation, performs favors and tasks, not out of the goodness of his heart, but only out of his desir... ... Max Hayward, in his introduction to _One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich _, says the book "is a morality play in which the carpenter Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is Everyman" (xv). There are exceptions to the representation; Ivan is not a flat character, void of depth and definition, but through these examples, it is obvious that much of the time, Ivan Denisovich reflects the average human spirit and the way in which it reacts to difficult situations. Of course, the average human spirit does not endure the hardships presented in a Soviet work camp, but all hardships are related in their ability to destroy their victims or to strengthen them. In this case, Ivan is the spirit who is strengthened, the victim who will never give up, and never give in.    Bibliography Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. New York: Bantam Books, 1963.

How Technology Enhances Teaching and Learning Essay

Students at the Owen School’s Strategy in the New Economy seminar enter a classroom that looks like any other, except that a projection system and video screen have been installed. Their professor announces that today they will be joined by a guest lecturer, a senior VP from a Fortune 500 corporation. What makes this guest lecture unique is that the students are sitting in a Nashville classroom but the guest lecturer is speaking from his home office in Estonia, via video technology. This is an example of one of the creative ways faculty members at Vanderbilt are using technology to enhance their students’ learning. In the scene described above, Owen Professor David Owens, along with Professor Bart Victor, use video conferencing to bring an international guest speaker to their organization studies seminar. Across the University, faculty are using technology to help students master subjects from elementary and secondary school instruction to bioengineering to structural equation modeling. They are developing their own skills while making students comfortable with the technology that will help them be successful after leaving Vanderbilt. As they introduce more and more technology into the classroom, faculty are finding it raises the quality of class discussion and involves students much more deeply in their own education. The employers of today are looking for the very best employees to fill positions in their organizations. The desired traits of an employee used to be centered on experience. The more experienced an applicant was, the more likely they were to get the job for which they applied. Today, employers are not only looking for experience, they are also looking for a person that has a degree in the field. Employers have begun to realize the importance of strategic thinking and leadership skills that an education affords. Because of this shift in desired qualifications, modern adults have been unable to adequately compete in the job market. The aforementioned time and responsibility constraints, as well as the fact that they have been focused on building the experience that was previously desired has put adults at a disadvantage. Being able to obtain a college degree via technology-based education methods has greatly reduced that disadvantage. It has also had an impact on their ability to execu te the functions of the position when the  job is obtained. For this issue of the Teaching Forum, we spoke to four Vanderbilt faculty members, each of whom is using technology to enhance their students’ learning. Owen Management Professor David Owens uses videoconference links to bring in guest speakers and incorporates video and audio technology into most of his lectures. Psychology Professor Andy Tomarken teaches methods and statistics courses in a computer lab, allowing him to integrate traditional lecture with demonstration projects using the methods he is teaching. Peabody Professor Margaret Smithey guides her students in the preparation of multi-media classroom presentations including clips from the Internet, video, audio, and news archive footage. She has opened an e-conference for interns from her courses who want to stay in touch with their fellow students and professors, and she maintains a library of digitized video clips, taken from live and simulated classroom settings. Department of Biomedical Engineering Chair Tom Harris directs a new NSF-funded center focused on developing technology-based bioengineering teaching materials and curriculum. He is collaborating with several partners, including Peabody Professor John Bransford. What Technology Brings to the Classroom What these faculty members have in common, and what they share with many others across the campus, is a commitment to exploring the opportunities technology offers for improving the quality of classroom instruction. Professor Margaret Smithey describes how technology allows her to capitalize on unexpected turns in class discussion. â€Å"Yesterday afternoon my students had specific questions about classroom management, so at that point I said ‘let’s look at these scenarios that I have on a CD.’ The CD brought to life  their questions. I think seeing actual classroom scenarios related to their questions makes learning come alive for my students better than if I gave my opinion or told a story.† Professor Tomarken, who teaches advanced statistics and methods classes, says incorporating computers into class discussion can also make extremely difficult courses much easier for students to grasp. One of the challenges of teaching advanced statistics to students who often lack a strong math background is â€Å"translating theoretical stuff into a workable set of concrete analysis, â€Å"Tomarken says. â€Å"I find that it’s really important to talk about different types of models from the point of view of specific problems and that’s really where the ability in class to have stuff be on the projection system is critical.† Access to a computer-equipped classroom can also be important. â€Å"I like to get students interacting with software in the class, â€Å"Tomarken says. â€Å"I find if you just send them home to do it on their own, they run into real problems. When they follow me, typing in on their own computers, that facilitates their learning.† Last semester, Tomarken also faced another problem – the lack of a good textbook for teaching structural equation modeling to social science students – that he solved using technology. â€Å"There is no book that is perfect, that really is appropriate, for this class. There are either books that tend to be too easy or too hard or just not broad enough in scope.† Tomarken solved this problem using the Prometheus system, by placing his lecture notes on the web. This not only replaced the textbook, it allowed students to spend more time focused on the lecture and less time copying formulas from the board. â€Å"I told them, you don’t have to write anything, it’s all on the web, just listen.† Technology Changes Teaching, Not Teachers While all the faculty members interviewed for this article believe technology has great power to influence their teaching, no one feels it fundamentally changes them as teachers.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"I’ve always wanted a very interactive classroom,† Smithey says. â€Å"I want it to be very theoretically based and I know exactly what I want my students to learn. I think technology has improved the quality of what we can access.† Smithey also emphasizes the importance of technology being used for a clear purpose. â€Å"I never want to use technology just for technology’s sake but to support my students’ learning.† Professor Tomarken feels that integrating statistical software and visual models into his courses means he comes into class â€Å"better prepared† but doesn’t think it changes him as a teacher. â€Å"I usually am pretty interactive with the class.† He does, however, credit the accessibility of computers with reducing the â€Å"passivity factor† in his classes. â€Å"They have to type things in, they have to click on the mouse. I think it’s pretty lively in a lot of ways.† How Technology Enhances Learning Professor Owens, Smithey, and Tomarken all feel they can see technology enhancing their students’ learning, particularly when students use the technology directly. David Owens requires his students to do at least one group project entirely over the Internet. â€Å"They’re not allowed to do it face to face,† Owens says. â€Å"They aren’t allowed to say, â€Å"I’ll call you tonight.’ They have to do everything virtually. In this project, they have a lot to figure out about group process, what things are done best face to face, what things are done best asynchronously, what things are done best in an anonymous chat room. And they figure it out. It’s†¦so much more powerful than my sitting up there saying â€Å"the group process models show†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Professor Smithey requires her students to complete a series of computer assignments from a course CD that she has developed. Smithey values these pre-class assignments because they save classroom time and improve the quality of class discussion. â€Å"When the students complete their CD assignments, they come to class with a common context. We are able then to discuss particular class dilemmas or teaching dilemmas that everyone has watched, analyzed and reflected upon. So, we can start there and go with our class discussion rather than having to take 20 or 30 minutes of class  showing the video and asking the specific questions. They’ve done all that in the computer lab.† Technology can also improve the dynamics between teachers and students, often leading to enhanced learning. â€Å"Students can see you’re doing a lot of work to further their education and I think that there’s an appreciation factor that ultimately contributes to their own motivation,† Tomarken says. Students who may question how much their professors care about teaching can also see evidence of the time and trouble taken to prepare for class. â€Å"I think sometimes graduate students, or possibly even undergraduate students, go in with the mindset that this teachers doesn’t really give a darn about teaching and I think using technology is a real way of communicating ‘yes I do,’† Tomarken adds. Technology Brings Challenges Introducing technology into the classroom can also bring a set of challenges. First among them is finding the time needed to incorporate new technology into courses. Professor Smithey not only uses the technology herself but also requires her student to produces multi-media projects during the semester. â€Å"If you’re going to ask the students to do such a challenging project, you have to be available to them. You have to have support. There has to be some relief time to learn about the technology. You don’t have to know the details of technology but you have to understand it well enough that you can envision what your students need to know about using it.† The technology itself can fail, leaving an instructor to resort to back up. Technology also changes rapidly and it takes time to keep up with technical changes that influence how equipment and software perform in the classroom. Professor Owens points to a digitized news show he purchased from CBS: â€Å"I have the CD in here and one of my fears is that someday I’ll pop it in the classroom and it won’t work. It’s a constant upkeep.† Professors Tomarken and Owens also note that having computers in the classroom can distract students from the class itself. Teaching in a  classroom equipped with computers â€Å"actually introduces the potential for students to be doing something on the computer that doesn’t have anything to do with the class,† Tomarken says. â€Å"I occasionally go parading around and check out what people are up to,† Owens says. Some people take notes on the computer, some people try to get the lecture slides up on their screen so they can see them up close, some people do e-mail, surf the net, do whatever.† He agrees with Tomarken that students’ personal use of computers in class is an issue that needs to be examined, â€Å"through whether that’s worse than day dreaming I don’t know.† Need for University Support Support by the University for the use of technology is also critical. Bringing technology into the classroom uses resources ranging from computers to classrooms to graduate assistants, and university wide coordination is essential for ensuring an effective learning environment for students. â€Å"One element that is essential is support in the form of graduate students to help students with technology,† Smithey says. â€Å"It is impossible for one faculty member to support an entire class of students in creating innovative ways to use technology. You can continue to use CDs that you have in your own library, you can continue to connect to the Internet from the classroom, but additional faculty support is necessary to take technology use to the next level of requiring our students to use technology in a way that prepares them for using it in the future classrooms.† Physical facilities are also important. Keeping the technology in working order is crucial but so are other issues such as ensuring a classroom’s physical design supports the best possible use of the technology. â€Å"You have a very real problem if you have big nice screens and nice projectors but the screen is in front of the white board; if you want to write and have slides at the same time, it’s difficult if not impossible,† Owens says. Moving Forward with Technology As the University moves towards an increasingly coordinated approach to the use of technology, several efforts  are underway at Vanderbilt to determine just how technology can be used to most effectively enhance learning. One effort is the VaNTH Center in Bioengineering Educational Technologies, a joint effort between Vanderbilt, Harvard University, University of Texas, and Northwestern. Among is several priorities is research into the value of technology, such as web-based education for teaching bioengineering. The research team is collaborating with specialists from the Learning Technology Center at Peabody and with the Institute for Software Integrated Systems (ISIS). â€Å"It’s recognized that bioengineering teaching materials are not very well developed and there is not a broad consensus on bioengineering curricula,† says Thomas R. Harris, chair of Vanderbilt’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. â€Å"We need a new way to look at bioengineering education. Why not use the modern methods that we’ve been developing in the learning sciences and learning technology, and really take a look at this from an entirely new point of view?† The result is a $10 million NSF grant for Vanderbilt and its academic partners to develop a new curriculum in bioengineering, one that utilizes fundamental principles of learning science and â€Å"is driven by technology, web based technology, simulations, slides, interactive systems, and tutoring and homework systems,† Harris says. Although the grant focuses on the development of bioengineering, the collaboration between Peabody’s Learning Technology Center and the Department of Biomedical Engineering has the potential to benefit students and faculty in all areas of the university because part of the research involves determining exactly which technological tools best enhance learning. â€Å"One of the things of concern is that in higher education a lot of people are very critical of technology as being just a waste of time and money and so forth. Well, is that right or not?† Harris asks. â€Å"If a particular piece of learning technology is no good, we’re going to be happy to identify it as such. We’d like to be able to guide the decision of  educators and administrators about what is effective and what is not. And if you can begin to show major advances for some of this, then the justification for the additional investment is there.† Another potential benefit this research offers is the opportunity to develop a much better understanding of the kinds of resources required for faculty to use technology in ways that consistently enhance student learning. â€Å"There could be a small investment that could dramatically increase our effectiveness if we do it right,† Harris says. â€Å"That’s the key. We have to know how to do it and what to do. So if we get in and do research in this center and we find out some of the mistakes and things you ought to avoid, I think that you could tailor a system that could dramatically increase effectiveness and make faculty more effective.† Harris believes that effective use of technology has the potential to transform the student-teacher relationship at the undergraduate level. â€Å"I think we’re going to see a revolution in the interaction between students and teachers,† he says. â€Å"I think the relationship to undergraduates is going to become more like the relationship to graduate students in the sense of more direct personal interaction. By using technology we’re going to be able to use the power of the person, who they are and what they are. The teacher’s inspirational role is going to become much greater.† Like Harris, Professors Owens, Smithey and Tomarken also see new opportunities to use technology in the classroom. David Owens wants to pursue his interest in virtual teams by developing a course run exclusively on the Internet. Andy Tomarken plans to continue integrating computer interaction with more traditional classroom activities. Margaret Smithey would like to use videoconference links to allow her students to observe a live classroom setting and then interview the teacher afterward, all via video. In each case, these faculty members, like many others across the University, will continue to use technology to challenge both themselves and their students.

Into the wild essay

Into the wild essay Free Online Research Papers Our society today is mainly based on knowledge of our surroundings. When traveling to places you are not familiar with can be difficult, and can sometime even be dangerous. Our society has also been very materialistic and we tend to focus more on ourselves rather then the trillions of other people in our world. Christopher McCandless/Alexander Supertramp, wanted to get away from today’s ways and he â€Å"no longer [wanted to] be poisoned by civilization† (Krakauer, 163) or be â€Å"unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstracting and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence.† (Krakauer, 22) We may never fully understand why someone would choose to leave everything, and go off into the unknown. Possible it was so he could find himself. Maybe the only way he could really know who he was, was to remove him self from all that he has known and give himsel f to the hands of nature. Everyone is tied to nature in one way or another. Sometime the connection is so strong that they get lost in it. With any luck they will discover themselves. When you get lost in the wilderness you can get lost in yourself. Many people, mostly teens, who feel like they are tied down, want to run off and get lost in the world. They see the outside world as freedom and an escape form the stress of the everyday world. Once people remove themselves from there surroundings, even if just for a little while, they can find out who they really are. Some people discover that the life they have isn’t actually that bad, yet there are some who find out what they really want out of life. Krakauer can sympathize with McCandless because he too was a curious and free spirited youth. He believes that McCandless made a mistake about going off alone. He acknowledges that McCandless was not fully repaired for what he was getting himself into. If he had just down some research and was prepared, then maybe he would have made it out alive and be the one telling his story today. Some people believe Christopher McCandless to be irresponsible. Yet to some, he was just a brilliant young man who went out to find himself. Krakauer thinks that â€Å"McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul† (Krakauer, 183). By saying this he is sympathizing with him. He might have a biased opinion yet he understands why others would perceive McCandless as unprepared, crazy, and ill-informed. I believe Christopher to be a bright and very motivated person. He knew what he wanted and set out to accomplish it! Even though he was unprepared for the wilderness, it had nothing to do with his age. People tend to think that young people are foolish and adults know better. But this statement is untrue. Every one grows and develops differently and at different times. For some it takes them forever to figure out themselves and to â€Å"grow up.† Then there are the others who grow up fairly quickly. People also find themselves in different ways. Christopher McCandless choose his way. It can be argued that he should have gone about it in a different way yet we can all agree that at least he was brave enough to want to break free and discover the ‘true’ Christopher. Research Papers on Into the wild essayHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayPersonal Experience with Teen Pregnancy19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoHip-Hop is ArtCapital PunishmentEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenStandardized TestingUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and