Impact Of Virtual Learning Environment Education Essay

The usage of Blackboard platform has been adopted by many higher acquisition establishments. But a few surveies have been carried out on its impact on pupils, talks and administrations. This thesis is about the impact of practical acquisition environment package such as Blackboard in higher acquisition establishments ; a instance survey has antecedently shown that the Blackboard package is being used chiefly for administrative maps and non to its maximal capacity.RecognitionThough merely my name appears on the screen of this thesis, a great many people have contributed to its production. I owe my gratitude to all those people who have made this thesis possible and because of whom my experience has been one that I will care for everlastingly. My deepest gratitude is to my adviser, Dr.William Micheal Gasser. I have been surprisingly fortunate to hold an adviser who gave me the freedom to research on my ain, and at the same clip the counsel to retrieve when my stairss faltered. I am besides grateful to him for promoting the usage of right grammar and consistent notation in my Hagiographas and for carefully reading and noticing on infinite alterations of this manuscript. Many friends have helped me remain sane through these hard times. Their support and attention helped me get the better of reverses and remain focused on my survey. I greatly value their friendly relationship and I deeply appreciate their belief in me. I am besides thankful those who helped me in my research by supplying feedback through the on-line questionnaires. Most significantly, none of this would hold been possible without the love and forbearance of my household. My immediate household has been a changeless beginning of love, concern, support and strength for me. I would wish to show my heart-felt gratitude to my household. My extended household has aided and encouraged me throughout this enterprise. Contentss 1 Introduction 6 1.1. Problem Statement 11 1.2. Target 11 1.3. Result and Actors 11 1.4. Scope and Scale 12 1.5. Ethical issues 12 1.6. Purposes and Objectives 12 1.7. Thesis Outline 13 2 Research Methodology 14 2.1 Library Search 14 2.2 Online Journal Articles Search 15 2.3 Open Access Online Journal Articles Search 15 2.4 Web Search 16 2.5 Extra Literature 16 3 Impact of Using Blackboard Software on Students and Lectors 17 3.1 Students 17 3.1.1 Students ‘ perceptual experience 17 3.1.2 Students Evaluation of VLE Components 18 3.1.3 Blackboard versus Face to Face Teaching 19 3.1.4 Impact on Learning 20 3.1.5 Impact on Learning Outcomes 21 3.1.6 Impact on Society 22 3.2 Lectors 22 3.2.1 Lectures ‘ perceptual experience 23 3.3 Impact on IS Strategy 25 4.1 Students perspectives 27 4.2 Lecturers positions 30 5 Decision 36 6 Bibliography 37IntroductionIn recent old ages, the demand for instruction has changed because of an increased demand for a extremely educated work force that will be expected to larn continuously ( Alavi & A ; Leidner, 2001 ) . Education has become an un stoping procedure in one ‘s life-time due to which the agency of instruction are besides being transformed in order to run into the outlooks and to maintain the continuity of instruction traveling. The acquisition which was ab initio done in a face to confront environment, is going into an environment mediated by computing machines and digital engineerings. In 1886, the first president of the University of Chicago, William Rainer Harper wrote: â€Å" the pupil who has prepared a certain figure of lessons in the correspondence school knows more of the topic treated in those lessons, and knows it better than the pupil who has covered the same land in the schoolroom † ( Harper, 1971, p. 12 ) . Since the 1970s, the Open University of UK, has pioneered the construct of modern distance acquisition by supplying blended learning environments of face-to-face tutoring and class bundles including audio- and video-based class stuff. Since the reaching of the Internet, educational net-based engineering is germinating quickly at universities worldwide ( Mason, 2003 ) . However, the demand of practical acquisition has of all time so increased today, that we barely find a student/tutor who does n't utilize or cognize how to utilize the practical acquisition packages available. Some research has been done on acquisition by Virtual acquisition environments, and they show a variable perceptual experience of VLEs for both pupils and academic staff. In an rating of on-line distance instruction, Westerberg and Marald ( 2004 ) found that university directors and instructors perceived this sort of instruction as a agency of making out to a higher figure of pupils. Students, on the other manus, appreciated the chance to analyze in a mode more independent of limitations of clip and infinite, than traditional instruction on campus. Teachers experienced a heavy work load and high outlooks to be accessible to pupils, while pupils perceived the pedagogical quality of online classs being lower, compared to classs on campus ( Westerberg & A ; Marald, 2004 ) . The fi ndings of high outlooks of being available to pupils are confirmed by Zhang and Nunamaker ( 2003 ) , who found that scholars perceive more chances for communicating with teachers in a practical acquisition environment than in a traditional schoolroom. With these differing sentiments in head, it could be sensible to inquire if learning by agencies of practical acquisition environments is a phenomenon truly accepted by instructors and pupils. This thesis is being carried out to happen out the factors act uponing the impact of practical acquisition environment for both the pupils and the teachers/turtors. AA practical acquisition environment ( VLE ) A is aA softwareA system developed to back up acquisition and instruction in an educational environment. A VLE can work within an administration via Local Area Network ( LAN ) , over the Internet as Wide Area Network ( WAN ) and supply a aggregation of educational tools in order to ease assignments, communicating, contents direction and attendings. VLEs can be used for distance acquisition or supplement traditional face to confront schoolroom activities. A web page is a front terminal interface that is browsed by pupils and academic staff, the back terminal can represent databases, web waiter and other relevant hardware and package tools. Blackboard ( c.f. , Mistake: Reference beginning non found ) is VLE package that supports and facilitates on-line acquisition and teaching.A A It enables class content stuffs, such as talk notes and talk slides to be uploaded on the Blackboard site for easy entree and downloads by pupils. It supports on-line communicating between lecturers/tutors and pupils by the usage of forums and treatment boards. It besides supports online capable presentation and tutorials in a practical schoolroom. Groups direction is done via Blackborad in order to ease treatment and exchange of educational stuffs. Its is used in uploading and taking on-line assignments that involve automatic marker and feedback strategies besides for posting proclamations on a site and e-mailing pupils enrolled on a peculiar class. It helps pupils for scheduling class and assignment deadlines and tracking activities on a site and class work entry and its automatic recognition. Blackboard package is used by over 3700 instruction establishments in more than 60 states Smith ( 2009 ) . Many researches have shown that pupils ‘ activities under Virtual Learning Environment are largely based on administrative maps such as subjecting assignments and reading messages in forums or newssheets. It has been found that pupils are merely active and engage themselves in collaborative and synergistic activities in ain environment such as in societal networking ( e.g. , Facebook and Myspace ) . A survey in Smith ( 2009 ) showed that although pupils value resources placed on VLEs such as Blackboard, they value more face to confront contact with their lectors or coachs. Lectors play a really critical function in how pupils engage themselves with VLEs. Research in Smith ( 2009 ) has shown that bulk of lectors are replacing the bing methods alternatively of introducing new methods that will promote pupils to bask collaborative and synergistic acquisition methods. Another research has shown that some lectors ‘ usage of Blackboard has enhanced their appraisal of pupils work capablenesss in the face to confront schoolroom scenes ( Woods et al. ( 2004 ) . In most of least developed states, VLEs are regarded as inferior to face to confront schoolroom scenes. If engineering is suitably used so it normally has important benefits to our day-to-day life. The same chief applies to the usage of Blackboard. Appropriate usage of Blackboard has shown to hold important benefits to both pupils and their lectors. Some of these are outline below. Traditional methods ( face to confront learning ) were compared with the usage of Blackboard package for sociology pupils. It was revealed that pupils ‘ rating compared favorably in the group that was utilizing Blackboard with important addition in perceptual experiences of lector relationship and rating Koeber ( 2005 ) The research in Campbell et Al. ( 2008 ) found that participants on on-line treatment attained higher Markss in their tests than those with face to confront method. This showed that VLE was linked with greater accomplishments. It was shown in Hepworth et Al ( 2000 ) that VLEs promote significantly greater critical thought among pupils than traditional method of face to face schoolrooms. It was revealed by APLU ( 2009 ) that larning results via Blackboard were better than face to face instructions. It was found that 56 % of talks ( with and without on-line experience ) recommended on-line plans to at least one pupil. It was shown that over 80 % of lectured with on-line talking experience recommended on-line plans. Farquarson ( 2007 ) found that there was an impact on pupils ‘ societal experiences at universities by take parting in on-line activities. It was suggested that this could be used as keeping scheme since supportive equal groups are an facet of pupils ‘ battle. There is clear indicant of the effectivity offered to pupils and their lectors through the usage of VLEs such as Blackboard. This is much derived from the facets such as administrative acquisition and instruction undertakings, for case, managing and accessing content stuffs, communications or proclamations such as forums or intelligence, scaling, attendings, assignments and feedbacks. With VLEs there are benefits of flexibleness and convenience of entree at anytime and from anyplace, there is flexibleness of communicating and coaction environment, this means that there is a big degree of control passed to the pupil.Problem StatementHow does Virtual Learning Environment impact pupils and academic staff in Higher Learning Education? Virtual environment for acquisition can be considered as an sweetening of our traditional face to confront schoolroom environment, nevertheless the impact of both is wholly different from one another and this thesis is being carried out to foreground the positive and negative facets every bit good as the impacts on pupils, teachers/tutors and over all higher larning instruction system.TargetGiven the job statement in this survey, the mark audience is academic staff, pupils, VLE package proprietors and any research workers interested in VLEs and their impacts in HLE. The end is to hold a list of factors that VLE impacts pupils and academic staff in HLE establishments. The list will so be good for future support and sweetening of VLE package such as Blackboard.Outcome and ActorsThe chief result of this survey will be the list of impacts of VLE on HLE institutes that can be used to advance and heighten VLE in larning establishments. The histrions in this survey are Blackboard package us ers i.e. , pupils and academic staff.Scope and ScaleThe range of this survey will be limited to UK pupils and academic staff with experience of utilizing Blackboard package. About 150- 200 participants will be consulted online in order to carry on questionnaire exercising.Ethical issuesEthical issues were taken into consideration in this survey. There was no hazard of exposing topics to any hazard as the lone topics were Blackboard users who were merely asked inquiries about their experiences utilizing Blackboard and those who took portion in the study were good informed and were good cognizant of the intent of the study. No private or confidential informations was required from clients during interviews or when their feedbacks were obtained from on-line signifiers. Still whatever informations collected during this thesis was kept confidential and used strictly for study and extraction of impacts of the use of VLEs.Purposes and AimsThe purpose of this undertaking is to look into the impact of a Virtual Learning Environment ( VLE ) in Higher Learning Education ( HLE ) . The involvement is in the ways by which the VLE provides pupils ‘ and lectors ‘ demands and agencies of back uping communicating and the sharing of resources in HLE. The undertaking aims will be supported by the undermentioned aims: – To reexamine the province of the art of VLE package and applications and its related engineerings. To reexamine the execution of VLEs and associated experiences of the stakeholders in the context of policies, schemes and precedences. To analyze the impact of VLEs solutions execution from the position of the pupils, research workers and lectors. To analyze the current arguments and future waies of VLE such as societal media and the impact of Web 2.0 Show the findings of this undertaking as an MSC thesis to the University of GloucestershireThesis OutlineThe balance of this thesis is organised as follows. Chapter 2 out lines the research methodological analysis used in this survey. The impact of Blackboard package on pupils and lectors is described in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 nowadayss instance survey and decisions are given in Chapter 5.Research MethodologyThe purpose of this undertaking is to look into the impact of a Virtual Learning Environment in Higher Learning Education. The involvement is in the ways by which the VLE provides pupils ‘ and lectors ‘ demands and agencies of back uping communicating and the sharing of resources. Primary informations spotlight aggregation activity has been through questionnaires and through research by utilizing resources such as the Internet, diaries, and library. The questionnaires were conducted to pupils and talks on their usage of VLE package such as Blackboard. The questionnaires were merely through on-line via a web site. Below are the sorts of initial article searched and conducted in the class of this survey: –Library SearchA library hunt was conducted utilizing an advanced hunt in the ICT, societal scientific disciplines and instruction subdivisions. The keywords entered for the hunt are:BlackboardWebCTVLEThe hunt consequences were read and relevant 1s were selected for farther rating.Online Journal Articles SearchA methodical hunt was conducted, shoping equal reviewed articles published in the undermentioned on-line diaries but non limited to: Computers and Education British Journal of Educational TechnologyOpen Access Online Journal Articles SearchA methodical hunt was conducted by shoping unfastened entree online diaries, related to VLE utilizing keywords such as: – Virtual acquisition environments ( VLE ) Course Management Systems ( CMS ) Learning Management Systems ( LMS ) Blackboard/WebCT Blended acquisition The undermentioned diaries were accessed: – The Electronic Journal of e-Learning ( United Kingdom ) The European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning ( EURODL ) ( Europe ) The Journal of Distance Education ( Canada ) Australian Journal of Educational Technology Australian The International Journal of Emerging Technologies and SocietyWeb SearchThe undermentioned keywords were entered into a web hunt engine ( google.com ) Distance acquisition Blackboard/WebCT VLE E-learning Mobile larning Web 2.0 Social media Social package Personal web Personal acquisition environment Open educational resources Open beginningExtra LiteratureIn add-on, articles recommended by friends and supervisor were studied and relevant stuffs were extracted and used. Statistical package such as Microsoft Excel was used to analyze informations obtained from questionnaires.Impact of Using Blackboard Software on Students and LectorsStudentsA two twelvemonth study in Midwestern University in USA by Lonn and Teasley ( 2009 ) found that 95 % of pupils at the campus were utilizing Blackboard and 95 % of their activities in the Blackboard were based on communicating and document direction. Merely 5 % were on synergistic activities such as Wikis, chat and treatment boards. In New Zealand, it was found by Santhiveeran ( 2006 ) that the Blackboard was accessed 23 hours a twenty-four hours. The most popular environment was paperss country where pupils could download talk notes, slide and assignments. A research conducted by JISC ( 2007 ) in UK revealed that pupils are merely interested with Blackboard features that run into their demands and sometimes merely when they suit them.Students ‘ perceptual experienceMany pupils in HLE institutes were either born or have grown up during the digital age. This coevals of pupils are excited by engineering and perceive that VLE engineering such as Blackboard package will ever assist in the instruction enterprise. These pupils do non believe that Blackboard will of all time perplex their acquisition curve MORI ( 2008 ) . There are few surveies that have researched on pupils ‘ perceptual experience looking at personal features and how these affect pupils ‘ easiness of utilizing VLEs such as Blackboard. Sun et Al. ( 2008 ) found that larning anxiousness on computing machines have negative influence on VLEs satisfaction. Lecturers ‘ attitudes on VLEs will hold positive influence on pupils ‘ VLEs satisfaction. Research conducted by Liaw ( 2008 ) found that sensed usefulness and satisfaction were the major factors that contribute to pupils ‘ behavioral purpose to utilize VLEs such as Blackboard package. It was concluded that effectivity of VLEs can be influenced by a figure of factors such as multimedia bringing, quality and synergistic activities of VLEs. These findings besides suggested that pupils ‘ perceptual experiences was that inappropriate usage of VLEs package such as Blackboard is worse than non utilizing the engineering at all to back up VLEs.Students Evaluation of VLE ComponentsSharpe et Al. ( 2006 ) learned the usage of VLE package such as Blackboard was positively overpowering with regard to accessing class stuffs and as a addendum to traditional face to confront schoolroom apparatus. The survey by Mori ( 2008 ) showed that two tierce of pupils accessed class stuffs via the VLE and were really satisfied. Students besides valued the usage of treatment board found in the Blackboard and were satisfied by lectors who played important axial rotation in modulating them. At that clip it was found that pupils were non much exposed to Wikis and were less comfy with societal networking site such as Facebook with their lectors or coachs in them. My research conducted in UK with 50 pupils informally interviewed, all of the 50 pupils acknowledge the usage of Wikis and hence it was concluded that, now pupils are familiar with wikis but still non comfy with talks in the societal networking sites. The survey my Morgan et Al ( 2006 ) established that the usage of confab and bulletin board in Blackboard was effectual in exciting brooding acquisition in nursing pupils. Students said that they developed more brooding accomplishments by the usage of Blackboard than a face to face schoolroom. Bridge and Appleyard ( 2008 ) found that assignment entry via Blackboard and feedback was positively received with 88 % of pupils interviewed pinpointed that subjecting class work via the VLE was clip and fiscal economy and 93 % preferable feedback via the Blackboard package.Blackboard versus Face to Face TeachingThe survey conducted by Oladiran and Uziak ( 2009 ) in Botswana found that the usage of Blackboard was non preferred as entirely usage of learning method. Students preferable Blackboard as a compliment to face to confront learning in a schoolroom. The recognised the power of IT in the acquisition, they accepted that the usage of Blackboard farther enhanced their IT skills and made them more independent in their thought. In general it was found that the usage of Blackboard improved the quality of their surveies, this was perceived by 75 % of the pupils interviewed. Two decisions were derived by the survey of Benoit et Al ( 2006 ) . VLE is non by and large superior to traditional face to confront schoolroom apparatus, based on the sum of acquisition, and Students are systematically more satisfied the traditional schoolroom apparatus than with VLE. This is besides supported by the research conducted by MORI ( 2008 ) who revealed that pupils still value face to VLEs schoolroom apparatus. But pupils are motivated to utilize VLE because it us flexible, can be accessed at anytime from anyplace and saves clip. The survey conducted by McGill & A ; Hobbs ( 2008 ) proved that the VLE usage is suited in HLE institutes but non needfully better than traditional face to confront schoolroom apparatus.Impact on LearningThe research by Benoit EL Al. ( 2006 ) found that utilizing VLEs were systematically non really effectual compared to traditional face to confront direction in footings of larning publicity and pupils preferred face-to-face instruction. The survey conducted by Arbaugh ( 2004 ) on an MBA programme showed that while there was minor alteration in pupils ‘ perceptual experience of larning between their first on-line class on VLE and attendant classs on VLE, there were major positive alterations in their learning satisfaction with the VLE as a bringing medium, their perceptual experiences of pupils interaction, and the convenience and easiness of usage of the Blackboard. These findings imply that as pupils obtain movable accomplishments and cognition in VLE, their perceptual experiences of the VLE as a positive acquisition medium better. Most of the major alterations in these perceptual experiences happened between the first and 2nd period that the pupils attended in the VLE classs, which implies that pupils need to analyze at least two classs via VLE before reasoning sing classs bringing medium. Therefore, academic staff should pay particular attending to first clip pupils choosing for a class via VLE in order to promote their engagement in following classs via VLE. The survey by Lonn & A ; Teasley ( 2009 ) , Attwell ( 2009 ) and Bricheno, Higginson & A ; Weedon ( 2004 ) showed that in footings of impact on acquisition, VLEs showed some accomplishment in footings of heightening communicating, the countries of larning where VLEs had small impact were collaborative and synergistic acquisition. In a research conducted in 20 educational establishments, Bricheno ( 2004 ) found that collaborative and synergistic acquisition did non look to hold major alterations in several establishments.Impact on Learning OutcomesThe correlativity between the usage of VLEs and pupil classs has been researched really widely. Percival and Muirhead ( 2009 ) studied two groups of concern and IT pupils at the University of Ontario in the Institute of Technology. One group was trained by traditional face to confront method and the other one by VLE. Both groups were evaluated by the usage questionnaires and there were approximately 40 % of respondents to the questionnaires by both groups. The purpose of the rating was to determine participants ‘ usage of VLE package such as Blackboard and measure the impact of VLE on overall classs. Just a little figure of participants in both groups listened to the on-line pre-recorded talk. Participants who listened to pre-recorded talk obtained much better classs than those who did n't. VLE learning pupils made more usage of electronic books and talk notes, podcasts and treatment boards. Percival and Muirhead ( 2009 ) concluded that although today ‘s pupils are familiar with cyberspace engineerings, it can non be taken for granted that these pupils will automatically go accustomed to utilizing these new engineerings for larning. Students are required to familiarise themselves with the benefits of engineering to their acquisition in order to do smooth passage from traditional schoolroom to online acquisition.Impact on SocietyFarquharson ( 2007 ) conducted an probe on the impact of different manners of tu torial treatment on making societal relationships among pupils. Three manners of treatment were selected for comparings: Blackboard online treatment package, Blackboard electronic mail package and traditional face to face tutorials. The group with Blackboard treatments and electronic mail were more expected to increase friendly relationship webs amongst their equals. In add-on, older pupils reported a larger figure of friendly relationships. The findings suggested that, on-line engagement in Blackboard activities might hold an impact on pupils ‘ societal experience in HLE ( Farquarson, 2007 ) . This could perchance be used as a strategic attack to better keeping rates, since supportive equal webs are an of import facet of pupil battle.LectorsThe Association of Public and Land Grant Universities in the USA published a papers on the usage of VLE such as Blackboard by module members ( APLU 2009 ) . In their survey of module members at US universities, about a one-fourth of all mo dules who responded were talking at least one on-line class via VLE at the clip of the study. Over a 3rd of module members indicated that they have lectured online. Furthermore, the most experient module members, those with more than 15 old ages of talking experience, are giving talks online at a rate equivalent to faculty members with less lecturing experience. About a ten percent of all module members reported that they were in the procedure working on developing on-line talks. The per centum of module members who have developed on-line talks is about the same as the per centum of module members who have lectured on-line classs. Forests et Al ( 2004 ) showed that module members chiefly use the Blackboard package as a class direction or disposal tool to do class material readily available to pupils and manage class classs and attendings.Lectures ‘ perceptual experienceForests et Al ( 2004 ) established that module members ‘ attitudes were really positive when it came to the schoolroom administrative maps of the Blackboard package but their ideas were impersonal in footings of its instructional and psychosocial benefits. It was found that females had more positive attitudes than males in footings of the Blackboard package ‘s capableness to better schoolroom disposal and advance a positive relational environment. Across all module members, 34 % used Blackboard package to beg a greater diverseness of pupil sentiments than is otherwise possible in the face-to-face environment and 60 % agreed that certain characteristics in the Blackboard system enhanced or elevated their appraisal of pupil work and instructional capablenesss in the face-to-face schoolroom scene. It was besides revealed that a sum of 80 % agreed that the Blackboard package helped them to clearly and expeditiously pass on information about talk demands, and 60 % agreed that the Blackboard package helps them better to run into the acquisition demands of pupils. It was besides revealed that 62 % agreed that the Blackboard package helped them to break their clip direction in disposal affairs and 64 % agreed that Blackboard package improved their pupils ‘ ability to derive cognition of class stuffs. It was found by Lonn and Teasley ( 2009 ) that both male and female lectors believed that the VLE engineering improved instruction and acquisition but were more positive on the consequence of it on their instruction than on pupils. Lectors perceived that the finest advantage of the Blackboard package was how it enhanced and better their communicating with their pupils. Very few female and male lectors chose learning or larning betterments as the most of import advantage from utilizing Blackboard package. A survey conducted by Mitchell and Geva-May ( 2009 ) explored attitudes towards, and attitudes impacting, VLE execution. In recent old ages at that place has been greater credence of VLE by institutional determination shapers, as evidenced by high degrees of larning establishment engagement, but greater module members ‘ credence still lags behind. This spread affects the permeant acceptance of VLE. Mitchell and Geva-May ( 2009 ) proposed that module members credence of VLE is influenced by attitudes related to four factors: – Intellectual reluctance, such as the concerns that pupils ‘ perceptual experiences that VLE is inferior to traditional schoolroom apparatus. Support, such as preparation, clip and aid. Change, in peculiar with respect to doubts the construction and operation of the educational establishments will alter and hence threatens their stations. Economy, where the greatest uncertainty was with the perceptual experience that more support would be needed to back up VLE.Impact on IS StrategyInternet entree connectivity has revolutionized the instruction sector peculiarly on VLE. This is really of import as the connexion should be good plenty to be able to make a practical environment such that information can be accessed and shared without any hold or job and firmly.EffectssLikelihoodLow Medium High Negative Avoid Favorable Beneficial Table 1 Internet Access Since VLE such as Blackboard package depends much on internet entree, any dislocation will hold all activities that involve the information flow between talks, pupils and institutional direction. The likeliness of this to go on is medium but the effects are really negative and therefore any learning establishment should avoid this to do negative effects by holding a backup communicating scheme, this can be done by holding more than one cyberspace entree suppliers and an automatic switch over one time one entree is lost.EffectssLikelihoodLow Medium High Negative Avoid Favorable Beneficial Table 2 Security Modern communicating like high velocity cyberspace connexion comes with drawbacks. Security is the major drawback, privateness, confidentiality and unity of private informations fluxing over the cyberspace between lectors, pupils and instruction staff offices poses security breach. With wireless internet entree in about every place in developed states, the security issue becomes more important. The likeliness of this to go on is high, its consequence is really negative and therefore any larning institute with VLE as the manner of acquisition and learning bringing should guarantee strong encoding tools and sensings are in topographic point at all sides of communicating.EffectssProbabilityLow Medium High Negative Favorable Beneficial Encourage Table 3 Software Collaborative VLE package plays a major function on the efficiency in instruction sector for maintaining pupils and lectors together. With these package, about everything is automated, scheduling, presentment and even instant messaging. The traditional message flows in an office is expeditiously organised. These package bundles are going really sophisticated as new engineerings in processing and storage capacities of personal computing machines are improved. The likeliness of these bundles to better is medium and hence increased productiveness in instruction sector, but its consequence is really good, therefore any establishment with VLE deployment should promote any kind of design or development of the collaborative educational package.4 Case survey4.1 Students positionsThe intent of this chapter is to supply an in depth position of of import findings that have already been reported in recent old ages. Students ‘ position for VLE was studied by Stephen Lonn and Stephanie Teasley in 2009. This survey does non concentrate entirely on pupil perceptual experiences but besides cover academic staff perceptual experiences. It makes peculiarly exciting reading as the survey is focused on an organizational execution of an unfastened beginning VLE, and so it is interesting to see whether the perceptual experiences of pupils and academicians are traveling to be different than those found in the usage of commercial VLEs. The survey makes a point that VLEs are used chiefly for the distribution and storage of class stuffs though they can be used for heightening coaction and interaction via tools such as treatment boards, confab suites, wikis and web logs. It farther points out that these tools permit VLEs to back up constructive methods for acquisition and instruction. A cardinal issue nevertheless is achieving pupils and academician ‘s acknowledgment of the chances provided by the tools. It reports that at the University of Wisconsin ( Morgan, 2003 ) academicians reported that one time they have had used the VLE they did commence to reconstitute their classs and eventually their pedagogic attack. It besides disputes that there are a figure of other related surveies but there has been a short of longitudinal surveies which might descry how pupils and academicians change their beliefs and methods to the effectual utilizations of VLE in acquisition and instruction. The survey is conducted at the University of Michigan where they found that academicians ‘ development on VLE is voluntary and the usage of the VLE is non obligatory over most of the establishments. They addressed a figure of cardinal inquiries: Does IT better instruction and acquisition? No major difference between pupils and academicians in footings of IT expertness. Major difference with respect the usage of IT. Students reported preferring a high degree of IT usage than academicians. Which of the following net incomes from utilizing information engineering in your faculties was most valuable to you: Contented sharing, Assignments ; confabs, proclamations ; agenda, treatment, wiki, course of study? There was a major difference between academicians and pupils. The most popular reply from academicians was that it enhanced their communicating with pupils, and for pupils the most popular reply was that it saved them clip i.e. , it was more efficient. The top four maps selected by pupils and academicians as ‘very valuable ‘ were the same, if in a slightly different order, covering content sharing, proclamations, course of study and agenda. When analyzing system event log files this seems to fit the questionnaire statistics with 95 % of activities being correlated to content, assignments, proclamations, agenda and course of study. Merely 5 % of events were associated with synergistic and collaborative tools, treatment board and wiki. For efficient communicating, instruction and acquisition activities. Students and lectors were asked to rate specific activities categorised as either ‘efficient communicating ‘ or ‘supporting acquisition and learning ‘ . Lectors tended to rate ‘efficient communicating activities ‘ as ‘very valuable, ‘ more than pupils. Teaching and larning activities tended to be rated as ‘valuable ‘ instead than ‘very valuable ‘ by both pupils and talks. In general, the survey noted that both lectors and pupils agree that IT heighten instruction and acquisition. However lectors agree more strongly than pupils that IT can better instruction and acquisition. The survey suggests that pupil responses are perchance based on how the VLE tools have really been used. The perceptual experiences raised in this survey of a non-commercial VLE such as MOODLE by pupils and lectors are no different to the types of perceptual experiences raised sing the usage commercial VLEs such as Blackboard.4.2 Lectors positionsThe article of Woods et Al. ( 2004 ) explored how far the Blackboard package aids and supports a blended acquisition method by analyzing its usage and impact on three countries of instruction and acquisition: The Blackboard package as a class direction platform, used as an country to supply talk notes, assignment, slides and other helpful larning stuffs as reading lists, course of study, auxiliary readings and external links. Besides the usage of the class system, the trial director and the appraisal tools belong partially excessively this country. The Blackboard package as an assignment tool. How far does the Blackboard package encourage diverseness, and animate critical thought and advance different larning manners before or after a face to confront schoolroom session? Specific features in this country are the treatment boards and trial directors. The Blackboard package as a tool for schoolroom society. How far does the Blackboard package encourage set uping relationships and interaction between class pupils and lectors? In order to react to these inquiries a study was carried out and sent to 50 colleges and universities in 2003 in a Midwest province of the USA ( all acquisition establishments addressed were utilizing Blackboard ) . The study was done by 862 module members from 38 establishments ; 59 % of the respondents were male, and the bulk of all respondents considered themselves as really computing machine literate. Almost half had taught with VLE such as Blackboard package and a important bulk ( 83 % ) had received preparation or assist on how to utilize the Blackboard package. The chief grounds specified for utilizing the Blackboard package were: Professional involvements ( 65 % ) Encouraged by co-workers ( 27 % ) Encouragement of pupils ( 11 % ) The survey indicates that the dominant usage of the Blackboard package is in the country of class administrative affairs. For case: 75 % on a regular basis published their course of study 81 % sent legion or sporadic electronic mails to the whole category 59 % used the class systems Less common usage was made of the assignments tool ( 28 % ) . However 41 % of respondents had conducted a quiz and 45 % had used a treatment board to promote argument and coaction. The Blackboard package was used less normally as a pedagogic application. For case, participants pointed out occasional usage of the treatment board to go on in category treatment or to back up treatment prior to a face to confront schoolroom session. 22 % used the group tools to partition pupils into treatment groups and about 6 % used the unrecorded confab or practical schoolroom characteristics to discourse class content online. The bulk of the letter writers are to some extent impersonal towards the outlook that the Blackboard package can promote a schoolroom society. About 11 % indicated that the Blackboard system was used to develop a stronger sense of schoolroom society and the bulk ( 60 % ) pointed out they ne'er used the Blackboard package for this intent. In decision, the Blackboard package seems chiefly to be used as an disposal and direction tool as portion of a blended acquisition method. The large figure of the participants ne'er used Blackboard package for more synergistic class functionalities such as formative appraisal and for practical office hours. The survey suggests that the Blackboard package seemed to be used to supplement traditional face to confront schoolroom apparatus.Suggestions For Further ResearchFrom the findings of the thesis, five suggestions characterizing the impact of practical acquisition environments were identified. These suggestions are interesting countries for farther research on the credence of practical acquisition environments. Suggestion 1. The practical acquisition environment should be used in a consistent manner by instructors to heighten credence and acquisition among pupils. Teachers ‘ voluntary on an single footing on taking the practical acquisition environment proved to be an ordeal for the pupils. Teachers ‘ voluntariness of usage led to an inconsistent usage of the practical acquisition environment or to no usage at all. As a consequence, pupils had to accommodate to new attacks of usage ( or no usage ) of the practical acquisition environment in every class. This was perceived as being really raging. Conversely, in compulsory scenes, pupils were by and large pleased with the consistence of instructors ‘ usage of the practical acquisition environment, while instructors were annoyed by being forced to act in a certain manner. Are at that place ways to compromise on voluntariness to pacify both parties? Suggestion 2: Text-based asynchronous communicating enhances the quality of larning. It enables one-to-one communicating between instructors and pupils and offers clip for contemplation and to come in profoundly into class subjects. Furthermore, pupils that are introverted or take part in a class given in a linguistic communication, other than their native lingua, are able to â€Å" talk their head † and portion treatments and group work on equal footings. Therefore, pupils with brooding and abstract acquisition manners are hypothesised to appreciate and larn better from text-based asynchronous communicating, than other pupils. To prove this hypothesis farther would be interesting. Suggestion 3: Information could be accessed independently of clip and infinite. Storing, posting and accessing class stuff and assignments by agencies of the practical acquisition environment enhances the disposal of classs. The general quality of instructors ‘ class stuff has improved as all stuff has to be published digitally. Course stuff is invariably accessible from one beginning independent of clip and infinite. The quality of â€Å" effectual and reliable file archive † is a extremely apprehended quality of practical acquisition environments. But what happens to larn by agencies of the practical acquisition environment if it is merely used for administrative intents? Suggestion 4: The practical acquisition environment lacks characteristics for constructing relationships, and for making dynamic and lively learning chances. Text-based, asynchronous treatments are perceived as being uncreative, slow and taking merely at cognitive undertakings. Synchronous treatments are non used as a learning tool at the three instance universities, and academic staff describes troubles in making lively asynchronous treatments that are active over a longer period of clip. When the focal point of the communicating between pupils or between pupils and instructors are constructing dealingss or discoursing personal affairs, the practical acquisition environment is left for other agencies of communicating, such as speaking face-to-face, telephone conferences or external electronic mail. Furthermore, pupils with matter-of-fact and active acquisition manners can be hypothesised to appreciate synchronal communicating by agencies of richer media. Synchronous communicating is hypothesised to increase engagement in on-line instruction ( Hrastinski, Keller & A ; Carlsson, 2007 ) . Teachers could increase the relationship-building features of the virtuallearning environment by utilizing synchronal media ( e.g. confab ) or richer media ( e.g. videoconferencing ) to make a higher sense of presence and interaction. Hopefully, a lively and relationship-building acquisition environment will be easier to accomplish with the development of web 2.0 and related tools of e.g. web logs, wikis and 2nd life used for collaborative intents, every bit good as information bringing. To research how relationships can be built by agencies of these tools is an of import issue for farther research. Suggestion 5: Informal larning from co-workers is of import to develop cognition of the characteristics of the practical acquisition environment and the pedagogical options provided. For academic staff, larning from co-workers informally in every twenty-four hours state of affairss, such as java interruption treatments or detecting another instructor ‘s class, is a more influential larning tool than go toing formal class Sessionss or reading manuals. From this position, it is of import to supply chances for informal acquisition among co-workers, and for instructors to detect class stuff developed by other instructors in the practical acquisition environment. To research the larning results of instructors holding entree merely to formal acquisition Sessionss compared with larning results of instructors often involved in informal acquisition, would be an interesting issue for farther research. These suggestions could presumptively make a starting-point for a design theory on practical acquisition environments. Furthermore, to make a complete design theory, the impact of what is the nucleus of higher instruction, the academic capable affair, besides deserves to be explored.DecisionThis thesis has presented the impact of VLEs on pupils and lectors in larning establishment. The instance survey presented has shown that the Blackboard package seems chiefly to be used as an disposal and direction tool as portion of a blended acquisition method. The bulk of the participants ne'er used Blackboard package for more synergistic class functionalities such as formative appraisal and for practical office hours. The survey suggests that the Blackboard package seemed to be used to supplement traditional face to confront schoolroom apparatus. The survey besides concludes that both lectors and pupils agree that IT heighten instruction and acquisition. However lectors agree more strongly than pupils that IT can better instruction and acquisition. The survey suggests that pupil responses are perchance based on how the VLE tools have really been used. The perceptual experiences raised in this survey of a non-commercial VLE such as MOODLE by pupils and lectors are no different to the types of perceptual experiences raised sing the usage commercial VLEs such as Blackboard.

Hippa Violations Essay

A staff nurse working at a medical clinic looked up a patient file in order to weaken a lawsuit case the patient had against the nurse’s husband. She gave the information to her husband who then called the patient and made it known that he had medical information which he believed weakened the man’s case. He suggested that the man consider dropping the lawsuit. The patient called and informed the clinic what the nurse had done. He also called the district attorney and within a month both the husband and the nurse was indicted. The nurse was also fired the day after the she gave the information to her husband. The nurse pleaded out and is awaiting sentencing. She faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine of as much as $250,000, and up to three years of supervised probation. The state nursing board is seeking to revoke her license. The nurse had no right to look up the patient information and she certainly had no right to share the information with her husband. She effectively ruined her life along with her husband’s. If she was worried about the lawsuit, there were other ways to go about getting help. They could have hired a good lawyer to help. She put her entire clinic in jeopardy for selfish reasons. The clinic handled the situation perfectly. They fired the nurse on the spot as soon as the breach was brought to light and held a meeting to educate employees on the importance of HIPAA and what could happen if it is violated. I do feel sorry for the nurse because she was dealing with so much stress but she deserves what she gets. She had other options available to her and shouldn’t have looked up that information.

Introduction to Business: Walmart Essay

1.  Unethical Business Ethics is defined as beliefs about what is right and wrong or good and bad in actions that affect others.( Therefore, unethical behaviour is behaviour that is believed to be bad or wrong actions or decisions. Other definition about ethics is ‘the activity of examining the moral standards of a society, and asking how these standards apply to one’s life and whether these standards are reasonable’ (Velasquez, 1998; pg 11). Ethics are based on personal or social beliefs. Furthermore, these beliefs are our moral standards, and moral standards differ among individuals. Thus, no one can say with certainty that a particular action is right or wrong and good or bad. Business ethics refers to ethical or unethical behaviour of a firm’s employer. Unethical business refer to decision made by employer with getting maximum profit as the main reason and other parties such as employees and customers receives negative effects. For example, a firm advertises their product as the best brand compared to other brands with the same type of product, but the product’s quality is not as good as it purported in the advertisement. 2. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is the largest American corporation that runs discount department stores. It was found in 1962, Arkansas, USA by Sam Walton. It was incorporated on October 31st, 1969. Furthermore, Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the world. Wal-Mart owns and operates Sam’s Club(, Wal-Mart Stores Divisions U.S., and Wal-Mart International. Wal-Mart has nine different formats of retail business, which is, supercenters, food and drugs, general merchandise store, small markets, cash and carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft discount stores and restaurants. Wal-Mart also offers private label store brands. Private label store brands are products offered by Wal-Mart which usually has the lowest price compared to other brands that offers the same product in the store. These brands are produced by subsidized contracts awarded to the lowest bidder. Wal-Mart’s private label brand includes Sam’s Choice, Great Value and Equate. 3. Discrimination Companies are responsible for any problems in regards to their employee’s welfare. Employees with high position jobs should give proper treatment and avoid discrimination to other employees with less paid jobs. Employees who apply for a position in a firm should not be subjected to discrimination because of their national origin, race, gender, or religion. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits such forms of discrimination. (Madura, J. 1998) To estimate that a certain company is practicing discrimination against a certain group, is by looking at how that certain group is distributed within the institution. There are three kinds of comparisons that show the practicing of discrimination. They include; comparisons between the average benefits that the discriminated group gets and the average benefits of other workers, comparisons between the level of jobs and comparisons of advantageous positions between the discriminated and the normal labours. However, as an established company, Wal-Mart is not responsible to its workers. In fact, the three kinds of comparisons can be clearly seen in its management. They have been discriminating against women, minorities, and the disabled workers. Furthermore, Wal-Mart’s staff has also been discriminating their customers, racially(. This is very unethical, as the company cannot survive without their clients or customers. By discriminating and making offensive actions racially to customers, customers will switch to the firm’s competitor as the services provided are not satisfying. Moreover, some customers sued Wal-Mart for not being ethically responsible.

Western civilization.Persian Empire,Greece and Ancient Rome Essay

Western civilization.Persian Empire,Greece and Ancient Rome - Essay Example Modern civilization today seems to be far from the world of ancient history where stone and man were the fundamental building blocks of technology, but when examined closely, that is not actually so. Modern civilization can trace its routes quite clearly to ancient history, one civilization after the other, with each influencing the next and all subsequent empires, in terms of both innovation and invention. Perhaps one of the most advanced empires of its time, in terms of technological development and innovation, was the Persian Empire, which occupies the area now held by modern Iran. This was perhaps due to the fact that their own technological innovations and ideas were greatly helped in development due to the natural resources available in the area. The Persian empire can not only be attributed to inventions such as the Qanat, a water irrigation system, windmills, or even the earliest batteries – which were possibly used for purposes such as electroplating – but also to a great number of technological advances, in terms of weapons as well as art and architecture. The Persians had managed to develop their ancient tools of knives and bows and arrows into stronger, more advanced weapons made of hard metal by the rule of Darius. This included both weapons, such as the metallic dagger and swords, as well as armor, such as shields and helmets. Persian architecture included the use of cider instead of stone, allowing them to create tall, high structure, supported by thinner and more delicate, yet stronger, beams than other buildings of the era. The Persians can also be attributed to having invented history’s first pontoon bridge. Many of these inventions served as inspiration for future development and some of them are in fact still used today, but in a technologically more advanced form. As advanced as the Persians might have been in their own time however, there is absolutely no doubt as to incredibly advanced level of innovation and inventio n held by the Greeks. Inventor and mathematicians such as Heronas, who was the mind behind modern day hydraulic systems as well as many other machines and automation systems, was also attributed to having invented and developed the world’s first steam engine. The steam engine, in its developed modern form, was one of the most milestone inventions for modern western civilization as it provided a complete turn of mechanism from the ancient days of doing everything by hand. It created a clear divide between the age of man and the age of machines, with modern civilization developing rapidly and dramatically after its invention. Indeed many of our inventions today can trace its route back to the steam engine, or can at least accredit it to being the inspiration behind them. The principal behind jet propulsion is indeed the exact principle behind the ancient Greek version of Heronas’s steam engine. Rotary mills, screw presses and the use of gears and screws may also be attri buted to the Greek inventors of 5th Century BC. Perhaps the most significant period of Greek impact on modern civilization is the Hellenistic period, or the Age of Alexander, where the modern western of civilization finds its roots in not only technological impacts, but also in terms of philosophy, science, politics and literature. In the Hellenistic period, scientist focused more on the practical aspect of science, dwelling into practical experiments, rather than focusing only on theoretical debate, which was more the focus of classic era scientists such as Plato and Aristotle. Early writings indicated evidence that the Hellenistic scientist Strato had in great detail described the principal and construction of a vacuum, an innovation that would not properly be considered and developed until centuries later in the Renaissance Period. Strato also worked on the principals of acceleration, force, gravity and momentum, all of which are fundamental principals in physics and technology. What made these

The impact of stock market volatility on monetary policy Dissertation

The impact of stock market volatility on monetary policy - Dissertation Example This section presents the results of the estimation. In table 1 we present the results of running regression specifications (1) and (2) using OLS and GMM instrumental variable estimation. We have used the S and P 500, Dow Jones as well as the FTSE 100 indices as measures of stock market prices. All three have been included to verify whether the results obtained are robust to changes in stock market indices. For the GMM estimation, lagged values of inflation and the output gap have been used as instruments. Finally, we have incorporated a recession dummy in the 2nd specification. This dummy variable takes the value 1 for all quarters between 2007 Q3 and 2009 Q4. In table 1, the 1st column presents the results of running a simple OLS regression on equation (1). The intercept and the coefficient on inflation are positive and significant. However, the coefficient on the output gap, although quite large is not statistically significant. Thus, from the 1st column where the estimation was c arried out of equation (1) we find that the interest rate responds only to the inflation. It does not respond to the output gap. Also, from the last row which presents the Wald test statistic which tests the hypothesis ÃŽ ² = ÃŽ ³ = 0.5, we find the statistic is highly significant. So, the null hypothesis is rejected by the 1st model.   In column 2, the results of estimating the OLS specification (2) are presented. The wald test statistic is 89.25 which is highly significant.... This translates into the query of whether equity price levels as measured by indices such as the Dow Jones or the Standard and Poor 500 should be targeted explicitly by monetary policy or not. Most macroeconomists however are of the opinion that pursuing these queries is not worthwhile since targeting stock market prices requires identification of what the fundamental prices of an asset is before the extent to which the actual price has deviated from the fundamental or target price can be identified. In other words, ex-ante identification of a stock market bubble is extremely difficult. Since the fundamental price of a stock is not verifiable then the nature of deviation of actual prices remains unverifiable as well (Shiller, 1989; Salge, 1997). Bubbles, i.e., increase of prices steadily above fundamentals can be identified ex-post. In hindsight it is clear that the Nasdaq rise or the steady rise in Japanese asset prices in the late 1980’s were such bubbles. But during the res pective phases these movements were not convincingly identified as anything other than reflecting fundamental price dynamics. Therefore under these difficulties of recognising stock market volatility in real time the true complexity of asking what the reaction of monetary authorities should be becomes clear. One possible direction suggested in literature is to make the simplifying assumption that the monetary authority is aware of the presence of a bubble and realizes that the collapse of the bubble is imminent. Post-collapse prices will revert back to the fundamental levels. Then ask what the appropriate reaction of the monetary authority should be under such assumptions. (Blanchard, 2000) Opinion among economists

Discovering entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Discovering entrepreneurship - Essay Example Introduction The report deals with developing a business plan that shows the potential of a new company on or near by the UEL campus. It is also a good opportunity for the project group to expand knowledge and skills to be a good entrepreneur in the future. During the project the five main characteristics of a successful entrepreneur were kept: believe that you can make a difference, take action, be optimistic, tolerance towards ideas and be ethical (Bronson, 2011). The new company is been developed as a response to the growing number of international students in the campus who wish to enjoy food from their own culture. With the increase number of students from different cultures and the demand for product diversity, comes the question: â€Å"Do students from other countries like English food offered in vicinity of UEL campus?† There are over 4.000 international students studying at the University of East London (University of East London 2011). This fact gave the inspiration for this new business idea. International students might not enjoy English food and miss food from their home country. When the food is available in the UK the international students can have difficulties to find it. ... While there are other stores that offer the same product, the business plan aims to create a shop within the vicinity of UEL so that students do not have to travel long distances. Also the range of products in this shop would be more as compared to the competitors. Internet would also be used in conjunction with the shop so that students can order online also. The company will be opened in the name of Oriental Bazaar. Oriental Bazaar will provide the international students their specific nourishment need. More specific information and research is elsewhere in this business plan. The business plan will include: conceptualisation, target market, supply chain, product life cycle, marketing strategy, marketing mix, operational plan and capital requirement. Macro environment Analyzing the macro environment is imperative in order to analyze how the business would fare in the current business environment. The most commonly employed to study the macro environment is the PESTEL analysis (Gill espie, 2007) that is as follows: Economic environment: University students usually have a limited budget and are not willing to pay extra for their food stuff. They usually look for discounts. However, bulk buying is not an option for these students as they do not have to serve the entire family and the purchasing is only meant for one person or occasionally a group of people. Political-legal environment: The Political-Legal environment that should be studied in this respect would be that of the University of East London. The shop would be required to maintain the codes determined by the university. UEL is committed to providing the right direction to emerging business and especially ones

See upload Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

See upload - Assignment Example Tax returns, copies thereof, or other records may be sufficient to establish the use of the method of accounting used in the preparation of the taxpayers income tax returns (i)  Cash receipts and disbursements method.  Generally, under the cash receipts and disbursements method in the computation of taxable income, all items which constitute gross income (whether in the form of cash, property, or services) are to be included for the taxable year in which actually or constructively received. Expenditures are to be deducted for the taxable year in which actually made. For rules relating to constructive receipt, see  §1.451-2. For treatment of an expenditure attributable to more than one taxable year, see section 461(a) and paragraph (a)(1) of  §1.461-1. (ii)  Accrual method.  (A) Generally, under an accrual method, income is to be included for the taxable year when all the events have occurred that fix the right to receive the income and the amount of the income can be determined with reasonable accuracy. Except as provided in section 5.02(2) of this revenue procedure for certain short taxable years, this revenue procedure does not permit deferral to a taxable year later than the next succeeding taxable year The court, distinguishing from the holding in Schlude v. Commissioner, held that accrual method taxpayers are not required to include prepayments in gross income when there is certainty as to when performance would occur. Verdict: the Court held that, under the accrual method, taxpayers must include as income in a particular year advance payments by way of cash, negotiable notes, and contract installments falling due but remaining unpaid during that year. Verdict: It was held that the Commissioner of Internal Revenue did not abuse his discretion in determining that the prepaid dues were taxable as income in the year in which they were actually received and in rejecting

How Is the Marketing Concept and Its Implementation Responding To Essay - 2

How Is the Marketing Concept and Its Implementation Responding To Developments in the Macroenvironment - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the conception of marketing is fundamentally explained as an activity for the purpose of generating, communicating, delivering and interchanging certain offerings that possess greater value for the customers, partners, and community among others. The aspect of marketing is generally utilized in order to recognize a particular customer, fulfill the various desires of the customer through offering better quality products along with attaining the expected business objectives. In this connection, the marketing concept depicts that if a business organization desires to fulfill its organizational goals, it is very much essential for the business organization initially to foresee the various sorts of logical requirements and wishes of the customers. The marketing conception can be more elaborately discussed by greatly emphasizing upon two particular imperative facets. The two facets include business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) segments. In terms of the marketing idea regarding business-to-consumer (B2C), the marketing concept is defined as a method through which the business organizations generate greater value towards the customers and tend to establish a smooth relationship with the customers by a large extent. From the perspective of the marketing conception regarding the business-to-consumer (B2C), the marketing idea is described as a procedure through which the business organizations generate superior value along with solutions and also tend to form the effective relationship with other business organizations or brands that are acting as competitors. The business organizations pay utmost importance towards the marketing concept for the purpose of increasing their productivity as well as profitability along with raising higher value towards the shareholders. The aspect of marketing environment is fundamentally viewed as a crucial constituent of a business environment that generally influences th e capabilities of a particular company for the purpose of promoting as well as performing proficient business operations in the financial market.

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 31

Economics - Essay Example This creates a surplus or supply excess as the demand for the product is low, so consumers do not have to compete for the product. Because of the fact that the product is not in high demand, and competition between consumers is low, the prices will be lowered in order to make the product more attractive to consumers. 2. Inflation affects people’s standard of living and savings in a rather negative way. Inflation is basically a term which indicates an increase in the price of goods and services. In general, inflation occurs within a market as a whole, so the entire economy tends to be impacted. Peoples standard of living is severely affected because their money does not go as far as it once did. This is especially true in an economy with high unemployment and no cost of living increases for their income. Therefore, as prices grow higher, people have to stretch their dollar for daily necessities such as groceries, water, electricity, etc. Therefore, many families have to forgo certain things that are deemed to be luxuries in order to survive, which lowers their daily standard of life. According to an article entitled, â€Å"Consequences of Inflation,† savings are affected because â€Å"inflation leads to a rise in the general price level so that money loses its value†(Riley). This means that the money in a person’s bank account is worth less due to inflation. In addition, inflation â€Å"lead(s) to negative real interest rates†(Riley). So, if a person has their money in a bank account that is supposed to gain interest, they are actually going to be losing money as the interest rates are negative. 3. A stock is defined as a security or assurance for an individual or business that allows a person or company to have a certain percentage of ownership in the profits or assets of a specific product, business, or company. The benefits associated with purchasing

Timberland’s Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Example for Free

Timberland’s Corporate Social Responsibility Essay Timberland’s exercise of its corporate power in society is very much so positive. The have contributed many great things to the world around them as they see fit. Jeffrey Swartz, the grandson of the founder and the last member of the family to serve as CEO said, â€Å"At Timberland, doing well and doing good are not separate efforts. Every day, everywhere, we compete in the global economy. At the center of our efforts is the premise of service†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Lawrence Anne T. ) Timberland only went further to prove this statement by Swartz. The social responsibly contributed by the New Hampshire Company is apparent and influentially responsible. Large companies can and are very influential to other companies because they set the pace. Not only with profit, but also with social responsibility, smaller companies follow after the actions of larger companies. Timberland is aware of this â€Å"big brother† image and is handling itself very well. Timberland has made both economical and social contribution to the United States and its neighboring countries. They have mastered the balance of public help. In September 2011, Timberland celebrated its centennial birthday with a service event called â€Å"Serv-a-Polooza† (Lawrence Anne T.). The event was held at its corporate headquarters in New Hampshire. Volunteers worked with Habitat for Humanity and framed houses in its corporate parking lot to be shipped for final assembly in Missouri to assist the suffering families in tornado- devastated Joplin, Missouri. They also created a new outdoor community gathering and performance space, built an outdoor classroom at a local elementary school, and improved the high school athletic facilities in Newmarket, New Hampshire. Lastly, volunteers worked on â€Å"greening† a community for a local nonprofit organization, transforming the meeting space for local disabled veterans, and knitting blankets for families affected by the Missouri tornadoes. (The Timberland Company ) Timberland and its volunteers have made substantial social contributions. Helping the state of Missouri shows the optimistic side of larger  corporations, which can often be misconstrued as negative entities. Timberland is making a great difference. Timberland has also prepared economical influences. Over the past years, Timberland has focused more on its effective sustainability. By the end of 2010, they had installed LED lighting in its stores in the United States and directed its European stores to purchase renewable energy, which in return reduced its carbon emissions by thirty-eight percent. Shortly after that accomplishment, Timberland set new sustainability goals for the following year. The company unveiled the plan to reduce its carbon emissions by fifty percent of total energy consumption. Timberland established a baseline for its supply chain emissions and challenged all of its suppliers to meet level two of the Global Social Compliance Program standards (Lawrence Anne T.). The programs that Timberland have pursued are not in lieu of self-interest. The standards and changes that the company has set fourth simultaneously benefit the company and its surroundings. Both the economical and social changes and contributions not only benefitted the company as a whole but also the people that the programs were initially for. The emissions sustainability efforts were economically beneficial because it supports health standards for the surrounding community where the Timberland factories are located as well as their suppliers. The programs that Timberland set effectively on their centennial birthday, in Missouri, were put in place in lieu of the Missouri residents and their families. The social responsibility initiatives of Timberland are focused on the appropriate problems but can focus on a different aspect. The programs set fourth in Missouri were great but Timberland can aim to assist other states besides their native state. Many programs went into play in Missouri because tats where Timberland’s â€Å"home† is. These efforts are great but are narrowed in on one place. Timberland’s efforts should be widespread around the United States. Timberland is off to a great start but shouldn’t be settled only in their place of comfort. Widespread efforts will go along way and open the doors for other volunteers, financial and non-financial support. VF Corporation should continue to support the initiatives of Timberland because they are headed in the right direction. Timberland’s efforts are creditable and honest. They have set a standard for other companies to follow. Being a larger and well know company is crucial because you’re always in the limelight. This limelight is the reporting mark that smaller and upcoming companies seek direction from. If Timberland continues with its practically good efforts, corporate entities would have a more positive perception. Timberland has set fourth great efforts with their economic and social contributions. They have properly set initiatives that are both beneficial to their surrounding communities as well as the company itself. Timberland’s exercise of its corporate power in society is very much so positive. The have contributed many great things to the world around them as they see fit. Bibliography Lawrence, Anne T., and James Weber. Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. Fourteenth ed. Print The Timberland Company . Corporate Social Responsibility Report. 2001. .

The Industrial Training Process Management Essay

The Industrial Training Process Management Essay According to Davis Industrial training is a kind of experiential learning which students take the chance to apply learned theories and knowledge from education institutional into the real world situation. At the same time, it also provides an opportunity for students to learn new theories and skills from industry. According to Tony (2010) industrial training programme have the potential to help students to learn in two ways. First, students can develop practical skills through activities during the period of industrial training such as dealing with customers, using software, and experiencing work procedures. Second, they can acquire supervisory and managerial skills by practice and observation. As stated by Hughes (2012) several studies have explored the learning outcomes of industry training programme for intern students. The most common conclusion is that industrial training programme plays an important role in developing transferrable soft skills such as communication skill, customer relations, team work, leadership skill and problem solving skill. However, he also further explains that industrial training programme also provides learning benefits that extend beyond the development of skills and knowledge. Some students have reported that their industrial training experience has resulted in increasing of students confidence. Lee (2006) also support the viewpoint by proposed that the benefits of industrial training programs is significant which includes improved student self development, social skills and increased practical knowledge and skills of students. Besides that, he also identified new learning outcomes for students who participate in industrial training programm e. The new outcomes are including increased understanding of how organizations function, increased ability to view career expectations realistically, increased interpersonal skill, increased ability to take initiative, increased ability to adapt to change, increased leadership skills and increased financial management skills. 2.2 Career exploration Hughes (2012) observed that industrial training programme had provided an opportunity to students to have an intensive, work-based exposure to a broad range of operations within an organization. He further states that those students will develop a better understanding of how organizations function if they have gone through the industrial training process. Beggs and et al. (2008) stated that a successful industrial training programme produces graduates with high quality learning, knowledge, skills, and the ability to meet the needs of the industry. An industrial training will provide an opportunity for students to examine career or occupancy possibilities in a realistic and real world environment and to explore a possible fit with a particular workplace. It is an excellent way to acquire transferable both soft and hard skills and the specific detailed knowledge necessary in todays workplace. Paulins (2008) agreed that industrial training programme will prepare students with realistic expectations of their future careers and to provide them with opportunities to polish career skills. According to Hsu (2012) in the industrial training process, the students can realize that the learning knowledge from their education institutional whether applied in the workplace or not, so that he/she can gain expertise in the novice field. At the same time, intern students can also learn the way to establish interpersonal relationships either with customers, colleagues or the head of department. Industrial training programme not only aim to provide students with real world working experiences through their industrial training programme but also to enhance professional skill development by practice operation in the workplace. Feldman (1999) agreed by highlighted three benefit of industrial training programme. First, industrial training programme will help to crystallize students career interests, values, and choice of vocation. Second, industrial training may help lessen the entry shock of the real working environment. Third, industrial training may help increase students opportun ities of getting hired upon graduation either by their industrial training employer or by other companies that look on their industrial training experience. Bao and Fang (2012) proposed that students increasingly demand in well-organized industrial training programs so that they can acquire professional skills, test career choice and gain a greater understanding of the industries requirements so that they are well prepared and get ready for the future career. Chin and Jen (2012) proposed that attending industrial training programme is the most credible way to experience work reality since students could receive valuable training along with hands-on experience during the industrial training programme. Besides that, when students has pass through the industrial training programme, it might decrease the chance of reality shock when the graduates students are first in jobs. Chin and Jen (2012) also perceive that the higher the level of students satisfaction on industrial training programme, the greater the possibility of students returning to the industry after their graduation. Paulins (2008) also noted that students whose industrial traini ng experiences are satisfying will have more positive feelings toward the career search. According to Muhamad (2009) industrial training programme is perceived as the most effective strategy for the employment opportunity. Practical experience and exposure gained during the industrial training programme are found to be helpful in improving career decision making as it is the best way for students to explore the suitability of a particular job. Industrial training programme may smooth the way for permanent employment upon graduation as well as providing an in-depth understanding of actual operation practice. It was found that graduates students who have gone through an industrial training programme tend to be receiving a great number of job offers and faster gain their first jobs than those students without industrial training experience. 2.3 Mentorship According to Phoebe (2010) mentorship is the most important ingredients of a successful industrial training programme. (Liu, 2011) define mentoring is a degree to which the supervisor(or mentors) assigns challenging tasks to the intern students, provides proper assistance in completing the tasks, and purposefully helps to build the positive impression of students towards the organization. Kamler (2006) noted that mentoring has been proven effective to help students in understanding organizational culture, function of operation and natural of job. In addition, mentoring also providing access to informal and formal networks of communication, and offering professional stimulation to both supervisors and interns. (Liu, 2011) further explained that supervisors are critical figures in interns students work lives. Supervisors are responsible in determine the types of tasks assigned to interns students and responsible for evaluating students performances for future recruitment decisions. Hen ce, the most effective way for students to impress their future employers is to impress their immediate supervisors and establish good relationships with them since they are in short duration of industrial training. Therefore, a positive relationship between supervisors and intern students is a critical factor in determining the success of industrial training programs. Shimoni(2007) suggested that mentoring can consist of emotional and psychological support, direct assistance with career and professional development, and role modeling for intern students. According to Kay (2008) psychosocial functions is a critical component in mentorship that will influence emotional responses of intern student toward their workplace. Supervisors serve to delineate of students work responsibilities and offer strategies for managing conflicting of the job. Psychosocial support allows students to hold positive attitudes toward the work environment and overcome with the stress of career management. Mentoring will equips the students with improved problem solving skills in managing problems and conflicts. Students who gain a sense of satisfaction and achievement in performing and accomplishing their tasks, they are more likely to continually learn with increased competence, and gain greater recognition than those who lack mentors. Kutsyuruba (2012) suggested that supervisors providing mentoring support such as coaching, guiding and counseling to supporting their intern students will have personal benefits for students, such as stronger self-confidence, self development, and developed sense of responsibility and increased motivation. David (2000) agreed that the interns students is usually visits the mentor at the job site to learn first-hand activities, responsibilities, problems, and lifestyles associated with the mentors profession. The main purpose of mentorship  is the growth and development  of  the student beyond intellectual and skill areas. The benefits  of  mentorships are recognized as providing high-level learning experiences, providing opportunities  for  talent development, promoting psychosocial development in areas  of  responsibility, self-directed learning, feelings  of  competence, sense  of  identity, and highlighting the connections between students interests and t he larger world. 2.4 Conclusion In a nutshell, industrial training programme is a very important component in an education institutional for students. Industrial training programme provides a learning platform for students as students can develop practical skill, managerial skills and soft skills. Those skills include dealing with customer, use the latest software, enhance in communication skill and others. Besides that, students can gain learning benefits beyond the development of skills and knowledge as students can gain self confidence, self development through industrial training programme. Furthermore, new learning outcomes are defined for students who participate in industrial training programme including increased understanding of how organizations function, increased ability to view career and others. On the other hand, industrial training programme also provide an opportunity for students to examine career possibilities in a real world environment and to examine whether or not they are fit with a particula r workplace. The advance working in a realistic will allow them to polish their career skill. Moreover, industrial training programme will help to crystallize students career interests, values, and choice of vocation. Industrial training may also help to lessen the entry shock of the real working environment and increase students opportunities of getting hired upon graduation since they have working experience. Practical experience and exposure gained during the industrial training programme are found to be helpful in improving career decision making as it is the best way for students to explore the suitability of a particular job. Besides that, mentorship is also a critical component in an industrial training programme. Mentorship help students in understanding organizational culture, function of operation and natural of job. Besides that, psychosocial functions is a critical component in mentorship that will influence emotional responses of intern student toward their workplace as it allows students to hold positive attitudes toward the work environment and overcome with the stress of career management. In the case, problem solving skill and sense of job satisfaction will increase so that students would like to continuously learning. Mentorship which mentor provide guiding, counseling will benefit students from develop self-confidence, increase motivation and so on. In addition, mentorship  is a platform that allows growth and development  of  the student beyond intellectual and skill areas such as development in areas  of  responsibility, self-directed learning and other benefits as well.

Names in A Pair of Tickets :: Joy Luck Club Literature Chinese Culture Essays

Names in "A Pair of Tickets" In Amy Tan's "A Pair of Tickets" (the last chapter of The Joy Luck Club), the understanding of the importance of names is the key to truly apprehend a sacred relationship between mother ("Suyuen") and daughters (June or "Jing-Mei", "Chwun Yu" and "Chwun Hwa"). To understand the story as a whole, it is necessary for us to know the meanings of their names. The mother and daughters' names each bears its individual meaning, but all these names are indeed "intertwined" into a deeper relationship among each other. It is through a deeper understanding of these Chinese characters' names that opens our eyes (readers from different cultural background) to see how mother and daughters are strongly attached emotionally. In Chinese culture, names are not merely "labels" to distinguish one from the other nor are they used as "mediums" that "reflect" one's identity and individuality; names represent all the long-term greetings and expectations from parents to children. A name is the essence of a person, and it is a gift (the first gift) from parents to be carried for the rest of one's life.* A person's name is like a title of a book or poem: we use a title to identify the nature of the book and its "essence", while we use a name to identify a person and his/her individuality. Chinese name is distinctive in a sense that each name has a story behind it, e.g. June's mother named her twin daughters in China "Chwun Yu" and "Chwun Hwa" since they were born in spring ("Chwun"), "Yu" (rain) was given to the first born and "Hwa" (flower) to the second which indicate their sequence of birth ("rain comes before flower": par. 88); furthermore, rain and flower are nature's elements that exist for one and the other, indicating these twin daughters would stay inseparable. In this story, Tan has not left out the importance of names which is essential in our understanding of the meaning and purpose of her writing. What would be the impact if she left out the explanation of the meanings of those characters' names? Would there be a difference? The answer is obvious. The meanings of mother and daughters' names are the "essence" of the whole story that necessitate us to apprehend the mother's deep love for her daughters. The scene where Suyuen had to abandon her twin-daughters in China

Cutting the OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) :: essays research papers

CUTTING THE OSINT The main problem with cutting back or eliminating any intelligence gathering discipline is the possible problem of the loss of information that can be utilized to derive intelligence. All information that can be collected should be gathered, processed, and disseminated to the all-source fusion agency in order to completely draw the best picture of an investigated situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the latter half of the twentieth century a burst of electronic technology occurred and developed an astounding amount of information via the Internet that is growing with more information by the minute. Most of the information that is publicly available is gathered by a resource known as open-source intelligence (OSINT). Due to budget cutting and having to eliminate one â€Å"INT†, the OSINT must be considered for the following reasons. One of the main problems with OSINT is that there is so much information; it is sometimes difficult to figure out what to collect and what not to collect. An analyst trying to scan through the tons of data in order to find quality information for a request can spend hours trapped in research. Albeit, the Internet is not the only tool available to an OSINT analyst, the majority of other information can be found somewhere on the world-wide-web via electronic city maps, business web sites, etc. This leads to the next point of availability to everyone. The analysts from the other disciplines; HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT, and MASINT, most certainly have the Internet available. Many times there is not a need to put in a request for an OSINT analyst to research out information that is readily available to an analyst. The time that it takes an analyst from the HUMINT, SIGINT, IMINT, MASINT, or an all-source fusion agency to put in a request to an OSINT analyst and place a product on pause is not practical. Time could be better spent conducting the research within the INT or all-source fusion entity and thus bringing a more favorable result in the information found. Many times information disseminated from other INTs to an all-source fusion agency can be the wrong information, or the consumer could also be asking the wrong request for information from the OSINT analyst. If each analyst conducts the research, there is no doubt as to whether the question is answered correctly or not. This can eliminate the process of having to conduct double work on the same request and save more time and money overall.

Anna Karenina - The Complex Character of Constantine Dmitrich Levin Ess

Anna Karenina - The Complex Character of Constantine Dmitrich Levin    In the novel Anna Karenina, written by Leo Tolstoy, both major and minor characters played important roles through out the story. One protagonist, Constantine Dmitrich Levin, caught my interest as being a compassionate, moral character. Constantine Dmitrich Levin is a complex character whose direct and indirect characterization emphasizes a search for balance. Constantine Dmitrich Levin, often called Levin or Constantine, later Kostya by Kitty, is a farmer in eighteenth century Russia. He enjoys his work and avoids the city at all costs. He is madly in love with Princess Catherine Alexandrovna Shcherbatskaya, normally called Kitty, but she rejects him in hoping that Count Alexey Kirilich Vronsky, normally named Vronsky, a man who has shown great interest in her, will propose marriage. Both are discarded but reconcile their feelings and eventually marry.       The novel Anna Karenina directly depicts Levin as a strongly built, honest worker, who dislikes the immoral views of the aristocracy. Levin enjoys his choice of work in the fields and begins to trust the peasants who assist him in his farming duties. He believes that working outside the cities provide a more noble lifestyle. Levin considers peasants to be more independent that those in urban areas and considers the peasants more morally correct.       Seeing the waiters busy over washing up the crockery and setting in order their plates and wine-glasses, seeing their calm and cheerful faces, Levin felt an unexpected sense of relief as though he had come out of a stuffy room into the fresh air (Tolstoy, 695, part 6, chapter 28).    Work p... ...her; he wishes the peasants to control their lives with self-interests, not by the interests of the government because the general welfare may not benefit the peasants or him.       Of the two protagonists of the novel, Anna Karenin and Constantine Levin, Levin is the one I admire most. Directly depicted as an honest, moral man, Levin is well liked among people he meets and does not try to escape to a fantasy world as Anna did. The novel goes in-depth by indirectly depicting him to be a philosophical thinker and an atheist, who is torn apart by his beliefs. The manner Tolstoy describes Levin is appealing, for I admire all of the qualities he possesses and that is why I chose him for my character of study. By using both direct and indirect characterizations, Tolstoy aimed to depict Levin as the role model for Russians in the eighteenth century.

America’s Unjust Drug War Essay

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result; this statement fairly sums up the War on Drugs. Let us imagine a scenario of two men, one of them has killed 4 young women in cold blood, for ‘sport’ as he likes to say; the other man was caught with a large amount of an illegal drug. In prison it would not be unlikely for these two to share a cell, but my question is why? Why are these drastically different crimes seen as being worthy of the same punishment? According to a pro-marijuana web site, studies show that in Dallas, Texas â€Å"Possession of two ounces or less of marijuana is punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000. Possession of greater than two ounces is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine up to $4,000† (â€Å"We Be High†). It seems to defy logic, and upon observation of the facts, it does. The War on Drugs, specifically the prohibition of marijuana, is an unnecessary drain on our country’s tax dollars and law enforcement agencies. Some would even say that these agencies have no right to tell us what we as US Citizens can put into our bodies in the first place. Not only that, but the skepticism and prohibition of marijuana is keeping people from exploring the amazing potential that it has in the medicinal field. If marijuana were legalized properly, not only would these problems begin to work themselves out, but the illegal market and the problems and dangers caused by the prohibition of marijuana would cease to exist. One fact that few in our country would refute is that our prison system is over-crowded and has been stretched in recent years to accommodate all the recent â€Å"criminals.† Along with all those which have committed true crimes against society such as murder and robbery, there are now citizens that have been found guilty of possession or di stribution of drugs. â€Å"In 2003, there were a record 755,186 marijuana arrests in the US – greater than the number of arrests for all violent crimes combined† (Miron). â€Å"In 1998, 65% of those were convicted of drug possession in state court and 71% of those convicted of drug trafficking were sentenced to incarceration† (Chin 10). Not only is being arrested and incarcerated for simple possession of marijuana a set-back in one’s life, but finding a decent job for an ex-con is very difficult (Rachels and Rachels). It is hard to believe that violent criminals and Marijuana dealers belong in the same facility; it is a waste of money to feed and clothe them. A popular philosophical argument for the legalization of drugs, such as marijuana, is that the Government does not have the right to tell us what we can and cannot put into our own bodies. Nowhere in the constitution does it state that all drugs should be illegal and should result in major fines or even jail time if one was caught in possession of the drug. In fact, it seems to be implied that people should be able to have the freedom to self medicate as they want to. From the utilitarian perspective, people tend to be happier when they have freedom, and the current drug laws reduce that feeling of freedom and happiness. Therefore, the government should not put restrictions on drug use (Rachels and Rachels). If someone were to make the choice to smoke cannabis, that would be their choice and doing so would not directly harm anyone else. After all, isn’t America the ‘Land of the Free’? Our country is filled with propagandists who warp the facts and percentages of drugs that they want to be illegal just so the drug seems more dangerous than it actually is. In fact, some people’s every day activities are proven to be more harmful than marijuana such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, obesity, having unprotected sex, and riding motorcycles (Rachels and Rachels). A popular argument prohibitionists use for this is that illegal drug use harms the user in a different way (Rachels and Rachels). However, all of these activities listed harm the user in some sort of way and isn’t that what really matters in the end? There are some people out there that truly believe (and try to convince others) that marijuana is a deadly substance when in reality there have been no deaths whatsoever from marijuana use (Herer). However, there are around 106,000 deaths from legal drugs that you can buy at any convenience store, including aspirin. Studies show that aspirin is responsible for anywhere from 108-1,000 deaths per year. Animal studies have shown that it is virtually impossible to overdose on marijuana (Hager). This has led scientists to conclude that â€Å"the ratio of the amount of cannabinoids necessary to get a person intoxicated (i.e., stoned) relative to the amount necessary to kill them is 1 to 40,000† (Hager). So in other words, in order to over dose on marijuana, someone would have to ingest 40,000 times however much one would have to smoke in order to get the â€Å"high† feeling. If legal drugs and every day activities pose a bigger threat on society than marijuana, then why is cannabis illegal while these things remain legal? Rather than criminalizing those who possess and sell marijuana, some have proposed a radical reversal in policy; that the government actually legalize marijuana and tax it. By allowing the illegal importation of drugs into the United States (a multi-billion dollar a year industry), we are allowing all of the profit to go to people who do not deserve it such as â€Å"criminals, killers, and dangerous organizations† (â€Å"The Economic Benefits†). â€Å"Legalizing marijuana in the US would save about $7.7 billion per year in enforcement costs, and it would generate between $2.4 and $6.2 billion in tax revenue, depending on whether pot was taxed normally or at the higher rate at which alcohol and tobacco and are now taxed† (Rachels and Rachels). All of this can be accomplished by simply repealing the prohibition laws in effect. Along with preventing prison over-population and creating another form of tax revenue, the legalization of marijuana could create a new and simpler class of analgesic, which by definition is a medicine used to relieve pain. In an experiment conducted at the University of California Davis, there were three different groups given three different substances. One was given 7% marijuana, the second was given 3.5% marijuana, and the last was the control group, which was given a placebo. The results showed that both the 3.5% group and the 7% group both experienced equal amounts of analgesic produced. While the people in the study did feel a type of high in using the marijuana as a medicinal aid, the fact that both levels used created an equal amount of analgesic means that there may be a way around the high feeling. Further testing might be a good idea to see if an even lower dose could still create an analgesic without the side effects of the ‘high’ feeling (â€Å"Journal of Pain†). The study also explains that marijuana does not tranquilize the pain, but helps to create an emotional distance from it. In other words the person can still feel the pain but just does not care as much as he or she normally would. Making marijuana a legalized drug would also mean that it would become a more controlled and regulated drug as well. However, one major concern of making marijuana a legalized substance is the possibility of young adults in society being exposed to it. While this is a valid argument against legalizing marijuana, people must realize that the fact that marijuana is currently illegal actually provides teens more opportunities to make money by selling it to their friends (â€Å"Top Ten Reasons†). However, making marijuana a legalized, controlled, and regulated substance would make it much harder for teens to get a hold of the drug. Miron expresses this fact, saying that â€Å"unlike drug dealers, licensed vendors would ensure that teens could not purchase marijuana, just as states that have implemented strict controls on underage tobacco purchases have seen sales of tobacco to minors fall dramatically† (Miron). A group of 12th grade high school students were asked how legalizing marijuana would affect them personally. 61% said they would not use the drug even if it were legal to buy and use. 15% stated they would use it as often as they do now, and 1.5% say they would use it less often. Only 5.5% say they would use it more often than they do currently while nine percent said they would try it. Though these percentages may seem like large numbers, it only amounts to around 14% (about one in seven) of the students surveyed who stated they would either try marijuana or increase their use if marijuana were to become legalized (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, Schulenberg). Another problem with people having to resort to the black market for the purchase of cannabis is the danger that accompanies it. The illegal market that has been established because of the combination of the demand and illegality of marijuana brings much violence along with it. It is common for drug dealers at this day and age to carry around and use guns and knives as means of protection. This results in the possibility of something bad happening to the buyer or innocent bystanders. If cannabis were to become legalized and controlled, innocent people would not have to worry about the dangers that they are currently faced with in the purchasing of marijuana on the black market. This flawed policy should have been thrown out years ago like the failed Prohibition was in 1933, but societal propaganda and a more weary population has kept it securely in its place as one of the priorities of conservative Americans. Hopefully with time and a more intense barrage of facts and logic, this failed war can end and help usher in a new age of understanding and control over the substances we now outlaw. Until then the United States Government will continue to burn money and lock away undeserving citizens. Work Cited Barth Wilsey, Thomas Marcotte, Alexander Tsodikov, Jeanna Millman, Heather Bentley, Ben Gouaux and Scott Fishman. â€Å"A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Crossover Trial of Cannabis Cigarettes in Neuropathic Pain.† The Journal of Pain. Web. 28 April 2010. Chin, Gabriel J. â€Å"Race, the War on Drugs, and the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Conviction.† Journal of Gender, Race & Justice, Vol. 6, p. 253, 2002. University of Arizona. Web. 1 May 2010. Hager, Paul. â€Å"Marijuana Myths.† Web. 3 May 2010. Herer, Jack. â€Å"Hemp: Fuel Food Fiber Medicine Industry.† HempCar. Web. 3 May 2010. Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2009). â€Å"Monitoring the Future national survey results on drug use, 1975–2008: Volume I, Secondary School Students.† The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. PDF file. 30 April 2010. Miron, Jeffrey A. â€Å"The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition.† Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States. Mar 28, 2008. Web. 1 May 2010. Rachels, James and Stuart Rachels. The Elements of Moral Philosophy. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2010. Print Rachels, James and Stuart Rachels. The Right Thing to Do. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2010. Print â€Å"The Economic Benefits of a Legal Regulated Marijuana Industry.† 2005. Web. 3 May 2010. â€Å"The Top Ten Reasons Marijuana Should be Legal.† AlterNet. High Times. Web. 3 May 2010. â€Å"WeBeHigh: A Traveler’s Guide to Getting High.† Web. 2 May 2010.