How does an individuals learning style preference influence the extent Essay

How does an individuals learning style preference influence the extent to which e-learning can be an effective learning tool - Essay Example The acquisition of learning techniques and styles by students depends on the personal characteristics of the student, the subject of study, and the students level of understanding of the subject (Major, 2015, p.47). Different people prefer different approaches to learning. No one approach or strategy of e-learning is optimal for all students. The methods and technologies used for e-learning involve the use of web-based education techniques, podcasting, internet video conferencing, social networking software, and computer-assisted instructions, among others. The styles of e-learning are especially gaining popularity in the higher education sector where most of the students are distant learners. This paper discusses how the learning preferences of an individual influence the extent to which e-learning can be a useful learning tool (Canavan, 2004, p.21). E-learning allows the adoption of the education content to suit the learning styles of individual students. It may entail the incorporation of digital media, digitized materials, graphics, web-based interactions, interactive videos, among others. The adoption of different learning styles and methods greatly affects the effectiveness of e-learning in the higher education sector. E-learning allows for the adjustment of educational content to suit the learning needs of the students. However, a lot of emphasis has been made on use of standard conventional learning styles in the e-learning systems (Brown, Zoghi, Williams, Jaberzadeh, Roller, Palermo, & Holt, 2009, p.4). This includes a tutorial, lecture, problem-based learning, and written text. The relationship between the styles of e-learning and the effectiveness of the e-learning system, as well as the attitude of students towards e-learning, is also important. The performance of students in the e-learning system is primarily tied to their learning style preferences. The learning style preferences in

Structural equation modelling Research Proposal

Structural equation modelling - Research Proposal Example Skill was not found to impact trust. In addition, trust has a significant positive impact on long-term orientation of the relationship among SMEs. The origins of the structural equation modelling (SEM) have its roots in three disciplines: sociology, psychology and economics. In marketing SEM starts its application in November 1982 in the issue published by the Journal of Marketing Research (Bollen 1989). SEM grows out of and serves purposes similar to multiple regression, but in a more powerful way which takes into account the modeling of interactions, nonlinearities, correlated independents, measurement error, correlated error terms, multiple latent independents each measured by multiple indicators, and one or more latent dependents also each with multiple indicators. SEM may be used as a more powerful alternative to multiple regression, path analysis, factor analysis, time series analysis, and analysis of covariance. That is, these procedures may be seen as special cases of SEM, or, to put it another way, SEM is an extension of the general linear model (GLM) of which multiple regression is a part. In this analysis we apply SEM to examine the influence of reputation, flexibility, information exchange, power and skill on trust and consequently on long-term orientation. ... ng-term orientation is a central theme in marketing currently, it is crucial to know what are the variables that help explain successful long-term relationship building. The analysis is structured as follows. First, we give a brief description of SEM and its importance for marketing research, then we provide the bases for the interrelationship between the variables used in the model; this is followed by description of the design of the analysis and finally, discussion of the result is provided. Description of structural equation modelling and its applicability to the field of marketing SEM is usually viewed as a confirmatory rather than exploratory procedure, using one of three approaches: 1. Strictly confirmatory approach: A model is tested using SEM goodness-of-fit tests to determine if the pattern of variances and covariances in the data is consistent with a structural (path) model specified by the researcher. However as other unexamined models may fit the data as well or better, an accepted model is only a not-disconfirmed model. 2. Alternative models approach: One may test two or more causal models to determine which has the best fit. There are many goodness-of-fit measures, reflecting different considerations, and usually three or four are reported by the researcher. Although desirable in principle, this AM approach runs into the real-world problem that in most specific research topic areas, the researcher does not find in the literature two well-developed alternative models to test. 3. Model development approach: In practice, much SEM research combines confirmatory and exploratory purposes: a model is tested using SEM procedures, found to be deficient, and an alternative model is then tested based on changes suggested by SEM modification indexes. This

Early Matrimony is Ineluctable Mistake Essay Example for Free

Early Matrimony is Ineluctable Mistake Essay For certain countries such as the poor countries of the Middle East and Africa, their young women are traditionally made to believe that only by marrying young can they get out of the quagmire that their current life has placed them in. The men of these countries do not have much to fear, but the women, most of whom are married off as early as the ages of 10 and 12 years old, they sometimes pay with their lives for such a mistake. The women of these countries are most often trained to accept that early marriage is an inescapable part of their lives and they cannot do anything but accept it. Such early marriages are an acceptable tradition in these countries and is most often done using only the tribes specific traditions and therefore are not registered by the state thus making such unions illegal. But because the women do not understand any of these things, they stay in what they believe to be a life long commitment. In the United States, early marriages occur within the youth of the country between the ages of 15-17 with less harsher outcomes, although still with ineluctable mistakes. I will discuss that in the latter part of this paper. For now, I would like to concentrate on the unfair practice of early marriages in the Middle East and certain countries in Asia. Most of these so called child marriages happen in the outback countries like Nigeria, Central African Republic, Nepal, Uganda, and Bangladesh to name but only a few of these countries. A recent UN report entitled â€Å"Child Protection from Violence, Exploitation, and Abuse† noted that such early marriages occur in the rural settings possibly because of the way those of little or no education equate female youth with fertility. A part of the report indicates that â€Å"Child marriage is associated with high levels of fertility. For example in Colombia, 1 per cent of women with no children, 35 per cent of women with one or two children, 72 per cent of women with 3 or 4 children and 87 per cent of women with 5 or more children were married by age 18 (UNICEF estimates based on DHS 2000). â€Å" A family’s finances play a major part in the decision to turn their daughters into a child bride. The simple minded folk of these nations believe that by marrying off their child early, they are rid of an economic burden since in their culture, there are certain activities women simply are not allowed to perform even if they are capable of doing so. For such young marriages, the unions signify that the child will manage to survive even away from the family. Such marriages may also be orchestrated by the family of the girl because they believe that by marrying off their daughter at an early age, she will be protected from sexual abuse because she already has her husband to protect her. Sometimes, the reason for the marriage is also as simple as trying to insure that the child will grow into womanhood without the possibility of having a bastard child. Although the family of the female child has good intentions for marrying off their child at an early age, their lack of formal education limits their knowledge of the highly life threatening aftermaths of such early marriages. A child trapped in an early marriage no longer has a future ahead of her as she is expected to comply with the tradition wherein the married child no longer attends school and instead tends to her family. These countries also have very poor sanitation and healthcare facilities, hence the high rate of sexually transmitted disease in the area. The child brides are faced with a constant stream of premature pregnancies and infant deaths. Reports say that these women also most often than not test positive for HIV/ AIDS. Perhaps the saddest part of these young marriages in Asia and the Middle East is that the little girls are often abused by their pre-arranged spouses. This is not to say that the little girls who choose their own spouses do not get punished once they marry a man who is not the choice of their parents. In such cases, once a spouse or family senses that their family honor has been tarnished, they are most often killed by â€Å"honor killings† which hope to restore their family names. Indeed, for such countries, early matrimony, early marriage is indeed an inescapable mistake. The repercussions of such marriages see the under aged women paying for their mistake with their lives. For death it seems, is the only way out of such marriages in that part of the world where females are valued more as a property than a person. Nobody tries to inform the women that they can get out of their current situation simply by getting an education and using it to get out of their early marriage before they commit any more serious mistakes. Over in our part of the world, The United States also has its own share of early marriages. But there is a marked difference between the Mid East and African problem and ours. Mainly because even though early marriages are sometimes entered into by the youths of the land, they do not have to choose to remain in the marriage if it is not working for them. That is an option that I can only wish for the rest of the world to leave open for the mistakes of youth. In our country, such early marriages are deemed illegal by law and is therefore prohibited. Although, marrying young with a duly accomplished parental consent form is allowed. An early marriage in our country is one that is entered into by parties within the 14-19 age bracket. Even though both the young man and young woman have the support of both sides of the family, the marriage still fails with some inescapable and life changing results. In the article â€Å"Marrying Minors: Are They Making a Mistake? † staff writer Elizabeth Alvarado discusses the reasons as to why marrying young, even for American youth, is a big mistake. Using actual early marriage experiences as related by those women who were at one time or another involved in such a relationship, she explains how the law known as Dissolution of Marriage more commonly known as Divorce, allows the parties to leave the marriage but forces them to face the life long mistakes that decision to marry young has placed upon their young shoulders. There was a time in the past 40 years that young men and women often married even before they completed their high school education. When the Brigham Young University conducted a study related to the issue, they discovered that there was an 80 % divorce rate among those youths who married at the age of 14. Such statistics can be considered very high when compared to the 45 % of failed 20 year old marriages and 30 % of the 23 year olds. Such mistakes may be attributed to the follies of youth. At such ages, teenagers are not yet mentally mature nor emotionally ready to handle the big responsibilities that come with married life. They are still in their selfish stage and think that everything in life is a game. Which is why as the maturity begins to set in, so do the changes in attitude and perspectives of the mates involved in the marriage. Most of the youth involved in early marriages also run a very high risk of never completing their college education because of the way decisions have to be made differently when a couple is married. There is also that foreseeable outcome of the couple having children. Children are the most inescapable mistake of marrying young. Children suffer the most because their parents were not ready emotionally, socially, and financially to deal with the presence of a child. In such events, the mother most often has to quit school and care for the child. In this respect, she becomes no more different than her Middle East and African counterparts who sacrifice themselves in the name of motherhood. Although, unlike the men in the previous scenario, who are usually twice the age of their wives and therefore more mature and able to handle the situation better, their American counterparts are barely out of short pants themselves and find themselves lost when it comes to dealing with the reality of a family and fatherhood. Once the mistakes begin to pile up in this scenario, both parties become disillusioned and wish for nothing more than to end the nightmare of a marriage they so willingly entered into at first. Leaving behind the most irrevocable, real mistake that they will have to deal with for the rest of their lives. The fact that they brought a life into this world and that living person will be the constant reminded to them as to why early marriage most often than not fails to survive. After hearing the facts and supporting arguments I believe that you will agree with me that marrying young does not have to be an inescapable mistake for the youth involved in such marriages at the moment. It is true that there will be inescapable results stemming from the marriage, but with proper education, nobody has to remain in an early marriage that is proving to be disastrous for them as individuals.

Marketing Plan for Soft Drink Company

Marketing Plan for Soft Drink Company This report will serve as a marketing plan to introduce an innovative Orange drink by the name of Orangee in the UK market. Orangee would be a revolution in the beverage industry of UK as the proposed market plan is covering all aspects of the marketing such as the target customers, current market situation and preferences of people. This report will draft out various marketing strategies and market analysis of the competitors and prospect of the launching of this drink in the UK market. The proposed marketing strategies are strong enough to raise Orangee market size up to 1 million people and a forecasted sale of up to 5 million pounds yearly. Further, the quality of product would be of utmost importance. This will help a great deal in order to consider the product for export at a later time which will definitely shoot up the profits considerably. Export potential will be considered in Eastern Europe where there is a slump in the beverage industry. Several beverage companies in Eastern Europe have failed to address the demands of the local customers so there is a huge opportunity there to excel the drink which could be a part of our business provided the type of response we get in UK after the launch of the drink. Orangee Introduction: Orangee will be a bottled orange drink with Orange colour used as the main theme for the packaging to make it attractive and also for the promotion of the drink. The concentration of pure oranges in drink will be more than 90 percent with fractional artificial flavours and taste enhancers to make the drink more striking to the consumers. Further, the drink price will be economical and easily affordable for the majority of the people in UK. For the purpose of initial testing of the market, the introductory price of Orangee would be fractionally lower than its competitors. After the response of the market, the new price would then be introduced. With comparing it with some of the orange juice competitors like Nestle Orange juice, Tropicana Orange Juice; Orangee will prove itself as the best budget drink with high quality and low price. Target Market: Thorough market research and deep analysis is instrumental in hitting your target market with a bang. Factors such as market trends, buyers intentions, statistical demand analysis, test marketing etc are critical in determining the sale potential. Target market can be more than one and different marketing strategies need to be applied for the different target markets as according to William M. Pride (2009) a firm uses one marketing mix to reach one target market and a separate one for the other. For the case of Orangee, no specific demographic market was chosen. Instead our goal is to develop the product to be used by consumers of both genders and all ages, from infants to seniors. It is attended to be launch as a family product in order to give them an alternative for other sub-standard or expensive Orange juices. Marketing Tools and Techniques: Most of the businessmen at the initial stage of launching their product are a bit hesitant in spending lavishly on the marketing but nothing could be further from the truth. Proper product marketing is very critical and to have a defensive approach for that could almost certainly doom the product to failure. According to Sylva-Michele Sternkopf (2005: 107) majority of the companies interviewed for marketing tools stated that their increased profits reflects the importance of their marketing tools. So, this shows the importance and relevance of marketing tools for businesses to run successfully. Following are the marketing tools that will be incurred for the marketing of Orangee: Well Structured and Comprehensive Website As Orangee has a fair bit of budget as mentioned above, so nothing can be as good as a well designed website. It will be a first impression of the company and will be launched a moth before the launching of Orangee to make it popular among customers. It will be a comprehensive site covering all the aspects of the product including its competitors, price, offers etc. The expenses required to build the website would be 1000 pounds and would have 300 pounds for its maintenance each month. Brochures Brochures are yet another effective marketing tool for the purpose of the Orangee marketing. According to Scott C. Gladden (1996: 74) Brochures are the most informative marketing tool which can be used a direct hand-out or a mailer. It is a very inexpensive yet successful way of promoting the product. Brochures will be distributed in busy places like shopping malls, parks, educational institutions, tube stations etc. Newspaper Advertisements The only thing that can be better than cheap publicity is free publicity as newspaper advertisements provides just that. As nothing much the company has to do for it as the newspaper advertisements promotes the product automatically. It is also a very inexpensive marketing tool with effective outcomes. Timely and frequent promotions about Orangee price updates, special offers etc would be given in the best selling newspapers of UK. Television If the sales picks up in the introductory stage, then we can also think about promoting Orangee through television. At the time of launching the product, it can be a bit risky to invoke television for the purpose of marketing for it being the most expensive medium for marketing. Developing Orangee Branding: Branding is a single best buzzword in the marketing industry. Branding basically lays the basis for the marketing success of the product. According to Bill Chiaravalle (2006) Branding makes selling easier and develop a level of trust between the buyer and the company. Branding Philosophy: Branding is the process of changing minds. Just as products are created with hands, the brands are created with mind. For the purpose of promoting Orangee, people can be convinced by Brand awareness like Orangee is Vitamin C enriched or Having Orangee daily is a great way of strengthening body resistance etc. For the branding of Orangee, the tag line we are going to use will be OrangeE: Squeezed just the way you want. This tag line relates a lot with the product and will be used almost everywhere where the product is promoted like on the website, brochures, newspaper advertisements. Logo highlights the product branding part and so is for Orangee nevertheless. Logo of Orangee will set the overall impression of the product on the customers. A ripe orange in the partially squeezed form will be the logo for Orangee and would somehow relate with the above mentioned tagline also. Orangee Life Cycle: According to Anselmi Immonen (2008: 9) Product life cycle refers to a concept and a set of systematic phases that attempts to control the product information previously described. Product life cycle analysis of our product and other related products helps in identifying different loopholes in our product. Following are the key phases of Orangee life cycle: Growing: Material used to make fertilizers and pesticides. Fuel needed to set up the soil for planting. Watering in order to nourish the orange trees. Harvesting: Fuel to operate the harvesting equipment and delivering oranges to the processing premises. Processing: Equipment and Man-power needed to produce the orange juice. Water needed for washing and preparing orange juice. Usage of additives like sugar, taste enhancers etc Packaging: Materials and energy used for preparing Orangee juice containers and packing boxes. Distribution: Fuel required for transporting Orangee to stores. Retail: Electricity requirement in stores for refrigerating Orangee. Disposal: Fuel to transfer the wasted containers to the waste-yard or recycling place. Comparison of Orangee with Nestle Product Life Cycle: Nestle Orange juice is market pioneer and at the time of its introduction, its profits were negative. It was mainly due to the reason of its low sales and high distribution and promotion expenses. The other reason for its bad launching was its unawareness in the rural areas. But later on during the growth stage of Nestle life cycle, its profits sky rocketed by their effective promotion and formulating of new price strategies. And until now till its maturity, Nestle has sustained itself as standard orange juice providers and are a tough competitor for Orangee to compete with.

Censorship in America Essay -- Ethics, Piracy

Piracy has become a major issue in the United States. For every motion picture that has been featured in theaters also has been pirated onto the Internet the next day, and for every new musical album that is released, yet there is a free torrent file of the album within the same hour. Even though these online pirates steal music and movies from other companies and make a drastic profit, yet these â€Å"rogue† websites receive 53 billions visits a year from across the globe according to Creative America. The persistence of the thieves that break copyright laws of the productions has lead the entertainment business to place a definitive complaint to the U.S. government of the constant notion of piracy. While the notion of piracy was not left unseen, yet the government plans to establish laws that will cripple the exploitation of information throughout every Internet service provider in the country. The movement of this bill is the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act, o r better known as PIPA/SOPA. Some citizens also know this act as the movement of Censorship in America. One of the main supporters of the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act is the entertainment business such as movie and music companies. The motion picture industries believe that the Protect IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act should be supported. Motion picture industries such as Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and other leaders in the industry believe the government will be causing an expedient amount of money flow within the country. U.S. Congress will also be saving jobs in the United States by enforcing this bill throughout the movie industry. About 60% of U.S. exports come from the entertainment industry, and usually generates about 33% of U.S. GDP... ...l-become-law/>. Content Theft: The Big Picture. Www.vimeo.com. Creative America, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. Estes, Adam C. "The Web Collectively Protests Congress's Censorship Law - Technology." The Atlantic Wire. 16 Nov. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. . "Internet Censorship: Anti-Piracy Group Blackmails ISPs to Censor The Pirate Bay." Web log post. Censorship in America. Ed. Sean. 5 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. Mastnek, Mike. "Entertainment Industry Still Can't Get Grassroots Support For SOPA/PIPA, Resorts To Trying To Buy Support | Techdirt." Techdirt. 8 Dec. 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

Pearl Harbor :: essays research papers

I am going to focuse on the relations between the United States and the Japanese after W.W.I and Pearl Harbor. There were a few incidents out of this book that I felt were very interesting that helped contribute to the United States and Japanese mistrusts and miscalculations over the next twent or thirty years until the relations ended up in war after the surprising terriblr=e terrorist bombing of Pearl Harbor. Thus, causing the start of World War II. The first incident that I wanted to discuss out of this book took place in 1922. In 1922 the big powers (which were all European except the United States and Japan from a treaty at a Washington Conference.) In this conference the powers agreed to form a multilateralist state of existence with each other and the world. In this conference the powers agreed to form a sort of peaceful coexistence and disarmament between themselves and the world. What was misunderstood by the major powers was that they believed that peace and disarmament was wanted by all the members of the conference which was not the case what so ever. The powers believed that they would form a national community that shared the same interest by all the majorly diverse nations. When itbecame known that the highly diverse countries did not have the same interst there was not a national law committee (like today; NATO) to uphold the laws that were made by the Washington Committee so the idea of this multilateralist state was dropped and animosity continued for years at a time until things became out of hand and hate ran rapid. The second incident that I want to discuss is the Manchurian Incident of September 1931. The United States was deep in an economic crisis and committed to staying isolated from the other countries in Europe because the US feared another war could happen. Even if the United States would have not been isolated they lacked the power to influence other countries around the world. This conflict happened because the Japanese faced a lot of problems on the world scene and domestic problems caused the Japanese to go from a multilateralist state of being (like they agreed to do after W.W.I) to seeking an autonomous state of being in their foreign policy. In this autonomous state the Japanese wanted to form a stron military and political influence over Asia for themselves rather than the West.

Quality Assessment Essay

â€Å"Assessment practises have a powerful impact on learning and teaching† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 37). For teachers the focus is on the use of assessment results; how they use those results to inform instructional decision making and whether they provide results that verify students have indeed met the learning targets originally set. Thus, judgements are made about the quality of assessments after the students’ performance. ‘High-quality’ assessments encompass a number of criteria’s and involve a great deal more than simply measuring knowledge (McMillan, 2011) and are outlined below in seven key areas. 1. Clear Purpose – The first decision is clarify the purpose for the assessment. Why is the assessment taking place? What is to be gained from it? Will the teacher be using formative techniques to monitor student progress or will the teacher use summative techniques to establish grades (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009)? â€Å"Knowing the reason for the assessment is crucial because this will determine what the assessment should look like, how it is administered and scored, and how the results will be used (McMillan, 2011, p.10)†. 2. Defined Learning Targets –Are they reasonable and do they ‘align’ with the state standards, student characteristics and overall goals (McMillan, 2011)? Learning targets need to be clear and understandable to everyone (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009). Learning targets are important as they define expectations. 3. Assessment Methods – The assessment methods, using either selected or constructed responses, need to align with the chosen learning targets (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"Selecting an assessment method that is incapable of reflecting the intended learning will compromise the accuracy of the results† (Chappuis, Chappuis, & Stiggins, 2009). These also need to practical and efficient so as not to be too time consuming on lessons. 4. Fairness – Fair assessments are unbiased without the influence of discrimination or subjective factors (McMillan, 2011). â€Å"All students should have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their achievement† (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004, p. 38). 5.Validity & Reliability – Judgements should be based on all information and multiple measures that authenticate the conclusion (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). The assessment is useless unless the inference is appropriate, useful, reasonable and consistent (McMillan, 2011). 6. Criteria – Outlining criteria contributes to students’ learning by making clear the outcomes or goals they are striving for (Curriculum Council of Western Australia, 2004). â€Å"The issue of how student responses will be evaluated lies at the heart of any type of assessment† (McMillan, 2011, p.35). 7. Feedback – Feedback should be clear and constructive. Feedback by both by the teacher and self-assessment allows students to take responsibility for their learning and helps students â€Å"identify how they can improve their learning† (Killen, 2005, p. 98) and ensure motivation is high through positive consequences. By ensuring the lessons have a clear purpose, are well planned and allow all students’ to demonstrate their achievements through a fair, valid and reliable process, learning and teaching is improved and achievement is enhanced. â€Å"High quality assessments have consequences that will be positive for both students and yourself† (McMillan, 2011, p. 86). References Chappuis, S. , Chappuis, J. , & Stiggins, R. (2009). The Quest for Quality. Multiple Measures , 67 (3), 14-19. Curriculum Council of Western Australia. (2004). Curriculum Framework. Osborne Park: W. A. Killen, R. (2005). Programming and assessment for quality teaching and learning. South Thompson: Cengage. McMillan, J. H. (2011). Classroom Assessment: Principles and Practice for Effective Standards – Based Instruction (Fifth ed. ). Boston: Pearson.