Cusick and Her Lesbian Relationship with Music Essay

In the essay â€Å"On a Lesbian Relationship with Music: A Serious Effort Not to Think Straight† by Suzanne G. Cusick, she brings up an interesting topic about the connection between her being a lesbian and her being a musician, a musicologist, if there exists any. I’m especially interested in the â€Å"power system† and the link between musicality and lesbianism she mentions in this article. Here, I’ll try to analysis them in detail and relate them with other issues in music and sexuality, exploring them in a more general picture. Cusick redefines the concept of sexuality in her essay, as the way of â€Å"expressing and/or enacting relationships of intimacy through physical pleasure shared, accepted, or given.† According to her, this process of expressing and enacting can also be found in our musical activities, where the circulation of physical pleasure can be experienced as well. Thus, she says that our musicalities and our sexualities are â€Å"psychically next-door neighbors.† (70) I need to claim that this idea of her amazes me. From my previous musical experience, I’m pretty sure that music is a subject highly intimate for me. For instance, I usually have reluctance when I’m asked to sing or perform a song written by myself, even if I think it is a brilliant one. And this won’t happen if the song is someone else’s. In my opinion, music, especially my own music which I’m personally attached to, is an expression of my true self, and that identity and personal characteristics contained in it makes it so special that I won’t be willing to share it with others, unless it’s someone really close to me. Another fact that I think will support Cusick’s idea is that different people always have different opinions towards the same piece of music. No matter how the composer perceives it, the listener usually has the tendency to relate it to his/her own personal experiences, which differ from person to person. It is reasonable to think that music is a symbol of someone’s personalities and characteristics, because of the intimacy the music creates. Therefore, I believe that there exists a connection between the musicality and the sexuality of a certain person, since both of them are revelations of his/her true identity, and we can examine our own behaviors on both of them. In other words, these two factors are connected because of the person who they belong to, and they are contained in the system of his/her perspectives. Cusick also explains in her article what does it mean to be a â€Å"lesbian† and how to define sexuality, which are essential questions if we want to relate it to music. From her point of view, the essence of one’s sexuality and the element of all relationships is the power system. An example that can explain this is what musicologists say about the masculinity in Beethoven. In Susan McClary’s opinion, there exist musical constructions of gender and sexuality. She regards the field of music and musicology as male-dominated, since the masculine norm and the distinction between genders are deeply rooted in music, such as masculine and feminine cadences, rhythms, gendered major and minor triads, etc. (7) She also analyzes Beethoven’s music, which to her contains â€Å"pounding†, â€Å"thrusting† gestures that represent masculinity. (75) On the contrary, in Sanna Pederson’s article â€Å"Beethoven and Masculinity,† she redefines the concept of masculinity and the link between it with Beethoven. She states that we can find an alternative approach, arguing that we regard Beethoven as symbol of masculinity because of the overwhelming idea that viewing woman as â€Å"as unchanging, eternal essence, as the opposite of the dynamically striving and achieving man.† (326) Matthew Head also approaches this from another perspective by examining the heroic in Beethoven’s works, finding many cross-dressed he roines. (132) It’s notable that although there is importance put on female characters, women usually need to conceal their sexuality and transgress the gendered norms in order to serve as the epitomes in the aesthetic sphere. This shows that, no matter what kind of connection there exists between Beethoven and masculinity, there does exist a power system that emphasis on the inequality between men and women, where women as less – worth less, power less – man, in both our society and in music. Whichever argument we believe, we should admit the extensive presence of the power system in our society, and in practice, it can be found both in music and in many relationships between people, especially heterosexual ones. The most significant point of view of her in this essay, I think, is that she believes being a lesbian is an escape from this power system: As a woman, as a non-dominating and non-power woman who loves another woman in her relationship, the flow of power can exist in both directions, as opposed to a heterosexual relationship where a man typically plays the dominating and powerful part. And Cusick believes that this is the beauty of a lesbian relationship: it’s about â€Å"organizing the force field of power, pleasure, and intimacy that refuses the simple binary opposition male and female†. The lack of opposition creates a world that scrambles the usual components of â€Å"man† and â€Å"woman†, and a world â€Å"free of fixed categories.† (73) This reminds me of the documentary â€Å"Paris is Burning†, which stunned me with its idea of celebrations of a powerful expression of personalities, without any restriction of boundaries. There, what matters is the personal prides, which are fully showed in the â€Å"drag nights† in New York. Cusick further explains the elements in a lesbian relationship as the â€Å"power/pleasure/intimacy† triad. (71) From my understanding, this is indeed an appropriate way to observe a relationship. As I mentioned before, power is an important factor that circulates within the relationship. What’s more, pleasure and intimacy are objectives that we usually want to achieve when we are involved someone we love, and thus they are essential bolsters of a relationship. As Cusick says, this triad can be experienced more freely in lesbian relationships, because without the power flowing only in one direction, the equality and balance between the two lovers can give them more intimacy and pleasure, both physically and psychically, from their relationship. Hence, in Cusick’s article, being a lesbian is not merely a sexual orientation; it is also the way one prefers to behave, to organize the relationship to the world in a â€Å"power/pleasure/intimacy† triad. It’s a way of refusing, breaking, and creating, and to cope with the world in a way that she prefers. And these behaviors can also be detected in a person’s musicality, which is also built in his/he r identity. More interestingly, Cusick talks about the â€Å"lesbian relationship† she has with music. She treats music as a woman, and a woman that can be a lover, and also the beloved – as in a lesbian relationship where the power circulates both ways and cross without boundaries. (78) In the article â€Å"Musicality, Essentialism, and the Closet† written by Philip Brett, he also discusses music be perceived as feminine. Brett says that in history, music has often been considered a dangerous substance, â€Å"an agent of moral ambiguity always in dander of bestowing deviant status upon its practitioners.† (11) By describing music as a woman that â€Å"ravish† our sense or our soul, people from the medieval and early modern times let us see how close music and sexuality can be. This also makes Cusick’s treating music as a female lover more sensible. Another idea of her that interests me is that she thinks her choice of music can reflects her sexuality. She says that her love for hidden relationships and the tension between the ostensible structure, which represents the tension between a social norm and â€Å"a very high degree of eccentricity,† suggests her escape from the power system. Also, she dis-prefers music hat upset this power equilibrium. (77) She explains this by saying that her â€Å"lesbian self† let her prefer certain kinds of music and reject some other kinds. This makes me think about in general, how people’s choices of music reflect their sexuality and identity, and to what degree. I agree that the choices of music can reflect that person’s personality to some extent, but I also believe that the music he/she listens can shape that person into the qualities and personalities that the music wants him/her to have. The same as Cusick’s relationship with her music, there is a counter -influence here as well. Rentfrow and Gosling found in their research that people’s music preferences are related to a wide array of personality dimensions and self-views. If the links between music preferences and personality do exist, we can easily infer that our choices of music reflect our identity, which also links to our sexuality. Besides, we can always see the influences of music on people. It has been shown by Frederick H. Martens that music exerts its collective influence in the course of history. He also says that as an individual influence, music is one of the factors in the life of kings and rulers, which also â€Å"has exerted a more or less direct influence on the destinies of countries and peoples.† We can see clearly from his article that music can significantly affect one’s views and thoughts on this world, therefore it is an important element in directing people’s personality and characteristics. Hence, the relationship between a person and the music he/she listens is a mutual one. People’s preference of music decides the music they choose, and what they choose can reversely change them as well, directing them into the qualities that can be defined through that music. This can also illustrate Cusick’s point that her relationship with music is about the power dynamic that circulates both ways between music and her, and this relationship highly resembles the one between lesbian lovers. Thus, the link between music and sexuality is obvious. Furthermore, I’m wondering about how the connection between identity and sexuality works in other subjects and fields of study. Cusick says in her article that she does not address the texts of music because she thinks that they tend to trick us into staying in a â€Å"power-over paradigm that is mighty close to the regime of compulsory heterosexuality.† Personally, I don’t entirely agree with her on this. In my opinion, other subjects such as literature and art can also illustrate one’s identity, thus they can represent people’s qualities through the â€Å"â€Å"power/pleasure/intimacy† triad as well, and so does texts in music . The reason why Cusick thinks that focusing on texts can deviates us is that her love and professional interests in music leave her only looking at music as an intimate lover. But for people from other fields and domains, their subjects can be treated as lovers and beloved as well. For example, it is reasonable to imagine a poet feels extreme intimacy in his relationship with poems. Cusick mentioned by herself in the notes that she can also find tremendous joy from cooking, and she loves to peel fruits and vegetables without a knife, because she believes it will create wholly pleasurable experiences. (83) I would not say Cusick is also in love with vegetables, but what she says can suggest that pleasure and intimacy do not solely exist between people and music. As Pygmalion can fall in love with the statue he carved, why can’t a songwriter build a romantic tie with the texts of music he wrote? In other words, as long as we have passion, the relationship between people and his/her subject of study can be developed in any area, within which we can find its connection with sexuality. This essay of Cusick is not very long, but the notions it contains, I believe, are really valuable sources of thoughts if we want to explore the relationship between music and sexuality, especially when we want to discover it from a perspective about our own identity and personal characteristics. Cusick has nicely shown that the boundary between music and sex can be a blurred one, where both are means of negotiating power and intimacy through the circulation of pleasure. Here, the most important is the people that involves both with music and with sex, intimately experiencing them and wholly mingling with them. As Cusick says, what really matters is neither music nor sex, but â€Å"the transcendent joy of being alive, not dead, and aware of the existence.† (69) Works Cited: Brett, Philip, Elizabeth Wood, and Gary Thomas. Queering the Pitch : the New Gay and Lesbian Musicology. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2006. McClary, Susan. Reading Music : Selected Essays. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2007. McClary, Susan. Feminine Endings : Music, Gender, and Sexuality. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991. Rentfrow, Peter J, and Samuel D Gosling. â€Å"The do re miÊ ¼s of everyday life: the structure and personality correlates of music preferences.† Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84.6 (2003) : 1236-1256. Frederick H. Martens. The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1925), pp. 196-218 Burnham, Scott G, and Michael P Steinberg. Beethoven and His World. Princeton [N.J.]: Princeton University Press, 2000. Head, Matthew. â€Å"Beethoven Heroine: A Female Allegory of Music and Authorship in Egmont.† 19th-Century Music 30 (2006-07), 97-132.

Tsingtao Beer Case Study

Consumer buying behavior Consumer behavior of purchasing beer is definitely emotional and of low involvement. The pleasure and gratification getting from drinking beer can be sensual but fleeting. When making purchase decisions, consumers hardly spend any time to recognize problems or to search information because when they feel like drinking, they will just buy some. Generally speaking, customers keep loyal to their favorite beer brand. In fact, many of my friends have told me that Yanjing Beer tastes the worst among all they have tried and even though it’s relatively cheap, they are not likely to buy it after first try.As you can see, among all the brand attributes of beer, the price is not a significant concern while taste, which can lead to brand value, matters much more. Once customers have recognized the nice taste of a certain beer brand, probably they are never going to switch brand and all the beer decisions they make later will be regular purchases. Beer market segme ntation The bases I choose for segmenting the Chinese beer market include age, gender, income level, life style, user rate and geographic area. All these factors matter in that they determine the different consumer behavior of drinking beer, as concluded in Table 1.AgeFrom 18 to 60 Young customers at 20-35 have strong potential GenderMen and women Women might drink beer less often than men or choose light flavor, out of concern of weight control Income levelFrom low to high-middle Income does not matter a lot due to beer’s relatively low price compared with other alcohol LifestyleWith leisure time and maybe some pressure User rateLight drinker, medium drinker, heavy drinker Geographic areaNortheast, southeast, northwest, southwest and middle Some areas have notable drinking habits such as northeast China. Besides, there is a tendency for people to choose their local beer brand.Table 1. Competitive landscape and Tsingtao’s status China is the largest beer producer throu ghout the world. Many local Chinese brands as well as foreign competitors are engaged in the competition. There are three main characteristics about the competitive landscape of Chinese beer market. First of all, price war is the main competitive tactic used by most local brewery brands. Not only small regional brands, but also large brands like Yanjing are entangled in price war. In general, price war does not lead to a favorable market position for any company because their profit margins will definitely be influenced.And most importantly, as I have mentioned before, price is not a significant factor that people will consider when buying beer. If companies put too much emphasis on lowering price through lowering cost rather than improving taste and quality, it will not work to their advantage in the long run. Secondly, there is a trend of foreign companies buying local brewers’ stock, meaning that foreign competitors are flooding into Chinese market in a more strategic way. Tsingtao’s collaboration with Anheuser-Busch is a case in point. It facilitates mutual learning and internationalization.The third characteristic might be a future trend that the consolidation and centralization level of Chinese beer market will become higher. With regard to Tsingtao Beer, it is one of the gigantic tiers of China beer brewers. Its competitive advantage is the superior quality due to unparalleled brewery techniques. According to the consumer survey results posted on its website, customers perceive Tsingtao beer as high quality and high price. In general, the fierce competitive marketplace has influenced Tsingtao a little but I think its established brand image is still far from being hurt.Positioning alternatives for Tsingtao Tsingtao’s positioning alternatives are whether to get more low-price market or to adhere to the current â€Å"high quality, high price† strategy, especially when it penetrates into Beijing market and compete with the local giant Yanjing. In my opinion, Tsingtao can adopt a multibrand strategy to fulfill needs of different target markets. For people who have great concern about price, Tsingtao can lower the price as a response to the local price war. For other people, however, Tsingtao should never pursue more sales at the expense of quality.To implement this strategy, Tsingtao has to do a complete consumer survey and then better segment the market. In the segmentation process, income level and geographic area might be the two most important bases. Besides, Tsingtao has to improve its advertising and packaging because beer is low- involvement and emotional product. As is mentioned in the case, nowadays the main reason for consumers to buy a certain brand of beer is brand image and the culture attached to the brand. I think Reeb beer, based in Shanghai, has done a great job in this part, although Reeb is just a small regional brand compared with Tsingtao.I remember when I was a primary school student, Reeb’s TV commercial was an interesting song. The lyrics were mainly saying that Reeb has witnessed the quick development of Shanghai and people’s great change after the opening policy of Pudong District (See the appendix). And at the end of the commercial, it said â€Å"Reeb beer is the reason why you love Shanghai†. Almost everyone from Shanghai of my age or older than me can sing this song and the attachment with this city definitely has enhanced Reeb’s brand image. I think Tsingtao might learn from Reeb to improve its advertising.

Dawn Riley Essay

CEO of America True, Dawn Riley, faces several issues of various criticalities that require careful decision making. The preeminent decision that Dawn Riley faces is whether or not to spend limited funds and resources on upgrading Tag, their training boat. Concurrent with that decision, Dawn is facing several other issues and challenges that need to be addressed. In order to address each of the challenges, a standard issues matrix used below highlights the severity of an issue and the likelihood of it requiring immediate or drastic action. Red: Critical and require immediate management action or decisions Yellow: Lesser critical nature, requiring monitoring of controls to ensure that controls stay in place and does not lead to a more critical ranking. Orange: Lesser critical nature, requiring monitoring of controls and process improvement. Maroon: Issue of a least critical nature – more related to Operational Housekeeping then control concerns. Issue Analysis The issues are divided into two primary areas, leadership and technical. The technical issues include design changes and costs, determining the A-Team, how to manage constructability reviews between the sailing team and the design team, and funding challenges. Each of these issues has a technical solution that can be managed through a process or controls change. The former area, leadership, deals with Dawn Riley’s role in the team and how she shepherds the America True team through these challenges and are solved through adjusting leadership styles. Technical Issues: Funding: Part of Dawn Riley’s role is to prioritize the available budget and to seek new sources of funding. This is a constant source of strain as re-design efforts take additional funding as â€Å"there was a common perception that syndicates with unlimited resources could â€Å"outgrunt† other syndicates by making limitless adjustments. This issue is critical and requires constant management oversight and controls. The action here would be making â€Å"judicious decisions† on how to spend the funds. Tag Upgrade: America True was a smaller syndicate than normal, and their designer Kaiko could not be performing two tasks at once, designing a new part for Tag, or designing a new raceboat keel. This issue would also have implications on funding. This was a critical issue and required executive action to solve. Constructability Reviews: Fostering communication between the designers and the sailors was listed as a potential problem area given that â€Å"sailors ca n get the feeling that designers are too far removed from the problem.† However, in the same token, the sailors also felt that they could contribute more than previous experiences. This is an important issue that probably requires more monitoring than corrective action. A-Team members & Sexism: There was a limited amount of tension between A team and B team members compared to other syndicates. However, â€Å"some of the men who were afraid there would be a â€Å"quota† of women on the raceboat.† For this reason Picking A-Team members and Sexism were identified as a joint issue. Dawn faced the challenge of picking a team that was best qualified and not perceived to have favoritism or quota’s determining who would be on the boat. This is a delicate issue as lack of confidence in your team members and the selection process could lead to a breakdown of trust, one of the first symptoms of Dysfunction in a team. This is a particularly sensitive issue given that the entire issue rests entirely on personality dynamics which take leadership to successfully navigate. Leadership Issues Consensus Style of leadership: Since the outset of the project, Dawn Riley and her management team â€Å"had grown accustomed to making consensus-based decisions.† There are different times when Consensus style of leadership work well and there are times when it does not. The flaws inherent in it are obvious: time consuming, people can be hurt if their choice is not selected, etc. Tag Upgrade: This issue shows up also in the Leadership side of our issues ledger. Dawn is approaching this upgrade as though it is a singular event, however in reality it is a process that has been unfolding over time. â€Å"An â€Å"event† leader would mull in solitude, ask for advice, read reports, mull some more, then say yea or nay and send the organization off to make it happen.† In reality this decision is a process that has been unfolding over the 18 months that Dawn has been leading the team, and would have implications towards group dynamics, and affect the personal and professional relationships within the group. Riley’s leadership role in the pit: As the only Syndicate head who sailed with the crew, there is a certain amount of tension regarding her role on the boat. Even though Dawn recognized that her subordinate Cutler might have a certain amount of discomfort with Dawn in that position since she might step in to take over at any given time she chose to disregard that. Dawn’s role in the pit was to function as the â€Å"integrator† and was at a central position within the boat to react and direct as required. This suggests that Dawn likes to have a strong role on the boat similar to her role off the boat, in the middle of everything and in the know. Muddled Organizational Structure: Throughout the text, there are indications that the organizational structure is unclear or not scrupulously followed. There is no hierarchy to the organizational chart and while Dawn may make it believe it is clear on what her roles and responsibilities are, it appears that she muddles the roles herself given that there was a perception that people were â€Å"working for two masters.† Recommendations and Resolutions Were this in an earlier stage, then there would be a recommendation to solicit additional funding, however given the criticalities of the schedule and the need for the management team to focus on resolving other technical and management issues, it would be recommended that the Dawn and Chris Coffin make the decision to stay within their existing financial plan structure and field the best team they can. It is likely, given Dawn’s many responsibilities, that she could successfully attract additional sponsors unless she gave away other responsibilities regarding the team, which is unlikely to occur.

Question and Answer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Question and Answer - Essay Example d by the pictures in the book and they can be able to predict the next writings and the next picture thus making use of their memory and the beginning knowledge. Children try to build their vocabulary on the basis of what they have heard and they can easily remember. Children try to complete what they hear or see to get satisfaction or disruption if not well predicted. The playfulness and the general activities done by the child depend on the content the child has been fed with. Rhythm from a musical language that is used in a picture book once it has got into the child, it travels through the kid’s legs and arms making the child make movements that go in line with the rhythm of the book. The young learners tend read very loud the few sentences that accompany the pictures in the picture book. This is necessitated by the fact that the language used in the sentences has capturing rhythms and stresses in their structures in addition to the captivating pictures. Children concentrate most to pages in the picture books that contain pictures and the few words that are expressive enough. Pages that that are not expressive enough, make children to lack concentration and subsequent distracted eyes, whispering to each other and even restless legs that can end up disturbing even the few who are concentrating Musicality is a key component in a picture book because musical attributes like imagery and rhythm are used to enhance musicality in a picture book thus appealing to the child.†Whistling wind, rolling thunder, screeching cats, creaking floorboards, turning doorknobs-sounds from afar and sounds getting closer; the stuff of spooky stories, ghosts and haunted houses in the night† (Cheng 2012 pg. 1-2). The use of –ing at the end of the words brings the regular rhyme scheme that is best suited for musicality. This musicality is what that makes the picture book enjoyable to children. Both music and picture books are used for the development of the child especially

Case Law Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Law - Case Study Example American Disability Act (ADA) â€Å"applies to disabilities that affect a major life activity, and those areas of coverage are vision, mental and motor skills, ability to care for one’s self and commute to employment†. In the case of Miss Clark, the fact that she is blind has been known to the company for a long time, as she holds the Vice-President position. Even though she is suffering from visual impairment, it did not prevent her from fulfilling her duties and responsibilities as the Vice-President of the company. However, due to her physical disability, the company refused to promote her to the position of Senior Vice-President because they think that she is not capable enough to carry-out the functions of an SVP. In spite of this physical defect, she has remained loyal to the company and worked for them in several years. Without a doubt, there is a clear violation of the law when the employer prevented the career advancement of Miss Clark by denying her of the pos ition of the Senior Vice-President. It bears stressing that she has surpassed the qualifications for the position of the SVP as seen in her work performance, professionalism and competencies in the execution of her duties and responsibilities in the company. This has been further bolstered by the good working relationship she shares with her colleagues and subordinates. To illustrate the reasonableness of her promotion, ADA provides steps or guidelines for the victim-employee to prove disability discrimination in order to file a valid claim against the employer. The following requisites are: First: A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual; Second: A record of such impairment, or being regarded as having such impairment; and Third: Accordingly, to fall within this definition, one must have an actual disability, have a record of disability or be regarded of having one. Verily, in the light of the justifications provided

Applied English and Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Applied English and Communications - Essay Example In addition, if one checks manuals of gadgets or equipment even if it is not made in the United States of America, it is evident that there is always an instruction part of the manual written always in English for the fact, that manufacturers are aware that this language is generally used by many individuals all throughout the world, it is also a better marketing strategy for products to be accessible for the majority of the public. English though may not be originally rooted in the ancestors of the people living in the United States of America; it has been broadly used by Americans since majority of the American population can remember. Baron termed English as the most powerful language on earth (440). It is fitting to make it the official language of the United States of America for as what Baron had stressed that English forms the glue that keeps Americans together (440). However, many still reject the idea of making English the official language of the United States for a variety of reasons; hence, others want to ban English entirely like what Baron (440-442) suggested in his work. First, Baron believes that a common language can often be the usual cause of conflict and argument (441). He cited examples like what happened in Ireland and Northern Ireland, North and South Korea, the Union and the Confederacy where civil wars and conflicts are present. Baron further adds that banning English would avoid this type of partition in America at present (441). Contrary to this argument, I believe that misunderstanding can happen whether or not people use a common language or not, the popular conflicts in history involve persons of different cultures and beliefs; hence, people who use different languages and it is a fact that miscommunication is often the root of confusion. How can one stop disagreement and encourage conversation and peace when people just cannot merely understand each other? Second, Baron emphasized that if English was banned, the United States of A merica would not have to worry what kind of English, i.e. the English of England or America, the English of New York or Chicago, the English of Ross Perot or William Buckley, will be its official language (441). This however was contradicted in a way by Lewis in his work that what should be utilized as the official language of the United States of America is the Standard English (436). English should also be forbidden for the fact that no one barely reads it or even spell it, according to Baron, even English instructors have come to rely on computer spell checkers. He further adds that it is not a pure language anymore since most of its words were a product of the combination of different languages like French, Latin, Italian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Latin, Celtic, Yiddish, Chinese and Scandinavian. Moreover, English is becoming a world language. It is starting to be on everybody’s tongue and then one day people will just wake up that it is no longer existing just like what happene d to the universal languages in world history such as Latin, Greek and Indo-European and to prevent this kind of future disappointment, it would be better to simply ban English (Baron 442). I think that the said languages failed to continue its existence on every human being’s tongue for many different factors, such as probably another language was proven more effective; the real cause however, will still be unknown. In the end, Baron however, indirectly showed that English is irreplaceable and his statements

Problems in the national curriculum for Pre-K-16 in the USA Research Paper

Problems in the national curriculum for Pre-K-16 in the USA - Research Paper Example One of the key reasons as to why a national Pre-K 16 curriculum would actually improve the quality of education as there is the overall continuum of education between K-12 and other post-secondary education system being followed at colleges as well as universities. It has also been argued that a lot of students actually entering the country’s college and university system are significantly unprepared for reading, writing as well as mathematics. These deficiencies can create the significant disadvantage for the students because of the gap between the high school competencies and readiness for college. There is, therefore, a critical misalignment between K-12 and post-secondary standards and it can create the significant disadvantage for the youth.   One of the common pitfalls of having a national Pre-K-16 curriculum is the lack of information regarding the overall expectations of various stakeholders involved. The misalignment between the goals and expectations of teachers an d institutions at both the post-secondary education institutions actually can make the case for development of national curriculum stronger. There is also a lack of shared knowledge as well as standards which can ensure uniform assessment of the students at various levels.   The implementation of the national pre-k 16 curriculum can therefore actually allow the development of a, therefore, by of assessment where less and less students will be required to enroll into remedial courses when they enter into post-secondary education.

Analyzing ads Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Analyzing ads - Essay Example The management has however, created counter strategies in their advertisement techniques in order to capture new customers and maintain its old customers in the market. Fowles’ appeal plays a major role in production of these Ads. The Management factor in his 15 appeals to reach out to market efficiently. Jib Flowless is a scholar who suggests that advertising revolve around 15 different appeals (Fowles 8). These include need for sex, affiliation guidance, and nurture, aggressiveness, to achieve and dominate. The rest of the appeals includes the appeals for the need for prominence, attention, autonomy, escape; feel safe, aesthetic, satisfy curiosity and the psychological needs. The Ads focus on flashy faces of the models with white healthy teeth posing with Colgate toothpaste. This is in order to create appeals to potential customers to be interested enough to buy the product. The other focus is the flashy look of the Colgate plastic pack. This is contrary to its competitor wh o uses animals known to have strong teeth like the beaver to advertise their products. Ads analysis The Ad in picture one uses a beautiful woman smiling to help market Colgate. The beautiful woman appeals to the emotion of the potential clients in order to capture their attention to look at the Colgate picture. Her brighten smile appeal for the need of affiliation to the beautiful smile. The smile invokes a memorable picture in the mind of the customer just as the marketing department at Colgate aimed to achieve. The Colgate toothpaste appears on the part of the picture to capture the attention of the reader. The conspicuous size of the toothpaste is to ensure that the name of the product hits the subconscious mind of the consumer. The background in the picture is red with large word in white that say Colgate fights germs. This message is to appeal to the need that ensures the customer feels safe. This emphasis is by the choice of the words and their size triggers conversation among the people looking at the advertisement. The main reason for advertisers to choose the above appeal; was to capture the attention of the potential customers (Biagi 156). The appeals reveal the audience of the Ad was parents and young people in the society. The appeal for the need to feel safe was targeting parents who take extra precautions to ensure that their children are safe from germs. The beautiful smile by the woman in the Ad depicts the audience of the Ad to be young people who like to look stylish and modern. In conclusion, Ad was targeting the elite group in the market. The Ad in picture 2 seeks to market a new brand of Colgate toothpaste. This is evident by the large letters in the name Colgate maxfresh. The name maxifresh appeal to need to achieve freshness in the mouth. These words are special and meant to send a message that the product offers maximum freshness in the mouth. The words â€Å"Unleash a rush of freshness† work to create an emotional appeal to rela te to the product to experience the feeling of freshness. Flashy blue container of Colgate creates interest in the mind of the individuals viewing the Ad to have an interest in the product. The advertisers specifically choose these appeals to ensure that they capture the attention of a larger market pull. The large letters of the product name seek to market the toothpaste among already consumers of other toothpastes products. The Advertisers ensure that the words â€Å"Britam stripes†

Compare and contrast the techniques used to discuss colonialism in Essay

Compare and contrast the techniques used to discuss colonialism in Jamaica Kincaids The Ugly Tourist and George Orwells Shooting an Elephant - Essay Example On the other hand, Orwell narrated a story of elephant, that symbolized the oppressed and enlightened about the advance effects of oppression to both the oppressed and oppressors. The article, Shooting an elephant is based in Burma whose colonialist where the British. The colonial rule lasted 124 years (1824-1948) from creation of Burma to its independence as a province in British India. The British had to ensure control of the Burmese people, thus they â€Å"trained the neighboring Indians to take over as civil servants. They also imposed British traditions on the Burmese and encouraged both Chinese and Indians to migrate to Burmese cities so as to profit from the new business opportunities† The British also colonized the Antiguans in the Caribbean whose inhabitants where mostly of African lineage, descendants of slaves brought to work in the sugarcane farms which were established by an Englishman, Codrington in 1684. In George Orwell’s article, he expresses the feeling of been unwanted by the natives and deemed them to be hostile or rather unfriendly, â€Å"as a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so† (Cohen 299). This is a clear indication that the locals despised him and his work and further shows that the colonialists’ were unwanted in the region. Baits were put in place to intimidate the colonialists in an effort to push them away. Orwell further shows the hostility when he says that the referee looked the other way when he was tripped in the football field by another Burman (Cohen 297). The theme of Racism is also emphasized in both works. Orwell refers to the natives as yellow men who always insulted their master while at a distance. The fact that there were insults, from a different skin colored individuals embraced racial discrimination, which ought to be two way. He also shows how the Buddhist stood at street corners jeering at the Europeans. As much as it

Cool Quest Video and Reflection Essay Example for Free

Cool Quest Video and Reflection Essay Psychology could influence consumer behavior in many ways. Based on the video, I learned that the brain responds accordingly to what one perceives as â€Å"cool†. With that being said, I’m pretty sure that there are studies that gear towards tis feature of the mind. And companies like Apple use these studies when inventing their newest products. For example, technology has evolved immensely in recent years. When Apple began inventing their latest IPhone, I’m pretty sure that they thought about what would appeal to their consumers. And I’m positive that psychology had a huge impact on their decisions. In my opinion, there a lot of other areas of society that could be impacted by psychology. Such areas influenced are career choices, fashion, and social habits like drinking and smoking to name a few. All of these societal aspects described can be influenced by different areas of the mind. And we all know that in general today’s societies seek to be accepted by all. I know for me the nature versus nurture theory is a huge influence on different aspects of my life. I was raised by a single parent in a poverty stricken neighborhood. My mother didn’t graduate high school. So education is big for me, which would lead to a better career choice. What is fashionably acceptable or not can be related to the video because everyone has a different perception of what is cool or not.

Hewlett Packard: Porters Five Forces, SWOT and PEST

Hewlett Packard: Porters Five Forces, SWOT and PEST 1.0 Background The organization being chosen to carry out such change process analysis is the computer industry and the organization company in focus is amicably regarding HP Computers. Thus, change processes in business organizations involves the reality behind every process and is considered as a daily cycle in dealing to various issues and concerns of the organization as it depends on the managements actions and its respected change of nature in dealing with effective change management as directed at overcoming anger and resentment evolving into a program that supports acceptance and internalization. As a consultant commenting on the organizational change process choosing HP organization as the focal point for discussion and analysis for this presentation, role to the organization is to have a clear emphasis dealing to the external and internal change drivers and other essential points needed for the realization of purpose for this report presentation for the senior management of the HP in provi ding factual information that will be able to give a better substantive spontaneity of understanding of such organizational state needed for selection and the application of the appropriate management models as well as concepts per se. This essay utilized HP Corporation as the model organization to review its present visions for renewed organization and how they dealt with critical situations. From the analysis, key trends in the change strategies of HP Corporation were then identified, how they worked and their effectiveness in dealing with critical situations was ascertained. The paper then moved on to assess these change strategies with regard to their suitability to critical situations, during which the internal capabilities of these change strategies in relation to the strategy being followed by HP Corporation was determined also. An overall analysis of the performance and effectiveness of the change strategies was also conducted to assess and compare the capabilities of these change strategies with those of others. Gaps in the change capabilities and environment were then identified. Finally, several choices of strategies to improve the change strategies of HP Corporation as effective means in critical situations were recommended and evaluated in terms of appropriateness to the issues reviewed, feasibility in carrying out the options and acceptability within the key stakeholders and decision makers. Several key implementation issues related to managing strategic change were also addressed as well. 2.0 Introduction: Typically, the concept of organizational change is in regard to organization-wide change, as opposed to smaller changes such as adding a new person, modifying a program, etc. Examples of organization-wide change might include a change in mission, restructuring operations (e.g., restructuring to self-managed teams, layoffs, etc.), new technologies, mergers, major collaborations, rightsizing, new programs such as Total Quality Management, re-engineering, etc. Some experts refer to organizational transformation. Often this term designates a fundamental and radical reorientation in the way the organization operates. Change can be defined as the efficient and effective implementation of the policies and tasks necessary after takeover or merging of one or more companies or organizations. Change management focuses on the careful management of the processes involved in the gradual adjustment of the new management and its workforce. More often than not, the newly merged or acquired business entities dont really have an easy time adjusting to the changes brought about by the acquisition or take-over. As a result, these entities engage in activities that are somehow resisting to changes. Therefore, the major activities of the company such as the manufacturing of products, product development, production and distribution become severely hampered. However, change deals with all operations done within companies and organizations. Activities such as the management of purchases, the control of inventories, logistics and evaluations are often the focus of change. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, change includes the analysis and management of internal processes. 3.0 Hewlett-Packard (HP) SWOT Analysis: 3.1 Strengths: The new product offering New innovation for RD Competitive Price After sales service 3.2 Weaknesses: Internal control issues Lack of in-house management consulting division No aggressive investments in RD compared to historical spending Unrest among internal employees due to pay cuts and lack of people care Intellectual Capital is under estimated No Good People retention policy or HR practices to ensure IC is protected 3.3 Opportunities: Emerging markets, particularly countries e-Commerce expansion Restructuring of internal IT structure Imaging and printing businesses 3.4 Threats: Intense competition from other PC manufacturers Increasing competition on imaging and printing Slowdown in economic conditions Product recalls and supply chain disruptions 4.0 Hewlett-Packard (HP) Porters five forces Analysis: 4.1 Rivalry within the Industry: The centre area represents the rivalry in the industry. On the left are the main traditional players in the industry, with an indication that there is a large amount of consolidation occurring between these companies. On the right are the areas in which the market is being fought. In the basic access/basic services arena, many companies are offering the same deal access and basic services, and so those that are doing it more cheaply than others will attract customers. Otherwise, ISPs will have to offer something special to differentiate them from others. 4.2 Threat of Substitute Products: There is a tremendous attraction for companies other than offer computer accessories and services, especially if they know they can enter the market at a high level. Competitors have the resources and computer accessories know-how to be successful in this industry. They are also aware of the threats of not being a part of this industry, and are entering at a tremendous rate, either by acquisition, merging, or simply. 4.3 Threat of New Entrants: Due to the nature of the computer market, the threat of new entrants is reasonably strong. There are low barriers to entry all that is needed to become is a small amount of capital and some technical know-how. Much of the activity can be outsourced, which can reduce initial costs. 4.4 Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The suppliers are those that own the networks. These tend and backbone providers. Backbone providers generally own what is the absolute backbone of the Internet, and control routing and switching of traffic. Own the local loop copper pairs, which most customers use to connect and the lines that lease to connect to the Internet, and much of the Internet backbone. 4.5 Bargaining Power of Buyers: Although an individual consumer has little or no say about how much an ISP charges, due to the rivalry within the market, ISPs generally have to offer their services at reasonable prices. They will lose their customer base if they charge more for a service someone else provides more cheaply. Switching costs are low, and so churn rates are high. 5.0 The External Environment A PEST Analysis of Hewlett-Packard (HP): A PEST (Political, Economic, Sociological and Technological) analysis is a scan of the outside environment to try to spot changes that might impact upon business. These changes might be seen as opportunities or threats. 5.1 P Political: HP operates as a global business within 145 countries world wide. It is organized into three global business groups which roughly correspond. HP is subject to various regional regulations and policies within the associated trading blocks. The key factors at play include trade regulations and tariffs, legal framework for Intellectual property and contract enforcement. The advent of globalization has mitigated against the more adverse impacts of such policies, Europe to America and Visa Versa. In addition, Japan and China and Korea are large important markets for HP and general movement to free markets has encouraged expanding trade here. 5.2 E Economic: HP is directly impacted by general economic trends. The Server, PC and storage business are barometers of general business economic climate, for example the 2001 technology crash impacted various areas of these business units. Also the mobile PC business, printer and ink business are directly tied to consumer spending and sentiment. The back to school consumer market is a very large component of the HP sales in summer months. HP is a mature company and with lower than average employee attrition rates, particularly within the United States, this aging workforce has negative financial implications for pension and downstream Medicare costs. 5.3 S Sociological: HP is subject to a number of macro social trends. One key trend is the market and political focus on green issues. HP as a large ink and printer manufacturer, people use a lot of paper and ink with HP products so its indirect carbon footprint is large. Also as the worlds largest PC and laptop manufacturer, HP will have to address potentially stricter environmental policies in the coming years. We already have seen recent European legislation concerning end of life disposal for consumer white goods. There is a large change in social interaction with technology, wireless and mobility are now key product and user demanded attributes. Peoples expectations relating to technology are accelerating. People are also using technology in new ways, HP must map and maintain coherence with these social trends to be successful. 5.4 T Technological: As HP is a technology enterprise, there are many macro factors at play in this category. The most salient are discussed here: Emergence of Linux This impacts HPs core enterprise platform business, HP has invested and developed over many years its own enterprise version of Unix called HP-UX. Convergence of standards and technologies Computing infrastructure is now viewed as a utility by many large enterprise customers, an intel based platform running windows is practically identical in terms of price /performance from any vendor. Scale of Technological Advancement The price /performance scalar for computing platforms is well documented but this rapid advancement has large impacts on how enterprises configure supply chains and routes to markets. Lower Cost Computing Improvements in technology have led to rapid advances in mobile technologies and lower cost have yielded large price /performance gains for consumers. Service revenues mix changing The advent of new technologies such as virtualization, standardization of the platforms and lower cost of hardware / software is changing the way customers now purchase value added services from HP. 6.0 Vision for Renewed Organization: It all started in 1939 when Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard created HP when they worked on an audio oscillator in a garage in Palo Alto, California. After Walt Disney bought several of these oscillators for their latest movie, Fantasia, the company was off and running. While HP began as a company that produced all sorts of electronic products, their first focus was on test products like counters and voltmeters. Later on in the sixties, HP ended up becoming the founder of Silicon Valley. They got into semiconductors in the early sixties and by 1966, they entered the computer market with the HP 2100and the HP1000. These were sturdy models that lasted for a good twenty years before more advancements saw screen keys and the HP 2640 rise to the occasion. HP is one of the few companies in the world to successfully marry the technologies of measurement, computing and communication. The company makes new advances in portable computing, enters the home-computing market and continues to invent new printing and imaging solutions. For most of the decade, HP enjoys growth rates of 20 percent. Early in the 90s, John Young retires and is replaced by Lew Platt, under whose leadership HP continues to grow. HP becomes recognized as a company whose policies on work-life balance, diversity and community involvement help attract and retain top employees. At the end of the decade, HP spins off its measurement and components businesses to form a new company, Agilent Technologies. It also brings on board a new CEO, Carleton (Carly) Fiorina, who focuses the company on reinventing itself for growth and leadership in the 21st century. HP has approximately 39,000 employees around the globe and has a large and diverse corporate organization. HP company has lot of computer systems in many locations such as Austin, Texas and Nashville that could be of high staffing cost and value that has contributed in maintaining sales to over thirty four offices around and then serve as the front line in terms of selling its products and services worldwide. In human resource side, HP conducts training for all employees in order to reduce absenteeism and human errors as well because the high-quality staff is required in enhancing the best quality performance of the company. HP Corporation aims for change in order to pursue sustainable growth as a broad market leader in mobile computing as well as for segment leadership. In both cases, the HP brands will play a crucial part. HP Corporation is able to establish its broad leadership usually by acquiring other strong mobile computing companies and their products, which are then combined into a new, larger company. Offering training to its employees, improving the company operations, and the introduction of new technologies then reinforces the positions of the various HP products. This practically results in economies of scale that is able to create a distribution network for both the local and international HP products. If a market is already in the control of other mobile computing companies, HP Corporation devotes its attention towards the development of a premium segment with its various HP products. The vision of HP Corporation for renewed organization is to secure the growth of the business in a sustainable manner, while at the same time constantly improving the companys profitability. The strategy to achieve this involves four elements: Striving in order to reach a leading position in attractive markets Focusing on securing a competitive share of the mobile computing market segments. Working in order to improve the companys efficiency and cut costs in operations. Continuous growth through selective acquisitions for as long as they are able to create shareholder value. 7.0 Scope of Change: 7.1 The Change for Staff: Human resources are an organizations most important asset. Ultimately an organizations distinctive competences lie in the skills and abilities of its employees. Because these skills and abilities give an organization a competitive advantage, organizations must continually monitor their structures to find the most effective way of motivating and organizing human resources to acquire and use their skills. Employees basically refer to people who work for another in return for wages or salary. Legally, an employee is referred to a person hired to provide services to a company on a regular basis in exchange for compensation, and who does not provide these services as part of an independent business. However, stated that employees are more than any of those definitions. Employees are the lifeblood of the organization because they are the ones who provide products and services that define corporations, organizations and government entities. They are referred to as the most precious assets of the organization because without them, the organization is crippled and cannot function effectively. Because of the important role of employees, HP Corporation has the responsibility to motivate them so as they can function more effectively. Theories of motivation such as Maslows theory, Alfelders theory, McClellands theory, and Herzbergs theory explain why employees and staff should be motivated and why organizations should take this concept into consideration. But what really constitutes effective employee motivation? Building a positive communication with employees is important because they are the organizations best ambassadors or loudest critics, depending on how fast they get relevant information and the context in which it is received. Information consistency affects the success of the company and if it fails to communicate information internally and externally, the reputation of the company may fall. Communication basically uplifts the morale of an employee as it makes them feel that they are valued by the organization. This also builds employee loyalty and satisfaction. 7.2 The Change for System: Organizational function needs to develop procedures that allow it to manage the particular environment it faces. As the environment changes. Organizations often transfer resources to the functions where the most value can be created. Crucial functions grow in importance, while those whose usefulness is declining shrink. An organization can improve the value that its functions create by changing its structure, culture, and technology. The change from a functional to a product team structure, for example, may speed the new product development process. Alterations in functional structure can help provide a selling in which people are motivated to perform. The change from traditional mass production to a manufacturing operation based on self-managed work teams often allows companies to increase product quality and productivity if employees can share in the gains from the new work system. There was a period when HP Corporation was generating its first surplus which was the effect of the cost-cutting activities imposed by their management. This was the time when HP Corporation had also realized that the organization needs to pay attention on it customer service so as to ensure that the industry will continue to earn profit. In order to initiate such change, HP Corporation hired Consultants to gather data about staff and customer attitudes. The result of such evaluation shows that there is a significant gap between what the staff is providing and what the customer actually needed. Hence, another management initiative was the change of the system from staff- oriented to customer oriented industry through the creation of customer is king culture within the organization. 7.3 The Change for Strategy: The organizational structure of HP Corporation also changed to a much flatter and slimmer structure. Five sections of the industry are directly reporting to the CEO and eleven profit centers were created. This structural alternation aims to enhance the staff integration and communication, within HP Corporation. The performance-related pay was also introduced by the management based on an appraisal system which values the significance of customer service and organizational cohesion. This change also includes major investments in ground facilities and IT in order to adhere to the needs of its customers. 8.0 Speed of Change: The speed of change can be two types_ Evolutionary Change is described as incremental, gradual and narrowly focused. This change is constant. Evolutionary change may be a carefully developed, long-term goal that an organization is moving toward. One tool that can promote and direct evolutionary change is strategic planning. Revolutionary Change Revolutionary change is dramatic, rapid and broadly focused. This radical shift may mean new ways of doing things, new goals or a new organizational structure. The three important components of revolutionary change are reengineering, restructuring, and innovation, as described by Jones and George. Revolutionary change is appropriate within the technology industry, where swift advancements often happen. Although an organization cannot plan for every situation, scenario planning may be most appropriate to predict potential revolutionary change. In scenario planning, a business envisions possible future outcomes and creates a plan to deal with each one. Reengineering involves rethinking and redesigning business processes to increase organizational effectiveness. Instead of focusing on an organizations functions, the managers of a reengineered organization focus on business processes Although the management change had been able to enhance the competitiveness of HP Corporation, this does not mean that the company felt the changes immediately and became free from any other problems and issues. Definitely, the employees and staff took time before they became fully adjusted with the changes as HP Corporation imposed a more comprehensive human resources management through its Staff Development Initiative. However, not all employees had been able to meet the objective of such initiative. Hence, the problem encountered by HP Corporation during and after the management change is a concrete evidence of the lengthy time that the company experienced getting accustomed with the changes. 9.0 Proposed Action: Strategy 1: Product Development The retailers represent HP Corporations largest sales and marketing channel which encompass national and regional office supply stores and mass merchants. Distributors represent HP Corporations second largest channel and generally sell to both traditional and Internet resellers and retailers. In Europe and Asia, HP Corporations market share is still relatively high. HP Corporation has more than 100 international distributors located worldwide. Strategy 2: Product Penetration The company uses the online store as a venue to sell its products. This is accomplished through the use of e-marketing campaigns and product bundles. The company is able to build awareness of its products and brands through mass media advertising, public relations efforts and branded Internet properties. The company also makes it a point to receive feedback from its customers through market research. The company then uses these feedbacks to refine its product development efforts and marketing strategies. The company also initiated an e-commerce strategy to increase online sales and provide new innovations in business class which increases customer satisfaction. Strategy 3: Enhancement of Operations / Efficiency and Effectiveness HP Corporations direct to customer model solve the problem for additional capital for marketing and sales. By selling directly to consumer it eliminated retailers along the way. One advantage of this kind of system is that the firm is continuously in contact with its customers and they are benefiting in two areas concerning sales and marketing, seeing sales trends and learning about unmet costumer demands. Strategy 4: Technology Improvement Technology is an important source of competitive advantage. And this is considered a strength of HP because the firm enjoys better access to technology. HP introduces the latest relevant technology much more quickly than companies with slow-moving indirect distribution channels. 10.0 Leadership: The existing style of leadership HP uses is the transformational leadership style as the CEO Michael HP applies this particular style of leadership that involves inspiring employees to transcend their own self interests and work for the larger good of HP company. HP articulates a vision that convinces subordinates to make important and positive changes in business process and management and relates to profound belief on beliefs and values that goes beyond its changes and achieving ways to transcend proper decision making engaging through such utilization factors as HP utilizes the IT as a factor for the successful running of its business. The acquisition by means of using some of the leadership styles as HP will make sure to value their customers and business partners in a form of interpersonal style of expressing to a level of virtually integrated as if theyre inside the company and by having customer information as used for analyzing and forecasting customer demand and achieving th e mass customization. HP expect that the success would be forever and they expect that other companies might implement such leadership models and believed that Information Technology would play a vital role in the success of the business as well as the centerpiece of the business per se. 11.0 Communication Change: Communication is important in HP Corporation because its business environment is the place where many interactions are needed, and where much information is acquired. It always involves openly competitive activity, in which working professionals in HP Corporation debate issues, defend positions, and evaluate the arguments of others. Most working professionals in HP Corporation, particularly those in middle and upper management, routinely produce a variety of messages, many of which are in the written form of memoranda, electronic mail, letters, reports, performance reviews, instructions, procedures, and proposals. It is also argued that a fuller understanding of organizations is a vital ingredient at every forward step of the career process, and that communication is a primary element for understanding how organizations function and how members of the organization should, even must, behave in organizations if they are to advance their careers. The practice of effective communication within HP Corporation is also linked with the development of a healthy corporate culture, job satisfaction of employees, and the happiness and productivity of employees. Communication skills are also important to the leaders of HP Corporation because it helps them manage the company more effectively. 12.0 Conclusion: It seems that the major cause of the problems encountered by HP Corporation is due to the unplanned management changes imposed. In addition, the problems also arise because of the inadequate knowledge of its management about the use of strategic management and other management systems. This way, the empire of HP Corporation will remain unscathed amidst the advent of consolidation and globalization.

Is Elearning The Way Forward Education Essay

Is Elearning The Way Forward Education Essay E-learning, in its broadest sense, is the use of networked information technologies in education. E-learning is also called as web based learning, online learning or Internet based learning. E-learning is not bound to time and classroom attendance students and teachers may be at different locations on different times. One of the most common types of E-learning takes the form of distance learning courses. Universities upload course material for the student to study individually and complete tasks based on the course material. This allows students to access the course material on the web anytime and from anywhere. Advancement in computing and information technology coupled with almost universal availability of the broadband make e-learning an enticing option in many fields including medical education. In this assignment I will be reflecting on my personal experience with e-learning. I will also discuss its applicability in undergraduate medical education, postgraduate medical educatio n and continuing medical education of practicing clinicians. Theory behind e-learning The meaning of knowledge and learning have changed through time. There is a certain swift in emphasis on learning, rather than teaching, as we rightly move towards a learner centred curriculum. E-learning, which is based on well documented adult learning principles, certainly facilitates a learner centred approach. Traditional education is based on instructivism theory. Teacher or tutor teaches a predefined set of information, deciding what students had to learn. Students learn to pass the examination. E-learning is based on constructivist and cognitive theories suggesting that learning is individualised and the students past experiences and knowledge have a great impact on the newly acquired knowledge (Jonassen 1994). Blended learning refers to learning involving multiple methods and approaches, commonly a mixture of class room and e-learning Requirements for successful implementation Mitchell and Honore 2008 proposed a pyramidal system for successful implementation of e-learning programmes. The base of the pyramid, which forms the foundation for successful e-learning programme, consists of appropriate, accessible technology and usable, stimulating and interactive design. The apex of the pyramid is represented by the individuals who are involved in the programme and their attitude and motivation forms a major part in the success of e-learning methods. Basic computing skills are essential for the success of e-learning. There is an assumption that the current undergraduates have the necessary computing skills. Kiran et al 2004 has shown that computing skills among undergraduates are variable and one can not assume expertise or even ability. Good technical support is essential including after hours support. For effective e-learning, student should be able to access material quickly both on campus and at home. Slow connectivity can be a problem. There is considerable cost involved in setting an e-learning programme. Role of e-learning in Continuing Medical Education All practicing clinicians in the United Kingdom are obliged to attend Continuing Medical Education programmes to maintain knowledge and skills as a part of appraisal and revalidation (The General Medical Council). E-learning offers excellent opportunities in this area. I have completed many online e-learning courses. Advantages of these courses include minimal cost, no travel cost and there is no need to take time off to attend these courses as they can be completed from home. They offer excellent value for money and the quality of these courses are comparable to that off traditional courses. I recently attended an advanced laparoscopic surgery skills course. Few weeks prior to the course I was asked to sign up to the course organisers web site. I was able access part of the course material. This enabled me to practise some of the skills prior to attending the course. This has certainly enhanced my learning more than I would have acquired without the access to the e-learning material. There were 20 participants form 8 countries and most found the e-learning very useful. E-learning has made it possible for practicing clinicians from a remote part of the world to contact their peers through video conferencing in the management of difficult clinical situations and this facilitates on-the-job learning. When I was a resident in 1989 I had to wait for over two weeks to find out about an important adverse effect of a drug which now I could find out in a couple of minutes using online electronic databases. In medical education there can be no doubt that opportunities for learning occur all the time and not confined to the class room and e-learning has a lot to offer in this regard. Role of e-learning in Postgraduate Medical Education E-learning plays an important role in Postgraduate Medical Education. Many Deaneries across the United Kingdom has setup e-learning portals for the benefit of postgraduate trainees. Harden 2006 suggested that e-learning will be one of the most important developments in the delivery of postgraduate medical education. In surgical training many hands on courses utilise e-learning methods to enhance face-to-face learning. Types of e-learning resources The basic e-learning resources include e-textbooks, power point presentations of lectures and electronic notice boards. The communication in these methods is one way. Bilham 2005 argues that much of e-learning using these methods was based upon a model of knowledge transmission from the teacher to student as in the traditional education system. The rise of new technologies has turned the World Wide Web from strictly an information destination into a platform, not only to read or watch media, but to actually do things (Martin and Parker 2008). This has made innovative approaches possible in the field of medical education including group projects, virtual patients and virtual clinics. This encourages interactive learning. E-learning in undergraduate medical education I discussed with many Foundation Year one doctors who have graduated from different medical schools across the country. I have observed that the usage of e-learning is variable between medical schools. They felt that e-learning enhanced their learning in basic medical science like anatomy. Multimedia graphics helped them as they felt that the laboratory demonstration in it self was not sufficient for learning. In clinical medicine they felt that e-learning was beneficial in problem based case discussions and case presentations. E-learning has the potential to enhance the learning instead of simply presenting the information. Examples of beneficial multimedia may include a video clip, computer animation for explaining the underlying patho physiology and images of investigations like chest x ray or endoscopy pictures. I have observed that some e-learning using multimedia technology detract the learner from the key message that the teacher wanted to convey and this should be avoided. Physical skills are best learnt by performing them under direct supervision. E-learning, however, can be used to augment the teaching of practical skills. A video showing the technique will be helpful in priming the learner prior to attending a teaching session. Another interesting development in medical education is the application of virtual patient. Examples in this category include a video of clinical consultation to illustrate history taking or examination skills or for demonstrating a physical sign. This is useful for demonstrating certain clinical conditions which the student is unlikely to encounter during their short stay in certain clinical attachments like dermatology or rheumatology. Virtual patients can be used to teach the skills of diagnostic reasoning and patient management through interactivity. There are packages available which allows the student to take a virtual history from a bank of questions and this is followed by examining the patient. This can be artificial and I believe this is better learnt bedside. We have to acknowledge that most of the learning that occurs in clinical practice is opportunistic and technologies which could bridge the gap in experience will be beneficial. Assessment and feedback in e-learning Assessment and feedback are important elements of medical education. Time logged on to the website and accessing the e-learning modules can be monitored as a part of formative assessment. Formative or summative assessments in e-learning courses can be carried out using Multiple Choice Questions and Extended Matching Questions. Multimedia enhanced virtual patient case scenarios can be used for assessment followed by Multiple Choice Questions or diagnostic reasoning tests. Care must be taken to include all possible correct answers in diagnostic reasoning tests because programming can be technically challenging. I have some reservations in using e-learning summative assessments as the identity of the student can not be guaranteed and may encourage cheating. Feedback in e-learning is limited to correction of mistakes and it is difficult to provide detailed feedback. Evidence for e-learning in medical education Cook et al 2008 conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of internet based instruction in medical education. They have concluded that e-learning is better than no intervention and as effective as traditional education. They have also concluded that there is no evidence to conclude that e-learning is better than traditional education. Clark 2002 has demonstrated that students are very satisfied with e-learning. Students, however, do not see e-learning replacing instructor-led training but as a complement to it, forming a part of a blended learning strategy. Advantages and disadvantages of e-learning E-learning has many advantages. The learner can schedule the learning around their personal and professional life minimising disruption to their day to day life. E-learning allows the learner to choose the learning material which is beneficial to them. The learner can pace their learning which suits them best. They will be able to contact their colleagues and teachers in discussions which can happen synchronously or asynchronously depending on the nature of the discussion. E-learning encourages the learner to take responsibility to their learning. The disadvantages of e-learning are as follows. There is a considerable start up cost as well as maintenance cost and this should be taken in to account when setting up an e-learning programme. As learners are responsible for their learning unmotivated learners and learners with poor study habit may find it difficult to progress. There is added responsibility for the facilitator to be available on demand. Students may feel socially isolated, however, blended learning overcomes this issue. Slow or unreliable internet connection can be challenging as most multimedia content needs fast internet connection. Conclusion E-learning has become an integral part of medical education starting from undergraduate medical education to the continuing professional development of the practising clinicians. Like other teaching methods, e-learning has its own strengths and weaknesses and need to be used appropriately. E-learning has the potential to shift the balance form teaching to learning. Basic computing skills are essential for e-learning. The range of e-learning activities varies from e-books to co-ordinated project works. Studies have shown that the results of e-learning methods are comparable to traditional teaching methods in undergraduate medical education. To be successful e-learning has to be combined with traditional teaching methods as a blended approach as practice of medicine involves real patients not virtual patients. E-learning is also playing an important role in the development of postgraduate trainees and life long learning of practicing clinicians. E-learning certainly has the potential t o enhance the learning in medical education, if used appropriately.

Cerebral Palsy Essay -- Disease, Disorders

Cerebral Palsy Cerebral Palsy (CP) is brain damage. It cannot be cured, it is not contagious, it is not a disease, and it does not get worse. According to Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, "Cerebral Palsy is a broad term for various nonprogressive disorders of motor function in people, resulting from brain damage around the time of birth. Damage to the brain could occur before, during, or shortly after birth"(â€Å"Cerebral†). Since the damage is done during the brain’s formation, and occurs in the part of the brain that controls motor and muscle functions, people with CP might have problems with motor skills, muscle tone, muscle weakness, reflexes, balance, excessive drooling, difficulties swallowing or speaking, shaking, tremors, and difficulty with fine motor skills (â€Å"Cerebral Palsy: Hope†). Although it may not be diagnosed until a child is a few years old, most children with CP are born with it, and even though it does not get worse the symptoms caused by the bra in damage can change and people with CP may have problems with vision, speech, hearing, or language, but with early intervention, support and treatment, many people with CP can manage their condition and lead full, productive lives. Dr. William Little wrote the first medical description of the disorder in the 1860’s. He thought most cases of CP were caused by complications at birth resulting in lack of oxygen to the brain. Cerebral Palsy was called Little's disease for many years. CP refers to neurological disorders that appear in early childhood and affect movement and coordination (â€Å"Cerebral Palsy: Hope†). Although CP is caused by damage to the motor areas of the brain and affects body movement and muscle coordination, it is not caused by problems in the muscles o... ... Work Cited â€Å"Cerebral Palsy.† (n.d.): Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. Polzin, Scott; Odle, Teresa. â€Å"Cerebral Palsy.† Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Feb. 2012 â€Å"Cerebral Palsy: Hope Through Research.† National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Web. 14 Feb. 2012. Morgan, A M, and J C Aldag. "Early Identification Of Cerebral Palsy Using A Profile Of Abnormal Motor Patterns." Pediatrics 98.4 Pt 1 (1996): 692-697. MEDLINE. Web. 19 Feb. 2012. â€Å"UCP: Press Room - Vocabulary Tips.† UCP: Home Page. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. .

Of Mice And Men Vs The Pearl :: essays research papers

The aspect of the John Steinbeck novels, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men, that is most comparable is how, in both books, Steinbeck denies the main characters of each book, Kino and George and Lennie to change their role in life or to beat fate. Steinbeck’s grim outlook of life was perhaps brought on through his early failures and poverty, because all three of the pre-mentioned characters had opportunities to change their fate or role but failed. The elements of discussion are Kino, George and Lennie, a comparison and a contrast. Kino found one of the most valuable and precious pearls in the world and being convinced of its worth was not going to be cheated by only minimally upgrading his condition of life. Instead he wanted to break the fixed life and role that he and his family had and always would live. Kino refuses the maximum offer of fifteen hundred pesos that would easily ease his and his family’s pain and suffering for the coming months. Kino is then determined to trek to the capital to find a fair and just offer. Kino continues determined through the mountains after an attempt at the pearl, his canoe destroyed and his hut set a blaze. Continuing to put his family’s life on the line. It eventually takes the death of his beloved son Coyotito to make him realize he needs to stop being so greedy, no matter how hard he tries and to shut his mouth and know his role. George and Lennie have to continue to move around the country looking for work until Lennie screws up again. The instability of work only makes it that much harder for them to complete their dream of a farm of their own. Candy’s participation in the dream of the farm upgrades the dream into a possible reality. As the tending of rabbits comes closer to happening fate curses them with the accidental death of Curley’s wife. The end of their wishful thinking is summed up by Candy’s question on page 104, â€Å"Then-it’s all off?† Things that are similar about the two novels and how both of their dreams were crushed are both are groups of people who have these dreams and each finds or meets something that can help their dreams come true, the pearl and Candy. Furthermore, the realization of their dreams coming to an end is, in both books, caused by the death of someone who is a part of the dream, Coyotito and Lennie.

Mrs Beast Essay

One construction of feminism in the poem is female dominance over men. The Beast is shown as the weaker of the male culture due to his unappealing image â€Å"ugly as sin†. The Beast sees the narrators seeming interest in him as a miracle and is portrayed as desperate to keep her attention even it means living with her neglect. Here we see that the there is a reversal of gender stereotype as the Beast takes on the supportive female role and the narrator takes on the stereotypically-dominant male role. The Beast is also described as submissive to the narrator, â€Å"fell to his knee’s at the door† which is stereotypically a female trait and shows the power Mrs Beast has over him. Traditionally men are known for being the most powerful in relationships as they are looked up to by women as the more protective, confident and in-control gender because are often known to be the sex that induces a relationship (asking to court/ asking for marriage). Another male trait shown by ‘Mrs Beast’ is the control she has over the Beast such as during sex, â€Å"The lady says Do this. Harder. The lady says Do that. Faster. The lady says That’s not where I meant. † The imperatives used show that Mrs Beast is the most dominant in their relationship which goes against gender stereotypes as men are traditional seen as the most powerful in a relationship. In the poem Mrs Beast shows that she controls when the couple have sex â€Å"The pig in my bed Was invited† which suggests that man has become a sexual object to Mrs Beast rather than a lover, as she shows no emotional attachment to him other than to use him to please her, which supports the feminist view of female dominance. Men are also known to be the most confident in sex and it’s usually the submissive woman that is known to conform to pleasuring the man rather than vice versa. Second construction of feminism in the poem is where the women take on masculine characteristics and traits. Peukert wrote that Carol Ann Duffy shows a â€Å"reverse of the traditional hierarchical gender constructions, where the female is now presented as a superior and dominating figure† in her poem. Many critics argue whether this reversal is seen as positive or negative as in some areas of her poem, the narrator seems to be losing her female traits and manifesting into the feminist viewpoint of a man. In the poem, Mrs Beast shows male characteristics such as where she uses contemporary taboo language when referring to ‘Princes’ as â€Å"bastards†. This is often a male trait because women are stereotypically known to be more well-spoken and polite than men. Another example of a male trait Mrs Beast portrays is when she boasts of her possessions and independence, â€Å"My own gold †¦ My own black horse†. This is often seen as a stereotypical male trait as men are considered my independent than women who often depend on men to provide for them and their family. Also, to boast about one’s possessions and power, shows competitiveness which is a common male characteristic also. Competiveness is also shown in the poker game between the â€Å"Serious ladies†, a game that is considered ‘a man’s game’. Traditionally, women playing poker/gambling was seen as improper because of its known bad influence to cause obsession which would be unacceptable as women were seen as pure/untouchable against all evil/illegal things such as drinking or smoking. Duffy’s use of the semantic field of the poker game, â€Å"bluff†, â€Å"Aces† and â€Å"shuffle and deal† the women are now in roles of control which is a typical masculine trait. (The game could also show that the relationships are like a game. ) Gender role reversal is also shown in the way the Beast is described. When the Beast meets the narrator at the beginning, he is said to show â€Å"tears in his bloodshot eyes, That he knew he was blessed†. Showing emotion is not usually associated with men as the female gender are often stereotypically portrayed as the more emotionally gender and for men to show emotion is seen as a humiliating weakness. An earlier example of this would be in Stokers novel, Dracula, when Holmwood breaks down in front of Mina, which many Victorian male readers would find shameful and weak. This could support Antony Rowland’s view that â€Å"men and masculinity are attacked constantly by more abrasive female narrators† throughout Duffys poems in ‘The Worlds Wife’. In the poem, Duffy exposes men for the ‘†bastards† that they are and mocks them in comparison to the ‘Beast’, â€Å"The sex is better†, â€Å"his erection ,Size of a mules – best†. Here Duffy teases the men (‘Princes’) by comparing physical manhood which is stereotypically known as a ‘mans pride of pleasure’. Another construction of feminism is the discriminating or degrading of the male gender. The Beast in the poem is often compared to a â€Å"mongrel† and â€Å"a dog† all animals which are known for evolving from â€Å"wolfs† to household pets. This suggests that the Beast is mere property to Mrs Beast and perhaps at both times a comfort and a burden to have to keep, which links to the feminist theme that men are sexual objects and nothing more. Dogs are known to have short-life span and are often replaced by another which again could be considered a stereotypically a masculine view, that women can be replaced after they’ve outdid their usage, as there are ‘plenty more fish in the sea’. Other animals the Beast is compared to is a â€Å"mule†, â€Å"donkey† and â€Å"horse† which are all animals that humans use for transport. We could suggest that this could be a sexual reference as Mrs Beast ‘rides’ the Beast and is control during sex, as a rider is in control of a horse. There is also a phrase in the poem where animals mentioned seem to drop down in evolution, â€Å"An ape, a wolf †¦ dragon, dinosaur. † Humans are believed to have evolved from apes, so to describe the Beast as a ape and then a dinosaur could suggest that Carol Ann Duffy is implying that men are perhaps less evolved than women and that in the presence of a woman (Mrs Beast) men lose their humanity/ intelligence. Another construction of feminism in the poem is the theme of homosexuality. At the end of the poker, the â€Å"drop-dead gorgeous Bride of the Bearded Lesbian didn’t Bluff† and ends up winning the game. Some critics believe that Duffy is intentionally putting out her support for homosexuality by letting the ‘Lesbian’ be the winner of the poker game. This could also be a biased consideration of the stereotypical viewpoint that most feminist are homosexual for example Duffy herself has been rumoured to have had a relationship with (Not sure how to develop ) Duffy lists, throughout the poem, various women both from history, â€Å"Marilyn Monroe†, â€Å"Bluebeard’s wives, Henry VIII’s†, â€Å"Diana, Princess of Wales† and from fairytales, â€Å"Little Mermaid†, â€Å"Rapunzel†, â€Å"Ashputtel†. Here Mrs Beast and her acquaintances pay tribute to these women, of whom Duffy suggests, were mistreated by their â€Å"Prince† such as â€Å"Diana†. Her marriage to Prince Charles was frowned on by the Royal family and eventually came to an end when he husband was rumoured to have had an affair behind her back. From this reference, Duffy is implying that even the most presumed perfect man on the outside (Prince Charles both a member of the Royal family and a Catholic) can still be a â€Å"bastard† inside. The reference to â€Å"Bluebeard’s wives† also shows the false image, shown by men who seem perfect. In the fairytale Bluebeard marries again, after a numerous times before, to a beautiful woman who in the ends find out that Bluebeards has killed his previous wife’s and hung them up in a room, she informs others and has him killed. Duffy refers to this fairytale because it negatively implies that men are destroyers of women and only seek to harm/manipulate them like Bluebeard who kills his wife’s and strings them up like trophies/ prizes of his conquests. A additional reference to another â€Å"tragic girl† is â€Å"the tears of Mary† where Duffy personifies the beads of the rosary as the Virgin Mary’s tears. Here Duffy makes a controversial example of the suffering of Mary, whose vital suffering is considered insignificant in comparison to the suffering of Jesus on the cross. Although this is could be a exceptional argument supporting feminist we must consider the context because the discrimination is purely down to the culture during the time period the Bible was wrote; women were seen as the ‘weaker sex’.

Canada: 1920’s and 1930’s

How Canadian Men Stayed Clean During the â€Å"Dirty† Thirties The twenties were a time of flappers, bobs, and jazz with nothing but buying exorbitant goods in between. However, these careless times were short- lived and the â€Å"dirty† thirties began a few years later. Society was affected on a large economic scale which in turn put a strain on the familial bonds of those trying to survive the drastic transition between these two decades as men went to drastic lengths to support their families, as seen in the film Cinderella Man.Canadian citizens of the 1920s lived in a hazy dream where money was as easily gained as it was spent. Canadians were facing a time of prosperity, where wages were high and unemployment was low. Such prosperity created a sense of monetary and economic security within Canada and the more Canadians earned, the more they wanted to gain. Canadians were willing to make risky decisions and so, many saw excitement and a quick- rise to wealth in the s tock markets. Companies would sell stocks, or shares, in their business to investors. In return, investors were entitled to a share of any profits a company earned.In order to increase profit, many began to buy on margin. To elaborate, they would purchase a stock with a small down payment and borrow the rest based on the value of the stock as collateral from banks. Most citizens thought that the prosperity of the twenties would last far into the future and would allow for a luxurious and care- free life where no one would have to pay attention to possible future issues. In contrast, the 1930s saw the end of prosperity as depression quickly set in. On October 29, 1929, better known as Black Tuesday, the stock market had reached its peak.Those with many shares and an excess of cash began to sell their stocks. Thus, the â€Å"cattle heard† effect began and those at the bottom of the stock market pyramid began to follow the precedent and quickly sold their stocks all at once. In a single day, the value of stocks on the world’s major market stock exchanges dropped by 50%. Almost every Canadian citizen lost their investments as well as their previous profits as banks began to repossess everyone’s belongings as compensation for the numerous loans almost everyone had taken in order to invest in the stocks.It was during the thirties that Canadians began to realize that perhaps a plan for future problems would be extremely helpful- of course citizens had to suffer quite a bit before these realizations were made. As a result of the drastic shift in wealth, citizens of the thirties became increasingly desperate and were willing to do do laborious and tedious work for a mere $0. 20 at most in contrast to the relaxing and languid investments that brought quick wealth in the twenties. During 1933, Canada’s unemployment rate was nearly 30%- not including farmers and fishermen.Meaning, if a man was able to find a job he was extremely lucky and was v ery unlikely to be given the same chance the next day. Thus, very few had the good fortune to turn down any form of work as physically draining as it was. To illustrate, in Cinderella Man, James Braddock pushes himself beyond physical weaknesses to work at a dock where work is laborious and almost unbearable. He is willing to suffer the pain of a broken hand and gain a limited amount of pay simply because the docks were his only method of obtaining decent pay- after his loss of a boxing license.For most Canadians, there was only one method of obtaining money and it was often tiresome, tedious, and grueling but, it was the only way to bring in some form of support for their families. Beyond the physical labour, Canadian men of the thirties were forced to conquer their pride and accept charitable donations and relief aid from the government in order to support their families. In the movie, Cinderella Man, James Braddock is forced to accept relief in his desperate attempt to keep his f amily together though he admitted it was a shameful act for any man during the Depression.Barry Broadfoot, a relief worker, described the appearance of these men, â€Å"†¦ as though they were signing away their manhood, their right to be a husband and sit at the head of the table and carve the roast. † In admitting to needing the government’s support, men felt that they had let down their families and had become unfit as head of the family as society expected a man to be able to work and provide full support to his family during the 1900s. Many men, in the hopes of finding some way to support their families, left their homes and travelled West in search of work. Many â€Å"rode the rails† nto British Columbia and found only more charities. As a result, the government set up relief camps to rid the province’s streets of the desperate men in search of unattainable work. Over 200 000 men lived in these camps during 1933 and faced a life similar to that of prison. The only benefit was that at lest a few cents were made each day- a small but necessary sum of money in the face of the Depression. However, Canadian men soon protested the terrible conditions in the relief camps. The chaotic riots and protests directed towards Canada’s government, such as the Regina riot and On-to-Ottawa Trek, led R.B. Bennett to create the â€Å"New Deal† which established minimum wages and unemployment insurance among other policies which resulted in a small victory for future Canadians who would face Depression as the business cycle continued its circulation. In conclusion, the lives of Canadians differed drastically as the carefree times of the twenties abruptly ended- plummeting Canada into a Depression within a matter of days. The men of the time had been terribly effected and the carefree dream of the twenties had left Canadians bitter and cautious after the reality of the thirties touched them.