Net neutrality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Net neutrality - Research Paper Example In 2010, the FCC imposed network neutrality regulations on both wireless and wired broadband-access providers (Hazlett 1). The agency claims that the design of the internet was such that there would be no â€Å"gatekeepers†. Despite there being disputes, the FCC has moved ahead to vote in new rules that will affect the regulation of broadband internet in the U.S. (Kovach). The FCC’s proposal is bad because exercising of unfettered control over people’s use of the internet creates risks to economic and technological growth, and it poses a real threat to freedom of speech and the future of the United States’ democracy (Hazlett 1). Kovach argues that we have two sides in dispute concerning net neutrality. Providers aim at regulating their broad band so that they can utilize it to pursue their own interests to favor their own internet service provision. On the other side, there are the proponents of â€Å"internet neutrality† who believe that in order to foster economic growth and innovation; the government should regulate the internet. The FCC chair’s proposal says that companies which stream content, if they wish, they should be able to pay internet providers for direct access to customers. This will result in increased streaming speeds. The proposal goes ahead to protect companies that cannot or do not want to pay for the direct access to customers. This means that internet service providers (ISPs) will be prohibited from slowing down the streaming speed for those who eat up more bandwidth and treat those services like any other data. This is not the right solution because it gives huge compani es with a lot of money an advantage over the start up companies, which cannot be able to afford paying for direct access to internet users. According to Gustin, the young firms must rely on the certainty of rules that do not discriminate for them to grow, build new technologies and create jobs. In addition, the consumer will also suffer

Strategic Planning for International Tourism Essay

Strategic Planning for International Tourism - Essay Example The current branding strategies will be looked into and other than the analysis, we will look into possible ways or practices that could improve the exposure of tourism in New Zealand and result in an even more successful approach. Currently, New Zealand is one of the top contenders among modern tourist attractions. With its beautiful landscapes, tourist attractions, rich cultures, numerous opportunities for adventures and of course, the Lord of The Rings films sites; New Zealand makes an ideal holiday getaway. (Tourism Information and Accommodation, 2008) With all this and more, anyone's time and money spent in New Zealand will definitely be worthwhile. New Zealand Tourism Online (NZTO) has taken a very user friendly and fun-filled approach towards promoting tourism in New Zealand. They offer a wide range of choices to any tourist depending on their interests, tastes, budget and objective. New Zealand is a place where anyone can have the time of their life, if you're a young kid or a retired corporate executive or a young couple deciding to lay back for a while, New Zealand has something for everyone. Lord of the Rings is a fantasy story written by the author J. R. R. Tolkien. Its movie adaptations have swept the international box office with multiple Academy Awards for the three films made so far; The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King. It would be nothing new to the fans around the world that New Zealand is home to Lord of The Rings! The three films were shot at different locations in New Zealand. This makes New Zealand one of the hottest modern day tourist attractions, not only for the LOTR fans, but everyone can enjoy the story behind the locations and experience a piece of the amazing saga. 1.1.1 Middle Earth is New Zealand As mentioned earlier, New Zealand was home to the Lord of The Rings movie franchise. The set of Middle Earth was chosen to be the scenic landscapes of New Zealand. The person who chose to shoot the movie here, Peter Jackson, is also a native. The location for Hobbiton was chosen as the hilly area of Matamata, The famous Mt. Doom was actually the Mt Ruapehu. Other than that Queenstown was the used sets for locations such as the Pillars of Argonath and the Eregion Hills. (Lord of the Rings - New Zealand, 2007) New Zealand Tourism Online has made great use of this fame New Zealand has been accredited to. They offer a complete list and description for all the movie sites and ways to experience these locations to the fullest. Also they provide in depth description of the movie itself with images and graphics on the website along with further details. Branding for the Key Destinations' Products The tourism industry of New Zealand has been performing a good job with branding the top attractions and products New Zealand has to offer. The NZTO website features a 'Highlights' section in which they very main key attractions that New Zealand has to offer to tourists are described in detail. The features and attractions listed include: Skiing and snowboarding, New Zealand is one of the top ski holiday destinations in the world. The country offers a variety of locations and terrains for all kinds of snow sporting experiences, from snow boarding to skiing. Apart from that, New Zealand offers extensive training in

Understanding the Punk Rock Culture Essay Example for Free

Understanding the Punk Rock Culture Essay Music has become one of the most effective and influential tools in various cultures all over the world. For several years, it has evolved into different kinds of genre such as opera music, hip hop, rap, RB, grunge rock, metal rock, death rock, emo rock, alternative music and techno music. Aside from these types of music, there is this style that is quite enthralling compared to those of its varieties. Some thinks that it is a movement for rebellion; others perceive it as a form of free thinking. Anyhow, it just seem to be misunderstood. These opinions refer to Punk Rock and its culture. In order to further discuss the fascinating facts about it, the history of Punk Music should be known first. The initial form of punk rock, named protopunk in retrospect, began as a garage rock revival in the northeastern United States of America in the late 1960s. In this year, Punk Rock is said to be seen as the primitive guitar-based rock and roll of bands in the United States. During the years of 1970’s the evolution of Punk Rock started occurring in the said state. This music referred to the anti-establishment movement between the years of 1970-1980. Punk rock, by contrast, accentuated simplicity of musical organization, moving with a principle called â€Å"Do it yourself† (DIY). This stated that any person could establish a punk rock band. With its distinguishing fast beats and hard-edged music, Punk Rock has proliferated into other cities and countries such as the United Kingdom and London. It has also evolved into different types such as hardcore punk, street punk, skate punk and the likes. From the time of the beginning of Punk Rock, several major label record companies have thought of trying profit from underground punk culture. The only hindrance was that these companies felt that promoting such underground music would not sell and would only give negative reputation to them. Most of the songs of Punk Rock are written to influence the public with political views, social awareness, reform, or just about the band’s own experiences. Their ideologies as Punk musicians are also used as themes of their compositions. It was a dystopian style of music which was originally similar to underground, minimalist rock and roll and later evolved into more diverse form of music. Most punk rock songs are made short, uncomplicated and is arranged using moderately few chords compared to other varieties of music. It is usually performed in small bands rather by solo musicians. Punk bands, in most of the time, consist of a singer who could also be one of the instrumentalists, one or two overdriven electric guitarists, an electric bass player and a drummer. The vocals typically includes shouted slogans, chants and choruses rather than charming, harmonic ones that most pop bands usually use to catch the audience’s attention. Punk also had ways to get the attention of the public. Seeing through their method of using outrageous clothing, hairstyles, tattoos, jewelries and other body modification would tend to create misunderstandings or misjudgments about them. The early punk fashion included ripped clothes, razor blades, safety pins, tape, marker or paint. Some wore leather, vinyl and rubber clothing, tight jeans, plaid trousers, skirts, t-shirts and leather jacket. Their hairstyle could rather be a Mohawk-styled, spiked, skin-headed, or dyed. Other hardcore punks in the post-1980’s who were against this kind of fashion preferred wearing only plain white t-shirts and jeans. These punks made an argument that punk should just be a classified in terms of music or ideology. Their fashion sense also depended on their way of thinking or perceiving matters. In a community of Punks, the number of male followers was said to be larger than the female followers. Compared to some alternative cultures, punk was closer to being gender equalist in terms of its philosophy. Ironically, almost all were white during those moments, even though they live by an anti-racism ideology. They were fond of organizing local music scenes to gather all punks coming from the different sides of earth. Punks had their way of showing their aesthetical views. Punk art was usually minimalistic, iconoclastic, satirical and very underground. Themes varied from different political issues such as social injustice, economic inequality, etc. Their artworks were showcased in album covers, flyers and punk zines which were made in an underground press. Black and white artworks were the early types of produced punk art. Punks had their own way of dancing too. Pogo dancing and moshing were dance styles associated with punk subculture. There were also punk-themed films produced. Music videos and skate videos were some of the common skate-themed films created. Some of the original footage of punk bands was used in documentaries. Punks also had their own viewpoints to consider. Punk-related ideologies were mostly about individualism, freedom and anti-establishment. Other common ideologies were concerned with anti-authoritarianism, DIY ethic, direct action, non-conformity, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, anti-sexism, anti-homophobia, environmentalism, animal rights, veganism, nihilism which was based on their unconcern for the present and their disaffection from both middle and working class principles and the likes. Punk nihilism was expressed in the use of more self-destructive substances like heroin or methamphetamine and by the principle regarding mutilation of the body that made use of razor blades. Punk had a lasting influence on all popular music, and a flourishing subculture can still be found almost anywhere in the United States. Different kinds of music were influenced by Punk Rock; Punk Rock was also influenced by other forms of music. Glam Rock had a huge influence in protopunk, early punk and glam punk. Punk and heavy metal subcultures shared similarities. Metal scenes hand an influence on protopunk. Punk and Hip hop emerged at the same time in New York and shared similarities in their subcultures. In the punk and hardcore subcultures, members or the scene are often evaluated in terms of the genuineness of their dedication to the standards or philosophies of the scene, which may range from political beliefs, social issues, etc. There truly were things that are very unlikely in a Punk’s lifestyle. This was the reason why they are misunderstood. In an instance, in a photography gallery opening during a fieldwork, there was a jazz guitarist who created a positive atmosphere for the listeners. The music was appropriate for the setting; it was used to enhance the art being shown. As people would stare into the photography, the reception of the pieces they were looking at would change with the songs. You could feel moods shift and receptions of pieces move with the change of a song. The music unintentionally helped guide people for how to feel. In the same way punk rock music fuels the fire of its subculture. The speed of the music energized the young followers, and its lyrics preached a philosophy to deviate. The music sounded different and the people acted different, the bawdy lyrics were transferred into real life. Any music could have an effect to the listeners. Music is the only thing that is constant in life. Music sets the mood of the audiences and influences their different points of view. Those who share the same preferences are likely to have the same types of music or clothing. Compared to other types of genre, Punk Rock music is one of the most enthralling and extreme kind. With Punk Culture’s out of this world principles, lifestyle and preferences, other people would find it unfavorable and bizarre. People who do not appreciate punk music seem to have an impression that punks are very pessimistic about reality. They seem to oppose almost all social issues and exaggerate all matters in life. From the population of individuals all over the world, the followers of Punk Culture and Punk Rock Music only hold few of it. That is why they seem quite extraordinary compared to other individuals. Punks would always be misunderstood and misinterpreted by people especially those who are not aware of the history of Punk Culture. They are more inclined to have the same opinion with the thoughts of individualism and an anti-establishment mindset. Punks are seemed to be the non-conformists of the world. They are the ones who are not frightened of striking out in audacious new directions. They show how brave they are to people by fighting for their own ideologies and by not worrying what others would think of regarding their physical appearance, social status, inclinations and extreme principles. They may appear as though they are overstating things and that they are quite close-minded, but that is how they wanted to be perceived. Even though Punks contain bizarre practices, they still are people who could change depending on the circumstances and environment. Music is just one of the many things that could change the perceptions of individuals. It just so happened that Punks could relate to the principles of Punk Rock Music and Culture.

Causes And Effects Of Strokes Biology Essay

Causes And Effects Of Strokes Biology Essay Stroke is defined as A neurological deficit of cerebrovascular cause that persists beyond 24 hours or is interrupted by death within 24 hours. WHO (1970) A stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain functions due to a disturbance in the blood vessels supplying blood to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage. As a result, the affected area of the brain is unable to function, leading to inability to move one or more limbs on one side of the body, inability to understand or formulate speech or inability to see one side of the visual field (Donnan GA, Fisher M. May 2008). PREVALANCE AND INCIDENCE: Stroke could soon be the most common cause of death worldwide (Murray CJ, Lopez AD 1997). Stroke is currently the second leading cause of death in the Western world, ranking after heart disease and before cancer (Donnan GA, Fisher M, May 2008)and it causes 10% of deaths worldwide (World Health Organization. 2004) . It has been noted that stroke incidence may vary considerably from country to country. The prevalence of stroke in India was estimated as 203 per 100,000 populations above 20 years, amounting to a total of about 1 million cases. Stroke represented 1.2% of total deaths in India (PK Sethi Neurosciences Today 2002). SEX DIFFERENCES: Men are 1.25 times more likely to suffer strokes than women(PK Sethi Neurosciences Today 2002), yet 60% of deaths from stroke occur in women (Villarosa, Linda, Ed.1993). CLASSIFICATION: Strokes can be classified into two major categories: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemia is due to interruption of the blood supply, while hemorrhage is due to rupture of a blood vessel or an abnormal vascular structure. 80% of strokes are due to ischemia; the remainders are due to hemorrhage (Donnan GA, Fisher M. May 2008). ISCHEMIC STROKE: In an ischemic stroke, blood supply to a part of the brain is decreased, leading to dysfunction of the brain tissue in that area. The four reasons responsible for ischemic stroke are thrombosis, embolism (Donnan GA, Fisher M. May 2008), systemic hypoperfusion (Shuaib A, Hachinski VC .September 1991) and venous thrombosis (Stam J. 2005). HAEMORRAGIC STROKE: Intracranial hemorrhage is the accumulation of blood anywhere within the skull vault. Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is bleeding directly into the brain tissue, forming a gradually enlarging haematoma. RISK FACTORS: High blood pressure, High blood cholesterol levels, Diabetes, Cigarette smoking (Hankey GJ. August 1999), Heavy alcohol consumption (Reynolds K, Lewis B, Nolen JD, et al .2003) , drug use, (Sloan MA, 1991), lack of physical activity, obesity, unhealthy diet (American Heart Association.2007) and Atrial fibrillation. CAUSES: When the flow of blood in an artery supplying the brain is interrupted for more than a few seconds, brain cells can die, causing permanent damage. An interruption can be caused by either blood clots or bleeding in the brain. Most strokes are due to blood clots that blocks the blood flow to brain. Bleeding into the brain occurs if a blood vessel ruptures or if there is a significant injury (Ay H; Furie KL. 2005). BLOOD CLOTS: A common cause of stroke is atherosclerosis. Fatty deposits and blood platelets collect on the walls of the arteries, forming plaques. Over time, the plaques slowly begin to block the flow of blood. The plaque itself may block the artery enough to cause a stroke (Ay H; Furie KL. 2005). The plaque causes the blood to flow abnormally, which leads to a blood clot. A clot can stay at the site of narrowing and prevent blood flow to all of the smaller arteries it supplies. In other cases, the clot can travel and wedge into a smaller vessel (Ay H; Furie KL. 2005). Strokes caused by embolism are most commonly caused by heart disorders. An embolism may originate in a major blood vessel as it branches off the heart. A clot can also form elsewhere in the body for any number of reasons, and then travel to the brain, causing a stroke (Ay H; Furie KL. 2005). Arrhythmias of the heart, such as atrial fibrillation, can be associated with this type of stroke and may contribute to clot formation. Other causes of embolic stroke include endocarditis, or use of a mechanical heart valve. A clot can form on the artificial valve, break off, and travel to the brain (Ay H; Furie KL. 2005). BLEEDING IN THE BRAIN: A second major cause of stroke is bleeding in the brain. This can occur when small blood vessels in the brain become weak and burst. Some people have defects in the blood vessels of the brain that make this more likely. The flow of blood after the blood vessel ruptures damages brain cells (Ay H; Furie KL. 2005). PATHOPHYSIOLOGY: ISCHAEMIC: Ischemic stroke occurs due to a loss of blood supply to part of the brain, initiating the ischemic cascade. Brain tissue ceases to function if deprived of oxygen for more than 60 to 90 seconds and after a few hours will suffer irreversible injury possibly leading to death of the tissue. Atherosclerosis may disrupt the blood supply by narrowing the lumen of blood vessels leading to a reduction of blood flow, by causing the formation of blood clots within the vessel (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.1999). Embolic infarction occurs when emboli formed elsewhere in the circulatory system, typically in the heart as a consequence of atrial fibrillation, or in the carotid arteries. These break off, enter the cerebral circulation, then lodge in and occlude brain blood vessels (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.1999). HAEMORRAGIC: Hemorrhagic strokes results in tissue injurys by causing compression of tissues from an expanding hematomas. This can distort and injure the tissues. In addition, the pressure may lead to a loss of blood supply to affected tissue with resulting infarction, and the blood released by brain hemorrhage appears to have direct toxic effects on brain tissue and vasculature (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.1999). SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS: A stroke symptom typically starts suddenly, over seconds to minutes, and in most cases dont progress further. The symptoms depend on the area of the brain affected. The more extensive the area of brain affected, more the functions that are likely to be lost (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.1999). A sudden development of one or more of the following indicates a stroke: Paresis or paralysis of any part of the body, Numbness, tingling, or decreased sensation, Changed or diminished vision, Language difficulties, including slurred speech, inability to speak, inability to understand speech, difficulty in reading or writing, Swallowing difficulties or drooling, Loss of memory, Vertigo, Loss of balance or coordination, Personality changes, Mood/emotion changes, Drowsiness, lethargy, or loss of consciousness, Uncontrollable eye movements or eyelid drooping. SUB TYPES: If the area of the brain affected contains one of the three prominent Central nervous system pathways-the spinothalamic tract, corticospinal tract, and dorsal column, symptoms may include hemiplegia and muscle weakness of the face, numbness, reduction in sensory or vibratory sensation. In most cases, the symptoms affect only one side of the body. The defect in the brain is usually on the opposite side of the body depending on which part of the brain is affected. In addition to the above CNS pathways, the brainstem also consists of the 12 cranial nerves. Hence a stroke affecting the brain stem can produce symptoms relating to deficits in the cranial nerves. The symptoms are altered smell, taste, hearing, or vision, drooping of eyelid and weakness of ocular muscles, decreased reflexes like gag, swallow and pupil reactivity to light, decreased sensation and muscle weakness of the face, balance problems and nystagmus,altered breathing and heart rate,weakness in sternocleidomastoid muscle with inability to turn head to one side,weakness in tongue. If the cerebral cortex is involved, the CNS pathways can again be affected, but also can produce the symptoms like aphasia, apraxia, visual field defect, memory deficits, hemineglect, disorganized thinking, confusion, hypersexual gestures ,anosognosia (Bamford JM 2000). When the cerebellum is involved, the patient may have the symptoms like Trouble walking, altered movement, coordination, Vertigo and disequilibrium (Bamford JM 2000). ASSOCIATED SYMPTOMS: Loss of consciousness, headache, and vomiting usually occurs more often in hemorrhagic stroke than in thrombosis because of the increased intracranial pressure from the leaking blood compressing on the brain. DIAGNOSIS: The techniques which were used to diagnose the stroke are neurological examination, CT scans or MRI scans, Doppler ultrasound, and arteriography. The diagnosis of stroke itself is clinical, with assistance from the imaging techniques. Imaging techniques also assist in determining the subtypes and cause of stroke. There is yet no commonly used blood test for the stroke diagnosis itself, though blood tests may be of help in finding out the likely cause of stroke (Hill M 2005). PREVENTION: Screening for high blood pressure at least every two years, regular cholesterol check up, treat high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease, follow a low-fat diet, quit smoking, exercise regularly, lose weight if you are over weight, avoid excessive alcohol use (Goldstein LB, Adams R, Alberts MJ et al. 2006). TREATMENT: Treatment of ischemic stroke: Pharmacologic thrombolysis with the drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), Mechanical thrombectomy and anticoagulants. Treatment of hemorrhagic stroke: Patients with intracerebral hemorrhage require neurosurgical evaluation to detect and treat the cause of the bleeding, although many may not need surgery. Patients are monitored and their blood pressure, blood sugar, and oxygenation are kept at optimum levels. PHYSIOTHERAPY TREATMENT: The rehabilitation techniques commonly used were Roods Sensorimotor Approach, Knotts and Voss Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation, Brunnstroms Movement Therapy, Bobaths Neuro Developmental Therapy, Motor Relearning Programme, Bimanual Rapid Alternating Movement, Motor Imagery Therapy, Robot Assisted Movement Therapy, Functional Electrical Stimulation, Bilateral Isokinetic Training, Cyclic Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation, Biofeedback etc. PROGNOSIS: The results of stroke vary widely depending on size and location of the lesion (Stanford Hospital Clinics.2005). Dysfunctions correspond to areas in the brain that have been damaged. Disability affects 75% of stroke survivors enough to decrease their employability (Coffey C. Edward.2000). Stroke can affect patients physically, mentally, emotionally, or a combination of the three. 30 to 50% of stroke survivors suffer post stroke depression, which is characterized by lethargy, irritability, sleep disturbances, lowered self esteem, and withdrawal. Depression can reduce motivation and worsen outcome (Senelick Richard C.1994).

Broadband In New Zealand :: essays research papers

"Research shows that we have high internet fees for the developed world." - Mr. Harbies (research scientist) The broadband growth index ranks 35 countries from around the world and puts New Zealand's broadband growth rate at 40%. New Zealand is ranked third lowest just ahead of the Czech Republic and Latvia. At the end of 2002, only 1.74 New Zealanders per 100 are users of broadband services. New Zealand has one of the lowest growth rates and one of the lowest levels of broadband penetration in the world. I had put up a poll on forums.pcworld.co.nz and the results were: 4.88% people said that broadband in New Zealand is cheap and 95.12% said it was expensive. Obviously, the majority of people who did the poll said that broadband in New Zealand is expensive. Personally, I think the prices for the speed are ok but the data caps are pathetic - IT IS RUINING THE MARKET. For people who do not know what a data cap is, it is the limit of how much data you are allowed to use each month. The reasons why people use broadband is because it is faster than dial-up and is cheaper than getting two phone lines. Heavy broadband users are usually gamers or heavy downloader's. Almost all heavy broadband users download games, music and/or videos. I'm not a heavy downloader or serious gamer therefore I am not in desperate need of broadband. I will still prefer broadband because some overseas pages take s o l o n g t o l o a d. I found out the reason why most people are still on dial-up internet are because most people think broadband is too expensive or they do not require broadband. Some people say they do not have broadband because Telecom will not upgrade their phone lines. I am still using dial-up internet because I thing the broadband rates are too high. Most users say that broadband in other countries are better than New Zealand's. Someone posted a message on the forums that 'ADSL (broadband) in New Zealand is very expensive†¦ The speed of the 3GB plan is just not right. I could have it as 6mp/s and maybe get a PS2 as well too with that package in Hong Kong.' A research scientist also said 'Jetstream is expensive and this is not an opinion, it is a fact. Research shows that we have high internet fees for the

Rudyard Kiplings Captains Courageous Essay -- Rudyard Kipling Captain

Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous Captains Courageous, by Rudyard Kipling, was referred to as a children’s nautical adventure story, but it has entertained audiences for generations. The main character in the story was Harvey Cheyne. Harvey is the son of a millionaire and a snobbish little brat. He acts pretty big around the crew of the ship he was aboard. The next important character is Manuel. Manuel is a Portuguese boy about Harvey’s age, which by the way is in his pre to mid teens. Manuel’s dialogue helps add to a bit of comic relief. The next character is Dan. Dan is around Harvey’s age as well. Dan is the son of Disko Troop, the Captain of the We’re Here. Speaking of Disko Troop, he is an honorable man who runs his ship well. He is very set in his ways. Throughout the story there were other characters that are referred to such as the cook, and some others. At one time, I felt that Harvey would try to abandon ship, but instead he did not, and did something almost completely opposite. Throughout the story, the major action and story takes place aboard the We’re Here. The setting sets the tone for a true nautical story. The relationship between Dan and his father is textbook. Disko Troop is pretty set in his ways and all that, while Dan follows instructions, but still leaves room to think and dream. The theme seems to relate to our class, in that I feel that the overall theme was change and maturing. It seems that if there were a...

Macbeths Downfall Essay -- essays research papers

In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, is a brave and loyal subject to the King of Scotland, but as the play progresses, his character begins to change drastically. Evil and unnatural powers, as well as his own passion to become king, take over his better half and eventually lead to his downfall. The three main factors that intertwine with one another that contribute to Macbeth’s tragic end are the prophecies told by the three witches, Lady Macbeth’s influence, and finally, Macbeth’s excessive passion and ambition which drove his desire to become king to the utmost extreme. The prophecy told by the three witches was what triggers the other factors that contribute to Macbeth s downfall. In the first act, the witches tell Macbeth that he is to become the Thane of Cawdor and soon after, king. This prophecy arouses Macbeth’s curiosity of how he can become the King of Scotland. â€Å"Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more: By Sinel’s death I know I am Thane of Glamis; But how of Cawdor? The Thane of Cawdor lives, a prosperous gentleman; and to be king stands not within the prospect of belief.† (Act I. sc.III) This quote shows how the witches prophecy attracts Macbeth. It demonstrated how Macbeth thirsts for an answer from the witches of how is he to become the Thane of Cawdor and even king. As the play continues, Macbeth slowly relies on the witches’ prophecies. It becomes a remedy for Macbeth’s curiosity, which corrupts his character. One of the witche...

Cross Cultural Communication Essay

Contents 1. Executive Summary This report will consist of the parts which are: Critically analyse and evaluate the model of Hall’s High context culture and Low context culture and introduce the main features of them. Explain two countries falling into High context culture and Low context culture. Analyse the AUDI’s official website of business communication respectively in South Korea and China which belongs to High context culture, in Sweden and Canada which is part of Low context culture and demonstrates the performance of company. The information is provided in this report which came from academic journals, newspapers, textbooks and reliable websites. According to the analysis of Hall’s model, this report considers that this model is helpful for the cross-cultural communication of different countries. And based on the model, it provides some examples such as South Korea and China (high context culture) and Sweden and Canada (low context culture) to demonstrate the different expression way in different countries which can contribute to th e cultural communication of each country and make the features of model more clearly. Then, this report proposes the AUDI as the case to introduce the communication styles of company in high and low context culture and analyse detailedly the performances of its official website in four countries which are South Korea, China, Sweden and Canada.  The successful development of AUDI in these four countries also certifies the effectiveness and contribution of Hall’s model. 2. Introduction 2.1 Objectives Critically evaluate and analyse the main characteristics of high context and low context culture model of Hall (1990). Propose four countries that two high-context culture countries (China and South Korea) and two low-context culture countries (Sweden and Canada) to analyse Hall’s high and low context culture model (1990). Present the example of business communication about Hall’s (1990) high context and low context culture model. And illustrate the different communication styles of AUDI’s official websites respectively in high context culture country of South Korea and China and in low context culture country of Sweden and Canada. Make the conclusion according to the above contents. 2.2 High and low context model of culture of Hall (1990) The famous American anthropologist Hall, according to accuracy and clarity of people’s information transmission and receiving in the process of communication, puts forward the analysis framework of high and low context culture. Hall (1976) thinks that â€Å"Context† is surrounded by the information of an event, and the â€Å"events† is to express the contents of communication, the combination between them reflects the characteristics of a culture. According to the different combination of â€Å"Context† and â€Å"Content†, the culture can be divided into high context culture and low context culture. 3. Main Findings With the rapid development of economic globalization, the link between countries become more and more closely. Because different countries have different cultural context, the cross-cultural communication are emerging, which also have some issues in the communication (Koeszegi, 2004). Many scholars have do some research and analysis on the different culture in the world, this part will introduce the Hall’s model of high and low cultural context detailedly and give some cases of different context culture as below. 3.1 Analyse the model of high and low cultural context of Hall 3.1.1 The Definition and Features of the High and Low cultural context model (Hall, 1990) Hall (1976) thinks that the human communication, including language communication will be affected by the context. Hall (1976, pp.81-83) emphatically pointed out without context, symbols are incomplete, because it only contains a part of the information, context does not have the specific meaning, but the meaning of communication often depends on the context, and meaning is inextricably linked to context. Hall (1976) divided the context into high context and low context. The type of context determines all aspects of the communicative activities, the use of language is no exception. It means that, in low context communication, people more and more depend on use language to achieve communicative purposes. While in high context communication, the role of language use may be much smaller, people are relatively sensitive to the hints of subtle environment. Most Asian cultures such as: Chinese culture, and culture of South Korea and Africa culture can be regarded as high context culture. And the United States, Canada, Sweden and most Nordic culture belongs to low context culture (Hall and Hall, 1990). In these two kinds of different cultures, the role of the transfer meaning on context and language which is not the same, therefore the position and status of communication is different. The features of high context culture are that in the process of communication, after only a few information is encoded by clearly transmitting, people attaches great importance to the â€Å"context† rather than the â€Å"content†, and pay more attention to the establishment of the social trust and highly evaluate the relationship and friendship, which can sustain a long relationship (Moran, et al, 2007). Besides, communication is implicit, people is very sensitive to these implicit information and early learns to accurately explain the implicit information. The two kinds of communication and information have certain advantages: high context culture can better inherit the oriental righteousness and the humanistic spirit of the love with China as a representative. It is favorable to the h armony of society and the stability of management (Dozier, et al, 1998). Whilst low context culture through the system the rigidity expression achieve the standardization of the order and management better. The comparison of this two context culture’s features is as follows in Table 1. Table 1: The comparison of the HC and LC Culture’s features (Lustig and Koester, 1999) High Context Culture Low Context Culture Implicit and Veiled Communication Way Explicit and Direct Communication Way Code Information Clear Information Some Differences between Internal and External The Flexible Relationship between Internal and External More Nonverbal Code Detailed Verbal Code High Commitment Low Commitment Strong Interpersonal Relationships Estranged Interpersonal Relationships Less Demonstrative Response Demonstrative Response Highly Flexible of Time Highly Structured of Time The above analysis shows that the characteristic of HC and LC have large differences on culture and communication, Lustig and Koester (2001) points out HC culture mainly depends on the preset program of people’s thought to convey information, such as many unwritten traditions, unspoken values and society generally accepted patterns of behavior. And yet LC culture, it emphasizes the reason and logic, which is on the basis of rationality to deduce with the conclusion to use the logical method, transfer information clearly through language, and regard the implicit expression way as unclear thinking or lack of politeness. In the actual enterprise and social management, the two cultures should be mutual penetration and fusion, and complement each other, which help the enterprise to create the harmonious and efficient management mechanism, and promote the harmonious development of society (Ahmed, et al., 2009). 3. 2 The compared analysis between South Korea, China and Sweden, Canada falling into each category Each culture is forming in the long-term historical development process of accumulation. And every culture has its own potential and unique, namely the recessive  culture, the recessive culture has the intangible influence to people, so to the success of cross-cultural communication has more threatening (Chua and Gudykunst, 1987). The distinction between high and low context culture of Hall that is the overall summary to the characteristics of different cultures, especially the features of recessive culture, and to explore their historical origin and understand their characteristics which is the necessary subject of cross-cultural communication. According to the research of Hall, South Korea and China belong to the high context culture, while Sweden and Canada are biased towards the low context culture. 3.2.1 The High Context Culture of South Korea South Korea belongs to high context culture country, because Kim, et al. (1998)suggest that South Korea is influenced by traditional Chinese Confucianism, after many years of accumulation of culture, it has a similar background of China, and has formed a certain values, beliefs and code of conduct, etc., this is a long-term accumulation of life, which has relative stability. Therefore, in the process of communication of people in South Korea, a lot of information already contains the background information, and do not need to explicitly expressed, they can fully understand, this creates the more hidden interpersonal communication in South Korea. In South Korea, people especially pay attention to courtesy, and avoid calling name of each other directly in the communication. In business communication, Avruch (2004) suggests that South Koreans prefer to use the un-opposite and indirect attitude, and language strategy, the true meaning of expression often need to through reasoning to unde rstand, even if they do not agree with each other’s opinions, they will not say â€Å"no† and rarely directly refuse or refute, sometimes they will also use silence instead of rejection. Language is polite and veiled, which avoid friction directly. Due to the high context culture, the oral expression of the wooden people will get more trust in South Korea. 3.2.2 The High Context Culture of China Because of tradition and history, China has become a typical high context culture. People live in a fixed place for a long time, the pace of life is orderly. In the long term, social change is slow and amplitude is small, people’s life experience and network are very simple (Kim, et al., 1998). The Chinese language expression is fuzzy and implicative, much information is in the cultural connotation, most of the information is not clearly expressed, which always use the indirect and roundabout expression, the meaning of the words usually exist in language, this communication way both leave wiggle room for each other, and also avoid loss of face. In addition, the language need not be the main channels of information in the China, the gestures, space distance and even silence can also convey ideas and communicate the feelings. Therefore, Chinese people are more sensitive to the things around and environment, do not through language can also express their feelings. As Hall (1976) pointed out: â€Å"high context culture is more dependent on and familiar with nonverbal communication.† In high context culture, through the surrounding environment, people can gain a lot of information, there is no need to reveal everything. In China, for example, such as the sentence of †Å"I love you† which show the word of like, they seldom speak out directly, because this information has transmitted from the context. 3.2.3 The Low Context Culture of Sweden While the culture of Sweden is the opposite, which is a part of low context culture. They do not like Chinese and Koreans in order to take into consideration the feelings of others, to express their ideas euphemistically. They will directly show their attitude (Niemeier et al, 1998). In Sweden, people are articulate and usually good at verbal expression that will more popular. In the process of business communication, the conflict does not mean that their dissatisfaction, which will reflects their own thoughts, they think when face the disagreement, clearly tell their ideas can be better for solving the problem. In addition, negotiations between companies in Sweden, they will straight into the theme, and complete the scheduled agenda quickly, which hope to separate work and play fully, achieve the deal as soon as possible (Jarvenpaa, et al., 1999). And the Swede is a representative of the linear concept of time, who pursue the speed and efficiency, they asked to do anything in accord ance with the schedule strictly, their work habits are that to carry out the negotiations in order, and after make sure the involved issues clearly, then step by step to solve, the first terms does not completely solve they will not negotiate the second. While in same meeting negotiates a few issues in China which is  very normal, which reflect the differences between high context and low context culture. 3.2.4 The Low Context Culture of Canada Canada also belongs to low context culture, which emphasize straightforward, and come straight to the question when they are in process of communication, all the information need to be conveyed with the clear and easy words by language, and often have no hidden meaning between the lines of words, the Canadians willing to bluntly express their views (Hall and Hall, 1990). In the process of business communication, Canadians usually energetic and outgoing, who like the direct honest way of negotiations, the expression has obviously transactional and economic. In the process of negotiation, they sought to clarify their own point of view, who utilize the simple and clear language to express the idea, they think that argument is not only the rights of presenting the individual opinion, but also can solve the problem, but this kind of practice for countries that have high context culture is hard to accept, which think Canadians are very aggressive. In the eyes of Canadians, they believe tha t silence is impolite behavior (Salleh, 2005). 3.3 The weaknesses of Hall’s high and low context model of culture (1990) However, though the model of Hall’s high context and low context culture has made great achievement on the analysis of national culture, and also provides reference for many scholars to help them to research the world culture. It still has some weaknesses in this model. Hall only proposes that the concept and features of high and low context culture, which does not provide the integrated system and detailed data to demonstrate his argument, and he does not classify all the countries, thus causing the fuzzy classification of some countries. Some scholars such as Hofstede’s (2008) Individualism vs. Collectivism Dimension, Trompenaars’s (1998) Seven Dimensions of Culture, GLOBE authors (House et al., 2004), etc. which will have more evidences to argue the high and low context culture, which prove the disadvantages of Hall’s model. K ramsch (1993) proposes that high context culture often has too much emphasis on the human feelings, by rule of people instead of the legal system, which often lack of efficiency on operation. While low context culture emphasize on the rationality, and fall into the mechanical and rigid in the process of execution. 3.4 The Cases of Business Communication on High Context Culture and Low Context Culture of Hall According to the above analysis and critically evaluate of Hall’s high and low context model, this report will provide the example of business communication such as AUDI’s official website in different countries which are South Korea and China (high context culture) and Sweden and Canada (low context culture) as below. AUDI is the world famous luxury car brand, and is also one of the world’s most successful brands in Germany which sells all over the world. As following, this report will illustrate the different performance of AUDI’s official website in different countries of high and low context culture. 3.4.1 AUDI in China When opening the official website of AUDI in China as show in Appendix of Figure 1, on the background of red jump into the view of consumers, because this is the Chinese Spring Festival recently, the red represents the good fortune and the best wishes, which brings the Chinese customers to the impact on the vision. The forms of picture is rendered on dynamic and the second picture (see Appendix of Figure 2) reflects the activity of valentine’s day which is to buy a car to present the luxurious gift, the text on the image is that ‘ their holiday is a day, every day of your holiday is youth ‘, the company uses the reserved words to express that AUDI’s provide the activity of presenting the gifts when the customers purchase the car, rather than directly express the activity content (AUDI, n.d.). Because Chinese people can find deeper meaning in the process of watching pictures, and it also embodies that the communication type of AUDI in high context culture of China. In addition, the AUDI in China’s official website use more gorgeous and colorful images, which also reflects the Chinese pay attention to the visual enjoyment and feeling in the process of cultural communication. 3.4.2 AUDI in Sweden Compared with the business communication of AUDI in China, Sweden as the low context culture country, the official website of AUDI provides more compact words and single color of picture (AUDI, n.d.), which do not like the picture in China website which has the red background, it mainly has the color of black and white(see the Figure 3 in Appendix). Each picture has the link to transfer another page which has long paragraph to introduce the car in detail (see the Figure 4 in Appendix). This also reflects that the AUDI  according to the low context culture of Sweden to implement the special business communication. It is different from South Korea and China, the home page of AUDI in Sweden utilize the simple words and single color pictures to present the clear information about the performance and type of car, which satisfy the requirement of low context culture in Sweden because in the business communication, Swedish prefers to choose the direct information of car to help them to fi nd the new product. 3.4.3 AUDI in South Korea The official website of AUDI in South Korea is similar with the design style of AUDI in China. Because South Korea also belongs to the high context culture, the style of website is simple and laconic, there are little words to decorate the pictures. When open the AUDI’s official website in South Korea, it is the advertising video about â€Å"The New Audi A3 Sedan†, advertising is not directly express the car’s performance and technology, just using the vivid images and implicit text which is â€Å"it changes everything† to make the metaphor of the perfect performance of the car, and will let the customer to love it (AUDI, n.d.). Because South Koreans are also high context culture, Korean customers can easily understand the meaning of advertisement. Besides, while browsing the web, the customer will find that every picture below has the button which can be directly connected to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (see Figure 5 in Appendix). It is convenient for c ustomers to search and share the interesting video content, it also can help company for indirect propaganda and increase the pleasure of Korean consumers (Wà ¼rtz, 2005). All design of website presents a wonderful and luxuriant content, this is because the Korean tends to present their own information to the others in the process of communication, and they also hope that to grasp more information slowly through their own understanding, which reflects the features of high context culture. 3.4.4 AUDI in Canada When browsing the home page of AUDI in Canada, the design of web page is simple and clear. (see the Figure 6 in Appendix). Although there are four rolling images in automatic replacement, but the contents on the picture are also very compact (AUDI, n.d.). As well as to introduce the AUDI’s new car which is â€Å"The New AUDI A3 Sedan†, on the South Korea website is an  advertising film and implicative words to express, while in Canada website which is the publicity pictures of the car and write the sentence directly on the picture which is â€Å"The all – New 2015 A3 Sedan is coming â€Å". (see the Figure 7 in Appendix). This is associated with the culture of Canada, because Canada is part of low context culture country, when they make business communication, Canadians prefer straightforward way to express their opinions, that is the reason why the website information of AUDI in Canada is only about the direct introduction. The color of the website design is very single (AUDI, n.d.), but each propaganda of picture has a link to analyse the detail about the information of product, which to help customers to understand the performance of the car better. It conforms the simple and direct cultural factors of Canada. 4. Conclusions This report is as the aim of cross-cultural communication to discuss the high context culture and low context culture model of Hall. Firstly, this report defines and explains the Hall’s high and low context culture and its features. Then, based on the traits of model, it gives some cases of countries such as South Korea and China which belongs to high context culture and Sweden and Canada which are the representative of low context culture and also introduce their communication way that prove the practicability of Hall’s model. Furthermore, although the model has more contribution to the research of cross-cultural communication, on the basis of the research of some scholars, some weaknesses of this model will be reported. In order to realize different business communication in different countries, this report provides the performances of AUDI’s official website in South Korea, China, Sweden and Canada, which respectively belongs to high context culture and low co ntext culture. In AUDI’s official website, it clearly shows that in South Korea and China, the website reflects the high context culture which utilizes more the rolling pictures and the simple words to show the significant activities of company which can reflect the AUDI’s excellent services. While in Sweden and Canada, the communication style of AUDI’s official website is simple and brief, and directly put the performance of cars on the pictures, which embody the business communication of AUDI in low context culture country. The success  of AUDI incarnates the availability of Hall’s model. 5. References Ahmed, T., et al. (2009) Website design guidelines: High power distance and high-context culture. International Journal of Cyber Society and Education, 2(1), 47-60. AUDI. (n.d) AUDI in China. [WWW] Available from: http://www.audi.cn/cn/brand/zh.html . [Accessed 15/02/2014]. AUDI. (n.d) AUDI in Canada. [WWW] Available from: http://www.audi.ca/ca/brand/en.html . [Accessed 15/02/2014]. AUDI. (n.d) AUDI in South Korea. [WWW] Available from: http://www.audi.co.kr/kr/brand/kn.html . [Accessed 15/02/2014]. AUDI. (n.d) AUDI in Sweden [WWW] Available from: http://www.audi.se/se/brand/sv.html . [Accessed 15/02/2014]. Avruch, K. (2004). Culture as context, culture as communication: Considerations for humanitarian negotiators. Harv. Negot. L. Rev., 9, 391. Chua, E. G. and Gudykunst, W. B. (1987) Conflict resolution styles in low-and high-context cultures. Communication Research Reports, 4(1). Dozier, J. B., et al. (1998) Need for approval in low-context and high-context cultures: A communication s approach to cross-cultural ethics. Teaching Business Ethics, 2(2), 111-125. Hall, E. (1976) Beyond culture. New York: Doubleday. 1976. p.101. Hall, E., & Hall, M. (1990) Understanding cultural differences: Germans, French and Americans. Yarmouth: Intercultural Press. Hofstede, G. (2008) Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. House, R., et al. (2004) Culture, Leadership, and Organizations. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Jarvenpaa, S. L., et al. (1999) Consumer trust in an Internet store: A cross†cultural validation. Journal of Computer†Mediated Communication, 5(2), 0-0. Kim, D., et al. (1998) High†versus low†Context culture: A comparison of Chinese, Korean, and American cultures. Psychology & Marketing, 15(6), 507-521. Kramsch, C. (1993) Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford University Press. Koeszegi, S., et al. (2004) National cultural differe nces in the use and perception of internet-based NSS: does high or low context matter?. International Negotiation, 9(1), 79-109. Lustig, M. W. and Koester, J. (1999) Interpersonal competence: Interpersonal communications across cultures. Moran, R. T., et al. (2007) Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Niemeier, S., etc. (1998) The cultural context in business communication. John Benjamins Publishing. Salleh, L. M. (2005). High/low context communication: the Malaysian Malay style. In Proceedings of the 2005 Association for Business Communication Annual Convention (pp. 1-11). Association for Business Communication. Trompenaars, F. (1998) Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. McGraw Hill, New York, 1998. Wà ¼rtz, E. (2005). A cross-cultural analysis of websites from high-context cultures and low-context cultures. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article-13. 6. Appendix Figure 1: AUDI China Figure 2: AUDI China Figure 3: AUDI Sweden Figure4: AUDI Sweden Figure 5: AUDI South Korea Figure 6: AUDI Canada Figure 7: AUDI Canada

The Role of Computer and Internet in Education

CHAPTER 5 THE INTEGRATION OF COMPUTER USE IN EDUCATION JAN Department VAN DEN AKKER, PAUL KEURSTEN and TJEERD PLOMP of Education, University of Twente, P. O. The Netherlands Abstract Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, There is an increasing awareness that disappointing experiences with the introduction of computers in education are a consequence of insufficiently taking into account factors that are crucial when introducing change in educational settings. Many of the problems in the literature show great similarity with the kind of problems often experienced in curriculum implementation.In this context the endeavors to make computer use an integrated part of classroom activities are analyzed. Emphasis will be laid on the interaction between teachers and courseware; elements for a more effective strategy for the integration of computer use in educational practice will be presented, with special attention to the design of support materials as an essential part of courseware. Introduction Despi te many national and local initiatives, examples of successful computer use in classroom practice are still relatively rare. In many countries the number of computers in schools has considerably increased in recent years.However, little progress has been made: still few teachers are actual users; software use is often restricted to drill and practice type; the alignment with the curriculum pattern is poor. Research results (of both surveys and case studies) from many countries point to the conclusion that there is still a long way ahead before computer use will be effectively integrated in most classrooms (see e. g. Becker, 1986; Office of Technology Assessment [OTA], 1988, for the USA;, Chomienne, 1988; Olson & Eaton, 1986, for Canada; Cox, 1987, for the U. K. ; Inspectorate, 1986; Plomp & Van den Akker, 1988, for the Netherlands).There is an increasing awareness that these disappointing experiences are a consequence of insufficiently taking into account factors that are crucial wh en introducing change in educational settings. Many of the reported problems that schools and teachers face when implementing computer use show great similarity with the kind of problems often experienced in curriculum implementation (cf. Fullan, Miles, & Anderson, 1987; Sheingold, Martin, & Endreweit, 1987; Walker, 1986). For that reason we would like to analyze the endeavor to make computer use an integrated part of classroom activities 65 6 .I. VAN DEN AKKER et al from a curriculum implementation perspective. We shall start with an overview of the variables that can influence the process and outcomes of curriculum implementation. For the different categories of those variables we shall then discuss the literature on computer use in education. Emphasis will be laid on the interaction between teachers and courseware. Based on this problem analysis we shall present elements for a more effective strategy for the integration of computer use in the educational practice.Special attentio n will be paid to the design of (written) support materials as an essential part of courseware. An Overview of Factors Affecting Implementation _ Drawing upon the work of Fullan (1982) and of Van Velzen, Miles, Ekholm, Hameyer, and Robin (1985), we propose a framework for discussing factors influencing the implementation of innovations in the educational practice by distinguishing four categories of variables: national (and/or state and/or district) context; characteristics of the school (organization); external support; characteristics of the innovation itself.Within each category several variables can be mentioned: – National context central legislation and regulations; system of policy formation and decision making in educational affairs; time, resources and facilities made available for an innovation; proclaimed values and aims about an innovation; attitude of politicians and (other) opinion leaders about an innovation. School organization experiences with earlier innovat ions; role of the school leader(s); methods of decision making; available facilities (time, money, materials); internal co-operation and mutual support; distribution and exchange of information.External support inservice training; assistance with internal coaching and guidance personal contacts with – – staff development; for individual teachers; experts and colleagues from other schools. – Innovation characteristics relevance of the innovation for needs and problems of users; clarity of the goals and practical meaning of a change proposal; Implementation of Computers in Education 67 – complexity of innovation requirements, especially in teaching quality and practicality of the innovation products. ehavior; In the next sections we shall first summarize literature on the integration of computer use, as far as it relates to the first three categories (national context, school organization, and external support). We refer to those categories of variables as the conditionalfactors, because they are conditional for the ultimate use of products by teachers in their daily work. Afterwards we shall focus our attention on the characteristics of the innovation product itself in relation to the teacher’s role.Conditional Which computer literature, emphasis Factors for the Integration of Computer Use research results about use in education? We but restrict ourselves on empirically based conditional factors can be found in the literature on do not intend to offer an exhaustive overview of this to a summary of some selected publications, with an sources. National Context Still little empirical research is done about the impact of variables in the national (state/district) context on the actual use of computers in the school practice.Descriptions of national policies on information technology in many countries are available (e. g. Beishuizen, Tobin & Weston, 1988), but focused research efforts in this area are hard to find. Broad attention for policy variables is given by Fullan et al. (1987) in their study on the implementation of the new information technology in Ontario schools. Apart from obvious tasks as investing in hardware, software development, research, teacher training and the like, policy makers should also play a stimulating role in the planning and co-ordination of implementation activities.Proclamation of new aims for the educational system and encouragement â€Å"from above† for initiatives and activities in the field can be helpful for the many participants in the innovation. School Organization The influence of the school organization on the implementation of computer use has been studied more frequently. The results usually confirm the findings from the more general innovation literature. Encouragement and support from school administrators and principals are of vital importance (Carmichael, Burnett, Higginson, Moore, & Pollard, 198. ; Cox, Rhodes, & Hall, 1988; Fullan et al. , 1987). Help fr om principals is especially necessary in providing for facilities for training, the purchase of hardware and software, the rearrangement of timetables and other organizational measures. Also conducive to the implementation process is a positive school climate where teachers give mutual support by exchanging ideas and experiences and by providing feedback (Carmichael et al. , 1985; Cox, 1987; Inspectorate, 1986). 68 J. VAN DEN AKKER et al.A beneficial role can also be played by computer coordinators, especially if they combine computing expertise with strong interpersonal and organizational skills (Strudler & Gall, 1988). Also measures have to be taken to secure long term supplies and maintenance of hardware and software (Bitter & Gore, 1986; Wagshal, 1986). External Support A growing body of experience and research data has become available about effective components of inservice training and other forms of external support for schools and teachers in the use of computers.A criticis m on past inservice approaches is that the emphasis on technical aspects was too strong, while too little attention was paid to the integration of computer use in the daily classroom practice and also to the skills in selecting and evaluating courseware ~~homienne, 1988; D’Arcy & Gardner, 1988; Wiske et al. , 1988). Teachers need a strong support to overcome their (initial) problems of uncertainty and their concerns about changing teacher/student relationships and about accountability (OTA, 1988).There is a growing consensus about characteristics of inservice training that can increase its effectiveness (OTA, 1988; Stecher & Solorzano, 1987): appropriate balance between lecture and (guided) practice; detailed curriculum guides and plans for the course plus lesson-related materials and hand-outs; clear training objectives; inservice lessons linked to teachers’ own instructional practice; peer interaction, including communication during hands-on activities; strategies fo r teaching heterogeneous groups; follow-up support and guidance. This (selective) literature review indicates a rough imilarity between conditional factors for both integration of computer use and curriculum implementation. Future, more focused, research activities are necessary to sharpen our insights in this area. Product Characteristics and the Teacher’s Role â€Å"Educators and educational researchers consistently cite one factor as central to the full development of technology’s use in the schools – the classroom teacher† (OTA, 1988, p. 87). For that reason it is important to take a closer look at the changes facing teachers at the implementation of computer use in their classroom practice.As Fullan (1982) has pointed out, nearly every innovation requires teachers to change on several dimensions: the use of new materials, alterations in their teaching behavior, and changes in their beliefs and attitudes. In this section we want to explore how certain characteristics of the new materials (especially courseware) can influence changes in teaching behavior and beliefs. From the general innovation literature we know that there are several product characteristics that can influence the fate of a certain innovation. First, we present a brief overview of this literature.Then we shall use this as a filter to screen the literature on computer use in education. Implementation of Computers in Education 69 Well-known discourses about influential (product) characteristics of innovations are delivered by Rogers and Shoemaker (1971) who describe features like observability, complexity, compatability, and relative advantage, and by Doyle and Ponder (3977-78) who refer to the practicality ethic of teachers, with criteria like instrumentality, congruence, and cost. An authorative summary of these characteristics is provided by Fullan (1982; see also Fullan et al. , 1987).He mentions the following characteristics, elucidated by some central questi ons: Need and relevance What is the need for and the appropriateness of the change? What is the priority of the efforts to implement the innovation relative to other concerns? Clarity How clear are the goals and essential features of the innovation? practical implications for the users? Complexity How clear are the How many components of instructional practice are affected and how much do they differ from existing practices and beliefs? How difficult is it to learn the necessary changes? Quality and practicality How well developed and tested are the products?How certain is the impact of the innovation? What is the trade-off between the actual benefits and the personal and organizational costs? Weaknesses in one or more of these characteristics usually cause major obstacles for implementation. Fullan (1982, p. 62) underlines the importance of individual perceptions in this respect: â€Å"ImpIementation is a problem of individuals developing meaning in relation to specific policy or program directions. † Although materials alone can never be sufficient for the implementation of innovation proposals by broad target groups of teachers, the potential influence of materials is great.Well designed and vafidated products can contribute substantially to the realization of educational changes (Crandall and Associates, 1982; Emrick & Peterson, 1978; Van den Akker, 1988~). We proceed now with a short overview of research findings about the interaction between product characteristics and teachers in the domain of computer use. Courseware Quality and Teachers’ Problems There is a wide dissatisfaction about the quality of educational software and courseware (OTA, 1988). Some conclusions are: Much educational software is isolated material, badly attuned to the curriculum 0 J. VAN DEN AKKER et al (content, materials, strategies) in use (Inspectorate, 1986; Woodhouse & Jones, 1988). Often computer use cannot be a process of simply incorporating new into old, but i t requires reshaping what was there (Hawkins & Sheingold, 1986). But also a warning is in place: if the software closely relates to the existing curriculum, it can indeed be easier for the teachers to use, but then it is often seen as just an â€Å"extra† and not fully integrated in the day to day practice (Cox, 1987).Thus, software should either support the goals of the existing curriculum or meet the needs for a curriculum change (Mallatratt, 1988). Much software has been developed for use by individual students, not taking into account the usual whole-class teaching and the practical constraints of a classroom with limited numbers of computers (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation [CERI], 1986). This restriction places a considerable demand on the planning and management skills of teachers. Much software is poorly documented (Jorde, 1985). User guides contain mainly â€Å"technical† information about operational aspects of the software.Support (print) mate rials for the teacher with suggestions how to integrate the program in the instructional process is frequently lacking (Inspectorate, 1988). â€Å"Most software does not yet sufficiently exploit the capacity of the computer to Drill and practice software continues to enhance teaching and learning. . dominate all subject areas† (OTA, 1988, p. 122). Furthermore, much of the early generation of software can be characterized by the â€Å"Quiz Syndrome† (Mackey, 1987). An innovation which appears to bring just one long question-answer routine gets a bad name.The available educational software covers only parts of the different subject matter domains (Inspectorate, 1988); most software is just â€Å"piecemeal† (Williams & Williams, 1984). The lack of sufficient high quality materials obstructs the integration of computer use into the daily practice. Problems many teachers experience are the following: For various reasons it is difficult to select suitable software. No t only is software often poorly documented, but also many teachers lack the knowledge and skills for an effective evaluation of the software quality (Knupfer, 1986; Preece & Jones, 1985).Moreover, there are only limited possibilities to preview potentially useful software before purchase (Balla, Gow, & Burton, 1986; Mallatratt, 1988). Teachers often lack technical skills in using computers and software (CERI, 1986; Ridgway et al. , 1984). This often leads to uncertainty, especially when the level of computer familiarization of the teacher is the same as or even lower than that of the students (Carmicheal et al. , 1985; Heywood & Norman, 1988). A consequence of this phenomenon may be that educational computing will be restricted to the limited level of expertise of the teacher.Teachers often experience unanticipated problems with their instructional roles (Carmicheal et al. , 1985; Cuban, 1986; Hawkins & Sheingold, 1986; Wiske et al. , 1988). Computers challenge teachers’ exis ting instructional routines by requiring a shift from expository teaching towards a role in which the teacher is more of a partner and guide of the students. Many teachers feel uncomfortable about these changes and therefore try to minimize them (Elder, Gourlay, Johnstone, & Wills, 1987; Olson, 1988; Plomp, Steerneman, & Pelgrum, 1988). This factor is particularly Implementation f Computers in Education 71 – important because research has shown that the way a teacher integrates computer use through his ongoing instructional decisions is critical to the impact of computer use on learners and learning results (Wilson, 1988). Cox et al. (1988) observe that teachers frequently lack knowledge and skills for effective stimulation of students’ microcomputer activities, and thus children fail to learn what they might learn with judicious teacher intervention. Teachers experience many practical problems when they start to use computers (Carmicheal et al. 1985; Elder et al. , 19 87; Inspectorate, 1986). Computer use demands from teachers many time-consuming management and organizational activities. Wiske et al. (1988) conclude that the major barrier for computer use is that it is unclear for teachers how the potential contribution of computer use can outweigh the costs involved. In summary we may conclude that the research on the integration of computer applications in education reveals many similar problems as described in the literature on curriculum implementation (cf. Fullan et al. 1987). Most factors that influence curriculum implementation also influence the integration of computer use in the instructional practice. An Infusion Approach for the Integration of Computer Use In this section we will try to identify elements of an effective strategy for the integration of computer use in education by analogy reasoning with approaches of effective curriculum implementation. Most teachers, if they are using computers at all, are still inexperienced users; th e great majority are in the initial implementation phase.In this stage small-scale successful experiences are an important factor in stimulating the use of the innovation by teachers, both in the field of curriculum implementation (Van den Akker, 1988b) and computer integration (Fullan et al. , 1987). There are two components of successful experiences: first, the students attain clear learning results; second, the teacher succeeds in an effective lesson execution without major problems, and is aware of his own contribution in this respect.Such successful experiences can only take place when teachers have high quality courseware at their disposal. We define courseware as: a package comprising computer software and (mostly written) support materials. Since our analysis of implementation problems indicated that especially the support materials – if available – are of a poor quality, we shall focus on that component (â€Å"lessonware†) of the courseware.In order to identify â€Å"high quality† characteristics, we need to clarify what functions the materials should have for the teacher. Functions and Characteristics of Courseware As shown in the previous sections, integration of computer use by teachers is complex and involves them in learning new roles and unlearning old ones. Implementation can be 72 J. VAN DEN AKKER et al. conceived as a learning process for the teacher in which changes are required in teaching behavior as well as in beliefs, attitudes and understanding.A literature review of Van den Akker (1988b, c) on curriculum implementation, teacher planning, and general learning theories provides some answers to the question of how materials can contribute to this learning process of teachers in their initial implementation phase. The literature on curriculum implementation reveals that in teachers’ initial implementation efforts personal self-concerns dominate, changing via more task-oriented concerns to concerns about t he impact of the curriculum on learners (Loucks & Lieberman, 1983).Research indicates that this change model also applies on computer integration (Cicchelli & Beacher, 1985, 1987; Wiske et al. , 1988). Thus, at present, where most teachers are still in the initiation phase where personal survival concerns dominate, courseware materials should support the teachers by anticipating as much as possible potential user problems and by offering practical advice to prevent or solve such problems.From research on teacher planning (Clark & Peterson, 1986) it has become more evident that changing the practice of teaching requires more attention to the stage of pre-active planning. The lesson planning approach is of crucial importance for the lesson execution, and, ultimately, also for learning-by-reflection of the teacher afterwards. Literature on general learning theories indicates that (intensive) orienting activities yield more precise and reasoned plans for action.Courseware may activate a nd support teacher planning by providing a clear orientation to the teaching task, by pointing to critical features of (computer assisted) lessons and by making suggestions about how to deal with emergent problems during the instructional process. From this analysis we may conclude that courseware, intended for teachers’ initial use, should contain a large amount of procedural specifications: very accurate how-to-do-it advice focused on essential but apparently vulnerable elements of the curriculum.This means that the support materials should not only contain â€Å"technical† information about the use of the computer program, but also detailed advice about the instructional process (cf. Fullan et af. , 1987). With the help of such materials, the teachers should be stimulated to a task orientation and to concrete role-taking experiences and should be supported with practical advice for successful lessons. In order to produce such courseware, one has to follow a very car eful development approach, with much attention for formative evaluation and revision of the materials.Obviously, the technical certainty of the software must be guaranteed and the program should be easy to use (Fullan et al. , 1987). Special efforts have to be made to detect teachers’ problems with the use of the courseware in their classroom situation. These evaluation findings should lead to the incorporation of procedural suggestions for the teachers in the support materials about how to prevent or solve such problems. It seems desirable that the development of the software and the support materials (â€Å"lessonware†) proceeds in close interaction.More or less simultaneous design, construction and evaluation activities can further the interwoveness of the different courseware components. Such an approach may also increase the chances to produce courseware that is innovative from an instructional and curricular perspective (cf. Hawkins & Sheingold, 1986). Implementa tion of Computers in Education 73 An Illustrative Study An explorative study along these lines has been done by Keursten (1988), who developed courseware for primary science.He pointed out that there is a remarkable resemblance between major implementation problems of teachers with a new approach in (activity-based) science education and the earlier discussed problems with the integration of computer use. Van den Akker (1988a, b) mentioned the following key problems for teachers in the science domain: complex and time-consuming lesson preparation; a lack of background knowledge and skills (causing a lack of self-confidence); great difficulties in changing the didactical role; insufficient view of possible learning outcomes.In the research project of Van den Akker (1988a, b), a successful effort was made to diminish these problems by providing teachers with many, carefully tested procedural specifications in curriculum materials. Keursten (1988) applied the same sort of specification s in courseware for a series of seven lessons (on the theme â€Å"weather†; final grade of primary school), to be used by teachers who had neither experience with computer use nor with an activity-based science approach.The courseware package consisted of: written lesson materials containing subject matter information and directions for lesson preparation and execution; educational software with a very succinct manual about its operation; and some student materials. The procedural specifications for the package were divided over the written lesson materials (â€Å"lessonware†) and the software manual. In the â€Å"lessonware† the following categories were incorporated: i general characterization of the series of lessons in terms of objectives, content, time (also division of time over different lessons), suggestions for detecting learning effects. ackground information about the subject matter so that it is not necessary for the teacher to refer to other sources during the lesson preparation. Per lesson were included: a short outline of the lesson; suggestions for the lesson preparation, including issues like: necessary learning aids, classroom organization, structure of the lesson in keywords, personal preparation by the teacher. guidelines for lesson execution with suggestions for instructional activities, for classroom organization, and for guidance of the students.The manual of the computer program consisted of: directions for the use of the computer (especially important for teachers without experience with computers); description of the objectives (short, because it is also part of the written lesson materials); directions for the use of software (important, as it must answer all possible questions teachers may have in using the program); points of attention about the siting of the computer(s). – – – – 74 J. VAN DEN AKKER et al. Two basic elements in the design approach should be underlined.First, the curr icular perspective was in the forefront; the computer software was developed as a tool for realizing the formulated curriculum aims. Second, the primary focus in the elaboration of the materials was on the tasks and user problems of the teachers – and not on the possibilities of the software. An evaluation of the use of this courseware with five teachers had positive results. The teachers were able to use the package as meant by the designers. They hardly experienced any technical problems and adequately realized the activity-based science approach.Also the reactions and learning outcomes of the students were very satisfying. A general conclusion of this study was that the characteristics of the courseware seem very appropriate to reduce implementation problems. Therefore follow-up research has been started for further investigation of this approach. Conclusion The integration of computer use in the instructional practice of teachers â€Å"infusable† support materials (cf. Wilson, 1988). We would like to summarize our infusion approach as follows: benefits by eachers can start their computer use with short and well organized applications; successful use is strongly advanced by carefully designed and validated procedural specifications in the different courseware components; based on these successful experiences, teachers acquire clarity about the meaning and potential of the innovation, gain confidence in their own competence, and develop their own view of the appropriateness of the innovation for their students and themselves. Without such early â€Å"high quality† experiences, teachers’ judgments about the relevance and practicality of computer use can only be superficial.As Wiske et al. (1988) found, the initial reservations of teachers about computer use diminish after experiencing examples of computer use that yield clear educational benefits. A real integration of computer use in the curriculum can only be realized when teache rs recognize the surplus value of computer use. Successes in the early implementation phase are crucial for motivating teachers to further activities and to elicit commitment to the change efforts. We have strongly concentrated our arguments on the role of products (courseware) in the process of implementation.Of course we realize – see the first part of our article – that there are many other variables at stake. But we agree with Collis (1988) that it makes sense to focus on those variables which are relatively easy to manipulate. And, within the then available options, we have strong indications that a sophisticated design of the support materials within courseware can have a great impact on implementation activities and outcomes. We presume that this impact can be increased when the use of such products is combined with inservice training (cf. OTA, 1988).Such integrated support activities seem to have the greatest potential to enable teachers to an effective integra tion of computer use in their classroom practice. Implementation of Computers in Education 75 References Akker, J. J. H. van den (1988a). Ontwerp en implementatie van natuuronderwijs [Design and implementation of science education]. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger. Akker, J. J. H. van den (1988b). The teacher as learner in curriculum implementation. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 20 (l), 47-55. Akker, J. J. H. van den (1988c, April). Product design and curriculum implementation.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans. Balla, J. , Gow, L. , & Burton, P. (1986). Computers in the teaching process and software development: Cooperation is the key. Education & Computing, 2, 265-271. Becker, H. J. (1986). Instructional uses of school computers: Reports from the 1985 national survey (Issue l-6). Baltimore: Center for Social Organizations of Schools, Johns Hopkins University. Beishuizen, J. J. , Tobin, J. , & Weston, P. R. (Eds. ). (1988) . The use of the microcomputer in teaching and learning. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger. Bitter, C. G. , & Gore, K. 1986). Trends in hardware/software. Curricular implications of a â€Å"computer for every student†. Computers in the Schools, 3 (2), 15-21. Carmichael, H. W. , Burnett, J. D. , Higginson, W. C. , Moore, B. G. , & Pollard, P. J. (1985). Computers, children and classrooms: A multisite evaluation of the creative use of micro-computers by elementary school children. Ontario: Ministry of Education. Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (1986). New information technologies: A challenge for education. Paris: OECD. Chomienne, M. (1988). Educational computing implementation: The case of Quebec. Computers and Education, 12 (1). 85-90.Cichelli, T. , & Beacher, R. E. (1985). Introducing microcomputers into the classroom: a study of teachers’ concerns. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 1 (l), 55-65. Cichelli, T. , & Beacher, R. E. (1987). The use of c oncerns theory in inservice training for computer education. Computers and Education, 11 (2), 85-93. Clark, C. , & Peterson, P. (1986). Teachers’ thought processes. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed. ), Handbook of research on teaching (3rd ed. , pp. 255-296). New York: Macmillan. Collis, B. (1988, July). Manipulating critical variables: A framework for improving the impact of computers in the school environment.Paper presented at the EURIT ‘88 conference, Lausanne, Switzerland. Cox, M. J. (1987). Computer-assisted learning/CAL and the future. In Tj. Plomp, K. van Deursen, & J. Moonen (Eds. ), CAL for Europe (pp. 33-49). Amsterdam: North Holland. Cox. M. , Rhodes, V. , & Hall, J. (1988). The use of computer assisted learning in primary schools: Some factors affecting the uptake. Computers and Education, 12 (l), 173-178. Crandall, D. P. , and Associates (1982). People, policies and practices: Examining the chain of school improvement (Vols. I-X). Andover, MA: The NETWORK. Cuban, L. (1986).Teachers and machines: The classroom use of technology since 1920. New York: Teachers College Press. D’Arcy, J. , & Gardner, J. (1988). Learning from teachers: Teachers’ perspectives of relevant courseware and training provision. Computers and Education, 12 (2), 321-326. Doyle, W. , & Ponder. G. A. (1977-1978). The practicality ethic in teacher decision making. Interchange, 8 (3). I-12. Elder, R. J. , Gourlay, J. , Johnstone, M. , & Wills, R. (1987). Microcomputers in primary education. In N. Rushby (Ed. ), Computer bused learning, selected readings (pp. 120-126). London: Kogan Page. Emrick, J. A. , & Peterson, S. M. 1978). A synthesis of Jindings across five recent studies in educational dissemination and change. San Francisco, CA: Far West Laboratory. Fullan, M. G. (1982). The meaning of educational change. New York: Teachers College Press. Fullan, M. G, Miles, M. B. , & Anderson, S. A. (1987). Strategies for implementing microcomputers in schools: The Ontario case. Toronto, Ontario: Ministry of Education. Hawkins, J. , & Sheingold, K. (1986). The beginning of a story: Computers and the organization of learning in classrooms. In J. A. Culbertson & L. L. Cunningham (Eds. ), Microcomputers in education (85th NSSE Yearbook, pp. 0-58). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Heywood, G. , & Norman, P. (1988). Problems of educational innovation: The primary teacher’s response to using the microcomputer. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 4, 34-43. Inspectorate (1986). Onderwijs en informatietechnologie: Stand van zaken in her schooljaar 1985l1986 [Education and information technology: State of affairs in the school year 1985/1986] (Inspectorate report No. 7). The Hague: Staatsuitgeverij. Inspectorate (1988). Het NIV0 project in de scholen [The NIV0 project in the schools] (Inspectorate report No. 25).The Hague: Staatsuitgeverij. 76 J. VAN DEN AKKER et af. Keursten, P. (1988). Computertoepassi~gen in het natuur~nder~ijs-curricuf~ [Computer applications in the science curriculum]. Enschede: University of Twente. Knupfer, N. N. (1986). implementation of microcomputers into the current K-12 curriculum: A critical discussion of issues. Madison: University of Wisconsin. Loucks, S. F. , & Lieberman, A. (1983). Curriculum implementation. In F. W. English (Ed. ), Fundamental curriculum decisions (pp. 126-141). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Mackey, B. (1987).Effective educational courseware – the microcomputer as a learning medium. In J. Moonen & Tj. Plomp (Eds. ), EURIT ‘86: Developments in educational software and courseware (pp. 603-610). Oxford: Pergamon Press. Mallatratt, J. (1988). CAL: Development of an environment to support the innovation. Computer Education, 59, 21-23. Office of Technology Assessment (1988). Power on! New fools for teaching and learning. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. Olson, J. (1988). Schooiworfds/microworZds. Computers and the culture of the classroom. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Olson, J. , & Eaton, S. (1986).Case studies of microcomputers in the classroom. Questions for curriculum and teacher education (Education and technology series). Ontario: Ministry of Education. Plomp, Tj. , & Akker, J. J. H. van den (1988, April). Computer integration in the curricufum: promises and problems. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans. Plomp, Tj. , Steerneman, A. H. M. , & Pelgrum, W. J. (1988). Curricular changes as a consequence of computer use. In F. Lovis & E. D. Tagg (Eds. ), Computers in education. Proceedings of the IFIP TC 3 European Conference on Computers in Education (pp. 03-508). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers. Preece, J. , & Jones, A. (1985). Training teachers to select educational computer software: Results of a formative evaluation of an Open University Pack. British Journal of Educational Technology, 16 (l), 9-20. Ridgway, J. , Benz ie, D. , Burkhardt, H. , Coupland, J. , Field, G. , Fraser, R. , & Phillips, R. (1984). Conclusions from CALtastrophies. Computers in Education, 8, 93-100. Rogers, E. M. , & Shoemaker, F. F. (1971). Communication of innovations. A cross-culfural approach. New York: Free Press. Sheingold, K. , Martin, L. M. W. I & Endreweit, M. E. (1987).Preparing urban teachers for the technological future. In R. D. Pea & K. Sheingold (Eds. ), Mirrors of minds. Patterns of experience in edl~~ationa2 compufi~~ (pp. 67-85). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation. Stecher, B. M. , & Solorzano, R. S. (1987). Characteristics of effective computer in. ~erv~cepro~rams. Pasadena, CA: Educational Testing Service. Strudler, N. B. , & Gall, M. D. (1988, April). Success&l change agent strategies for overcoming impediments IO microcomputer implemenfution in rhe classroom. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans.Velzen, W. G. van, Miles, M. B. , Ekhol m, M. , Hameyer, U. , & Robin, D. (1985). Making school improvement work. A conceptual guide to practice. Leuven: Acco. Wagshal, P. H. (1986). Computers in the schools: Lessons from television. Curriculum Review, 24 (3), 32-34. Walker, D. F. (1986). Computers Microcomputers and Education and the curriculum. In J. A. Culbertson & L. L. Cunningham (Eds. ), (85th NSSE yearbook, pp. 22-39). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Williams, F. , & Williams, V. (1984). Microcomputers in elementary education; Per. spectives on impl’ementation. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.Wilson, B. (1988). faking sense of the future. A position puper on the role of technology jn science, mathematics, and computing education. Cambridge, MA: Educational Technology Center, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Wiske, M. S. , Zodhiates, Ph. , Wilson. B. , Gordon, M. , Harvey, W. , Krensky, L. , Lord, B. , Watt, M. , & Williams, K. (1988). How technology affects teaching. Cambridge, MA: E ducational Technology Center, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Woodhouse, D. , & Jones, A. .I. (1988). Integrating CAL with other instructional activities in schools. Computers and Education. 12 (3), 381-389.

French Fishtail Braid

Demonstration speech I. Introduction A. Greeting and hook: Most of you probably already know how to do a simple braid and maybe some of you can do a French Braid, but do you know how to french fishtail braid? B. Thesis: Today I will show you how to do a French fishtail braid. C. Credibility statement: I personally love to do this braid because it’s intricate looking but easy to do. I have done it many times and really enjoy doing it. D. Main points: First I will talk about preparing the hair, then I will discuss the process of French fishtail braiding.I’ll give some helpful tips and finally I will show you a finished braid. II. Body (Transition statement: To prepare for this hair design, you are going to need some supplies) A. Getting the supplies, brushing hair and damp vs. dry hair 1. What you will need. a. A brush to detangle. b. One pony tail holder. c. A mirror. d. Some bobby pins to pin away stray hairs. e. Hair spray 2. To begin preparing whoever’s hair yo u’re braiding, start by brushing or combing the hair. 3. It doesn’t matter if the hair is dry or wet. But it is easier to braid wet hair because it doesn’t have so many flying pieces. Transition statement: Once the hair is prepared, let’s move on to the process of braiding. ) B. How to begin the braiding. 1. Gather a small handful of hair from the back center of the head, as though starting a classic French braid. 2. Separate the hair into two sections. 3. Take a skinny strand of hair from the right side of the face, pull it back and cross it over to join the left hair section 4. Take a skinny strand of hair from the left side of the face, pull it back and cross it over to join the right hair section. 5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all hair is incorporated into the two sections.You may now pull the rest of your hair into a ponytail or continue braiding the â€Å"tail† part of the braid. 6. Take a skinny strand of hair from the right section, cross i t over to the left section and pull tight. 7. Take a skinny strand of hair from the left section, cross it over to the right section and pull tight. 8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until all hair is braided. Secure the end with a hair tie. C. Tips and tricks 1. You can put the hair band on your wrist before you start, that way all you have to do is slide it off your wrist and it’s right there when you need it. . A spritz of hair spray as you go helps keep the braid neat while you keep working. 3. For a messier look, tease your hair before braiding. 4. Doing the fishtail braid while your hair is wet will give it a firmer grip, creating a more precise braid. 5. Try a fishtail braid bun if your hair is long. Start the braid and then wrap it in a bun. 6. For a Katniss Everdeen look from Hunger Games, start French fishtail halfway up one side of your head and wrap it down the other side. 7. For thicker hair, consider using thicker strands for better control. III. Conclusion Transition sta tement: Now you can see that creating a French Fishtail Braid is a simple variation of the regular French Braid. A. Main points: Don’t forget, when you are creating your own Fishtail French Braid, remember these tips; 1. Get your supplies all out and ready before you begin. 2. Practice using two instead of three strands of hair to accomplish the braid. 3. Wet hair is a great tip to keep the braid neater and finish it all off with hair spray. B. Closer: and as we come to an end I hope that I was helpful and that you all have a good understanding of how to do a french fishtail braid.

Dispositive

Dispositive Dispositive Dispositive By Maeve Maddox This use of the word dispositive in a letter to the editor in my morning paper left me puzzled: Religious dogma and scripture tend to be grab-bags out of which all kinds of often-contradictory points can be made by [whoever] wants to reach in, and who is to say which of them is dispositive? I think I know what the letter-writer meant by dispositive, but I can’t help wondering why he didn’t use a more familiar word when addressing a general audience. Dispositive as an adjective signifies the quality of â€Å"directing, controlling, or disposing of something.† In Scottish law, a â€Å"dispositive clause† is the clause of conveyance in a deed, by which the disposition of the property is expressed. In US law, a â€Å"dispositive motion† is a motion asking a for court order that entirely disposes of one or more claims in favor of the moving party without need for further court proceedings. A dispositive motion does not necessarily seek to dispose of the entire lawsuit. The most common types of dispositive motions are the motion to dismiss and the motion for summary judgment. A dispositive motion may also be used to request that an indictment be dismissed or quashed, or for judgment on pleadings. (uslegal.com) French philosopher Michel Foucault used dispositive (dispositif) as a noun to refer to â€Å"the various institutional, physical, and administrative mechanisms and knowledge structures which enhance and maintain the exercise of power within the social body.† A Google search brings up about 2,210,000 results for â€Å"dispositive.† Here is a sampling of usage: A variety of factors will inform each stage of our inquiry; the factors that we consider today do not constitute an exhaustive list of factors relevant to the mainstreaming issue. Moreover, no single factor is dispositive in all cases. Though the speech at issue concerned the subject matter of his employment, and was expressed within his office rather than publicly, the Court did not consider either fact dispositive, and noted that employees in either context may receive First Amendment protection.   The Chinese middle class, I argue, is a  dispositive  class.   To grasp the true character of this  dispositive  (theoretical fragments focused on the formulation of a  political  problem) and its effects, we must jump a step. Historicizing Security Entering the Conspiracy Dispositive The  Bible, and only the  Bible, is dispositive  for all Christians. If one cannot in a dispositive way show the non-existence of god, what does the atheists’ position mean? Dispositive is a useful and meaningful term in specialized contexts, but it seems to me that some speakers may be using dispositive when all they mean is authoritative or conclusive. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund PhrasesEmail EtiquetteComma After Introductory Phrases