The federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1987

The federal Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 1987; established regulations for nursing homes receiving federal funding that includes reimbursements from Medicare or Medicaid programs. It was signed by President Ronald Reagan, and it was the first major revision to the federal standards for nursing home care since the creation of both Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. This legislation changed the legal expectations of nursing homes and their care. If nursing homes do not comply with these regulations they cannot receive federal reimbursement. By the OBRA regulations nursing homes are not allowed to have working nurse aides for more than four months unless they are certified. In order to keep working longer than that aides need to go through a training and competency program. The nursing home will be responsible to verify that the aide is registered in their state. Under OBRA a nurse aide registry must consist of aides who have completed a nurse aide training and have successfully passed the competency evaluation program. The registry must make available the full name of the person, the date his/her training were completed and all the information of any improper conduct. If the person has not practiced in two years he/she may be removed from the registry. OBRA requires that all nursing facilities keep all employees up to date in their trainings. Annual education requires a minimum of 12 hours of training that specially address any weaknesses or areas of concerns that the group may be having. If the facility holds mentally ill patients the aid needs to be able to show that they have the proper skills to handle situations involving those mentally ill patients. The states can have their own training and competency program, for a program to be approves it must meet OBRA regulations. Such training must have a minimum of 75 hours of training of which 16 need to be supervise practical training hours. There are specific requirements under OBRA for a training curriculum. Students need to learn proper communication skills and interpersonal skills, they need to learn how to control infections, the appropriate emergency procedures, appropriates safety procedures. They need to learn how to be able to help patients be independent and to respect the patient’s rights. Students need to learn the needed nursing skills, such as how to correctly take vital signs and how to identify abnormal changes in a patient. They need to be able to know the needs needed when working with patients with mental health problems, and how to give care to patients for cognitively mpaired patients. Some requirements under OBRA are: * To provide services that will help promote each resident’s quality of life to the fullest capacity * To maintain the dignity and respect each resident deserves * To develop a care plan for each resident * To conduct an accurate assessment of each resident upon admission to the center and at any required interval in regards to his overall health * To prevent any decline in regards to daily activities, that includes the ability to east, using the toilet, bathing and walking. The staff of the facility must provide daily living activity care when necessary * To prevent any pressure sores from developing, and if a patient has a sore, to provide any necessary treatment and services to promote healing of such sores, prevent infection, and to prevent any new sores from developing. * To provide the right care for those residents that have urinary incontinence and if it’s possible to try and restore bladder function. It includes also the use of urinary catheters when appropriate, according to the regulations to prevent any adverse consequences related to the use of them * To prevent any type of accidents, this includes any falls, accidental poisonings or any incident that may cause injuries to the residents * To maintain proper nutrition for residents and to prevent any unnecessary weight loss * To provide the residents with sufficient fluid intake as to prevent any dehydration * To ensure that the resident feel free from any medication errors * To make sure the center has enough nursing staff to take proper care of all the resident’s needs * To make sure that all the residents have the right to choose activities, schedules, and healthcare need and that everything is maintained as it should be * To provide all medication services that appropriately meet the physical and psychological needs for each and every resident * To maintain an accurate, complete, and easily accessible clinical recor d for every resident OBRA became a law because of all the public growing concern with the very poor quality of care in many nursing homes and due to all the concerted advocacy of advocates, consumers, provider associations, and health care professionals. OBRA changed the care and lives of nursing home residents all across America. Many improvements have improved the care planning of the residents in the nursing home system. References FEderal and MA Long term care laws and regulations. (2008). Retrieved July 1, 2013, from MANHR: http://www.manhr.org/fed_ma_laws_regs.aspx State Operation Manual. (2011, January 7). Retrieved July 1, 2013, from Appendix PP: http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/downloads/som107ap_pp_guidelines_ltcf.pdf Hawes C, M. V. (1997, August). The OBRA-87 nursing home regulations and implementation. Retrieved July 1, 2013, from PUB MED.gov: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9256852

Ab221 Customer Service

Running head: On-Time Technology Products Complaint On-Time Technology Products Complaint Kaplan University AB221 Customer Service Tina Engle March 30, 2011 On-Time Technology Products Complaint On-Time Technology Products (OTTP) sells products related to time, and Mark MacGibson is the new President of OTTP. OTTP has seldom had any customer complaints because the companies top priority is customer service. Mary Graff, the supervisor for the Customer Service Representatives plans was to take OTTP to an innovative level of excellent customer service. Unfortunately, one day the President received a complaint in written from a disabled person, that has prompt his immediate attention. The complaint was in reference to the treatment given by a sales representative (Joanne) during the persons visit to the store. The complaint read, â€Å"Today I was at your store and wanted to purchase a new laptop computer. I never write companies when small incidents occur (relative to my disability of being in a wheelchair), but I feel that today’s behavior by your sales staff was over the top and warrants this letter. I chose to inform you, the President, so that others in my circumstance at your place of business will not be so offended. I felt very patronized when, after asking a question of your service/sales representative Joanne, she responded in an almost childlike voice – not once, but three times! Then she proceeded to lean on my wheelchair as she was demonstrating the laptop to me. I felt it would have been more appropriate for here to use a chair, but when I suggested she do so, she said, â€Å"Oh this will only take a minute or so† and then continued to lean over me for another five minutes! I am incensed enough to write this letter! By the way, after leaving your store I will purchase my laptop from another store within the hour. † After reading this person written complaint I have come to the conclusion that this complaint is legitimate because Joanne did not serve the disabled customer properly. Joanne’s communication with the customer was inappropriate because she spoke in a child like voice, and leaned on the customers’ wheel chair. Where in actuality, Joanne should have spoke to the customer in a normal tone voice (instead of a childlike voice), sat in a chair at eye level to the customer in the wheel chair (instead of leaning on the persons wheel chair), and continuing to lean on the customers wheel chair after the customer told her what they would prefer for her to do. In my opinion, the President Mr. MacGibson should call (if their telephone number is available), or communicate with this customer personally, and offer his sincere apology as well as compensation for what took place in their store. What I think Mr. MacGibson responds should is; â€Å"Hello Sir. /Mama, I am Mr. MacGibson the President of On-Time Technology Products and I would like to give you my sincere apology for what took place at our store during you visit. I would like to inform you that the mannerism Joanne showed during your visit is unacceptable, and was not the protocol of OTTP. To assure that this does not happen again I will personally make sure that all of our employees are well trained, and aware of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In closing, I would also like to offer you compensation for what took place at our establishment although you stated â€Å"you have purchased a laptop from another business. I would recommend that Mr. MacGibson put into play extensive training at OTTP with understanding disabled customers, customer behavior, and exceptional service, and that should assure to keep up OTTP’s reputation of seldom complaints. I say this because as a customer coming into an establishment they need to be understood, welcome, important, and comfortable with the sales representative. References The World of Customer Service, 2nd edition Pattie Gibson-Odgers (2008).

Learning from LeapFrog Essay

1. What was the Leapfrog business model at the time that the company launched its first products and services? How did the business model change over time? 2. Who are LeapFrog’s key stakeholders? How does LeapFrog deliver value to each of these stakeholder groups? 3. At the time of the case, Leapfrog had become the #3 consumer toy company in the U.S. behind #1 and #2, Mattell and Hasbro respectively. What factors contributed to Leapfrog’s success? Do you expect the success to continue in the future? 4. What challenges and opportunities does the company face in early 2003? Would you buy stock in Leapfrog? Why or why not? As an independent member of the company’s board of directors, what would you expect of management in the short-term and long-term? How would you fulfill your fiduciary duties to the company’s shareholders? Canyon Ranch 1. What is the value of customer information to Canyon Ranch? 2. As CIO, how would you make the case for customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence (BI) systems at Canyon Ranch? 3. What impact would you anticipate these systems to have on the Canyon Ranch strategy and capabilities? 4. What advice do you have for Canyon Ranch executives? Business Intelligence Software at SYSCO 1. What will be the biggest obstacles faced by the business intelligence implementation as it expands throughout SYSCO? 2. Why did SYSCO decide to initially address only two questions with its new BI software, rather than using it as a more general analysis tool in the operating companies? Why did Business Objects recommend this approach? What are its strengths and weaknesses? 3. Will effective use of BI software ever be a competitive differentiator for SYSCO? Wouldn’t it be straightforward for another food service company to also purchase and implement similar software? 4. How much software should Day purchase at this time? Boeing’s e-Enabled Advantage 1. What challenges and opportunities did Boeing face in the late 1990s? 2. What is the e-Enabled Advantage? How did it link to the company’s strategy? 3. What advantages would such an approach give Boeing? 4. What challenges did Boeing face in executing such a radical new strategy? CareGroup 1. Describe the health care context in which the case occurs. 2. List several strengths of the IT environment at CareGroup. 3. On the other hand, list several weaknesses that led to the collapse. 4. Evaluate carefully the 10 lessons that John Halamka learned from the experience. What are the pros and cons of each of these lessons? Are there other learnings that come from this situation? The IPremier Company: Denial of Service Attack 1. How well did the IPremier Company perform during the seventy-five minute attack? If you were Bob Turley, what might have you done differently during the attack? 2. The IPremier Company CEO, Jack Samuelson, had already expressed to Bob Turley his concern that the company might eventually suffer from a â€Å"deficit in operating procedures.† Were the company’s operating procedures deficient in responding to this attack? What additional procedures might have been in place to better handle the attack? 3. Now that the attack has ended, what can the IPremier Company do to prepare for another such attack? 4. Describe the ethical implications of not being sure if credit card numbers had been stolen. What options do you have in the struggle to be an ethical vendor, yet to stay in business? What actions would you take? 5. In the aftermath of the attack, what would you be worried about? What actions would you recommend? Strategic Outsourcing at Bharti Airtel Limited 1. What must Bharti do well to succeed in the Indian mobile phone market? What are Bharti’s core competencies? 2. Do you think Bharti should enter the outsourcing agreements outlined by Gupta? What do you see as advantages and disadvantages of such agreements? How do the different outsourcing agreements work towards building these core competencies? 3. If you were Bharti, what major concerns would you have about entering an outsourcing agreement with IBM? With Ericsson, Nokia, or Siemens? 4. How would you structure the agreements to address your concerns and capture any advantages you have identified? What governance mechanisms would you design for the agreements? 5. Assume the role of IBM or Nokia. What major concerns would you have about entering an agreement with Bharti? How would you structure the agreement and the governance mechanisms? VW of America: Managing IT Priorities 1. What is your assessment of the new process for managing priorities at Volkswagen of America? Are the criticisms justified? Is it an improvement over the old process? 2. Who controls the budgets from which IT projects are funded at Volkswagen of America? Who should control these budgets? Should the IT department have its own budget? 3. How should Matulovic respond to his fellow executives who are calling to ask him for special treatment outside the new priority management system? 4. What should Matulovic do about the unfunded Supply Flow project? The ITC eChoupal Initiative 1. What was ITC’s motivation for creating the eChoupal? 2. What were the old and new physical flows and information flows in the channel? 3. What principles did it employ as it built the newly-fashioned supply chain? 4. What barriers did ITC face in embarking on this project? 5. How should ITC develop this platform for the future?

Prompts are at the attachment document below Essay

Prompts are at the attachment document below - Essay Example There is no doubt that the concept of zombie apocalypse is quite popular at the present moment. As it was mentioned by the scholars â€Å"these days, however, catastrophic events not only threaten friends, family, and neighbors; they also become the stuff of endless repetitions and dramatizations on radio, television, and Internet† (Borg, 2003, p. 57). That is why one might see numerous television series about vampires or werewolves. However, the two series in question feature dramatically different approaches towards depiction of the event. Thus, The Walking Dead is largely considered to be a serious work of art. The characters tend to face difficult ethical choices and often make actions that are controversial. On the other hand, Z Nation represents a different approach: it is more focused on actions rather than ethical choices. Of course, there is space for character development; however, the time that shooting occupies in it is significantly bigger if compared to its counterpart. This shows that people like watching television series about zombies not to see the characters fight their own demons, but actually fight the real demons. In other words, there are two different approaches one of which uses zombie apocalypse as a background for exploring the real nature of the human beings and the other that strictly focuses on the post apocalyptic life. It is rather surprising that the above mentioned television series are not classified as horror movies, though they have all the attributes: the monsters, the blood and the gore. Nevertheless, they are perceived by the public as something than that. This can be explained by the fact that â€Å"very little about the underlying structure of horror images really changes over time† (Mathias Clasen, 2010, p. 313). In other words, the primary purpose of these television series is to explore the eternal questions about this world

Chinese Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Chinese Film - Essay Example ng the transition from the 1950s to 1960s.This essay will focus on the movie, Forever Fever (That is The Way I like it,) and the main character, Hock. The discourse will examine in detail how the identity of Hock is transformed in many ways by being a fan of Bruce Lee and John Travolta. The film, Forever Fever, was produced in 1998. It features Hock (Adrian Pang), a fan of Bruce Lee, working in a local supermarket. The initial scenes of the film show Hock’s friends trying to entice him to accompany them to the cinema show that features Bruce Lee. Hock is a big fan of Bruce Lee’s actions following the many films he has acted in. Bruce was regarded as the best martial artist and a pop culture figure in the 20th century. Besides, he was a role model for many actors. Through his actions, many actors have adopted his style of acting and acquired his characters. Based on these facts no one can deny the role and the influence Bruce Lee has had on the film industry. Hock is surprised when he finds that the movie shown is not the one he expected. Initially, he gets bored with the movie but is later inspired by the dancing styles he sees from John. At the same time, an advert is made about a dancing competition where the winner was to win five thousand dollars. Hock develops an interest to participate in the contest, but the problem is that he has no dancing skills necessary to win the competition. Hock knows that if he wins the competition he will have more money enough to buy a motorcycle. The inspiration makes Hock enroll for a dancing class in one of the local schools. He is inspired with the works of John Travolta in the film Saturday Night Fever (directed by John Badham in 1977). The scenes in the movie portray how the lifestyle of Hock conforms to his role models (Bruce Lee and John Traolta). The way he leads his life and the kind of activities that he does clearly show a determined personality who wants to achieve his goals. This is depicted in the type of

Can any organisation learn to be inovative Essay

Can any organisation learn to be inovative - Essay Example These significant changes are led the impact of the globalisation which has also encouraged the technological expertise and innovation. In fact, globalisation and innovation are closely related with other. â€Å"Globalisation can be viewed as the outcome of processes of imitation and adaptation of innovation† (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005, p.108). Trade and business is the most of the important area that has been heavily influenced by globalisation. Globalization has been a boon for the trade and commerce as it has provided a vast opportunity to entire business world. However, it has also led to intensify the global competiveness as majority of the economies encourage the international trade by imposing free trade policies. Hope and Maeleng have defined the free trade policy as a â€Å"competition enhancing device† (Hope and Maeleng, 1998, p.61). In such competitive environments, the business organisations are trying to gain sustainable c ompetitive advantage, and in this course, innovation is the one of the most key factors. For example, Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt has identified that new product development is highly correlated with the market share and innovative attempts is the core essence of a new product development (Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt, 2005, p.5). The level of innovation generally depends on the size and types of industry. For example, technological innovation is more prominent in automotive industry rather than apparel industry. However, innovation can be termed from the technological perspective but it can be also defined from the management strategic perspective. On the other hand, there are certain requirements that must be met for incorporating innovation and these requirements are external as well as internal environments. This paper wills attempt to present analysis and discussion on the multiple aspect of innovation required in an organisation. The primary focus will on the multiple factors that mu st considered while incorporating the innovation within an organization. Hence, certain popular theories and models on innovation will be explained in order to understand the basics of innovation. In order to meet the primary objective of this paper, the identification of drivers and barriers of innovation will be analysed. Finally, the entire discussions and analyses will be summed up in the conclusion. 2. Theoretical Background regarding Innovation Innovation has been a popular area of study and many scholars and academics have tried to offered and explain their views to present the multiple aspects of innovation. They have realized the increasing importance of innovation in every aspect of human activities especially for the commercial purposes, and hence their theories are essential for the organisation seeking to develop an innovative business model and organisational culture. Incorporating an innovation within an organisation is a long process and number of factors must be ali gned as per the prevailing condition. At presents, the business organisation is continuously trying to improve their overall business model and operating activities by incorporating innovations in their organisation. The innovation used by them â€Å"can range from straightforward cost reduction measures to completely re-designing the business†

Nursing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Nursing - Assignment Example Both studies seem to promote the idea that critical thinking could be based on the learning process, but just partially. The personal attitudes of nurses are able to affect their critical thinking. It has been made clear that critical thinking, as all other elements of nursing, can be influenced by the social and economic environment of nurses. In this context, critical thinking has been proved to be a rather complex process, which could be only partially controlled through the learning process. Critical thinking is an important element of nursing. In the literature, emphasis is given on critical thinking as a vital skill of nurses. In this context, most studies published in this field promote the idea that critical thinking should be an indispensable part of education in nursing. The specific issue is explored in the two studies analyzed in this paper. In the first of these studies, the study of Raymond-Seniuk & McGrath (2011) emphasis is given on the philosophical perspectives of critical thinking, especially in regard to nursing (Raymond-Seniuk & McGrath 2011, p.45). The specific study presents a series of definitions of critical thinking, aiming to show the potential role of critical thinking in nursing. At the same time, a comparative analysis is provided between critical thinking and certain philosophical concepts, such as person, knowledge and truth (Raymond-Seniuk & McGrath 2011, p.47-48). The above study aims to show the relationship between nursing and critical th inking especially in regard to the following issue: whether critical thinking in nursing can be taught or not. On the other hand, the study of Wang & Liao (2012) presents a critical example of the incorporation of critical thinking in nursing education: reference is made to the communication skills incorporated in the English communication classes of baccalaureate nursing students’ (Wang & Liao 2012,

Cultural Relativism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Relativism - Essay Example For example, it is considered morally wrong for a Muslim to eat pork while for person from another religion, eating pork has no negative impact on his/her morals. Cultural diversity is the variety of cultures globally and locally too. The different ways in which people dress, their religion and also their morality brings about cultural diversity. Respect for cultural diversity is when other people do not interfere or judge people from different ethnic backgrounds as theirs, or when they fail to understand why other peopled do what they do. As opposed to cultural relativism where different societies practice what they want, respect for cultural diversity is what makes people live cohesively without disagreements or other people thinking that they are better off than others. Respect for cultural diversity is the understanding and acceptance that we are all different in one way or another, while cultural relativism shows how different we all are and this concept allows for people to hav e different opinions on the different cultures as best suits them. The concept of the moral community is described as people of the same moral backgrounds drawn together by similar philosophies. They are mostly associated with having a particular religion. Christians, Muslims and Jews are examples of moral communities. Marginalized groups, from a moral community perspective, refer to the minority members of other religions, such as Muslims is the U.S. Having a smaller number in comparison to the number of Christians in the United States, they are considered as a marginalized group or as groups on the fringe of the moral community. A moral community can also be defined by lines such as people of the same race, color, family members and same social class. The concept of the moral community has led to the continual and increased misunderstanding of the other religions that are minorities. This is because of the failure to stop marginalizing them, for instance, jihad, a Muslim term, mea ning the Holy War, is a largely misunderstood term that has led to the belief that all Muslims are terrorists. This has also brought about racism; this refers to when people of different races from ours are mistreated and discriminated against. The moral community of the United States is subject to opinion. Most People in the center fringes, in the U.S, are trying to break the boundaries in order to accommodate those between the center and the fringes. Moral communities are beginning to diversify for example in the U.S, people are no longer discriminated against because of their ethnicity, and an example is the voting in of a black president for a second term, Barrack Obama. People are no longer judged as communities but as individuals, for instance, not all Arabs are terrorists, and as such they are not prejudiced against in most cases. This is an improvement since the 9/11 attacks. They are beginning to be open to the fact that there is cultural diversity and are learning to respe ct that. Though some people in the center fringes continue to believe in their superiority above the minorities, there is an increase in the number of accommodative Americans, who are respect cultural diversity. Moral communities in the U.S are now being seen to include profession, sexual orientation, immediate family members and also social classes, where the rich rarely or never mingle with the poor. Marginalized groups view cultural relativism as a term that allows for prejudice as well as racism.

Ethical Issues in the Criminal Justice Field (Untruthfullness) Article

Ethical Issues in the Criminal Justice Field (Untruthfullness) - Article Example s; stealing money and/or drugs from drug dealers; selling stolen drugs; protecting drug operations; providing false testimony; and submitting false crime reports† (General Accounting Office, 1998: 8). Between 1993 and 1997, at least half of the law-enforcement personnel convicted of corruption offenses while on duty were led to their actions through drug-related activities. In addition, more than 100 drug-related cases involving police officers are prosecuted within the country every year. Another indication of the widespread problem is found in the fact that all of the nation’s federal drug enforcement agencies have had at least one of its agents implicated in a drug-related offense. Throughout the country, officers have capitulated to the same temptations and potential rewards of the drug market that attracts their criminal counterparts. The ethical cost of this corruption has far-reaching repercussions not only within our law enforcement units, but also in our concept ion of society itself. It seems the causes of police corruption would be fairly easy to explain given the tremendous rewards associated with the drug trade. The financial rewards offered by the sales of illegal drugs in relation to other forms of income are enormous. This temptation comes on top of an increasing sense of frustration among law enforcement officers realizing the futility of their efforts as the number of drug traffickers continues to grow. This is also exacerbated by a society that has come to value material wealth much more than personal integrity or honorable behavior. The War on Drugs has been officially declared for 30 years now, resulting in the incarceration and prosecution of millions of people, but there has been no discernable positive effect. Drugs are now more available, cheaper and often more potent than ever before. Disheartened police officers often put their lives in jeopardy daily to fight against drugs, but must also deal with being under-paid and

General Motors Essay Example for Free

General Motors Essay A car for every purse and purpose – Alfred P Sloan Jr, Former President CEO General Motors. General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 205,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 157 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 31 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Italy. Company History: General Motors was founded on Wednesday, September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick by William C. Durant. Durant started acquiring many companies like Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Cartercar, Elmore, Ewing, Pontiac etc. Durant lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers trust, due to the large amount of debt (around $1 million) taken on in its acquisitions. Durant left the firm and co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company in 1911 with Louis Chevrolet. After a brilliant stock buy back campaign, he returned to head GM in 1916. GM surpassed Ford Motor Company in sales in the late 1920s thanks to the leadership of Alfred P. Sloan. Sloan was inventing new ways of managing a complex worldwide organization, while paying special attention to consumer demands. Car buyers no longer wanted the cheapest and most basic model; they wanted style, power, and prestige, which GM offered them. During the 1920s and 1930s, General Motors assumed control of the Yellow Coach bus company, and helped create Greyhound bus lines. They replaced intercity train transport with buses. GM needs a sense of urgency regarding revising a strategic plan that incorporates the next generation of vehicles. In today’s global economy and highly competitive auto industry GM has no time to procrastinate. As stated, GM has just too much at risk in not becoming an industry leader in alternative fuel technology. Fuel-economy legislation is sparking the race. This is a critical time in auto industry with many threats, but opportunities as well. The next several years will redefine GM. Vision Statement The GM vision is as follows: GM’s vision is to be the world leader in transportation products and related services. GM will earn our customers’ enthusiasm through continuous improvement driven by the integrity, teamwork, and innovation of GM people. The proposed new vision for GM is as follows: For GM to become the automotive industry leader in alternative fueled vehicles and providing superior quality products that global consumers call to mind when they think of quality and innovation. My vision for GM is to be the industry leader in innovation, and where all other industry competition strives to imitate. Mission Statement The current GM mission statements are as follows: Drive improvements in market share, revenue, brands, people, responsiveness, and cost effectiveness through the implementation of global common metrics and best practice sharing. The new proposed mission statement will be as follows: GM will become an industry leader, not a follower. To regain lost market share that was lost to foreign competition, and once again be the auto industry leader in sales and market share in today’s global market. Values Statement The auto industry just like the global economy is going through tremendous change, due to rising fuel prices, and environmental worries, such as global warming. GM must use these threats as opportunities, and take advantage of changing consumer buying habits. GM needs to change consumer perception of the company, from a dull, poor quality, vehicles to innovative, quality, and environmentally friendly company. To do this GM must portray an image that states that GM values what the consumer wants and what the environment needs. Listen to what consumers are saying directly and indirectly about GM’s current products, and create innovative, green, vehicles that turn consumers into customers. At the same time provide GM stakeholders pride and financial incentives to remain with GM. Environmental Analysis GM and the entire auto industry are currently challenged with the perfect storm. The auto industry is being hit by a weak US and global economy, rising fuel prices, and social and political environmental concerns and issues. In order to overcome these potential threat, GM should consider mass producing a range of alternative fueled vehicles, i. e. fuel cell, electric, and hybrid. SWOT Analysis Strengths 1. Large Market Share Although GMs market share in the US has dropped it is still very much competitive at 26 percent. They also have an increasing share in the Chinese market. With the right decisions there is no reason for GM to not become the automotive leader it once was. . Global Experience As explained above even with GMs recent decline they still have the market share and the experience to bounce back. They have been a worldwide company for nearly a century now and have established themselves as the global leader for most of them. If you recall I mentioned above that a current opportunity for GM is to expand globally and as we can see they already have the experience to do so. It is just a matter of the correct planning and proper implementation of those plans that will decided whether or not GMs goals are achieved. 3. Variety of Brand Names GM as I mentioned has been the automotive leader for the majority of the last century. A large reason for that is the wide variety of quality brand names that appeal to all target markets. The current GM brands include: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Saab, Daewoo, Opel, and Holden. 4. GMAC Customer Financing Program Since its establishment in 1919 it has proven to be GMs most reliable source of revenue. 5. OnStar Satellite Technology Developed in 1996 OnStar currently has over 3 million subscribers and is standard on all GM vehicles. This technology allows the vehicles to be tracked in the event of an emergency or theft. It also allows the driver and or passengers the ability to communicate with OnStar personnel at the click of a button. Weaknesses 1. Behind on Alternative Energy Movement This is GMs biggest weakness. The alternative energy/hybrid trend has begun to take place in the automotive industry and GM has been one step behind the competition in terms of alternative energy vehicles. This has led to many problems including loss of market share and a decrease in company profit. In order for any automotive company to be successful from this point forward they must be Hybrid friendly and fuel efficient. 2. Poor Organizational Structure As we can see in exhibit 1 of the case GMs organizational structure seems to be too vertically integrated. This causes a lack of communication between employees from top to bottom and may have played a part in GM falling behind on the alternative energy movement. 3. Stagnant Profitability Looking at GMs profit we see that they are certainly struggling with respect to the size of their company. Their profit margin was about 1. 5% and the ROE has dramatically decreased over the recent years dropping to 10% in 2004. This is a situation that shareholders will not be pleased with. 4. Overly Dependent on US market GM has become too dependent on the US market and must take advantage of the opportunity to expand globally. The competition is becoming too strong to focus on just one country. 5. Overly Dependent on General Motors Acceptance Corporation(GMAC) Financing GM has become too dependent on its financing program. Granted it is a great strength for GM, however they once again cannot rely solely on financing in order to turn profit, especially if they want to compete with Honda and Toyota who are rapidly growing. 6. Poor Credit Status GMs credit status has like everything else has been steadily declining. Their current ratio is just barely above 1 and their acid test is even lower. Although, I dont see them getting denied based on their credit at this point, the seriousness of the matter is certainly apparent. Opportunities 1. Alternative Energy movement It is obvious that GM was behind its competition with regards to the research and development of hybrid vehicles. However hybrid technology is still very much new giving GM the opportunity to once again become the automotive industrys leader in innovation and technology. 2. Continuing to Expand Globally. Recently GM saw an increase in the Chinese automotive market, which proves their needs to be more emphasis put on foreign markets. If GM can infiltrate these markets and successfully grow along with their continuing focus on the US market they will be headed in a positive direction. . Low Interest Rates With the right marketing strategy the low interest rates have the potential to generate an immediate increase in sales. 4. Develop New Vehicle Styles and Models This is an opportunity that will never be satisfied, meaning that GM should always be attempting to develop the automotive worlds most popular vehicles, and as we know, what is in today will be out tomorrow. Threats 1. Rising Fuel Prices With GM being a large producer in both trucks and SUVs, sales have drastically decreased due to the lack of fuel efficiency. The rise in fuel prices has played a significant role in creating the opportunity for development of both hybrid and more fuel efficient vehicles. As you will find with most threats, an equal opportunity will usually emerge as is the case here with GMs opportunity mentioned above. 2. Growth of Competitors GM no longer has the luxury of being the known leader in the automotive industry and faces the reality that they are in serious trouble. As I mentioned earlier Toyota took the first step in the direction of hybrid echnology and has since drastically grown and become the questionable automotive frontrunner to start the 21st century. 3. Pension Payouts. Part of this threat is their own doing and the other is simply unavoidable. GM is responsible for providing generous pension benefits to its employees, which at the time seemed like a great idea, however they are now experiencing problems as more and more people begin to collect. 4. Increased Health Care Costs GM, like many large compa nies with quality employee health care benefits, is experiencing a large financial hit that only gets worse as time continues. . Rising Supply Costs, i. e. Steel Once again this threat affects the entire automotive industry and forces each company to cut manufacturing and production costs as much as possible, without taking away from the quality of the product. Core Competence The core competence of General Motors is innovation. This is the driving force behind its $190 above turnover. General Motors has been utilizing innovation in service ad technology to secure itself a dominant position in the automobile industry, since 1908. In 1911, it conceptualized, engineered and commercialized the self-starter engine for the first time. Then in 1926, its product Cadillac was the pioneer in devising a nationwide service strategy. In 1996 General Motors introduced OnStar satellite technology which allows equipped vehicles to be tracked in case of an emergency or theft and allows the passengers to communicate with OnStar personnel. Other new car concepts include minicars such as Chevy Aveo. However in the case of hybrid vehicles, General Motors was unable to keep up to the pace of the market demand.

Multiple Intelligences Theory Mi Was Developed Education Essay

Multiple Intelligences Theory Mi Was Developed Education Essay Multiple Intelligences Theory was developed by Howard Gardner in 1983 which suggests that all humans understand and perceive the world in different ways (Learning-Theories.com 2007-2013). Howard described them as seven   intelligences which are Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Visual-Spatial, Body-Kinesthetic, Musical-Rhythmic, Interpersonal (insight, metacognition) and Intrapersonal (social skills). The theory of multiple intelligences applies to all ages. This theory defines human nature from a cognitive perspective i.e. all humans have personal styles and preferences to learn and develop and implies that people have preferred learning styles, behavioural and working styles. Therefore teaching strategies, learning resources and activities should appeal to different types of intelligence learners represent and should encourage learners to use their preferred intelligences in learning (instructionaldesign.org, Multiple Intelligences (H. Gardner) . This theory implies that we are all intelligent in different ways and any individual may possess one type of intelligence and a mixture of intelligences. From the teachers point of view, all learners have their own strengths and weaknesses, so teaching, designed and planned according to their strengths and preferences, will not only stimulate their development but also build their confidence. Teaching learners with a mixture of intelligence types can be hugely challenging. All learners have different levels of abilities and potential and it is vital to address the multiple intelligences of the learners in order to help them develop and fulfil their potential. Logical -Mathematical  learners like reasoning, calculating whereas visual-spatial learners think in terms of physical space and enjoy illustrations and pictures. They are very conscious of their environments. Bodily-kinesthetic  learners learn best through movement and like making things, touching and role play. Interpersonal  learners like interacting with others and learn best through cooperative activities whereas Intrapersonal  learners are independent and understand ones own interests and goals. They understand their inner feelings; intuition and motivation, confidence and opinions. According to Gardner, verbal-linguistic learners enjoy expressing themselves orally and in writing. They often think in words and like reading, playing word games, making up stories etc. It can be very challenging to teach and satisfy different types of learning styles. The important thing is for teachers to understand that all learners have different ways of learning and doing things and therefore need classroom activities and techniques which appeal to their intelligence type. I strongly feel that a careful selection and use of classroom activities that cater for different types of intelligence profiles of the learners can encourage learning and at the same time provide meaningful and enjoyable learning environment. teaching strategies Gardners theory of multiple intelligences claims that there are numerous ways in which people learn to gain knowledge and understand the universe. Reber (1995) defines a cognitive style as the characteristic style or manner in which cognitive tasks are approached or handled. Thus an individuals cognitive style reflects his or her preferred manner of perceiving, remembering and thinking (TPPEL Reading 3.1 Individual differences and Learning). This theory identifies seven different ways in which a student might learn and provides some ideas on how to apply multiple intelligences to ESOL learners so that teaching methods appeal to their intelligence type and they all have the same opportunity to learn and develop. This theory can be applied to teaching ESL students because they all have their own preferred way of learning that is determined by their cultural and educational background and their personalities.  In order to apply this theory to ESL students, you need to observe and communicate effectively with your students to determine their types of intelligences because each intelligence also identifies a specific learning style which can help you choose appropriate teaching methods and plan effectively to reflect different intelligences in your classroom. Teaching strategies to meet multiple intelligences should include a variety of teaching strategies. Independent and group work provides opportunities to respond to different intelligence types and enhance learning because some students might be strong in interpersonal intelligence whereas others in intrapersonal intelligence. Group work providing body movement activities also helps bodily-kinaesthetic students. Effective planning should incorporate multiple intelligences teaching methods as some students might learn through more than one. For example, a student who is strongly verbal-linguistic might also have strong visual-spatial and interpersonal intelligences. Effective way to implement teaching methods (e.g. a lesson on job interview) to cater for these multiple intelligences can include some vocabulary (linguistic learner) or a video clip (visual-spatial) and a job interview role-play (interpersonal). Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence learners like working with their hands and cant sit still for long time. Teaching method should combine body movement activities with linguistic activities. Total Physical Response is a good method for them. They remember material best if they act it out. Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence learners learn through using language effectively both in speaking and writing. They enjoy expressing themselves orally and in writing and doing different kinds of word games. Teaching method should focus on using language which should include reading a text or a book aloud or tell a story, debate a current issue. The Language Experience Approach (LEA) will be good for teaching reading skills. These students will also benefit from whole language approaches to reading. The Interpersonal Intelligence learners like group activities. They like talking to other people or like teaching people what they know. Teaching method should focus on cooperative learning strategies allowing students to work with others to carry out the tasks and complete activities. The Intrapersonal Intelligence learners prefer to work individually, therefore teaching method should focus on providing independent tasks and activities. Visual-Spatial Intelligence learners like drawing, r eading books that have lots of illustrations, doing puzzles and mazes. visual clues can help them to remember language. There are a variety of teaching strategies that can be used to improve learning.   Creating intelligence-based lessons can help all students to understand and develop their abilities and strengths as well as work on their weaknesses. This will build their confidence and boost their achievement. It is very important for teachers to adapt lessons to meet and develop different intelligences in the classroom to enhance learning and facilitate second language learning. resources, The theory of multiple intelligences claims that we are all different in the ways we understand and perceive the world. Although it will be difficult to incorporate all intelligences into one lesson, I would try to integrate resources and materials which will allow students to work according to their multiple intelligences as much as possible. Careful selection and design of suitable resources is important for making sure that each intelligence learning style is addressed at some point. Below are some suggestions for working with different intelligence types in adult ESL classroom which are organized by multiple intelligences (Alan Chapman 2003-2012). Language exercises respond to linguistic, intrapersonal and also interpersonal learners. Verbal-Linguistic learners learn best through   reading and writing and enjoy telling stories and thinking in words. Basically they learn effectively through using words i.e. hearing and seeing words and also enjoy talking, so learning activities could include debates, discussions, role play, reading and writing tasks, word games and crosswords. Other suitable activities could be oral presentations, writing letters, stories or instructions. Visual-Spatial learners enjoy learning by looking at pictures, flashcards. They learn best through   working with pictures, colours and visualizing. Use of videos, visualization (posters, leaflets), colours, jigsaw puzzles and text with illustrations would be effective. Bodily-Kinaesthetic learners like to move around and act things out. They are tactile i.e. they learn by touching and manipulating objects. Learning activities could include role play, hands-on experience, construct human sentences to practice punctuation or word order, playing board games and following instructions to make something. Interpersonal learners are intuitive and are strong in understanding people, leading and organizing groups, communicating and persuading. They learns best by   working with others, socialising, sharing, comparing, and interviewing. Activities and resources such as co-operative tasks, group projects, interviewing, role play will build interactions amongst learners and therefore promote a sense of sharing and interaction. Peer coaching and discussions or debates will also work well with these learners. Intrapersonal learners are logical and strong in understanding self, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, setting goals. Intrapersonal learners enjoy working alone and like to pursue their own interests independently, therefore effective learning resources and activities would be making a diary, listening to audio tapes, independent reading or research. For example, a lesson on healthy eating including resources such as whiteboard, smartboard, picture and word cards, word search or cross, online self-assessment questionnaires, PowerPoint presentation, Internet for search and word processor for typing, leaflets or posters etc can respond to multiple intelligences in your classroom. Activities in this lesson can be surveys, interviewing, matching, Find Someone Who, making a poster, reading a leaflet or a text in silence or aloud, making a list in groups or individually, write about own eating habits, express likes and dislikes etc. and they can develop different types of intelligences of your learners: verbal-linguistic, naturalistic, visual-spatial, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal. As a teacher, I think of my learners as individuals who represent many different ways of understanding, learning and developing skills and therefore need different types of classroom activities and approaches. Awareness of their abilities, strengths and weaknesses, styles and preferences will help you determine different intelligences you have in your classroom and plan teaching and learning resources based on the preferred multiple intelligence learning styles. Accommodating multiple intelligences of your ESL students in the selection and design of resources will significantly affect students learning and success. Choice of assessment methods Gardners theory (1985) proposes that all humans possess many different ways of knowing, understanding, and learning about our world. As a teacher, it is important for me to be aware of how my learners learn and develop skills according to their intelligence. My students demonstrates so many different individual strengths and weaknesses. MI theory offers teachers many suggestions to examine their assessment techniques in the light of intelligence differences. The teacher needs to develop different assessment techniques to address different intelligences   and focus on the type of intelligences being developed in the lesson. Pen-and-paper assessment methods work well the linguistic intelligence whereas survey or interview responds to the bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence as well as the interpersonal intelligence.  Mostly assessment tasks include quizzes, reading comprehensions, and writing tasks, which work best with verbal-linguistic learners. I use open questions frequently to check learners understanding which, I feel, is a very effective method of assessment. When my students are working in small groups, I ask each member of the group a different question or ask them to comment or explain the answers given by others. To address different learning styles, its important to ask different  types  of questions. A  comprehension question  can be used to assess Intrapersonal or verbal-linguistic learners to write a short text about a familiar topic or do a reading comprehension. To assess bodily-kinaesthetic learners, I might ask the student to stand up and interview other learners, describe a picture either verbally or in writing (visual-spatial), How can you ..? (Intrapersonal learners). Asking different kinds of questions allows students to express themselves and demonstrate their learning in their preferred way. Varying questioning techniques helps me to cater for various types of intelligences, because each student has individual way of learning and developing skills. I ensure that all the students have the opportunity to answer a different type  of question. In order to support multiple intelligences and different learning styles in the classroom, its important to incorporate written assessment like tests and homework and it contributes towards making your classroom friendly for all types of learners. How can you tell if your students really understand? (Maggie Meyer and Jenna Glock, 2004) Howard Gardners MI theory offers some useful suggestions in designing our lessons and assessments based on the multiple intelligences so that all students have the opportunity to learn, succeed and demonstrate achievement. When students have choices in ways to demonstrate their understanding, the evidence is more accurate. Students can choose from a variety of ways, designed by implementing the multiple intelligences, to demonstrate their understanding of learning outcomes. Many teachers use true/ false, multiple choice, and short answer tests to assess students knowledge and skills but they do not really give an accurate evidence of what students have learnt and whether they can reflect their learning and knowledge in practical ways. Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences proposes that each student has his or her own intellectual, strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, many different types of intelligences and learning styles can be found within a classroom and in order to get an accurate picture of the students strengths and weaknesses, appropriate assessment methods should be used. Therefore, it is important to have an intelligence profile for each student which will enable the teacher to employ appropriate methods of assessment. Traditional tests (e.g., multiple choice, comprehension text or writing tasks) do not allow students to show their knowledge in their own ways. Students should be given opportunities based on Multiple Intelligences to demonstrate their understanding and knowledge in their own preferred ways. Assessment methods might include presentations, independent work, group discussions / projects, peer assessment, sequencing, matching and tasks involving use of ICT. Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences implies that students may be weak in one area but they may be strong in other areas. Teachers should be aware of the great diversity in the intelligence types and learning styles of the students which could be influenced by their social, economic, cultural and educational background and can have a significant effect on students learning process. I feel that assessing learning, taking into consideration different intelligences, helps students to successfully participate in classroom learning. inclusive learning Howard Gardners multiple intelligences theory assesses seven different types of intelligence which indicate that people have their own individual way of understanding, learning, performing and developing skills. These intelligences are verbal/Linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, music/rhythmic, body/kinaesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Gardner suggests that all of the intelligences must be addressed in teaching in order for learning to be effective but it can be difficult to apply this in every lesson. Nevertheless, the teachers should try to address these intelligences as much as possible. The teacher should be aware of the fact that all students are unique and have their own individual abilities, interests, characteristics and strengths. Understanding students will enhance their progress considerably. Gardners theory of multiple intelligences offers useful ideas to address a range of intelligences and styles. Teachers need to take into account a wide range of learners in their planning to ensure inclusive learning environment. Therefore, teaching strategies and learning materials need to be matched with individual students intelligence type. First of all, as a teacher, you identify your students strengths and weaknesses and their personal way of learning i.e. learners with leadership qualities, logical thinking and intuitive, sociable, inquisitive learners etc. Questionnaires can provide useful information about multiple intelligences in your classroom. Structured planning should include a variety of ways to present materials (visual, multimedia), incorporate peer and group work, real-life situations activities, access to technology providing a range of opportunities for students to demonstrate learning. Including a variety of approaches to teaching and learning can make a significant difference to learning environment enabling different types of learners to successfully engage in their learning and the process of learning becomes more inclusive which supports widening participation and increases achievement. Individual differences and needs of students should reflect in teaching instruction and learning activities and must be relevant, challenging, meaningful and engaging. The following suggestions include presenting material in different format and styles. For example, for a spelling activity in an ESOL Entry 1 class, students may choose to write the missing letters, label the pictures, write the words, use letters to make the words, spell words in a team or individually. Such activities take into consideration multiple intelligences and learning styles. This allows students to use their own strengths. Another example include a reading activity, for which students can read on their own/aloud, re-tell the story, answer the questions individually or in a team, sort out the story in the correct order or match text with the illustrations. A learner-centred approach responds well to cater for diversity in the students as all students do not learn in the same way i.e. bodily-kinaesthetic learner prefers learning through touch/movement and hands-on learning is important for them. A visual learner, on the other hand, would prefer to see information in images or pictures. Interpersonal learners enjoy interacting with others, therefore, they work best in groups and through discussion with others. These learners can work equally well in groups or on their own whereas intrapersonal learners prefer to solve problems independently. It is crucial to provide materials and activities that address the multiple learning styles and enable students to make choices because students come from a variety of ethnic, cultural, social and educational backgrounds. Teachers can improve the learning environment for their students by planning tasks so that different intelligences are catered for. The possible impact on the progress and achievement of learners. (Workshop: Tapping into Multiple Intelligences) Applying Gardners MI theory helps students learn better because they realise and understand how they are intelligent. In Gardners view, learning is both a social and psychological process. When students understand the balance of their own multiple intelligences they begin to manage their own learning and to value their individual strengths. Teachers understand how students are intelligent as well as how intelligent they are. Awareness of students strengths in particular intelligence will help the teacher to plan opportunities for the students to have choices to work in their preferred way. Howard Gardners Theory of multiple intelligences proposes people develop different intelligences which influence their way of thinking and learning. It is important for the teacher to identify individual differences (strengths, preferences, and abilities) through careful observation and plan instruction, focused on multiple intelligences, to provide opportunities for students to experience and work with different kinds of material in different ways. Fostering different types of intelligences will make learning environment interesting, meaningful and engaging for all students. Using multiple intelligence teaching techniques increases student motivation, enhances learning and therefore, raises students achievement. The activities which allow students to learn in their preferred ways increases their self esteem as well as achievement. For example, verbal/linguistic students can be given activities including discussion, presentation , communication, proofreading, listening, creative writing and reading aloud whereas students who are body/kinaesthetic, can be given hands on experiments activities, role-plays and interview activities involving room arrangement and cooperative groups activities. Cooperative and leading a group discussion learning activities work well with interpersonal students whereas independent work which involves focus and concentration skills responds well to intrapersonal students. The aim of multiple intelligences based activities is to enable students to realise their learning potential and build on their strengths, so that students stay motivated and feel successful in their learning. (2000 words) Task 2 The class I observed was ESOL Entry 1 which had a very mixed group of students. The class consisted of 15 students between the ages of 25 and 65. 60% percent of students were Muslim from different nationalities- India, Iraq Kurds, Afghanistan and Somalia including 3 Gujarati learners and 1 Sikh learner. There was a great diversity in their educational and employment backgrounds. Most of them were unemployed but looking for work. There was a mix of men (6) and women (9). Some had spent 20 or more years in the UK and some came recently. Some have had no education in their countries of origin, some have never worked and some have had work experience in their native countries and also in the UK. One thing they all have in common is the need and desire to be able to communicate effectively in day to day life situations. However, they have very diverse levels of English language abilities and therefore have diverse learning goals. Before the observation, I talked with the teacher about her students and the things I would focus on. The topic of the lesson was job interviews to prepare students for the forthcoming speaking and listening exam as well as provide experience for real life situations. During my observation, my focus was on communication in the classroom. It was very interesting to see a very high level of interaction amongst the students and how everyone seemed so motivated and actively engaged in learning. When I entered the classroom, the teacher introduced me and then teacher began the lesson with showing some pictures and PowerPoint slides of job interview. To introduce the topic, the teacher asked learners some questions which they discussed with each other and in groups. The teacher asked the students to predict what they were going to learn which promoted student engagement as well as thought. While the teacher was introducing new vocabulary, all students were listening attentively. Some students had very limited knowledge of English, nevertheless it was amazing to see them enjoying their learning experience. Stimulating real life situations were created by making interview panels and swapping their roles as an interviewee and an interviewer. Learners had choices to pick their roles and were left free to experience the target language. The teacher used communicative language approach, pair-work and group work appropriately. Job interview role-play activity helped the less motivated learners to participate. I noticed that there were two students who were not very talkative, but they still participated and expressed themselves really well. All students in class were very motivated to learn English. The students very respectfully listened to the teacher and peers. All the students seemed to get along very well. Seating arrangement was adjusted according to the activities and the flexibility of the room space and it was apparently very relaxing, pleasant and safe Tables were organized in U shape for students to see the video of the job interview and listen to the teachers instructions. Tables were also moved and arranged for group work which encouraged students to participate in discussion. I was impressed with the teachers non-verbal communication techniques. He used gestures and facial expressions for his instructions and explanations. The teachers moved around the classroom to monitor and observe the groups during the activities. The teacher demonstrated interview skills rather than explaining and repeated if needed. His voice and tone was audible. He maintained eye contact while explaining and listening to students. He used gestures, eye contact and facial expressions such as smiling face to communicate with the learners and convey the messages. Different questioning techniques were used to check understanding and learning. Open-ended questions were used allowing students to discuss in groups, compare their answers and comment on the answers given by other learners or groups. The teacher aimed questions at each student. Some of the questions were what do you tell about you in the interview?, What things should you do or avoid during the interview? What do they ask y ou in the interview? What are strengths? etc. It was clear that the students felt very comfortable with each other and the teacher. The teacher used humorous strategies, a variety of visuals and activities to make the class lively and fun. All 4 skills were integrated i.e., reading, writing, speaking and listening. The teacher was very careful not to dominate the discussions or speaking, but rather gave the students opportunities to speak and practice their communication skills. Visual aids included question cards/answer cards, video, smart board, whiteboard. These visual aids were used effectively to present the topic and as part of language practice. Matching (Q/A) cards were used to reinforce learning and allow students to physically interact with each other. Video of job interview helped student to learn some important skills including body language and gestures. Listening to each other, to the teacher and watching the video improved their listening ability. Worksheets and the handouts were prepared taking into consideration the diverse range of learners, the individual needs of the learner (large print, colo urs, pictures and laminated). The teacher was careful about grouping the students as he did not want to have students working with students who spoke the same language or at the same ability. He had to stop two of the Kurdish students interact with one another in their own language. It was very interesting to watch the students work together and help each other. It showed that the students were very respectful and supportive of each other. On the whole the content and the function of talk were benefitting them. Task 3 As a teacher, I ensure that my teaching methods and learning resources match students preferred learning styles and intelligences. I strongly feel that choice and variety increases self esteem and motivation which has a very positive effect on learning. I believe that if learning is interesting, meaningful and successful, it establishes good relationship between the teacher and the student. From my experience and careful observation, I have identified many different types of intelligences and preferred learning styles of my students and in order to maintain students motivation to learn and achieve, I implement different approaches to teaching and a variety of activities and resources in my planning. (Gà ¶khan Bas, May 2008) As Gardner (1993) suggests, there are several kinds of intelligence in which people understand, learn and develop skills. The theory of Multiple Intelligences offers eight ways of teaching and learning styles. In this regard, teachers can ensure they provide enou gh variety in the activities they use so that as much of their pupils learning potential can be tapped as possible (Berman, 1998). Most of the students strive to improve their oral communication skills to enable them to improve their employment prospects and to cope with day to day life situations. One of the teaching methods, I use to provide students with the opportunities to improve their communication competence, is Communicative Language approach. As a teacher, I am very aware of my own body language as well as students and I often use eye contact, smile, move around to communicate and convey messages to students. Although I use a variety of questioning techniques and also let students to practice questioning skills, I feel that I need to explore more ways of assessing learning using levelled questions such as knowledge, comprehension and application questions as suggested by Reece and Walker (2003). Id also like to develop and explore more ways of getting student feedback. In order to develop my own practice, I would like to do more reading and attend staff development sessions such as teaching and learnin g master class sessions. I intend to read a book by Susan Wallace, Teaching and Supporting Learning in Further Education 2001.

Triage Tool for Sepsis Recognition

Triage Tool for Sepsis Recognition â€Å"Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection.   Sepsis and septic shock are major healthcare problems, affecting millions of people around the world each year.   Early identification and appropriate management in the initial hours after sepsis develops improves outcomes,† (Rhodes, et al., 2017). According to the National Institute of Health Statistics, more than a million Americans develop severe sepsis every year.   Between 28 and 50 percent of these people die.   This high mortality rate creates a clinical problem and generates interest in improving the care of septic patients. The systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria served as the original definition of sepsis.   SIRS definition contains two or more of the following: temperature greater than 38 degrees Celsius or less than 36 degrees Celsius, heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute, respiratory rate greater than 20 breaths per minutes or PaCO2 less than 32mmHg, and white blood cell count greater than 12,000/mm3 or less than 4,000/mm3 or greater than 10% immature bands.   Another tool to identify organ dysfunction is the quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA). Two points is a positive qSOFA, with increasing points patient outcomes are associated with higher mortality rates (Bhattacharjee, Edelson, & Churpek, 2017). Quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) criteria contains: respiratory rate greater than or equal to 22 breaths per minutes, altered mentation, and systolic blood pressure less than 100mmHg. These two, SIRS and qSOFA, are sepsis recognition tools. Emergency departments play a vital role in identifying, treating, and managing septic patients.   The problem with SIRS criteria as a screening tool for sepsis is patients presenting to an emergency department do not have these laboratory tests, white blood cell and PaCO2, drawn hours prior to arrival.   This is one component that cannot be incorporated into a triage screening tool but updated throughout the stay in an emergency department.   Unless two other vital signs are abnormal there is potential to fail at recognizing a septic patient initially presenting to an emergency department.   Similarly, the qSOFA criteria has shown high specificity to sepsis and poorer outcomes (Bhattacharjee, Edelson, & Churpek, 2017). Sepsis recognition is not enough to decrease risk of mortality in septic patients. Kumar, et al. (2006) discovered an association between effective antimicrobial administration within the first hour of documented hypotension increased survival in adults with septic shock. The 2016 International Sepsis Guidelines strongly recommends administration of IV antimicrobials initiation within one hour of sepsis recognition. The best way to improve patient outcomes for septic patients is to identify those with sepsis. The second way is to manage the septic patient, which includes initiation of antibiotics. To assess this clinical problem, the PICO question formulated is, in adult septic patients, how does a sepsis triage screening tool based on qSOFA, compared to the current 2+SIRS criteria, affect door to antibiotic time? Methods An electronic literature search was conducted using the CINAHL database. The search included 4 keywords: sepsis, antibiotic administration, SIRS, and qSOFA. All searches conducted were restricted to adults, 2010-2017-time frame, and articles in English. My first search resulted in 3,527 articles. A focus on articles that used SIRS or qSOFA for identification took priority. These terms, SIRS and qSOFA, were searched title specific.   This resulted in a final 289 articles. A secondary electronic literature search with the keyword of ‘nursing intervention and sepsis’ showed a few hundred articles. The research question was assessed using four journal articles that were peer reviewed. The independent variables were qSOFA and SIRS. Summary of Evidence Tromp, Hulscher, Bleeker-Rovers et al. (2010) researched the effects of a nurse driven implementation of a sepsis protocol care bundle. A prospective before and after intervention study at an emergency department of a university hospital in the Netherlands was conducted using three different five month increments. Period 1, July 1, 2006 – November 6, 2006, occurred before introducing the new care bundle based sepsis protocol. Period 2, November 6, 2006 – June 25, 2007, occurred after the sepsis protocol was put into place and before training. Period 3, June 25, 2007 – October 1, 2007, was after training and performance feedback. The sepsis care bundle consisted of seven elements. Six elements were required, the seventh was not required unless the patient was hypotensive or had an elevated serum lactate. The bundle included: measuring serum lactate concentration within six hours, obtaining two blood cultures before starting antibiotics, taking a chest radiograph, taking a urine sample for urinalysis and culture, starting antibiotics within three hours, hospitalize or discharge the patient within three hours, and volume resuscitation for serum lactate >4.0mmol/L or hypotension. The researchers used 2+ SIRS criteria to identify septic patients entering the emergency department. The sample size included 825 people, 16 years of age or older (Tromp, Hulscher, Bleeker-Rovers et al., 2010). The findings showed that implementing a nurse-driven sepsis care bundle provided an increase in early recognition of sepsis in patients presenting to the emergency department. Additionally, when staff received education and training on this intervention, compliance to the bundle improved early recognition and treatment of patients with sepsis. Compliance to the complete sepsis care bundle increased from 3.5% to 12.4%. This study measured antibiotics started within three hours after staff training. Antibiotic administration increased from which increased from 38% to 56%. These results are statistically and clinically significant. Evidence exists that delay in care for septic patients leads to worse outcomes (Bhattacharjee, Edelson, & Churpek, 2017). This intervention study provides level IV (Melnyk & Fineout-Overhold, 2015) evidence for an increased compliance to implementing a sepsis care bundle after training. Some limitations to the study include that is was an uncontrolled study at a single center and only one year in length. Having a broader understanding of this disease across multiple countries and over extended periods of time would improve the validity of the results. Strengths of this study include the large sample size, nurse driven implementation, and SIRS criteria for sepsis screening. Another strength is that this study, like other studies, reveal education improves sepsis recognition and sepsis care. From this study, it can be determined that the training and implementation of a sepsis care bundle increases sepsis recognition and improves adherence to the bundle, improving patient outcomes. Yousefi, Nahidian, and Sabouhi (2012) conducted a study to review the effects of an educational program about sepsis care of intensive care unit (ICU) nurses.   This study was a quasi-experimental interventional study with two groups over three time periods: before, immediately after, and three weeks after.   Nurses with a bachelor’s degree or higher level of education and one year ICU experience were included in the study. Infection control committee or members that participated in a similar study were excluded.   The sample size included thirty-two nurses randomly enrolled into each of the test and control groups.   The data collection tool was a four-part questionnaire to measure knowledge, attitude, and practice of ICU nurses.   The results obtained earn Level III evidence (Melnyk & Fineout-Overholt, 2015). The findings revealed there was no significant difference between the control (c) and test (t) groups in terms of age, sex, education, experience, and employment status. Mean scores of knowledge (t=62.5, c=63.7), attitude (t=73, c=72.8), and practice (t=81.8, c=82.2) of ICU nurses in the test and control groups had no significant difference before the intervention. In the test group, attitude (t=79.7, c=73.3) and practice (t=90.5, c=82.2) increased immediately after and attitude (t=83.3, c=73.2) continued to trend up at the three weeks later mark. Education was found to be effective and have a positive impact on attitude, knowledge, and practice on sepsis care of ICU nurses, like other studies. The study did have some limitations which included the ability of the nurses to utilize books, media, and articles on the subject which could influence the study.   This study is limited due to the small sample size.   A larger sample size in various departments and facilities would strengthen the evidence and improve clinical significance. One important thing to consider with this article is that the nurses observed were bachelor’s degree nurses.   Associate degree nurses are the majority of the nursing workforce.   This could be a weakness for the article in that they fail to capture the majority education of nurses. The strength of this study provides evidence supporting training statistically improved levels of attitude, knowledge, and practice of ICU nurses in sepsis care.   Findings of this article are like other studies. Tarrant, O’Donnell, Martin, Bion, Hunter, & Rooney (2016), conducted a qualitative design-grounded theory study using focused ethnography to gain an understanding of the barriers to implementing the sepsis six bundle components within an hour of recognition of sepsis.   Data collection occurred through various ways including: over three hundred hours of observations, 43 staff members interviewed, and shadowing multiple units and staff members across six pilot hospitals in Scotland from March 2013 – May 2014. The results of this study provide Level VI evidence (Melnyk, & Fineout-Overholt, 2015).   The main findings include that the Sepsis Six clinical bundle is not six simple tasks but a series of complex processes. Gaining a better understanding of the problems of interruptions and operational failures that get in the way of task completion is ideal to improve compliance for Sepsis Six within one hour. The researchers suggest focusing on individual behavior change to improve compliance to Sepsis Six with a combination of reducing barriers and challenges in the everyday workflow that are responsible for the delays in Sepsis Six. The research hypothesizes that there would be greater compliance to Sepsis Six within one hour window if the everyday barriers and challenges were reduced. This study is limited to one country, Scotland.   Additionally, the length of study could have missed problems and barriers associated with night shift.   Night shift tends to run with fewer resources and less access to providers. Night shift is also associated with less experience providers. These barriers need to be assessed to gain a better understanding of delays in compliance to sepsis six bundle.   The strengths of this study lie in the qualitative perspective to gain a better understanding of barriers to implementing sepsis six bundle. The study highlights that a focus on education and knowledge of sepsis is not enough, and emphasize the importance to reducing barriers to promote ultimate compliance.   Gunn,  Haigh,  and Thomson (2016) conducted a retrospective study, over a six-month period, on patients presenting to the ED who had a sepsis six form completed.   The emergency department currently uses SIRS criteria to identify septic patients.   The purpose of the study was to determine if qSOFA would reliably identify septic patients within the emergency department population.   The sample size was two hundred patients with sepsis diagnosis.   One hundred and ninety-five were positive for SIRS.   Twenty-nine were positive for qSOFA. SIRS and qSOFA were compared to determine specificity and sensitivity to identifying septic patients. This article is rated Level IV evidence (Melnyk & Fineout-Overhold, 2015).   SIRS had a higher sensitivity at 97%, and a 2.4% specificity. qSOFA showed a 90% specificity and a 48% sensitivity.   SIRS was reliable in identifying sepsis and qSOFA was reliable with detecting those required higher levels of care and mortality. These finding show clinical and statistical significance.   The researchers conclude that SIRS criteria serves as a useful triage tool in identifying septic patients.   The researchers further conclude that once positive SIRS criteria is established qSOFA should be conducted to assess severity and critical care need. Limitations of this study include the sample size, location, and length of time where the study took place.  Ã‚   Increasing the sample size over a longer period of time to gain a broader population would increase the strength of this article.   This study would be strengthened if an observation of a larger sample size took place, over a longer period, and over multiple facilities.   The strength of this study is the results that provide evidence for SIRS criteria as the better septic recognition tool.   The results indicate SIRS is best at identifying sepsis.   These results are statistically and clinically important.   If qSOFA was used instead of SIRS, many people would not have been included in a sepsis workup and could potentially have worse outcomes due to delay in recognition and sepsis care.   From this article, keeping SIRS criteria is vital for sepsis recognition.   However, including a qSOFA could benefit those critically ill in identifying those at higher risk for worse outcomes.   Raith et. al (2017) published a retrospective cohort analysis study on the prognostic accuracy of the SOFA score, SIRS criteria, and a qSOFA within the first 24 hours of admission in discriminating in-hospital mortality among patients with suspected infection admitted to the ICUs. This study began in 2000 and continued to 2015. The sample size included 184,875 adults with infection-related primary admission diagnosis. The study took place in 182 ICUs in Australia and New Zealand. This study was rate a Level IV using Melnyk & Fineout-Overhold, (2015) evidence appraisal guidelines. The results of this study showed SOFA had significantly greater discrimination for in-hospital mortality than SIRS criteria or qSOFA.   A SOFA of 2 or more points showed a 90.1% accuracy in mortality or ICU length of stay of three days or more.   The SIRS score of 2 or more points had a 86.7% accuracy, while a qSOFA score of 2 or more points revealed 54.4% accuracy.   The overall results favored a SOFA score over qSOFA and SIRS, showing greater accuracy for in-hospital mortality.   The strengths of this study include the duration, sample size, and location. Having this much diversity in the study decreases variables or outliers altering results. Additionally, the information gathered utilized a quality-surveillance data collection process reducing bias. One limitation the researchers address is the inability to apply this study to emergency department patients. This study used patients in the ICU. The statistical significance and clinical significance could be applied to an ICU setting, but for the clinical problem stated earlier this would not hold clinical significance in an emergency department setting.   Like the previous study, the use of SOFA in conjunction with SIRS criteria would be beneficial in determining those with greater critical care needs for proper placement and to identify those at higher mortality risk.   Discussion and Conclusions Sepsis is a terrible disease with poor outcomes.   Understanding the best recognition tool and management are key to surviving sepsis.   The overall articles bring collective information on improving sepsis recognition and decreasing door-to-antibiotic time.   The studies described range from Level III to Level VI according to Melnyk and Fineout-Overholt’s (2015) level of evidence guide.   Having meta-analysis, randomized control trials, or even well-designed controlled trials without randomization would increase the validity of the results.   As previously stated, education is found effective in increasing knowledge and recognition on sepsis care.   Implementing an educational program on sepsis recognition and care is clinically significant to improve sepsis outcomes. Education should be incorporated into a sepsis care bundle to improve compliance and sepsis recognition. Additionally, if qSOFA or SOFA were used after SIRS criteria to determine critical care status this would increase results and provide knowledge on patient outcomes. The overall evidence in the studies is not enough to make changes in clinical practice.   There is not enough collective strength of evidence to make a change in clinical practice. However, the articles did support SIRS criteria for greatest sensitivity to sepsis recognition with qSOFA showing higher sensitivity to mortality. The sources of evidence support the continuing use of SIRS criteria for a sepsis triage screening tool. Recognizing sepsis and reducing barriers are key to improving antibiotic administration. The results of the study showed the importance of education and reducing barriers to improving sepsis recognition and management. According to the evidence, SIRS criteria is providing better recognition for sepsis. The evidence leads to septic patients benefiting from an additional screening tool, the qSOFA, if they have 2+ SIRS criteria to rule out higher mortality and critical care needs. Further evidence is needed on qSOFA replacing SIRS for sepsis identification prior to implementing in the clinical setting. It appears most evidence conducted is from retrospective studies. Randomized control trials or meta-analysis would strengthen this claim for SIRS over qSOFA in emergency department triage screening tool for sepsis recognition.   References Bhattacharjee, P., Edelson, D. P., & Churpek, M. M. (2017). Identifying Patients With Sepsis on the Hospital Wards.  Chest,  151(4), 898-907. doi:10.1016/j.chest.2016.06.020 Gunn  N,  Haigh  C,  Thomson  J. (2016) Triage of Sepsis Patients: SIRS or qSOFA – Which is best? Emergency Medicine Journal  ;33:909-910. Kumar, A., Roberts, D., Wood, K. E., Light, B., Parrillo, J. E., Sharma, S., . . . Cheang, M. (2006). Duration of hypotension before initiation of effective antimicrobial therapy is the critical determinant of survival in human septic shock.  Critical Care Medicine,  34(6), 1589-1596. doi:10.1097/01.ccm.0000217961.75225.e9 Rhodes, A., Evans, L. E., Alhazzani, W., Levy, M. M., Antonelli, M., Ferrer, R., . . . Dellinger, R. P. (2017). Surviving Sepsis Campaign.  Critical Care Medicine,  45(3), 486-552. doi:10.1097/ccm.0000000000002255 Melnyk, B. M., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2015).  Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: a guide to best practice. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer. (n.d.). Sepsis Fact Sheet. Retrieved March 22, 2017, from https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/pages/factsheet_sepsis.aspx Raith, E., Udy, A., Bailey, M., Mcgloughlin, S., Macisaac, C., Bellomo, R., & Pilcher, D. V. (2017). Prognostic Accuracy of the SOFA Score, SIRS Criteria, and qSOFA Score for In-Hospital Mortality Among Adults With Suspected Infection Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.  Jama,  317(3), 290. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.20328 Tarrant, C., O’Donnell, B., Martin, G., Bion, J., Hunter, A., & Rooney, K. D. (2016). A complex endeavour: an ethnographic study of the implementation of the Sepsis Six clinical care bundle.  Implementation Science,  11(1). doi:10.1186/s13012-016-0518-z Tromp, M., Hulscher, M., Bleeker-Rovers, C. P., Peters, L., Berg, D. T., Borm, G. F., Pickkers, P. (2010). The role of nurses in the recognition and treatment of patients with sepsis in the emergency department: A prospective before-and-after intervention study.  International Journal of Nursing Studies,  47(12), 1464-1473. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2010.04.007 Yousefi H, Nahidian M, Sabouhi F. Reviewing the effects of an educational program about sepsis care on knowledge, attitude, and practice of nurses in intensive care units. Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research 2012; 17(2): S91-S95.

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By now, R.K Narayan took a turn from his usual way of writing. Moving away from writing books, which were more or less auto-biographical, his exposure to foreign lands would have inspired him to move beyond his world and hone his creativity. Starting right from ‘Mr. Sampath’ (1948) to ‘The Vendor of Sweets’ (1967), this trend was seen in all books written in this period. ‘The Guide’ and ‘The Man-Eater of Malgudi’ is analyzed here, in this context. ‘The Guide’ is R.K. Narayan’s best and most famous work. A 1958 novel, it won the SahityaAkademi Award for English in 1960. It was made even more famous and popular by the on-screen immortalization by DevAnand and WaheedaRahman in the 1965 movie of the same name. Tracing the story of Raju, commonly called ‘Railway Raju’, the novel delineates his transformation from being a railway shopkeeper’s son to a sought after tour guide to later on become the country’s most famous saint. Raju, who took over his father’s shop after his death realized that taking people around the city of Malgudi as a tour guide is his forte. His life witnesses an upheaval when he is attracted to one of his customers, Rosie, a married woman who is neglected by her workaholic husband, Marco. Rosie’s potential to become a successful dancer, which is overlooked and ignored by her husband is spotted by Raju who encourages her to dance more. Following this, Rosie separates from her husband and rises to fame as a Bharatnatyam dancer with Raju’s help. A mistake by Raju, later on earns him a two-year prison sentence. On his release from prison, Raju is mistaken to be a saint. Following a series of interesting events, Raju takes on h imself a 12 day hunger-fast to pray for rains in the drought-stricken area. The story ends ... ...t manner in ‘The Man-Eater of Malgudi’. The underlying essence of the novel is based on the age-old saying which says that a man’s deed leads him to his destination. Inspiration from the Bhasmasura’s myth is also seen in the book. Vasu is compared to being a ‘rakshas’ (demon) who causes his own downfall himself. The 1954 KumbhMela stampede, which killed about 800 people seems to have affected Narayan as he mentions deaths due to stampedes in his book. While Nataraj is attempting to persuade Vasu not to create a ruckus during the procession, Vasu talks about how ‘melas’ are held to manage the population of the nation and to keep it under control. Population explosion of the 1950’s and 1960’s would have been the source of inspiration for this mention, which is taken up again in ‘The Painter of Signs’ where the female lead works on the issue of population control.

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I do always believe in the fact that the more knowledge you gain, the more professional you become. This made me an obvious choice to pursue graduate studies to meet the pinnacle of professional excellence. Presently I am pursuing my final semester of undergraduate study in Computer Science and Engineering I feel it is the right time to take a decision regarding my Masters that contributes for better molding of my future career in the field. The philosophy which I strongly believe in my life is â€Å"A person may not put in his complete efforts in doing a work that he is intended to do but, he will surely give his 100% if the work he does is of his interest†. In my entire journey from my schooling to undergraduate study, I was always fascinated by the tremendous advancements in technology that made many troublesome tasks convenient to the mankind. The computer technology has ushered in a revolution that is unprecedented in its sweep. Its effect on the everyday lives of ordinary people has been phenomenal. Right from the super satellite control stations to the grocer’s humble shop, the efficient office and the busy kitchen in the home this technology is all pervasive, all consuming. This is what makes it one of the most challenging fields as it not only meets needs but has the power to create new needs, rules and total environments of its own. In this pursuit of doing masters in my areas of interest, I was happy to go through coursework for Computer Science and am really interested to do my MS in CS at your esteemed university. I prefer a reputed university in US for its gamut of opportunities and good scope for research in my field of interest. It’s a great privilege t... ... punctuality for which I am physically and mentally equipped. The main aim in opting for an American standard of education is very high competence Particularly in the field of Computer Science. Being a hard working and committed student, I am certain that I will be able to cope with the rigors of an International curriculum with ease. My determination to succeed and do well will enable me to be among the better students of your college. I sincerely request you to consider my application for admission into your reputed university. I would be grateful to you if I am accorded the opportunity to pursue my higher studies and given the opportunity, I am sure that I will be able to achieve my goals keeping in touch with the expectations of the university. Looking forward to be a part of your Master’s Degree Program. Thanks for your time

Discuss the Significance of Studying Different Philosophical World Views of Teacher Education?

Education provides a foundation for a child to base the rest of his or her life on. Without a solid education, it becomes impossible for an individual to provide for themselves and their family. Also, well-educated people can make decisions that benefit both their own interests and the interests of society as a whole. In this paper, the author will address the different opinions of philosophy about education. The nature of the student will then be addressed followed by the nature of knowledge and finally the purpose of education.In conclusion, the author will compare and contrast the two main theories; that of realism and idealism. No two students are exactly alike. Nevertheless, they do share one fundamental character†¦ the character of an inquisitiveness to learn. Educational philosophy is no doubt a matter that has changed over the decades, and still today not everyone is in total agreement on the subject. However, one thing is certain- philosophy is the foundation of educati onal styles.Today, four basic educational philosophies exist including idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism. All four philosophies are very different, but all strive for the same goal, to better our education system. Although every teacher has a different style of teaching that can be considered their own, they all adhere to one of the four basic philosophies. However, it may take a teacher many years to master, and recognize their style as one of the philosophies.The child centred educational approach holds that the teacher is a facilitator, a guide, an advisor and fellow traveller and therefore, the teacher must provide warmth and nurture emotions whilst continuing to function as a resource centre. Creating an appropriate learning environment where all students feel that they have the ability to learn and succeed is an essential responsibility of the teacher. As a child’s education is the most important tool that they will ever acquire throughout their lifetime , it is imperative for the teacher to find a way to relate to each and every student under their direct responsibility.The domain of education is vast, the issues it raises are almost overwhelmingly numerous and are of great complexity, and the social significance of the field is second to none. These features make the phenomena and problems of education of great interest to a wide range of socially-concerned intellectuals, who bring with them their own favoured conceptual frameworks—concepts, theories and ideologies, methods of analysis and argumentation, metaphysical and other assumptions, criteria for selecting evidence that has relevance for the problems that they consider central, and the like.It is no surprise, then, to find that the significant intellectual and social trends of the past few centuries, together with the significant developments in philosophy, all have had an impact on the content and methods of argument in philosophy of education—Marxism, psycho- analysis, existentialism, phenomenology, positivism, post-modernism, pragmatism, neo-liberalism, the several waves of feminism, analytic philosophy in both its ordinary language and more formal guises, are merely the tip of the iceberg.It is revealing to note some of the names that were heavily-cited in the field (in alphabetical order): Adorno, Aristotle, Derrida, Descartes, Dewey, Habermas, Hegel, Horkheimer, Kant, Locke, Lyotard, Marx, Mill, Nietzsche, Plato, Rawls, Richard Rorty, Rousseau, and Wittgenstein (Curren 2003; Blake, Smeyers, Smith, and Standish 2003). Although this list conveys something of the diversity of the field, it fails to do it complete justice, for the influence of feminist philosophers is not adequately represented.Regardless of the size of the iceberg, authoritative scholars relate and argue that most educational philosophies today are developed from the idealistic and realistic view points. Idealism and realism in education are often considered together in educational philosophy under the name essentialism. This is in part because, although they are of the universe differ radically, their view concerning the nature of truth are similar. Both of these positions, as we shall see, view truth as immutable, permanent, and unchanging.The main tenant of idealism is that ideas and knowledge are the truest reality. Many things in the world change, but ideas and knowledge are enduring. Idealism was often referred to as â€Å"idea-ism†. Idealists believe that ideas can change lives. The most important part of a person is the mind. It is to be nourished and developed. Idealism is a product of ancient Greece and Rome, mainly Socrates. Although Socrates’ ideals are the basis for the idealist philosophy, it was his student Plato, who is considered the founder of idealism.The Platonic theory that ultimate reality lies in a realm beyond the real world that the real world is a by-product of mental or supernatural states; art that rejects realism for the world of imagination. Park, Joe. (1968: 23). The philosophy â€Å"focuses on the spiritual and intellectual development of the individual†(ibid: 27). According to Chambliss, idealist attempt to describe ideas, mind, consciousness, form, thought, energy, and other non-material concepts† Chambliss, (J. J. 1996: 33). The educational approach of this philosophy is of a holistic nature.In which self-realization and character development is strongly supported. The idealist feels that with the growth of a fine moral character as well as personal reflection, wisdom is gained. The holistic approach is supported instead of a specialized concentration on a specific targeted area (ibid: 52). By combining experiences gained through critical thinking and dealing with broader topics, the idealist creates an environment in which a learner can rationalize information across curriculum. Idealism as a philosophy had its greatest impact during the nineteenth century Kamins ky, James S. 1993: 14). Kaminsky further states that ‘its influence in today’s world is less important than it has been in the past’ (1993: 18). Idealism is the conclusion that the universe is expression of intelligence and will, that the enduring substance of the world is the nature of the mind, that the material is explained by the mental. Idealism as a philosophy stands in contrast with all those systems of thought that centre in nature (naturalism) or in man (humanism). According to idealism to be means to be experienced by a person.Idealism holds that the order of the world is due to the manifestation in space and time of an eternal and spiritual reality. As to knowledge, idealism holds that knowledge is man thinking the thoughts and purposes of this eternal and spiritual reality as they are embodied in our world of fact. As to ethics, idealism holds that the goodness of man's individual and social life is the conformity of the human will with the moral admi nistration of the universe. In idealism, the aim of education is to discover and develop each individual's abilities and full moral excellence in order to better serve society.The curricular emphasis is subject matter of mind: literature, history, philosophy, and religion. Teaching methods focus on handling ideas through lecture, discussion, and Socratic dialogue (a method of teaching that uses questioning to help students discover and clarify knowledge). Introspection, intuition, insight, and whole-part logic are used to bring to consciousness the forms or concepts which are latent in the mind. Character is developed through imitating examples and heroes. Idealism has been influential in education for a considerable amount of time.It is considered a conservative philosophy because of its emphasis in preserving cultural traditions. The strengths of idealism include encouraging thinking and cognition, promoting cultural learning, and providing for character development of students. T eachers are considered valuable parts of the educational process who should strive to provide a comprehensive, systematic and holistic approach to learning that stress self realisation. Scholars today have challenged idealism and brought about challenges and maybe changes to the idealistic approach. Blake, Nigel; Smeyers et al: (248).Aristotle, a student of Plato, developed the basis for the philosophy known as realism. Realism â€Å"holds that objects and happenings exist regardless of how we perceive them† Archambault, Reginald D. , ed. (1965: 103). Thomas Jefferson is one of the more known realists. Teachers who are realists â€Å"focus on reason and thinking† (ibid: 111). The philosophical perspective possessed by a teacher has on affects the ability and effectiveness of their teaching methods. Therefore a teacher must be one who appreciates and respects education and formalized schooling.In this metaphysical view, the aim is to understand objective reality through â€Å"the diligent and unsparing scrutiny of all observable data†. (ibid: 119). Aristotle believed that to understand an object, its ultimate form had to be understood, which does not change. For example, a rose exists whether or not a person is aware of it. A rose can exist in the mind without being physically present, but ultimately, the rose shares properties with all other roses and flowers (its form), although one rose may be red and another peach coloured.Aristotle also was the first to teach logic as a formal discipline in order to be able to reason about physical events and aspects Jarret, James L. , ed. (1969: 78). The exercise of rational thought is viewed as the ultimate purpose for humankind. The Realist curriculum emphasizes the subject matter of the physical world, particularly science and mathematics. The teacher organizes and presents content systematically within a discipline, demonstrating use of criteria in making decisions.Teaching methods focus on master y of facts and basic skills through demonstration and recitation. Students must also demonstrate the ability to think critically and scientifically, using observation and experimentation. Curriculum should be scientifically approached, standardized, and distinct-discipline based. Character is developed through training in the rules of conduct. The educational principles developed by Plato, Aristotle and et al, and numerous educational theorists and philosophers in the interregnum, are alive and well in the twenty-first century.Of particular contemporary interest is the evolution that has occurred of the progressive idea that each student is an active learner who is pursuing his or her own individual educational path. By incorporating elements of the classical empiricist epistemology of John Locke, this progressive principle has become transformed into the extremely popular position known as constructivism, according to which each student in a classroom constructs his or her own indi vidual body of understandings even when all in the group are given what appears to be the same stimulus or educational experience. A consequence of this is that a classroom of thirty students will have thirty individually-constructed, and possibly different, bodies of â€Å"knowledge†, in addition to that of the teacher! ). There is also a solipsistic element here, for constructivists also believe that none of us—teachers included—can directly access the bodies of understandings of anyone else; each of us is imprisoned in a world of our own making. It is an understatement to say that this poses great difficulties for the teacher.The education journals of the past two decades contain many thousands of references to discussions of this position, which elsewhere the author claimed has become a type of educational â€Å"secular religion†; for reasons that are hard to discern it is particularly influential in mathematics and science education. The teacher shou ld therefore be able to ‘mix and juggle’ through the different viewpoints to be able to relate to the disparate intellectual capacity of the students.