Rhetorical analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Rhetorical analysis - Essay Example The Crisis In Higher Education. This is the topic of the article to be discussed. It is an article by Carr Nicholas, published in the year 2012. The Crisis In Higher Education is an article pointing out on various predicaments that are faced in the field of higher education. In this article, Nicholas tends to inform individuals on more about higher institutions of learning and how predicaments can be controlled. In this case, he specializes in the line of e-learning where he explains more about it and how it can help students who use this technique in learning. He mentions some of the universities where this strategy has been implemented and its benefits to the institutions. Though there are drawbacks that are associated with this strategy, his aim is to make it clear to individuals that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Carr in his article aims at making individuals aware of the challenges that are faced in the field of higher education. Carr begins by mentioning that a hun dred years ago, higher education system seemed on the limit of a technological development. This is a technique used to capture the interest of the readers by informing them that technology was implemented some years back meaning it started sometimes back. In this case this is a technique used to inform the readers more about technology. He goes ahead explain that there are many universities today that are raising hopes of a revolution in the field of higher education. The universities pointed out in this case include: Stanford, Harvard, Princeton and MIT. This is another part in the article meant to educate individuals on the recent trends in higher education. Nicholas points out that in the world, not is every individual enthusiastic. He explains that with the use of online classes, at some point the quality of college education is diminished. This is due to the introduction of MOOCs which enables learning to take place online. He points out that distractions has occurred especial ly for the institutions that use this technique. He goes ahead to state that for such institutions, for effective learning processes to take place, high degree of automation has to be implemented. In this case, he wishes to instruct administrators in higher education institutions to implement this strategy for them to have effective online learning processes. Carr also points out that individuals who are skeptical of MOOCs give a warning that the real meaning of a higher institution lies in an interplay within between the teachers and students that cannot be replicated through machines no matter how classy the programming. This gives a clear impression that Carr does not agree with them because he supports the fact that e-learning can work effectively only id the high degree automation strategy is implemented. In this case, his message is convincing in that, he tries to explain how e-learning can work well for higher institutions. â€Å"The designers and promoters of MOOCs don†™t suggest that computers will make classrooms obsolete. But they do argue that online instruction will change the nature of teaching on campus, making it more engaging and efficient.† (Carr 40). Nicholas in this case tries to convince the readers that even though there are drawbacks that come along with the e-learing process, they can be dealt with and that the e-learners can study perfectly well just as those who attend a

Effectiveness of Personality Tests on Indigenous People Essay Example for Free

Effectiveness of Personality Tests on Indigenous People Essay Abstract This review seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of the standard personality tests on indigenous people. The two indigenous groups focused on are Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians. Several academic sources have been researched when creating this review. What was surprisingly discovered was the overwhelming evidence that presented a bias point of view outlining mainly the inappropriateness of personality tests. Introduction The term ‘inappropriate’ is universally defined as â€Å"not suitable or proper in the circumstances† (Brown, Robert T.;Reynolds 1999). Most standard personality tests among researchers are considered to be inappropriate for use with Aboriginal people in Australia and for Native Americans in the USA. (Brown, Robert T. ;Reynolds 1999). The following psychological assessment tests can be generally misleading to indigenous Australians and Native Americans which include: MMPI-2 (Abel 1973), The Westerman Aboriginal Checklist—Youth (WASC-Y), DSM IV-TR, ICD10, the ‘Who Am I’ test and the High school adolescent Clinical Inventory(Westerman 1997). Indigenous Austrlian – Test Review. The Australian Psychological Society has set guidelines for the conduct of psychological research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. One of which outlines that psychologists should take into account ethnicity and culture when making professional judgements with indigenous clients (N. D 1995). However, Tracy Westerman, psychologist and Managing Director of Indigenous Psychological Services(IPS) says the standard personality tests in Australia are subject to cultural bias and are a key reason why the tests are considered inappropriate for indigenous Australians(Westerman 1997). Consequently, indigenous Australians are unfairly penalized as they don’t experience the same culture as the dominant society (Westerman 1997). As a result, these indigenous Australians are inaccurately assessed which leads to an inaccurate diagnostic decision (Vicary 2003). One way personality tests are considered inappropriate for indigenous Australians are the content provided within the tests. The test content may have high cultural loading, in which a given test requires specific knowledge or experience with mainstream culture (Vicary 2003). For example, certain phrases or words used in certain tests are a disadvantage indigenous Australians. The meaning or unfamiliarity of the terminology used presents problems with the validity of such tests such as misinterpretation (Vicary 2003). For example, Westernman explains that a â€Å"suicide does not mean that someone has killed themselves† in the Aboriginal community. It means that they were cursed (Vicary 2003). Aboriginal people also do not speak English as a native language and therefore will have difficulty comprehending the wording of the test. For those reasons mentioned, MMPI-2 has been criticized by psychologists for its validity when examining diverse cultural groups(Wettinger, M). Westerman Wettinger (1997) state that the norms of testing indigenous Australians ‘have been described as out-dated’ and need to be replaced. Westerman has pointed out that a more practical approach should be undertaken when assessing aboriginal people as it is culturally acceptable for Aboriginal people to learn verbally(Westerman 1997). For example, when working with aboriginal children, oral tests and drawings are a useful means of testing as they allow children to tell stories. This is a culturally acceptable way for Aboriginal children pass on information and important messages. The Westerman Aboriginal checklist – Youth(WASC-Y) has implemented more effective methods of testing indigenous Australians. The WASC-Y is aimed at identifying early detection of anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and suicidal behaviours for Aboriginal youths aged 13-17 (Pearson 2010). A prominent strength of the test is it does not require written competencies or numeracy skills, and is orally administered (Pearson 2010). Only an experienced psychologist who is skilled in dealing with indigenous Australians can administer the test(Pearson 2010). Although the WASC-Y has been claimed to be reliable when used to assess applicants for job positions or training programmes, companies are not enforced to use this test which is a barrier for indigenous Australians(Pearson 2010) Another major issue when considering the appropriateness of personality tests is examining whether or not the professional clinicians conducting the tests are â€Å"cross culturally competent†( Riggs, D 2004). The lack of cultural competence in past practice has been a contributing factor to the overall failure of systems of care for Aboriginal and Torres Islander Strait people (Brown, 2001; Garvey, 2007; Riggs, 2004). When utilizing standard measures, clinicians confirm to assumptions that the client is similar to the standardized population(Riggs, D 2004). This assumption is inappropriate when assessing a client from an indigenous culture. For example, Aboriginal people may not be familiar with test taking skills performed by dominant society which may also contribute to their poor performance in the test(Riggs, D 2004). Not understanding the impact of the indigenous clients cultural background could lead to inaccurate results and analysis by the clinician. It is considered the responsibility of the clinician to learn as much as possible about the client’s culture and to acknowledge any biases or prejudices they may have about the clients ethnic group(Dudgeon, P 2010). Furthermore, it is also the clinician’s responsibility to understand any historical issues relevant to Aboriginal people which may impact their lack of motivation and performance when being tested. Factors which cause this impact may include poverty, unemployment and limited educational opportunities(Dudgeon, P 2010). During the meetings between the clinicians and their indigenous clients, the clinicians should establish rapport, respect, and a therapeutic relationship with their clients(Westerman 1997). Rapport and communication problems may also exist between the clinician and the indigenous client due to different cultural backgrounds. As a result, the difficulties in rapport and communication may slow down the Aboriginals client’s ability respond to test items (Vicary 2003). For example, Westerman (1997) states that traditional psychological testing using the â€Å"question and answer† format in one on one situations presents difficulties amongst indigenous children and adults(Westerman 1997). This is because in some Aboriginal cultures, it is considered impolite to ask a question to someone who doesn’t know the answer (Westerman 1997). It is also beneficial to build rapport with indigenous clients to eliminate the ‘notion of whiteness’(Riggs 2004). This is the skeptisicm that may arise in the Aboriginal community due to the past actions of dominant society which may include taking of land or the stolen generation. Aboriginal clients may have a possible barrier of distrust toward the clinician which may be a apparent in the aboriginal community. This level of distrust may stem from any negative experiences the Aboriginal client has experienced in dominant society such as racism in their residential school or community(Riggs 2004). Indigenous American – Test Review Personality assessment services have also been considered culturally inappropriate for Native Americans living in the United States(Brown, Robert T. ;Reynolds, Cecil R. ;Whitaker, Jean S 1999). These assessments include globally recognized tests such as the MMPI and WAIS. Native Americans are said to face potential bias stemming from inappropriate test content, differential predictive validity, and bias introduced by language differences and social consequences due to labelling and prejudice (kaufman and Renolds 1983). A lack of knowledge for both the Native client and clinician increases the difficulties in finding a reliable accurate outcome of an assessment(Fuchs, D. , Young 2006). Clinicians are accused of not having enough historical knowledge about Native Americans while at the same time they assume that their Native American clients are culturally aware of how Western society operates(Fuchs, D., Young 2006). This assumption will cause difficulties for the clinician to assess a person from another culture with fairness and objectivity(Fuchs, D. , Young 2006). Psychologists in the USA have emphasised on an emic approach towards assessing Native Americans(Fuchs, D. , Young 2006). This means that only psychologists who specialize in studying and examining one particular culture would be allowed to assess that culture. It is agreed the assessor needs to build solid relationship with Native American clients while conducting an assessment(Abel 1973). This will help shape the clients expectations for the assessment interaction and possible outcomes of assessment(Abel 1973). Native Americans are said to be motivated by human value and approval rather than bureaucratic protocol. This means that structured formal situations between the assessors and the Native American client can be perceived as gratuitous and annoying to the client(Abel 1973). The relationships should be informal, based on respect and understanding, and continuous overtime (Abel 1973). In conclusion, it is evident that a culture clash between indigenous and western cultures is a major issue when performing psychological tests. While most tests gathered in this review deems psychological testing to be inappropriate, there are other tests such as the WASC-Y that specialize in understanding clients from diverse cultures which would be deemed more appropriate for use. It is also important to consider how much funding is being placed by governing bodies to develop more appropriate assessments for indigenous people.

Isaac Asimovs Foundation - Psychohistory :: Isaac Asimov Foundation

Foundation   Psychohistory Psychohistory is the framework upon which Isaac Asimov's Foundation rests. It provides for diverse episodes about a variety of characters over a period 400 years, and those episodes feature a number of strong-minded individuals seeking solutions to a series of problems as they arise (Gunn 42). In the novel, these problems have all been fore-ordained long ago by Hari Seldon's science of psychohistory. Psychohistory is defined by Asimov as a "'profound statistical science' that deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli" (Touponce 76). In short, this science predicts the future by treating humanity as one massive series of mathematical equations. However, the one drawback of psychohistory is that this science does not account for individual, random variables. Hari Seldon uses the science of psychohistory to predict the fall of the massive Galactic Empire. By using complex mathematical equations, Seldon is able to mathematically prove that the downfall of the Galactic Empire is eminent. In addition, psychohistory also adds a sense of determination and predestination to Foundation. The main characters in each book of the novel are aware that when a Seldon crisis occurs, they will manage to make the correct decisions leading to the inevitable turnout of the crisis. Seldon's prophesies "are revealed only after the fact, and even the solutions that he or others say are obvious are obvious only in retrospect, as in all good histories" (Gunn 41). This is first shown in "The Psychohistorians" when Salvor Hardin makes the decision that he must take over the management of the Foundation. This decision is logical in retrospect, but it causes Hardin much agonizing over the probable results of his actions before he does them. The dilemma experienced by Asimov's characters is how to achieve the predetermined outcome concocted by Seldon. The hero of the first Foundation, Salvor Hardin, decides to wait until the crisis limits his choices to only one course of action. He argues: ...the future isn't nebulous. It's been calculated out by Seldon and charted. Each successive crisis in our history is mapped out and each depends in a measure on the successful conclusion of the ones previous...At each crisis our freedom of actions would become circumscribed to the point where only one course of action was possible...As long as more than one course of action is possible, the crisis has not been reached.

Explain How Observations of Babies, Children and Young People Contribute to Planning.

Explain how observations of babies, children and young people contribute to planning. â€Å"What are observations? An observation is a piece of work in which the child’s words and actions are recorded in great detail. This child’s actions are then analyzed by the practitioner. It is about looking and listening to children. A bit like being a scientist we collect information or data process it and draw up conclusions from it. † (Class Hand out)An important part of a practitioner’s role is recording a Childs development and behaviour. Their are several reasons why early years practitioners keep records and assessments of babies and children. †¢ To check a Childs overall development: Routine checks are important for detecting and diagnosing any problems earl on. This could be done but the help and support of a health visitor etc. †¢ To see if the child is progressing:Assessments are regularly made to ensure that the children are progressing, not onl y in overall areas but specifically personal things as each child may not be as strong at a certain subject like the other but they are both none the less improving. †¢ To help planning: Observations and assessments should be used when planning activities for example if a practitioner observes a lack of physical development then they could decide on doing some throwing and catching exercises. Practitioners need to keep track of every pupil and their particular needs.Children have different strengths and weaknesses. So the practitioner must locate these and help the child; for example after a couple of assessments a child may show that their language skills aren’t as great as they could be so a practitioner may refer hem to a speech therapist or plan some activities that would encourage the child to talk and interact a bit more with others. The practitioner needs to report back to the parents and other fellow practitioners. This is simply because the parents need to know how their child is progressing and whether or not they need extra help.They tell fellow practitioners so they can also observe the child and work towards helping them. Their are many different professionals who can observe a child these are: †¢ Educational physiologist †¢ Child psychiatrist †¢ Family doctor †¢ Speech therapist †¢ Play therapist †¢ Health visitor 1998 Data Protection Act The data protection act came into force in March 2000. It states anyone processing personal information needs to register with the data protection commission. Anyone who registers must comply with the 8 enforceable principles or a good practice. ConfidentialityThis is an important issue on keeping records on children. The records and any information can only be used for the best interest of the child. The records should be stored safely and only appropriate staff and other professionals have access to them. This means parents can never be given information about other pe ople’s children. Observing the child is so you can find their stage of development, their likes and dislikes and their strengths and weaknesses. Assessing a child is when you carry out specific activity to see whether they have improved on a certain area or if they are doing well overall.

The Exit from Quantitative Easing

The exit from CEQ was primarily conducted by reducing rapidly the most flexible asset on the Boss's balance sheet which Is the amount of Its bills purchases from private banks, to match the rapid decline in the amount of excess serves. The advantage of this strategy was that the exit of CEQ was predominantly limited to Just one item on the Boss's balance sheet and that the balance sheet adjustments were conducted through operations directly with the banking sector, which facilitated the management of the exit process.Intentionally, the BOX chose to reduce its holdings of Japanese government securities very slowly and moderately in order not to distort supply and demand conditions in Japanese bond markets. In fact, the BOX kept In place Its regular purchases of long-term Japanese government bonds. It realized the gradual reduction of Japanese government securities on Its balance sheet mainly by reducing the amount of short-term Japanese government securities. The BOX implemented certa in new liquidity providing operations in order to promote the proper functioning and stability of interbrain money markets.The Japanese experience shows that when exiting from CEQ, a central bank needs to consider very carefully how to restore the functioning of these crucial markets, as one result of CEQ may be that activity in interbrain markets becomes very subdued. All in all, the exit room CEQ in Japan has been considered a success and its experience may serve as a useful example for other central banks. Fernando Gutsurge del Arroyo Gong;leg provided excellent statistical support. The views expressed in this note are solely the responsibility of the author and should not be Interpreted as reflecting the views of the Bank of Spain.After having followed a zero interest rate policy strategy and facing a further deteriorating economy in an environment of falling prices (deflation), the Bank of Japan (BOX) announced the introduction of CEQ on 19 March 2001 and kept it in place until 9 March 2006. The Japanese version of CEQ consisted of the following elements, such as published by the Boo]: 1) Monetary policy target: The current account balances (CABs = required + excess bank reserves) became the operating instrument of Japanese monetary policy, replacing the overnight institutionalized call rate.

Comparison of operating Systems essays

Comparison of operating Systems essays Operating systems have evolved from simple standalone and command line programs like MSDOS to distributed multi-user systems like windows and Linux, which support graphical user interface. Every new version of the operating system tries to address the hidden loopholes and to improve the efficiency and security. The file allocation systems and the security implementation are also different between these operating systems. Today's multi user environment has literally stomped out the simple standalone operating system like MSDOS. Windows has also evolved a long way from 16 bit OS to 32-bit operating system. Linux being an open source system is evolving at a faster pace. A comparative study of these three operating systems in context of the important features like user interface, file management, memory management, security implementation would help us discern the similarities and differences between them. MS-DOS was a purely text based operating system before the Dosshell with minimal graphical features was introduced in MS-DOS version 4. Windows is a GUI operating system, which uses a standard display mode for the desktop. Linux by default was a text based (command line) operating system but now users can choose from a variety of graphical user interfaces that are provided now by the X window based graphical display. Two of the common interfaces being the GNOME, KDE. The KDE has a comprehensive office suit, web browser and text editor. The configurability of these interfaces is what differentiates Linux from windows allowing for highly customizable desktop environments. Another key difference between windows and Linux is that the Linux operating system offers graphical user interface abstraction' at the network level as against the hardware level abstraction' offered by windows and other operating systems. [Nathan's Both Linux and windows use the process model. The...

Free Essays on E-Commerce

Table of Contents Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 History of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..4 Economic Impact†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 Advantages of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 Disadvantages of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 The Future of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.9 Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...11 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12 Electronic Commerce Electronic commerce, or e-commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years and has left some people wondering what it is all about. "Most people think e-commerce is just about buying and selling things over the Internet" (Wareham, 2000). E-commerce is a broad term describing the electronic exchange of business data between two or more organizations' computers. Some examples might be the electronic filing of your income tax return, on-line services like Prodigy, on-line banking and on-line billing for services or products received. E-commerce also includes buying and selling any item over the Internet, electronic fund transfer, smart cards, and all other methods of conducting business over digital networks. â€Å"The primary technological goal of e-commerce is to integrate businesses, government agencies, and contractors into a single community with the ability to communicate with one another across any computer platform† (Edwards, 1998). With the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand upon their business opportunities. There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which also means there... Free Essays on E-Commerce Free Essays on E-Commerce Marketing Strategy and E-Commerce Introduction With the rapidly advancing technologies that are occurring in modern business, organisations are required to be ready, and able to adapt within their ever-changing environment. It is true across all diverse industries that in order to stay competitive, organisations must be able to utilise the various tools that technology has to offer. Technological factors have been of growing importance, particularly in recent years. A major factor involved in these technology issues is the use of the Internet as a major issue to modern organisations. The Internet has been rapidly growing since it's inception and is now commonly used in all sectors of societies, in all corners of the globe. The Internet has quickly become one of the most valuable assets in modern technology, and as such, is developing as an integral part of modern commerce. As with past technologies, the Internet will have future technological advances develop from its own growth. The task the organisations of in the new century? Realise future opportunities and threats, and base a strategy accordingly. "Is it clichà © to say that 'the Internet changes everything': the challenge now is to say what, how and how quickly". (When Companies Connect, 1999, p.19) The Internet has lead to the birth and evolution of electronic commerce or E-commerce. E-commerce has now become a key component of many organisations in the daily running of their business. Simply defined, "electronic commerce is a system of online shopping and information retrieval accessed through networks of personal computers". (Reedy, J. Schullo, S. Zimmerman, K. 2000, pg. 29) E-commerce challenges traditional organisational practices, and opens ups a vast array of issues that the organisations must address. By focusing on the varying levels of an organisation, it soon become apparent the effects that E-commerce can have. An understanding of the implication E-commerce has on such ... Free Essays on E-Commerce E-Commerce All companies, big or small, should consider utilizing the Internet in their everyday course of business. The Internet can be used in many ways from advertising to creating an e-business. An e-business is an electronic business that makes some or all of its revenue via Internet technology. Electronic commerce or e-commerce is the exchange of goods and services by means of the Internet or other computer networks. The Internet is reshaping the way firms conduct business while also providing an alternative to the brick-and-mortar store. A brick-and-mortar store is the traditional physical store from which businesses have historically operated. The Internet is one huge, loosely connected computer network that links smaller networks all over the world through modems, phone lines, satellite links, and other communication channels. The Internet allows people to communicate with others via e-mail (electronic mail) and real-time conversation. The Internet also provides access to huge amounts of data stored on computers all over the world. The World Wide Web is composed of a system of Internet servers that are accessible with browsers. These browsers navigate via hypertext links. Web browsers are used to display information that is sent to the client via HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Since the beginning of the Internet in 1969, it has grown from four host computer systems to tens of millions. Why would anyone want to deviate from the traditional brick-and-mortar store to either launch an e-business or even have a combination of the two? With today’s technology, it has become much easier to engage in e-commerce. Numerous businesses have realized the financial impact that operating an e-business can have on their company. Many small businesses perceive e-commerce for larger companies, but that is simply not the case. Small businesses can benefit the same or even more from e-commerce than larger co... Free Essays on E-commerce Table of Contents I. E-Commerce: An Introduction II. History of E-Commerce III. Economic Impact IV. Advantages of E-Commerce V. Disadvantages of E-Commerce VI. The Future of E-Commerce VII. The Conclusion Imagine being able to shop at 30 different stores, track a package, or bid on an antique that you may have always wanted, and all before lunch. Since the advent of the computer, business has changed and evolved exponentially over the years. From the first business application VisiCalc ®, which, as Dan Bricklin said, â€Å"†¦took 20 hours of work per week for some people and turned it out in 15 minutes and let them become much more creative."(Spreadsheet), companies today have looked to the Internet as a new way to sell goods and services and help customers. Webster's Dictionary ® defines the term commerce as â€Å"the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place† (Webster’s). E-commerce in a similar way to way â€Å" refers to all forms of business activities conducted across the internet. This can include E-tailing, B2B, intranets and extranets, online advertising (eg. advertising banners), a nd simply online presences of any form that are used for some type of communication...† There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which also means there are few companies that do not use E-commerce. To emphasize the point that the effect of the Internet is so widespread in today’s business communities, one online article stated that more than 100,000 companies have Internet addresses, and 20,000 companies have Web-sites on the Internet, and this fact was noted in February 1999 (DataQuest, 1999). These numbers have more than tripled since 1995, and the trend shows no signs of slowing. But, what exactly is E-commerce? To most casual Inter... Free Essays on E-commerce The objective of the course is to provide an understanding of new economy and the new way of doing business in this economy. The content of the course is planned to cover the key points of e-business and e-commerce. These are underlined by the following headings. New economy, e-business models, e-business strategies, opportunities in e-business and threats of not transforming the business processes to e-processes, on line marketing in relation to customer relationship management and data warehousing, supply chain management and ERP applications, technical issues in general, and payment and security systems on internet in relation to e-business applications, taxation and legal issues. Our aim is to analyse and evaluate the basic necessary steps for initiating e-business and e-commerce and/or transforming the current business processes to e-processes. Topics will be evaluated from managerial point of view for companies producing either goods or services. New business areas emerging in new economy as a result of the advances in internet and telecommunication technologies will be also evaluated. Discussions will be made for predicting the new needs arising due to recent developments in technology and new economy, and for evaluating the potential business areas which are expected to emerge in new economy COURSE APPLICATION & REQUIREMENTS In every lecture hour a specific topic will be discussed in the class. Students should get prepared for the disscussions by reading the assigned papers and accessing to the internet addresses. These topics will be also hot topics about the subject and can be revised or expanded with the help of the students scanning the environment through Internet. However, it will be ensured that important managerial aspects and initiatives of e-business are evaluated. CLASS AND E-GROUP PARTICIPATION Class participation and contribution to both class discussions and e-class discussions are very imp... Free Essays on E-commerce Electronic Commerce or e-commerce, the exchange of goods and services by means of the Internet or other computer networks. E-commerce follows the same basic principles as traditional commerce- that is, buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods for money. But rather than conducting business in the traditional way- in stores and other â€Å"brick and mortar† buildings or through mail order catalogs and telephone operators- in e-commerce buyers and sellers transact business over networked computers. E-commerce offers buyers convenience. They can visit the World Wide Web sites of multiple vendors 24 hours a day and seven days a week to compare prices and make purchases, without having to leave their homes or offices. In some cases, consumers can immediately obtain a product or service, such as an electronic book, a music file, or computer software, by downloading it over the Internet. For sellers, e-commerce offers a way to cut costs and expand their markets. They do not need to build, staff, or maintain a store or print and distribute mail order catalogs. Automated order tracking and billing systems cut additional labor costs, and if the product or service can be downloaded, e-commerce firms have no distribution costs. Because they sell over the global Internet, sellers have the potential to market their products or services globally and are not limited by the physical location of a store. Internet technologies also permit sellers to track the interests and preferences of their customers with the customer’s permission and then use this information to build an ongoing relationship with the customer by customizing products and services to meet the customer’s needs. E-commerce also has some disadvantages, however. Consumers are reluctant to buy some products online. Online furniture businesses, for example, have failed for the most part because customers want to test the comfort of an expensive item such as a sofa bef... Free Essays on E-commerce E-Commerce E- Commerce is another name for Electric- Commerce. Electronic-commerce offers what many people believe to be an effective property of the Web. That property is the ability to adjust sites to the different needs, wants, desires and, even personalities of each individual customer. This ability is known to many experts as "cognitive computing," a blend of behavioral sciences and computer science. Increasing competition worldwide, increasing demands made by customers, and the rapid pace of change in technology are forcing companies to review the way they do business, the kinds of products and services they offer, and the speed with which they release products to market. Today, most companies have worked to expand and improve their process and practices internally. But, the massive use of the Internet by the consumers is forcing businesses to focus on external relationships and their business models. In order to meet the demand made by the Internet users, organizations are now beginning to rely on the e-commerce solutions that help reach and keep customers, open new markets, and condense the business processes. E-Commerce has various advantages for the provider. One advantage is it allows companies to build a name for their company, quickly and inexpensively. Another advantage is it offers "suggestive selling". This is when the user can recommend similar or other products that they might/will buy. This is often done through surveys. The last advantage is the speed in which the transaction is completed. Many times Web users give up in trying to buy something due to the frustration that was caused in trying to get to that particular item. There are also many advantages to E-Commerce for the user. The information can be updated in no time and while the user is using it. The pages can be updated without having to redesign the page. Site visitors can maneuver and control the data, as it is displayed, to suit their preferences and need... Free Essays on E-Commerce By: Chemaou El Fihri Introduction An e-commerce solution for a business is the incorporation of all aspects of the business operation into an electronic format. Many well-established businesses have been selling on-line for years. For example, Dell Computers Corp., has been selling computers directly to end-users for years. Currently, Dell is selling excessive of 1 million dollars worth of computers everyday on the World Wide Web (WWW). When a business has incorporated an e-commerce solution, the business will experience a lower operation cost while at the same time increasing its profit. The e-commerce solution will allow businesses to eliminate unnecessary paperwork. All paperwork and data can be transformed into an electronic format. Thus, it will eliminate valuable shelf space and data can searched and accessed in matter of seconds. E-commerce will also automates the sales process. Customers can "point & click" on the products they wish to purchase, fill out the customer information, and the product will be shipped and received in a matter of few days. The administration department does not have to fill out any paperwork because the customer had done it already. Thus, the efficiency will be greatly improved. With an e-commerce solution, the business will be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. People from anywhere in the world with an Internet access will be able to visit the site at any time. They will not be restricted to the "normal" business operating hours. A "brick + mortar" business is normally limited to serving the customers in its local geographical location. With an e-commerce solution, that business will not be limited a geographical restriction, rather it opens itself to the global on-line market. Essentially, the business' market exposure will be greatly increased. In conducting my study, I have researched extensively on the Internet for resources. I chose the Internet as my primary research medium because e-commerc... Free Essays on E-Commerce E-Commerce Table of Contents I. E-Commerce: An Introduction II. History of E-Commerce III. Economic Impact IV. Advantages of E-Commerce V. Disadvantages of E-Commerce VI. The Future of E-Commerce E-Commerce  ¡V An Introduction With the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand upon their business opportunities. There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which also means there are few companies that do not use e-commerce. To emphasize the point that the effect of the Internet is so widespread in today’s business communities, one online article stated that more than 100000 companies have Internet addresses, and 20000 companies have home pages on the Internet as of February 1999. (DataQuest, 1999). These numbers have more than tripled since 1995, and the trend shows no signs of slowing. But what exactly is e-commerce? To most casual Internet surfers, e-commerce means online shopping  ¡V  ¡Ã‚ §workaholics pointing their web browser to Amazon.com to order an emergency present because they forgot someone ¡Ã‚ ¦s birthday again. ¡Ã‚ ¨ (Weiss, 1999) As we will soon find out, this is far from the case. Simply put, e-commerce is the exchange of business information between two or more organizations. An example of this would be buying and selling products or services over the Internet. E-commerce became very popular soon after it proved to be an efficient means to conduct long distance transactions. The purpose of this report is to discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of e-commerce, as well as examining its potential for the future of business. Electronic commerce, or e-commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years and has left some people wondering what it is all about.... Free Essays on E-commerce With the startup of lifung.com the two entrepreneurs, William and Victor Fung were worried about a myriad of problems that could plague the new section of Li & Fung. As William Fung stated, â€Å"I’m 51, I’m more than a grey hair in Internet terms, I’m a fossil†. After all, lifung.com would not be a typical Internet startup, springing from a almost 100 year old company started at the end of the Qing dynasty in 1906. Both William and his brother Victor are graduates of Harvard Business School and have managed to transform Li & Fung from a family owned business to a professionally managed firm with outstanding growth and potential. Li & Fung is facing the challenge of opening up a web portal, lifung.com, and not interfering with the more traditional day to day business that is well established in the market. Li & Fung is a company that does over $3 billion in assets. It has grown both organically and through strategic acquisitions. It does business in over 30 countries with outstanding growth potential. Run in a entrepreneurial manner allowing managers to manage teams much like individual companies. Li & Fung is far more sophisticated than a typical trading company. They have evolved into a company that orchestrates the entire production process, all the way from raw materials to the finished product. Through this holistic supply chain management approach, Li & Fung is able to offer its customers more value, more efficiently. In 1996 Li & Fung adopted a â€Å"3 year plan† system modeled after the economic planning system of the Chinese Communist government. The Chinese government plan was based on a 5 year timeframe while Li & Fung’s was based on a 3 year time frame. The main principle behind the implementation of this type of planning system was to set concrete goals while analyzing past and future performance to determine how to better achieve these goals. It is in the third â€Å"3 year plan†, â€Å"Doubling Profits... Free Essays on E-Commerce Virtual teams Author: Bill Table of Contents Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 History of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..4 Economic Impact†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 Advantages of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 Disadvantages of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 The Future of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.9 Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...11 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12 Electronic Commerce Electronic commerce, or e-commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years and has left some people wondering what it is all about. "Most people think e-commerce is just about buying and selling things over the Internet" (Wareham, 2000). E-commerce is a broad term describing the electronic exchange of business data between two or more organizations' computers. Some examples might be the electronic filing of your income tax return, on-line services like Prodigy, on-line banking and on-line billing for services or products received. E-commerce also includes buying and selling any item over the Internet, electronic fund transfer, smart cards, and all other methods of conducting business over digital networks. â€Å"The primary technological goal of e-commerce is to integrate businesses, government agencies, and contractors into a single community with the ability to communicate with one another across any computer platform† (Edwards, 1998). With the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand upon their business opportunities. There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business ... Free Essays on E-Commerce Table of Contents Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦2 History of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..4 Economic Impact†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 Advantages of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦5 Disadvantages of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...7 The Future of E-commerce†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.9 Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...11 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.12 Electronic Commerce Electronic commerce, or e-commerce has developed very rapidly in the last few years and has left some people wondering what it is all about. "Most people think e-commerce is just about buying and selling things over the Internet" (Wareham, 2000). E-commerce is a broad term describing the electronic exchange of business data between two or more organizations' computers. Some examples might be the electronic filing of your income tax return, on-line services like Prodigy, on-line banking and on-line billing for services or products received. E-commerce also includes buying and selling any item over the Internet, electronic fund transfer, smart cards, and all other methods of conducting business over digital networks. â€Å"The primary technological goal of e-commerce is to integrate businesses, government agencies, and contractors into a single community with the ability to communicate with one another across any computer platform† (Edwards, 1998). With the astonishing growth of the Internet, many companies are finding new and exciting ways to expand upon their business opportunities. There are very few successful companies that do not use computers in their everyday business activities, which also means there...

Favorite Quotes From Faulkners As I Lay Dying

Favorite Quotes From Faulkners As I Lay Dying As I Lay Dying is the fictional chronicle of Addie Bundrens death. The family undertakes a journey to bury her body. The novel is narrated with the shifting viewpoints of 15 characters- made all the more vivid with Faulkners use of the vernacular and stream-of-consciousness style. Here are a few quotes from As I Lay Dying. Riches is nothing in the face of the Lord, for He can see into the heart.The quilt is drawn up to her chin, hot as it is, with only her two hands and her face outside. She is propped on the pillow, with her head raised so she can see out the window, and we can hear him every time he takes up the adze or the saw. If we were deaf we could almost watch her face and hear him, see him. Her face is wasted away so that the bones draw just under the skin in white lines. Her eyes are like two candles when you watch them gutter down into the sockets of iron candlesticks. But the eternal and the everlasting salvation and grace is not upon her.I know her. Wagon or no wagon, she wouldnt wait. Then shed be upset, and I wouldnt upset her for the living world. With that family burying-ground in Jefferson and them of her blood waiting for her there, shell be impatient. I promised my word me and the boys would get her there quick as mules could walk it, so she could rest quiet.I have heard men cuss th eir luck, and right, for they were sinful men. But I do not say its a curse on me, because I have done no wrong to be cussed by. I am not religious, I reckon. But peace is my heart: I know it is. I have done things but neither better nor worse than them that pretend otherlike, and I know that Old Marster will care for me as for ere a sparrow that falls. But is seems hard that a man in his need could be so flouted by a road. I knew that nobody but a luckless man could ever need a doctor in the face of a cyclone.Its because Im alone. If I could just feel it, it would be different, because I would not be alone. But if I were not alone, everybody would know it. And he could do so much for me, and then I would not be alone. Then I could be all right alone.I reckon if theres ere a man or woman anywhere that He could turn it all over to and go away with His mind at rest, it would be Cora. And I reckon she would make a few changes, no matter how He was running it. And I reckon they would be for mans good. Leastways, we would have to like them. Leastways, we might as well go on and make like we did.The wagon moves; the mules ears begin to bob. Behind us, above the house, motionless in tall and soaring circles, they diminish and disappear.We go on, with a motion so soporific, so dreamlike as to be uninferant of progress, as though time and not space were decreasing between us and it.I heard that my mother is dead . I wish I had time to let her die. I wish I had time to wish I had. It is because the wild and outraged earth too soon too soon too soon. She cried hard, maybe because she had to cry so quiet; maybe because she felt the same way about tears she did about deceit, hating herself for doing it, hating him because she had to. And then I knew that I knew. I knew that as plain on that day as I knew about Dewey Dell on that day.It is as though the space between us were time: an irrevocable quality. It is as though time, no longer running straight before us in a diminishing line, now runs parallel between us like a looping string, the distance being the doubling accretion of the thread an not the interval between.Because it is not us that can judge our sins or know what is sin in the Lords eyes. She has had a hard life, but so does every woman. But youd think from the way she talked that she knew more about sin and salvation than the Lord God Himself, than them who have strove and labored with the sin in this human world.While I waited for him in the woods, waiting for him before he saw me, I would think of him as dressed in si n. I would think of him as thinking of me as dressed also in sin, he the more beautiful since the garment which he had exchanged for sin was sanctified. I would think of the sin as garments which we would remove in order to shape and coerce the terrible blood to the forlorn echo o the dead word high in the air. Then I would lay with Anse again - I did not lie to him: I just refused, just as I refused my breast to Cash and Darl after their time was uphearing the dark land talking the voiceless speech. I give that money. I thought that if I could do without eating, my sons could do without riding. God knows I did.It had been dead eight days, Albert said. They came from some place in Yoknapatawpha County, trying to get to Jefferson with it. It must have been like a piece of rotten cheese coming into an anti-hill, in that ramshackle wagon that Albert said folks were scared would fall all to pieces before they could get it out of town, with that home-made box and another fellow with a broken leg lying on a quilt on top of it, and the father and a little boy sitting on the seat and the marshal trying to make them get out of town.Jewel came back. He was walking. Jewel hasnt got a horse anymore. Jewel is my brother. Cash is my brother. Cash has a broken leg. We fixed Cashs leg so it doesnt hurt. Cash is my brother. Jewel is my brother too, but he hasnt got a broken leg.When I went to find where they stay at night, I saw something that Dewey Dell says I mustnt never tell nobody. Life was created in the valleys. It blew up into the hills on the old terrors, the old lusts, the old despairs. Thats why you must walk up the hills so you can ride down.Sometimes I aint so sho whos got ere a right to say when a man is crazy and when he aint. Sometimes I think it aint none of us pure crazy and aint none of us pure sane until the balance of us talks him that-a-way. Its like it aint so much what a fellow does, but its the way the majority of folks is looking at him when he does it.She looked pretty good. One of them black eyed ones that look like shed as soon put a knife in you as not if you two-timed her. She looked pretty good.Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.Its Cash and Jewel and Vardaman and Dewey Dell, pa says, kind of hangdog and proud too, with his teeth and all, even if he wouldnt look at us. Meet Mrs Bundren, he says.

Odd Body piercings a look at upper lip piecring Essay

Odd Body piercings a look at upper lip piecring - Essay Example Now she was no more with her friend and was also independent, so could have got the lip pierced, but she thought better of it because having her lip pierced would have totally put her job in jeopardy and could have sabotaged her career. Besides, Amy had now grown too old to look good with a pierced lip. It was like she had grown out of her piercing age. Her eye-brow piercing spoke negative of her mannerism and told how stupid she had been when she was a kid to have gone for something like an eye-brow piercing. Years went by and Amy became a manager. She looked very decent and civilized in her business attire but the eye-brow piercing would ruin it all. She was generally a very decent person and had such a persona that she was taken seriously by her subordinates. If there was one thing she would like to change about her appearance, it was her eye-brow piercing. However, she thanked God she had not gone for a lip piercing because that would have looked way too vulgar, indecent and absu rd. Conclusion: â€Å"Oral piercings, including lip and tongue jewelry, are a popular form of body modification† (Palmer, 2011). Piercing anywhere on the face in general and the lip in particular is becoming increasingly common among the youth all over the world. It is visualized by teenagers and adolescents as a symbol of fashion. For many, it is something that needs to get done for an individual to remain inn the fashion.

Paper assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper assignment - Essay Example The first thing that I have learnt is that secrets can take a number of forms and they can have different meanings for different people under diverse conditions. Some secrets may serve the purpose of arousing laughter, whereas others may prove to be a source of sadness. No matter what the meanings, it should be kept in mind that secrets are a reflection of the inner conditions of humans and their privacy should be respected at all costs. Also important to note is the fact that secrets can have far reaching consequences on the lives of people and it is for this reason that secrets should be kept and not shared with others; except in a way that ensures privacy of others. I also learnt that memories are an essential part of human lives. The idea of sharing with people the pictures of their lost cameras equates to providing them access to the memories of their past. Although it apparently looks strange that people are willing to get back their old photos, yet it becomes easily understandable if one realizes the willingness of humans to sustain connections with their pasts. We live in our present and intend to sustain a connection with the past while willing to reveal quickly which is hidden in our future. There are various things in life that are more precious in reality than they are ordinarily considered. An example is the voice of people who leave a message when the intended person is not available to talk to. Warren’s assertion that having a recording of someone voice is like keeping that person’s spirit alive is quite interesting. A person’s voice is a reflection of his/her personality and by keeping a recording of a person’s voice, it is possible to revive the memories when the person is no more with us. This has a striking resemblance to the notion of bringing a person back to life. From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the various intangibles of

Organizational Behavior Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Organizational Behavior Analysis - Assignment Example Understanding and appreciating the organizational behaviour thus helps a manager in an organisation to understand the behaviour of others in the same organization. For example, in some organizations, the managers are directly responsible for the behaviour of some of the employees, such as their immediate subordinates. Some of the usual activities of managers include motivating the employees, designing the job roles properly, resolving any kind of conflict in the workplace, evaluating the performance of the employees and helping the employees to achieve the set goals and objectives. The managers can also make use of the knowledge that they have to understand, in a better way, the behaviour, needs, feelings and thus motivate and help employees in the decision making processes and other aspects (Griffin & Moorhead, 2011, p. 6). Therefore, in order to effectively analyze various behavioral components within an organization, the following features are analyzed and discussed in detail. Typ e of culture Organizational culture can be defined as a system of beliefs and shared values which tend to develop within the organization and thus guide the behavior of the members and employees. The importance of the organizational culture along with its contribution is well established. A sound organizational culture is one of the most critical factors that are required in order to determine the attitude for survival in the long run and also towards creating a brand image and it is said to have profound negative as well as positive implications. Organizations tend to contain both informal and formal groups where the formal groups form the structure of the organization by establishing job designs and work responsibilities. The behavior of the individual in the formal group is thus intended and predetermined for achieving the organizational goals. On the other hand, informal groups tend to be coalitions which are neither established within the organization nor structured officially (Loughran, 2007, p. 16). Cultures are broadly divided into various classifications but this paper deals primarily with three forms of culture that are Pluralism, Dualism and Salad Bowl. Cultural Pluralism is of two types: descriptive and participative; out of which the first type of cultural Pluralism is conceptualized as the co-existence of various cultures within the same society and only a little interaction tends to occur among the separate elements. Each of the elements thus concentrates on maintaining their own culture and language in order to imbibe its own heritage in the future generations. The form of cultural pluralism tends to assume that the society is culturally pluralistic, but, at the same time, the individuals are not pluralistic. Therefore, the descriptive form of cultural pluralism tends to imply the coexistence of religious, political, ethnic and racial groups which live together and allow each of the groups to maintain and function itself. Cultural pluralism is another perspective that can be conceptualized not just for the society but also for the individual members. In the second case of cultural pluralism it tends to carry out the description provided by Pratte, as â€Å"positive of hurrah connotation.† As cultural pluralis

Personal reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personal reflection - Essay Example This problem however, is not just limited to teachers, but also goes all the way from students to administrators. The negative effect of student’s freedom include hanging out in hallway inappropriately, being late in school, not doing home work, and not paying attentions in classrooms. For such things, there have punishment like calling their parents and inform them about the problems, detentions, or tardies. These punishments, however, usually fail to enact change in the student’s behavior. To educate students and teach them how to operate in the real world, educators need to teach them that their behavior has consequences. Though it is tempting to always simply blame teachers and parents for students’ failings, one cannot find a solution without recognizing that students are sometimes a problem and need to be made a part of the solution. In the readings from Haller and Strike, the teachers were universally blamed for having students so far behind – yet o nly nine students were behind in a school with very difficult circumstances. If teachers did not do their work then why were only those nine students so far behind? We need to teach these children that learning is valuable, and can be done anywhere, if you are devoted.

Financl analysis of dareen company Research Paper

Financl analysis of dareen company - Research Paper Example Comparison using ratios over two financial years of Dareen Merchandizing and with industry would provide considerable insight regarding Dareen Merchandizing business performance. 1- PROFIT MARGIN FORMULA = NET INCOME Â   Â   SALES Â   (McLaney, 2009) A- RATIO: Ratio DM 2011 Industry 2011 DM 2010 Industry 2010 PROFIT MARGIN =219,030/815000 26.87% 26.00% =136,990/645,000 21.24% 22.00% B- COMMENT ON COMPANY PERFORMANCE AND INDUSTRY TREND 2011- PM-Favorable over industry 2010- PM- Favorable over industry Profit margin in the year 2011 has increased as compared to year 2010. Main reason driving this increase appears to increase in prices as well as sales of the product. Income statement shows sales increased from AED 645,000 in year 2010 to AED 815,000 in year 2011. Increase in price is also clued from comparatively minimal increase in cost goods sold than increase in sales. Increase in sales can be attributed to heavy advertising expenditure incurred from AED 2200 in year 2010 to AED 25000 in 2011. ... C- RECOMMENDATION Increase in sales without similar increase in cost refers that firm has strong control over cost components. However, this increase in sales has a push from high advertising expenditure and hence, firm has room for improvement in this respect. Control over advertising expenses has additional capacity to improve this profitability ratio. Moreover, control over utilities expenses that have increased almost near to double, can also improve net income which will ultimately improve DM’s profitability and will take it ahead of industry profitability margin. Control over these would give some room to decrease price (for instance, seasonal discounts etc) which will further increase sales and would promote profitability positively. 2- INVENTORY TURNOVER FORMULA = SALES Â   Â   INVENTORY Â   (McLaney, 2009) A- RATIO: Ratio DM 2011 Industry 2011 DM 2010 Industry 2010 INVENTORY TURNOVER 815,000/170,700 10.00X 645,000/32,470 9.00X 4.77X 19.86X B- COMMENT ON COMPANY PER FORMANCE AND INDUSTRY TREND 2011- IO- Unfavorable over industry 2010- IO- Favorable over industry Inventory turnover ratio of DM doesn’t reflect some healthy picture. In the year 2010 DM had a very minimal inventory in reference to the amount of sales. In the following year of 2011, the amount of retained inventory increased to large extent. It reflects that in both years company had inefficient inventory management. In the former year it must be constantly involved in the buying inventory every few day i.e. every 18 day (360/19.86) which resulted extra exercise, cost and time which could have been invested in other productive exercise. In the year 2011, firm purchased sizeable inventory each time in

Cell Phone Use Should Be Prohibited While Driving Essay

Cell Phone Use Should Be Prohibited While Driving - Essay Example A 2005 study conducted by Virginia Tech found that 80% of all automobile crashes were associated with driver inattention (Box). Drivers that become distracted lose the concentration on the road that is necessary for safe driving. A distraction that lasts for only a few seconds, such as dialing a phone, can be sufficient to cause an accident. The study further found that the use of phones, and other wireless devices, was the leading cause of driver distraction events (Box). Young drivers, who are already struggling with driver safety, are put at even greater risk as we see the pervasive numbers of cell phones escalate in the 16-24 year old group ("Cell Phones and Driving"). All drivers need to focus on the task of driving and not be allowed to be distracted by a phone call. When we are driving, we rely on our peripheral vision to tell us the location of traffic that may be around us. When we have a cell phone to our ear we are limiting the vision from our left eye. Traffic to the left of us may go unnoticed or critical road signs may be missed. Using a cell phone while driving is like trying to drive with your left eye closed. Hands free devices offer little improvement as drivers develop tunnel vision while concentrating on the phone call and staring straight ahead (Evans).

Financl analysis of dareen company Research Paper

Financl analysis of dareen company - Research Paper Example Comparison using ratios over two financial years of Dareen Merchandizing and with industry would provide considerable insight regarding Dareen Merchandizing business performance. 1- PROFIT MARGIN FORMULA = NET INCOME Â   Â   SALES Â   (McLaney, 2009) A- RATIO: Ratio DM 2011 Industry 2011 DM 2010 Industry 2010 PROFIT MARGIN =219,030/815000 26.87% 26.00% =136,990/645,000 21.24% 22.00% B- COMMENT ON COMPANY PERFORMANCE AND INDUSTRY TREND 2011- PM-Favorable over industry 2010- PM- Favorable over industry Profit margin in the year 2011 has increased as compared to year 2010. Main reason driving this increase appears to increase in prices as well as sales of the product. Income statement shows sales increased from AED 645,000 in year 2010 to AED 815,000 in year 2011. Increase in price is also clued from comparatively minimal increase in cost goods sold than increase in sales. Increase in sales can be attributed to heavy advertising expenditure incurred from AED 2200 in year 2010 to AED 25000 in 2011. ... C- RECOMMENDATION Increase in sales without similar increase in cost refers that firm has strong control over cost components. However, this increase in sales has a push from high advertising expenditure and hence, firm has room for improvement in this respect. Control over advertising expenses has additional capacity to improve this profitability ratio. Moreover, control over utilities expenses that have increased almost near to double, can also improve net income which will ultimately improve DM’s profitability and will take it ahead of industry profitability margin. Control over these would give some room to decrease price (for instance, seasonal discounts etc) which will further increase sales and would promote profitability positively. 2- INVENTORY TURNOVER FORMULA = SALES Â   Â   INVENTORY Â   (McLaney, 2009) A- RATIO: Ratio DM 2011 Industry 2011 DM 2010 Industry 2010 INVENTORY TURNOVER 815,000/170,700 10.00X 645,000/32,470 9.00X 4.77X 19.86X B- COMMENT ON COMPANY PER FORMANCE AND INDUSTRY TREND 2011- IO- Unfavorable over industry 2010- IO- Favorable over industry Inventory turnover ratio of DM doesn’t reflect some healthy picture. In the year 2010 DM had a very minimal inventory in reference to the amount of sales. In the following year of 2011, the amount of retained inventory increased to large extent. It reflects that in both years company had inefficient inventory management. In the former year it must be constantly involved in the buying inventory every few day i.e. every 18 day (360/19.86) which resulted extra exercise, cost and time which could have been invested in other productive exercise. In the year 2011, firm purchased sizeable inventory each time in

Communicating Effectively with Someone Who is Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Essay

Communicating Effectively with Someone Who is Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing - Essay Example Barnett (2002) states that effective communication is essential and will undoubtedly lead to good outcomes in assisting patients. Effective communication will lead to better management in healthcare. There are important skills that could significantly facilitate communicating with patients who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and these skills will be discussed in this essay. B. Skills that contribute to effective hearing According to Power and Power (2004, p. 350), acquisition of communication skills enables students to work effectively as healthcare providers. Skills required to deal with particular patients depend on the individual and will vary with age. Steinberg et al. (2006, p. 262) add that the majority of those with hearing issues are elderly. They report poor health as compared to general population, an issue which is attributed to communication. Effective communication helps the deaf and those hard-of-hearing to give their medical history and have appropriate intervention. The health care provider is required to assess the deaf or hard-of-hearing person’s background, language knowledge and level of education to select the best skills to use in communication (Samady et al., 2008, p. 480). Barnett (2002) notes that the deaf or hard-of-hearing use sign language, especially if they grew up with the challenge from childhood. Some learn to use visual language such as reading of lips. Those who become deaf or hard-of-hearing in adulthood experience hardships in mastering communication skills. However, they have the advantage of having been able to speak; therefore, it becomes easier to communicate in the same language. Power and Power (2004, p. 350) reveal that a combination of verbal and non-verbal skills is required for effective communication with deaf or hard-of-hearing patients. These skills include speech reading or lip reading; writing; listening to speech; mastering a system of visual language; and visual aids or using an interpreter. For effectiv e communication, a combination of one, two or more of the skills may be necessary. Speech reading is common with people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. They learn as they grow, depending on the common language used. The major challenge with speech reading is that not all speech sounds are represented on the lips during speech. For speech reading to be successful, there should be a distance and enough light to see the lips of the speaker. The conversation should not be done in a hurry. Avoid sounds that may cause discomfort (Meador & Zazove, 2005, p. 219). Lezzoni et al. (2010, p. 356) claim that visual aids have been successfully used and can be used in the healthcare context. Healthcare providers can use diagrams, pictures or charts to make clarifications and show medical terminology. Those who can only hear will listen and only give gestures as a reply. They may nod, smile, shake hands and use other gestures to communicate. The gestures will vary depending on the community where they live. O’Hearn (2006) adds that visual aids should be clear and correctly labeled. When they are used, they should be placed close to the speaker so that eye contact is maintained. Visual language is

Biometrics Identification Attendance Monitoring System Essay Example for Free

Biometrics Identification Attendance Monitoring System Essay Time is a special resource that you cannot store or save for later use. Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. Time not well used cannot be retrieved. Most people feel like they have too much to do and not enough time. They blame lack of time for their poor finances, unachieved goals, stress, bad relationships and not exercising their body. Wise time management can help you find the time for what you desire to do or need to do. You need time to get what you want out of life. Waiting for more free time to appear is losing the game of life. Through time management you can â€Å"create† the time you need, and not just wait for it to come. By planning your time wisely, you will have more time to do more things. You can learn to find the time for the things that are important to you. Even a small amount of time once a day, or even once a week, will take you closer to your goals, and you will be surprised at the progress you make. You become more productive using improved time management skills and tools, and can accomplish more with less effort and time. Time management can help you reduce wasted time and energy, help you become more creative and productive, and enable you to do the right thing at the right time. This will of course lead to more balance and fulfillment in your life. Working time is the period of time that an individual spends at paid occupational labor. Unpaid labors such as housework are not considered part of the working week. Many countries regulate the work week by law, such as stipulating minimum daily rest periods, annual holidays and a maximum number of working hours per week. Impact on system domain or impact on domain functionality, the risks between implementations and there. Ideally the monitoring is a tiny fraction of each applications footprint, requiring simplicity. The monitoring function must be highly tunable to allow for such issues as network performance, improvements to applications in the development life-cycle, appropriate levels of detail, etc. Impact on the real goal for the system must be considered In this paper, we proposed a system that automates the whole process or taking attendance and maintaining its records. Managing people is a difficult task for most of the organizations and maintaining the attendance record is an important factor in people management. Manually taking the attendance and maintaining it for a longtime odd to the difficulty of this task as well as wastes a lot of time. For this reason an efficient system is designed. This system takes electronically with fingerprint sensor and all the record are saved on a computer server. Biometric Identification Attendance Monitoring System serve as a time-log that is set up as a computerized database. This system maintains a daily record of a employee’s arrival and departure time for works. It keeps records in order and is frequently updated. When seeking employment, an employee can request certain reports to be printed from the Biometric Identification Attendance Monitoring. Biometrics have been widely use of the purpose of recognition, it is the most secure it is impossible to forge or tamper fingerprint. Fingerprint sensor is place at the entrance of faculty office. In order to mark the attendance, employee has to place his/her finger on the fingerprints sensor. On identification employee attendance’s, attendance record is updated in the database and he/she is notified through monitor. No need of all stationary materials and special person for keeping records. Fingerprint based time attendance-monitoring system provides a foolproof solution using fingerprint authentication. It is very effective in resolving proxy entry problems inherent in other traditional systems. The system records details such as arrival and departure of employees besides maintaining information regarding their personal and official profiles. Official employee information such as designation, department, shift, location, leaves status, compensation, etc. can be linked to any payroll software to automate the complete process. Biometric Identification Attendance Monitoring System completely eliminates â€Å"proxy† inherent in other traditional systems. There is absolutely no recurring cost and smart finger can also be integrated into any existing payroll application to automate the complete process is extremely user friendly and enables you to generate any kind of attendance report required by querying based on name, department, shift, date, type of activity, etc. It can be customized as per the specific requirements of Customer; fingerprint can also be integrated into any existing payroll application to automate the complete process.

Antigone Essay -- essays research papers

The opening events of the play Antigone, written by Sophocles, quickly establish the central conflict between Antigone and Creon. Creon has decreed that the traitor Polynices, who tried to burn down the temple of gods in Thebes, must not be given proper burial. Antigone is the only one who will speak against this decree and insists on the sacredness of family and a symbolic burial for her brother. Whereas Antigone sees no validity in a law that disregards the duty family members owe one another, Creon's point of view is exactly opposite. He has no use for anyone who places private ties above the common good, as he proclaims firmly to the Chorus and the audience as he revels in his victory over Polynices. He sees Polynices as an enemy to the state because he attacked his brother. Creon's first speech, which is dominated by words such as "authority† and "law†, shows the extent to which Creon fixates on government and law as the supreme authority. Between Antigone and Creon there can be no compromise—they both find absolute validity in the respective loyalties they uphold. In the struggle between Creon and Antigone, Sophocles' audience would have recognized a genuine conflict of duties and values. From the Greek point of view, both Creon's and Antigone's positions are flawed, because both oversimplify ethical life by recognizing only one kind of good or duty. By oversimplifying, each ignores the fact that a conflict exists at all, or that deliberation is necessary. Moreover, both Creon and Antigone display the dangerous flaw of pride in the way they justify and carry out their decisions. Antigone admits right from the beginning that she wants to carry out the burial because the action is glorious. Antigone has a savage spirit; she has spent most of her life burying her family members. Creon's pride is that of a tyrant. He is inflexible and unyielding, unwilling throughout the play to listen to advice or Antigone. Creon’s love for the city-state cause him to abandon all other beliefs. He tries to enforce this upon the people of Thebes. He wants them to think that his laws should be followed before any other personal, moral, or religious belief. This is where the conflict of character occurs between Antigone and Creon. Antigone knows that the sacred laws held by heaven are far more important... ...y exist within the two viewpoints, making a conclusion that much more difficult. Throughout the play, each character rattles off the reasons for their actions. Both also justify their actions religiously, believing they are the ones acting accordingly by the gods. The entire plot is a construction of conflict between personal and social motives, a scene not uncommon in today’s society. Sophocles attempts to answer the debate by ultimately showing that the gods approved of Antigone’s motives and that Creon should have buried his nephew. But with so much unnecessary bloodshed committed at the end of the story, it is impossible to believe that this is the final decision. Sophocles believed that the individual held the power and the state shouldn’t have total control over an individual. This is hardly a solution to the debate, the fact that everyone dies. Rather, it is a sign that the debate will live on for all of eternity. Beaty, Jerome., et. al. The Norton Introduction to Literature. W.W. Norton and Company: 1998.

Satan or Santa? :: social issues

Satan or Santa? To Whom It May Concern: I regret to inform you that, effective immediately, I will no longer be able to serve Southern United States on Christmas Eve. Due to the overwhelming current population of the earth, my contract was renegotiated by North American Fairies and Elves Local 209. I now serve only certain areas of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. As part of the new and better contract I also get longer breaks for milk and cookies so keep that in mind. However, I'm certain that your children will be in good hands with your local replacement who happens to be my third cousin, Bubba Claus. His side of the family is from the South Pole. He shares my goal of delivering toys to all the good boys and girls; however, there are a few differences between us. Differences Such As: There is no danger of a Grinch stealing your presents from Bubba Claus. He has a gun rack on his sleigh and a bumper sticker that reads: "These toys insured by Smith and Wesson." Instead of milk and cookies, Bubba Claus prefers that children leave an RC cola and pork rinds [or a moon pie] on the fireplace. And Bubba doesn't smoke a pipe. He dips a little snuff though, so please have an empty spit can handy. Bubba Claus' sleigh is pulled by floppy-eared, flying' coon dogs instead of reindeer. I made the mistake of loaning him a couple of my reindeer one time, and Blitzen's head now overlooks Bubba's fireplace. You won't hear "On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen..." when Bubba Claus arrives. Instead, you'll hear, "On Earnhardt, on Wallace, on Martin and Labonte. On Rudd, on Jarrett, on Elliott and Petty." "Ho, ho, ho!" has been replaced by "Yee Haw!" And you also are likely to hear Bubba's elves respond, "I her'd dat!" As required by Southern highway laws, Bu bba Claus' sleigh does have a Yosemite Sam safety triangle on the back with the words "Back off". The last I heard it also had other decorations on the sleigh back as well. One is Ford or Chevy logo with lights that race through the letters and the other is a caricature of me (Santa Claus) going potty on the Tooth Fairy. The usual Christmas movie classics such as "Miracle on 34th Street" and "It's a Wonderful Life" will not be shown in your negotiated viewing area.

Plato’s Forms

Eric Morin 103317083 01-26-285 Professor L. Buj Jan 16, 2011 Plato’s Criticism On Deceptive Forms Plato’s critique of art operates on two levels, the ontological and the moral. Both levels are interpreted within disdain taste as Plato proposes that the banishment of art could actually bring fourth a closer connection between humanity and truth. His argument against the existence of art as well as its functioning purposes will be further discussed in this paper. Plato’s ontological view on the existence of art looks deep within the nature as well as its overall properties rather bitterly.Plato’s attack on art does not merely constitute visual art, but rather holds a more expansive scope reaching into literature and especially poetry. For Plato, art is accountable for multiple negative influences, which affect all audiences who try to interpret it. These influences are what Plato believes hinders humanity towards aspiring truth. Art for Plato receives negati ve attention at the moment of creation. Plato believes that the thoughts processed by the creator and/or artist are far from original and are alternatively imitations of the real world hich are themselves distant from the ideal Forms. These ideal Forms consist of the ultimate paradigms in our universe containing truth and 2 absolute wholeness, thus proposing a problem for Plato. These copies of copies are referred to as mimesis. During the grandeur search of truth, mimesis serves the audience deceit and alarmingly leads them farther from the ideal Forms. As mentioned in the text, â€Å"Because mimesis presents us with an inferior copy of a copy, poetry takes its listeners away from rather than toward the ideal Forms† (Leitch 43).The hypocrisy surrounding literature proves to be troublesome for Plato on a multitude of levels. In the search for completeness, art not only fails to provide insight toward truth but rather, is actually lying to you. This mimetic stance held within the nature of art is believed to be nothing more than fabrication. Plato maintains his argument by stating that as the audience is deceptively reeled into a degraded mind state, truth is less obtainable. Introduced in the text, â€Å"Because [Literature] stories are fictional, made up, literature is dangerous; it roduces only lies† (43). Plato not only bashes art on an ontological level, but also finds problems morally. During deception and degradation through imitation within text, Plato analyzes the problems art has within its nature and relates that to the morality of audience. He argues that if art is further removing oneself from the truth, than it cannot be in the best interest of man. Thus, banishment of art would be the only way to restore deception and appease humanity. 3 Plato begins by focusing on the dangerous elements of art and its affect on young minds.His argument states, â€Å"Now, do you appreciate that the most important stage of any enterprise is the begi nning, especially when something young and sensitive is involved? † (46). In this part of the text, Plato is trying to explain that not only is the young mind fragile enough to easily fall into this created trap of deceit, but also that ruining the quest for truth at a young age brings upon negative consequences for all of humanity. Argued furthermore, â€Å"No young person is to hear stories which suggest that were he to commit the vilest of crimes †¦ he wouldn’t be doing anything out of the rdinary, but would simply be behaving like the first and greatest gods† (47). Here Plato is arguing that the falsehood within stories can fantasize young minds into ultimately developing enhanced personas, which escalates into degradation of truth in reality. Plato further extends his argument on art and morality into the minds of all humans. Since art is of a deceitful nature according to Plato, it cannot undertone any good found within the text but is instead consider ed the primary fault within literature. Thus, the deception in which the audience resorts to is ultimately proposed as egative and unneeded. Different from a beneficial spoken lie, Plato states about literature, â€Å"All I’m saying is that no one is happy at being 4 lied to and deceived in his mind about the facts† (51). One of Plato’s biggest moral issues with art explores the depiction of human kind in literature. He believes that in order to truly display characteristics of a character we are not only mending the emotions and feelings to suit the text itself but for our own personal capacity. This sort of mutilation of character not only revives the notion of eception within literature but again bringing treason to our own reality. By distorting the character, we would be digging through created deceit as well as misinterpreting the true meaning of what was intended. Plato not only rejects our created distortion, but also feels as though the author creates t his misinterpretation in a deceptive way. As Plato addresses, â€Å"What we’d claim, I imagine, is that poets and prose-writers misrepresent people in extremely important ways† (58). A real life example of artwork that could be examined and placed under Plato’s critical thinking rests in Versailles.There, artist Jeff Koons has created a replica of an inflatable lobster that hangs down from the ceiling for all to see. The lobster seems to be created as though it is soft to touch and friendly to the eyes. Already our senses have been deceived. As Plato would primarily analyze the creationist, we find that Jeff 5 Koons has not only produced a copy of a copy, but adds double the mimetic stages. Plato would argue that Jeff’s original thought has come from an ideal Form, followed by his initial drawing, then an addition of computer enhancement, and lastly interpreted and actually reated by fellow minds in his workshop. This notion sets the idea that Jeff is rat her far from being the creationist, which is deceptive to audience in itself. Plato’s ontological stance would prove testy and unacceptable, as mimetic deceit is thoroughly prevalent within the whole of this piece. Plato would then examine the piece of art and relate it to morality. As this specific piece hangs down appearing soft and inflatable, it as well is deceitful in itself. Made out of metal, the lobster looms above the heads of audiences worldwide. Confusing to our senses, he would isapprove the artworks influence and be especially concerned for child observers. Plato would believe that not only is the nature of this piece deceptive, but our outtake of what we have witnessed would follow suit. In all of this deception, Plato would argue that artwork does indeed lead humanity farther from the truth and most importantly from primary ideal Forms, thus resulting in banishment being the primal response. 6 Works Cited Leitch, Vincent B. , ed. The Norton Anthology of Theory & Criticism. New York, NY: Norton, 2010. Print.

Quality of Education

10 A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY Alan Januszewski h e State University of New York at Potsdam Kay A. Persichitte University of Wyoming Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to provide a historical context for the current dei nition of educational technology. We will do this in several stages. First, we will review the primary purposes and considerations for dei ning educational technology. h en, we will review each of the four previous dei nitions, paying particular attention to the primary concepts included in each dei nition.We will examine the context and rationales for decisions made regarding each of these primary concepts. We will also present some of the historical criticisms of the dei nitions which provided the impetus for changing the dei nitions. h e criteria and purposes for producing a dei nition were discussed at the time of the writing of the i rst dei nition in 1963. A satisfactory dei nition of instructional technology wil l let us i nd common ground, will propose tomorrow’s horizons, and will allow for a variety of patterns that specii c individuals may follow in specii c institutions . . Research must be designed in terms of clear understanding of instructional technology. Superintendents of schools are requesting criteria for new personnel ER5861X_C010. indd 259 ER5861X_C010. indd 259 8/16/07 6:24:22 PM 8/16/07 6:24:22 PM260 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE needed in various phases of instructional improvement. Teacher-education institutions need assistance in planning courses for pre-service and in-service instruction that will provide the skills and understanding which will be required in tomorrow’s classrooms . . Let us consider the criteria for useful dei nitions. h ey should (a) clarify the description of the i eld in ordinary language; (b) summarize existing knowledge; (c) mediate applications of knowledge to new situations; and (d) lead to fruitful lines of experimental inquiry. . . . h is report aims to provide a working dei nition for the i eld of instructional technology which will serve as a framework for future developments and lead to an improvement in instruction. (Ely, 1963, pp. –8) h ose involved in the writing of the 1963 dei nition obviously believed that there were a lot of things to consider when dei ning educational technology. Or put dif erently, the existence of such a dei nition would have far reaching consequences, sometimes with implications that the authors might not intend. Acknowledging this opened the door to criticisms of the dei – nitions and the purposes cited for redei ning educational technology. h e authors of subsequent dei nitions all seemed to adhere, at least in part, to the purposes and criteria identii ed in the 1963 dei nition.The 1963 Definition h e leadership of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) recognized the 1963 dei nition of audiovisual communications as the i rst formal dei nition of educational technology (AECT, 1977). h is dei nition, the i rst in a series of four oi cially sanctioned dei nitions, was developed by the Commission on Dei nition and Terminology of the Department of Audiovisual Instruction (DAVI) of the National Education Association (NEA) and supported by the Technological Development Project (TDP).In 1963 audiovisual communications was the label that was used to describe the i eld as it was evolving from the audiovisual education movement to educational technology: Audiovisual communications is that branch of educational theory and practice primarily concerned with the design and use of messages which control the learning process. It undertakes: (a) the study of the unique and relative strengths and weaknesses of both pictorial and nonrepresentational messages which may be employed in the learning process for any purpose; and (b) the structuring and systematizing of messages by men and instruments in an educational environment. es e undertakings ER5861X_C010. indd 260 ER5861X_C010. indd 260 8/16/07 6:24:23 PM 8/16/07 6:24:23 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 261 include the planning, production, selection, management, and utilization of both components and entire instructional systems. Its practical goal is the ei cient utilization of every method and medium of communication which can contribute to the development of the learner’s full potential. (Ely, 1963, pp. 18–19) A footnote that was included as part of this dei nition read â€Å"the audiovisual communications label is used at this time as an expedient.Another designation may evolve, and if it does, it should then be substituted† (p. 18). Conceptual Shit s Signaled in Dei nitions h ere are three major conceptual shit s that contributed to the formulation of the dei nitions of educational technology as a theory: (1) the use of a â€Å"process† concept rather than a â€Å"product† concept; (2) the use of the terms messages and media instrumentation rather than materials and machines; and (3) the introduction of certain elements of learning theory and communication theory (Ely, 1963, p. 19).Understanding these three ideas and their impact on each other is essential to understanding the idea of educational technology in 1963. A technological conception of the audiovisual i eld called for an emphasis on process, making the traditional product concept of the i eld of educational technology untenable. h e Commission believed, â€Å"h e traditional product concept in the audiovisual i eld views the ‘things’ of the i eld by identifying machines, use of particular senses, and characteristics of materials by degrees of abstractness and/or concreteness† (Ely, 1963, p. 19).Members of the Commission preferred a process concept of the i eld which included â€Å"the planning, production, selection, management, and utilization of both components and ent ire instructional systems† (p. 19). h is process conception also emphasized â€Å"the relationship between events as dynamic and continuous† (p. 19). h e Commission argued that â€Å"materials† and â€Å"machines† were â€Å"things† or products and opted not to use those terms in the dei nition. Instead, the Commission used the terms messages and instruments. h e Commission further argued that materials and machines were interdependent elements. A motion picture and projector are inseparable as are all other materials requiring machines for their use† (Ely, 1963, p. 19). One was of little practical use without the other. h e Commission used the concept of media instrumentation to explain instruments. h e Commission said, â€Å"Media-instrumentation indicates the ER5861X_C010. indd 261 ER5861X_C010. indd 261 8/16/07 6:24:23 PM 8/16/07 6:24:23 PM262 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE transmission systems, the materials and devices available to carry s elected messages† (Ely, 1963, p. 20). e concept of media instrumentation also included the people who utilized the instruments in the educational environment as well as the transmission systems. h e idea that both people and instruments comprised media instrumentation was based in the broader concept of the man-machine system (Finn, 1957). In discussions of the relationship and integration of learning theory and communications theory to instructional technology, the Commission stated, â€Å"Certain elements of learning theory and communications theory of er potential contributions [to the i eld of educational technology]; e. . , source, message, channel, receiver, ef ects, stimulus, organism, response† (Ely, 1963, p. 20). h e Commission integrated learning theory and communications theory by identifying and combining the two systems basic to the process view of the i eld: the learning-communicant system and the educational-communicant system. h ese two systems use conce pts from both learning and communications theories that delineated and specii ed the roles of the individuals involved in the use of these systems. e learnercommunicant system â€Å"refers to the student population† and the educationalcommunicant system â€Å"refers to the professional persons in the school† (p. 23). h ese two systems could be of any size, ranging from a single classroom to large school systems (Ely, 1963). Merging the two communicant systems into a single model of the educational process provided the i eld of audiovisual communications with a theoretical framework (Ely, 1963) and a model that allowed educational technology to be viewed as a theoretical construct (AECT, 1977). e fundamental doctrine advanced by the writers of the i rst dei nition was that it was a â€Å"branch of educational theory and practice. † h e word theory was particularly important in this dei nition because it had a special place in the history of the audiovisual i eld, because of the status that it conferred on the i eld, and because of the expectation for further research to inl uence the evolution of that theory. Finn’s Characteristics of a Profession e 1963 dei nition was heavily inl uenced by James Finn’s (1953) six characteristics of a profession: (a) An intellectual technique, (b) an application of that technique to the practical af airs of man, (c) a period of long training necessary before entering into the profession, (d) an association of the members of the profession into a closely knit group with a high quality of communication ER5861X_C010. indd 262 ER5861X_C010. indd 262 8/16/07 6:24:24 PM 8/16/07 6:24:24 PM10.A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 263 between members, (e) a series of standards and a statement of ethics which is enforced, and (f) an organized body of intellectual theory constantly expanded by research. (p. 7) Of these six characteristics of a profession, Finn (1953) argued that â€Å"the most fundamental and most important characteristic of a profession is that the skills involved are founded upon a body of intellectual theory and research† (p. 8). Having established the importance of theory and research for a profession, Finn further explained his position by saying that â€Å". . this systematic theory is constantly being expanded by research and thinking within the profession† (p. 8). Finn was arguing that a profession conducts its own research and theory development to complement the research and theory development that it adapts/adopts from other academic areas. If educational technology was to be a true profession, it would have to conduct its own research and develop and its own theory rather than borrowing from more established disciplines like psychology.Finn (1953) evaluated the audiovisual i eld against each of the six characteristics and determined that the audiovisual i eld did not meet the most fundamental characteristic: an organized body of intellectual theory and research. â€Å"When the audiovisual i eld is measured against this characteristic . . . the conclusion must be reached that professional status has not been attained† (Finn, 1953, p. 13). h is argument was largely accepted by, and had a profound ef ect on, the leadership of the audiovisual i eld in the late 1950s and early 1960s.Finn (1953) laid a foundation that the audiovisual i eld was troubled by a â€Å"lack of theoretical direction† (p. 14). He attributed this to a â€Å"lack of content† and the absence of â€Å"intellectual meat† (p. 14) in the contemporary meetings and professional journals of the i eld. In his argument promoting the development of a theoretical base for the audiovisual i eld, Finn warned, Without a theory which produces hypotheses for research, there can be no expanding knowledge and technique.And without a constant attempt to assess practice so that the theoretical implications may b e teased out, there can be no assurance that we will ever have a theory or that our practice will make sense. (p. 14) Finn dedicated his career to rectifying this dei ciency in the i eld, and the resulting impact of his work on the 1963 dei nition is evident. Advancing an argument that audiovisual communications was a theory was an attempt to address the â€Å"lack of content† cited by Finn (1953). e Commission identii ed â€Å"the planning, production, selection, management, and utilization of both components and entire instructional systems† (Ely, ER5861X_C010. indd 263 ER5861X_C010. indd 263 8/16/07 6:24:24 PM 8/16/07 6:24:24 PM264 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE 1963, p. 19) as tasks performed by practitioners in the i eld directly related to Finn’s (1953) discussion of the â€Å"intellectual technique† of the audiovisual i eld—Finn’s i rst criterion for a profession. e i rst oi cial dei nition of educational technology can be viewed as an a ttempt to bring together remnants of theory, technique, other academic research bases, and history contained in the audiovisual literature, into a logical statement closing the gap on the â€Å"poverty of thought† (Finn, 1953, p. 13) that characterized the audiovisual education movement. h e evolution of audiovisual communications (and later, educational technology) as a theory began to add â€Å"intellectual meat† to audiovisual practice.By merging the audiovisual communications concept with the process orientation of the i eld into a new intellectual technique grounded in theory, the Commission strengthened the professional practice and of ered a direction for further growth as a profession. Emergence of a Process View Included among the many factors contributing to the development of the process view of educational technology were the two beliefs held by the most inl uential and prominent individuals involved with the audiovisual i eld: (1) that technology was prima rily a process (Finn, 1960b) and (2) that communication was a process (Berlo, 1960; Gerbner, 1956). e conceptual view of educational technology as a way of thinking and a process was established by the 1963 dei nition. h e intention of the Commission that produced the i rst oi cial dei nition of the i eld was â€Å"to dei ne the broader i eld of instructional technology which incorporates certain aspects of the established audiovisual i eld† (Ely, 1963, p. 3). Not unexpectedly, the 1963 dei nition drew some critique as it was applied to the emerging i eld of the 1960s and 1970s.Prominent individuals involved with audiovisual education, such as James Finn (1957; 1960a) and Charles Hoban (1962), had previously used the term technology when referring to the activities of the audiovisual i eld. Donald Ely (1973; 1982) observed that the use of the word control in the 1963 dei nition was problematic for many individuals involved with educational technology. Ely (1982) explained, â €Å"h e strong behavioral emphasis at the time seemed to call for the word ‘control’† (p. 3).He noted that the word facilitate was substituted by many professionals â€Å"to make the dei nition more palatable† (Ely, 1973, p. 52). Perhaps equally important was the desire by members of the i eld to move away from a behaviorally based psychology to a more humanistic psychology (Finn, 1967). ER5861X_C010. indd 264 ER5861X_C010. indd 264 8/16/07 6:24:24 PM 8/16/07 6:24:24 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 265 Criticisms of the 1963 Dei nition As noted in the introduction, no one dei nition can be the dei nition, and there were criticisms of the 1963 dei nition.James Knowlton (1964), a faculty member at Indiana University, was a consultant for the 1963 Commission on Dei nition and Terminology. In an essay that reviewed the 1963 dei nition, Knowlton stated that the dei nition itself was â€Å"couched in semiotical termsâ €  (p. 4) but that the conceptual structure used in the rationale for the 1963 dei nition â€Å"was couched in learning theory terms [and] this disjunction produced some surprising anomalies† (p. 4). Knowlton’s argument was based on a need for conceptual and semantic consistency in the dei nition.Knowlton argued that failing to pair the language of the dei nition with the language of the conceptual structure in the rationale resulted in a general lack of clarity about this new concept. h is lack of clarity in turn caused confusion in the direction of research and practice in the i eld. Less than a decade later, Robert Heinich (1970) saw a need to redei ne the i eld of educational technology for two reasons. First, he was critical of the â€Å"communications† based language used in the 1963 dei nition. Heinich argued that this language was too complicated for school personnel to interpret and apply.Second, Heinich argued that the power to make many of the deci sions regarding the use of technology in schools should be transferred from the teacher to the curriculum planners. Heinich’s argument for changing the dei nition was based on both linguistic concerns and evolutionary changes in the functions of practitioners in the i eld. Heinich promoted an approach to schooling where specialists would decide when and where schools would use technology. h is position was dif erent from that which was discussed in the rationale for the 1963 dei – nition.In the rationale for the 1963 dei nition, teachers were viewed as partners of educational technologists rather than as their subordinates (Januszewski, 2001). Forces Impelling a New Dei nition Other contemporary issues emerged which began to inl uence the i eld. h e report of the Presidential Commission on Instructional Technology (1970) stated that instructional technology could be dei ned in two ways: In its more familiar sense it means the media born of the communications revolution which can be used for instructional purposes alongside the teacher, textbook and blackboard.In general, the Commission’s report follows this usage . . . the commission has had to look at the pieces that ER5861X_C010. indd 265 ER5861X_C010. indd 265 8/16/07 6:24:25 PM 8/16/07 6:24:25 PM266 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE make up instructional technology: television, i lms, overhead projectors, computers and the other items of â€Å"hardware and sot ware. † (p. 19) h e second and less familiar dei nition . . . (Instructional technology) . . . s a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specii c objectives, based on research in human learning and communication and employing a combination of human and nonhuman resources to bring about more ef ective instruction. (Commission on Instructional Technology, 1970, p. 19) Educational technology professionals responded to this report in a special section of Audi ovisual Communications Review (1970). h e professional reviews of the government report were mixed at best. Ely (Ely et al. 1970) of Syracuse University thought that the Commission’s overall ef ort was commendable given its lot y charge. Earl Funderburk (Ely et al. , 1970) of the NEA called the recommendations a balanced program. But David Engler (Ely et al. , 1970) of the McGraw-Hill Book Company disapproved of the Commission’s ef ort to relegate the process-based dei nition of instructional technology to some â€Å"future† role. Leslie Briggs (Ely et al. , 1970) of Florida State University accused the Presidential Commission of providing a â€Å"two-headed image† of instructional technology by stressing both a hardware and a process orientation of the concept. e contributors to this special section of Audiovisual Communications Review (1970) were generally dissatisi ed with the â€Å"two-headed† orientation primarily because of the confusion it m ight cause among the potential client groups of educational technology. h ey viewed the hardware orientation favored by the Presidential Commission as a setback for the profession. It meant the unacceptable return to the â€Å"audiovisual aids† and â€Å"technology as machine† conceptions of educational technology. h is orientation also implied the de-emphasizing of research and theory.Given these professional discussions and developments, professionals in the i eld believed that a new dei nition of educational technology was necessary. The 1972 Definition By 1972, through evolution and mutual agreement, the DAVI had become the AECT. Along with the organizational change came a change to the dei nition. ER5861X_C010. indd 266 ER5861X_C010. indd 266 8/16/07 6:24:25 PM 8/16/07 6:24:25 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 267 h e newly formed AECT dei ned the term educational technology rather than the term audiovisual communications a sEducational technology is a i eld involved in the facilitation of human learning through the systematic identii cation, development, organization and utilization of a full range of learning resources and through the management of these processes. (Ely, 1972, p. 36) As a member of the group that wrote several of the early drat s of the 1972 dei nition, Kenneth Silber (1972) was successful in including changes in many of the roles and functions of the practitioners of the i eld as part of that dei nition.Silber introduced the term learning system which combined ideas of the open classroom movement with some of the concepts of educational technology. Like Heinich’s (1970) perspective, Silber’s (1972) â€Å"learning system† (p. 19) suggested changes in the roles of the teacher and the educational technologist. Unlike Heinich, Silber supported the idea that learners should make many decisions regarding the use of educational technology themselves. Educational techno logists would produce a variety of programs and designs that learners would use or adapt to meet their own â€Å"long-range learning destination† (p. 1). Silber’s position was that the teacher should be more a â€Å"facilitator of learning† and less a â€Å"teller of information. † A Dei nition Based on h ree Concepts h ere are three concepts central to the 1972 dei nition characterizing educational technology as a i eld: a broad range of learning resources, individualized and personalized learning, and the use of the systems approach. â€Å"It is these three concepts, when synthesized into a total approach to facilitate learning, that create the uniqueness of, and thus the rationale for, the i eld† (Ely, 1972, p. 7). Examining these three concepts along with the idea of educational technology as a â€Å"i eld† is crucial to understanding the AECT’s (1972) dei nition of educational technology. It is particularly important to recognize that dif erent interpretations of these three concepts would result in dif ering conceptions of the i eld through the next three decades. h e dif erent interpretations and relative emphases of these concepts were due in large part to dif erences in educational philosophy and educational goals.Dif ering interpretations of these concepts would also have the more visible ef ect of substantially dif erent products and processes developed in the i eld. h e writers of the 1972 dei nition seemed to be aware that the major concepts could be interpreted dif erently, and they seemed to be interested ER5861X_C010. indd 267 ER5861X_C010. indd 267 8/16/07 6:24:26 PM 8/16/07 6:24:26 PM268 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE in including individuals with dif erent philosophical and academic backgrounds in the i eld. e writers of the 1963 dei nition and its supporting rationale seemed less concerned with accommodating divergent educational philosophies. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the 1963 dei n ition was the i rst formal attempt to dei ne educational technology. Such an under taking was formidable enough. Perhaps it was because the writers of the 1972 dei – nition paid more attention to the discussions of educational philosophy in the literature from the rest of the i eld of education.Perhaps it was because the 1963 dei nition viewed educational technology as an educational theory and, potentially, as an educational philosophy itself. Regardless, there is no doubt that by 1972, the authors of the dei nition of educational technology chose to consider educational technology a i eld of study and not as a specii c theory (Januszewski, 1995, 2001). Educational Technology as a Field h e decision to refer to educational technology as a i eld of study rather than a theory or a branch of theory had at least four results: (1) we acknowledged that there was more than one theory of educational technology, ore than one way to think about the role(s) of educational technology; ( 2) the dei nition prompted signii cant philosophical discussions by members of the profession; (3) the use of the word i eld encompassed both the â€Å"hardware† and â€Å"process† orientations of instructional technology described by the Presidential Commission (1970); and (4) this dei nition was based on the â€Å"tangible elements† (Ely, 1972) that people could observe. e 1972 dei nition essentially dei ned educational technology by role and function rather than as an abstract concept, as was the case for the 1963 dei nition, where educational technology was viewed as a theory. h e concept of â€Å"i eld† has been a thorny one for educational technologists. Like many areas of study within education, it is very dii cult to discuss educational technology without using the word i eld as a descriptor. Certainly audiovisual professionals used the term to describe the â€Å"audiovisual i eld† before the terms instructional technology or educational te chnology were ever used. e 1963 dei nition statement frequently used i eld (Ely, 1963) to move the discussion along, even though it was argued that educational technology was a theory or branch of theory. On the surface, the use of i eld seems a rather inescapable semantic problem when speaking of educational technology. But it is signii cant that the writers of the 1972 dei nition chose to use i eld rather than theory in the dei nition because the use of the word i eld established a territory. It also provided certain legitimacy to ef orts to advance ER5861X_C010. ndd 268 ER5861X_C010. indd 268 8/16/07 6:24:26 PM 8/16/07 6:24:26 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 269 both products and processes. h e consequences of this decision were anticipated by Finn (1965), who proclaimed Properly constructed, the concept of instructional or educational technology is totally integrative. It provides a common ground for all professionals, no matter in what aspect of the i eld they are working: it permits the rational development and integration of new devices, materials, and methods as they come along. e concept is so completely viable that it will not only provide new status for our group, but will, for the i rst time, threaten the status of others [italics added]. (p. 193) Criticism of the 1972 Dei nition h e 1972 dei nition was not the object of numerous criticisms as was the 1963 dei nition, probably because it was considered only an interim dei nition (Ely, 1994). Only one such article appeared in the literature of the i eld of educational technology—a critique was written by Dennis Myers, then a graduate student at Syracuse University, and Lida Cochran, a faculty member at the University of Iowa (Myers & Cochran, 1973). e brief analysis by Myers and Cochran (1973) articulated at least i ve dif erent criticisms. First, they proposed including a statement in the rationale for the dei nition stating that students have a rig ht of access to technological delivery systems as part of their regular instruction. Including such a statement follows from Hoban’s (1968) discussion on the appropriateness of technology for instruction in a technological society. Second, Myers and Cochran argued that the 1972 dei nition statement was weakened by neglecting to include a theoretical rationale for the dei nition. is criticism, which correctly pointed out that the dei nition is lacking a unii ed theoretical direction, supported Heinich’s (1970) assertions in his philosophical view of the i eld. In a third point, Myers and Cochran (1973) criticized the limited role that the educational technologist was provided in the description of the systems approach provided in the dei nition. In a fourth point, they discussed the shortcomings of the terminology used to discuss the domains and roles in educational technology.Perhaps the most interesting point made in this analysis concerned the relationship of educati onal technology to the rest of the i eld of education. In noting the problem of dei ning the i eld by the functions performed, Myers and Cochran (1973) pointed to the importance of considering the purpose of education. ER5861X_C010. indd 269 ER5861X_C010. indd 269 8/16/07 6:24:26 PM 8/16/07 6:24:26 PM270 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE What is important is that certain functions get done in education. h at generalization is important because it conveys an attitude that transcends narrow professional nterests and strikes a note of community and cooperativeness, qualities which are essential to the solution of problems facing education and society. (p. 13) Here, Myers and Cochran (1973) seemed to be chastising the writers of the 1972 dei nition for being overly concerned with intellectual territory and the roles performed in the i eld of educational technology. h is particular criticism lost only a little of its sharpness when it was viewed in light of earlier comments made about the inap propriateness of the limited role assigned to educational technologists in the dei nition (Januszewski, 2001).In summary, by 1972, the name of the concept had changed from audiovisual communications to educational technology. h e organizational home for professionals in the i eld had changed name: from DAVI to AECT. h ere had been substantial changes in our schools, hardware, and other technological innovations during the nine years since the writing of the i rst dei nition. Educational technology was now identii ed as a i eld of study, open to interpretation by those who practiced within it. e 1972 dei nition rel ected these interpretations but was intended to be only a temporary measure. Almost as soon as it was published, work began on the next dei nition. The 1977 Definition In 1977, the AECT revised its dei nition of educational technology with its third version: Educational technology is a complex, integrated process, involving people, procedures, ideas, devices and organizati on, for analyzing problems and devising, implementing, evaluating and managing solutions to those problems, involved in all aspects of human learning.In educational technology, the solution to problems takes the form of all the Learning Resources that are designed and/or selected and/or utilized to bring about learning; these resources are identii ed as Messages, People, Materials, Devices, Techniques, and Settings. h e processes for analyzing problems, and devising, implementing and evaluating solutions are identii ed by the Educational Development Functions of Research h eory, Design, Production, Evaluation Selection, Logistics, Utilization, and Utilization Dissemination. h e processes of directing or coordinating one or more of hese functions are identii ed by the Educational Management Functions of Organizational Management and Personnel Management. (AECT, 1977, p. 1) ER5861X_C010. indd 270 ER5861X_C010. indd 270 8/16/07 6:24:27 PM 8/16/07 6:24:27 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECTâ₠¬â„¢S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 271 h e Dei nition of Educational Technology (AECT, 1977) was a 169-page book intended to accomplish two things: (a) systematically analyze the complex ideas and concepts that were used in the i eld of educational technology, and (b) show how these concepts and ideas related to one another (Wallington, 1977). is publication included the dei nition of educational technology (which comprises 16 pages of the text), a history of the i eld, a rationale for the dei nition, a theoretical framework for the dei nition, a discussion of the practical application of the intellectual technique of the i eld, the code of ethics of the professional organization, and a glossary of terms related to the dei nition. Educational Versus Instructional Technology h e conceptual dif erence between the terms educational technology and instructional technology constituted a large portion of the analysis of this book.Understanding how the authors of the 1977 dei niti on viewed the relationship of instructional technology to educational technology is essential to understanding the 1977 dei nition and its theoretical framework. h e basic premise of this distinction was that instructional technology was to educational technology as instruction was to education. h e reasoning was that since instruction was considered a subset of education then instructional technology was a subset of educational technology (AECT, 1977). For example, the concept of educational technology was involved in the solution of problems in â€Å"all aspects of human learning† (p. ). h e concept of instructional technology was involved in the solution of problems where â€Å"learning is purposive and controlled† (p. 3). Educational Technology as a Process Two other complex conceptual developments were also undertaken by the authors of the 1977 dei nition, which were interrelated. First, the 1977 dei – nition of educational technology was called a â€Å"pr ocess† (AECT, 1977, p. 1). h e authors intended the term process to connote the idea that educational technology could be viewed as a theory, a i eld, or a profession.Second, the systems concept was infused throughout the entire dei nition statement and in all the major supporting concepts for the dei nition in both its descriptive and prescriptive senses. h e authors of the 1977 dei nition connected these two conceptual developments by saying that the use of the systems concept was a process (AECT, 1977). As one of the three major supporting concepts for the 1972 dei nition of educational technology, the systems approach had become the basis for the ER5861X_C010. ndd 271 ER5861X_C010. indd 271 8/16/07 6:24:27 PM 8/16/07 6:24:27 PM272 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE dei nition itself by 1977. h rough their ef orts to reinforce the process conception of educational technology, the leadership of the i eld now assumed that all of the major supporting concepts of the dei nition were t ied to, or should be viewed in light of, the systems approach. h e three major supporting concepts of the 1977 dei nition were learning resources, management, and development.Learning resources were any resources utilized in educational systems; a descriptive use of the systems concept the writers of the 1977 dei nition called â€Å"resources by utilization. † Authors called the resources specii cally designed for instructional purposes, a prescriptive use of the systems approach, â€Å"resources by design† or â€Å"instructional system components† (AECT, 1977). Like the concept of learning resources, management could be used in a descriptive fashion to describe administrative systems or in a prescriptive way to prescribe action. e concept of management was ot en used as a metaphor for the systems approach in education (Heinich, 1970). h e term instructional development was frequently used to mean the â€Å"systems approach to instructional development† o r â€Å"instructional systems development† (Twelker et al. , 1972). h e fact that the management view of the systems approach to instruction ot en included an instructional development process and the fact that instructional development models frequently included management as a task to be completed in the systems pproach to instructional development further intertwined the systems concept with the process view of educational technology. h ese descriptive and prescriptive interpretations of the 1977 dei nition would inl uence future dei nitions. As previously noted, the predilection that educational technology was a process was not new when the 1977 dei nition was written. Process was one of the three major supporting concepts incorporated into the rationale of the 1963 dei nition (Ely, 1963).Believing that educational technology was a process provided one of the major reasons that the leadership of the profession tended to reject the report of the Presidential Commission on Instructional Technology (1970), which focused heavily on the hardware of the i eld in its i rst dei nition of instructional technology. h e authors of the 1977 dei nition, who purposefully used the term process to develop a systematic and congruent scheme for the concept of educational technology, said, h e dei nition presented here dei nes the theory, the i eld, and profession as congruent. is occurs because the dei nition of the i eld of educational technology is directly derived from, and includes, the theory of educational technology, and the profession of educational technology is directly ER5861X_C010. indd 272 ER5861X_C010. indd 272 8/16/07 6:24:28 PM 8/16/07 6:24:28 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 273 derived from, and includes, the i eld of educational technology. (AECT, 1977, p. 135) In the end, the ef ort to demonstrate the congruence of the major concepts involved with educational technology created as many issues for the i eld as it resolved.Five immediate advantages for describing educational technology as a process were (1) the use of the term process reinforced the primacy of the process view of educational technology over the product view of educational technology. h e process view had been outlined in the 1963 dei nition statement, but the report of the Presidential Commission on Instructional Technology (1970) appeared to reverse this emphasis. (2) h e term process would ground the dei nition of educational technology in the activities of its practitioners, activities that could be directly observed and verii ed. 3) h e term process could be used to describe educational technology as a theory, a i eld, or a profession. (4) h e term process allowed the further evolution of thought and research around the concept of systems. Finally, (5) an organized process implies the use of research and theory, which would reinforce the idea that educational technology was a profession. Educational Technology as F ield, h eory, or Profession h e authors of the 1977 dei nition argued that educational technology could be thought of â€Å"in three dif erent ways—as a theoretical construct, as a i eld, and as a profession† (AECT, 1977, p. 7). h ey continued, â€Å"None of the foregoing perspectives is more correct or better than the others. Each is a different way of thinking about the same thing† (p. 18). h e writers of the 1977 dei nition argued that the theoretical construct, the i eld, and the profession were all process based. h e term process described and connected all three of these perspectives of educational technology with a single word. Educational technology had been called a theory in the 1963 dei nition (Ely, 1963), and it had been called a i eld in the 1972 dei nition (Ely, 1972).New to the 1977 dei nition was the argument that educational technology was also a profession. Prior to the publication of the 1977 dei nition, the term profession was used in passing as it related to educational technology. Since Finn (1953) had argued that the i eld had not yet reached professional status, members of the i eld (e. g. , Silber, 1970) had made few attempts to analyze educational technology systematically as a profession. Using Finn’s criteria, the writers of the 1977 dei nition argued that educational technology was now a profession.Depending upon the interpretation and application of the systems concept, educational technology could be explained as a theory, a i eld, or a profession ER5861X_C010. indd 273 ER5861X_C010. indd 273 8/16/07 6:24:28 PM 8/16/07 6:24:28 PM274 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE in the 1977 dei nition. h e impact of using the term process to describe educational technology as a theory, a i eld, or a profession hinged on these dif ering interpretations of the systems approach, once again prompting discussions and philosophical debates among prominent educational technologists. e period of the 1980s was not so focused on c riticism of the 1977 dei nition as much as characterized by broad academic wrangling over the interpretation and application of the dei nition (Januszewski, 1995, 2001). h e three major supporting concepts of the 1977 dei nition—learning resources, management, and development—could also be interpreted dif erently based on divergent conceptions of the systems approach. h e dif erent interpretations of learning resources, management, and development also provided the writers of the 1977 dei nition with a rationale to distinguish between educational technology and instructional technology.The 1994 Definition By 1994, the dei nition of educational technology had nearly come full circle. h e dei nition that was produced in 1994 read, â€Å"Instructional technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning† (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 1). h ere are no new concepts included in the 19 94 dei nition. What was new was the identii cation of multiple theoretical and conceptual issues in the explanation of the dei nition. e 1994 dei nition was intended to be much less complex than the 1977 dei nition. h e extent to which the writers were successful can be judged in part by reviewing the criticisms of the 1977 dei nition. h e attempt by the writers of the 1977 dei nition to show the congruence of educational technology and instructional technology revealed a conceptual problem for the i eld. h e dei nition of educational technology, which was concerned with â€Å"all aspects of human learning† (AECT, 1977, p. ), had become so broad that some individuals in the i eld of education pointed out that there was no dif erence between educational technology and curriculum, school administration, or teaching methods (Ely, 1982). Saettler (1990) wryly pointed out that the dei nition had become everything to everybody, and he dubbed the 1977 dei nition the â€Å"omnibus d ei nition. † Logical Problems h ere were also serious l aws in the reasoning and the conceptual interpretations used in the theoretical framework and rationale for the 1977 dei nition of educational technology.Establishing the dif erence between ER5861X_C010. indd 274 ER5861X_C010. indd 274 8/16/07 6:24:28 PM 8/16/07 6:24:28 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 275 education and instruction, the authors argued, â€Å"Education, then, includes two classes of processes not included in instruction: those processes related to the administration of instruction . . . and those processes related to situations in which learning occurs when it is not deliberately managed† (AECT, 1977, p. 56).An example of learning not deliberately managed given in the discussion was â€Å"incidental learning† (p. 56). It was reasonable for the authors to argue that nondeliberately managed learning and/or incidental learning was part of the concept of education (Januszewski, 1997). However, the dei nitions of â€Å"technology† by Galbraith (1967), Hoban (1962), and Finn (1960a, 1965), which were used by the authors of the 1977 dei nition to discuss the term technology as it related to the concept of educational technology, all included the ideas of organization, management, and control (AECT, 1977). e writers of the 1977 dei nition considered organization, management, and control critical characteristics of technology; but these ideas were contrary to the idea of â€Å"incidental learning† and â€Å"learning that was not deliberately managed. † Education, at least as it was distinguished from instruction included in the rationale of the 1977 dei nition, did not seem compatible with technology. It is dii cult to conceive of a technology of the incidental, unmanaged, and unintended. e gains made in the organization of the framework of the concept of educational technology by distinguishing between education and instruction were lost when education was paired with technology (Januszewski, Butler, & Yeaman, 1996). h eory or theoretical construct. h e relationship of educational technology to â€Å"theory† presented another problem in the discussion of educational technology presented in the 1977 dei nition and rationale. ere are three ways in which the concept of theory is related to educational technology in the 1977 dei nition statement: (1) the thought that educational technology was a â€Å"theoretical construct† (AECT, 1977, pp. 18, 20, 24); (2) the notion that educational technology itself was â€Å"a theory† (AECT, 1977, pp. 2, 135, 138); and (3) that the â€Å"dei nition of educational technology was a theory† (AECT, 1977, pp. 4, 20, 134). To some degree, all three of these discussions of theory and educational technology are accurate, but they cannot be used interchangeably as they are in the 1977 dei nition.A theoretical construct is not the same as a t heory; nor is it the case, that because a dei nition of a concept is a theory, the concept itself a theory. h e word theory has been used in at least four ways in the literature of the i eld of education: (1) the â€Å"law like† theory of the hard sciences; (2) theories that are supported by statistical evidence; (3) theories that identify variables that inl uence the i eld of study; and (4) theory as a systematic analysis of a set of related concepts (Kliebard, 1977). ER5861X_C010. indd 275 ER5861X_C010. ndd 275 8/16/07 6:24:29 PM 8/16/07 6:24:29 PM276 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE h e fourth sense of theory is of interest to this analysis of the 1977 dei nition of educational technology. Systematic analyses of any abstract concept can be said to be theories of that concept. Referring to educational technology as a theoretical construct, or a theory, or calling the dei nition of educational technology a theory may be accurate if the construct or theory includes a systematic an alysis of the concept of educational technology. e writers of the 1977 dei nition provided criteria for â€Å"theory† that was not theory as a systematic analysis of related concepts. h e 1977 view of theory was an attempt to establish general principles and predict outcomes (AECT, 1977). h is approach was substantially dif erent from the usage of the word theory in the 1963 dei nition statement. Further confusion arises because of the writers’ claim that educational technology did indeed meet the criteria for being a predictive theory (Januszewski, 1995, 2001).Certainly â€Å"educational technology† is a theoretical construct. â€Å"Educational technology† may also be considered a theory depending on what exactly is intended by the word theory. The 1977 definition of educational technology is a theory about the abstract concept of â€Å"educational technology. † But because the definition of the concept of educational technology may be a theory of educational technology, it does not necessarily follow that the concept of educational technology is itself a theory.This is similar to saying that a definition of the concept of democracy may be a theory of democracy but that the concept of democracy itself is not a theory. Few involved in the field of educational technology adopted this systematic treatment of the concepts provided in the 1977 definition. Many in the field adopted only portions of the definition (e. g. , Gustafson, 1981). Certain parts of the definition and the supporting statements were cited by scholars in order to make erudite points about the field of educational technology (e. . , Romiszowski, 1981), but a reading of the literature of the field during this era reveals that the whole of the conceptual framework provided in the 1977 definition, specifically the part intended to distinguish educational technology from instructional technology, was not widely accepted by the professionals in the field of educati onal technology (Seels & Richey, 1994). This lack of acceptance led to the label changes in the 1994 definition. Distinguishing between educational and instructional. e ef ort to revise the 1977 dei nition addressed some of the conceptual incongruencies of previous dei nitions. h e i rst of these was the dif erence between educational and instructional technology. Unlike the writers of the 1977 dei nition, who sought to distinguish between educational technology and instructional technology, ER5861X_C010. indd 276 ER5861X_C010. indd 276 8/16/07 6:24:29 PM 8/16/07 6:24:29 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 277 the authors of the 1994 dei nition acknowledged that this problem had no easy answer. ey admitted, â€Å"At present the terms ‘Educational Technology’ and ‘Instructional Technology’ are used interchangeably by most professionals in the i eld† (p. 5). But they argued, Because the term ‘Instructional T echnology’ (a) is more commonly used today in the United States, (b) encompasses many practice settings, (c) describes more precisely the function of technology in education, and (d) allows for an emphasis on both instruction and learning in the same dei nitional sentence, the term ‘Instructional Technology’ is used in the 1994 dei nition, but the two terms are considered synonymous. Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 5) With that, the oi cial label of the i eld was changed from â€Å"educational technology† to â€Å"instructional technology,† although it was quite acceptable to continue to use the term educational technology. Underlying Assumptions Seels and Richey (1994) did dif erentiate the 1994 dei nition from previous dei nitions by identifying and analyzing some of the assumptions that underlie this dei nition. Identii ed assumptions included Instructional technology has evolved from a movement to a i eld and profession.Since a profession is concerned with a knowledge base, the 1994 dei nition must identify and emphasize instructional technology as a i eld of study as well as practice (p. 2). A revised dei nition of the i eld should encompass those areas of concern to practitioners and scholars. h ese areas are the domains of the i eld (p. 2). Both process and product are of vital importance to the i eld and need to be rel ected in the dei nition (p. 2). Subtleties not clearly understood or recognized by the typical Instructional Technology professional should be removed from the dei nition and its more extended explanation (p. ). It is assumed that both research and practice in the i eld are carried out in conformity with ethical norms of the profession (p. 3). Instructional technology is characterized by ef ectiveness and ei – ciency (p. 3). h e concept of systematic is implicit in the 1994 dei nition because the domains are equivalent to the systematic process for developing instruction (p. 8). †¢ †¢ †¢ à ¢â‚¬ ¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ ER5861X_C010. indd 277 ER5861X_C010. indd 277 8/16/07 6:24:29 PM 8/16/07 6:24:29 PM278 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE h e inclusion of these ssumptions in the analysis and explanation accompanying the 1994 dei nition allowed for the publication of a dei nition that was much more â€Å"economical† than were previous dei nition ef orts. h eory and Practice h e authors of the 1994 dei nition stated that the dei nition was composed of four components: (a) theory and practice; (b) design, development, utilization, management and evaluation; (c) processes and resources; and (d) learning. h ese components were not necessarily new; but in this dei nition, they were reorganized, simplii ed, and connected, in a way making the 1994 dei nition unique. e 1994 dei nition used the phrasing included in the 1963 dei nition when it called instructional technology â€Å"the theory and practice of. † And the authors argued, â€Å"A profession must have a knowl edge base that supports practice† (Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 9). h e authors used a simple but rather clear notion that â€Å"theory consists of the concepts, constructs, principles, and propositions that contribute to the body of knowledge† and that â€Å"practice is the application of the knowledge† (p. 11).In so doing, the authors cleared up the problem of the meaning of theory that they had inherited from the writers of the 1977 dei nition, a dei nition of theory that had been too precise. Domains h e concepts (or â€Å"domains† of the 1994 dei nition) of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation comprise the accepted knowledge base of the i eld today as evidenced by the Standards for the Accreditation of School Media Specialist and Educational Technology Specialist Programs (AECT, 2000).When these concepts are taken together and conducted in sequential order, they are the same as the stages of â€Å"development† described in t he 1977 dei nition. h ese concepts are directly traceable to the idea of educational engineering developed by W. W. Charters (1945). It is important to realize that the authors of the 1994 dei nition did not intend that practitioners of educational technology perform all of these tasks in the sequential order. Specializing in or focusing on one of these tasks would include broad practitioners in the i eld (Seels & Richey, 1994).Seels and Richey (1994) provided dei nitions of processes and resources: â€Å"A process is a series of operations or activities directed towards a particular end† (p. 12). â€Å"Resources are sources of support for learning, including support systems and instructional materials and environments† (p. 12). h ese descriptions allowed the authors to (a) use process to reinforce notions of ER5861X_C010. indd 278 ER5861X_C010. indd 278 8/16/07 6:24:30 PM 8/16/07 6:24:30 PM10.A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 279 eng ineering and science in instruction; (b) maintain the distinction between resources as things and processes; and (c) be consistent with terminology used in all three previous dei nitions. h e concept of learning was not new to the 1994 dei nition; however, the dei nition of learning intended by the authors was new. In previous dei nitions, the term learning was intended to connote a change in behavior such as advocated by Tyler (1950). But the authors of the 1994 dei nition wanted to move away from a strong behaviorist orientation. ey argued, â€Å"In this dei nition learning refers to the ‘relatively permanent change in a person’s knowledge or behavior due to experience’† (Mayer, 1982, as cited in Seels & Richey, 1994, p. 12). Including the phrase â€Å"due to experience† also aided in moving away from causal connections and allowed for incidental learning. h is interpretation signaled the acceptance of a dif erent kind of science in education: one less grounded on prediction and control and more interested in applying other theoretical and research principles to the instructional process.Criticism of the 1994 Dei nition h e primary criticism of the 1994 dei nition is that instructional technology appeared to look too much like the systems approach to instructional development while changes in the practice of the i eld (e. g. , constructivistbased initiatives and the general acceptance of computer innovations in classroom methodologies) made the 1994 dei nition too restrictive for mainstream teachers and school administrators as well as researchers and scholars. h ese criticisms and further evolution of the research and practice in the i eld led to a need for reconsideration and evision of this dei nition at er more than a decade of use. The Current Definition h e task force empanelled by AECT to review the 1994 dei nition wrestled with the historical issues presented here and with other issues of perception, changing employm ent and training expectations, semantics, and a strong desire to develop a dei nition that both served to include the broad variety of practitioners in this i eld and one which would prompt renewed attention to the theory and research so critical to our continued contributions to learning.In a sense, we are not so far removed in this century from the professional goal stated in the 1963 dei nition: ER5861X_C010. indd 279 ER5861X_C010. indd 279 8/16/07 6:24:30 PM 8/16/07 6:24:30 PM280 JANUSZEWSKI AND PERSICHITTE It is the responsibility of educational leaders to respond intelligently to technological change . . . If the DAVI membership is to support the leadership in such bold steps, dei nition and terminology as a basis for direction of professional growth is a prime prerequisite . . Now that the i eld of audiovisual communications, the largest single segment of the growing technology of instruction, has reached the point of decision making, we i nd ourselves in the same quandary ot her i elds have discovered when they have attempted to dei ne their i elds: i. e. , dei nition exists at various levels of understanding but no one dei nition can be the dei nition. (Ely, 1963, pp. 16–18)And so, the latest in the line of dei nitions of educational technology: â€Å"Educational technology is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using, and managing appropriate technological processes and resources. † References Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1972). h e i eld of educational technology: A statement of dei nition. Audiovisual Instruction, 17, 36–43. Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (1977). h e dei nition of educational technology. Washington, DC: Author.Association for Educational Communications and Technology. (2000). Standards for the accreditation of school media specialist and educational technology specialist programs. Bloomington, IN : Author. Berlo, D. (1960). h e process of communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Charters, W. W. (1945). Is there a i eld of educational engineering? Educational Research Bulletin, 24(2), 29–37, 53. Commission on Instructional Technology. (1970). To improve learning: A report to the President and the Congress of the United States. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Oi ce. Ely, D. P. (1963). e changing role of the audiovisual process: A dei nition and glossary of related terms. Audiovisual Communication Review, 11(1), Supplement 6. Ely, D. P. (1972). h e i eld of educational technology: A statement of dei nition. Audiovisual Instruction, 17, 36–43. Ely, D. P. (1973). Dei ning the i eld of educational technology. Audiovisual Instruction, 18(3), 52–53. ER5861X_C010. indd 280 ER5861X_C010. indd 280 8/16/07 6:24:31 PM 8/16/07 6:24:31 PM10. A HISTORY OF THE AECT’S DEFINITIONS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 281 Ely, D. P. (1982). h e dei nition of educational technology: An emerging stability.Educational Considerations, 10(2), 24. Ely, D. P. (1994). Personal conversations. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University. Ely, D. P. , Funderburk, E. , Briggs, L. , Engler, D. , Dietrich, J. , Davis, R. , et al. (1970). Comments on the report of the Commission on Instructional Technology. Audiovisual Communications Review, 18(3), 306–326. Finn, J. D. (1953). Professionalizing the audiovisual i eld. Audiovisual Communications Review, 1(1), 617. Finn, J. D. (1957). Automation and education: General aspects. Audiovisual Communications Review, 5(1), 343–360. Finn, J. D. (1960a).Automation and education: A new theory for instructional technology. Audiovisual Communications Review, 8(1), 526. Finn, J. D. (1960b). Teaching machines: Auto instructional devices for the teacher. NEA Journal, 49(8), 41–44. Finn, J. D. (1965). Instructional technology. Audiovisual Instruction, 10(3), 192–194. Finn, J. D. (1967, August). Dia log in search of relevance. Paper presented at the Audiovisual Communication Leadership Conference, Lake Okoboji, Iowa. Galbraith, J. K. (1967). h e new industrial state. Boston: Houghton Mil in. Gerbner, G. (1956). Toward a general model of communication.Audiovisual Communications Review, 4, 171–199. Gustafson, K. (1981). Survey of instructional development models. Syracuse, NY: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information Resources. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 211 097) Heinich, R. (1970). Technology and the management of instruction. Washington, DC: Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Hoban, C. F. (1962, March). Implications of theory for research and implementation in the new media. 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Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Visual Literacy Association, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Kliebard, H. M. (1977). Curriculum theory: Give me a â€Å"for instance. † Curriculum Inquiry, 6(4), 257–269. Knowlton, J. Q. (1964). A conceptual scheme for the audiovisual i eld. Bulletin of the School of Education, Indiana University, 40(3). Myers, D. C. & Cochran, L. M. (1973). Statement of dei nition: A response. Audiovisual Instruction, 18(5), 11–13. Romiszowski, A. J. (1981). Designing instructional systems. London: Kogan Page. Saettler, P. (1990). h e evolution of American educational technology. Englewood, CO: Libraries Unlimited, Inc. Seels, B. , & Richey, R. (1994). Instructional technology: h e dei nition and domains of the i eld. Washington, DC: AECT Press. Silber, K. (1970). What i eld are we in, anyhow? Audiovisual Instruction, 15(5), 21–24. Silber, K. (1972). h e learning system. Audiovisual Instruction, 17(7), 10–27.Twelker, P. A. , Urbach, F. D. , & Buck, J. E. (1972). h e systematic development of instruction: An overview and basic guide to t