Monday, January 27, 2020

Computers In Our Life Media Essay

Computers In Our Life Media Essay We cannot imagine our life without computers. The fact is that they are so important that we can not exist without them. Since 1948, they are everywhere around us. When the first real computer has been invented our life has changed so much that we can call it real digital revolution. First computers were differed from todays ones. The first well-known computer in the world was ENIAC, the Electronic Numerical Integrator And Calculator. ENIAC took up an entire room, generated quite a bit of heat, and did much less work than a standard PC or laptop of today. Still, for its time, it was a huge leap forward. Computers progressed from punch-card programming to actual written programs with commands built in. Scientists today are working on computers with artificial intelligence that can think for themselves within defined limits. This development could have huge advantages. Think of a vacuum cleaner that can identify a dusty spot and go back to clean it up, or a dishwasher that identifies when the dishes are not quite clean, and runs for another five minutes. Computers created the information age, where huge amounts of data could be processed. This has led to many advantages in modern life, including easily balancing your bank statement or brokerage account, using dictionary and encyclopedia programs, even planning and designing a new kinds of houses or machines and everything like this, is possible on your computer. There is software available for almost any need, and if you have a notebook or laptop computer, those programs could go anywhere you go. From writing a letter to designing a birthday card, there is nothing you could not do with a computer. The Internet also has brought even more drastic changes. Using your computer, you could go online, and access the Worldwide Web (WWW). You could connect to other computers, huge databases, university or county libraries, banks, or your utility company. There is hardly a bill that could not to be paid online these days no more licking stamps. If you have a friend or family member living a long distance away, you could contact them by skype or facebook for free, saving money in long-distance charges. Movies, songs, and games could be downloaded via the Internet to your computer, and many of them are free, as well. Do your banking online at 2am, or take an online class in math or basket weaving. The Internet has truly revolutionized how we connect with other people, as well as businesses. There is not one area of our lives that computers and the Internet have not affected. Nowadays they are also used by scientist and they may also be as huge as the old ones but they are millions times faster. They could perform many complex operations simultaneously and scientist practically could not do without them. Thanks to them people has access to enormous amount of information. Gathering data has never been more simple than now. They are not only used in laboratories but also in factories to control production. But not only in science and industry computers are being used. Thanks to them modern medicine could diagnose diseases faster and more thoroughly. Also in banking system computers have become irreplaceable. They control ATMs, all data is stored on special hard disks and paper is not used in accountancy any more. Furthermore, architects, designers and engineers could not imagine their work without computers. This machines are really everywhere and we depend on them also in such fields as criminology. They help police to solve crimes and collect evidence. Moreover, computers are wide-spread in education. Except their classic tasks such as administration and accountancy they are used in process of learning. Firstly, they store enormous amount of data which helps students to gain an information. Secondly, thanks to special teaching techniques and programs they improve ours skills of concentration and assimilation of knowledge. They have become so popular that not knowing how to use them means to be illiterate. While there are things to watch out for, overall most people agree that the huge advantages that have come from computers and the Internet far outweigh any disadvantages. Of course except this superb features there is also dark side of computer technology because every invention brigs us not only benefits but also threats. Some scientist said that computers are dangerous to our health. The monitors used to be dangerous for our eyesight. Nowadays due to technological development they are very safe. But there are other threats to our health than damaging our sight. Working with computers and permanent looking on the monitor could cause epilepsy, especially with children. Very often parents want to have a rest and do not draw enough attention to how long their children use computer,but this negative effects also concerns TV screen. Other main disadvantage of computers is that sometimes they brake down like everything else.And the biggest problem is when our hard disk brakes down because of the data stored on it. Other hardware is easily replaceable. But there are many ways of avoiding consequences of loosing our data, for example by saving it on compact disks. Except hardware failures there are also software ones. For example, for many years Windows Operating System was very unstable and that is why many other operating systems were written. Now the most common are Linux, Windows XP, MacOs (for Macintosh computers). Except of unstable operating systems another and maybe the main threat to our data are computer viruses. There are billions of them and every day new ones come into being. If you have the Internet connection you have to be particularly careful and download anti-virus programs. Fortunately, there are also many of them and most of them are freeware. You have to remember to download updates. But viruses ,unfortunately,are not so big disadvantage as violence and sex. The main threat to younger users of computers are internet pornography and bloody games. The presence of sexual content or level of violence should be properly marked and parents are obliged to draw their attention to this issue. There are many extremely bloody games such as grand theft auto, quake etc. For example, in GTA you are a member of mafia and to promote in crime hierarchy you should kidnap people, steal cars, robe banks etc. As a bonus you can also run over pedestrians. There are also many games in which you are a soldier and your mission is to kill as many enemies as possible. The other threat to our children is internet pornography. The availability of sexual content is enormous and you can do practically nothing to protect your child, especially when it is interested in this matter . And in the end if you spend most of your free time using computer you should go to see a psychologist,because you become a computer addictted. This is real new illness connected usually with using of social network like Facebook,My space ,Skype,etc.But if we want to understand how people became addicted to social networks and computers at all,we will try to find how this Products become so popular. The fast computer development help us for one new idea realization, so in the end of 2003 it has been popularized, a new opportunity for communication and information sharing the social networks. In the beginning were Classmates.com, SixDegrees.com, and Friendster introducing the notion of friend connection. These sites made the way for the most popular sites these days such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Youtube. Each of it boasts hundreds of millions of active members around the world. It is hard to find a school or college student who does not use Facebook, MySpace or Youtube. The tipping point of the online social networks mass addiction have been reached and it will continue growing, but social networking is not just for children. In Facebook more of its users are out of school, college and university and those 25 years and older represent the fastest growing group of people. Only between June and November 2008 Facebook grew to 120 million users this means that Facebook is th e largest online social networking site in addition it also has one of the most used advertising tools. In second place is MySpace owned Fox Interactive Media it is a popular site among teenagers and adults and is known as a media and entertainment destination. Most of the celebrities have profiles there to keep connection with their fans. MySpace is similar to Facebook and offer hyper targeting capabilities. The social networks are the new era of the human connections and we may say, that today we are making the first steps to the new cyber society.Other step could be computerizing of education in schools,because children always like playing games and learning their lessons on computers. The machines present the world through pictures, music, sound and text. It is amazing and exciting. The young learners enjoy playing on computers. They would like to be a part of ICT education and wish to know more from all over our planet. In 1999, Sugata Mitra, and his colleagues dig a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, install an Internet-connected PC and leave it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). They are going to observe kids from the slum who play around with the computer. They are going to know the process of learning or how do the children use it, how do they go online and then teaching each other. In August 2008 Mitra, who is Professor of Educational Technology presented how kids figured out how to use PC in their own and then taught other kids. His study found the following: I had an office in those days which bordered a slum, an urban slum, so there was a dividing wall between our office and the urban slum. They cut a hole inside that wall which is how it has got the name hole-in-the-wall and put a pretty powerful PC into that hole, sort of embedded into the wall so that its monitor was sticking out at the other end, a touchpad similarly embedded into the wall, put it on high-speed Internet, put the Internet Explorer there, put it on Altavista.com in those days and just left it there. The professor describes the process of learning between the children. He believes that the young learners can learn fast. They are interested in all over around them. They can learn English, too. According to Mitra, So eight minutes and an embedded computer seemed to be all that we needed there . English is easy because the kids use CDs and remember words when they play on the computers. Mitra s study found the following: This is the first kid who came there; he later on turned out to be a 13-year-old school dropout. He came there and he started to fiddle around with the touchpad. Very quickly he noticed that when he moves his finger on the touchpad something moves on the screen and later on he told me, I have never seen a television where you can do something. So he figured that out. It took him over two minutes to figure out that he was doing things to the television. And then, as he was doing that, he made an accidental click by hitting the touchpad youll see him do that. He did that, and the Internet Explorer changed page. Eight minutes later, he looked from his hand to the screen, and he was browsing: he was going back and forth. When that happened, he started calling all the neighborhood children, like children would come and see whats happening over here. And by the evening of that day, 70 children were all browsing. So we thought that this is what was happening: that children in groups can s elf-instruct themselves to use a computer and the Internet. The professor makes the experiment in Pakistan, the area of the Himalaya Range, too. Everywhere the children try to learn more and to teach themselves. They wish to know the English Alphabet and Mitra found The first thing that these children did was to find a website to teach themselves the English alphabet . In the end of your lecture, the professor makes conclusions. He thinks that computers can be useful educational tools when the kids discover the world around them. They can help children to learn languages and to improve the communication through the special Windows functions like browsing, painting, chatting, etc. According to Mitra, What could they learn to do? Basic Windows functions, browsing, painting, chatting and email, games and educational material, music downloads, playing video . His conclusions are important and they would be useful in the work of many teachers. Mitra s study found the following: So what was the conclusion over the six years of work? It was that primary education can happen on its own, or parts of it can happen on its own. It does not have to be imposed from the top downwards. It could perhaps be a self-organizing system, so that was and the second bit that I wanted to tell you, that children can self-organize and attain an educational objective. The idea of a hole in a wall is innovative because many children would like to have great opportunities for excellent education, work and life. The computers can be named windows of knowledge because the knowledge is a power. The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn. And in conclusion we want to say that the situation all over the world is very serious. Computers and computer based machines are practically irreplaceable and we can not make without them any more. They are everywhere, at our homes, schools, at work, in our cars. It is very possible that the next stage of human evolution will be some kind of superb mix of half human and half machines. On the other hand I don not think it will be the closest future. But the truth is that computers will rule the world sooner or later ,because they do not make a human mistakes and also do not have feelings ,which command human relation and work.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Patch Adams

Patch Adams Patch Adams is very interesting to watch. From the beginning of the story, there is the willingness of the viewers to watch the movie till the end. It is simple but not on its meaning. It does not only talk about the life of patch, the doctors, patients, students but also the nurses who are always in the side of the patients. Its focus is more on personality. Meeting people that will pull you down then lift you up and changing their views is one of your amazing deeds and help.And even there are those people who helped you to build your dreams they must never be the reason to break it instead they will be the one who strengthen you to pursue it, even if they will be gone someday. It has a message that is no matter what; don’t let something to discourage you from what you love and who you are. It is not just any movie that will make you cry because of sad parts but because of the fact that even you have done good things it might followed by bad happenings. There are things that can not be prevented.It is the best example for many cases of being confused in oneself, not only in mental capacity of thinking but also the ability to know yourself. Patch was helped by this brilliant man, Arthur Mendelson, to see through problems which made me realize on simple things. Patch is not just an ordinary man. He knows the feeling when you give and help which gave him a reason to be a doctor. He might think of the wrong solution yet it led him to the corner of his way to the right direction. When Patch is treating patients in his clinic with his classmates as volunteers, he shows that we are a community that can help each other.There are these services that do not only look for payments but for the happiness and benefit they will bring to other people. He heals people in a beautiful way, more in a funny way. Breaking rules is not always a bad thing. Sometimes it will let you know that there are things not to be followed to have a better result. Maybe as a do ctor, you know everything in the book but what makes you sad is that you can’t even make an old woman to eat. You may have understood everything but how about to make someone eat? And as the main point for doctors, we should not just prevent death but also to maintain life.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Adult Education Study Simulators

The understanding of educational theory improves the quality of teaching taking place in schools. Indeed, according to Podeschi and Pearson (2003, p. 89), continued exposure to diverse educational theories help instructors to apply best practices in day-to-day teaching activities.Further, instructors are more likely to apply a different teaching method, which helps in understanding what works best with different students and lessons. The resulting system is mutually beneficial among educational stakeholders: teachers improve on respective professionalism, students receive high quality education, and school administration becomes more efficient in executing duties and responsibilities.Instructional processes being used by this researcher will definitely be improved upon reading the chapter. Most importantly, the understanding of factors influencing instruction delivery among adult students would results to change in strategies.This instructor will therefore embark on understanding spe cific factors before developing strategies to be applied. The strategy of involving adult students in the development of individuals’ academic goals will also get incorporated in the new instructional processes. The newly improved procedures will be implemented and consequently get evaluated regularly.In order to understand the participation rate in the local population, a group of ten adults were randomly selected and asked various questions regarding their propensity to participate. Four of the selected adults are active participants in adult education, whereas the rest (six) said they would like to participate but lack time.Those currently undergoing adult education do so through weekend classes as well as summer school. The adults were more inclined to attend group classes instead of studying privately.Participants of organized adult education are better positioned to succeed compared to individuals on self-directed learning, considering professionalism involved in adult educational systems (Knowles, 1999, p. 213). Organized education benefits from various teachers with wider experience and knowledge to guide adults in attaining respective academic goals.Participants in organized classes further get opportunities to share with each other, which enhances the understanding of concepts taught in classes. On the other hand, adults on self-directed learning have the advantage of concentrating on subjects and concepts of interest, which lacks in organized reaching.This instructor’s recruitment of adult education will be influenced by what has been learnt in the chapter. The new understanding on individuals more likely to participate in adult education will especially be of help. The instructor will embark on the process as recruiting adult students from both groups—those who are more likely to enroll and succeed and those with difficulties.Both groups will further get mixed in all the classes and educational activities. Mixed classes are, ac cording to Moos and Tricket (2004, p. 117) better placed to motivate struggling adult students to succeed academically. This will also help in the process of reducing chances of me drop out from the struggling students. Most importantly, the instructor will ensure encouraging students from either group to interact more in class activities.The instructor will further work closely with individual students with the intention of establishing a working rapport. This way, students would feel free to express their hardships to the instructor and therefore increase chances of resolving issues before reaching crisis level.Knowing adult students’ cognitive and learning styles are a must for teachers involved in the sector. Indeed, it is only through such knowledge that teachers can successfully help students achieve respective academic goals. Having such understanding helps teachers to come up with strategies that improve students’ ability to grasp concepts taught in their class es.Fort instance, understanding that some students learn better by just listening to lectures and others through visual aids, teachers are more likely to combine strategies. This would mean running lectures in combination with lecture notes for those who learn better through reading and PowerPoint slides for those in need of visual aids. Such approach leaves all students with better understanding.Though there exists little data relating to motivating general public in taking part in adult education, it is with no doubt that improving awareness would improve enrollment rates.This instructor will therefore embark on improving awareness of adult education courses within the locality, which would be achieved in collaboration with relevant departments. In addition to improving awareness, diversity in student’ body would be enhanced at various levels, which would leave participants stronger in their academic endeavors.There exist some differences between youth and adult students, e specially regarding needs and preferences. Adult students are more likely to prefer the traditional lecture notes instructions delivery, whereas the youth would prefer aggressive usage of information technology (Knowles, 1999, p. 72).To the youths, sitting down and consequently taking lecture notes sounds tedious—significant portion prefer having lectures delivered through IT, especially the Internet, where they can access at afterwards and regularly. On the other hand, adults are less inclined to rely on information technology, because they lack, or have little of the required technical skills.The first step in designing class instructions for adult students is to request them to share goals they would like to achieve. This instructor would arrange for a meeting with individual students and consequently collect views and concerns that would be incorporated in the instructions. Instructor will thus understand each student needs that will be considered in curriculum developmen t process.The traditional lectures, which most adult students are comfortable with, would become the primary teaching method. However, the instructor will embark on incorporating information technology throughout the process. The use of technology will also provide adult students to learn about the modern methods and thus overcome the digital divide barrier separating them from youth students.Wild Wide Web, PowerPoint presentations, and email communication between teachers and students will be used widely. All lecture and learning material will be posted on class website, where students can refer at their own convenience. As discussed above, the instructor will arrange for private meeting time with individual students.These meetings will be used to gage students’ comfort in using information technology—problems in using the system would be dealt with accordingly. In addition, the meetings would be used to understand whether the goals set in advance have been achieved. Students will therefore get a chance to get the much-needed counsel.The same processes can be applied with regard to youth education, given that they are in need of much support. Youth students are more likely to lack self-control and discipline that are required in academics. It is important for teachers in lower and upper academic levels to embark on improving this much-needed discipline in their students.This will serve them well in latter years, especially when they participate in adult education. The long run beneficiaries of improved understanding of education theories would therefore include stakeholders from all walks of life: teachers would become more efficient in their professions, whereas students benefit from high quality teaching methods.References Knowles, M. (1999). Pedagogy versus Andragogy. New York: Routledge.Moos, P. & Trickett, E. (2004). Classroom Environment. Palo Alto: CPP.Pearson, E. & Podeschi, R.   (2003). Humanism & Individualism in Adult Education. Adu lt-Education Quarterly. Vol. 50 (3): 39-55.   

Friday, January 3, 2020

Essay about Environmental themes in the Poem Dust by...

Dust, written by Judith Wright, discusses the concepts of a destroyed, empty world and a mother reflecting on the days when the â€Å"Earth was kinder†. Through her poem she shows the audience her fears for the world and how the world will become barren and â€Å"sick† if the environment is not cared for. This is typical of Judith Wright, with environmental themes central to many of her poems. The emotive responses that are evoked while reading this poem are extremely strong. A great sadness is experienced as she describes the barren new word and contrasts it to the previous one. To convey the moral of this poem Wright has employed many different literary and poetic techniques. These range over three major categories, imagery, structure and†¦show more content†¦Evil also personifies the earth with these conations stating that the once kind â€Å"earth turns evil†. Together with grief’s taste this helps the reader to visualise even more clearly the future earth which Wright imagines. From the picture that she has developed inside the reader’s head Wright hopes for them to get a better understanding and a greater concern for the consequences that follow a lack of environmental attention. Judith Wright extensively uses the structure of her poems to convey many ideas and themes. The structure of a poem is crucial to delivering its key message as it determines both the tone and how the poem is read. She shows the reader throughout the poem how the dust, which is symbolic of the barren emptiness that has â€Å"overtaken†¦ dreams† of beauty and comfort as well as financial dependence, will consume the earth if the current environment is not conserved and protected. Wright’s use of title emphasizes this point in the clearest way she can and re-enforces her major concept to the audience. Another example of how structure is used in this poem is juxtaposition. The first and second stanzas are strategically placed next to each other because of their greatly opposing descriptions. In stanza one, the new world of dust and wind, many negative adjectives are used, such as â€Å"harsh†, â€Å"grief† and â€Å"steel-shocked†. Stanza two, whic h talks about the past, contains a wide range of positive adjectives such as â€Å"good†, â€Å"kinder† and â€Å"beautiful†.