IPFW Admissions SAT Scores, Financial Aid, Admit Rate

Media s Impact On The Media - 1007 Words

Most of us watch television or listen to the radio on our commute in order to be up to date with the surrounding events. We depend on those sources of mass media to relay relevant and reliable information in order for us to understand pressing issues and formulate our opinions pertaining to the best approach in dealing with those issues. But what if the information relayed to us is biased and skewed or worse yet if those sources of information divert attention away from pressing matters and place the individuals in an oblivious state. The fact of the matter is that news organizations are more trusted sources of information than are many other institutions, including government and business. And the public’s impression of the national media†¦show more content†¦He gave an example that in his book of when wall street journal ran a story about how the federal safety officials were investigating an issue with certain GE airplane engines that had faulty parts that can disintegrate and cause a catastrophic failure, a problem that affected more than four thousand airplanes that transport thousands of passengers every day. The writer continues to state that he found this information to be very important to the public and that it needs to be covered by the news channel he worked for which was CNBC at the time, part of NBC network. But since NBC is owned by GE the agency decided not to run the story. Another persistent matter is the distraction and the diversion of public attention by the media, a strategy that is used as the primary element of social control. Its sole goal is to drive attention away from important issues and changes determined by the political and economic elites, by the technique of flooding continuous distractions and insignificant information. Noam Chomsky in his book Media Control, talks about how domestic programs of the administrations of the past ten years have really no serious proposal about what to do about the severe problems of health, education, homelessness, joblessness, crime, soaring criminal populations, jails, deterioration in the inner cities and a whole another raft of

Computers in the Work Environment free essay sample

A study of the revolutionary changes in the work place as a result of computer technology. This paper considers how computers have influenced the workplace environment and provides a competitive advantage to its users. The paper also examines how the value may not be as great as perceived by considering the productivity paradox. The author notes that the computer technology is only as good as the programmers running it. The commercial environment has changed over the last few decades. One of the most influential factors has been the development of the computer. The technology has created a social and commercial revolution, increasing the speed and accuracy of communication reducing man hours for tedious tasks and creating new methods of analysis and business practice. However, there are many conflicting reports regarding the way that computers have been used and the benefits they may bring. Therefore, computers in the workplace may be seen as essential, but the value they add is sometimes questionable. We will write a custom essay sample on Computers in the Work Environment or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In this paper we will consider the way that computer technology may be used and some of the problems we may find in seeking to assess the way it will adds to the value chain. However, when we look at computers, we must understand that it is not only computers that we need to consider, but the programmes that they run, as without these they have no value.

Peer Assessment and Productivity of Low Achieving Students

Introduction Addressing the reading issues that low ability students face during a reading class is an essential step towards increasing the academic potential of the students in question. The class selected for the intervention, included a group of thirteen seventh-grade low-ability students. It should be noted that the class consisted of twenty people.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Peer Assessment and Productivity of Low Achieving Students specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Among the specified group of students, two students face problems communicating English, as they are EAL students (Shin 2010); three fifth of the students (i.e., 12 students) have SEN, whereas one student out of five in the group (i.e., 4 students) has either dyslexia or ADHD. Their knowledge of grammar and syntax rules also leaves much to be desired (3c to 4a, the KSE test returning the results ranging from 5a to 6c). Though, compa red to the initial test results, the final ones can be rendered as a minor improvement, the current evidence points at the need for the students to work on new skills acquisition and memorizing skills.  The literature review allowed for defining the methods for addressing the needs of the students in question. For instance, the fact that students usually lack understanding of the role of peer assessment, as well as the significance of providing accurate evaluations of their peers (Falchikov Goldfinch 2000) has led to the necessity to not only provide students with a detailed explanation on the process of evaluation of their peers’ success, but also a very close supervision of the specified procedure (Zingaro 2013). Moreover, it has also been noted that the students will most likely need to provide the students with positive reinforcement so that they could feel motivated enough to strive for a better performance (Cox Maher 2007).  In addition, an overview of the existin g sources helped design the strategy that was supposed to help students with high scores to maintain the level of their accomplishments just as high. Specifically, the need to incorporate a set of graphic principles for the students to comply with emerged after analyzing the methods of tending to the needs of low-achieving students. To be more exact, the fact that low achieving students need graphic data in order to understand the mechanics of the learning process better and, thus, engage into the meta-cognition process was discovered with the help of the review of the readings and their application in the classroom setting. Moreover, an overview of the existing literature has shown that the students need a positive reinforcement from their instructor in order to attain success in the course of the intervention deserves to be mentioned. Indeed, as Freedman’s study shows, it is the teacher’s responsibility to condition a positive impact of tpeer assessment (Falchikov G oldfinch 2000).Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Therefore, the need to introduce an element of games emerged (Friedman et al. 2007).  The application of the specified intervention has shown that scaffolding combined with peer assessment, in fact, does allow for improving the students’ knowledge and ability to develop new skills. Unfortunately, the study has also proven the fact that the motivation of high scoring students drops as the peer assessment strategy is introduced into the class setting and the standards for the students’ performance are reduced a few notches. It is suggested that the incorporation of an element of a game into the learning process and the introduction of differentiated assignments (Murayama, Perkin Lichtenfeld 2012), which will allow high scoring students to choose the tasks that they find interesting, will help address the specified issue and at the same time enhance the learning process among low ability students (Burguillo 2010). Retrospective In the course of the research, six lessons were carried out, during which the students were supposed to assess each other’s reading skills. The first lesson started with the introduction of the students to the idea of peer assessment and giving them exact instructions on what they had to do. The students were given a set of statements for the evaluation of their peers, while the teacher explained what each part of the assessment addressed.  The teacher suggested that the students should read the questions out loud and ask if anything was not clear. As soon as every student understood the purpose of the questions, the teacher split them in pairs; then, the reading of the first excerpt started. After the reading, the students were to answer the first part of the questionnaire and evaluate their peer’s reading skills on the scale of 1 to 5, as the specifie d scale helped embrace the largest amount of possible responses and at the same time avoid acquiring excessive data. The students seemed to lack confidence when carrying out their first evaluation of their peers, being more lenient to each other than the standards required. As a result, the students that were obviously scoring lower than the rest of the class did not feel willing to make stronger efforts. Thus, the instructor may need to introduce the element of competition into the process in order to make the students evaluate their peers’ work on more rigid standards (Carter, 2014). The same procedure followed the assignment that involved answering the questions concerning the contents of the excerpt and the new vocabulary; the students evaluated their peers’ responses on the scale from 1 to 5 assessing the accuracy of the vocabulary use and correctness of the factual information. The lesson ended with a game of locating words in a grid filled with letters and defin ing these words.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Peer Assessment and Productivity of Low Achieving Students specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The students then evaluated their peers’ skills based on the amount of words found (fifteen were encrypted in the grid) and the time taken to locate the words (the students were given fifteen minutes, a minute per word). The teacher scaffolded the students throughout the assessment helping them measure their peers’ success, which helped the students feel more confident (Knight et al. 2014). The specified model was repeated throughout the six lessons with slight alterations (the game was replaced with a similar crossword activity three times).  Low ability students displayed keen interest and quite honest excitement about the activities suggested by the teacher. As it has been stressed above, students hesitated to grade each other low at first. Howev er, as soon as the teacher assured them that the grading by peers will not affect their actual score calculated by the teacher, they became rather enthusiastic about the process. Their high achieving peers, though, seemed to be quite bored after they realised that the pace of the lesson was not going to be accelerated. The fact that motivation rates have dropped among high ability students in the process of the intervention points at the necessity to introduce the set of activities that would keep the attention of high achieving students and at the same time be approachable for low ability students (Wadesango Bayaga 2013); the use of a game as a type of activities that both low and high ability students may participate in seems to have worked quite well within the specified setting. The success of the strategy can be explained by the fact that games presuppose the incorporation of a competition factor (Dominiquez et al. 2013) and, thus, make the learning process more engaging for h igh achievers (Connolly et al. 2012).  As the students proceeded with their peer evaluation process, they started understanding the demands that they were supposed to meet much better. As a result, the students started designing the methods for developing the corresponding qualities and meeting the corresponding requirements. For example, it was noticed that one of the students with dyslexia started identifying the patterns of pronunciation and, therefore, is developing a strategy of spelling difficult words instead of using guesswork in the process of reading. To be more specific, the aforementioned student spotted specific combinations of letters and denotes which ones precede and follow a certain letter. Afterwards, the student reads the word. Though seemingly minor, these improvements show that low ability students are willing to improve their skills and that they are ready to make major efforts to reach success (Asikainen et al. 2014).Advertising Looking for research paper on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The above-mentioned change in the responses retrieved from the low ability students can be easily understood once viewed from the tenets of the knowledge construction (Lai Law 2013). From the perspective of the specified theory, in order to develop new skills and not only retrieve, but also process and remember new information, low ability students have to engage into the meta-cognition process. In other words, the students must understand how they acquire new skills and information, as well as use this knowledge for their further studying process. Peer reviewing, in its turn, allows students to understand how they cognise the world around them (Lavy, Paserman Schlosser 2011). At the end of the sixth class, the students were given a questionnaire to fill in and had to evaluate the effects that the use of peer assessment had had on them. The results have shown that the students became more confident when participating in a game or a similar activity. In other words, the students ne ed a group activity involving a minor competition factor (Denton et al. 2013). The students have shown an especial improvement in their reading abilities during these games. Therefore, it may be suggested that games with a further evaluation may serve as an incentive for the students to strive of a better performance (Cho, Lee Jonassen 2011). Moreover, the low scoring students displayed an impressive enthusiasm. However, high ability students seemed to be bored throughout the lesson and, thus, were not as attentive as they usually are. Moreover, they seemed to start adapting to less rigid demands, which could be a threat to their further performance (Munro, Abbot Rossiter 2013). This calls for an introduction of the activities that high scoring students may perform while the low ability ones handle their assignments. Conclusion Therefore, the research should be geared towards the evaluation of gaming and the introduction of competition, as well as the differentiation of tasks, as a tool for retaining the motivation of high achievers and preventing them from losing their reading skills. One must bear in mind that the implementation of the specified strategies triggers a range of controversies around the learning process and the goals that the instructor pursues. First and most obvious, the threat of a significant drop in the motivation rates of low achieving students becomes rather palpable, as the setting where differentiated strategies are approved of may affect the self-esteem of low ability students (Denton et al. 2013). Reference List Asikainen, H, Virtanen, V, Postareff, L Heino, P 2014, ‘The validity and students’ experiences of peer assessment in a large introductory class of gene technology,’ Studies in Educational Evaluation, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 197–205 Burguillo, J C 2010, ‘Using game-theory and competition-based learning to stimulate student motivation and performance,’ Computers and Education, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 566–575. Carter, C S 2014, ‘Using technology and traditional instruction to teach expository text in the sixth grade reading classroom: a quasi-experimental study,’ Instructional Technology Education Specialist Research Paper, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1–58. Cho, Y H, Lee, J Jonassen, D H 2011, ‘The role of tasks and epistemological beliefs in online peer questioning,’ Computers Education, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 112–126. Connolly, T M, Boyle, E A, MacArthur, E M, Thomas Hainey, T Boyle, J M 2012, ‘A systematic literature review of empirical evidence on computer games and serious games,’ Computers Education, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 661–686. Denton, C A, Tolar, T D, Fletcher, J M, Barth, A E, Baughn, S Francis, D J 2013, ‘Effects of tier 3 intervention for students with persistent reading difficulties and characteristics of inadequate responders,’ Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 633 –648. Dominiquez, A, Saenz-de-Navarrete, J, de-Marcos, L, Fernà ¡ndez-Sanz, L, Pagà ©s, C Martà ­nez-Herrà ¡is, J-J 2013, ‘Gamifying learning experiences: practical implications and outcomes,’ Computers Education, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 380–392. Falchikov, N Goldfinch, J 2000, ‘Student peer assessment in higher education: a meta-analysis comparing peer and teacher marks,’ Review of Educational Research, vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 287–322. Knight, V F, Wood, C L, Spooner, F, Browder, D M O’Brien, C P 2014, ‘An exploratory study using science e-texts with students with autism spectrum disorder,’ Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, vol. 28, no. 3, p. 115–126. Lai, M Law, N 2013, ‘Questioning and the quality of knowledge constructed in a CSCL context: a study on two grade-levels of students,’ Instructional Science, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 597–620. Lavy, V, Paserman, M D Schlosser, A 2011, ‘Inside the black of box of ability peer effects: evidence from variation in the proportion of low achievers in the classroom,’ Economic Journal, vol. 122, no. 559, 208–237. Munro, J, Abbot, M Rossiter, M 2013, ‘Mentoring for success: accommodation strategies for ELLS,’ Canadian Journal of Action Research, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 22–38. Murayama, K, Perkin, R Lichtenfeld, S 2012, ‘Predicting long-term growth in students’ mathematics achievement: the unique contributions of motivation and cognitive strategies,’ Child Development, vol. 84, no. 4, pp. 1475–1490. Shin, S J 2010, ‘Teaching English language learners: recommendations for early childhood educators,’ Dimensions of Early Childhood, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 13–21. Wadesango, N Bayaga, A 2013, ‘Ability grouping as an approach to narrow achievement gap of pupils with different cultural capitals: teachers’ involvement,’ I nternational Journal of Educational Sciences, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 205–216. Zingaro, D 2013, ‘Student moderators in asynchronous online discussion: a question of questions,’ MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 159–172. This research paper on Peer Assessment and Productivity of Low Achieving Students was written and submitted by user Alexia Harrell to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.