Anorexia Nervosa Body Image and Internalization Issues...

Description: Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a distorted body image. The individual is severely underweight and thinks they are fat or has a fear of becoming fat (Comer, 2013). There are two types of anorexia. The first type is restricting-type anorexia. The individual restricts food intake to a dangerous degree. The second type is binge-eating/purging type anorexia. The individual purposely regurgitates after eating uses laxatives and/or diuretics (Comer, 2013). Females compose 90-95% of people suffering from anorexia nervosa (Comer, 2013). The typical age that an individual acquires anorexia nervosa is between 14 and 18 years old. However, it is possible to occur at any age (Comer, 2013). Patients diagnosed with anorexia†¦show more content†¦Other conditions that may appear include disruptions in electrolytes and in metabolism, dry skin, brittle nails, hair loss or development of lanugo (fine hair), and cold feet and hands (Comer, 2013). Other serious conditions that can occur after prolonged periods may be heart failure or circulatory collapse (Comer, 2013). There are many emotional aspects of the disorder such as fear, self-esteem, and anxiety (Comer, 2013). Fear is the motivation for individuals to become anorexic. It can be fear of becoming fat, or of ‘giving in’ to appetite and eating. It could also be that the fear of losing control of body shape, size, or weight (Comer, 2013). Self-esteem fluctuates with how weight and size is perceived, and is often negative (Comer, 2013). Depression and anxiety may be a symptom while experiencing the disorder (Comer, 2013). Behavioral incidents include patterns of obsessive-compulsive disorder with food and/or exercise (Comer, 2013). Media is thought to be a risk factor for developing anorexia. The messages and images in the media expose women to ideas of the ‘ideal women’ being thin and attractive. Many women think that being thin is the only way to be considered attractive (Henderson Spettigue, 2004). Media impacts women in regards to how they feel about size, shape, or weight; eatingShow MoreRelatedEating Disorders And African American Women1944 Words   |  8 Pageswomen, and how they differ to those of other minority groups. Through research, it was found that eating disorders are not as known in African American women, or women of minority due to cultural differences. Different studies were analyzed of African American women at different colleges, to verify that eating disorders were prevalent in the sample groups. It was concluded in several studies that obesity rates, racial identity, and body image were the determining factors of the eating disordersRead MoreThe Prevalence, Etiology, And Treatment Of Eating Disorders2893 Words   |  12 Pages(Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, Thompson, 1980). Dissatisfaction with one’s own body a result of the increasingly thin depictions of female body shapes in the mass media has been mainly attributed to the Caucasian young fema le population (Striegel-Moore, Silberstein, Rodin, 1986). To date, there has been relatively little empirical research investigating the prevalence, etiology, and treatment of eating disorders in ethnic minorities. Additionally, studies investigating the direct link between acculturation

The Impact of Ict on Tertiary Education Free Essays

string(64) " some possible directions to further stimulate its development\." The impact of ICT on tertiary education : advances and promises Kurt Larsen and Stephan Vincent-Lancrin Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Directorate for Education / Centre for Educational Research and Innovation* DRAFT OECD/NSF/U. Michigan Conference â€Å"Advancing Knowledge and the Knowledge Economy† 10-11 January 2005 Washington DC ABSTRACT: The promises of e-learning for transforming tertiary education and thereby advancing the knowledge economy have rested on three arguments: E-learning could expand and widen access to tertiary education and training; improve the quality of education; and reduce its cost. The paper evaluates these three promises with the sparse existing data and evidence and concludes that the reality has not been up to the promises so far in terms of pedagogic innovation, while it has already probably significantly improved the overall learning (and teaching) experience. We will write a custom essay sample on The Impact of Ict on Tertiary Education or any similar topic only for you Order Now Reflecting on the ways that would help develop e-learning further, it then identifies a few challenges and highlights open educational resource initiatives as an example of way forward. The first section of the paper recalls some of the promises of e-learning; the second compares these promises and the real achievements to date and suggests that e-learning could be at an early stage of its innovation cycle; the third section highlights the challenges for a further and more radically innovative development of e-learning. Knowledge, innovation and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have had strong repercussions on many economic sectors, e. g. the informatics and communication, finance, and transportation sectors (Foray, 2004; Boyer, 2002). What about education? The knowledge-based economy sets a new scene for education and new challenges and promises for the education sector. Firstly, education is a prerequisite of the knowledge-based economy: the production and use of new knowledge both require a more (lifelong) educated population and workforce. Secondly, ICTs are a very powerful tool for diffusing knowledge and information, a fundamental aspect of the education process: in that sense, they can play a pedagogic role that could in principle complement (or even compete with) the traditional practices of the education sector. These are the two challenges for the education sector: continue to expand with the help (or under the pressure) of new forms of learning. Thirdly, ICTs sometimes induce innovations in the ways of doing things: for example, navigation does not involve the same cognitive processes since the Global Positioning System (GPS) was invented (e. g. Hutchins, 1995); scientific research in many fields has also been revolutionised by the new possibilities offered by ICTs, from digitisation of information to new recording, simulation and data processing possibilities (Atkins and al. , 2003). Could ICTs similarly revolutionise education, especially as education deals directly with the codification and transmission of knowledge and information – two activities which power has been decupled by the ICT revolution? The education sector has so far been characterised by rather slow progress in terms of innovation development which impact on teaching activities. Educational research and development does not play a strong role as a factor of enabling the direct production of systematic knowledge which translates into â€Å"programmes that works† in the classroom or lecture hall (OECD, 2003). As a matter of fact, education is not a field that lends itself easily to experimentation, partly because experimental approaches in education are often impossible to describe in precisely enough to be sure that they are really being replicated (Nelson, 2000). There is little codified knowledge in the realm of education and only weak developed mechanisms whereby communities of faculty collectively can capture and benefit from the discoveries made by their colleagues. Moreover, learning typically depends on other learning inputs than those received in the class or formal education process: the success of learning depends on many social and family aspects that are actually beyond the control of educators. Information and communication technologies potentially offer increased possibilities for codification of knowledge about teaching and for innovation in teaching activities through being able to deliver learning and cognitive activities anywhere at any time. Learning at a distance can furthermore be more learner-centred, self-paced, and problem solving-based than face-to-face teaching. It is also true, however, that many learning activities cannot be coordinated by virtual means only. The emulation and spontaneity generated by physical presence and social groupings often remain crucial. Likewise, face-to-face exchanges are important when they enable other forms of sensory perception to be stimulated apart from these used within the framework of electronic interaction. However, the influence of distance and time is waning now that the technological capacity is available for knowledge-sharing, remote access and teamwork, and organising and coordinating tasks over wide areas (OECD, 2004a). Focusing on tertiary education, this paper examines the promises of ICTs in the education sector, first as a way to better participate in the advancement of the knowledge economy, second as a way to introduce innovations. Leaving aside the impact of ICTs on the research or e-science performed by tertiary education institutions (see Atkins and al. 2003; David, 2004), we concentrate on e-learning, broadly understood as the use of ICTs to enhance or support learning and teaching in (tertiary) education. E-learning is thus a generic term referring to different uses and intensities of uses of ICTs, from wholly online education to campus-based education through other forms of distance education supplemented with ICTs in some way. The supplementary model would encompass a ctivities ranging from the most basic use of ICTs (e. g. use of PCs for word processing of assignments) through to more advanced adoption (e. g. pecialist disciplinary software, handheld devices, learning management systems etc. ). However, we keep a presiding interest in more advanced applications including some use of online facilities. Drawing on the scarce existing evidence, including a recent survey on e-learning in post-secondary institutions carried out by the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), it shows that e-learning has not yet lived up to its promises, which were overstated in the hype of the new economy. ICT have nonetheless had a real impact on the education sector, inducing a quiet rather than radical revolution. Finally, it shows some possible directions to further stimulate its development. You read "The Impact of Ict on Tertiary Education" in category "Essay examples" The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: the first section recalls some of the promises of e-learning; the second compares these promises and the real achievements to date and suggests that e-learning could be at an early stage of its adoption cycle; the third section highlights the challenges for a further development of e-learning and shows what directions might be the most promising for its further development. I. Advancing knowledge and the (knowledge) economy: the promises of e-learning The emergence of ICTs represents high promises for the tertiary education sector (and, more broadly, the post-secondary education sector if one takes into account their impact on non-formal education). ICTs could indeed play a role on three fundamental aspects of education policy: access, quality and cost. ICTs could possibly advance knowledge by expanding and widening access to education, by improving the quality of education and reducing its cost. All this would build more capacity for the advancement of knowledge economies. This section summarises the main arguments backing the promises. E-learning is a promising tool for expanding and widening access to tertiary education. Because they relax space and time constraints, ICTs can allow new people to participate in tertiary education by increasing the flexibility of participation compared to the traditional face-to-face model: working students and adults, people living in remote areas (e. . rural), non-mobile students and even foreign students could now more easily participate in education. Thanks to ICT, learners can indeed study where and/or when they have time to do so–rather than where and/or when classes are planned. While traditional correspondence-based distance learning has long played this role, ICT have enhanced traditional distance education enabled the rise of a continuum of practices between fully campus-based education and fully distance education. More specifically, fully online learning can allow large numbers of students to access education. The constraints of the face-to-face learning experience, that is, the size of the rooms and buildings and the students/teacher ratio, represents another form of relaxation of space constraints. ICTs indeed allow a very cheap cost of reproduction and communication of a lesson, via different means like the digital recording and its (ulterior or simultaneous) diffusion on TV, radio or the Internet. The learning process or content can also be codified, and at least some parts be standardised in learning objects, for example a multimedia software, that can in principle be used by millions of learners, either in a synchronous or asynchronous way. Although both forms might induce some loss in terms of teachers-learners interactivity compared to face to face teaching, they can reach a scale of participation that would be unfeasible via face-to-face learning. When the needs are huge, fully online learning can be crucial and possibly the only realistic means to increase and widen rapidly access to tertiary education. Some developing countries have huge cohorts of young people and too small an academic workforce to meet their large unmet demand: given training new teachers would take too much time, notwithstanding resources, e-learning might represent for many potential students and learners the only chance to study (rather than an alternative to full face-to-face learning) (World Bank, 2003). E-learning can also be seen as a promising way for improving the quality of tertiary education and the effectiveness of learning. These promises can be derived from different characteristics of ICTs: the increased flexibility of the learning experience it can give to students; the enhanced access to information resources for more students; the potential to drive innovative and effective ways of learning and/or teaching, including learning tools, easier use of multimedia or simulation tools; finally, the possibility to diffuse these innovations at very low marginal cost among the teachers and learners. Distance E-learning has not only the virtue to be inclusive for students that cannot participate in tertiary education because of time, space or capacity constraints, as it was shown above. It can also in principle offer to students more personalised ways of learning than collective face-to-face learning, even in small groups. Although learning is often personalised to some extent in higher education through the modularity of paths, ICTs allow institutions to give students to choose a wider variety of learning paths than in non-ICT supplemented institutions – not the least because of the administrative burden this would represent in large institutions. This means that students can experiment learning paths that best suit them. Moreover, e-learning can potentially allow students to take courses from several institutions, e. . some campus-based and others fully online. This possible flexibility of individual curricula can be seen as an improvement of the overall student experience, regardless of pedagogical changes. In one word, e-learning could render education more learner-centred compared to the traditional model. A prestigious university generally has a sizeable library gathering tons of codified information and knowledge. One of the most visible impact of ICTs is to give easier and almost instant access to data and information in a digital form that allows manipulations that are sometimes not otherwise possible. The digitisation of information, from academic journals through to books and class notes, can change (and has changed) the life of students by giving them easy access to educational resources, information and knowledge, as well as new data processing possibilities. But e-learning could also lead to the enhancement of quality in tertiary education by leading to innovative pedagogic methods, new ways of learning and interacting, by the easy sharing of these new practices among learners and teachers communities, as well as by more transparency and easier comparisons and cross-fertilisation of teaching materials and methods. Finally, e-learning can be seen as a promising way to reduce the cost of tertiary education, which is critical for expanding and widening its access worldwide. It might thus represent new opportunities for students having ifficulties with this traditional format. Although ICT investments are expensive, they can then generally be used at near-zero marginal cost. Where would this cost-efficiency come from: the replacement of expensive brick and mortar campuses by virtual campuses; the digitisation of library materials that would save the cost of keeping huge paper collections; the improvement of efficiency of institutional manage ment; the automation of some of the traditional on-campus activities, including some teaching. II. Living up to the promises: a quiet rather than radical revolution Has e-learning (and especially online learning) lived up to the promises outlined in the previous section? It has to some extent. The reality of e-learning has never matched its most radical promises (Zemsky and Massy, 2004): while experiments are still underway, the initial stage of over-enthusiasm has ended when new economy bubble burst about 2002. In this respect, e-learning has followed the ups and down of the new economy and given rise to the same caveats as in other sectors: irrational beliefs about its market value, over-investment, over-capacity, and more announces than services really launched (Boyer, 2002). Like other activities, e-learning has not proven yet its ability to generate high profits or to replace the old economy of learning. However, interpreting this as a failure of e-learning would however over-simplify the reality and could be seen as â€Å"throwing the baby with the bath water†. While, perhaps unsurprisingly, e-learning has not led to the radical revolution in tertiary education that was sometimes prophesised, some of its forms are already pervasive in tertiary education and have already led to a quiet revolution. Its modesty should not lead to overlook it. This section gives a overiew of the limited evidence we have about the adoption of e-learning in tertiary education. E-learning adoption The radical innovation view was that fully online learning would progressively supersede traditional face-to-face learning and represent a competitive threat for traditional tertiary educational institutions. To some extent, this belief has been a reason for the creation of new ventures and for established institutions to enter this new market: early adopters ould indeed possibly gain a brand name and a serious competitive advantage in the new market. The reality is that, while sometimes successfully experimented, fully online learning has remained a marginal form of e-learning and often not even the ultimate goal or rationale for e-learning adoption. However, this does not mean that e-learning in other forms has not gained significant ground over the past decade in tertiary education: there is indeed some evidence of a noticeable growth of e-learning adoption both on demand and supply sides. One must bear in mind that e-learning encompasses a wide range of activities. Following the terminology used in the CERI survey (OECD, 2005), we distinguish between different levels of online learning adoption as follows, from the less to the most intensive form of e-learning: ?None or trivial online presence; ?Web supplemented: the Web is used but not for key â€Å"active† elements of the programme (e. g. course outline and lecture notes online, use of email, links to external online resources) without any reduction in classroom time; ? Web dependent: Students are required to use the Internet for key â€Å"active† elements of the programme—e. g. online discussions, assessment, online project/ collaborative work—but without significant reduction in classroom time. ?Mixed mode: Students are required to participate in online activities, e. g. online discussions, assessment, online project/collaborative work, as part of course work, which replace part of face-to-face teaching/learning. Significant campus attendance remains. Fully online: the vast bulk of the programme is delivered online with typically no (or not significant) campus attendance or through â€Å"learning objects†. What do we know about the major trends in the adoption of e-learning by institutions and students? First, e-learning has grown steadily in the last decade, at a relatively rapid pace, but from a very low starting point—and for some activities: from scratch. The lack of comprehensive data renders these trends di fficult to document, but existing surveys all point to the same direction of an increasing activity/supply. A significant share of tertiary education institutions have developed some e-learning activities and strategies and believe in the critical importance of e-learning for their long term strategy. The 2003 Sloan Survey of Online Learning based on a sample of 1 000 US institutions shows that only 19% of US institutions have no advanced e-learning activities – that is web dependent, mixed mode or fully online courses (Allen and Seman, 2003). The remainding 81% offer at least one course based on those advanced e-learning activities. Second, this growth of e-learning under all its forms should continue in the near future. There is indeed a converging evidence that tertiary education institutions consider as part of their future development strategy. In the Sloan survey, less than 20% of the US tertiary education institutions considered online education as not critical to their long term strategy. Similarly, data from the first international survey by the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education (OBHE) revealed that of the 42 UK institutions that responded (out of a total population of ca. 06), 62% had developed or were developing an online learning strategy and most had done so since 2000 (OBHE, 2002). The second survey undertaken in 2004, 79% of the 122 universities from the Commonwealth countries responding to the survey had an institution-wide â€Å"online learning† strategy as such or integrated into other strategies (46%) or under development (33%). Only 9% of these institutions had no e-learning st rategy in place or under development in 2004 . While these figures may reflect some self-selection in the respondents, they unambiguously show a significant adoption or willingness to adopt some form of e-learning in the coming future. Although reflecting different levels of adoption of e-learning, all post-secondary institutions participating in the CERI survey on e-learning point to the same direction and report plans to increase their level of online delivery or to maintain their already high levels (OECD, 2005). Third, virtual universities are not likely to become the paradigm of tertiary education institutions. While it will most likely continue to grow, especially in distance institutions (see below), no evidence point towards a predominance of this form of e-learning in the near future in tertiary education. While the mixed mode of learning blending online and on-campus courses now clearly appears as a better candidate, institutions head towards the simultaneous offer of a variety of learning models. For understandable reasons, only few campus-based institutions (that is the bulk of post-secondary institutions) seem to aim at delivering a large share of their courses fully online or at becoming virtual. While some institutions participating in the CERI survey are at the avant-garde of e-learning, no campus-based institution predicted to deliver more than 10% of its total programmes fully online within three years (OECD, 2005). In the US, rather than offering only fully online courses (16%) or only mixed mode courses (10%), most institutions offer both fully online and blended courses; moreover, the majority (67%) of academic leaders believe that mixed mode and web dependent courses hold more promise than fully online, against only 14% having the opposite view (Allen and Seaman, 2003). This clearly reflects what we know about the main rationales for undertaking e-learning. The OBHE surveys show that on-campus enhancement of teaching and learning (1st) and improved flexibility of delivery for on-campus students (2nd) are the two key rationales in institutional strategies of e-learning. Only 10% of the institutions considered the enhancement of distance learning as more important than on-campus enhancement. Interestingly, the level of importance granted to distance or fully online learning decreased between 2002 and 2004 among returning respondents. Distance or fully online learning remains the fifth most important rationale though (OBHE, 2002, p. 4). Finally, while a generalisation of the fully online model is not probable for tertiary education overall, at least in the medium run, this does not mean that fully online activities are not growing rapidly nor that the fully online learning model gains ground at distance education institutions (Bates, 1995). To our knowledge, no data on fully online enrolments are available for other countries than the United States. According to the 2003 Sloan survey, more than 1. 6 million students (i. e. 11% of all US tertiary-level students) took at least one fully online course during the Fall 2002 and about one third of them, that is 578 000 students, took all their courses online. For example, the University of Phoenix, the largest university in the United States in terms of enrolments, has for example 60 000 of its 140 000 students online. The enrolments of fully online students in the United States were forecasted to increase by about 20% between 2002 and 2003, to 1. 9 million students—a projection that proved to be accurate according to the 2004 Sloan survey (Allen and Seaman, 2003, 2004). This growth rate, which is projected estimated at 25% for 2005 is much higher than the growth rate of total tertiary enrolments in the United States. From a low starting point, fully online learning is growing at a rapid pace, even if it is merely as a complement to face-to-face or mixed mode learning. Moreover, fully online learning is clearly very important for distance institutions. In the CERI survey, the institutions willing to embrace fully online learning to the greatest extent were all virtual/distance learning only institutions (or branches) (OECD, 2005). In conclusion, e-learning seems to live up to its promises in terms of flexibility and possibly access. It is a growing activity that has for example significantly widened the participation in tertiary education of foreign students (OECD, 2004). Does e-learning improve the quality of tertiary education? The real impact of e-learning on the quality of education is difficult to measure. E-learning largely embodies two promises: improving education thanks to improved learning and teaching facilities; inventing and sharing new ways of learning thanks to ICTs, that is a new specific pedagogic techniques. While the first promise is by and large becoming a reality, at least in OECD countries, the second appears further from reach. Viewed mainly as an enhancement of on-campus education, and thus matching the reality depicted in the previous section, there is some evidence that e-learning has improved the quality of the educational experience on both faculty and students sides (not to mention enhancement of administrative management). All institutions participating in the CERI survey reported a â€Å"positive impact† of greater use of e-learning in all its forms on teaching and learning. The quality of education (with or without e-learning) is very difficult to measure, not the least because learning depends on students’ motivation, abilities and other conditions (e. g. amily, social, economic, health backgrounds) as much as on the quality of teaching. However, the reasons explaining this positive impact on quality largely lives up to the promises of e-learning to offer more flexibility of access to learners, better facilities and resources to study, and new opportunities thanks to the relaxation o f space and time constraints. Basically, they do not correspond to a significant change in class pedagogy, but to a change in the overall learning experience. According to the institutions, the main drivers or components of this positive impact come from: †¢facilitated access to international faculty/peers, e. . with the possibility of online lectures or joint classes with remote students; †¢flexible access to materials and other resources, allowing students to revise a particular aspect of a class, giving more access flexibility to part-time students, or giving remote and easy access to the library materials; †¢enhancement of face-to-face sessions, as the availability of archived lectures online frees up faculty time to focus on difficult points and application and because the introduction of e-learning has sometimes led to a debate on pedagogy; †¢improved communication between faculty and students and increase of peer learning; This â€Å"positive impact† on the overall learning experience is, alone, a significant achievement of e-learning, even though it has not radically transformed the learning and teaching processes. The quality of fully online learning is a more controversial question, possibly because online learning was once viewed as possibly become of higher quality than on-campus education (possibly including e-learning as already mentioned). Comparing the quality (or the beliefs about the quality) of fully online learning against traditional distance learning, traditional face-to-face learning or other mixed modes of e-learning might not yield the same results: fully online learning is indeed more readily comparable to distance learning than to on-campus education. While institutions having adopted e-learning have generally a positive view of its possible impact on quality, there is little convincing evidence about the superior or inferior quality of fully online learning compared to other modes of tertiary education. Another question is whether fully online learning has entailed innovation in pedagogy or just replicated with other means the face-to-face experience. As noted above, ICTs could indeed entail pedagogic innovations and help create a community of knowledge among faculty, students and learning object developers that would codify and capitalise over successful innovation in pedagogy. At this stage, there is no evidence that e-learning has yielded any radical pedagogic innovation. The most successful fully online courses generally replicate virtually the classroom experience via a mix of synchronous classes and asynchronous exchanges. Arguably, they have not represented a dramatic pedagogical change. We will see below that in spite of worthwhile experiments, learning objects and open educational resources are still in their infancy. They hold promises for educational innovation though. The cost of e-learning Has e-learning lived up its promises in terms of cost-efficiency? Here again, not if one looks at the most radical promises: as noted above, virtual universities have not replaced brick and mortars and saved the cost of expensive building investments and maintenance; digital libraries have supplemented rather than replaced physical ones; the codification and standardisation of teaching in a way that would allow less faculty or less qualified academics has not become the norm, nor have new online learning objects been invented to replace faculty altogether; finally, it has become clear that there was no once-for-all ICT investments and that the maintenance and upgrading costs of ICT facilities were actually important, contrary to the marginal cost of then replicating and diffusing information. Moreover, cost-efficiency has for many universities been a secondary goal compared to the challenge of developing innovative and high quality e-learning courses at many tertiary education institutions. Although the anking of cost-efficiency has increased betwe en 2002 and 2004 by 16%, 37% of respondents considered â€Å"cutting teaching costs long-term† as a key rationale in the OBHE survey (OBHE, 2004)—a small percentage compared to the two key rationales (over 90% of responses). Again, most universities consider e-learning materials and courses as a supplement to traditional class-room or lecture activities rather than a substitute. The predominance of web dependent and mixed modes of e-learning makes the assessment of the costs and benefits of e-learning investments more difficult to evaluate as they become part of the on-campus experience. It is striking that the institutions participating in the CERI survey on e-learning had no systematic data on their e-learning costs (OECD, 2005). In this context, and after the burst of the dot. om economy bubble that put out of business many e-learning operations (many never really started their operations though), identifying sustainable cost-efficient models for e-learning investme nts in tertiary education has become critical. There are examples of cost-efficient models â€Å"outside† the traditional colleges and universities though. Virtual tertiary education institutions as e. g. the Catalonia Virtual University have a cost advantage as they are developing e-learning material from scratch and not â€Å"building onto† a physical camp. The Open University in the UK which is gradually moving from a traditional distance learning courses using books, video cassettes, and CD-ROMs to online courses has reported that their costs per student are one third of the average cost for similar on-campus programmes in the UK. Fixed capital costs are lower and it is easier to align staffing structures to e-learning processes than at â€Å"traditional† universities. The e-learning activities of Phoenix University, which is a private for-profit university mainly for adult students, is also seen as cost-effective. Its business model is based on â€Å"standardised teaching†, relatively small on-line class size, and use of proven low-tech e-learning technologies (inducing lower costs than more sophisticated technologies). Much of the faculty staff at Phoenix University is often hired part time and having jobs at other tertiary education institutions, which often implies that staff development costs are lower at Phoenix University than other tertiary education institutions. E-learning investments in tertiary education can be cost-effective, but it depends on the business model, the profile and number of students and topics (cost-effectiveness has been demonstrated in some cases in large undergraduate science classes (Harley, 2003), and initial development costs. The calculations also depend on whether student opportunity costs are taken into account. The initial costs for e-learning development are often high (e. g. infrastructure, creating course material from scratch, experimentation, new kind of staff/units, immature technologies, etc. ). In order to ensure that e-learning investments are cost efficient, e-learning activities may need to substitute parts of the on-campus teaching activities (rather than duplication). Educational innovations, like learning objects, could for example allow supporting the re-use and sharing of e-learning materials. Although data is lacking on cost-efficiency, at this stage there is little evidence that e-learning has led to more cost efficiency in tertiary education. Failures have been more numerous than success stories, although the latter document the possible sustainability of e-learning. The adoption of ICTs for administrating tertiary education institutions has probably been the main source of cost efficiency in the tertiary sector, like in other economic sectors. Conclusion: the e-learning adoption cycles So, has e-learning lived up to its promises? This is probably true as far as it holds promises for incremental improvement, including an increased access and quality of the learning experience—a kind of change whose importance should not be underestimated. As for radical innovation, the answer is rather: not yet. So far, e-learning has induced a quiet rather than a radical revolution of tertiary education. Perhaps e-learning will follow the same development path in tertiary education as other innovations that first begin with experiments, then expand to a group of early adopters before becoming commonplace. Zemsky and Massy (2004) have proposed a possible â€Å"e-learning innovation’s S-curve† divided into four distinctive but often overlapping adoption cycles that help understand the current development of e-learning, and, possibly, its future challenges. The cycles include: )Enhancements to traditional course/program configurations, which inject new materials into teaching and learning processes without c hanging the basic mode of instruction. Examples include e-mail, student access to information on the Internet, and the use of multimedia (e. g. PowerPoint) and simple simulations; 2)Use of course management systems, which enable faculty and students to interact more efficiently (e. g. Blackboard or WebCT). They provide better communication with and among students, quick access to course materials, and support for administrating and grading examinations; 3)Imported course objects, which enable the faculty to embed a richer variety of materials into their courses than is possible with traditional â€Å"do it yourself† learning devices. Examples range from compressed video presentations to complex interactive simulations including the increased use of â€Å"learning objects† ; 4)New course/program configurations, which result when faculty and their institutions reengineer teaching and learning activities to take full advantage of new ICTs. The new configurations focus on active learning and combine face-to-face, virtual, synchronous, and asynchronous interaction and learning in novel ways. They also require faculty and students to adopt new roles – with each other and with the technology and support staff. The overview of current e-learning adoption shows that most tertiary education institutions in OECD countries can largely be located in cycles one and/or two. These first two cycles have largely built upon and reinforced one another. However, they have not fundamentally changed the way teaching and learning is pursued at the large majority of institutions. Their momentum has not automatically transferred to either increasing use and dissemination of learning objects or to the use of new course/program configurations (e-learning cycles three and four). Cycles 3 and 4 correspond to changes remodelling more radically teaching and learning. While some experimentations underway give us some idea of where they could head, they are still in their infancy. The third cycle corresponds to the creation of â€Å"learning objects† that can potentially offer an efficient approach to the development of e-learning materials (i. e. reduced faculty time, lower cost, higher quality materials), although many issues remain (e. g. opyright, lack of incentives for faculty to create, the range of actors in and ‘location’ of the creative process, lack of standardisation and interoperability of e-learning software). The learning objects model implies material/course development that departs from the â€Å"craft-model† where the indivi dual professor is responsible for the majority of work. Instead it is a model where the course is assembled largely by or from third-party material. Besides the technical and organisational challenges of developing learning objects, there are also considerable pedagogical challenges using them. Some argue that learning is so contextually based that the breaking up of the learning experience into defined objects is destructive for the learning process. Evidence from the Open Learning Initiative at the Carnegie Mellon University suggests that effective e-learning courses are often facilitated by having a ‘theme’ that runs throughout the course, which might be difficult to obtain with the notion of decontextualised learning objects (Smith and Thille, 2004). Therefore, much more research and development is needed to ensure pedagogical effectiveness of the learning objects model. For faculty members to rely on others for their material will also need a cultural change as it would probably often be considered today as demonstrating â€Å"inferiority†. Wide use of learning objects in tertiary education will therefore only occur if major changes in working habits and attitudes of faculty are possible. The development of learning objects is very much in its initial phase. This is illustrated by the use of the public available learning objects repositories as e. g. MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching). The basic idea behind the MERLOT repository was to create a readily available, low-cost, web-based service to which experimenters could post their learning objects and from which interested practitioners could rate and download objects for use in their courses. While there has been a tremendous growth in the number of learning objects made available by MERLOT, there has been very little interest to use what other colleagues had made available and consequently little effort in terms of rating others’ learning objects. This can however be seen as the first steps towards the construction of knowledge communities in education. Despite the premature stage of learning objects and the large number of obstacles to overcome, some standard form of learning objects will probably emerge and gain importance in the development of e-learning in tertiary education as well as in other education sectors. Very few institutions have reached the fourth e-learning adoption cycle at an institution wide scale. There are however institutions which are clearly experimenting with new ways of using ICTs that change the traditional organisation and pedagogy of tertiary education. One such example is the previously mentioned Open Learning Initiative at the Carnegie Mellon University. The use of cognitive and learning sciences to produce high quality e-learning courses into online learning practices is at the core of this initiative (Smith and Thille, 2004). As there is no generic e-learning pedagogy, the aim is to design as â€Å"cognitive informed† e-learning courses as possible. The establishment and implementation procedures for routine evaluation of the courses and the use of formative assessment for corrections and iterative improvements are part of the e-learning course development. The development of the e-learning courses often rely on teamwork including faculty from multiple disciplines, web designers, cognitive scientists, project managers, learning designers, and evaluators. The key question for any project like the Open Learning Initiative attempting a combination of open access to free content, and a fee-for-service model for students using the courses in a degree granting setting is its sustainability. This initiative could not have been realised without significant voluntary contributions from private foundations and a major research grant from the National Science Foundation to start the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center. The next section will address the challenges for the adoption of these third and fourth adoption cycles. III. Challenges for the further development of e-learning in tertiary education: what sustainable innovation model? The aim of this final section is to identify and reflect on some of the key issues that would need to be considered in a systematic way for e-learning to develop further and become a deeper driver of innovation in tertiary education. If the vast majority of colleges and universities are to embrace the third and fourth e-learning adoption cycles, a sustainable innovation and investment model will have to be developed. A first challenge lies indeed in the development of sustainable e-learning innovation models which go beyond using e-learning as an add-on to traditional forms of teaching and learning in tertiary education but rather invent new, useful and better pedagogic innovations partly substituting traditional face-to-face teaching. This will require a broad willingness of these institutions to search for new combinations of input of faculty, facilities and technology and new ways of organising their teaching activities. A second challenge lies in the development of a realistic model for investment in e-learning that would stimulate the participation of faculty and other stakeholders and be financially sustainable, which is not straightforward given that there is little systematic knowledge on the real costs and benefits of e-learning investments in tertiary education. However, like for ICT investments in other sectors, the cost-effectiveness of e-learning investments will depend on whether new organisational and knowledge management practices are adopted. It might indeed be more difficult to provide the â€Å"softer† social, organisational and legal changes in tertiary education than the technological infrastructures necessary to fully embrace the advantages of e-learning. This section emphasises partnerships and networks as a possible way forward for further investment, product development and innovation diffusion in e-learning. There are many examples where tertiary education institutions seek to share the costs of e-learning development through partnerships and networking. Partnership and network building are also useful for having access to new knowledge, to learn from others experience and exchange information about the latest developments in e-learning and they can involve many different organisations as e. g. traditional colleges and universities, virtual universities, libraries, for-profit ICT and training companies from different sectors etc. These activities can range from sharing material, joint technology and software development, joint research and development, joint marketing, joint training, connectivity, etc. and can be sub-national, national and international (OECD, 2004b; Cunningham and al. , 2000). After showing the importance (and challenges) for universities to engaging their faculty in e-learning, we will turn to an innovative practice exemplifying the potential power of partnerships and networks: Open Educational Resources (OER). They will indeed most likely have significant implications for the way e-learning activities will develop over the coming years in tertiary education. Engaging universities and faculty in e-learning In most OECD countries the question is no longer whether or not tertiary education institutions should invest in e-learning. Because of the competition between institutions and student demand for easy access to courseware material and flexible learning environments, most tertiary education institutions willing to deliver quality teaching are bound to invest in e-learning. As we have seen, the large majority of institutions are now embracing e-learning adoption cycles one and two, which are basically about providing the students with better access to learning and course material and facilitating the electronic communication between students and teachers. Again, only very few institutions and faculty are however systematically exploring and producing re-usable learning material and objects (third cycle) or have taken full advantage of new ICTs with focus on active learning that combines face-to-face, virtual, synchronous, and asynchronous interaction and learning in novel ways (fourth cycle). The latter approach would require faculty and students to adopt new roles – with each other and with the technology and support staff. While ICTs offer powerful new instruments for innovation, tertiary education institutions are generally decentralised institutions where individual faculty often has the sole responsibility for teaching courses and delivering course material. Adoption of the third and especially the fourth e-learning cycle would imply changing to more collaborative ways of organising and producing teaching material. Faculty members would in many cases have to collaborate with a whole range of new staff as e. g. course managers, web designers, instructional/pedagogical designers, cognitive scientist etc. to produce course material. This could lead to resistance from â€Å"traditional† faculty arguing that current teaching practices have proved its value for centuries and there is no need to change them to new pedagogical and teaching methods, which have hardly proven their efficiency yet. Moreover, promotion of faculty and funding allocations in universities are often linked to research activities rather than teaching activities, often seen as less prestigious. Faculty members have therefore often relatively few incentives to invest their time in e-learning activities. The adoption of new ways of teaching and learning at tertiary education institutions through ICTs can therefore create organisational conflicts and tensions. New organisational innovations, new knowledge management practices, and more team working are therefore necessary conditions for tertiary education institutions to be able to move to e-learning adoption cycles three and four. The CERI study on e-learning case studies in post-secondary education has identified a number of lessons learnt by institutions that are in the forefront of e-learning development (OECD, 2005): More strategic e-learning planning at the institutional or faculty level and to tie this to the overall goals of the institution is needed; †¢A paradigm shift in the way academics think of university teaching would be necessary, e. g. a shift away from ‘scepticism about the use of technologies in e ducation’ and ‘teacher-centred culture’ towards ‘a role as a facilitator of learning processes’, ‘team worker’, and ‘learner-centred culture’; †¢Targeted e-learning training relevant for the faculty’s teaching programme as well as ownership of the development process of new e-learning material by academics is also necessary. There is no one-best-way or trajectory for e-learning development at tertiary education institutions. But it might prove more difficult to provide the â€Å"softer† social, organisational and legal changes in tertiary education than provide the technological infrastructures necessary to fully embrace the advantages of e-learning (David, 2004). It will depend on a whole range of factors not necessarily related to the development of e-learning including: †¢Changes in the funding of tertiary education and in particular e-learning funding; †¢Student demography; †¢Regulatory and legal frameworks; †¢Competition between traditional tertiary education institution themselves and with new private providers; †¢Internationalisation including the possibility of servicing foreign students living abroad; and not the least to the extent to which students will want to use the new opportunities for new and flexible ways of learning. Many tertiary education students would possibly prefer to have some kind of â€Å"mixed model† learning choice involving a whole range of different learning opportunities and forms combining face-to-face, virtual, synchronous, and asynchronous interaction and learning. A possible way forward: Open Educational Resources Open Educational Resources appear as a potentially innovative practice that gives a good example of the current opportunities and challenges offered by ICTs in order to trigger radical pedagogic innovations. Digitalisation and the potential for instant, low-cost global communication have opened tremendous new opportunities for the dissemination and use of learning material. This has spurred an increased number of freely accessible OER initiatives on the Internet including 1) open courseware ; 2) open software tools (e. g. learning management systems); 3) open material for capacity building of faculty staff ; 4) repositories of learning objects ; 5) and free educational e-learning courses. At the same time, there are now more realistic expectations of the commercial e-learning opportunities in tertiary education. The OER initiatives are a relatively new phenomenon in tertiary education largely made possible by the use of ICTs. The open sharing of one’s educational resources implies that knowledge is made freely available on non-commercial terms sometimes in the framework of users and doers communities. In such communities the innovation impact is greater when it is shared: the users are freely revealing their knowledge and, thus work cooperatively. These communities are often not able to extract economic revenues directly from the knowledge and information goods they are producing and the â€Å"sharing† of these good are not steered by market mechanisms. Instead they have specific reward systems often designed to give some kind of credit to inventors without exclusivity rights. In the case of open science, the reward system is collegial reputation, where there is a need to be identified and recognised as â€Å"the one who discovered† which gives incentives for the faculty to publish new knowledge quickly and completely (Dasgupta and David, 1994). The main motivation or incentive for people to make OER material available freely is that the material might be adopted by others and maybe even is modified and improved. Reputation is therefore also a key motivation factor in â€Å"OER communities†. Being part of such a user community gives access to knowledge and information from others but it also implies that one has a â€Å"moral† obligation to share one’s own information. Inventors of OER can benefit from increased â€Å"free distribution† or from distribution at very low marginal costs. A direct result of free revealing is to increase the diffusion of that innovation relative to conditions in which it is licensed or kept secret. If an innovation is widely used it would initiate and develop standards which could be advantageously used even by rivals. The Sakai project has, for example, an interest in making their open software tools available for many colleges and universities and have therefore set a relatively low entry amount for additional colleges and universities wishing to have access to the software tools that they are developing. The financial sustainability of OER initiatives is a key issue. Many initiatives are sponsored by private foundations, public funding or paid by the institutions themselves. In general, the social value of knowledge and information tools increases to the degree that they can be shared with and used by others. The individual faculty member or institution providing social value might not be able to sustain the costs of providing OER material freely on the Internet in the long term. It is therefore important to find revenues to sustain these activities. It might e. g. be possible to charge and to take copyrights on part of the knowledge and information activities springing out of the OER initiatives. Finding better ways of sharing and re-using e-learning material (see the previous mentioned discussion on learning objects) might also trigger off revenues. It is also important to find new ways for the users of OER to be â€Å"advised† of the quality of the learning material stored in open repositories. The wealth of learning material is enormous on the Internet and if there is little or no guidance of the quality of the learning material, users will be tempted to look for existing brands and known quality. There is no golden standard or method of identifying quality of learning material in tertiary education on the Internet as is the case with quality identification within tertiary education as a whole. The intentions behind the MERLOT learning object repository was to have the user community rating the quality and usability of the learning objects made freely available. In reality very few users have taken the time and effort to evaluate other learning objects. There is little doubt that the generic lack of a review process or quality assessment system is a serious issue and is hindering increased uptake and usage of OER. User commentary, branding, peer reviews or user communities evaluating the quality and usefulness of the OER might be possible ways forward. Another important challenge is to adapt â€Å"global OER initiatives† to local needs and to provide a dialogue between the doers and users of the OER. Lack of cultural and language sensitivities might be an important barrier to the receptiveness of the users. Training initiatives for users to be able to apply course material and/or software might be a way to reach potential users. Also important will be the choice (using widely agreed standards), maintenance, and user access to the technologies chosen for the OER. There is a huge task in better understanding the users of OER. Only very few and hardly conclusive surveys on the users of OER are available . There is a high need to better understand the demand and the users of OER. A key issue is who owns the e-learning material developed by faculty. Is it the faculty or the institution? In many countries including the United States, the longstanding practice in tertiary education has been to allow the faculty the ownership of their lecture notes and classroom presentations. This practice has not always automatically been applied to e-learning course material. Some universities have adopted policies that share revenues from e-learning material produced by faculty. Other universities have adopted policies that apply institutional ownership only when the use of university resources is substantial (American Council of Education and EDUCAUSE, 2003). In any case, institutions and faculty groups must strive to maintain a policy that provides for the university’s use of materials and simultaneously fosters and supports faculty innovation. It will be interesting to analyse how proprietary versus open e-learning initiatives will develop over the coming years in tertiary education. Their respective development will depend upon: How the copyright practices and rules for e-learning material will develop at tertiary education institutions; †¢The extent to which innovative user communities will be built around OER initiatives; †¢The extent to which learning objects models will prove to be successful; †¢The extent to which new organ isational forms in teaching and learning at tertiary education institutions will crystallise; †¢The demand for free versus â€Å"fee-paid† e-learning material; †¢The role of private companies in promoting e-learning investments etc. It is however likely that proprietary e-learning initiatives will not dominate or take over open e-learning initiatives or vice versa. The two approaches will more likely develop side by side sometimes in competition but also being able to mutually reinforce each other through new innovations and market opportunities. Conclusion There are many critical issues surrounding e-learning in tertiary education that need to be addressed in order to fulfil objectives such as widening access to educational opportunities; enhancing the quality of learning; and reducing the cost of tertiary education. E-learning is, in all its forms, a relatively recent phenomenon in tertiary education that has largely not radically transformed teaching and learning practices nor significantly changed the access, costs, and quality of tertiary education. As we have shown, e-learning has grown at a rapid pace and has enhanced the overall learning and teaching experience. While it has not lived up to its most ambitious promises to stem radical innovations in the pedagogic and organisational models of the tertiary education, it has quietly enhanced and improved the traditional learning processes. Most institutions are thus currently in the early phase of e-learning adoption, characterised by important enhancements of the learning process but no radical change in learning and teaching. Like other innovations, they might however live up to their more radical promises in the future and really lead to the inventions of new ways of teaching, learning and interacting within a knowledge community constituted of learners and teachers. In order to head towards these advances innovation cycles, a sustainable innovation and investment model will have to be developed. While a first challenge will be technical, this will also require a broad willingness of tertiary education institutions to search for new combinations of input of faculty, facilities and technology and new ways of organising their teaching activities. Like for ICT investments in other sectors, the cost-effectiveness of e-learning investments will depend on whether new organisational and knowledge management practices are adopted. Experiments are already underway that make us aware of these challenges, but also of the opportunities and lasting promises of e-learning in tertiary education. References Allen, I. E. and Seaman, J. (2003), Sizing the opportunity. The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2002 and 2003, The Sloan Consortium. American Council on Education and EDUCAUSE (2003), Distributed Education: Challenges, Choices and a New Environment, Washington DC. Atkins, D. E. , Droegemeier, K. K. , Feldman, S. I. , Garcia-Molina, H. , Klein, M. L. , Messerschmitt, D. G. , Messina, P. , Ostriker, J. P. , Wright, M. H. , Final Report of the NSF Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Cyberinfrastructure, available at http://www. cise. nsf. gov/sci/reports/toc. cfm. February 2003. Bates, A. W. (1995), Technology, e-learning and Distance Education, Routledge, London/New York. Boyer, R. 2002), La croissance, debut de siecle. De l’octet au gene, Albin Michel, Paris; English translation: The Future of Economic Growth: As New Becomes Old, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK, 2004. Cunningham, S. , Ryan, Y. , Stedman, L. , Tapsall, S. , Bagdon, S. , Flew, T. , Coaldrake, P. (2000), The Business of Borderless Education, Australian Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra. Dasgupta, P. and P. A. David (1994), â€Å"Towards a New Economics of Science†, Research Policy, 23(5). David, P. A (2004), Toward a Cyberinfrastructure from Enhanced Scientific Collaboration: Providing its ‘Soft’ Foundations May be the Hardest Threat, Oxford Internet Institute. Foray, D. 2004), The Economics of Knowledge, MIT Press, Cambridge, USA. Harley, D. (2003), Costs, Culture, and Complexity: An Analysis of Technology Enhancements in a Large Lecture Course of UC Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education. Paper CSHE3-03, Berkeley University. Hutchins, E. (1995), Cognition in the Wild, MIT Press, Cambridge, USA. Nelson, R. (2000), â€Å"Knowledge and Innovation Systems†, in OECD, Knowledge Management in the Learning Society, Paris. Observatory for Borderless Higher Education (2002), Online Learning in Commonwealth Universities – Results from the Observatory 2002 Survey, Londo n. OECD (2003), New Challenges for Educational Research, OECD, Paris. OECD (2004a), Innovation in the Knowledge Economy – Implications for Education and Learning, Paris. OECD (2004b), Internationalisation and Trade in Higher Education. Opportunities and Challenges, Paris. OECD (2005 forthcoming), E-learning Case Studies in Post-Secondary Education, Paris. Smith, J. M. and C. Thille (2004), The Open Learning Initiative – Cognitively Informed e-learning, The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, London. World Bank (2003), Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education, The World Bank, Washington D. C. Zemsky, R. and W. F. Massy (2004), Thwarted Innovation – What Happened to e-learning and Why, The Learning Alliance, Pennsylvania University. How to cite The Impact of Ict on Tertiary Education, Essay examples

Stakeholder Theory Impact and Prospects

Question: Mr. Howe, the junior partner of the CPA firm Dewey, Cheatem Howe has asked you to help him understand Stakeholder theory. Required: Write a 1 page memo that summarises how Stakeholder Theory has influenced Positive Accounting Theory and what implications that influence has for GPFR. Answer: As a member of my company you, Dewey, Cheatem Howe, asked me to comment on that what is the stakeholder theory and how it has influenced positive accounting theory and its impact on the GPFR. It is my duty that Dewey, Cheatem Howe should understand the importance of stakeholder of a company and the method. Stakeholder approach looks at the relationship between an organization and others in overall business environment. It also helps to provide about the impact on the Association impact and how the organisation conducts its activities. The common link between various theoretical perspectives about stakeholders is stakeholder. Positive accounting theory is influenced by stakeholder because decision making includes various interactions that provide critical influence on firms, and an appropriate analytical approach has to be taken by the authority to enhance decision making process of a particular report. There are some different strategies and decision making process is adopted by the firms due to diversified people are involves and they are from different background and combination of whole system helps to build a positive relationship between the individual as associated with the particular firm. The management department plays a significant role in the development of various critical strategies and approaches from different perspectives to synchronize both positive and normative considerations into their decision-making. General Purpose Financial Reports intended to provide information to meet the demands of external users who are not able to recur the preparation of the special report to meet their particular information needs. The practical implication of the theory considers the prevailing debate over optimal accounting valuation method. Stakeholder theory and positive accounting theory provide critical impact on the general theory of accounting. The historical cost and fair value measurement was a difficult task, and it is executed through a standardised system invented from the primary theory. In this particular case, dichotomies in accounting, such as between the relevance and accountability are substantially reconcilable. The development of the general theory is timely as such a referent theory is necessary to legitimize standards setting and secure accounting place in an increasingly diverse financial information market. The case has been made for current and potential investor as the sole legitimate users of GPFR .this case looks at the central function of financial accounting and reporting in its environment, relating that environment to the objective function of GPFR .This view reconciles the investor `s particular utility society and is for this reason unreeling on sui generis axiom more demanding than the reflection society. Rival GPFR user claimants is demonstrated to hold no legitimate claim to consideration in relation to the external company financial reporting that expressly targets groups without the ability to specify or comment that information. Proffered reasons include the ability to require specified company financial information no legitimate purpose for that information, the sufficiency of investor targeted information and in term of their preclusion from user status. To this we might add that as the owners of the reporting entity, investors pay for the provision of information (GPFR), establishing a default assumption of limitation of such information to investors unless reasons to conclude otherwise exist. References Mitchell, R. (2012). Book Review: Stakeholder Theory: Impact and Prospects.Organization Studies,33(10), 1407-1411. doi:10.1177/0170840612454490 Tse, T. (2011). Shareholder and stakeholder theory: after the financial crisis.Qualitative Research In Financial Markets,3(1), 51-63. doi:10.1108/17554171111124612 Phillips, R. (2003).Stakeholder Theory and Organizational Ethics. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Phillips, R. (2011).Stakeholder theory. Cheltenham [u.a.]: Elgar.

life Essays (203 words) - Catch-22, Film Genres, Humour,

Catch-22 was definitely a catch! This ?law? was the main metaphor of how crazy war really was and of the military authority. Joseph Heller used this catch in a humorous way, basically making it a loophole preventing any soldier from leaving the war. ?Insane or not, the young men are indirectly forced to engage in combat and fight for a war they do not know about? (http://epubl.itu.se). He uses much black humor throughout the book, to relieve the horrors of war, death, and so on. He also uses so many unique techniques which can get so confusing, that the reader is distracted from the true terror and agony that people face in war. There are 3 specific examples of black humor in the book. For example, Heller makes the army unable to comprehend death and life. Secondly, he satirizes death and rape and last but not least miscommunication, which is key to everything. It is quite ironic how a dead man is said to be living and how an obviously living man is claimed to be dead. This is how Heller uses black humor in this particular scenario. It?s amazing the power of written word. Most peo...

The eNotes Blog Thats an Egrig Egregou Egregious Error Most Commonly Misspelled and Looked-upWords

Thats an Egrig Egregou Egregious Error Most Commonly Misspelled and Looked-upWords When I worked in a bookstore in my early twenties (my mother said it was the equivalent of putting an alcoholic behind a bar), this book was one we stocked.   I worked in the tiny store inside an elite hotel alone and Nurnbergs book was one I frequently thumbed through in between waiting on doctors wives looking for the latest bodice-ripper (true story). No matter how well-educated one is, there are always a few words that, for some reason, just dont stick. You are not alone.   According to the website Grammar.net, the following are the fifteen most frequently looked up words (at least on their site): 1.  anomaly  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ an irregularity; an abnormality Example: If I get struck by lightning, I’ll be a statistical anomaly! 2.  ethereal  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ something lacking physical substance; light and intangible Example: This ambient music is so gentle, so ethereal! 3.  loquacious  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ talkative Example: For someone with such limited vocabulary, you’d think she’d be less loquacious! 4.  empathy  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ an understanding of and identification with the feelings or experience of another Example: I empathize - I’ve been there! 5.  agnostic  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ the position that God’s existence cannot be proven or disproved; one who doesn’t confirm or deny God’s existence Example: A: â€Å"Are you religious?† B. â€Å"No.† A: â€Å"You don’t believe in God?† B: â€Å"I didn’t say that.† A: â€Å"Oh, you’re agnostic!† 6.  protocol  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a system by which a task is completed correctly Example: Is there a protocol for parenting feral children? 7.  fascist  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a person who believes a dictator should be in control of a nation’s economic and social policies Example: A: â€Å"You shouldn’t be trusted to take care of yourself.† B: â€Å"You fascist!† 8.  sycophant  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ one who prostrates himself before and flatters another as a means to personal gain Example: He thought I would go on a date with him if he told me how undeserving of my company he was - what a sycophant! 9.  facetious  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ a remark or attitude characterized by insincerity and humorousness Example: When he said that nobody likes a liar, I facetiously remarked that the guy who sets liars’ pants on fire probably likes them. 10.  capricious  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ acting impulsively Example: Here’s a hundred bucks, kid; go be capricious! 11.  salient  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ highly prominent; impossible to ignore Example: All stuffed up, she sprayed saline solution into her salient schnoz. 12.  superfluous  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ excessive; an unnecessary amount Example: I like icing on my cake, but this two-inch layer is a bit superfluous. 13.  ambiguous  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ vague; allowing for many interpretations Example: I’m sorry for the misunderstanding; my explanation was ambiguous. 14.  spongiform  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ spongelike; porous and soft Example: What spongiform skin you have! 15.  deficit  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ shortfall or insufficiency Example: His stiff personality suffered from a humour deficit I looked over this list and none of these were among the words I have ever had trouble spelling or defining (but I truly find it hard to believe that spongiform is looked up all that often. Spell-check doesnt even recognize it was a word, for cryin out loud). I take umbrage with this list (go ahead look up umbrage, Ill wait. You think I spelled it wrongly,  dont you?).    So I asked my mostly over-educated friends and universally-known big mouths to confess the words they always have to look up. Here are ten words with which we struggle (keep in mind, Im from Texas) : 1.   Ã‚  hemorrhoids   Ã‚  a mass of dilated veins in swollen tissue at the margin of the anus or nearby within the rectum Example:   Bobby Dons got the hemorrhoids again after sittin on the tractor all day. 2.   diarrhea     abnormally frequent intestinal evacuations with more or less fluid stools Example: Durn it! The dogs et the bacon grease and now hes got the diarrhea. 3.   terrific-   exciting or fit to excite fear or awe Example:   Terrific. We get to  chaperon the high school dance. 4.   Ã‚  scissors   Ã‚  a cutting instrument having two blades whose cutting edges slide past each other Example:   Mom! Get the peanut butter an scissors! Sisters got gum stuck in the cats fur again. 5.   jewelry-   objects of precious metal often set with gems and worn for personal adornment Example:   Have you seen the jewelry Meemaw is makin outta gum wrappers an beer bottle caps? 6.   efficacious   having the power to produce a desired effect Example:   I  am pleased to report that the combination of antibiotics, leeches and the Mexican hat dance has proved most efficacious. 7.   alcohol   Ã‚  ethanol especially when considered as the intoxicating agent in fermented and distilled liquors Example: Somebody go get some alch.. alcho go on a beer run. 8.   accommodate   to make fit, suitable, or  congruous Example: Im sorry sir, but we are unable to accommodate your request for a min-horse in your hotel room. 9.   Massachusetts   State, northeastern U.S. Area: 8,263 sq mi (21,401 sq km). Pop. (2009 est.): 6,593,587. Capital:  Boston. Example:   Try and hurt our beloved Boston, Massachusetts and we will SHUT DOWN THE CITY UNTIL WE FIND YOU, PUNKS. 10.   rhythm   Ã‚  an ordered  recurrent  alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound Example:   You can leave them all behind / To the beat of the rhythm of the night (DeBarge only) .

How to Reference an Ebook with Oxford Referencing Style

How to Reference an Ebook with Oxford Referencing Style How to Reference an Ebook with the Oxford Referencing Style When you reference an ebook using the Oxford referencing style, you must cite your source clearly so your reader can access it. Oxford referencing uses a note and bibliography system, so make sure to include full information in both footnotes and at the end of your document. Footnotes When citing a source in Oxford style referencing, indicate this using superscript numbers in the main body of your text (e.g., 1, 2, 3). Each number corresponds to a citation in a footnote. In the first citation of a source, you should provide full publication information. For an ebook, this will include where and when you accessed the source: n. Author Initial(s). Surname, Title, Publisher, City of Publication, Year, Page(s), Name of Database/URL, accessed date. For example: 1. R. Kelsall, I. Hamley and M. Geoghegan, Nanoscale Science and Technology, John Wiley Sons Ltd., Chichester, 2005, p. 26, The E-Book Library [online database, accessed 16 February 2013. If you cite the same source again, the footnote can be shortened to either just the author name and page numbers (for consecutive citations) or the author, a shortened title and page numbers for non-consecutive citations: 1. R. Kelsall, I. Hamley and M. Geoghegan, Nanoscale Science and Technology, John Wiley Sons Ltd., Chichester, 2005, p. 26, The E-Book Library [online database], accessed 16 February 2013. 2. Kelsall, Hamley and Geoghegan, pp. 32-34. 3. A. Nonymous, Another Book, Penguin, New York, 2002, p. 12. 4. Kelsall, Hamley Geoghegan, Nanoscale Science, p. 2. Bibliography In an Oxford referencing bibliography, the entry for an ebook requires the same information as in the first footnote, but without the page number(s). The other important difference is that the first-listed authors surname and initial are inverted so that you can order entries alphabetically by author surname: Author Surname, Initial(s)., Title, Publisher, City of Publication, Year, Name of Database/URL, accessed date. As such, the example given above would appear in the reference list as: Kelsall, R., I. Hamley and M. Geoghegan, Nanoscale Science and Technology, John Wiley Sons Ltd., Chichester, 2005, The E-Book Library [online database], accessed 16 February 2013. Of course, Proofed can help you with your references if you want to be double sure your work is correct. Upload your document today!

Risk Management Week3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Risk Management Week3 - Essay Example on that ought to be proactively and effectively managed for a firm to identify and be able to react to new vulnerabilities, emerging threats, and a firm’s continuously changing enterprise operational and architecture atmosphere. Over the years, several security requirements and standards constructions have been developed in an effort to address enterprise systems together with important data inside them. Nonetheless most of these attempts have basically become exercises on just reporting on conformity and have in actuality redirected security programme supplies from the continuously changing attacks that must be dealt with. The Critical Security Control aims first on making it a main concern on security responsibilities that are efficient against the very latest Advanced Targeted Threats that has got a very tough emphasis on â€Å"what actually works†-security controls whereby processes, products, services and architecture are being used and have actually proved real world efficiency. Automation and standardisation is yet a further top main concern, to increase operational competences while at the same time improving efficiency (Hossein, 2006). There are several critical security controls that this paper seeks to address .Some of these include; inventory of unauthorised and authorised devices or software, making sure there is secure configurations for software and hardware on laptops, servers, mobile devices and workstations, continuous vulnerability assessment and remediation, application software security, malware defenses, wireless access control, appropriate training and security assessment to fill in gaps, data recovery capabilities and finally secure configurations for network tools such as routers, switches and firewalls. In the case of inventory of unauthorised and authorised devices, there should be active management (track, inventory and correction) of all hardware devices that are on the network so that it is the only authorised devices that are

Risk management practices in the service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Risk management practices in the service - Essay Example 14). The manual further defines the fire department's mission as "managing risk for others" (FEMA, 1996, p. 23). In carrying out this mission, the manual lists ways a fire department can manage individual risks or "things that go wrong when departments attempt to deliver services that define this mission" (FEMA, 1996, p. 24). The areas discussed include personnel, fire inspection precautions, administration and communication. Next, the manual discusses application of risk management. Recommendations are given regarding assessment of risk and bravery in the face of risk. Bravery may be accepted to save lives but it is inappropriate to risk one's life, "when there are no lives to be saved" (FEMA, 1996, p. 64). The manual describes public expectations, occupational safety and health, principles and development of incident action plans, incident commander responsibilities, and roles in the firefighting organization. Examples are given with regard to unoccupied buildings, unusual situational risks, time factors, unacceptable risks, strategies, communication, personal protective equipment, experience, judgment and training. The manual also emphasizes the importance of pre-incident planning and management of information. Even with this focus on concept and application, the manual is missing key elements that could reduce fatalities among firefighters.

Advertising, Social and Economic Costs and Benefits Essay Example for Free

Advertising, Social and Economic Costs and Benefits Essay Tesco is in private sector, but it is a PLC, a public limited company, this is an international business, also it is in primary. Tesco is doing service by providing food to its customers. Tesco exist, so people can buy food, they do their own products also, this company exists for making profit. Tesco makes profit by selling its products or making deliveries to customers. Tesco is trying to achieve , to be the best company Our vision is for Tesco to be most highly valued by the customers we serve, the communities in which we operate, our loyal and committed staff and our shareholders; to be a growth company; a modern and innovative company and winning locally, applying our skills globally. Tesco is a global business. Tesco is a public limited company (PLC) this means that the owners of Tesco are the shareholder. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service- This is a public sector organization, it doesn’t make profit, because it’s service costs more than the amount of money people pay them for fire. This organization exist so when the people have fire or extreme situations they call fire and rescue service and they help them. In 2004 North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority developed a new focused Vision to reflect their broader function within the modernisation agenda. Over the 10 years to 2014, in North Yorkshire and the City of York, 125 more people will still be alive through the work of the new Fire and Rescue Service. This will be due to the Service having significantly reduced the likelihood and severity of fire and other emergencies. We will achieve this through the dedication of our staff working in partnership with other agencies in the community. This is a local company because it is North Yorkshire. Simply summarised as The term 125 Alive captures the Authoritys Vision in one simple phrase. It means that 125 people who might otherwise have died in an accident will be alive because of preventative action taken by the Fire and Rescue Service working in partnership with other agencies. The target will be achieved by a steady reduction year on year in fatalities in road traffic collisions and fires. The aims and objectives of this organization are to help people to rescue them away from dangerous things, and also to remove the fire away, so the people will be in safe. They are trying their best , so they will be the best from their competitors. P2 â€Å"describe the different stakeholders who influence the purpose of two contrasting organisations† M1 â€Å"explain the points of view from different stakeholders seeking to influence the strategic aims and objectives of two contrasting organisations† Stakeholders: A person, group, or organization that has direct or indirect stake in an organization because it can affect or be affected by the organizations actions, objectives, and policies. Key stakeholders in a business organization include creditors, customers, directors, employees, government (and its agencies), owners (shareholders), suppliers, unions, and the community from which the business draws its resources. Stakeholder Grouping| Interest| Tesco PLC| NY Fire amp; Rescue Service| Consumers/customers| They want high quality, value for money products. Customers often identify with the brands they buy. They like to see improvements that give them better value for money. | People who want to buy high quality food or other staff| This are the local people in the local area who wants to take the fire out| Employees/workers| The company provides them with a salary/money to live (a livelihood). They seek security, promotion opportunities, job satisfaction and rewards. | This are the workers in the stores, they are interested in security| This are the firemen, their job is to rescue people and to remove the fire for safety. | Suppliers| They want steady orders and payment for supplying stock. They also want to feel valued. People which supply different staff like water, food, drinks etc. They do it because they are sure that Tesco Is a successful business and if they are successful so they have a lot of profit , and suppliers are sure in Tesco and they have more orders cause Tesco has more customers| People, who supply the equipment, like the extinguishers. | Owners| They may be a sole trader or in a partnership. In a company it would be the shareholders. Often thought to be the most important stakeholder. They see themselves as the principal risk taker. They want to see share of profit increasing and the value of the business rising. So the owner of Tesco is the shareholders, they are interested in success of their business, they want Tesco to be the best, as every shareholder does. | The government is the owner of the NYFRS. The government wants to succeed this organization in their job, so people will be in safe. | Trade Unions| They represent the views of the employees of the business. They want higher wages and better conditions. | They want Tesco to be successful, because if Tesco is successful, so workers conditions will be better, because this stakeholder is interested in employees comfort and life. They are interested in firemen success and conditions, wages etc. So if firemen start to rescue people or removing fire more and more, so they could get salary and this is good for Trade Union, this is what they want. | Employer Associations| They are the employer’s equivalent of the TU. They represent the employer’s interests in specific associations. | Basically this stakeholder is equivalent Trade Union, they have quite the same interests, they also take care about the workers, but in specific way. | They are looking for the comfort of the firemen, in specific associations. Local communities| The actions of businesses can have a big effect on communities around them. They want improved facilities and provision of jobs. | Local communities wants Tesco to be considerate about the people who live nearby, considerate about the emotions and feelings. | This are the people who live near by the fire rescue service base, so when they have an emergency call they start to drive fast and a lot of noise etc. People want them to be considerate about them and to think about them, that people could be sleeping now, or doing something different when they can’t be disturbed. Governments| They want successful organisations which contribute to economic growth and provide jobs and tax revenue. They also like businesses that contribute towards the welfare of the country’s society. | Government wants Tesco to succeed, so the economy of the country would improve more and more, and more employees would be needed as the company will grow, so less unemployed people would be. | The government wants to succeed this organization in their job, so people will be in safe, and the country’s level of popularity would increase. Tesco: 1) Owners 2) Workers 3) Supplies 4) Customers 5) Government NYFRS: 1) Government 2) Workers 3) Suppliers 4) Customers 5) Local communities D1 â€Å"Evaluate the influence different stakeholders exert in ONE organization Tesco: 1) Directors To be as strong in everything we sell as we are in food Directors are the stakeholders which have the most influence of the Tesco, because they can do everything what they want with the business, because it is theirs. They have ultimate control and power. If they want for example they can change the name from â€Å"Tesco† to something else etc. 2) Workers- To build our team so that we create more value Workers are the second most influence stakeholders in Tesco. This is because if there is no workers so the business can’t grow at all and it will fail, no workers, means no job done. But also if the workers would leave the Tesco, it is not such a big problem, because â€Å"Tesco† is well known successful business, and a lot of employees want to work for them. 3) Customers- To grow the UK core Customers are 3rd important stakeholders which have influence on Tesco. So if there would not be customers the business would not be able to make profit at all, so customers are also really important part of each business. If the Tesco loses the customers , so they will go to theirs opponent businesses, such as â€Å"Asda† and â€Å"Sainsbury’s†, and this could be because their would be not enough workers, or the customer service would be at low level. 4) Suppliers- To put our responsibilities to the communities we serve at the heart of what we do. Suppliers are last important stakeholders with influence on Tesco, because if the suppliers wont supply any products so Tesco would have to use its own products, but that wouldn’t make a lot of profit, and won’t be sustainable. If â€Å"Tesco† loses the suppliers, it is not a problem, because there are a lot of suppliers which are free and waiting for their chance, but if the suppliers were too good, this would be sad. P3 â€Å"Describe how two businesses are organised† TESCO: Span of control: The number of subordinates that a manager or supervisorcan directly control. This number varies with the type ofwork: complex, variable work reduces it to six, whereasroutine, fixed work increases it to twenty or more. Chain of Command: The  order  in which  authority  and  power  in an  organization  is wielded and delegated from  top management  to every employee  at every  level  of the organization. Instructions flow downward along the chain of command and accountability  flows  upward. The chart shows that Tesco has a different level of workers in its organization. These shows the mangers and members, whom they control. The managers take responsibility of what their assistants do. Manager of one job can’t control the assistants of other job manager, so everything is equal. The boss of everyone is the store director, after him is regional manager as you can see, and later is the store manager, and only than other managers of different jobs, and on the bottom of the chart are all of the assistants of all of the mangers. So in Tesco and in all other businesses the member of the working team can’t control anyone above him, or anyone or the same line, he can control only the people who are under him. It is very hard to control big organization. So, it will be better to break the organization into smaller parts. There are 4 main ways of breaking a business down into smaller sections: 1) By Function- What is the sense of each section? 2) By Location- Where is the section situated on the map? 3) By Product- Which service does the section belong to? 4) By Process- A customer staying approached on the other customers who are interested in Tesco. There are 2 main types of organizational structure: 1) Tall 2) Flat The difference between this two is that tall has more levels than flat , however in Flat Mangers there are wider span of control. . So, we can say that Tesco has Tall structure, because in Tesco’s Organizational Chart has a lot of levels. North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service: It is really hard to understand who is who, who is controlling whom, the table is a bit messy, and so I created a better one for you: But on Structure of Commission we can see that Director General has two lines. First, is that he should control 3 Directors, Corporate and Forestry, Central Services (HR, IT, Finance), Business Units, Forest Research. The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service is looking so different comparing to Tesco’s. . In Forestry Commission General Director works with more employees, however in Tesco Director works just with managers. But The North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service’s type of organizational structure is Tall, because it has many lines. And Forestry Commission is organization by Location, because they are separated on different locations, they have 3 directs in same country. Task 2 1) Finance addresses the ways in which individuals, business entities and other organizations allocate and use monetary resources over time. It helps Tesco with finance. 2) Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. ) The act or process or producing, bringing forth, or exhibiting to view; as, the production of commodities, of a witness. That which is produced, yielded, or made, whether naturally, or by the application of intelligence and labor; as, the productions of the earth; the productions of handicraft; the productions of intellect or genius. 4) Customer S ervice is the commitment to providing value added services to external and internal customers, including attitude knowledge, technical support and quality of service in a timely manner 5) Sales- Total dollar amount collected for goods and services provided. While payment is not necessary for recognition of sales on company financial statements, there are strict accounting guidelines stating when sales can be recognized. The basic principle is that a sale can only be recognized when the transaction is already realized, or can be quite easily realized. This means that the company should have already received a payment, or the chances of receiving a payment are high. In addition, delivery of the good or service should have taken place for the sale to be recognized. ) Human resources- is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations. Human resources is also the name of the function within an organization charged with the overall responsibility for implementing strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals. Task 3 I will tell now, what makes Tesco and Forestry Commission similar an d what makes them different. Firstly, they both have General Director, and he has helpers. But in Forestry Commission General Director has more employees (they are: 3 directors and other staff members), however in Tesco, Director has just one helper. Secondly, this two organizations have two different, smaller parts. Tesco has broken down on process and North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service by Location. Last thing which I want to say is that, they have the same type of organization – it’s â€Å"Tall†. They have many levels and lines, which helps them to control their business. P4 â€Å"explain how their style and organization helps them to fulfill their purpose†

Monopoly of Petroleum: OPEC Essay -- Business Case Studies Oil Essays

Monopoly of Petroleum: OPEC Images Not Included A monopoly is evident where a firm is the sole seller of its product and if its product does not have close substitutes, as discussed in (Gans J., King S. Mankiw A. 2003). This essay will discuss the monopoly of petroleum by The Organization Of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), particularly how it controls the price of petrol, threats to its monopoly and the social costs involved. OPEC was established in the 1960's and ever since, Saudi Arabia gained a reputation of being the major power of the organization. Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil reserves in the world and production costs lower than any country. (economist.com 2003)This means that it is a natural monopoly and economies of scale arises; when the long run average total cost falls as the quantity of output increases as illustrated in figure 1. (Gans, J. King, S., Mankiw, N., 2003) Saudi Arabia is the undisputed leader of OPEC. Figure 1 Economies of Scale as a factor of Monopoly Cost Average Total Costs Quantity of output Saudi arabia's petroleum monopoly is very much its' government's major interest. The kingdom earned over $80 billion in revenue from oil in 2000.(economist.com 2003) OPEC's ability to influence the market price is the key of its power. Compared to a competitive firm, the demand curve for a monopoly is a horizontal one as it can set any quantity it wants for a given price. The demand curve slopes downwards... ... production costs is amongst the lowest in the world. Iraq has the potential of overthrowing OPEC's regime if OPEC countries like Russia and France are ready to develop Iraq's oilfields so that it can be used to full efficiency. Does this mean that, to stop a monopoly, another monopoly must be used to overcome it? Time will tell, especially when UN sanctions are lifted and the new Iraqi government is formally established. In conclusion, OPEC's monopoly of the petroleum industry has been a strong one since the 1960's since its members enjoy economies of scale. Its decisions concerning the output of petrol have always been strong affecting the rest of the world. This monopoly is socially inefficient due to the output and the deadweight loss that results. Interestingly enough, to break this monopoly, the new Iraq has the potential to turn the market power around.

Explain to the Board of Director

Explain to the board of director how he or she could use the talent management approach to improve his or her company's performance? A talented work force is an employer's most valuable asset. The talent, skills and contributions your employees bring to the workplace can make or break your organization. Company productivity and profitability depend almost solely on your work force. Therefore, retaining talent is extremely important to executive leadership and human resources departments. Activities related to talent retention are sometimes referred to as part of the talent management process.Some employers combine recruitment, selection and talent retention to achieve talent management goals:- 1 Identify your organization's most talented workers. Employees with exceptional work skills, aptitude, interpersonal skills and desire for success are generally referred to as the most talented; however, employees who lack one of these attributes or need improvement in another area should not be ruled out. Talented employees also demonstrate traits such as high motivation, initiative and discipline.They are the ones who seek additional responsibility and have performance appraisals to prove they are dedicated to helping your company achieve success. 2 Review the performance evaluations of your most talented employees. Determine their strengths and areas for improvement; use this information to draft the outline for a discussion about the employee's career aspirations. Don't be discouraged if your meeting with the employee reveals career aspirations in another field. Taking the time to discuss this topic sends the message that the employee is a valued contributor.One of the reasons employees often cite for leaving a company is that they feel the company overlooks their contributions or doesn't acknowledge their opinions. 3 Conduct a needs assessment to determine the training and development necessary to retain employees with the most promise. Include an assessment to dete rmine training for employees who demonstrate aptitude as well. Consider conducting focus groups with supervisors, managers and executive leadership to determine the best way to keep talented employees satisfied and challenged. Review the job descriptions, duties and responsibilities of employees whom you've identified as the most talented. Re-read performance evaluations for professional goals of these employees and compare them to their current duties. If they don't match very well, consider revising job duties or assigning more challenging work to keep them motivated. Talented employees who are dissatisfied with their current responsibilities look for opportunities elsewhere.You can prevent their departure by offering opportunities that further develop their skills and prepare them for future roles within the company through human resources strategy and succession planning. 5 Recognize your talented employees with letters of commendation, tokens of appreciation or coveted roles wi thin the organization. Employers can retain talent through very simple actions that demonstrate their appreciation for hard workers. Human resources best practices suggest recognition and, in some cases, employee rewards increase motivation and improve retention of talented employees.