The Effectiveness of Online Writing Courses Essay Example for Free

The Effectiveness of Online Writing Courses Essay Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are one of the revolutionary trends in education across the world. Many controversies surround it with some education stakeholders viewing it as very costly but of little value. In addition, other critics consider it a cheaper model of teaching especially in higher education (Vimeo, 2014). Cheaper in the sense many students can be reached wherever they are with no travel needed, by a single instructor, but of little value in the sense that there is no face to face interaction between the student and the instructor. For instance, Dr. Karen Head and Thomas Friedman hold divergent opinions and views on the same issue; however, they tend to agree on other significant views concerning the debate this may be in order to attain a neutral understanding. The revolution in the education sector across the world, which is created by massive use of the internet, is acknowledged by both Head and Friedman. The duos are acknowledging that many students across the world can be reached and access education online. However, there is a feeling that many students especially those from financially challenged backgrounds may be left out (Head, 2013, para. 1). Friedman is arguing that, â€Å"massive open online courses can present a scenario of inequalities in education provision.† He further asserts that, â€Å"children and students from affluent families will use online courses to augment teaching on campus while their counterparts from the less fortunate families will resort to the use of automated online instruction with little personal guidance (Head, 2013, Para. 2).† This is something that Head shares closely with Friedman as she also raises the concern that many students across the world that she instructs using massive open online courses have little access to the internet. Nevertheless, the content that the model is  able to deliver to the students is also a matter of controversy. Friedman is worried of the number of students that can be handled with the use of MOOCs (Head, 2013, para. 4). His other worry is the creation of a â€Å"super professor† that can handle such huge numbers while the rest of the lecturers are left with nothing to handle. Head, however, praises the model as she reports that besides reaching many students in almost all continents of the world, the students have also formed forums where they discuss contents and technology and helps one another with questions. She is also admitting that the most exciting part of all is the weekly â€Å"hangout† sessions, which are enabled by the use of Google air (Head, 2013, para. 5). Friedman and Dr. Head still possess different understanding about the use of MOOCs. For instance, Dr. Head is focusing on the Massive open online courses as an instructional means of disseminating information to the students. However, Friedman sees it as a supplementary to the traditional courses and programs. He contends that, â€Å"MOOCs is an example of what colleges have been offering as a remedial aid to students (Friedman, 2013, para. 1) .† Dr. Head, on the other hand, presents MOOCs as comprehensive ways of instruction to the students. For instance, whenever there is a problem the students are always emailed. She adds that the students are kind especially when they become transparent. In this case, the two authors differ on their take on the MOOCs (Friedman, 2013, Para. 2). While Friedman is questioning the authentic nature of the MOOCs, Head, on the other hand, is keen on this issue. She acknowledges the huge number as a challenge with regards to the assessment of the students (Friedman, 2013, Para. 3). However, she is keen to demystify any doubt about the authentic nature of their assessment as she puts it that, â€Å"students are first trained on peer review and peer assessment.† The students are also supposed to have a look at the previous essays and see how they were awarded and graded. While Thomas is concerned with the content retention of the MOOCs, he is also concerned about the level of plagiarism that is associated with such a method (Friedman, 2013, Para. 4). Despite the usefulness of the method as it saves time when reaching out students with information, the time involved in the preparation is enormous, a fact that is shared by both Friedman and Head. For instance, Friedman doubts how possible it is easy to assess and reach enormous large number of students within a short period. However, Head, while defending how assessment and  reaching the students is done, admits time as a challenge with open online massive courses (Head, 2013, Para. 1). For instance, she puts it that it takes awhile to prepare, and this is a procedure, which involves many things like rehearsing and recording videos among other things. As if this is not enough, after recording, the recorded script is then taken for editing something that lasts for another ten days before getting the approval of the Cousera. Indeed the process for the MOOCs takes a long time something that the two authors agree on (Head, 2013, Para. 2). In terms of financial cost, it is expensive for both the student and even the university to run and use. Higher education is perceived to be free or affordable and that all students should access it, across the world. However, both Head and Friedman are in agreement on this issue. For instance, Friedman argues that due to its expensive nature the students from rich families are the only people that can comfortably enjoy it against those from poor economic backgrounds. Head, on the other hand, perceives its expensive nature in the form of the stages it undergoes. She says that before one can use the MOOCs, it has to take one many stages like rehearsal, recording and edition before getting the approval to present (Head, 2013, Para. 3). In the light of all the arguments, one can conclude that the two authors, Friedman and. Head, have varying opinions on the use of the MOOCs to teach. In some instances, they tend to agree on certain issues and in some cases; they differ on their stands on certain issues. For instance, Head while admitting the challenge of a huge number of students that the method handles, she suggests strategies on how they are handling such challenges (Head, 2013, Para. 4). Friedman is in doubt whether the model is good enough to handle the big number of students comfortably. The two authors also express the divergent opinion on the use of open online massive courses. For instance, Friedman views the model as a supplement that should take the form of remedial while Dr. Karen perceives it as a comprehensive whole model (Head, 2013, Para. 5). References Friedman L. Thomas. (2013). The Opinion pages: Revolution Hits the Universities. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/opinion/sunday/friedman-revolution-hits-the-universities.html?_r=2 Head, Karen. (2013). Lessons Learned from a

Human Resource Management Essay -- Business, International Human Resou

Human resources are considered to be a potential source for competitive advantage. It is seen as the accumulation stock of knowledge; skills and abilities that individual possess which the firm has built over years through identifiable expertise (Cappelli and Singh, 1992). The success of firms can be measured from the ability to synthesise the firm’s HR with strategic objectives of the organisation. According to Klein et al. (1991:11), ‘If expertise manifestation behaviour is consistent on the formation of skills, it becomes a basis for competitive advantage’. The scholar further argues that a dedicated skill comes from employees’ continuous application of skills to a particular tasks, product and project. Through learning and strategic combinations of dedicated skills, skills are then transforms to core skills which then can promote new product and new market (). These resource capabilities are indeed helpful for MNC exploiting developing market to gain co mpetitive advantage and hereby increasing market share. However, there have been various strategic plans by MNC to successfully gain competitive advantage in developing market taking into account theoretical frameworks and issues emanating from parent company and host county-specific. The field of international human resources management has been characterised by three broad approaches which gives an insight on cross-cultural management issues (Laurent, 1986), comparative HRM research (Brewster, 1998; Hendry, 2003), and international HRM in multinational corporations. The latter is commonly recognised as international HRM which involves diverse complexities due to diversity of national contexts and different national categories of employees (Dowling and Welch, 2004). An impor... ...n et at. (1991), specifically and critically view IHR strategic relationship between the parent company and its subsidiaries. This relationship can be viewed in two ‘fits’. The first fit is the external-outside organisational fit which encompasses the level of fit between the subsidiaries IHR undertakings and the cross-national and cross-cultural environment that is operating in which includes across it boundaries. On the other hand, internal-outside fit is viewed as IHR activities of the subsidiary and the IHR activities across other MNC within its boundaries. In summary, this business strategy possess that a subsidiary needs to put into consideration its roles and standing within the MNC and well as its place amongst the local, national and global environment when developing IHR strategies. This business strategy consideration is illustrated on Figure 2.

Outline And Evaluate The Working Memory Model

The working memory model is the part of the short term memory which is governed by the ‘central executive which monitors and coordinates the operation of the store systems; Phonological loop and visuo – spatial sketchpad. The phonological loop allows sounds to be stored for brief periods. The visuo spatial sketchpad allows visual and spatial information to be stored for brief periods. The two slave systems within the WMM are completely separate and can work individually.A piece of evidence which shows support for the slave systems being two separate systems within the WMM is the case of KF. He had a motorcycle accident and damaged his brain and memory, which therefore left him with no new memory, h couldn’t remember anything since the accident. When KF memory was assessed psychologists found out that he could remember things from sight using his visuo spatial sketch pad however he couldn’t remember things from ear using his phonological loop, this suggests that the slave systems must be separate.This research has weak reliability that the slave systems are separate this is because these findings were only found on one person and not a collective of people, therefore you can’t generalise findings from one person on everybody else, so this evidence on supply’s weak support for the WMM. A piece of research which shows support for the slave systems working independently to each other is psychologists carried out an experiment on two groups asking them to do specific tasks. Group one was asked to perform two visual tasks using only there visuo spatial sketch pad.The other group was asked to do a visual and verbal task using both slave systems. The psychologists found out that group 2 performed better this is because they don’t overload ne slave systems like the other group this suggests that both slave systems work independently and can become over capacitated. A criticism of this research method is that it was a lab e xperiment, and is low in ecological validity, which could have affected the results, as participants may feel under pressure with the lab setting.

Outline and Evaluate Two or More Biological Explanations...

There are two main biological theories which explain the assumed causes of schizophrenia: Genetic and Dopamine Hypothesis. Research by Mikaywa et al has found that there must be a genetic explanation of schizophrenia due to the fact that concordance rates for environmental causes are not 100%. Also Mikaywa noticed that schizophrenia runs in the family, meaning there must be something other than environmental causes, causing the disorder. What Mikaywa studied was DNA from human families who were affected by schizophrenia and found that those with the disorder are more likely to have the defective gene: PPP3CC. The PPP3CC gene regulates the immune system, and therefore is an important gene in terms of genetic vulnerabilities which may be†¦show more content†¦In support of this Kendler et al found that first degree relatives of those with schizophrenia are at 18 times more risk than the general population. Research has also found that schizophrenia symptoms may have a genetic component. This was suggested by Malaspina, who found that patients who have schizophrenia in their family histories are mor e likely to develop negative symptoms than those families who are schizophrenia free. In evaluation of family studies it may be concluded that they are not very reliable as they are retrospective. The studies for family studies where taken place when diagnosis was under a more liberal use of the term schizophrenia. Twin studies have also shown a genetic pre-disposition. Gottesman found 48% risk of schizophrenia in MZ twins compared to only 17% in DZ twins. Similar to the Gottesman study two other studies showed higher concordance rates for MZ twins and lower in DZ twins however each had slightly different results. McGuffin et al argues this is because of the use of different diagnostic criteria, which may affect the validity of the results. On the other hand the researchers used blind techniques to obtain the results eliminating any researcher bias. Both family and twin studies face the problem of ignoring environmental impacts. In family studies, genetically similar members of the same family tend to spend more time together, thereforeShow MoreRelatedOutline and Evaluate One or More Biological Explanations to Schizophrenia1149 Words   |  5 PagesOutline and evaluate one or more biological explanations of schizophrenia (8 marks AO1/16 marks AO1) Schizophrenia is classified as a mental disorder that shows profound disruption of cognition and emotion which affects a person’s language, perception, thought and sense of self. The dopamine hypothesis states that schizophrenic’s neurones transmitting dopamine release the neurotransmitter too easily, leading to the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. This hypothesisRead MoreTwo Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia Essay487 Words   |  2 PagesTwo Biological Explanations of Schizophrenia There are many biological explanations of schizophrenia. 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