Students will float to the mark you set

Rose's thesis states that â€Å"Students will float to the mark you set. † † Vocational education has aimed at increasing the economic opportunities of students who do not do well in our schools. Some serious programs succeed in doing that, and through exceptional teachers – like Mr. Gross in Horace's Compromise – students learn to develop hypotheses and trouble shoot, reason through a problem, and communicate effectively – the true job skills. The vocational track, however, is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for the disaffected.† Rose attempts to persuade his readers by showing how dysfunctional the vocational students are and how mediocre or unchallenging their studies are. He also persuades the readers by exemplifying the instructor's poor attempts to care about the quality of learning the vocational education students are receiving. His argument is that the instructors are not inventive in their teaching methods and do not work hard at education through use of their imaginations. â€Å"The teachers have no idea of how to engage the imaginations of kids who were at the bottom of the pond.† I agree with Rose's point stating that † You're defined by your school as â€Å"slow†; you're placed in a curriculum that isn't designed to liberate you but to occupy you, or, if you're lucky, train you, though the training is for work the society does not esteem.† This seems to be the norm at all schools. But, I think at all levels, be it high school or college, the instructors teaching these types of programs should be trained to use more imaginative methods of teaching the vocational level students. Obviously, these students each learn at a different pace, but their minds still need to be challenged. They should receive education that stimulates their minds so they do not lose interest. The vocational education system is used as simply as Rose put it, as a â€Å"dumping ground for the disaffected.† I also understand the point Rose made referring to the fact that if a student is trained in a mediocre way he will do nothing but turn into a mediocre student. Resulting in boredom, indifference, tuning out, ignorance, and finally a lack of job skills society deems necessary. I think Rose was correct in the comment â€Å"Champion the average.† Although that is assuming that every vocational student has the courage to rely on his/her own good sense and put the fear behind him or her. Only most of them lack the courage or self-esteem to stand up for themselves, be it only in their own mind. Moreover, many would not take themselves seriously if they did so. Students Will Float to the Mark You Set Mike Rose is a professor in the School of Education at UCLA , earned multiple awards during his career ; Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English, the American Educational Research Association's Distinguished Lectureship, UCLA’s Distinguished Teaching Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award in Education, and the Commonwealth Club of California Award for Literary Excellence in Nonfiction. As a child Rose grew up in a poor family in Los Angeles, during his high school years he was placed on vocational classes on accident, by mixed up test scores from another student with the same last name. In the essay â€Å"I Just Wanna Be Average† by Mike Rose, he describes his observations with his students and teachers during his accidentally placed vocational classes, the teachers were showing no interest in teaching and his class mates were not showing any interest in their education, Rose implies in his essay â€Å"The vocational track, however, is most often a place for those who are just not making it, a dumping ground for the disaffected† (Rose 13) Rose shows how the school system has written off students who have potential, his analysis of the school system specifies multiple reasons for the failure of students that go through high school misunderstood from their difficulties learning, it showed that the students were lacking the effort to learn. In Rose’s essay he talks about one of his classmates Ken Harvey, he describes this open conversation in this classroom, the topic was about working hard and being an over achiever, when in it was Harvey’s turn to talk he answered â€Å"I wanna be average†. Ken Harvey’s â€Å"I just wanna be average† quote immediately picked up Rose’s attention! He later goes revealing how this student was gasping for air in their educational environment, as Rose Mentions in the book â€Å"No matter how bad the school, you’re going to encounter notions that don’t fit with the assumption and beliefs that you grew up with- maybe you’ll hear these dissonant notions from teachers, maybe from other students, and maybe you’ll read them† (Mike Rose 14) Since the vocational track is the dumping ground for those students who can’t make it, Harvey was discouraged because in his school he was labeled â€Å"slow†, as that could’ve lowered his morale, Harvey was rotecting himself from the pressure of school by defying himself as a regular person, and it doesn’t help that the fact that the teachers in the vocational track did nothing to help motivate the student. Rose states that ther e was hardly any who worked hard at their education, however Brother Slattery used his stern voice and his weekly quizzes to engage the imagination of those kids who were at the â€Å"bottom of the pond†. One of my academic weak points is algebraic related activity , during my Senior year I was taking a junior math class Algebra 3-4, my first period class that I would get through in the morning, me a morning person? I would show up half asleep, if I stayed awake I was zoning out. The high school that I graduated from had the block schedule system so the classes would have been two hours and thirty minutes long, I dreaded the block schedule system especially when I had Algebra, as furthermore it would feel like an eternity. I’ve spent a good 75% doing something else that would contradict my learning, doodling on my notes or socializing with the people around me. Every time we would learn a new course I tried to give my full attention to the lesson because it would almost be like a fresh start but in the end it would ended up with me not fully understanding the lesson, so a new course would come up this pattern would repeat itself, so I would get a little frustrated every time that would develop. It got to the point where the requirements of the new course would require the information from the previous course to learn it, that’s how I got stuck along with the interest to care anymore. Unfortunately that type of not caring was labeled as â€Å"Senioritis† it happens to every Senior they say, but I wasn’t going to blame it on â€Å"Senioritis† because I have experience that similar uninteresting feeling for my education before my Senior year. I can’t remember the name of my Algebra 3-4 teacher but I do remember a friend that I made there who sat next to me, his name was Adam he seemed very brilliant and strong academically but he wasn’t so good with the ladies. My algebra teacher never took the time to grade our homework, what she would do was make the student plus the person sitting next to you grade each other’s homework, she would put out the answers on her white board, as she would expect every student to grade the other students homework. Adam and I had an alliance with each other, as we took advantage of that situation, I would scratch his back and he would scratch mine by writing the correct answers down or just filling out the homework right there, sometimes I didn’t even take the time to do my homework I would let Adam fill out the paper for me. Adam continued to perfectly learn in that class he would sometimes end up with one or two mistakes in his homework, but he really wanted straight A’s, I would correct his mistakes for him as he would do the same for me. That homework grading system seemed to me as a huge flaw for her students learning, if she took the time to look at our answers, study our equations that we wrote down she could’ve traced the mistake, point it out, ask why we messed up and showed us the correct way to solve the problem I think that would’ve helped some people out. So the fourth quarter finally arrives, my Algebra 3-4 grades are on the edge of failing, my counselor advocated that I should stay after school with a tutor, which I hated the fact that I had to stay after school for more math, which the thought in my mind was â€Å"I’m not going to learn anything and just waste time†, that was quite the opposite of what was going to happened, I met a tall man with glasses always seemed full of energy, I think his name was Larry (I can’t remember names). Every day after school I would meet up with Larry in a classroom with a few other kids from every type of different math class ranging from basic math to trigonometry, Larry would sit down and help every single student one by one, he seemed like he was vey content teacher, every time Larry would sit next to me I would actually learn or understand all this gibberish that we call algebra, he would approach me with a different attitude way different compared to my Algebra teacher. Now when I think about that situation I was in, I would sit in my first period class for 2 hours and 30 minutes while having difficulties understanding, but now in my tutoring class I would only sit for 45 minutes and everything seemed clear to me. The situation that those students from Rose’s essay they’re intelligence are not limited, a bad teacher can make school such a frustrating experience student won’t learn much, understanding t a teacher’s teaching style can sometimes not w ork with the students.

Should Use of Cell Phones while Driving Be Banned Essay

Should Use of Cell Phones while Driving Be Banned - Essay Example â€Å"inattention blindness† wherein motorists look directly at the road condition but don’t really see them because they are distracted by the conversation. Reactions of teenagers and young adults who talk on cell phones while driving are compared to slow elderly driver. For instance, the report carried by Hanes Stephanie, said†¦ Brandie Eadie, 16, (photo at left) looked down on her cell phone to read a text message as she drives through a rubber cone course in Seattle. †¦ Eadie knocked down multiple cones meant to simulate pedestrians. Same source reported killing of a 12 year old boy in an automobile accident because driver was texting. There should be a law banning cell phone use while driving. Senseless deaths and damages to properties due to cell phone use while driving should be stopped. While there are already 19 States in the U.S. that banned this practice, there is no uniform law that puts an end to it. There ought to be a law banning cell phone use while driving because there is sufficient evidence that drivers who use hand-held or hand- free cell phones are as dangerous as a drunken driver. The three year study of University of Utah, headed by Professor David Strayer, found out, that â€Å"people are as impaired when they drive and talk on the cell phone as when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood limit.† Clearly, a person puts the lives of his passengers and his own to a great risk when the driver uses a cell phone and drive, and impairment is just the same. Whether it is hand held or hand-free cell phones, still the University of Utah holds the view that it still causes accidents because driver tends to slow down while conversing, â€Å"or 19 percent... Senseless deaths and damages to properties due to cell phone use while driving should be stopped. While there are already 19 States in the U.S. that banned this practice, there is no uniform law that puts an end to it. There ought to be a law banning cell phone use while driving because there is sufficient evidence that drivers who use hand-held or hand- free cell phones are as dangerous as a drunken driver. The three year study of University of Utah, headed by Professor David Strayer, found out, that â€Å"people are as impaired when they drive and talk on the cell phone as when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood limit.† Clearly, a person puts the lives of his passengers and his own to a great risk when the driver uses a cell phone and drive, and impairment is just the same. Whether it is hand held or hand-free cell phones, still the University of Utah holds the view that it still causes accidents because driver tends to slow down while conversing, â€Å"or 19 percent slower†, then resumes speed thus causing a crash. Their study showed rear-ended pace car accidents, where drivers were all talking on the phone. Drivers should be able to use cell phones while driving, provided the phones are not handled. While we have settled that use of cell phones while driving should be banned, there are circumstances that use of cell phones in the car is a necessity. It is needed for effective communication of households, businesses and community and use of cell phones in the car becomes as important.

HR & Communication in Projects - Communication Plan Coursework

HR & Communication in Projects - Communication Plan - Coursework Example The aim of this plan is to define and identify the roles to be played by the people taking part in this project. The Denver International Airport project entails the design and construction of a new airport that is founded on a â€Å"Home-on-the-Range† design since Denver City needs a broadly open entry point for people visiting it (Kerzner, 2012). The airport is supposed to maintain a distinctive appearance that will make it easily identifiable by the travellers and this design should meet the specifications of Denver City (Henkin, 2012). The new airport is supposed to allow more traffic in and out, and at the same time decrease congestion through improving the runways to create a more efficient operation of the regional airspace. This will considerable decrease delays as well as the costs associated with operating airlines. The new airport is also supposed to result in considerable reduction in noise impact as its construction is taking place on a comparatively site which is not populated (Dempsey, Goetz & Szyliowicz, 1997). The walking distances for the passengers will be greatly red uced by the overall layout, which also boasts of a greater interior design and curb appeal. Further, the operations of the airlines will be expected to run more smoothly as a result of the new baggage system along with various other specialty systems. Construction is supposed to start in 1989 and the project team has started collecting various requirements to make sure if a successful achievement of the project objectives. In the process of the implementation of the project plan for the Denver International Airport, it is important that timely and effective communication be in place for the various parties who will be affected by its results. The project manager will be required to take a practical role in making sure the communication associated with the project is effective. A

The Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Essay

The Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua - Essay Example The paper "The Immaculate Conception with Saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony of Padua" seeks to delve into the mastery of this piece, and its excellent execution. Cardinal Girolamo Verospi commissioned the painting by Giovanni Bennedetto Castiglione, â€Å"The Immaculate Conception with saints Francis of Assisi and Anthony Padua†, in 1649, for a new church in Osimo at the Capuchin monastery in Italy. Castiglione hailed from Genoa, and is understood to have studied under Sinibaldo Scorza. He was a passionate student of paintings by Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, whose paintings were readily available in Genoa. Rembrandt also heavily influenced him. Castiglione was one of the earliest masters of monotype, while also being one of the earliest practitioners of Chiaroscuro woodcut art. He became known for combining emotion and high drama in his works with elements of Flemish naturalism and Venetian colorism. His earliest works include Noah’s ark, The Nativity of Christ, which is regarded as his best work, St. James defeats the Moorssfor and Mary Magdalene and Catherine among others. In 1649, he was commissioned to paint The Immaculate Conception with Saint Francis and Anthony of Padua. At this point, Castiglione was at the peak of his powers, having mastered the art of being a draftsman and also pioneering oil sketch development. The essential features of this painting include the Virgin Mary, based on â€Å"The Woman of the Apocalypse† in the book of Revelations. She is depicted standing.

Dropout in community colleges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Dropout in community colleges - Essay Example These are the exact students that get underserved in the colleges beating the logic behind the purpose that these colleges were designed to accommodate as they also serve the interest of the local community. As these students come in and out of the higher education, it may be because of the conditions that surround their learning environment in the colleges. This paper seeks to validate that the vice of the college dropout exist and propose appropriate action to help cub the problem Managing school dropouts and completion become a very important entity that is very key to meeting the visions and missions of educating our children. It is of importance to spend most of the time to address the changing landscape of the higher education which may be as a result of the increased public demand and low public (Felgueroso, Florentino, Gutià ©rrez-domà ¨nech, and Sergi Jimà ©nez-martà ­n, 2014). College dropout in most cases has been associated and seen as evidence of failure resulting from the untapped human capital. But the fact remains that failure is one of the strengths and the drive of higher education system in the community colleges. A good school by definition should bring almost all the students to graduation as this will bring greater economic return and ensure that the mantle of the worlds most educated population is retained( Luke, Mphale, 2014). To achieve this the colleges should avoid high stake tests that consigns students to either to educated clas s or the working class, this kind of system is narrowly focused on the learning on testing that only promote students to memorize than to learn. When you get only one shot at the college level, you get motivated and work hard to get it right for example in the united states there are a lot of shots where there is nation to nation comparison of the lazy students to hardworking students to help

How, in your judgment, can one evaluate the ethical nature of an act Research Paper

How, in your judgment, can one evaluate the ethical nature of an act - Research Paper Example Nature of ethics has three main features that are worth examining. The first feature is that the nature of ethics is closely correlated with duties, which are generally the other side of morals and moral rights. For instance, an individual’s right to work implies that the government has a duty to ensure that jobs are available for people (Gotsis and Kortezi, 2010). Secondly, ethics gives people equality and autonomy in the pursuit of their interests. The last main feature of the nature of ethics is that it provides a basis for justification of an individual’s actions and for invocation of aid or protection of others (Gutmann and Thompson, 2006). Over the years, there has been increased concern over the need to find ways of evaluating the ethical nature of organizations including non-profit organizations, private association, or government agency. Since ethics is such an important aspect in any organization, there has been heightened need in recent years to evaluate the ethical nature of organizations in order to ensure that they derive maximum benefits from adherence to valuable ethics (Cooper, 2012). It is against this background that this paper will discuss how one can evaluate the ethical nature of a government agency: The Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA). It will create a format for the systematic evaluation of the agency’s ethical commitment. Nature of Ethics and Government Agencies It is commonly accepted that ethics is an essential part of operation of government agencies. Unethical behaviors can have very devastating consequences for any given government agency, while sound ethical behavior can greatly facilitate effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery of services within a particular government agency (Hayden, 2005). Acknowledgement of the importance of ethics requires commitment and establishment of an organizational ethical capacity in a structured and concerted way. Therefore, it is important that gover nment officials be competent in managing of the ethical dimensions of the government agencies. In order to produce sustainable ethical behavior, there is need to cultivate an ethical organizational culture or an ethical way of thinking and ethical behavior (Gotsis and Kortezi, 2010). The officials of the government agency need to set specific ethics objectives for their respective agencies, as well as designing and implementing a strategy that is geared towards achieving these objectives (Cooper, 2012). In addition, they need to institutionalize ethics, monitor and report on the ethical performance of all the employees of the agency. When looking at ethics in the government agency domain, ethics is a prerequisite for the improved performance and reputation of the government agency and therefore should be the foundation element in the government agency’s operations strategy (Gutmann and Thompson, 2006). Effective management of ethics in government agencies requires that there is a comprehensive evaluation of the nature of ethics in those agencies. The government officials of respective government agencies should engage in a concentrated effort of establishing mechanisms and criteria of

Marketing Communications on The Smartphone Market Essay - 1

Marketing Communications on The Smartphone Market - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that integrated marketing communications refer to systems used to plan communications in such a way as to benefit a business by disseminating its marketing campaigns more effectively and thereby lessening its marketing expenses. By integrating marketing structures such as social media avenues, advertising, telemarketing, and direct sales, one can bring more consistency and clarity into the message that is aimed at consumers. Mobile phone companies are constantly seeking an edge in the hyper-competitive mobile phone market by either increasing access speeds or introducing ever more robust application systems into their products. Naturally, these changes inspire marketing executives of mobile phone companies to come up with tactical and strategic marketing plans that allow them to be able to engage potential consumers through the different mobile platforms that are created. Google Inc. created an operating system, Android, that immediately ga ve it an edge in the Smartphone market. Its marketing scheme has played a great role in sustaining its competitiveness. Product- Google Inc. uses different marketing concepts to market the Android-iOS in different regions of the world. Since Google launched the first Android system in 2008, the product has remained in high public demand due to the regular addition of aspects such as features and apps (applications) which are frequently updated and enable customers to use them. For instance, customers with a preference for touch screens or ‘qwerty’ screens can use Android as it has both applications. In addition, customers who wish for widescreen displays can also use the android system. Price - In regards to price, Google’s customers are able to change their budgets to suit customized android systems with their preferred features. The vast majority of android retailers sell the system for less than 100$ with all its features and benefits included. This is far che aper than what the systems created by Apple and Nokia retail for. Promotion - The android is a well-known and highly esteemed brand. These characteristics differentiate it from other competitors. Furthermore, Google has invested in promotional campaigns that include using the print media, television advertising, and the internet to reach mobile phone users.

Criminal psychology of why do people commit crimes Essay

Criminal psychology of why do people commit crimes - Essay Example Still others blame criminal behavior on the hierarchal make-up of society; that laws are specifically made by the aristocracy to rule over those in the lower social classes. Psychological factors and cognitive development also have been theorized to play a role in criminal behavior. The answer could be one or a combination of these theories. All economically deprived persons aren’t criminals and those that believe life has treated them unfairly or who have grown up around crime as a way of life, though they may be pre-disposed, do not necessarily resort to crime. This discussion briefly explains these theories for criminal behaviors in an attempt to display their similarities and differences and concludes with thoughts regarding how they may intertwine supplementing each other as an explanation. Among the biological and physiological explanations for crime is the Behaviour Genetics Theory which postulates a biological explanation for crime. While the genetic make-up of an individual does not induce any specific actions, anti-social behaviour can be facilitated by neurotransmitters in the brain and hormonal imbalances which generate tendencies to act in a particular way. â€Å"Low self-control is strongly and inversely related to the neurotransmitter/neuromodulator serotonin, and that serotonin level is heritable† (Robinson, 2004). Abnormal serotonin levels have been shown to be an origin of criminal behaviours of all types of crime because an individual lacks the natural ability to control their impulsive thoughts thereby acting upon them. Everyone has thoughts they would never act upon. Those with this abnormality tend to act first and think later. Evidence compiled from studies has supported another link between a particular inherited mutant gene and criminal behav ior. Instead of high serotonin levels the neurotransmitters in the brain, because of genetic abnormalities, may produce low levels of an enzyme which causes

Research on Science Essay Example for Free

Research on Science Essay ABSTRACT The study explores ways in which students who have participated in a curriculum innovation, Science ALIVE! acquire Science process skills and perceive the relevance of Science in everyday life. It investigates whether students have, after the programme, perceived an improvement in applying Science process skills. Four classes of Secondary 2 Express students attended one of four modules in the Science ALIVE! programme and responded to a pre- and post-course survey to measure their perceived skill competency for each process skill. They also responded to questions on whether the programme enhanced their awareness of the relevance of Science in everyday life. Five students from each module were selected to provide written feedback at mid-course and write a journal after the course. The content of their feedback and journals were analysed to provide deeper insight of the results of the perception surveys. The data was triangulated with teachers’ feedback, which was used to provide insight of the factors that affect the acquisition of the process skills. The findings show significant increase in students’ perception of skill competency while a high percentage of students indicated that the programme has made them more aware of the relevance of Science in their lives. INTRODUCTION Traditional learning approaches in which students are passive recipients of knowledge are inconsistent with the call for Singapore schools to Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM). There is a need to allow learning to occur in settings that are relevant to students’ experiences and real world problems. In Clementi Town Secondary School (CTSS), Project Work was used as a platform for students to transfer their learning and apply in authentic applications. However, teachers who had conducted Project Work for Science at Secondary 2 observed that students’ projects lacked depth in the specific content area, and the skills needed for scientific investigations. This spurred the need to cover content knowledge relevant to the projects assigned. It also raised the concern that Science process skills, as stipulated in the MOE Lower Secondary Science (LSS) Syllabus, were not sufficiently emphasised compared to acquiring scientific knowledge. Teachers also indicated that students were una ble to appreciate the relevance of Science in solving problems in their lives after past Project Work tasks. Science Process Skills â€Å"Science process skills† is commonly used to describe a set of broadly transferable abilities that are reflective of what scientists do. These skills are grouped into two types – basic and integrated. Basic process skills provide a foundation for learning the integrated skills, which are more complex skills for solving problems or doing Science experiments. In this study, reflecting is listed as a process skill to be investigated, though it is usually considered part of thinking skills which is a broader category that subsumes process skills. Some Science educators have argued that â€Å"teaching students Science facts is not as important as developing their Science process skills so that they can learn this knowledge on their own† (Young, 1995). Studies in the United States have shown that elementary school students who are taught process skills, not only learn to use those processes, but also retain them for future use. In Singapore, the MOE Primary Science syllabus also emphasises the teaching of basic process skills and some integrated skills, while the LSS syllabus emphasises the use of process skills for planning investigations and creative problem solving, and other thinking skills. Curriculum design plays an important role in the acquisition of Science process skills. The MOE Assessment Guidelines for LSS recommends an explicit teaching of the process skills, followed by the integration of these skills by students in experimenting or carrying out investigative projects. Padilla (1990) pointed out that â€Å"when Science process skills are a specific planned outcome of a Science programme, those skills can be learned by students Teachers need to select curricula which emphasise Science process skills.† These basic skills are learnt more effectively if they are considered an important object of instruction and if proven teaching methods are used. There must be a deliberate effort to focus on teaching process skills through a modified LSS curriculum. Young (1995) recommended that if teachers have the freedom to select their own topics, they should choose topics of direct interest to themselves and which would excite students. Science knowledge serves as background for lessons but should not take up the whole lesson. Instead, more time should be spent on activities that enhance the understanding of Science concepts and improve Science skills. Some studies have shown that instead of using the didactic approach, teaching Science through the use of activity-based approaches significantly improved students’ achievement in Science process skills (Beaumont-Walters, 2001). Berry et al (1999) suggested a few crucial factors that influence the acquisition of process skills used in laboratory work. Firstly, students need the relevant content knowledge that is assumed by the task to be mentally engaged. For example, a more knowledgeable student would be able to explain an observation, which in turn â€Å"validates† his knowledge and gives him a certain amount of intellectual satisfaction. The ‘doing’ of Science has to be coupled with ‘learning about’ Science, if students are to appreciate the value of scientific inquiry (Haigh et al, 2005). A second factor suggested by Berry et al (1999) is students’ ownership of laboratory tasks. Ownership would be more apparent in open laboratory tasks, where the student has to design his own experiment than in closed laboratory tasks, where the â€Å"correct† experimental procedure is written out in a â€Å"cookbook† style and the student is likely to carry out the tasks unthinkingly. Another effective strategy to enhance students’ process skills would be to let students keep a â€Å"scientific journal† (Tomkins Tunnicliffe, 2001). It was observed that diary writers tend to build more confidence in their own interpretations, engage in intellectual debates with themselves over the plausibility of their explanations and ask questions that are more quantifiable. Relevance of Science in everyday life Research studies conducted in recent decades on students’ perception of school Science have consistently shown that they perceive Science as not relevant (Bennett, 2001). Similar findings have raised a serious concern in several countries. For instance, a report by the Dutch Ministry of Education in 2002 observed that secondary school students did not see a connection between what they learnt in Chemistry lessons and the chemistry happening around them (Van Aalsvoort, 2004a). A subsequent report recommended teaching Science in context. However, a study carried out on a contextualised Science curriculum introduced to Swaziland students highlighted some shortcomings (Campbell et al, 2000). The findings showed that less than half of the sample students could draw on Science concepts to explain everyday experiences or solve everyday problems. It was suggested that contextualised learning could be made more effective through student-initiated project work on everyday problems. Van Aalsvoort (2004b) suggested using activity theory to address the issue of the relevance of Chemistry in chemical education, where reflection plays a key role in evaluating and developing an activity. Reflection could be carried out through writing reflection journals, which also helped enhance the acquisition of process skills, as mentioned earlier (Tomkins Tunnicliffe, 2001). According to Van Aalsvoort (2004a), relevance can be defined in four aspects: (i) personal relevance – Science education makes connections to students’ lives; (ii) professional relevance – Science education offers students a picture of possible professions; (iii) social relevance – Science education clarifies the purpose of Science in human and social issues; and (iv) personal/social relevance – Science education helps students develop into responsible citizens. This study considers relevance in three aspects – personal, professional and social. INTERVENTION Project Work aims for students to transfer the learning of concepts into applications in authentic settings. To address the areas of concern raised by teachers teaching Project Work, the Science ALIVE! programme was conceived to integrate Project Work and the LSS syllabus. This 13-week programme was conducted during Semester 2 of the Secondary 2 Express Science curriculum and used alternative assessment to replace the traditional end-ofyear examination. In this programme, a team of teachers crafted four modules which covered a variety of topics from Biology, Chemistry and Physics. As a motivating factor, students could choose from one of the four modules offered: Aroma Chemistry, Biodiversity, Life Science and Water Rockets. In each Science ALIVE! module, specific content knowledge was taught using hands-on strategies such as laboratory work, field trips, journal writing and group discussions. These strategies were intended to promote student engagement. Most importantly, the programme addressed the three key issues of concern in the following ways: 1. Content knowledge covered was specific to each module and relevant to the projects that students were assigned. This enabled students to better transfer the concepts to the projects. 2. Science process skills could be applied by students through journal writing, laboratory work and investigative project work. Science process skills were used as criteria for assessment to emphasise their importance and focus. 3. To enhance the relevance of Science, students were given a choice of the elective module to study, and to decide on the problem to work on for their projects. Contextualised learning, which draws on scientific understanding to explain everyday situations, was consciously infused into the curriculum design for each module. Reflection journals were written after selected activities, which according to activity theory helped students evaluate their learning (Van Aalsvoort, 2004b). RESEARCH QUESTIONS The two research questions are: (1) How does the Science ALIVE! programme help students to apply their Science process skills? And (2) How can the Science ALIVE! programme enhance the relevance of Science in students’ lives? METHODOLOGY Participants 147 students from all four Secondary 2 Express classes attended the Science ALIVE! programme and participated in the study. Pre- and post-course perception surveys were conducted for all students to measure their perception of their skill competency and their awareness of the relevance of Science in their lives through the programme. In addition, five students were selected from each module to give written feedback in week 8 (mid-course) and write a journal in week 13 (at the end of the course). To provide maximum variation, the five students from each module were selected based on their Science grade in Semester 1 and their reasons for selecting the module which reflected their motivational level. Instruments In the pre- and post-course surveys, students were asked to rate their perception of their Science process skills using a four-point Likert scale. The post-course survey included an item to measure students’ perception of increased awareness of the relevance of Science in their lives. Data Analysis For survey items on Science process skills, the mean value of each skill was calculated for the individual module (Table 2) as well as across all modules (Table 1). Skills with ratings of less than 3 (out of 4) were identified and analysed. The differences in mean values for pre- and post-course surveys were compared. The differences were considered significant if there was an increase or decrease of at least 0.3 in value (or 10% of the range of scale used). Journals and mid-course written feedback of the 20 selected students were used to surface possible reasons for these perceptions. The data was triangulated with teachers’ feedback, which was used to provide insight of the factors that affect the acquisition of the process skills. For the survey item on the relevance of Science, the total percentage of students who indicated an â€Å"Agree† or â€Å"Strongly Agree† was computed for each module. Content analysis of the journals and written feedback from the selected students were carried out. Frequency counts of the responses were based on three categories: personal, professional and social relevance. Teachers’ feedback was used to provide depth to the findings. RESULTS Acquisition of Science process skills The perception of all students on the level of their skill competency before and after the Science ALIVE! programme was measured through surveys. The survey results were compared using the mean values for each process skill, as shown in Table 1. Table 1: Comparison of students’ perception of skills before and after Science ALIVE! Mean value (scale 1 – 4) Pre-Course Post-Course 3.1 3.2 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 3.1 2.8 2.6 3.0 3.0 2.7 3.1 3.2 Process Skill (a) Elaborating (Research) (b) Conducting scientific investigations (Planning investigations) (c) Conducting scientific investigations (Using scientific apparatus) (d) Conducting scientific investigations (Analysing data) (e) Communicating (Writing scientific reports) (f) Reflecting (g) Questioning (Learning by asking questions) In the pre-course survey, the items which scored less than 3 are the skills of ‘planning investigations’, ‘using scientific apparatus’, ‘analysing data’, ‘writing scientific reports’ and ‘learning by asking questions’. Students’ perception rating increased in the following skills ‘using scientific apparatus’, ‘analysing data’ and ‘learning by asking questions’ suggesting that the Science ALIVE! programme had benefited them in these areas, with the exception of ‘planning investigations’ and ‘writing scientific reports’ where there was marginal increase or no change between the pre- and post-course rating. This revealed that in general, students still did not have much confidence in these skills and suggests that more could be done in the next cycle to guide students in these aspects. The changes in the rating for items (b), (c) and (d) in the pre- and post-course surveys suggest that students’ perceptions that their skills in handling apparatus and equipment have improved. This could be attributed to the fact that students were introduced to various new apparatus or equipment during project experiments in all modules. For example, the Biodiversity module used dataloggers which was equipment new to students. Skills in items (b), (c) and (d) are all part of the process of conducting scientific investigations. However, there was only a marginal increase in the rating for (b) ‘planning investigations’ after the programme. This could be because planning investigations is a higher order process skill which encompasses making hypothesis, identifying variables and writing the experimental procedures. Analysis of Science process skills by skill category The results were further categorised to compare and study the changes in students’ perception of skill competency for the individual modules, as shown in Table 2. Table 2: Comparison of perception of skill competency by module Mean value (Scale 1 – 4) BioLife diversity Science Pre Post Pre Post 2.9 3.2 3.0 3.3 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.9 3.3 2.9 2.4 2.9 2.8 2.4 3.3 3.3 2.4 2.9 2.7 2.5 3.1 2.9 2.8 3.0 3.1 2.9 3.2 3.0 Module Process Skill (a) Elaborating (Research) (b) Conducting investigations (Planning investigations) (c) Conducting investigations (Using scientific apparatus) (d) Conducting investigations (Analysing data) (e) Communicating (Writing scientific report) (f) Reflecting (g) Questioning (Learning by asking questions) Elaborating Aroma Chemistry Pre Post 3.3 3.2 2.6 2.4 2.6 2.7 3.1 3.0 2.7 3.1 2.9 2.7 2.8 3.2 Water Rockets Pre Post 3.1 3.1 2.3 2.4 2.6 2.5 2.9 2.6 2.5 3.0 2.9 2.7 3.0 3.2 The results of item (a) in the pre- and post-surveys showed an increase in rating for this skill for the Biodiversity and Life Science modules. This could be because these modules are more content-based topics, which require greater use of such skills. It should, however, be noted that for Aroma Chemistry module, the pre-course survey score was already high and it might be difficult to make further significant improvement. From the written feedback of selected students in the 8th week of the programme, half indicated that they had learnt to research to look for more information. All five students from the Biodiversity module wrote that they had learnt to assess â€Å"how reliable the sources are†. For example, one student from the module wrote in her journal that â€Å"before creating our ecosystem, we need to do research on the organisms that we choose, on what they feed on and their suitable habitat† (Student S8). Teachers conducting the programme felt that most students were still at the developmental stage of doing research, as they could not extract relevant information from sources. They also observed that some students lacked the initiative and discipline to do research work, though teachers had provided a list of resources. This could be seen in project reports, where the evidence of research is lacking. A likely explanation for this observation is the past practice of didactic teaching, resulting in students â€Å"so used to being given all materials and information by teachers that they do not know how to get started† (Teacher T3). Teacher T1 recommended the need to balance between providing students with information and allowing them to be independent in their learning. Conducting Scientific Investigations For item (b) on ‘planning investigations’, the Life Science module had the largest increase in perception rating (more than 10%). Here the Life Science teacher explained that students were taught how to design experiments step-by-step with given examples. The importance of planning in investigations is stated by one of the students in the module: When we need to choose something, we need to think about all its aspects. After everything is ok, we can start work (Student S14). However, Teacher T2 commented that students still needed a lot of hand-holding and practice to be competent. A student from another module echoed this: â€Å"I am not sure how to design an experiment on my own†. Item (c) on the practical skill of ‘using scientific apparatus’ or equipment had the largest increase for all modules, except Life Science where the initial pre-course rating was already high (mean 2.9). All modules were designed to include more hands-on activities, which required the use of apparatus and equipment. One student wrote about the importance of using the right procedures as he â€Å"learnt how to use steam distillation by setting up the apparatus correctly and doing the extraction properly† (Student S2), while another student shared her new skill of using â€Å"dataloggers to measure the different abiotic factors from the †¦forests† (Student S7). Teachers observed that the students were excited and enjoyed themselves when using new apparatus. On their part, teachers also sought to infuse rigour by ensuring that students perform the experimental procedures accurately. The enjoyment of Science through hands-on activities, particularly laboratory work, was a motivating factor in learning Science. The rating for the skill of analysing or inferring from experimental data in item (d) increased more for three modules than for the Biodiversity module. This could be the result of students being given more opportunities to handle experimental data in their projects and make conclusions for the Aroma Chemistry, Life Science and Water Rockets modules. On the other hand, the investigative project for Biodiversity was of a smaller scale, and students’ main form of project assessment was a conservation proposal. One factor which attributed to the increase in perception rating was group collaboration. As students did their projects in groups, they could discuss how to analyse the data obtained from the investigations. Students analysed their data in various ways depending on the type of data collected in each module. For example, Student S11 commented: â€Å"I got a chance to compare and compile the results of surveys, test the reliability of our product, put into tables and identify the similarities and differences present. Others learnt to analyse the cause of problems in their projects, as noted by Student S16: â€Å"†¦ our rocket failed in launching and we realise that the problem is due to the leaking of our rocket†. Teachers however concurred in their observations that though students could comment on their data, their analysis lacked depth. Besides these investigative skills, many students also reflected in their journals that they had developed observation skills during practical work and investigations. One student wrote: â€Å"In the past, I would have just used my eyes. Now I have learnt to use all of my five senses to know more about the subject I am observing† (Student S10). Communicating In item (e), ‘writing scientific reports’ was the focus in the skill of communicating. Though there was no change in overall student perception (see Table 1), Table 2 showed a significant drop in the rating for Biodiversity module compared to an increase in Life Science module. The Biodiversity teacher attributed the drop in rating to students’ â€Å"realisation and shock† in receiving feedback on their first report draft, as they â€Å"did not anticipate scientific reports to be of slightly different nature and demands though they were briefed†. But she noted that the provision of formative feedback and the re-drafting of reports helped students in this skill. The Life Science teacher linked the increased rating to having provided illustrative examples and templates for students, but she felt that they were still lacking in the skill and could be given more practice. Students’ journals hardly mentioned this skill, except Student S10 who wrote that he â€Å"learnt to sieve through the report for important points to put in the abstract†. Reflecting Generally, students felt that they were able to reflect on their lessons. Item (f) in Table 2 showed an initial high rating which was unchanged after the programme. Students saw their journals as an â€Å"opportunity to clarify and reflect upon their learning† (Student S3). At the end of the programme, a few students said that the reflections helped to monitor their understanding of lessons, and one student mentioned that she would research on the internet to address questions she had (Student S1). Teachers believed that â€Å"journal writing and providing consistent formative feedback help(ed) the students develop reflection skills† (Teacher T1). However, specific journal prompts are necessary to guide students so that they do not simply give a detailed account of the activities and concepts covered without reflecting on the learning points (Teacher T2). Questioning The survey results of item (g) showed more significant increase in the Biodiversity and Water Rockets modules. For each module, students acquired this skill through reflecting on their lessons in their journals and then asking relevant questions to find out more. One student reflected that she dared to ask more questions in class after learning to ask questions through journals (Student S6). Students had opportunities to generate questions when they were verifying the reliability of information. They also formulated questions prior to industrial visits and field trips, and posed them to the experts. At the mid-course feedback, a few students mentioned that they learnt to â€Å"raise questions in class† through ways such as â€Å"being a questioner in group discussions† (Student S13). The Biodiversity teacher attributed this improvement to conducive â€Å"lesson environment and delivery (that) promotes questioning†. Such lesson delivery may include guiding questions in class activities and journal prompts that encouraged further questioning, and peer evaluation where students critiqued the projects of other groups. The Water Rockets teacher reflected that in comparison to traditional Science lessons, â€Å"there was more chance for students to ask questions as things are now less predictable† as in most real world situations. The post-course survey included an item which required students to state whether â€Å"Science ALIVE! lessons have made them more aware of the relevance of Science in their lives†. Table 3 shows the percentage of students who â€Å"agreed† or â€Å"strongly agreed† with the statement. Table 3: Percentage of students who indicated that the programme had made them more aware of the relevance of Science in their lives Module Aroma Chemistry Biodiversity Life Science Water Rockets % Agree 73.5 47.2 64.1 73.0 % Strongly Agree 17.7 50.0 23.1 10.8 % (Agree + Strongly Agree) 91.2 97.2 87.2 83.8 The results in Table 3 show a very high concurrence with the statement for all modules. This is consistent with the programme objective of enhancing the relevance of Science in students’ lives. Students’ journals were analysed for indications of the relevance of Science in three areas: personal, professional and social. A frequency count of the responses showed 82% for personal relevance, 24% for professional relevance and 65% for social relevance. This revealed that students perceived the relevance of Science as mostly related to their personal lives. Only a handful of students could relate the relevance to their future career prospects. Further probing into students’ definition of personal relevance showed an extensive range of interpretation depending on the modules taken. Enhancing one’s quality of life is frequently mentioned in terms of personal relaxation and cure for illnesses. Students from the Aroma Chemistry module stated that they â€Å"could use essential oils to calm a person if he feels nervous† (Student S2). Life Science students surfaced the use of medicines when they fall sick and the growing of genetically modified food (GMF) for convenience (Student S15). Students also stated the importance of process skills in their lives, such as questioning the reliability of information sources. The majority of students could not appreciate Science as having professional relevance. Those who were able to see career possibilities were students who had gone for field trips, where they were introduced to experts in the related field. They saw the knowledge and skills gained through the programme as relevant to their â€Å"future education and working career† (Student S11). Others used the knowledge gained to better understand the requirements of various jobs. A student stated that she â€Å"could understand how people designing furniture, buildings and other things require this knowledge (of centre of gravity)† (Student S16). Three out of five students could relate Science to social relevance, which included how Science affected interaction between people and the environment. One Biodiversity student wrote: â€Å"This also taught me that in school or at work, we have to depend on one another for a living† (Student S10), while another could â€Å"understand nature better† and learnt not to pollute the environment (Student S7). Life Science students pointed out various applications in social and ethical issues, such as the use of forensic Science by police to solve crime (Student S11), knowledge of DNA in cloning (Student S15), and even checking via blood tests whether a child is biologically conceived or adopted (Student S12). Teachers’ feedback indicated that students were generally able to â€Å"connect Science to reality and †¦ in explaining happenings in their lives† (Teacher T2). These observations were made through students’ group discussions and written journals. Examples quoted by the teachers were mostly related to personal and social relevance. It showed that students had an increased awareness of scientific discovery (e.g. antibiotics, genetics) and technology (e.g. making of soap and sweets) that were directly related to their lives and the lives of those around them. The main catalyst that enhanced their awareness was personal experiences through engaging them in experiments that relate to real life and exposing them to more field trips (e.g. Yakult factory, flavour and fragrance industry, nature reserve). DISCUSSION Key features in Science ALIVE! that have helped students acquire Science process skills include scaffolding, group collaboration and journal writing. Scaffolding guides students in learning new or complex skills. Nelson (2004) pointed out that more scaffolding is required for students to be able to do research independently. To illustrate this, the increase in rating for skills on ‘planning investigations’ and ‘writing of scientific report’ in the Life Science module was attributed to â€Å"a lot of hand-holding† and exemplars provided by the teacher. Scaffolding in the form of specific journal prompts can also be adopted to ensure greater depth in student reflection. Teachers, however, will need to balance between providing students support and allowing them to be independent learners. Group collaboration is deployed extensively in the programme, where students worked in groups of three on projects, laboratory work and group assignments. This concurs with findings of a study conducted by Hofstein et al (2004), where cooperative learning in laboratory work helped students construct knowledge. Hofstein et al argued for more time to be spent on laboratory tasks, so that students could reflect on findings and also discuss with their peers. This would be one way to further improve students’ analytical skills, which they are still lacking. Journal writing in Science ALIVE! proves to be very useful in informing teachers of students’ conceptual understanding, acquisition of skills such as reflecting and questioning, and how students relate Science to their everyday life. It allows teachers to give regular feedback as part of assessment for learning. It is also of considerable value to students as it promotes greater ownership to their learning (Tomkins and Tunnicliffe, 2001). This leads to independent learning and moves students to a higher level of thinking, according to the principle on ‘Experience of learning’ in the Principles of Engaged Learning (MOE, 2005). Science ALIVE! lessons are different from the didactic traditional Science lessons, as they focus largely on the application of Science process skills. Hence there is a need to prepare students for the change, for example, from structured experiments to partially open investigations (Haigh et al, 2005). The need for such preparation was evident in the Biodiversity module as students were surprised to learn that scientific reports were different from other project reports, but they managed to overcome it after a few rounds of re-drafting. After the pilot run of Science ALIVE! programme, the teachers recommended that process skills be explicitly taught first followed by opportunities â€Å"created on purpose† for students to practise the skills. This is consistent with Padilla (1990) who suggested the need to provide students with â€Å"multiple opportunities to work with these skills in different content areas and contexts†. To enhance students’ investigative skills, Haigh et al (2005) proposed that teachers provide ‘refresher’ courses to cue students in the planning and conducting of their investigations .On completion of the investigation, students should be given the opportunity to evaluate their work so as to make it more meaningful. In Aroma Chemistry, students were asked to compare the quality of two batches of soap that they had made from different laboratory sessions and analyse the possible causes for the difference, while Biodiversity students had to reflect on the additiona l learning gained after a second trip to the nature reserve. Besides using appropriate strategies to help students adapt to the shift, it is also crucial to rectify students’ mindset on the importance and relevance of acquiring Science process skills. This is because students will be more motivated if they consider process skills an important object of instruction (Padilla, 1990). Thus teachers need to make explicit the â€Å"why† of teaching process skills (Haigh et al, 2005). The deliberate infusion of relevant Science applications in the curriculum of each module has succeeded in enhancing students’ awareness of the usefulness of Science in everyday life. Personal and social relevance dominated students’ ideas of the relevance of Science, though exposure to related industries and appropriate working environments could further promote an awareness of professional relevance. CONCLUSION Going forward, the Science ALIVE! programme would be refined in the next cycle to enhance students’ acquisition of Science process skills. Successful strategies such as the use of reflection journals, activity-based learning, group collaboration and contextualised learning will continue to be used. There would be more emphasis on the explicit teaching of process skills. In addition, more opportunities would be provided for the application of process skills in the core curriculum. RECOMMENDATION Further research on the Science ALIVE! programme could focus on the process skills which students found more difficult to master. With explicit teaching of these skills in the core curriculum prior to Science ALIVE!, the impact could be investigated. The usefulness of Science process skills acquired through the programme could be studied in terms of its impact on Upper Secondary Science, for example, the sustainability of student motivation in Upper Secondary Science. The findings in these research areas will help to inform the effectiveness of future Science ALIVE! programmes. REFERENCES Beaumont-Walters, Y. (2001). An analysis of high school students’ performance on five integrated Science process skills. Research in Science Technological Education, 19(2), 133-145. Bennett, J. (2001). Science with attitude: the perennial issue of pupils’ responses to Science. School Science Review, 82(300), 59-67. Berry, A., Mulhall, P., Gunstone, R., Loughran, J. (1999). Helping students learn from laboratory work. Australian Science Teachers’ Journal, 45(1), 27-31. Campbell, B., Lubben, F., Dlamini, Z. (2000). Learning Science through contexts: helping pupils make sense of everyday situations. International Journal of Science Education, 22(3), 239-252. Haigh, M., France, B., Forret, M. (2005). Is ‘doing Science’ in New Zealand classrooms an expression of scientific inquiry? International Journal of Science Education, 27(2), 215-226. Hofstein, A., Shore, R., Kipnis, M. (2004). Providing high school chemistry students with opportunities to deve lop learning skills in an inquiry-type laboratory: a Case Study. International Journal of Science Education, 26(1), 47-62. Ministry of Education (2005). A toolkit for engaged teaching and learning. Curriculum Planning and Development Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore. Nelson, T.H. (2004). Helping students make connections. The Science Teacher, 71(3), 32-35. Padilla, M.J. (1990). The Science process skills. Research Matters – to the Science Teacher, No. 9004. Retrieved December 1, 2006 from http://www.narst.org/publications/ research/skill.htm Tomkins, S.P., Tunnicliffe, S.D. (2001). Looking for ideas: observation, interpretation and hypothesis making by 12-year-old pupils undertaking Science investigations. International Journal of Science Education, 23(8), 791-813. Van Aalsvoort, J. (2004a). Logical positivism as a tool to analyse the problem of Chemistry’s lack of relevance in secondary school chemical education. International Journal of Science Education, 26(9), 1151-1168. Van Aalsvoort, J. (2004b). Activity theory as a tool to address the problem of Chemistry’s lack of relevance in secondary school chemical education. International Journal of Science Education, 26(13), 1635-1651. Young, R. M. (1995). Hands-on Science. Westminster, CA: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.

Adaptive User Interface Framework: Android Mobile Platform

Adaptive User Interface Framework: Android Mobile Platform Mr. Tulip Das Abstract—Adapting a graphical interface (GUI) to a range of resources with completely different capabilities is exciting topic of mobile computer. The user interface created for an application ought to modification its layout and parts to the user need and changes for every user. We propose a framework for mobile applications to form the user interfaces adaptable for user. This identifies an appropriate expertise level to a user by learning his/her history of interaction. Dynamic App Shortcut is to be provided on Mobile Devices serving to user to swipe the screen many times to search out the required app. The prediction model utilizes multiple options together with recency, frequency, duration, time distribution and app sequence launch. Keywords—HCI in Mobile; AI and expert systems; Adaptive user interface framework; k-means algorithm; dynamic shortcuts; mobile app usage; personalization.) I. Introduction An adaptive user interface (also known as AUI) is a user interface (UI) which adapts, that is changes, its layout and elements to the needs of the user or context and is similarly alterable by each user. These mutually reciprocal qualities of both adapting and being adaptable are, in a true AUI, also innate to elements that comprise the interfaces components; portions of the interface might adapt to and affect other portions of the interface. The user adaptation is often a negotiated process, as an adaptive user interfaces designers ignore where user interface components ought to go while affording a means by which both the designers and the user can determine their placement, often (though not always) in a semi-automated, if not fully automated manner. An AUI is primarily created based on the features of the system, and the knowledge levels of the users that will utilize it. Figure 1: Adaptive Graphical User Interface The advantages of an adaptive user interface are found within its ability to conform to a user’s needs. The properties of an AUI allow showing only relevant information based on the current user. This creates less confusion for less experienced users and provides ease of access throughout a system. Depending on the task, we can increase the stability of a system. An adaptive user interface can be implemented in various ways. These implementations can differ between the amount of information available to certain users, or how users utilize the application. Adaptive presentation: The goal behind adaptive presentation is to display certain information based on the current user. This may mean that users with only basic knowledge of a system will only be shown minimal information. Conversely, a user with advanced knowledge will have access to more detailed information and capabilities. A way that the AUI can achieve this differentiation could be to hide information to be presented based on the users experience level. Another possibility is to control the amount of links to relevant sources on the page. Adaptive navigation: Adaptive navigation intends to guide a user to their specific goal within the system by altering the way the system is navigated based on certain factors of the user. These factors can include the user’s expertise level with the system/subject, the current goal within the system, and other relevant factors. Examples of adaptive navigation can be achieved in many ways, similar to adaptive presentation. These can include examples such as providing links to help achieve a user’s specific goal, giving reference on a page to where a user is, or altering the resources available to the user. II. MOTIVATION In the last few years, an ecosystem of devices and heterogeneous services has emerged with a huge variety of capacities and characteristics. These new devices, along with applications and services, must be used to enhance the quality of life, making the users daily activities easier, as well as increasing their personal autonomy. User interfaces in mobile applications are complex since they need to provide sufficient features to variety of users in a restricted space where a small number of components are available. When user acquires expertise in the system they expect user interfaces which satisfy their unique needs. Therefore, user interfaces in mobile applications should be adapted to different users. Since this problem exists in various applications a general solution is required to make user interfaces adaptive using user context history. Figure 2: Different Mobile Devices In this sense, there is a clear need for creating interfaces that adapt themselves taking into account characteristics of the user, context, application and device. One of the aspects to consider when adapting interfaces is the set of preferences of the user. When using different applications or devices, each user has different preferences, mainly related to their limitations. III. Problem Statement Using mobile and its application is a personalized experience. Each user has different preferences, mainly related to their limitations. Hence it is quite essential to account characteristics of the user, context, application and device while designing a Graphical User Interface for mobile platform. It is quite difficult to manage when there are many applications (apps) installed on a mobile device, the simple task of launching an app could become inconvenient, as the user may need to swipe the screen several times to and the desired app. Hence an adaptive user interface solution for mobile devices, which uses dynamic shortcuts to facilitate app launching is needed. In this context, personalization of applications, i.e. applications that adapt themselves to users capacities and limitations is essential. IV. Problem Modeling A. Overview Rather than providing adaptive user interfaces for a specific mobile application, it is more valuable if it would be a common solution to make any UI adaptive. So it is encouraged to provide a framework which can give a common solution which can be used by all developers to create applications which provide adaptive user interfaces. This framework provides Adaptive User Interfaces based on users experience level. The experience levels are classified by Inference Engine which is explained in the subsection Inference Engine. The system will learn the user experience level based on user actions performed on each component of the application with the algorithm. Figure 2: Concept of Adaptive User Interface Figure 3: Module diagram for the system with Adaptive User Interface B. Components of Solution The proposed adaptive user interface is mainly focused on hiding group of unwanted components for corresponding experience level of user on that application. The framework consists of three main phases such as 1. Data preprocessing step 2. Learning step 3. Execution and rendering step Data preprocessing step 1. Location Data: One of the factors to adapt the UI is the location of the user. This is based on the premise that the type of applications a user is expected to access when at home is different from the type of applications accessed when the user is at work. The location is determined by means of the GPS sensor on the mobile device. 2. Device Data: Output of other sensors on the device including the ambient light sensor (to infer whether the user is indoors or outdoors), accelerometer and gyroscope (to say if the user is stationary or moving) can also be used to derive additional contextual information in order to better predict the users chosen application and modify the UI appropriately. 3. App usage Data: Logs of the past application usage, the frequency at which the particular app was accessed and the user actions and interactions while using the app can act as another source of contextual information. 4. Time Data: The type of applications accessed on weekdays might be different from the applications accessed on a weekend or on holidays. Similarly, in the morning the user may access different apps than the ones they do at night. A logging service running in the device would have to log the types of apps accessed at specific times of day or day or the week, and use it to make the appropriate UI modifications. C. Learning step The main purpose of inference engine is to collect the data provided by the data-preprocessing module and provide an experience level of the user according to the current user context. To infer the experience level of the user, the inference engine should behave as an intelligent system which should be trained by data related to user experience level and user interactions between the applications. Figure 4: A High level architecture of adaptive user interface framework Execution and rendering step K-means clustering engine is capable of setting the number of clusters needed. When the number of clusters is set, the engine can cluster the dataset when the squared error becomes minimized. This will give each clusters center points as output. Once the cluster centers are found these cluster centers will be delivered to user type selector. User type selector will appoint each experience level to each center sent by K-means clustering engine. Currently we have manually appointed the experience level for identified centers using natural knowledge. As mentioned earlier who masters the system can suggest these levels for each cluster values. Current user context data will be feed into the User type selector and user type selector will infer a suitable experience level which is closest. This final output will be delivered to the execution and rendering step. D. Implementation In order to practically show the behavior of the framework a proof of concept (POC) application will be developed. A simple application which can be used as an online ticket reservation system for aircrafts will be developed as the application. This application was developed in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript. Android platform has given enough features and Application Programming Interfaces (API) to create an Android application using HTML and JavaScript. Android web application can be created by converting a HTML page to an Android web application using WebView class. Currently there are many third party frameworks and plug-ins are available to convert HTML and JavaScript pages to Android application. This application will be connected to adaptive UI framework using a component called UIhooks. UIhooks are some methods which can be used by the developer during the application development. For example these methods can be used when some events are fired on UI components. When UIhooks are called they are developed in a way to measure the user actions performed on corresponding UI component and store them. For example when a UIhook method is called on a button on click event, the Uihooks is implemented to measure how many time the button was clicked and what is the recent time it was used. If UIhook method is called on a textbox on submit event the Uihook can inspect and store the value submitted and the count of submit action performed. This application is sent to a user study to collect training data. This is elaborated more in User study section. The collected data were organized and feed to inference engine as the training dataset. Inference engine learned the data as elaborated b efore and gave the suitable experience level. Once the experience level is feed to the rendering engine it finds the related rendering logics inside the UI clusters. For example if the experience level is provided as intermediate it checks for the corresponding rendering logics and UI clusters. If it is said as If user Type is intermediate render cluster2 it will build a new UI using what is mentioned in cluster2. Then it renders it to the user. When the user is provided with new adaptive UI a question will be provided to the user asking whether they are satisfied with the new UI or they want to go back to the earlier stage. This is to measure their satisfactory level and the accuracy of the algorithm predictions. V. Mathematical Modeling Let s (be a main set of) ≠¡ {SDB, LDB, C, A, S, MR, AO} where, SDB is the copy of the server database. This database is responsible for storing user information related to cloud interactions. LDB is a set of local database that a user owns. It consists of data tables having data items related to the products and their sales transactions. C is a set of all clients using the server database and mining services from the server. And (c1 , c2 , c3, cn) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ C. A is a set of algorithms applied on the input data to get mining results. S is the server component of the system. The server is responsible for registering, authenticating and providing associations to the end user. MR is a set of mining rules that are applied on the input dataset provided by the client from his LDB. And (mr1 , mr2 , mr3, mrn) à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾ MR AO is a set of associations that are extracted from the input and a form the output of the system. Functionalities : SDB = RegisterUser(uid, password, fullname, address, country, contact, email); password = SHA1(input_password); U = AuthenticateUser(uid, password, SDB); LDB1 = ManageProducts(pid, product name, cost); LDB2 = ManageBilling(transactions, items); LDB = LDB1 + LDB2 ED(Encoded data) = EncodeTransactions(LDB2, EncodingAlgorithm(EA)); UPLOAD(ED); AO = Apply Mining(ED); Results = Decode(Download(AO)) VI. Results Expected Figure 5: Dynamic Shortcuts Figure 6: Adaptive UI VII. Conclusion The aim of our study was to propose a high level architecture for a framework to provide adaptive user interface for mobile applications. This framework includes data preprocessing step, learning step and execution and rendering step to deliver a  suitable user interface. The learning is done by an intelligent system which is unsupervised and trained using user context data. This delivers k number of experience levels by clustering the collected data set using K-means and ANN algorithm. It will also allow dynamic shortcuts to facilitate app launching. Some other options to enhance the proposed dynamic shortcuts solution such as gesture based control will also be explored in the future. VIII. References Aztiria, A. ; Castillejo, E. ; Almeida, A. ; Lopez-de-Ipia, D.Adapting User Interfaces Based on User Preferences and Habits, Intelligent Environments (IE), 2014 International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/IE.2014.9 Publication Year: 2014 , Page(s): 9 – 15 Nivethika, M. ; Vithiya, I. ; Anntharshika, S. ; Deegalla, S.Personalized and adaptive user interface framework for mobile application, Advances in Computing, Communications and Informatics (ICACCI), 2013 International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/ICACCI.2013.6637474, Publication Year: 2013 , Page(s): 1913- 1918 Jain, R. ; Bose, J. ; Arif, T. Contextual adaptive user interface for Android devices, India Conference (INDICON), 2013 Annual IEEE DOI: 10.1109/INDCON.2013.6726014 Publication Year: 2013 , Page(s): 1- 5 Ye Xu et al. Preference, Context and Communities: A Multi-faceted approach to Predicting Smartphone App Usage Patterns, In the 17th International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC 2013). Zurich, Switzerland. Mejia-Figueroa, A. ; Juarez-Ramirez, R. Towards a User Model for the Design of Adaptive Interfaces for Autistic Users, Computer Software and Applications Conference Workshops (COMPSACW), 2014 IEEE 38th International DOI: 10.1109/COMPSACW.2014.47 Publication Year: 2014 , Page(s): 264 – 269 Leichtenstern, K. ; Andre, E. User-Centred Development of Mobile Interfaces to a Pervasive Computing Environment, Advances in Computer-Human Interaction, 2008 First International Conference on DOI: 10.1109/ACHI.2008.10 Publication Year: 2008 , Page(s): 114 – 119 Chang Tan, Qi Liu, Enhong Chen, Hui Xiong. `Prediction for Mobile Application Usage Patterns. Nokia Mobile Data Challenge Workshop 2012. Matthias Bhmer, Antonio Krger. A Study on Icon Arrangement by Smartphone Users. In Proc. ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Paris 2013, France N. Andrew, Clustering with the K-Means Algorithm, video tutorialJ.S. Augusto, transcript writter, June 2012. T. D. Bie, T. T. Maia and A. P. Braga, Machine Learning with Labeled and Unlabeled Data, European Syumposium on Arti_cial Neural Networks- Advances in Computational Intelligence and Learning, Bruges, 2009. Y. Fukazawa, M. Hara, M. Onogi, H. Ueno, Automatic mobile menu customization based on user operation history, 11th International Conference on HCI with Mobile Devices and Services. J. Brooke, SUS: a quick and dirty usability scale. In P. W. Jordan, B. Thomas, B. A. Weerdmeester, A. L. McClelland (Eds.), Usability Evaluation in Industry (S. 189 -194). London: Taylor and Francis,1996.

film history :: essays research papers

A Short History of Korean Film 1903-1945: Korea Under Japanese Rule 1903 -- First public screening of a film in Korea. 1910 -- Korea is formally annexed by Japan. 1919 -- First film, a kinodrama (play with motion picture inserts) named Uirijeok Gutu. 1923 -- First silent film, Plighted Love Under the Moon directed by Yun Baek-nam. 1926 -- Arirang by Na Un-Kyu. 1935 -- First sound film, Ch'unhyang-jon directed by Lee Myung-woo. 1937 -- Japan invades China; the Korean film industry is converted into a propaganda machine. 1945-1955 1945 -- Japan surrenders to the Allied Forces; Korea regains independence, but is soon divided in two. 1949 -- Korea's first color film, The Women's Diary by Hong Sung-gi. 1950 -- War starts on the Korean Peninsula. 1953 -- Cease-fire agreement signed at P'anmunjom. 1955-1969: A Golden Age for Korean Cinema 1960 -- The Housemaid, directed by Kim Ki-young. 1961 -- Obaltan, (pictured left) directed by Yu Hyun-mok. 1961 -- The Houseguest and My Mother, directed by Shin Sang-ok. The 1970s 1973 -- Establishment of Korean Motion Picture Promotion Corporation (KMPPC). 1974 -- Establishment of Korean Film Archive. 1979 -- Military dictator Park Chung-Hee is assassinated. 1980-1992 1980 -- Kwangju Massacre. 1981 -- Mandala, directed by Im Kwon-taek. 1988 -- Hollywood studios granted direct distribution rights in Korea. 1992-1999 1992 -- Marriage Story is the first film produced by a member of the chaebol. 1993 -- Democratically-elected government led by Kim Young-sam succeeds military dictatorship. 1993 -- Sopyonje, directed by Im Kwon-taek. 1997 -- Opening of Seoul Cinema Complex in Kyonggi-do. 1999 -- Shiri, directed by Kang Jae-Gyu, becomes best-selling film ever. History of the Korean screen quota -Introduced in 1966 but took effect in 1993 -In 1993 the Korean government allowed Hollywood films to be distributed directly by meeting most of the demands of US-Korean film negotiations that had taken place in 1985 and 1988. -Given no governmental support, the market share of Korean films amounted to only 15% at that time. -Korean movie theaters were compelled to run their own movies 146 days a year before 1993 but in reality many theaters were only running Korean films 6 days a year while Hollywood films were run the rest of the year. -After 1993 the â€Å"Screen Quota Watchers† and the screen quota system keep track of the days that Korean films are played and enforce the laws that are in effect. The Legal System -Movie promotion law required a screen to run Korean films 40% of the time or 146 days a year but after a couple of regulations that lessened the quotas effect the number has been reduced to 106 days a year or 29.

Anthropomorphized Creativity :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Anthropomorphized Creativity It starts at 2 o'clock in the morning, a blank sheet in front of your eyes and a blank brain behind. Whether for grades, for money, for for glory, for love, or for self respect, you have to put your thoughts down in a coherent form, but you cannot. You beg for the ability to shift out of neutral and get writing, but it doesn't come. And like any human being since we started carving into bone and shaping clay, you start to put in your mind's eye a face to what you are seeking. It has eyes, brows, a nose, and of course, a slight contemptuous smirk. That same tendency that has lead to the fashioning of idols now comes to you. "The secret of creativeness," (Carl Jung's phrase) like the philosopher's stone, is an abstraction that has tempted many great minds into building theoretical structures that try to explain the creative process, and that fail to do so for a majority of creative artists. Jung calls it a "transcendental problem which the psychologist cannot answer but can only describe." In his essay "The Artist" Jung attempts to describe the creative process using the ideas and metaphors of his eponymous theories. These attempt to replace the artist, a living, breathing human being, with abstractions according to which the artist is an "impersonal creative process." While I recently read through his essay "The Artist," and through Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "The Artist of the Beautiful," what came to my mind were those authors whose own creative processes did not fit Hawthorne's and Jung's notions. I can only chalk this up to my contrarian nature and to my choice of authors. Although more likely, it is because of my own idolatry. The author Harlan Ellison doesn't relish being asked about the secret of creativeness, at least so far as it pertains to himself. Questions about it prompt him to give a brief explanation of how he gets his ideas from a mail order business in Schenectady, New York. (They also cause him to change colors all through the spectrum.) His glib response points to the difficulty of describing the creative process in a way that will carry from one artist over to many. The challenge is compounded by the prejudices we have about the human mind in general. Every idea about the human mind is an abstraction that cannot but repel as many people as it attracts.

Illustrative Essay

In society today we look at magazines and movies and strive to be just like the people we see. The guys in these magazines have six packs and arms with muscles the size of Mt. Everest. And the girls are all size double zeros with no meat anywhere on their bodies. A lot of Americans work out and diet to accomplish the goal of having these body types, but some go to drastic measures to get it. Many eating disorders and their side effects are taking over the lives of Americans every day. Anorexia Nervosa is the number one eating disorder in America. One in every one hundred woman suffers from this disorder.Anorexia is where you deprive your body from any food. This can create many problems with the body. In the beginning, minor problems can occur like fatigue, dizzy spells, and weakness. But later on, you can do so much as to give yourself certain heart diseases and some women even lose their menstrual cycles. Anorexia has controlled the lives of many celebrities like Karen Carpenter (w ho actually died from it), Mary Kate Olsen, and Tara Reid. Another eating disorder wide spread through the United States in Bulimia. Three in every one hundred woman suffer or have suffered from Bulimia.This disorder is where you still eat, but you cause yourself to vomit. Statistics show that many women will turn to this disease because it is â€Å"less threatening† than anorexia. Bulimia can cause slight abdominal pain and bloating. Long term side effects of this disorder can be broken blood vessels in your eyes, rotting of your teeth, and even some types of colon and throat cancers. The last eating disorder that is an issue in the USA is obesity. Many people don’t think obesity is an eating disorder, but in fact it is. Everyone’s standard of obesity is obviously ifferent, but on a national scale PBS says that seventy three percent of Americans are overweight or obese. Obesity can cause diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, and high blood pressure which are all li fe threatening problems. In conclusion, many eating problems are taking over America. There are healthier ways to get the body image you want. Don’t put your body at risk just to be what society wants you to be. You should be healthy, but you should become healthy, in a healthy manner. If you or anyone you know is struggling from an eating disorder, you should seek help as soon as possible.

Buffalo film review

Do you want to fragrantly waste a mind-numbing hour and a half of your monotonous life? If you just threw you hand up in the air and shouted yes', then Vincent Gallon's film Buffalo '66 is for you. You will be subjected to a remarkably mundane plot, which will leave you hopelessly confused and a little afraid. It's only rendering feature is, perhaps, the artistic style in which it is created. The film Is set In the overly Industrialized town of Buffalo where our mall character, Billy Brown. Who Is played might say, badly by Gallo himself, was born with regret ND raised with disinterest.We are fist introduced to Billy as he is being released from prison. We become reluctant voyeurs of his life. His first problem that he had to face after being released is searching for a bathroom. Yes! You real that right. For the first maybe 20 minutes of the film, he is running around in his bright red boots, and ill fitted clothes, looking quite Like a child holding his genitals searching for a pla ce to relive himself. I really don't understand the meaning of this either. But what an entrance to a movie. Throughout his hunt for a restroom, we are introduced to Lay.Gallo has decided to put her in a virgin blue dress, a doll like face and alienated from the rest of her dance class. In fact she looks very much like a prostitute. Gallo chooses to sexuality her, focusing the camera around her breasts. Maybe this is why Billy kidnaps her. Yes! I said kidnaps. Told you this was a weird movie. Well Billy makes Lay drive him to his parents house, because he can not ‘drive a stick, but along the way he makes her pull over so he can relieve himself behind a tree. Any normal person would have Just driven off and got the hell out of there. ButLay is not normal, she is alienated from society because of her lack of lets call it social skills. She decides to stay, and continue being kidnapped. Apparently his playground talk of ‘If you do this for me, I will be your best friend, y ou will be the best friend I have ever had'. However if we gallantly ignore this entire aimless and dreary plot all we have left is Gallon's amazing use of techniques such as his use of colors, music and camera angles. Throughout Buffalo '66, Gallo focuses on the abundant use of pale colors and lurid scenes, which portray a lonely sense of emotion and feeling.Gallo an accomplished musician composed a very suitable score to accompany the film. Having himself creating most of the songs Gallo was able to carefully control a great deal of the mood and feeling of each scene. His song ‘Lonely Boy playing at the start of the movie in the opening credits, starting when the Billy Picture is shown Is a good example of child in the picture. Another technique is Gallon's use of overlaying images or videos over the top of the already playing film. He does this to show flashbacks to inform us of Billy's past. Through these flashbacks we discover that Billy's childhood was very harsh.We see his loss of innocence through his Fathers anger on his dog Bingo, and his Mothers lack of care when Billy has an allergic reaction to chocolate. We also see his innocence in the events that sent him to prison. With Billy's Mothers obsession with the town's local football team the ‘Buffalo Bills', we see her lack of care in Billy as a child again. When Lay asks Billy's mum to see a photo of Billy as a child, She then replies to husband â€Å"Where's the Billy Picture? † He had one picture as a kid, ONE!! But as you walk into the house you see a bunch of pictures of Buffalo players.This is a major key to Billy's alienation. He didn't have a normal home and was treated like he wasn't wanted. You will quickly grow tiered of Bill's need to constantly repeat everything he says. You will find yourself getting frustrated and wishing you could somehow reach into the film and bring him to his senses, perhaps by rearranging his facial features. In the bowling ally scene we notice we see Billy and Lay in the photo booth, â€Å"Spanning time† together, Just â€Å"Spanning time†. At this point I found my self shouting at the screen telling him to Just â€Å"shut up†.One important event in the film is the scene between Billy and Lay in the hotel room. We witness them laying on a bed together and Billy looks very, well, uncomfortable, while Lay looks like she has been in this type of situation many times before. We have a bird's eye view of this whole scene so we see every movement that is made. Slowly, very slowly Lay's hand moves towards Billy's, leaving them awkwardly holding hands, well touching hands. After what seems like an incessant amount of time, Billy rolls over, out of his very what must be uncomfortable position and him and Lay kiss. KISS!You heard me right. I thought it was Lay's imagination to be honest. If you think it couldn't get more awkward he curls up in the fetal position in Lay's arms. WEIRD! But this does portray Billy 's childlike behavior again and his need for affection that his parents lacked to provide for him. I think I was thankful at this point in the movie though, because finally, finally, they ended up together. They are not alone anymore, because they have each other. Bit click ©, but never mind that. If forced to offer a quick summery of the film, I would answer in a forceful honesty, hat it is Just plain boring.So bleak and uneventful is the plot, that I would rather go bird watching. It's only rendering features is Gallon's cinematic techniques. There, in my view, are the movies great strength and manage to Just salvage it from complete ruin. So masterful is Gallon's use of cinema that I should recommend this film to English school teachers and others that appreciate the subtle and obscure artistic works. To the rest of us, I would issue a warning to avoid the film, like stay at least give it 5 stars out of 10.

System Software & Application Software

TABLE OF CONTENTS [pic] 1) Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ P. 2 2) Identify Software Categories 1. Definition of System Software†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. P. 3-4 2. Definition of Application Software†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦. P. 5 3. The difference between system software and application software†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. P. 6-7 3) Two examples of system software and the benefits 1. Microsoft Windows 7†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦P. 8-12 2. Mac OSX†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦P. 13-14 4) Two examples of application software and the benefits 1. Excel†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. P. 15-16 2. PowerPoint †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. P. 17-18 5) Five Features of Microsoft Word†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦P. 19-20 1. Copy and Paste 2. Spell Checker 3. Find and Replace 4. Add Bullets and Number 5. Mail Merge 6) Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. P. 21 1. INTRODUCTION [pic] Christy is our new customer and she is a beginner for using computer. Base on her situation, I would like to introduce some kinds of software suit her. For better customer service, I will explain the background information & benefits details for her. For a good start , I have chosen the most popular and latest version of the operation system; Microsoft Window 7 and Mac OS X, they are easy to learn and simple to use. Moreover, Microsoft Office is a useful, most common and user-friendly application package for a starter. Excel, is an electronic spreadsheet program which help you to handle all your data. PowerPoint is a complete and professional presentation package. These are the essential tools for her first step in entering the computer world. 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] Software (Computer Software) is often divided into two categories: †¢ System Software †¢ Application Software 1. Definition of System software System Software used to operate the computer hardware, to provide resources and maintain a platform for running application programs. The set of instructions or programs of System Software can make up or create a basic environment for the applications software to work. They are responsible for controlling, integrating and managing the individual hardware components. Actually, it runs at the most basic level of your computer and the background; it is called â€Å"low-level† software. It generates the user interface and allows the operating system to interact with the hardware. It can be seen as the basics of a computer which come built-in or pre-installed. †¢ Types of system software †¢ Computer BIOS and device firmware, which is stored on non-volatile memory. They provide basic functionality to operate and control hardware connected to or built into the computer. †¢ The operating system (such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux), which supervise and control of the input and output of data from the computer and the others peripherals. It can be allows to transfer data between memory and disks or rendering output onto a display device. It provides a platform to run high-level system software and application software. And also it handles error routines, communication with the operator; ensure the efficient use of the CPU and the other devices. †¢ Utility software, which helps to analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] [pic] [pic][pic] 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] 2. Definition of Application software Application Software is a computer program designed to help the user perform a particular task or a certain type of work. This is a set of programs, which will comply with the user’s requirement. An application allows users to accomplish more than one specific function, such as a word processor, web browsers, e-mail programs, databases, desk top publishing, digital image and voice processing. Multiple applications bundled together as a package referred as an application suite. One typical example is MS Office, which bundles together with word processor, a spreadsheet, and several other discrete applications. The tailors systems can meet the user's specific needs, for example the accounting system or inventory system. [pic] [pic] 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] 2. 3. The difference between system software and application software System software consists of programs that run in the background, enabling applications to work smoothly. These programs include assemblers, compilers, file management tools, and the operating system itself. While system software is automatically installed with the operating system, you can choose which application you want to install. Application software is different from system software or middleware, which is involved in integrating a computer various capabilities, but typically does not directly apply to the performance of tasks. The purpose of system software is to insulate the application program as much as possible from the details of the particular computer complex, especially memory and other hardware features. Such accessory devices are communications, printers, readers, displays, keyboards, etc. Application software is often purchased separately from computer hardware. Sometimes applications are bundled with the computer but they always run as independent applications, since they are often tailored for specific platforms. The separate applications in a suite usually have many common user interfaces which make it easier to learn and use and they may interact with each other. For example: PowerPoint file can be combining with a spreadsheet and a word documents. Therefore, application software determines what processing is done by the computer. System software determines how that processing will be done. 2. IDENTIFY SOFTWARE CATEGORIES [pic] 2. 3. The difference between system software and application software pic] Operating System and Application Software This diagram shows the components of the operating system and typical application programs that run in a desktop computer. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] One of software categories is system software; the most important type is operating system (OS) . It is an interface be tween hardware and users, responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources. Base on the above criteria, I have selected two typical and common examples, which are Microsoft Windows 7 and Mac OS X. [pic] A layer structure showing where operating system is located on generally used software systems on desktops. 1. Microsoft Windows 7 Nowadays Microsoft Windows dominates the personal computer world, it shares nearly 90% of PC market. Windows provides a graphical user interface (GUI), virtual memory management, multitasking, and support for many peripheral devices. Windows 7 is the latest public release version of Microsoft Windows, it can be applied to home and business desktops, laptops, notebooks, netbook, tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Windows 7 aim at â€Å"making your PC simpler. , it was released on October 2009. It was designed for different types of market ,such as Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] Windows 7 would be more â€Å"user-centric† and focus on performance improvements. Microsoft was using a variety method to trace and measure the performance. On the other wor ds, it is not only compatible with Vista and designate that it would be a refined version of Windows Vista. Benefits & Features: â€Å"Windows 7 simplifies everyday tasks† Windows 7 includes a number of new features, it provides the better ways to find and manage files, helping you speed up tasks; like Jump Lists and improved taskbar previews. It's designed for faster and more reliable performance and follows the way you want it to. It takes full support and advantages of the 64-bit. It also makes many new things possible, for instance HomeGroup, Windows Media Center and Windows Touch. Key performance improvements: ? Design to sleep, resume, and reconnect to your wireless network more quickly. ? When hunting for answer, search faster. Sorting and grouping of search results is also significantly quicker. ? Plug in a portable flash drive or other USB devices; get ready in seconds or even shorter. ? Be less memory hungry and less busy that can boost up the overall performance. Windows  7 is designed to run speed-sapping background services only when you need them. ? Browse online newspapers, flick through photo albums, and shuffle files and folders. Windows Touch is fully embrace multitouch technology, easy and fun to use. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] The Important Features: ? HomeGroup [pic] Connecting two or more PCs, HomeGroup makes it easy to automatically start sharing your music, picture, video, and files with other people. Concerned about privacy and security control, we have password-protected. You can decide what keeps private, read-only files and share to others. ? Jump Lists [pic] Jump Lists not only show shortcuts to files, they also can provide a method of speedy access. Just simply right-click a program icon on the taskbar and you can find the documents, pictures, songs, or websites that you use each day. The Jump List for Windows Media Player  12 lists commonly-played tunes. Internet Explorer  8 shows all you frequently-viewed websites. You can pin whatever files you like. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] ? Snap, Peek and Shake [pic] [pic] [pic] Snap gives you a new and quick way to resize open windows, simply by dragging them to the edges of your screen; you can make it expand vertically. Peek gives you the power of X-ray vision, so you can peer past all your open windows straight to your desktop. Shake, it’s a quick way to minimize all open windows on the desktop except the one you want to use. ? Windows Live Essentials [pic] Windows  Live Essentials – the free software that let user do more great things. Things like e-mail, instant messaging, photo editing and blogging. Download from the Windows Live website. [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] Messenger Photo Gallery Mail Writer Movie Maker Family Safety Toolbar 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] ? Windows Search [pic] â€Å"Find more things in more places—and do it faster. † Typing the key words in search box and search in different location, it will show you a list of relevant documents, pictures, music, and e-mail on screen instantly. The searched results are grouped by date, file type and category, it contain highlighted keywords and text snippets to make them easier to scan. ? Windows Taskbar [pic] â€Å"Better thumbnail previews, easier-to-see icons, flexible, powerful and more ways to customize† Taskbar is the familiar place for switching between windows. You can pin and rearrange your favorite programs anywhere on the taskbar for easy access. 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] 2. Mac OS X Mac OS X is the newest version of Apple Inc. ‘s Mac OS line of operating systems. Most of the Macintosh owners are using this version. Darwin is not only built on a rock-solid, time-tested UNIX foundation that provides unparalleled stability; it also delivers incredible performance, stunning graphics, and industry-leading support for Internet standards. It makes the Mac innovative, highly secure, compatible, and easy to use and incredibly powerful. Benefits & Features: ? Power of UNIX – Simplicity of the Mac When you start up your Mac to the applications you use, which is designed with simplicity and elegance in mind. Whatever you’re browsing the web, checking your email, or video chatting with a friend on another continent, getting things done is at once easy to learn, simple to perform, and fun to do. ? Perfect integration of hardware and software Since the software on every Mac is created by the same company and you can get an integrated system in which everything works together perfectly. It takes full support of the 64-bit, multicore processors and GPUs to deliver the greatest possible performance. The built-in iSight camera works seamlessly with the iChat software so you can start your video chat. Your Mac notebook includes a Multi-Touch track pad that supports pinching, swiping, and other gestures. The OS will wisely decide whether the CPU or GPU is best for a task and dim the screen in low-light conditions automatically, so that it will increase the battery life. ? Elegant interface and stunning graphics User interface is the remarkable feature of a Mac and made possible by advanced graphics technologies. These technologies provide the power such as multiway chatting, real-time reflections, and smooth animations. Fonts on the screen look beautiful and extremely readable. A soft drop shadow makes it clear at a glance 3. Two examples of system software and the benefits [pic] which window is active and which ones are in the background. You can preview the file using Quick Look, it is high resolution and fine to read. You can create and view the PDF from almost any application in the system. ? Highly secure by design Mac OS X doesn’t get PC viruses. And with virtually no effort on your part, Mac OS X protects itself by offering a variety of sophisticated technologies that help keep you safe from online threats. Mac contains a secure configuration and Apple responds quickly to online threats and automatically delivers security updates. ? Built for compatibility The versatility and power of Mac OS X make it compatible in almost any environment, including Windows networks. User can work with most type of digital cameras, printers, and other peripherals. It can open the common file types such as JPG, MP3, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents. ? Innovation for anyone need Mac OS X provides and support with a wide range of assistive technologies that help people with disabilities. For example, the built-in VoiceOver screen-reading technology makes it possible for those who are blind or have low vision to control their computer using key commands or gestures on a Multi-Touch track pad. Mac OS X also offers out-of-the-box support for over 40 braille displays, including Bluetooth displays, and many other accessibility features, such as dynamic full-screen magnification, playback of closed captions, and a scalable screen. ? Reliable to the core The core of Mac OS X is built on the same UNIX foundation. Even upgrading your Mac to the next version of Mac OS X is reliable, easy and compatible. Even better, it doesn’t need to reformat your drive and you can keep all your applications, files, and settings. Furthermore, the Time Machine of Mac will do automatic backups of your drive. . Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] Another software category is application software. For our new customer, I have selected two popular, practical and powerful programs for her daily operation; Excel and PowerPoint are fully featured and the basic tools for Microsoft Office. 1. Excel Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program; you can enter numerical values or data into the rows or columns of a spreadsheet, and to use for calculating, sorting, organizing and manipulating data. It can produce graphs, statistical analysis and reports etc. When you look at the Excel screen, you can see a rectangular table or grid of rows and columns. The horizontal rows are identified by numbers (1,2,3 ¦) and the vertical columns with letters of the alphabet (A,B,C†¦AA,AB,AC). The intersection point between a column and a row is a small rectangular box known as a â€Å"Cell†. Each is a basic unit and given an address to identify it, such as A3, B6, AA345. Features & Benefits: ? Data Types, Formulas, and Functions The types of data that a cell can hold include numbers, text or formulas. Formulas are used for calculations, usually involving data contained in other cells. Excel includes a number of built in formulas used for common tasks known as functions. Some of the following commands are: †¢ AutoSum †¢ Align Cell Entries †¢ Copy, Cut, Paste, and Cell Addressing & Formatting †¢ Insert and Delete Columns and Rows †¢ Create Header, Footer, Borders and Layout †¢ Merge and Center 4. Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] ? Financial Data Spreadsheets are often used to store financial data. Formulas and functions that are used on this type of data include: 1. Performing basic mathematical operations such as summing columns and rows of figures. 2. Finding values such as profit or loss. . Calculating repayment plans for loans or mortgages. 4. Finding the average, maximum, or minimum values in a specified range of data. ? Other Uses Excel can be used for other operations: 1. Creating Charts and Graphics, which assist users in identifying data trends. You can choose from a variety of chart types, such as co lumn, line, pie, bar, area, and scatter. Your chart will automatically update when you change your data. 2. Sorting and filtering data to find specific information. The information store in a spreadsheet can easily be incorporated into electronic presentations, web pages or report printing. . Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] 1. Power Point 1. What is PowerPoint? Microsoft PowerPoint is a complete presentation graphics package. PowerPoint offers word processing, outlining, drawing, graphing, and presentation management tools, it designed for you to produce a professional-looking presentation. PowerPoint uses a graphical approach to presentations in the form of slide shows. This program is widely used in business and classrooms and is an effective tool when used for training purposes. It is the number ONE presentation tools for worldwide. Anyone can easily create & design their professional presentations. PowerPoint can be made into photo albums, comply with music and veido. For business field, it can easily to add an illustrative chart of data or an organizational chart of company's structure. It can make your presentation into a web page for emailing purposes, as a promotion displayed on your company's website. It is familiar to customize presentations with your company logo and clip-art. You can use many pre-designed templates and search for more beautiful templates from different websites. In addition, it can provide and print out the handouts and outlines for public. And also the notes pages for the speaker that is useful during the presentation. All in all, PowerPoint is a â€Å"one-stop-shop† application to create successful presentations for the business world, the classroom or just for your own personal use. 4. Two examples of application software and the benefits [pic] 2. Power Point ? The overview of the benefits and features in PowerPoint: †¢ When you create a presentation using PowerPoint, the presentation is made up of a series of slides. It can present as overhead transparencies. Beside that you can print handouts, outlines, and speaker's notes. †¢ Slide Master, powerful tools to format all the slides in a presentation. †¢ Store the whole presentation in a single file, includes all the slides, background music, video, speaker's notes and handouts. †¢ Import the files from other MS Office products, such as Word and Excel. 5. FIVE FE ATURES OF MS WORD [pic] MS Word is a typical example of word processing program; it is the most familiar application software. You can use it to create, edit, format, print and store all types of letters, reports, and documents. Word contains a concept of â€Å"What you see is what you get†. Here are the five common features and their benefits as below: 5. 1. Copy and Paste User can copy text form one area of the documents and stores the data on the Clipboard. So it can be placed to anywhere in the same or another document. This feature is really helping you to save times of typing and more accurately and efficiently. 5. 2. Spell Checker This feature is a great helper for user; it allows you to check your spelling and grammar mistakes as you type. For the spelling errors, it displays with a red wavy line under the word. For showing of the grammar errors, it displays with a green wavy line under the word. When it checks against with the dictionary, if the word is misspelled, it will be highlighted on the screen and noted. Then the feature gives you the suggestions of the correct words. The program will also recognize the special name or words that you have already added in your personal dictionary. 5. 3. Find and Replace When you need to search a particular word or phrase in your document, especially useful for working with a large file or limited and selected area, you can use the â€Å"Find† command. Basically it will scan the whole document and highlighted the word or phrase that you search. Then user can execute the â€Å"Replace† command to replace one word or all the words with the new text. 5. FIVE FEATURES OF MS WORD [pic] 5. 4. Add Bullets and Numbers If you have lists of data or a group of items, you may want to bullet or number them. When using this command, you can easily create bulleted or numbered lists of items. Various bulleting and numbering styles or formats, in the Bullet library, are available for your selection. Examples: Bulleting Examples: Numbering pic] [pic] 5. 5. Mail Merge Mail merge can be used for creating many documents that contain identical information and where each document contains unique elements. Firstly, you prepare the template that contains the same version information. Then you add some placeholders from the data source (such as name, address or serial number) that is unique to each version. When producing of a large number of letters (message, label, envelope or numbered coupon) for mass mailing purpose, it can help to reduce your workload and diminish the duplicate work. 6. CONCLUSION [pic] After considering all criteria, I recommend Christy to choose Microsoft Window 7. This operation system is powerful, user friendly and compliable. Most importantly, it is suitable for beginners to work efficiently and explore the computer world. Furthermore, Excel & PowerPoint are also useful applications for personal & office use. After taking my advice, I am sure Christy will have lots of enjoyment of her computer life and improvement in managing her daily work. References 1. Software Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 18,2010,from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/System 2. Operating system – Computer Definition. Retrieved January 19,2010,from http://www. yourdictionary. com/computer/operating-system 3. Application software – Definition. Retrieved January 19,2010,from http://www. wordiq. com/definition/Application_software 4. Windows 7 features – Microsoft Windows. Retrieved January 21,2010,from http://windows. microsoft. com/en-us/windows7/products/features 5. Apple – Mac OS X – What is Mac OS X ? Retrieved January 21,2010,from http://www. apple. com/macosx/what-is-macosx 6. What is Excel. Retrieved January 22,2010,from http://serc. carleton. edu/introgeo/mathstatmodels/UsingXL. tml 7. What is Microsoft Excel – What is Excel – What is Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets. Retrieved January 22,2010,from http://spreadsheets. about. com/od/tipsandfaqs/f/excel_use. htm 8. What is Microsoft PowerPoint? – How Do I Use PowerPoint? Retrieved January 23,2010,from http://presentationsoft. about. com/od/powerpointti psandfaqs/f/ppt_overview. htm 9. Microsoft Word 2007 Tutorial—Free & Online. Retrieved January 24,2010,from http://www. baycongroup. com/wlesson0. htm [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] ———————– Types of System Software Types of application software: