Technology Needs in the Special Education Secondary Classroom Essay

In secondary school settings the use of technology within the special education classroom is lacking. Special education class rooms and resource settings utilize only the basic, out of date technology that has been in use for many years. Typically the only available technology made available to special education or resource settings are the overhead projector, television, and tape recorder. According to the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (2009), seventy-five percent of students with disabilities rarely or never use computers. General education classes are more frequently equipped with current technology items such as smart boards, iPads, computers, projectors, write pads, and smart pens. Special education students, like their non-disabled peers, are learning 21st Century skills in the general education setting using 21st Century technology. Special education students needing remediation or small group instruction are hindered by the lack of available technological devices. According to King-Sears, Mainzer, and Swanson (2011) technology can be universally beneficial for all students as a vehicle for learner engagement or conveyance of instructional content, and it can promote participation, learning, and performance by students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who used computer-based instruction made improvements using technology that matched their learning needs, (King-Sears, Mainzer, and Swanson, 2011). Many students with disabilities have problems with mobility and use of their arms and hands. In classrooms where technology is obsolete it is impossible for these students to obtain educational success. Other students with emotional or social disabilities find it hard to convey... ...cation Technology, 24(1), 1-13. Demski, J. (2008). And access for all. T.H.E. Journal, December 2008, 30-35. Frank, F.X., & Xin, J.F. (2011). Using the smart board in teaching social stories to students with autism. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43, 18-24. Haywood, K., Johnson, L.F., Levine, A., & Smith, R.S. (2010). Key emerging technologies for Elementary and secondary education. Education Digest, 76(1), 36-40. LaFee, S. (2010). Taking the i21 initiative. Education Digest, November 2010, 47-51. King-Sears, M. E., Mainzer, L., & Swanson C. (2011). Technology and literacy for adolescents with disabilities. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(8), 569-578. Okolo, C., & Smith, S. J. (2010). Response to intervention and evidence-based practices: where does technology fit? Learning Disability Quarterly, 33(4), 257-272.

Persasive Writing

What is persuasive writing? What role does persuasive writing play in the criminal justice system? How well does persuasive writing meet the criteria of effective communication within the criminal justice system? Persuasive writing is to tell a story and convenince the reader to agree or believe what you are saying. This plays a huge role in the criminal justice system. Persuasive writing does not necessarily play a big role for law enforcement when writing reports. Though it does absolutely play a big role when it comes to giving a testimony in a court of law. Law enforcement officers can and need to tell their side of the story in the court room in a persuasive way. Persuasive writing can help law enforcement officials prepare for his or her testimony in a court room by examples and the way they word things. The more that a law enforcement official prepares their testimony of events and any facts in a persuasive manor. This in return will make it harder for the defense attorney to come up with questions to defend their client. When you have a jury present in the court room persuasiveness is a big role, seems how the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney need to pursue the jury to be on their side. If an officer has not been trained or a prosecutor does not know for sure how to write a persuasive statement for testimony could really hurt their case. It can make the jury think that there is not enough to find the defendant guilty of the crime committed. As for the defense attorney they need to use persuasive counter-arguments to show why the defendant should not be charged with a guilty verdict. Persuasive writing skills for law enforcement are very important not for just proving fault on a defendant in court, but also for investigations and interviews for the media. These skills are also used to get a warrant from a judge to show probably cause on why the warrant is needed. These few reasons alone show how important persuasive writing is in the criminal justice field.

Social Capital has been described as involving egocentric, weak ties and socio-centric types of relationships

Social Capital has been described as involving egocentric, weak ties and socio-centric types of relationships. How might these concepts help to improve the way organisations generate new knowledge. Might some these concepts also act as a barrier to generating and sharing knowledge? Explain your answer. Introduction In contemporary, highly developing business environment, the success factors of many organisations have been affected with the rapid advancement in communication and ways of sharing knowledge. The knowledge economy has changed the basis of trading and doing business. Success and wealth of businesses no longer depends on their wealth of organisations but on the abilities and knowledge of their employees and the degree to which an organisation harnesses and develops those skills. The more effective the relationship between supplier and customer, the more successful an organisation is. This success depends on their abilities to operate in today's fast moving global marketplace. Defining the notion of Social Capital The notion of social capital first appeared in discussions of rural school community centers by Lyda Judson Hanifan's. Hanifan addressed the cultivation of good will, fellowship, sympathy and social intercourse among those that ‘made up a social unit.' More recently however, the work of Robert D. Putnam (1993, 2000) launched social capital as a focus for research and policy discussion. Putman defined the concept of social capital as â€Å"Features of social organisation, such as trust, norms and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated action† (Putnam, 1993). This definition of social capital can be criticised for adopting a single view, and being too narrow, as it ignores the fact that social capital can generate negative externalities as well as positive. Putman assumes ‘trust, norms and networks' to have positive outcomes for an individual, or a group however fails to recognise that it can be harmful for an organisation as a whole. Michael Woolcock on the other hand defined social capital as â€Å"the norms and social relations embedded in the social structure that enable people to coordinate action to achieve desired goals† This definition not only recognises both positive and negative externalities of social capital but focuses solely on sources of social capital, rather than also including the outcomes derived from it. One of the most famous examples where social capital is commonly referred to is in Silicon Valley (San Francisco). Silicon Valley is in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. It contains many high tech businesses that are supplying the global market with many innovating technologies and silicon microchips. In Silicon Valley, there is a very high level of knowledge held within individual firms, but this would be true whether they were located in clusters or in isolation. There is also a very high level of knowledge about the firms as well. This information is differentially more available to those in the Valley and in the network. This knowledge is not just technical, it is knowledge about who is a good manager or well connected. It is embedded in the social setting, a knowledge that comes from learning and being in the place where the knowledge is being used, and having an opportunity to use it in that setting. It is about knowled ge use and production in action. Social Capital – promotes knowledge sharing and communication Many contemporary theorists who conducted studies on social capital identified two differing perspectives within the concept. These concepts are socio-centric, and ego-centric. The socio-centric approach argues that the social structure of interpersonal contacts is important for organizational success (Sandefur and Laumann, 1998). A business can benefit from a strong social structure, by allowing employee cooperation that will enable flexibility and innovation. Knowledge sharing helps employees perform their jobs more effectively, retain their jobs, and guides them in personal and career development. It also rewards them for successful achievements, and brings more personal recognition so that knowledge sharing will become more practiced. By sharing and collaborating with others an employee is more likely to succeed in providing solutions to his/hers own jobs and by helping others achieve their objectives. The philosophy of modern knowledge management exponents is that ‘intrinsic motivation' is the only real motivator of knowledge sharing. This is where an individual, group or community are sympathetic to each other's goals, those of the organisation work for collective goals-if these are best achieved through sharing then this is what happens. Intrinsic motivation is making sure that individuals feel part of the business and culture through reward and recognition. The second perspective of social capital is concerned with the relationships between individuals. Sandefur and Laumann (1998) refer to this as the egocentric approach of social networks, where â€Å"an individual's social capital is characterized by their direct relationships with others and by the other people and relationships that they can reach through those to whom they are directly tied†. From this perspective, social capital is able to explain the differences in the success of individuals and firms in a competitive environment (Adler and Kwon, 1999). A learning organisation views its future and subsequent competitive advantage based on continuous learning and adaptive behaviour. It develops a culture and processes to improve its ability to learn and share both at an individual and organisational level. The main aim is to create a flexible, agile organisation able to handle uncertainty and then hopefully organisations will use this uncertainty to generate new ways of working, to build on this success and learn by mistakes. For example: a large multinational company, British Airways (BA) identified its culture as the biggest barrier it had to learning and sharing so it set out to create an environment where this was made easy. BA developed facilities for staff to access knowledge, libraries, have meeting rooms, training rooms that enhanced its culture. Therefore the facilitation of personal contacts and network, and the enhance role of training and development being a core was British Airways success for its new culture. Social capital – barrier to knowledge sharing and communication As developed in Ronald Burt's theory (1998), the socio-centric notion can act as a barrier to generating and sharing knowledge in an organisation. The socio-centric perspective includes the concept of power benefits acquired by individuals that control structural holes. This idea shows how certain individuals within an organisation may have power over groups of employees and act as the link between them. Such individuals are said to be ‘filling a structural hole', therefore their relative contacts have no direct contact with one another. This allows such an individual to have a certain level of manipulation over knowledge sharing between the two groups and benefit from the social capital derived from them. This can be both an advantage and disadvantage to the firm. It can be an advantage to the individual in that their social capital is increased, and that it allows the two departments to communicate ideas effectively. However the filling of structural holes with one individual could also act as a barrier to generating and sharing new knowledge within the firm. Because when implemented in a firm it means that individuals in different departments do not need to communicate between each other eliminating knowledge sharing within the individuals in each department. Within an egocentric network, sharing of knowledge can be one of the most difficult problems faced by knowledge organisations. In most organisations knowledge sharing requires a change in corporate culture, from ‘information is power' to ‘knowledge sharing build power.' Many organisations decide that the most effective way to encourage individual sharing appears to be through appraisal systems where individuals are asked to assess their own knowledge-sharing behaviours and consider their colleagues view of their sharing performance. The most obvious disadvantages are: an employee may fear senior experts or a supervisor. This fear can have an impact on the way the employee conveys his/her opinions. Another disadvantage is that employees can get compromising solutions from a group of experts with conflicting opinions. This would not give the knowledge engineer an accurate view of the knowledge needed. Also, there can also be a Lack of confidentiality as employees may feel threatened by knowing that their contributions will be shared with and evaluated or validated by other domain experts. However, the results of the appraisals may affect promotion and salary but their use is part of the development culture that includes knowledge sharing as a core competence. Conclusion Social capital has been described as a non-tradable form of capital that will depreciate if not used. Social capital increases in value through use, as relationships get stronger and weak ties are increased (Klaus Nielsen, 2003). In this article we have established that social capital is a rapidly growing notion, more commonly referred to by theorists when discussing issues of economics and organisational knowledge sharing. The concept has been criticised for the diversity of its definition, measurement challenges, and over-versatility (Woolcock and Schuller, 2000). These theorists concluded that social capital can have both a positive and a negative impact on the overall success of an organisation. Positive, in the aspects that a well working network of sharing knowledge can lead to innovation, and greater efficiency of the employees working relationships. Negative in the sense that strong social capital for an individual, or a group of employees does not necessarily guarantee a benefit on a macro scale for the organisation.

4 Tips on Managing Your Student Loans

4 Tips on Managing Your Student Loans New grads, take heed. You’re freaking out about the escalating price tag of your education and that’s totally fair. But don’t panic yet. Take a step back to acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishment. Then plan your strategy for a sane repayment plan and fight back against the fear and doom. Here are 4 steps to getting yourself on the right track to a secure financial future. Starting now will set you up to avoid crashing and burning in a pile of tears and terror in a year or two.1. Don’t ignore your mailSo many grads can’t even bring themselves to open their first loan statement, let alone log in and look at the big fat number staring at them from their laptop screens. But avoiding the inevitable will not make that number smaller. In fact, you could make a bad situation even worse. Step one: open the envelope. Know exactly what you owe. The devil you know, right? If you have multiple loans, track down the names of your servicers and make a list of each, detailing the interest rates and balances. This will be crucial to smart planning.2. Be wary of the grace periodA sixth month grace period does not mean you don’t have to think about your loans for six months. Remember that your loans will continue to accrue interest- and lots of it- while you’re merrily trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. The grace period exists mostly to benefit those who may need the extra time to get set up in their post graduate careers. Treat it as such.The longer you wait to start repaying, the more interest will accrue. And that interest will be added to your principal balance as soon as your loans come up for repayment. The longer you wait, the worse it gets. Step two, in a nutshell: use your grace period if you need it, but consider making payments against the interest while you wait.3. Keep your term as short as you canIt may seem like a good idea to pay your loans back in 25 years instead of 10. After all, a lower monthly payment number is a seductive thing. But just remember that the interest clock is not going to slow down for you. You could end up paying back almost double what you owe if you take a significant amount of time to repay. The Student Loan Repayment Calculator online is your friend. You should never choose repayment terms that you can’t handle, but you should chose the fastest repayment timeframe that makes sense for you. It will save you money!4. Consider refinancingOne way to lower your interest rates, particularly across a wide range of loans from different servicers, is to go through a refinancing company. You can always make an inquiry with a company like SoFi without committing to a refinance. In most cases, refinancing means a lower interest rate and a lower amount paid in the end. If you can guarantee total savings like this, it’s almost always worth it to consolidate. Be careful, however, of your particular situation and how it qualifies (or doesnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t) you for different loan forgiveness plans. If you don’t qualify for loan forgiveness or income-based repayment (often requiring you to pay a lot more over a longer period), a private lender is always an option.Repaying your student loans can seem like a prison sentence. And in some ways it is. But it’s always a better idea to have more information, to be more involved, and thereby more empowered. Be proactive and put your best foot forward. Future you will thank you!

Admonitions and Premonitions

Admonitions and Premonitions Admonitions and Premonitions Admonitions and Premonitions By Mark Nichol Admonition and premonition are two members of a small word family based on a root pertaining to scolding or warning. The family is introduced below. The Latin verb monere, meaning â€Å"advise,† â€Å"express disapproval,† or â€Å"warn,† is the root of admonition and premonition. Admonition and its sister noun admonishment are distinguished by the senses â€Å"warning about behavior† and â€Å"criticism of behavior,† respectively; the verb form, admonish, applies to both senses. A premonition, meanwhile, is a feeling of forewarning not based on conscious thought; unlike admonition, the noun does not take other forms. Monition itself, meanwhile, is a rare noun meaning â€Å"caution† or â€Å"warning.† Summon is also descended from monere, originally in the form of the Latin verb summonere, which means â€Å"warn secretly† (the first syllable is a variant of sub-); the English verb means â€Å"send for,† with the connotation of an imperative; to summon up is to call forth or evoke, as in the notion of summoning up courage or another emotion. Something that can be summoned is summonable, and one who summons is a summoner. Summons is a noun meaning â€Å"an act of summoning,† usually in the form of an order to appear in court; the plural is summonses. Other words based on monere include monitor, which originally referred to one who admonishes, checks, or reminds and came to mean â€Å"guide,† â€Å"instructor,† and â€Å"overseer.† This word has several other distinct senses: First, the monitor lizards, a genus that includes the Komodo dragon, were supposedly named for a habit some species have of standing on two legs or acting otherwise to check on or warn about the presence of predators. Second, a Civil War–era warship armored with iron was dubbed the Monitor with the notion that it would admonish its foes; the name was applied to similar and not-so-similar vessels for the next hundred years. Finally, the use of the word to describe equipment for checking the quality of electronic transmissions led to its employment in reference to display screens for televisions, computers, and other devices. Then there’s monument, from the sense of monere pertaining to reminding: A monument is a written document, record, or tribute; a structure honoring a person or event or something pertaining to a notable person or thing; or a boundary marker. A national monument is one of a class of places set aside by a country for its historic, scenic, or scientific significance. Because of the associations of structural monuments with grandeur, something great or outstanding is said to be monumental; monumentally is the adverbial form. Finally, monster derives from a sense of â€Å"something that warns†: The word describes an abnormal, strange, or terrifying living thing; something cruel, threatening, or ugly; or something especially large or successful. Monster is employed as an adjective as well in the last sense, while monstrous applies for the other meanings and monstrously serves as an adverb. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Incorrect Pronunciations That You Should AvoidWhen to Form a Plural with an Apostrophe"Wracking" or "Racking" Your Brain?

Hematology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hematology - Research Paper Example s anemia- This is a pathological condition associated with a decrease in the number of erythrocytes due to the insufficiency of vitamin B12, which in turn results in the reduced production of erythrocytes. How do malabsorptive disorders contribute to the development of anemias- Malabsorption disorders are also involved in the pathogenesis of anemia due to decrease or faulty production of red blood cells. An example is Iron deficiency anemia, whereby disruption of absorption in the duodenum may lead to a decrease in hemoglobin production as this mineral is necessary for this procedure. This in turn will result in decreased Hb levels and anemia. Abosorbtive disorders may also disrupt the uptake of folate and vitamin B12 which are both necessary for erythropoiesis. What is â€Å"anemia of chronic disease†- Anemia of chronic disease refers to any long term disease leading to inflammatory, malignant or infectious processes that reduce both erythropoietin and Iron levels. In addition these diseases reduce the lifespan of erythrocytes. Examples of such pathologies include severe trauma, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus and heart disease. What are some of the lab tests used to evaluate anemia of chronic disease- Lab tests used to evaluate anemia of chronic disease include Iron panel, serum folic acid and vitamin B12, serum AST and ALT, levels of TSH, electrophoretic studies of urine and serum and serum levels of metals such as arsenic and lead. 1. Iron deficiency anemia-This is anemia due to faulty or decreased erythropiesis. The body has insufficient Iron, hence cannot synthesize hemoglobin. This anemia is often normocytic or microcytic and is also hypochromic. Symptoms include pallor, fatigue, loss appetite, irritability. 2. B-12 deficiency- This leads to megaloblastic anemia. And is often associated with loss of gastric cells unlike Iron deficiency which involves disorders of the duodenum. This type of anemia is macrocytic. The main distinguishing sign of

Crises, Defaults and Controls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Crises, Defaults and Controls - Essay Example Discussions in previous chapters to this paper reveal the sorry state of affairs with regard to the reforms made and the results gained and also in relation to other markets. There had been insignificant growth in domestic capital markets of various economies from early 1990s in comparison to that in industrialized economies. Some economies actually experienced deterioration in their capital markets. There has been a decrease in liquidity and listing in capital markets of many developing countries as firms cross-list and raise capital in financial centres internationally such as in London and New York. Stock markets remain segmented and highly illiquid, with capitalization and trading focused on few stocks. This chapter focuses on the more normative and puzzling part of the observation, which is motivating. This happens to be the question; what should be done on the reform agenda on capital markets going forward? To get the answers to this question, the study looks into what went wrong with all the reforms made before trying to look at what needs to be done moving forward. Three typological views are presented that shed light into perspectives that lead to different diagnoses plus policy recommendations. These views have messages summarized as (a) Get the right sequence (b) Observe patience and redouble effort and (c) Revisit fundamental issues and look into expectations Observe patience and redouble effort. This view provides that important elements of the reform package for capital markets are well known. According to this view, (a) Reforms are required to improve an enabling environment for the capital markets. (b) The reforms should have measures in place for efficiency enhancement and discipline in the market through completion. (c) Reforms in some areas have the important complementary role. (d) There is need for more specialized and technical reforms for enhancing capital market integrity and transparency. It is further noted that many of the