Friday, January 31, 2020

Education for Students with Exceptional Needs Essay Example for Free

Education for Students with Exceptional Needs Essay Education is a detrimental factor to one’s success. Through formal education an individual’s knowledge is maximized and nurtured. It is because formal education hones the human mind to think critically and helps human mind in improving its decision making ability. Education also allows individuals to learn about history that enable them to better understand the present and face the challenges of the future. Education helps individuals receive information from the external world. The things people learn through formal education are the very foundation that permits them to move up in the world and seek better jobs. While it is true that hands-on-experience is an important aspect to get to the top, formal education and training are also essential to be qualified for top positions. Raw talents are important but they also need honing and the best way to hone them is through experience and assistance through schooling. Education is a must for everyone. Individuals with exceptional needs should also be given equal opportunity to learn and gain knowledge. Teaching students with exceptional needs is indeed a challenge (Adams, 2006). Teachers who wish to impart their services to these individuals should be equipped, trained, and should posses great patience and care. I believe that the experiences and learning that I am gaining from the university would significantly help me to become a better teacher for these individuals. My major helps me understand that the field of special education is an evolving and changing discipline. It is based on philosophies and it involves studying evidence-based principles and theories, which could be complicated without the guidance of experienced professors. In addition, teachers must learn how to communicate effectively with students and parents so that students will have a more enriched learning experience. I have always been taught that sharing knowledge to others is one of the best ways to help people. Teachers are heroes, they say. I do not want to become a hero but I simply want to help others. Individuals with exceptional needs have to be helped so that they could also learn to stand on their own. Giving them education is one way to support these people. It will help the students reach their full potential and give them more confidence. This will also empower parents and give them less worry regarding their children. Sincerity is an important trait of a person working for individuals with exceptional needs. I sincerely want to help them that is why I chose this field as my career. I believe that pursuing a career on the field of special education would give me the opportunity to help others. As a rehabilitation service major, I know that I will be able to impart my knowledge to these individuals and help them in my own little way. Many teachers are not very enthusiastic in pursuing a career in special education since this is a very challenging task. On the contrary, I am one of those who enjoy facing challenges. Since there are only few who choose the path on special education, I decided that I will be one of the few who could make a difference to these individuals with exceptional needs. I also believe that all people could actually learn. However, since each person is unique, appropriate instructional support is needed especially for individuals with exceptional needs. Thus, training is needed to become a suitable teacher for these individuals. That is why I highly appreciate all the things that I learn in the university because I know that the knowledge will help me in my future career.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Ghost’s Appeal: Man’s Interest in the Superficial in Toulouse-Lautr

The Ghost’s Appeal: Man’s Interest in the Superficial in Toulouse-Lautrec’s At the Moulin-Rouge Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s famous painting, At the Moulin-Rouge, combines striking coloring with abnormal lighting to create a work that addresses men’s superficial interest in women. The dark scene depicted in the painting includes ten people scattered about a restaurant. In the center, two women and three men sit casually around a table while the background portrays two men and a woman peering into mirrors; a second woman (in the foreground) observes the situation. The most arresting aspect of the picture is the dominating, pale face of a woman in the right foreground of the picture. A careful analysis of the painting begins with the study of the portrayal of the brightly-lit women and how the men’s gazes focus that representation and concludes with the viewer’s natural confirmation of that portrayal. This textual look at the picture leads the viewer to the conclusion that it is a woman’s external pomp that attracts a male. Because of Toulouse-Lautrec’s use of lighting, it is clear that the women are central to the painting. Despite the intermixing of men and women, the light falls only on the women, and the men are left in the shadows. Because of this, the eye wanders, not to the men, but to the women; thus, they become the subject of the painting. While this lighting does not appear unnatural, it is far from the customary distribution of light. Hence, the lighting of the women is an intentional attempt to focus the observer on them. Clearly, the objective of At the Moulin-Rouge centers on women. Having established that the females are integral to the work, it is interesting to see how the illumination reveals more about th... ...illed with interesting scenes, people, and ideas, has a distinct theme that emerges by looking at both the women and their male counterparts. From their similarities to actresses to their depiction as ghosts, Toulouse-Lautrec’s women are superficial. It is the men’s obsession with this, however, that reveals the work’s complete theme. Namely, that it is the outward grandeur of a woman that charms men. This point is brought close to home as the viewer realizes that he joins the men in the painting with the same curious interest in the superficial. Toulouse-Lautrec’s masterpiece brings the theme of superficiality’s appeal full-circle by engulfing both the subjects and the audience. NOTES *At the time, "fl†°neur" described the rich, male population that had time to observe and appreciate art. Artists of the day knew that their audience consisted largely of fl†°neurs.

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Social Network Marketing & Its Effectiveness

Introduction The objective of this review is to explore what the research says about social network marketing and its effectiveness. The first wave of internet revolution (web 1. 0) brought consumers e-commerce. The second wave, Web 2. 0 evolved into a much robust and interactive experience, allowing consumers to participate and share information effectively, Social network media such as Facebook, Tweeters, etc. have grown rapidly. Users are not only teens but also adults. The popularity of smartphones, hand-held tablet computers, computer notebooks also help the increase in popularity of using these sites.For instance, social net work media have replaced e-mails to become the most popular communication tools. To marketing practitioners, this wave of digital revolution cannot be ignored. More than that Web 2. 0 enable consumers to generate content and share. This change is totally different from conventional marketing, in which firms generate content or messages to bombard users and potential users (such as advertising). It is now not a question of whether a company should use digital media, but how they can maximize the benefit from the rise of these new media network.It may not mean that conventional marketing tools such as advertising will be replaced overnight, but social network media should be able to synergize conventional promotional tools. Thus, naturally the question of tracking and measuring social network media and its ROI will be asked, which will be addressed in this paper. The use of social network media in consumer marketing is well established. Its application in education, healthcare, and also in pharmaceutical promotion are also explored. Word of Mouth Marketing To begin with, the concept of word of mouth marketing is explored.Marketers recognized that the conversations among customers are powerful influence of product adoptions (Ryan and Gross 1943; Rogers 1962). Traditionally, marketers develop message to influence selective consumers (who may be early users) and these consumers help propagate the product message to other consumers. More sophisticated marketers will identify influencers in the group of potential consumers (or opinion leaders) and influence them. Thereafter, these opinion leaders can help propagate marketers' message to other consumers.In web 2. 0 err, consumers will participate in the whole marketing communication process. They will coproduce content to be shared in their chosen network. Hence, Word of Mouth model has evolved from a consumer-to-consumer process in the past to a opinion leader to consumer model, and most recently, a network coproduction model (Figure 1. ) Marketers do not only influence the selective consumers (opinion leaders) in the launch phase, but also have to monitor the process of consumer to consumer messaging.The coproduction model of word of mouth marketing is further depicted by Adrian Palmer and Nicole Koenig-Lewis. In their article â€Å"An experiential, social network-ba sed approach to direct marketing†, the authors proposed a framework of 3 elements of the social network environment – the seller, the customer and the community (Figure 2). In this model, the traditional interface for direct marketings has been between the seller and the customers, represented by the hatched area. With the introduction of the community element, the customer interacts with self-selected communities.Sellers need to interact with selected communities to achieve a variety of benefits, including spreading of positive word of mouth and gathering information about buyers' needs and preferences. The challenge is how to balance the interest of the sellers, the customers and the community, and this is represented in the overlapping area of the 3 circles. Figure 2. Direct marketing in a social network Success Factors for Social Network Sites Shu-Chuan Chu and Yoojung Kim studied the determinants of consumer engagement in social networking sites (Chu & Kim 2011).Ba sed on literature review, the authors identifies 5 determinants – tie strength, homophily, trust, normative and informational interpersonal influence as important antecedent to eWOM behavior in SNSs. Tie Strength Tie strength refers to â€Å"the potency of the bond between members of a network† (Mittal et al. 2008, p. 196). Example of strong tie strength is family members, whereas weak tie strength is colleagues. Strong tie were more likely to be activated for the flow of referral behavior. The hypothesis is that SNS users' perceived tie strength with their contacts is positively related to their engagement n eWOM behaviors in SNSs.Homophily Homophily refers to the degree to which individuals who interact with one another are congruent or similar in certain attributes (Rogers & Bhowmik 1970). The assumption is that people with simailar characteristics, such as age & character may come together to form community. Hence, the hypothesis is that SNS users' perceived homoph ily with their contacts is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviours in SNSs. Trust Trust is defined as ‘a willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence' (Moorman et al. 1993, p. 82).In todays popular SNS, users share information with their own real network and thus, significantly increase the level of trust. Therefore, the hypothesis is SNS users' perceived trust in their contacts is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviors in SNSs. Normative influence Normative influence refers to the tendency to conform to the expectations of others. It affects attitudes, norms and values (Burnkrant & Cousineau 1975). The hypothesis is that SNS users' susceptibility to normative influences is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviors in SNSs. Informational influenceInformational influences, on the other and, denote the tendency to accept information from knowledgeable others and be guided in product, brand and store sear ch (Bearden et al. 1989; Deutsch & Gerard 1955). The hypothesis is that SNS users' susceptibility to informational influences is positively related to their engagement in eWOM behaviors in SNSs. These factors were tested in an on-line survey of the college students on their 3 operationalized engagement: opinion seeking, opinion giving and opinion passing. The findings of the study are: Tie strength is positively associated with eWOM behavior.On the other hand, a negative relationship was found between homophily and eWOM in SNSs. Trust is found to be positively impact engagement with eWOM. Normative and informational influences are important for the engagement, but informational influence in opinion giving is not determined. Implications: The results from this study suggest that advertisers must take social relationship factors into account and develop personalized marketing communications strategies to fulfil SNS users' needs. Insight into Network Co-production of Product Messaging That marketers may not have full control in the product messaging in social etwork marketing, Kozinets, de Valck, Woinicki & Wilner studied a mobile phone launch campaign using social network media (blogs) (Kozinets, de Valck, Woinicki & Wilner 2010). 83 bloggers were seeded with a new mobile phone and their blogs were monitored for 6 months. The bloggers were selected based on their traffic on their blogs. There is no obligation for the bloggers to write or not write. This study gave detailed analysis of the posts and provide good insight and lessons learnt from a commercial program used in social network media. The study found that bloggers can be categorized based on their character style.For instance, in the study at least 4 types are identified, 1. citizen journalist, 2. loving mother, 3. satirical exhibitionist, and 4. the making-ends-meet professional blogger. Four narrative strategies are identified (Figure 3) – evaluation, embracing, endorsement and explanation. Whic h strategy to be adopted depends on the blogger's character, the governing norm in the community and the commercial element in the WOMM. The study found that the motivation for consumers to participate in the co-production of WOM are more complex and culturally embeded, shaped by communal interests and communicative orientations and charged with moral hazard.WOM communicators demonstrate their need to balance inherent commercial-communal tensions while being consistent with the character elements of their ongoing narratives. It is also found that WOMM message and their attendant meanings will be altered by communicators in ways taht are attuned to a range of different individual and communal factors. The managerial implications from the study are the followings. Firstly, managers should pay attention to not only the quantity (so-called amplification by advertising professional), but also quality of the consumer-generated messages.Secondly, consumers that play the role of communicato rs should be further explored, classified and devloped. Thirdly, managers should proactively explore the norms assococaited with the communication network. Marketer also need to rethink whether some degree of control must be imposed in a WOM campaign. For instance, in the current study, that bloggers are free to write and even disclose their relationship with the firm can generate negative WOM and distrust in the community. More important this study also suggests that managers have an opportunity to encoruage particular narrative stategies that may be ideal for their product.Figure 3 Social Network Marketing vs Traditional Marketing? Studies shown that social network marketing (word of mouth marketing) and traditional marketing work synergistically (Onishi & Manchanda 2012; Trusov, Bucklin & Pauwels 2008). In a Japanese study, how blogs and advertising interact during product launch in movie and cell phone categories were studied. The study found that advertising will stimulate blog ging activities during product pre-launch, and effect is less apparent post launch (Onishi & Manchanda 2012).In another study (Trusov, Bucklin & Pauwels 2008), electronic word of mouth (eWOM) programs of a social network site were compared with PR programs (media appearance and Events) in terms of the effectiveness in generating new sign-ups. The founding is that eWOM is more effective than media appearance and events. However, it is also observed that eWOM and PR work synergistically. The studies also showed that blogging and eWOM effects are more long-lasting. The effectiveness of Social Media MarketingIn the article by Hoffman and Fodor (Hoffman & Fodor 2010), the authors attempted to address the ROI metric of social network marketing. As social network sites are now easily measured by search of your brand's blogs or data mining, quantative measurement seems to be ppssible. Some people may want a simple direct short term sales against direct costs. The authors caution whether thi s is a suitabke measurement of social network effectiveness. Nevertheless, we know that Social network marketing can substituted traditional marketing.As traditional marketing such as TV advertising is expensive, by allocating a certain amount of promotional budget to digital marketing can definitely reduce cost and achieve more or less same results. Another benefit of social network marketing is the improvement of market research by direct communicating with users and thus, significantly saving the amount of market research costs. To meaningfully measure ROI of social media marketing, the authors suggest to begin with identifying the objectives of a particular social marketing campaign in order to take into consideration of different nature of social network media (figure 4).In short, brand awareness, brand engagement and word of mouth effect can be measured. Figure 4 References: Donna L. Hoffman, Marek Fodor 2010. Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing? MIT Sloan M anagement Review 52,1(Fall): 41-49. Fue Zeng, Li Huang, Wenyu Dou 2009. Journal of Interactive Advertising 10,1: 1-13. Hirishi Onishi, Puneet Manchanda 2012. Marketing activity, blogging and sales. Intern. J. of Research in Marketing 29: 221-234.Shu-Chuan Chu, Yoojung Kim 2011, Determinants of consumer engagement in electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites, International Journal of Advertising 30,1: 47-75. Robert V Kozinets, Kristine de Valck, Andrea C Wojnick and Sarah JS Wilner 2010, Networked Narratives: Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing in Online Communities, Journal of Marketing, 74 (March): 71-89. Louise Kelly, Garyle and Judy Drennan 2010, Avoidance of Advertising in Social Networking sites: the Teenage Perspective, Journal of Interactive Advertising, 10, 25(Spring): pp. 16-27.

Monday, January 6, 2020

Suffixes of German Adjectives - Meanings and Examples

Many German words can be converted into adjectives by adding suffixes. There are several options of suffixes that contribute to different meanings for adjectives. See below for ways that nouns can be changed into adjectives. See also Suffixes in German Adjectives II. Suffix Possible Meaning Example -haft to accentuate a specific trait Die Auffhrung war sagenhaft./ The performance was marvelous -los without Er ist schon seit Monaten arbeitslos./ Hes been unemployed for months. -ig in a certain way Dieser Mann ist schlfrig./ This man is sleepy. -isch of origin, belonging to; also added to some foreign words Ich bin italienisch; Der Junge ist autistisch/ I am italien; The boy is autistic. lich a characteristic, in the manner of Ich finde das herrlich; Herzliche Gre/ I find that wonderful; Heartfelt Greetings. -arm lacking in seelenarm/ low, poor in spirit -frei without arbeitsfrei / work-free -leer without luftleer / air-free -reich plenty vitaminreich/ vitamin-rich -voll plenty eimervoll/ bucketfull -fest something stable, solid wasserfest/ watertight