How The Web change learning over e-learning to Lifelong Learning Essay

How The Web change learning over e-learning to Lifelong Learning - Essay Example With Web 3.0 on the horizon, e-Learning 3.0, with its focus on content, is not very far away. The unprecedented development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) from the early Eighties revolutionized many fields of work and activity, including learning and education which has undergone radical changes. The coming of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) introduced the concept of â€Å"learning anytime, anywhere and anyhow† [1]. Students and teachers could be geographically dispersed in what is termed a virtual classroom. Distance education was prefixed with ‘online’ to give what is now known as e-Learning. The roots of the present-day web can be traced back to the concept of hypertext and hypermedia which goes back to 1945 when Vannevar Bush introduced the concept of hypertext in a system called ‘memex’. Bush visualized a system in which the documents could be linked in a non-linear manner modeled after the associative nature of the human mind.[33] The same objective was echoed by Ted Nelson in 1987 when he envisaged â€Å"†¦a fast linking electronic repository for the storage and publication of text, graphics and other digital information; permitting promiscuous linkage and windowing among all materials; with special features for alternative versions, historical backtrack and arbitrary collaging†¦Ã¢â‚¬ in his Xanadu system [34], Conklin who spoke of inter-documentary links [35] and Rada [36] who dreamt of connecting text across document boundaries. Hypertext and hypermedia gave the Web its interactivity and navigational manoeuvrability. â€Å"†¦concept of ‘hypertext’ is the base of all the web evolution.†[31] Conventional learning has been restricted to the physical classroom in which the teacher teaches students according to a prescribed course and syllabi. The genesis of e-Learning can be found in the initial web sites that were developed by

Critically discuss the relationships between tourism and leisure Essay

Critically discuss the relationships between tourism and leisure behaviour, and the implications of these relationshipsfor the understanding and management of tourism - Essay Example The concept of ‘away from home’ has been constructively exploited by the enterprising entrepreneurs to lay the foundation of tourism which has now become a huge emerging new industry in the contemporary environment of globalization. Thus the intrinsic but evolving relationship between the tourism and leisure behaviour of the people has become the one of the most challenging business goals of the contemporary society. Leisure and recreation were not an option in olden times but the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century had brought about sweeping changes in the workplace, providing people with more time and improved lifestyle and was motivated towards recreational activities, involving family and friends. Alfred Llyods says ‘leisure ... is a pressing problem of the day†¦ if the new leisure in amount and importance be what it has appeared to be and if, as might be inferred, the mingled danger and opportunity of it be at all in proportion, then is civilization entering upon an adventure for romantic characters, for need of wisdom and imagination and courage far exceeding anything in the past’ (Lloyd, 1922: 171, 172). Indeed, the leisure time is important part of recreation. Bertrand Russell argues that ‘mans true life does not consist in the business of filling his belly and clothing his body, but in art and thought and love, in the creation and contemplation of beauty and in the scientific understanding of the world’ (Russell and Russell, 1923: 50). The House of Lords had also acknowledged that ‘it should make one or two hours a week available for leisure’ (House of Lords Select Committee on Sport and Leisure, 1973: xii). But Roberts challenge the perception of leisure when he says ‘Are we verging on a golden age of leisure or threatened by a wilderness of boredom?’ (Roberts, 2006: 18). Leisure times and holidays have always held a special charm for the young and the old alike. Krippendorf (1987)

Long term Care in USA vs. Europe and East Asia Essay

Long term Care in USA vs. Europe and East Asia - Essay Example The major limitation associated with this informal arrangement of long term care provision by the USA is that there is no uniformity in the manner in which the frail, disabled and the individuals with chronic illnesses are attended to. Thus, those who are dependent on private long term care insurance and out-of-pocket spending eventually end up missing on quality long term care, considering that their resources are easily depleted, to a point where they can no longer be able to cater for such medical and non-medical needs of the deserving individuals (Saltman, Dubois & Chawla, 2006). It is against this background that the U.S. Congress is assessing the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, with a view to establishing a formal program through which uniform long term care can be offered in the USA (Campbell, Ikegami & Gibson, 2010). According to the data released by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 2008, Medicaid accounted for 71% of the long term care services that were provided in the USA, while out-of-pocket spending followed at 18% and finally private long term care insurance at 7% (Harris-Kojetin, Sengupta, Park-Lee, Valverde, 2013). These statistics indicate that the only individuals who benefit from long term care in the USA are those capable of meeting the expenses through out-of-pocket paying, joining private long term care insurance or enrolling for the Medicaid plan. This leaves out the bulky of the frail, disabled and the deserving dependent senior citizens in the USA without the access of long term care services. This is contrary to the situation in Europe, where countries such as Germany, Norway and Denmark have a formalized program for supporting long term care for all the deserving citizens, without causing them to deplete their resources (Saltman, Dubois & Chawla, 2006). Additionally, long term care services in some of the East Asian countries such as

CASE STUDIES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

CASE STUDIES - Essay Example That is, the gestation period of any travel guides including Lonely Planet is an extended one due the need for extensive homework. Because of which, a somewhat, same kind of information or even a better current version is provided by the website. So, this out-datedness in the travel guide will be the issue for a number of customers who use both Internet and the books. So, the solution to reduce revenue losses or operational frictions is to promote each vehicle as different entities, according to the market’s needs. That is, there are still markets where Internet technology have not improved much, in those places travel guides should be promoted. Then, people while traveling will not be able to access Internet any time, for them the travel guides of Lonely Planet will be feasible and so this segment of markets can be targeted With the advent of Internet and wireless technologies, the scope for Lonely Planet to develop has increased, a lot further. That is, like its joint venture with Nokia, in which Lonely Planet provides city guides on mobile phones, it could provide the city guides along with digitized maps to all telecom providers. That is, if it has a joint venture with telecom companies, it can reach more mobiles. As mobiles have become a lifeless extension of hand, which can be carried anywhere including during travel, Lonely Planet could expand its base. Then for the users of Internet, it can introduce features or products like seeing a virtual image of tourist spots like what Google earth is doing. Also, all the previous issues of Lonely Planet’s Travel guide that were published from 1970’s can be digitized and made available as download able files for a fee, because all the new and young readers cannot access the previous issues in book form. So, with this launch of new products th e customer’s concerns about timeliness and currency of information can be looked after. That is, with the use of

Summaries of two articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summaries of two articles - Essay Example The major influence on student learning and academic achievement are the children’s exposure to the quality of schools and teachers. A test based on the production function models was carried out on the quality of teachers and schools to explain their variance to a large extent on academic achievement rather than characteristics such as age, socioeconomic status and sex over which schools have little or no control over. As a result of the tests, governments have a responsibility to invest in quality learning levels by identifying the goods and services such as library resources, audiovisual equipment, different contacts and homework required and investing in them. Government resources on quality learning are weak and schools have control, but characters that the schools have little control such as preschool measures and out-of-school measures are the major effects on quality learning by schools(Little & Andy 168). Students from high income countries such as US practice preschool measures not influenced by the government or school control compared to low income countries which spend a lot of money on similar academic learning. Academic learning is of quality when it influences social achievement and students are not controlled by schools given their characteristics. The second article is on the importance of teaching as a career to first time tutors. It is necessary for any individual with an inspiration to become a teacher or enhance his or her teaching career to make an informed decision base. First time teaching requires proper understanding of the subject matter and the ability to recognize the learning needs of the students and, therefore, be able to engage them mutually according to their different learning capabilities in order to provide solutions for their success attainment and education progression. However, teaching poses numerous challenges for the first time teachers and, therefore, first time tutors should possess critical

Achilles - Greek Mythology Essay Example for Free

Achilles Greek Mythology Essay Ancient Greeks lived a very unique lifestyle in their times. They knew no one of Greece. This helped them to live by their own ways and not follow anything that happened outside of Greece because they simply could not. In parts of Greek mythology gods could not interfere with fate and gods intervened directly in mortals lives. There were many examples of these things happening. One aspect learned in the Voyage of Odysseus was gods could not interfere with fate. There were many encounters where fate overpowered gods in Greek mythology. For example, what happened with Polyphemus and Odysseus. Odysseus hurt Polyphemus by tricking him into drinking too much which left him unconscious and defenseless. Odysseus took advantage of this and stabbed him in the eye. He then left and went on his journey home. In the story Polyphemus says, I call upon Poseidon, the god of the sea, whose son am I, to avenge upon you, upon Poseidon to grant that you, Odysseus may never come to your home,or if the gods have ordained your return that you come to it after much toil and suffering, in an evil plight and in a strangers ship, to find sorrow in your home (Colum, 199-200) This proves that gods cannot interfere with fate because Polyphemus called upon Poseidon to interfere with Odysseus’ fate but Poseidon could not, Odysseus got home safely and untouched by Poseidon. He enjoyed a safe journey home. This shows how in the end, Odysseus’ fate overcame Poseidon as a god and what he wished or intended for in the story the Voyage of Odysseus. This is one of the examples of how gods cannot interfere with fate of others. Another aspect was gods intervened directly in mortals lives. This happened more than once, but one of the times was when Achilles hurt his knee during the battle between him and Hector. Achilles states in the story, â€Å"Die, hound. My fate I meet when Zeus and the other gods decree.† (Church 131) Achilles hurt his knee during the battle, and gods cured it so he could  keep running. This is one thing that happened in the Trojan War that explains how gods intervened directly in mortals live. Therefore if Achilles was not cured by the gods he would not able to keep running and would likely not be able to win the battle. Overall, during Greek mythology there were many encounters with goals but we have realized gods could not interfere with fate. Although gods could not interfere with fate they did intervene with mortals lives. After reading Greek mythology what can truly be said about it is it is a very interesting topic to learn about and great for all ages.

Developments of West End Musical Scene

Developments of West End Musical Scene Discuss the recent developments in the west end musical scene; this should include an analysis of the mega-musical mania, the trend to create new musicals based on existing songs (song migration) and stage transfers of successful films. From Sophocles through William Shakespeare to Eminem, writers have sought to use the rhythms of language to accentuate the story they are seeking to share. The pre-Caxton society relied on an oral tradition to deliver stories of fact and fiction. Cultures spanning the entire globe and all ages of civilization have instinctively adopted musical storytelling; it is prominent in various forms even now – be it around a camp fire, at a tribal ceremony, an inner city playground or on a West End stage. In todays world, language and music are at our fingertips. They are both instantaneous. And they can be married in a second. Technically, music is intricate. Most writers will say the same about language. But in an inspired moment they can conjoin and express something wonderful both sonically and linguistically. The act of constructing such a moment can be the end result of many less fruitful moments – but there is always the chance that it could just happen instantaneously. Our logistical minds tell us that it just is not possible; that we would never be able to express ourselves beautifully and eloquently in musical form. And yet the compulsion to try and do so has arrested most people, even if only for a quickly aborted solitary moment. So perhaps here lies the fascination with musicals. They show life as we know it happily residing in an alternate reality – where music and language are easy bed partners and everything goes to extremes. Or does it? The West End is one of Londons most popular tourist attractions. It has built its reputation, in tandem with New Yorks Broadway, as the commercial mecca of musical theatre. Las Vegas has the showgirls but Broadway and the West End share the showtunes. Indeed, while their identities are undeniably distinct, the relationship between them is close; same sex twins rather than identical ones. Each has their own nuances of behaviour – the younger twin Broadway hunts that bit more keenly for the next off-beat musical whirlwind; the older West End plays percentages but plays them with palpable success. The term West End was originally coined as a geographical short cut – a way of describing a part of London synonymous with theatre. Since its inception into London vernacular the phrase West End has mutated to describe something meta-geographical. While once upon a time it merely represented an actual place, now it also describes the gateway to an invented world of glitz, glamour and show. The West End may still be the home of theatre, but the kind of theatre that it houses has become very easily classifiable. The listings do not lie. And neither do they try to. The West End is a haven for small ideas done big; big names, big shows, big spectacles, big budgets, big risks. The social and artistic significance of theatre as an art form has not suffered in the time since the West End theatres were constructed. But the immediacy of rival entertainments, chiefly television and film, has undoubtedly provided so comfortable an alternative for the borderline theatregoing public that its popularity has. Ultimately, the publics relationship with theatre has somewhat inverted itself; once the entertainment of the people, theatre has become high-brow, elitist, exclusive even. Or so we are led to believe. Every year the people entrusted with running the countrys theatres are ensconced in attempts to make theatre more accessible. Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre has incorporated a sponsorship deal with Travelex with the express purpose of enabling its shows to be available to people for as little as  £10 a ticket. Theatrical output is continuing to diversify in new directions. The National Theatre still produces the time-honoured classics that will appease their traditional supporters. But they also invited outside companies including Theatre de Complicite, Improbable, Shunt and Kneehigh to co-develop their new work. Arts Council funding dictates a certain amount of programming for in-house producing theatres throughout the country. It is impossible to equate the artistic worth of a proposed project while it exists solely as an outline on a piece of paper. But it is easier to quantify the greater social import of the same project. Therefore the involvement in various local outreach initiatives including young peoples theatre and new writing programmes serves duplicate purposes. But in doing so it runs the risk of wrestling a certain amount of control from the artistic directors, or at least diluting the intent of their work. But the West End is not really concerned with any of this. The theatres are privately owned and have little social obligation. West End theatre is a notoriously unpredictable money market. Make a big success of yourself and you can eventually buy it up – which is exactly what Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh have ended up doing. Lloyd Webbers Really Useful Group are the proprietors of twelve of the capitals larger theatres. By January 2006 Delfont Mackintosh will control another seven, and will have begun constructing the Sondheim Theatre – the first theatre to be built on Shaftesbury Avenue since 1931. The long-term plan of Delfont Mackintosh is to refurbish and modernise theatreland. But one cannot help but think that their extreme makeover will be restricted to the facilities and layout – and that the entertainment will remain as traditional as ever. The musical-as-we-know-it grew out of the 19th Century tradition of music hall, which itself was the bastard son of drink and rowdiness. After removing the alcohol from drunken singalongs, and relocating from the pub to theatres, the 1860s saw the popularity of the newly-arrived music hall go from good idea to massively popular entertainment. The humbling beginnings of the musical cannot help but reveal the nucleus of the idea; it was born of accident – of people seeking to have pure, unadulterated entertainment. In that respect, it has no one form; no one philosophy; indeed no real sense of philosophy; no real sense of purpose other than fun, fun, fun! As the musical was developing it was the bastion of popular music of the time. Through Gilbert and Sullivan, Irving Berlin, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill and Cole Porter, the men and women behind musical were the most revered song writers at work in the Western world. Ten years into the post-war era there was a marked shift. The musical standards that made dry, wry and witty observations about upper middle class were about to be trumped by rock and roll. And John Osbournes 1956 kitchen-sink-drama Look Back In Anger was going to have repercussions outside the world of the well-made play. The birth of transmittable media was only going to swell the amount of music being produced. In the early days of the wireless radio, families gathered to listen to the songs of Ivor Novello or Noel Coward. By the mid-1960s many families had television sets in their front rooms; radio broadcasts were a competitive business; and air transport links had made the world traversable for all those who could afford it. Music was a commodity that could be sent from one side of the world to the other. And in the slipstream of the music were the musicians themselves. Through television and radio, songwriters and musicians had an identity. They became icons – the most celebrated people on the planet. And their music was nowhere near the West End stage. For the first time since their inception musicals were not using the popular music of the time. Rocknroll was being held in musical purgatory by traditionalists unhappy at its low-brow ideals. While cinema was running as fast and far as it could with the concept of the film musical, the stage was seeking to deliver variations on earlier themes. Elvis Presley made numerous musical films – as did The Beatles. In the 1960s the West End was awash with Broadway imports – the influence of Leonard Bernstein, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe and other transatlantic success stories was diluting the integrity of the West End as the older brother of the musical. But the psychedelic overtones of that time were to create musical anomalies; while some composers flirted with the conce pt of rock, others werent afraid to dive headlong into its bottomless pit. After its anti-Vietnam stance and inclusion of group nudity caused outrage on Broadway, Hair opened in the West End in 1968. From being the chosen playground of mild-mannered conservatives, the musical was being politicised – and modernised. Within five years, the Age of Aquarius had been further capitalized upon by Godspell, Oh Calcutta and even Jesus Christ Superstar – which proved to be the foundation on which the new dawn of the musical would be built. Todays twin Godfathers of musical composition for Broadway and the West End carry the bright torch of yesteryear; Stephen Sondheim represents his forefathers fascination with the off-beat, with Andrew Lloyd Webber never straying from the musically conservative beat. There are various factors that dictate the recent successes and failures in West End theatre. But the starting point for every West End production is money – a fact beautifully demonstrated by the plot of one of the West Ends most popular current productions The Producers. Essentially, the capitalist dawn that swallowed up free love has made currency the new leading man in musical theatre. Producers need big ideas and big songs to legislate for big budgets. So instead of trying to predict what people may like and creating a musical story around it, the West End decided to reduce the risk and simply take the music that people already like and create a story around that. In some ways the origin of song migration is old revue style shows – popular hits belted out with no real desire to create an accompanying piece of drama or comedy. Coupled with the screen to stage success of musical films like The Lion King, a producer was now able to weigh up potential West End shows safe in the knowledge that a stable of worldwide smash hits could enable a musical to run for years, even with a bad review. Suddenly the sheer bankability of Lloyd Webber was looking like an outlandish risk alongside the music of Abba, Queen or even (the critically lauded but never supergroup status) of Madness. Negotiations are in process for the trend to continue, with Bob Marley, The Beatles and Elton John just some of the musical legends in line to have their songs shoe-horned into some money-spinning stage extravaganza that makes almost no sense at all. Not that the public really care. They want to go and sing-a-long like the pub dwellers of the 1840s that unknowingly help ed begin the process of musical theatre. And who shall we choose to lead the sing-song? Well, preferably someone famous off the telly, of course. The West End is a remarkably lucrative place. For his unscheduled stint in the opening cast run of The Producers at the end of 2004, Nathan Lane was being paid  £42,000 a week for the lead role as Max Bialystock. It is a clear indication of the simple transaction between moneymen and talent; the star name guarantees the box office receipts. The West End has been flooded with stars – some of whom have no musical pedigree – because celebrity is deemed to have finally overridden talent. The good, bad and ugly (in no particular order) of recent years include David Hasselhoff, Martine McCutcheon and Denise Van Outen. And if you dont want to spend money on star names, then youd better be sure to have some seriously impressive stage gimmicks; Miss Saigon famously had a helicopter, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang got in to hot water when the eponymous flying car failed to take off in previews, and Phantom of the Opera has a plunging chandelier moment that will wake up anyone snoozing in the stalls. So with standard tickets averaging out at around  £40, the theatregoer demands a truly amazing experience. But amazing and original are poles apart – and thats why when the formula is right, all you need to do is repeat it. There are exceptions. The Bombitty of Errors was a rap interpretation of Shakespeares Comedy of Errors, and was a small but perfectly-formed global success. Stomp became a phenomenon through gradual word of mouth and because it is a different kind of spectacle. Jerry Springer: The Opera began life as an idea at a scratch night at the Battersea Arts Centre and grabbed the attention of every newspaper and fundamentalist Christian in the Western World. But such shows grow from humble beginnings and are swept away on public curiosity. As in any art form, there are people willing to take risks because they believe their work has a market. Bombay Dreams and The Far Pavilions identify a recently developed appreciation of Asian music and culture. The off-Broadway hit Batboy continues in the tradition of earlier pacesetters The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch for kitsch rock operas. But some of these are accidental intruders in the world of the West End. They werent sure if they were really invited but came anyway. One group that certainly were invited are blockbuster films; whether they have songs in them or not. Seemingly the films dont even have to have been that successful. The Witches of Eastwick had a successful run in the West End. But more than likely, the film will have a readymade audience. The Full Monty was relocated to middle America from Sheffield to make it a Broadway success. Billy Elliott is well into previews, but the advance word is that it will be a significant hit. Or better still, just take a film with songs already in them – you dont stand to make as much money, but the guarantee of an audience is that much stronger. Mary Poppins has been well-received by most, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is in its third year. There are currently 36 theatres in the West End of Londons theatreland. As of Monday 2 May 2005, 27 are currently housing a production. 17 of those are musicals. This ratio is fairly consistent – and shows no signs of relenting. Essentially a hit West End musical needs a hook; star name, hit songs, hit movie, famous composer, popular revival. Something that can be reduced to a two-word phrase. If you havent got any of those, then heaven help you. Because the West End public certainly wont.