Impact of Nursing Unit Turnover on Patient Outcomes Essay

The problem addressed by the article is the impact of nursing turnover on patient care.   It has been assumed that patient care is affected by turnover but there has not been a good understanding of the relationship between turnover and quality of care. Most research has simply shown that there is a direct relationship between the two without exploring the underlying mechanisms. Study purpose The study aims at describing the underlying mechanisms in the relationship between nursing turnover and quality of care of patients. The objective of the study was to find out how turnover in nursing units affects processes among key work groups and how the impact of these processes affects outcomes of patients. Study variables The study variables are nursing unit turnover, workgroup processes, patient outcomes, control variables and education level.   The independent variables was nursing unit turnover while the dependent variable was patient outcomes which included patient satisfaction, average length of stay, medication errors and patient falls. Workgroup cohesion, relational coordination and workgroup learning were the process variables. Other variables included in the article were control variables which included work complexity, teaching status, technological sophistication, hospital size and unit size as well as nurse characteristics such as RN hours, unit tenure, education level and patient characteristics (health status, patient age and previous hospitalizations). Conceptual framework The conceptual framework applied was modeled around the IPO framework (input-process-outcome) which assesses workgroup behavior and performance effectiveness. It is incorporated in most models of workgroup effectiveness. Workgroup processes are those mechanisms which inhibit or encourage members of a team to combine their abilities and behavior (Kozlowski et al, 2003). These include workgroup cohesion, workgroup learning and relational coordination. The unit level patient outcomes include patient satisfaction, length of stay, patient falls and medication errors. In the conceptual framework, the hospital, nurse and patient characteristics as well as the nursing unit were identified as control variables. Literature Review The literature review supports a need for the study as it identifies the fact that there has been research that establishes that there truly is an effect of nursing turnover on patient outcomes. However there is very little information that describes the actual relationship between nursing turnover and patient outcomes. The literature review identifies some of the effects of turnover as detachment, a disruption in communication flow and a disruption of established relationships (Sung-Heui et al, 2010). A nursing unit with high turnover requires more time for new staff to adjust while the staff that remain have to be more careful when supervising the new staff. This has the overall effect of lowering relational coordination. The article also identifies that work learning is does not occur well when there is no stability as is the case in units with high turnover (Sung-Heui et al, 2010). Learning needs both change and stability thus units with very high or very low turnover may not hav e much cognitive growth. When there is greater cohesion among staff members there is also greater motivation for the employees to provide better service which leads to better patient satisfaction (Sung-Heui et al, 2010). Other patient outcomes addressed by the article include length of stay which measures how efficient the hospital is, which in turn is an indication of the efficiency in communication between healthcare providers. If a workgroup is well coordinated then there outcomes are of higher quality and they outcomes are achieved more efficiently. The article also focuses on patient falls and medication errors as an indicator that there is work group coordination and workgroup learning. When errors occur there is opportunity for learning however if there is too high turnover, then learning does not occur and there is likelihood for errors to be repeated. Study design The study design was a non-experimental longitudinal study causal modeling study. This design was appropriate for the study since it tries to establish a relationship between two variables that is whether one causes the other. Some of the threats to internal validity that the study may have include history which means that as more time elapses between measurements there is a likelihood that time may contribute to differences in results in the variables. Testing is also a possible threat to internal validity in a longitudinal study as it requires the participants to take certain tests on several occasions (Barry, 2005) Attrition is a threat to the longitudinal study design; when participants drop out of the study before all the data is collected is likely to distort the accuracy of results (Barry, 2005). Sample and setting The sample consisted of 268 nursing units from 141 hospitals. This sample size was adequate to ensure generalizability of the research findings. Additionally using nursing units from various hospitals served to increase the generalizability of the findings. The sample was derived from the medical-surgical units and nursing units of acute care facilities of various hospitals, settings that again provided a good representation of all the hospitals and helped to increase the external validity of the study. Identification and control of extraneous variables Some of the identified extraneous variables included environmental uncertainty such as volumes, types of patients which increased the complexity in work processes and group dynamics among nurses. Work complexity was measured using a 7-item scale developed to measure environmental uncertainty. The scale measured work complexity by identifying frequent interruptions or unanticipated events. Technological sophistication was also measured using the Saidin Index which provided a weighted sum of the number of technologies and services that were available in the hospital. Study instruments/tools Both primary and secondary data were collected in this study. Secondary data was obtained from secondary data collected from the Outcomes Research in Nursing Administration Project (II) (ORNA II). Nursing units provided turnover rates for six months and nurses also completed questionnaires which measured various workgroup processes. The patient data collected was also from the ORNA II project. The use of such data collection methods was appropriate as it provided a rich data source. Additionally, the use of data from the ORNA project provided a reliable source of good quality data. Data analysis procedures The unit of analysis in the study was the nursing unit. The variables relational coordination, work group learning, patient satisfaction, workgroup cohesion, patient satisfaction and work complexity were measured at the individual level and were then aggregated to the unit level. The study used linear and count models to determine the distribution of the outcome and process variables. The average LOS was estimated using a model of random effects while the medication errors and patient falls were analyzed using a Poisson regression model that was adjusted for dispersion. The Poisson regression is appropriate for rate data such as the one collected in this study. The use of the linear counts is also appropriate as it allows for a relation between the linear model and the response variable. Strengths/limitations The strength of the study lies in the use of the IPO framework. Using this framework allows for the underlying mechanisms such as workgroup processes to be evaluated and considered as variables. Thus the study looks at input variables, process variables and output variables providing adequate data with which to describe the underlying mechanisms and relationship between nursing turnover and patient outcomes. Some of the limitations of the study include the model which assumes that the turnover affects relational coordination a few months after it has occurred. The time period of two months may not have been sufficient to assess true variation of the turnover levels. Another limitation was the missing variables that have an effect on turnover, patient outcomes and workgroup processes. Some of these include the support of managers, supervision and organizational effectiveness which also have an impact on whether a nurse stays or not. Implications The results of the study make it necessary that there be further research on the effect of nursing turnover on patient outcomes and workgroup processes. The findings of the study support a need to increase work group coordination and cohesion so as to improve patient satisfaction. These findings are consistent with previous research findings. The research findings also show that the in nursing units where there was higher workgroup learning there were fewer errors in giving medications. This supports empirical evidence for the development and sustenance of processes where nurses are supported in discussing and learning from their errors.

Chinese Communist Party in the Civil War in 1949 Essay

The Chinese Civil War, which lasted from 1927 to 1949, was a civil war in China which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) overthrew the Guomindang (GMD) . As the CCP had always been inferior to the GMD in many aspects, many were shocked and startled by the Communist’s victory; although numerous factors show that the Communist’s victory was almost inevitable. This essay will examine the factors that lead to the Communists victory, which includes ideology, economic, political, social, military, foreign issues, and personalities of the leaders. One of the major advantages of the CCP can be seen in their social aspects and the support of peasants, which were the vast majority of people. They owned limited amount of land, had high rents, low productivity, were in dept and many lived on the edge of starvation. In addition, having peasant support for the CCP can supply with food resources. Therefore, Mao understood the first goal he had to achieve was the support from peasants. First, he set up peasant unions of Hunan from 1925-27, then in 1838-45 when Chiang had their attention focused on the Japanese Invasion, Mao and the CCP went to the rural areas, where the peasants were grateful for the way the soldiers behaved and helped the people. Then, the political leaders confiscated land from the landowners and redistributed it to landless people; lastly, they were given rights to vote for village leaders. By doing all this, the once enslaved and exploited people of china gained faith and freedom established the myth that only the ‘Red Army’ was the true protector of China. In contrast, the GMD had no strong support from the peasants; and most of them felt no connection to the government. The GMD had no party organization helping the struggling provinces, and after the split of GMD and CCP in 1927, the support of common people was very low . On the military aspects, the CCP was disadvantaged in the number of arm forces. In 1945, the GMD had 5 million troops, while the CCP only and 1.25 troops. However, there are a few points which can turn this into an advantage. Firstly, they made use of guerilla warfare, which is extremely suitable for small troops to travel swiftly, change position; be precise and alert. Secondly, the communists selected high quality troops and trained them strictly with strong discipline. Lastly, the communists had similar  lifestyles between the leaders and soldiers, and with the peasant support, they sustained high morale within the Red Army. With all these advantages, we can see that in 1930-1931 Chiang Kai-shek sent 3 military expeditions to exterminate the Red Army, facing an army of 300000, the CCP defeated them all . Here, we can see how effective the guerrilla warfare is in facing a large amount of troops. In contrast, the GMD had huge troops and modern weapons . However, the GMD troops did not have strategies against the light armed and swift troops of the CCP. Moreover, because the life between the leaders and the soldiers had too much difference, they had low morale and did not have the full heart to fight for the GMD. In terms of economic aspects of the CCP, and they did not have a lot of expenses due to the guerilla warfare tactics, and the people can self-supply themselves with food, as they were all peasants. In contrast for the GMD, 65% of the state’s budget was met by currency expansion and only 10% by taxes . Therefore, they were highly dependent on foreign aids of the US. The constant depreciation of the value of paper currency undermined in particular the morale in all jobs that were dependent upon the payment of salaries, including troops, officers and civilian officials. Their tolerance was limited and led to widespread corruption. In terms of political aspects, the CCP had made a lot of errors and had escaped destruction by a hair’s breadth, but they had an extraordinary resilience, refused to give up and learned from their mistakes . In 1927 after the failure of the autumn harvest uprising and retreated to Jinggang Shan, he noticed needed to win the hearts of the peasants; therefore, he adapted the Marxist theory and incorporated it into the peasants . Then, as he retreated with the remaining troops, he set his base in the Jinggang shan mountains where nationalists were far. Here, it shows that Mao learned from his mistakes. Furthermore in 1936 during the Japanese invasion, Mao forced the GMD to unite with them to defend the country, and here, we can also see that Mao truly cared for his country and did not just want power. In contrast, the GMD did not truly care for China. Firstly, the GMD’s support came from the wealthy city classes and landowners, which was a small population of China. Lastly, the GMD lacked passion and never learned from  their mistakes, for example, in the final battle in 1948, when they were advised to concentrate his forces on the Huai River. The foreign issues were also a crucial point in the victory of the communists. During the Japanese invasions in 1937, the GMD, who were supposed to be in charge of china, conserved his forces for the inevitable civil war, and pinned their hopes of interventions of foreign powers to defeat Japan . Moreover, as the GMD is dealing with the Japanese invasions, it gave chance to the CCP to gain popularity, strengthen their armies, and give them time to expand in general. By 1945, party membership gained from 100,000 to 1.2 millionOther factors such as the ideology and the personalities of the Mao and Chiang played an important role in the victory of the Communists. In the ideology of communism by Marx, they were just supposed spread communism, but later, it was adapted by Mao to suit china’s conditions, focused on the peasantry as the main revolutionary force, instead of the workers. Meanwhile, the Nationalists did not remain to their original ideology, which was the three principles – people’s livelihood, democracy and nationalism. For example, when Chiang gave the warlords a position in the government to develop urban areas, he ignored people’s livelihood. During the Japanese invasion, he ignored nationalism by relying on foreign aid, and in 1932, he ignored democracy by suppressing the media, books, and the press. Gradually, the GMD lost support and the people favored the Communists. In conclusion, the Communists’ victory was due to the peasant support, political organization, and their use of military tactics in guerilla warfare. Also, the nationalists’ incapability of governing, corruptions not remaining to the original ideology, and the lack of passion, leads to the downfall of the GMD. In addition to the foreign issues, the Japan invasions, the Communists truly won not only by forcing the GMD out of china physically, but winning the people’s hearts and minds. At last, the country with the largest population, China, is finally painted red. References Chinese Civil War 1946-1949. (2000., December 16). Wars of the World. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from http://www.onwar.com/aced/chrono/c1900s/yr45/fchina1946.htmElegant, R. S. (1972). Mao vs. Chiang: The Battle for China, 1925-1949. New York: A Thistle Book. Lescot, P. (2004). Before Mao (S. Rendall, Trans.). 10 East 53rd Street, NewYour, NY10022, USA: HarperCollins Publishers. (Original work published 1999)Marrin, A. (1989). Mao Tse-Tung and His China. 375 Hudson Street, New York 10014, USA: Puffin Group. Meins, B. (n.d.). Chinese history: The Chinese Civil War of 1927-1950 . In Helium where knowledge grows. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from Helium Web site: http://www.helium.com/tm/346350/chinese-civil-happen-momentShowalter, D. (2005, April). Decisive Encounters: The Chinese Civil War, 1946-1950. Retrieved September 26, 2007, from LookSmart Web site: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3686/is_200504/ai_n14681639Wood, J., & McManus, A. (1998). China Revolutionary Leadership (L. Day, Ed.). 6 Ride Way, Albany, Auckland, NewZealand: Macmillan Publishers. (Original work published 1998)

Bartering system

Bartering system SHOULD ALL THE COUNTRIES HAVE ONE GLOBAL ECONOMY? As we all are well aware that before the money was minted, people followed â€Å"BARTERING SYSTEM†. Slowly, it evolved into the principles of buying and selling with money. As time passed, the world faced Imperialism, where the countries started conquering other countries as their colonies and made them as a source for raw materials. After World War II the Imperialismcame to an end, and a new era of economies emerged. These economies are Capitalism, Socialism and Mixed Economy, and altogether these economies are known as â€Å"GLOBAL ECONOMIES†. Today all the countries of the world are slowly opting to have a global economy. Even though, many countries oppose to adopt one global economy because of its negative impacts on the developing and third world nations, it is obvious that it has shown clear positive effects shifting the economic activities into profitable situations. Besides several criticising allegations agains t having one global economy, yet it still has its good effects in the areas such as all round development of the nation, Unity among nations and increasing political awareness among the countries. The main claim of many countries is that global economy leads to financial exploitation of a country. This criticism is mainly based on the premise that adopting a global economy can destroy the regional economy by means of financial exploitation and financial inequalities. On the contrary, the country which adopts global economy will benefit from equal development and equal distribution of wealth among the countries. Most of the economists of the world agree that having a global economy, the countries will be developed equally. According to a webpage article from economy watch, (nd) states that, â€Å"global economy can have the increasing opportunities of the economies in large scale and by opening up of the economy, the industrial sector will be benefited by achieving cheap labour, c apital and technology.† For example: if one country is self sufficient with the financial resources, then that country can help another developing country in attaining financial resources and free from financial debts and hence there is less scope for financial exploitation. It increases the employment opportunities in large scale and small scale industries. Global economy also helps in transferring sophisticated technology from the developed countries to the developing countries in the fields of agricultural sector to service sector. It also helps in having constant level in the balance of trade among all the countries, which also plays a vital role in increasing the national income and overall development as a whole. Another important claim is that global economy results in instability of unity among the people of the country. This negotiations are mainly depends on the facts on having global economy which exploits the individual economies in the form of inequality, social and cultural differences which result in wars. Yet, most of the countries accept to adopt global economy which will be benefited by equality, social and cultural dialogues. Most of the people agree the conclusion that by adopting the global economy, there will be less scope for wars and unity will be prevailed among the countries. A global economy would also help in promoting international cooperation and peace. If countries are dependent upon one another’s economic success then armed conflict would be less likely. According to businesspme, (nd) â€Å"Both India and Pakistan possess nuclear warheads and they are often in wars over land and territory such as the Kashmir issue. It is likely that these two countries will not use nuclear warheads for against each other. Otherwise it would be complete destruction and leads to the financial crisis†.It also helps in improving good relations and exchange of cultural activities and benefits of the country. It also helps in deve loping bilingual relations between the countries and unity among the people and nations in the form of equality, social and cultural diversity.

Technology and the Communication Process Research Paper

Technology and the Communication Process - Research Paper Example To gather information and review theories regarding communication processes, different academic websites, journals and books have been utilized to support arguments. How Communication Processes are influenced by the Use of Technology World has transformed into a global village, thanks to the arrival of a number of technological developments. These technological developments has enabled person sitting at one corner of the world to communicate with another person sitting at the opposite corner of the world. All of this is possible just because of gadgets, computers, internet and efforts to close the gap between people living on earth. It can be argued that in today’s era, all communication processes are based on technology, with the exception of face to face communication or speech based communication. From the beginning of the human race on earth, human has strived to develop methods and technologies that help them to keep a record of their imagination and thought processes. Fi rst, we used to have stone tablets which were replaced with the advent of the printing press and then with the emergence of computers. Thus, the communication processes adopted by the human race has been changed from time to time (Cuel & Ferrario, 2007). Before going into further detail, it is important to understand the communication process. ... The second step was the message which was named as intended message design which clarified the audience that it actually includes the purpose, language and priorities included as content in the message. The third step in Shannon and Weaver’s communication model was channel which was named as a medium of communication by Berlo. The last and fourth step was receiving of message at the receiver’s end which heavily depends upon the perception of the receiver. Here, the impact of technology on communication processes would be discussed with respect to an individual’s personal and professional life. First of all it need to be understood that communication carried out with the use of technology is referred to as mediated communication. If you are using a cell phone to send a message, it is mediated communication. If you are sending an email to communicate, it is mediated communication. Even if you are delivering your intended message through television to mass audiences , it is also called mediated communication. In our personal lives, we get engaged in communication processes for almost 18 hours of the day. If it was the 18th century, then a person who is engaged for 18 hours in communicating with people would go mad due to lack of facilitating gadgets available (Tomei, 2007). Imagine women of 18th century sitting in Europe wanted to send her beloved husband her picture to ease of his nerves during the tiring war that he is engaged in Caribbean. It would take a month or a couple of months for the picture to reach at desired destination as it will be carried through sea-route. At that time, people used sketches to make such communications and write a number of pages to express their feelings. Then came the

Final Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Final Project - Assignment Example Apparently, this model of sport is associated with an increased perception of gender mainstreaming. Soccer is highly regarded as a male dominated professional with the few females involved being confined to embrace the concepts presented by their male colleagues. I considered playing a gender spin through the introduction of a female official or player in a male team. The character will align with the demands of the sport, however, she will engage a touch of feminism in her appearance. She is anticipated to be in cloths that spell out her gender as well as illustrate on the feminism aspect of the entire context. Apparently, the character will be high heel shoes and having her face in makeup that spells out her feminism. She will be in large earrings and wearing some tight but comfortable outfit. The interest of the object will only be founded on the potential interests it will arouse against the male dominated sport event. The image allowed an opportunity to evaluate on my three queries. It allowed for the reflection on the possible reception that may be associated to a gender twist in tradition events such as soccer. Apparently, the sport is regarded as a male affair with respect to the dressing and the art of expression. However, the creation allows for the reflection of the contribution that may be generated following the introduction of a differing gender perspective in the entire sport. It also allowed for the reflection on the eventual impression of gender that may not be considered to be declared in various cultures and traditions. Soccer was regarded as a tradition or a culture in the creation. The concept of the sport being advised by a male gender mainstreaming may be regarded as being central in the consideration of a sense of unspoken domination. The introduction of a character expressing an increased touch of a different gender in the sport allows for the conceptualization of the question. Finally, the creation allowed for the establishment

What is cost Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is cost - Assignment Example A person that decides to use his time studying for college has the opportunity cost of the money he could make working in the private industry. At a minimum college students have the opportunity cost of the federal minimum salary of $7.25 an hour. Economics can be divided into two time phases which are the long run and the short run. In the short run the quantity of at least one input in fixed and the quantities of the other inputs is varied, but in contrast in the long run the quantities of all inputs are varied (Moffatt, 2010). Two inputs that are usually fixed in the short run are land and capital. The law of diminishing returns takes effects in the short run (Tutor2u, 2010). The production of firms changes in levels of output during the long run. When a person goes to a car dealership having knowledge of economics can help the buyer negotiate a better deal. The car sales business operates in cycle. We are currently in November which implies that the dealership has to get rid of its entire 2010 inventory to make room for the 2011 models. I can argue to the car salesman this point in order to ask for a price reduction. Another argument that I can use in order to obtain a price reduction is to talk about the state of the economy. Due to the fact that unemployment is current close to 10% there are not that many people buying new cars. I deserve a price discount since your company cannot afford to lose my business. A third way to negotiate a better deal is by showing the auto dealership your credit score. I could argue that a person with an excellent credit score deserves a price discount. There are many types of costs that are relevant for a firm. One of the largest expenses accounts in the corporate world is the payroll account. The salaries of employees are a major source of the cost structure of a company. Another cost driver in corporation is the cost of materials. In the retail industry cost of

Oil Business and Power in Middle East Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Oil Business and Power in Middle East - Essay Example These major oil exporting countries were undeveloped and poor before the discovery of oil. There was deficiency of money as well as technology necessary for mining and marketing the oil therefore the developed and well industrialized countries of the world took advantage of that situation and offered help for exploring the areas likely to enclose larger oil reservoirs. The Government of indigent Middle East countries made several agreements with these stable countries and allowed them to mine the oil resources. The oil business persuaded foreign intercession and it resulted in political stability among these nations (Bird, and Brown). Development in social condition in Middle East countries has been observed since after the expansion of oil business and power. The regime of oil exporting Middle East states spend the per annum yield of petroleum trade on the financial stability of the country. In addition to it, the profit from oil export increases the net income of citizens and it ul timately results in raising the living standards of common man.

Which branch of government should be making the decisions on Essay

Which branch of government should be making the decisions on immigration - Essay Example Since September 11th the debate on immigration has heated up with the congress discussing how to amend the policy that is to allow foreigners to reside in the US. According to Reuters it is estimated that 11 million immigrants are in the US illegally. Based on this fact, some feel that politicians in Washington are at a slower pace on the issue and whatever measures they are proposing are not effective enough. Due to this some states such as Alabama Arizona, Georgia, Indiana and Utah have gone ahead to enact their own laws in regards to immigration. This has sparked an intense debate on who should make policy decisions on immigration whether it should be the affair of the states or the federal government (Vettese). The federal immigration policy of the United States is based on the plenary power doctrine. As a fundamental characteristic of sovereignty, the legislative and the executive (political branches) enjoy great power and authority, in relation to immigration issues1. The courts in several occasions have affirmed the plenary power doctrine from the 19th century to-date, despite this, there are attempts to reduce control by the other branches of government on immigration and uphold a judicial administration system founded on the premise that foreigners have a right to migrate. The constitution does not give directions to any government branch in regards to immigration but it does put power of neutralization on the congress2. Immigration policies being a national affair as immigrants do not only go to one state but to every state, must be uniform and to make policy decisions on the subject takes a national body. This body must be able to make the laws, enforces them in a national and uniform scale. This body must also be in a position to counter check if the laws made are in line with the constitution. There is no better side of the government that can fulfill this uniformity at a national scale than the federal government. The federal government

Critical Book Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Critical Book Review - Essay Example CIDA has recently discarded its main advantages, such as gender equality, health issues, importance of development aid etc. Though one can argue that every organization is connected with its self-interest, we can surely claim that further discussion is related to the international aid policies, political and economic contexts. The first chapter "Canada among Donors: How Does Canadian aid Compare?" by Hunter McGill deals with relations of Canada in terms of international society on the matters of help, undertakings and goals. There are two different international processes, which are used for evaluation of international relations in Canada with respect to international policies, non-aid policies and programs. Unfortunately, Canadian government is not interested in foreign help and support and shows underperformance at the international level. This claim is produced by the author of the chapter, but it is interesting for the readers to find out whether it is true or not. On the basis of two basic criteria, such as the Peer Review process of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Assistance Committee (OECD/DAC) and the Commitment to Development Index annual rankings of the Center for Global Development (CGD) evaluation of international aid in the development of Canada is discussed further on in this chapter. Other donor states evaluate national situation in Canada and in accordance with their data they donate help (McGill). The CGDs Commitment to Development Index was established as part of an effort to rate how the public policies of twenty-two nations, all currently members of the DAC, affect the prospects and progress of developing countries. Basing on these two basic indices, it is possible to evaluate a certain degree of international aid donated to Canada. At the same time, Canada plays a role of an important international donor and it is possible to measure international help donated by the country. Canada has been

Respond post Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Respond post - Essay Example at when the need for tax increase arises, which is normal, it would be difficult to get support from the public as they would interpret it as an increase in cost of living. Second, the writer highlights the proposal that a national sales tax should be established. In brief, the system would involve collecting sales tax at all retail establishments equal to 23% instead of taxing income. My response is in favor of the proposal. This is because the system would spread the tax burden evenly. This is because everyone buys things. Therefore, it curbs means of cheating and evading tax. 2. According to the article, Income Tax Reform and Flat Tax, the federal tax code is too detailed and lengthy. The writers propose a flat rate tax on income. It will make sure citizens have more money in their pockets as well as eliminate bureaucracy, long and expensive procedures during filing. Another proposal is Simple Exact Tax, and that is pure, fair and pro-growth. My response is that reform is necessary as we are evolving. The current system consumes time and money. Any error in the forms is fined by the government making the system very demanding (Jones, Thomas, & T.Lang, 2012). With the introduction of new taxes like medical excise tax, it gets more frustrating. 3. The White House and Treasury Department have released Business Tax Reform that has suggestions for simplifying tax law and stimulate economic growth. The document proposes adoption of methods that will make it easier for people to start and run startups by reducing the deductions (The White House and the Department of the Treasury, 2012). My response is that if the suggestions are to be adopted, they will spell success for most people. The benefits from this reform would provide a more generous phase-out schedule and considerably simplify and restructure the tax credit rules The White House and the Department of the Treasury. (2012, February). The Presidents Framework For Business Tax Reform. Retrieved April 18, 2015,

Superstitions in India Essay Example for Free

Superstitions in India Essay Superstitions are based on ignorance and there is no place for superstitions but in the darkness. The best way to remove superstitions is to educate the people and given them light of reason. A true knowledge of Nature and God will take the place of blind beliefs and false traditions and this only can should the death-knell of superstitions. —Samuel Smiles. Superstitions are unreasoned and irrational beliefs of the people living in the past or in the present age. When certain happenings cannot be rationally explained, people assign mysterious and inexplicable reasons for their operation. This faith of the people in irrational things takes the form of superstitions. Superstitions are, therefore, unreasoned beliefs which have a chronic kind of intensity in their evil. In old primitive times, superstitions governed the majority of people. Those days were such that it favored the growth of superstitions. Superstitions enjoyed their hey-day of glory when the civilization and science had not lighted the darkness of the ignorance of the primitive people. Lack of scientific advancement is another cause of the growth of superstitions. They find a rich soil for germination at a time and in a country where science and philosophy have not had their hold on the masses. Unenlightened people always tend to be superstitions. Undue reverence for traditions and customs prevailing in a particular society also make people superstitions in their ideas. This belief in the sacredness of time and old traditions of ancestors, keep people in the pale of superstitious thought. The tricks of the priests also exercise their unhealthy effect and people with a religious orthodoxy are prove to fall an easy prey to these superstitious agencies. Superstitions have continued to exercise their sway on all classes of people all over the world. There are certain common superstitions which are shared by all the people in the world. Belief in spirits, ghosts, and witches is a common superstition among all the people of the world. Even today belief in witches is present in India, Scotland, England, France and many other countries. People, especially in India and other countries of the East, still believe in ghosts. The cries of certain birds like owl and ravenes and mewing of cats are regarded with superstitions all over the globe. There is a very common belief that when comets are seen, they portend the death of kings or great men. When beggars die there are no comets seen. The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. In India, every activity of life is associated with some sort of superstition. It is supposed to be bad if somebody sneezes behind or calls back a man who is leaving his home for a journey. He must stop for a while to let the ill-luck pass. It is again ominous if he sees an empty vessel or a broom right in front of the house. The story of Ram Chandra, coming across a snake on the left hand side and a jackal on the right hand side while he was coming back to his hut in the jungle is widely known. He at once guessed that some misfortune had befallen Sita. The sight of a dead body or a cow feeding her calf or a full pitcher is considered as auspicious while one is on a journey. Stories of ghosts and evil spirits are very common in all the countries of the world and especially in India. After death, a person changes into a ghost. Sometimes, a ghost molests the other members of the family generally, a pipal tree is supposed to be the haunt of ghosts. The fear of ghosts is so great that some people worship them in their homes without giving them any shape and form. The ghosts are offered sweets, cakes, clothes and many such Other articles to please them and bribe them against doing any kind of harm to the people. Generally, the illiterate and ignorant people believe in superstitions. In villages, the people believe that small-pox, cholera and some fevers all are caused by the displeasure of he-ghosts and she-ghosts. The small pox, whenever it spreads in the form of epidemic, is supposed to be the result of the wrath of the Goddess Shitaladevi. Numerous beliefs of this type are prevalent in villages. Sometimes, such miracles take place in the cure of such diseases that one is surprised at and compelled to believe in these superstitions. Indians have a blind belief in, Sadhus though the cases of cheating by the Sadhus are generally heard. The ashes given by the Sadhus to their devotees are considered as something extraordinarily holy. The tradition of observing Terahvi in Indian families is another superstition. Hindus believe that souls of the dead persons exist in some form or the other for about eleven days in the family. The family becomes free form the impurity of death on the twelfth day. On this day Brahmins are fed and given charities to give peace to departed soul. These acts of giving charities to the Brahmins and feeding them or repeated every year in the month of Kwar. This observance is called Shradha. People have a great faith in palmistry, astrology and horoscope. There may be some experts in them here and there but generally, we come across, cheats, who exploit innocent persons and befool them. Superstitions differ from place to place and caste to caste. In South India, the sight of a black cat, crossing the way in front of one is considered to be very inauspicious. In Punjab, the sight of a Brahmin right in the morning is supposed to bring one misfortune for the whole day. But a Brahmin is not looked upon as inauspicious elsewhere. The sight of a cobbler, oilmen or washer man bring ill-lack to one in U. P. ut not in Punjab, It should not be surprising that some of English superstitions are very similar to certain superstitions prevalent in India. But in England and India the following of a dog at night without any apparent cause is supposed to indicate the presence of a spirit nearby. As in Indian villages, people believe in witches, so do the people of England and Wales who live in remote villages. The only panacea for all the social evils like superstitions is education. To make the backward and superstition minded Indians enlightened, education should be spread widely. Education cultivates reasoning and thinking in a human being and as soon as a person comes under the shelter of reason and scientific outlook, he or she, becomes free from blind beliefs. Indians by nature are fatalists and they do not apply their energy to work for the betterment of their lot. This is the greatest superstition which has undermined and is still undermining the real prosperity of India. People should be properly educated and should be inspired to be hard working and honest. Then, we should judge everything by the strong light of reason, having firm faith in God.

Goals and Objectives Essay Example for Free

Goals and Objectives Essay Goal 1: Analyzing consumer awareness of health juice. Objectives: We will provide a clear idea regarding the customers awareness towards the health juice as well as towards different variety of fruits. The customers awareness to create a demand towards our product. Goal 2: Understanding the individual’s demographic profile of consumer. Objectives: The customer acceptance depends upon the knowledge for the variety fruit in the surrounding that they have gained their maturity level during growth of the age. The age factor is an important factor to know product demand for a particular age group. So, the interest can be made to motivate those age groups for buying our product. Goal 3: Identifying of influencing factor of purchase. Objectives: Based on our survey, some of the general reasons like variety of fruits, price, topping and packaging appearance will affected customers purchasing power. Thus, the influencing factor of purchasing power makes a producer understand the consumer’s need and services. Goal 4: Analyzing consumer buying behaviour and demand. Objectives: The buying behaviour of is an important parameter which consists of customer preference. The demand of this activity can be known from the customer’s buying pattern and parameters that he considers during buying a health juice like quantity, price, packaging appearance and delivery mode. The demand also depends upon some of the others factors like purchasing power population, promotion activities of product in this activity. Goal 5: Satisfying consumer’s benefit. Objectives: Customer is giving a wide choice of different fruits. We are providing a variety of different fruits for customer to choose. As sugary soft drinks are low in nutritional level, we can persuade the customer to recover our health juice which can satisfy their needs a healthy and long lasting energy drinks. So, customer will be evaluating the level of satisfaction that they received. All of the product will be priced fairly. Mission Our mission is to provide the highest-quality of health juice. We tend to attract customers through selling health juice. When we are adhering to this maxim, everything else will fall into place. Our services will exceed the expectations of the customers.

The Power of Laws of Attraction

The Power of Laws of Attraction Most of us float along with experiences of life. When everything is going smoothly like we want, we are happy. If we end up in bad situations, we throw a temper tantrum and complain about how unlucky we are at life. Being the passive observers, we assume the role of victim when something happens to us that we didnt want happened. The knowledge of Law of Attraction helps us to wake up to the fact that everything that is happening in our lives is only the result of what we are constantly feeling and thinking. This fact can liberate us from the position of a passive observer to a proactive one. A person with a negative attitude towards life wakes up and sees only negativity all around. He sees that bad things are happening to him and might even feel like he is cursed. But Law of Attraction tells us that we can consciously choose our life experiences and by thinking and feeling positively, we can change our realities for the better. Law of Attraction works through the power of focus. As you shift your focus from negative to positive, you start to change the experiences and completely change your your life. You may be a person who has no idea what the Law is or you may be a person who already knows a little about how the law works or you may be someone who has already achieved some success by implementing the Laws principles in your daily life. Either way, if you havent awakened to the full power of the Law, you can start with the following practices daily: Visualize your day Wake up each day and visualize the day youd like to experience. Form mental movies in your mind and clearly picture all the good experiences that you want happen to you. By consciously visualizing what you want, you shift you vibration focus from negative to the positive. When you align yourself with what you want, you start to attract everything you visualize. Practice being positive Eliminate negative thoughts of anxiety, worry and fear by deliberately focusing on what you want. During the day, whenever you observe your mind drifting towards negative thoughts, immediately think about something that makes you feel good or visualize the experiences you want to attract. This changes your focus from negative to positive. With persistent practice, this habit will become a part of your nature. Dont try to figure everything out To fully unleash the power of Law of Attraction, you must practice letting go. Dont try to figure everything out or do everything yourself. Only perform actions that can be performed by you and make the choices that are required and leave the rest up to the universe to take care for you. Just know that the loving universe is working on behalf of you, bringing you closer to the fulfillment of your desires. There is of course much more to the Law than the three mentioned practices. Understand how the Law of Attraction works in your life so that you can deliberately attract what you want. Know that you dont have to be a passive observer and start exercising this amazing power now! Subliminal Messages and Subconscious Mind Negative conditioning of the subconscious mind is one of the biggest reasons why many people fail to achieve what they truly desire in life. Fortunately, there are ways to change our own negative conditioning so we dont have to be trapped by it. Human mind works much like a computer. By understanding how a computer works, we can begin to understand how the mind works and make necessary changes to create the reality we desire. When you look at how a computer works, you will find that it has an operating system that runs automatically on already built-in software programs. It opens and closes programs without much effort on your part. A computer, depending on the model, also contains memory, about 50-100 gigabytes stored on its hard drive. This information is readily accessible with a simple click of the mouse. With the help of the mouse, you can consciously go the place a particular file is stored and decide to open it. At any moment, even with enormous information on the computer, we choose to run only about 2-4% because the computer would crash if we ran all the data at the same time. Now, if you want to open a file and you dont have the necessary software to do it, you update the existing software or download new software necessary. The exciting thing is that the human mind works identical to that of the working of a computer. The subconscious mind can be considered an operating system running on programs of beliefs, thought and behavior patterns. The conscious mind can be considered the mouse, which is the control device used to select the programs you want to run. Like a computer operating system, subconscious mind is capable of adapting to new thought patterns by the habit of repetition. However, it takes time for this process to take effect because the subconscious mind doesnt like change and tends to cling on to the existing patterns. New research studies are telling us that there is an easier way to access the subconscious mind. It seems it is more receptive when the body is relaxed. Subliminal messaging is a technology that has become popular in the recent times in the self-improvement industry because it is a helpful way to induce subconsciously mind with positive directions without much effort on our part. This technology works by constantly repeating empowering messages to the subconscious mind. Although consciously we cannot hear these messages, subconsciously, we pick them up and store them in memory. This technology is very helpful in eradicating the negative conditioning that keeps us from taking action to realize our dreams. It is also helpful in changing negative habits and forming new positive habits. Hence, if you are looking for techniques that speed up the process of updating your subconscious software, you should definitely try subliminal messaging. How to Reprogram the Belief System Human beings are really special. Each and every individual is unique in his/ her own way. Hence, each and every individuals perception of reality is unique. The information that makes up a persons reality is the result of everything he/ she consciously thinks and feels in combination with his/ her conscious and unconscious beliefs. New information that enters the mind is broken down into individual data bits, which are then compared to the existing experiences stored in memory and are matched up to the existing beliefs. This process is unique for a person because his/ her mental make up is unique. Mental make up is basically a personal version of reality that is perceived uniquely by a person. This is the reason why the same reality can be experienced differently by different people. A persons mental make up or construct is entirely unique and vibrates a particular frequency very different from the next person. The uniqueness of the mental construct of a person is the result of unique memory, which consists of unique past experiences that make up the belief system, which is the persons personal paradigm. Your belief system, which is your perception of reality, holds the key to determining what you are capable of achieving and how far you will go to achieve your goals. Hence, you must change your belief system if you want to change your reality. This can be done through constant repetition of new directive to the conscious and subconscious mind until an old belief is discarded and a new belief that is supportive of your desires is put in place. Persistence is the key to impressing the subconscious mind. It is important to have a clear mental picture of what you want, constantly impress this upon your conscious and subconscious mind by constantly focusing upon it until it manifests as reality, which happens because of the change in your belief system. Many people fail with affirmations because they repeat them with no feeling. Reading affirmations without actually letting the feeling behind the words sink in, is not going to be of any use. Repeating affirmations is a powerful way to impress positive directions into the mind when they are repeated with a positive feeling. You must visualize what you want and feel how you would feel after finally having what you desire. With this feeling repeat the affirmations and expect the loving universe to bring you necessary resources that will help you make your dreams a reality. It is also important to keep in mind that setting aside a few minutes in a day to repeat affirmations and forgetting about your desires and focusing on negative or unrelated aspects of your life is not enough. You must be willing to constantly focus on what you want throughout the day and consciously REPEAT the affirmations when you feel like negative thoughts try to stop you from performing an action. Many pricey self-improvement programs get your hopes up for sometime and keep you busy with mental activities and high expectations. Although most of these programs do have your best interest at heart, they can only do so much if you are not willing to persist and put in the necessary effort to manifest youre your desires. The objective of any program is to bring about the necessary change in your belief system to accommodate new beliefs that support your quest to fulfil your desire or change the current outdated beliefs and totally replace them with new ones. This change can only come about if you REPEATEDLY impress your mind, both conscious and subconscious parts with mental pictures, thoughts and feelings related to the outcome your desire in the future. Keep this vital truth in your mind To see a change in your current reality and manifest what you desire, you must change your current belief system through constant REPETITION by focusing on thoughts, metal images and feelings of the desired outcome to impress your conscious and subconscious mind with this new information. You can pay for countless self-improvement programs or read a thousand books related to Law of Attraction; but until you persistently practice the principles and change your inner reality, you cannot change your outer reality, which is the mirror of what is happening inside your subconscious mind. You can acquire heaps of knowledge about changing belief systems, but until you persist and change your beliefs to change your perception of reality, you cannot change what you are experiencing in your life now. So, first form clear mental image of your desire, put in the effort through constant persistence of practice, impress your conscious and subconscious mind with images, feelings and thoughts that create a positive emotion of already achieving your desire in you. Let this positive feeling sink into the depths of your mind and change your current negative beliefs that are working against you. Dont get caught up in the hype of a new and an exciting program that promises to help you fulfill your desire in a short period of time. Many programs might work in the beginning because they aim at changing your negative thoughts to positive ones by increasing your positive expectations and keeping your conscious mind busy. But until you change your inner mental construct or perception of reality, you will not see real change you desire. Know the time taken to impress your subconscious mind totally depends on the time you allot to practicing a technique that will change your mental makeup and produce the desired results. It is also helpful to follow one program and one technique instead of obtaining contradicting information from different sources and getting confused about the right way to achieve your desires. Know there is no right and wrong program when it comes to changing your beliefs. You can follow any system that works for you The little known secret to make the process of impressing your subconscious mind through constant repetition and persistent practice is the feeling of gratitude, which is very powerful because it instantly connects you with the positive forces of the universe. Just relax, let go and be thankful for everything you have in the moment. Be grateful for all the guidance and help you are being sent by the co-operating universe. With this positive awareness, focus on the feelings, thought and images that generate a passion and positive expectation in you to move forward and take action toward achieving your dreams. It is very important to exercise control on the mind and direct the thoughts towards what you want instead what you dont want through out the day to change your reality in a short period of time. There is no dream that is impossible to achieve because the term impossible exist only in the mind. When you take control of your subconscious mind and harness its power, there is nothing that is impossible in this world. Great men and women already used the awesome power of their minds to achieve outstanding things and contribute immensely to the betterment of mankind. Follow these set of directions to alter your belief system and move forward fearlessly: 1. Decide what you want and form a clear mental picture that you would like to experience 2. Constantly focus on the mental picture and thoughts related to manifesting this mental picture. Focus on the positive emotions that accompany from the REAPEATED impression of thoughts and images on your mind will generate 3. Make persistence a habit and practice focusing until you see a visible change in your reality through the change in your belief system Human beings have always learned though repetition. When we were at school, we had to repeat numerical table and alphabets constantly to memorize them. Repetition is also used to learn a new language. This technique is so powerful that we remember the alphabets even after several years. The fact is that repetition reinforces memory and hence is the best technique to reprogram the subconscious mind with new directions. There are two major hurdles that stand between you and the realization of your desire through reprogramming of your subconscious mind. One is lack of necessary time to thoroughly impress the mind through repetition. Second is your lack of faith in the process might succeed in forcing you to give up. When you proceed with the conviction to break through these hurdles, you can certainly succeed in changing your perception of reality that is preventing you from attracting what you desire in life. Depending on how strongly the current beliefs that are contrary to the new beliefs and the amount of time to a person spends focusing on repetition, different people take different lengths of time to completely break down the current belief system and reprogram the mind. All the resources you need to fulfill your desires have always been present and are yours to command. People and circumstances are not the reason why you are not able to progress and move forward. The only person stopping you is YOU and your limited thoughts and beliefs. Once you change these limited beliefs and expand your awareness to include the possibility of achieving the impossible, you can truly attract whatever it is that you want. How badly do you want to achieve your goals? If the feeling is intense enough, take the necessary action to persist and REPEATEDLY impress your mind with mental pictures, feelings and thoughts that empower you achieve what you want in life. Wisdom vs. Knowledge Knowing information is very different from applying the information and experiencing the consequences. Contrary to the popular statement, knowledge is power; the application of knowledge is power. Let us take the example of Law of Attraction. Many people who got their information from the popular movie or the book The Secret failed to manifest what they want because they applied the Law incorrectly. They were told they would be able to get something if they think about it. However, the Law does not work that way. On the other hand, many people had put in the effort to know how exactly the Law works and applied it correctly and manifested everything they wanted in life. Become powerful by applying the knowledge Are you one of those people who have heaps of self-improvement books and notes gathering dust in your drawers? If so, it is time to take them out, revisit them and immediately start using the information in those pages. Your life is not magically going to change if you dont apply the technique and put in the effort to actually change your experience of life. Lets again take the example of Law of Attraction. It states that once you form a clear picture, think about it and feel like you have already achieved it, you must surrender your thoughts to the universe and allow it to manifest your desire in the best way, meaning you must let go of the need to control how things happen to you. Many people, despite having tons of knowledge about the Law, fail to apply this part effectively not willing to let go of the control. When you take a class or a seminar, you will benefit more if you ask questions and understand exactly how to apply the knowledge. With the wisdom gained from applying the knowledge, you can slowly become more adept at using the knowledge to better your life. Because of your deep understanding of the workings of the knowledge, you might even be able to help others if you choose to. You can start applying the knowledge by actually practicing every day. Write down your desires. Make mental pictures of your fulfilled desires, draw vision boards, write affirmations and practice a technique that can change your existing limited belief system. Just start doing! Power of Focus to Manifest Did you know that a power as meager as 800 watts, which is barely enough to sustain an average room, when focused within a diameter of 1mm, can cut through sheet steel accurately? This is a powerful testimony of the power of focusing energy. This fact can help us understand that scattered energy produces little to no desired result; whereas the same energy when focused can produce tremendous results. This principle can surely be applied to Law of Attraction. You can manifest everything you want in life if you develop the power of focusing your attention and mental energy on achieving your goals. Understanding what focus is Merriam-Webster.com defines focus as directed attention. This is exactly what focus is. It is the ability to direct your attention towards the fulfillment of your desires. Famous self-help author and motivational speaker Tony Robins once said, What you focus on consistently, you tend to manifest in your life. The power of this quote cannot be taken lightly because it sums up an important principle of Law of Attraction. Many people are struggling to manifest their desires because they are implementing this principle ineffectively. Focus must be made a habit. With initial effort and persistence, the habit of focusing can become a second nature and starts showing up in your behavior naturally. With the power of focus, you can perform the necessary actions that dictate how you manifest your desires. Understanding how the brain works Human brain is a massive processing system that processes gargantuan amount of data every second. On an average, the brain takes about 2 million sensory inputs every second through the five sensory stimuli sight, smell, sound, touch and taste. Like a computer, which crashes if we run all the information stored on it, our brains, to avoid overload, filter the information against existing memory and belief system and consciously process only a little amount compared to the entire lot. Although this process is helping us to keep up with massive data we are inputting, we might be missing crucial information that can be the next big opportunity or miss the approach of danger. To better understand this process, let us take the analogy of a dark room. If you are given a torch light and are asked to find a door to get out the room quickly, you would try to focus the light in one direction and try to find a door. If you just focused the light on the floor, all you would be able to see is the floor and not the door which is to your right. You would then walk along the focused path and may bump into the wall. On the other hand, if you focus the light everywhere by waving the torch light in all directions, you might be able to see more of the room, but you could still miss the door. Similarly, in life, if you focus on the wrong place and narrow your vision to only this place, you might miss the opportunities that are all around you. On the other extreme, if you scatter your energy everywhere and try to focus on too many things, you get confused and still could miss the right opportunity for you. Hence, it is important to learn how to focus the attention in the right place. What you focus your energy on, manifests in your life. Are you focusing your energy in the right place? When a person focuses on poverty, he/ she will manifest more poverty. When he focuses on lack of health or diseases, he manifests more disease. On the other hand, if the same person focused on prosperity, he will surely manifest prosperity in life through Law of Attraction. If he focused more on health, he will manifest more health in his life. This is an important concept to grasp because it is the difference between you manifesting all your desires and you failing because of all the negative conditioning. Awareness is power Be aware of what you are focusing on in your life. Focus your attention more on achieving your desires and exclude other unnecessary aspects of your life and see the magic of power of focus in manifesting. Focus on being thankful Being grateful for all that you have right now is a powerful feeling that will put you immediately in tune with positive manifesting force of the universe. Take time everyday to be thankful for what you have. On days, you cant see anything to be grateful for, stop, calm down, and ask yourself, If you can be grateful for 3 things in your life right this moment, what would you be grateful for? Learn to see the best in any situation in life instead of focusing on things you dont have. Plan Planning eliminates confusion and gives you direction. Have an end result in mind and write down achievable goals that can help you progress towards the desired end. Practice acceptance Every person is just as he or she is because of his/ her unique past experiences. Be aware of all that happened in your life that made you who you are today. Acknowledge that all your negative and positive conditioning is a result of the unconscious beliefs you have come to accept as truths. Accept yourself for all that you are and accept everybody around you for all that they are. This is powerful because it releases you from the trap of negative memories. Focus on how you would like to be starting from now and only focus on that. Program your subconscious mind for success We all have the same amount of time in a day. Your success depends on how you use this time to focus on your desires and how to manifest them. Take time in your day to quite your mind of the clutter and meditate upon your dreams and desires. Write down specific plans to achieve them. Write down powerful affirmations that you can repeat to clear the negative conditioning and impress your subconscious mind to attract all the necessary resources you need for manifesting your desires. Make a list of your goals and stick the copies of the list in several places where you are likely to go in your home. Always constantly remind yourself of your goals. Keep them fresh in memory. To make time for yourself in a day, turn of all your electronic gadgets and let other people know that you are not available for this particular slot of time. Enter a quite room to work in peace and completely focus on your dreams. No matter how busy your day is, even if you can spare only half an hour, do it. Well known author Catherine Ponder explains Law of Vacuum this way to make room for something, we must have space to fill, meaning we must clear the existing unwanted garbage in our lives. Always remember this vital truth when you, in a day, feel like you are being pulled into some drama that serves no purpose towards the achievement of your goals. The amount of time you allot to manifest your desires determines your progress. Make this time of your day most important and complete all the tasks that you have been procrastinating about. Also, remember to always finish only the tasks can help you progress in terms of achieving your goals. Remember that focusing on too many things will only scatter your mental energy and prevents you from seeing the right opportunity in front of you. Take the example of a fox and the hedgehog. While fox is clever and knows many tricks to use to get a meal, hedgehog is rather dull and but knows one trick, which is to roll into a spiked ball for protection. Fox, even with its many clever ideas and strategies cannot win with the spiked ball and obtain its meal. Hence, the hedgehog always wins. This analogy is very apt in describing the many failed efforts of intelligent people who waste their precious energy doing too many things at a time. One good strategy is always the best to follow instead of diluting effort to make several different clever strategies to work. Focus your energy on one project and finish it completely to your satifaction before you take on the next task. Approach your goals by taking one step at a time. This process can make even the daunting of goals seem achievable. Another important aspect of practicing to focus is to be in the present. Many people spend their time focusing on the past or the future. For achieving any goal, your mind and body should be present now and hence your mind should be focused on the present moment instead of the future. There will be time to reflect on the future and make necessary plans in the present to achieve the desired goals. But when you have tasks you need to finish now, no matter how mundane and intolerable you find the present tasks, perform them being grateful. In summary, human beings are conditioned in such a way that we experience what we focus on in our lives. Hence, it is important for us to learn how to focus on achieving our desires. We must learn to focus on the positive aspects in life that propel us towards achieving all that we desire. To develop this power of focus, we must learn to manage our time properly. We must learn to make time in a day to focus on what is necessary by clearing out the unnecessary through clever discerning skills. But more importantly, we must learn to act and not procrastinate. So, starting right now, decide on a goal that you can achieve in the immediate future. Make a plan on how to achieve this goal based on what resources are available to you at this moment. Make time to work on these plans and complete tasks. Keep repeating powerful affirmations powerfully with feeling to focus on your goals. Be grateful and be consistent with working on your goals until you achieve them. Transform your life by taking action. Manifest all you desires one desire at a time with the power of focus. The Secret of Happiness and Success Most Law of Attraction gurus will tell you the secret to attracting everything you want in life is to think positively about your dreams. They will tell you to expect the best always so that you will receive the best. Although this message has its merit, positive expectation alone cannot materialize what you want in life. Many people failed to manifest their desires by just following the information that was given in The Secret. You think about it, you receive it may be true but Law of Attraction does not work that way. Without right action on your part, you cannot expect to your desires manifest. Inaction does not prepare you for the future. Neither does it take proper precautions to protect you from the present challenges and problems. Only you can do that by making necessary choices and performing necessary actions. Some people are fortunate to have found their purposes in life and making a living out of them. What about the rest of us? Many self-help experts tell us that the secret to happiness is to find our unique purpose in this life and make a life around it. Although this also is a fair point, the problem with finding a purpose is that it takes time. In the mean time, you will have to deal with financial difficulties and other personal problems. Dont get me wrong. It is actually quite noble to develop the strength of character to be able to be satisfied with what you have and be happy despite the circumstances. But this process is also very hard. If you ask a few happy people what is the secret to their happiness, you will often hear one popular answer service is the secret. But what if your life is full of resentment and problems? You can only share what you have abundantly in life. Hence, you would be only sharing more negativity unconsciously. If what you have is abundance in life, it will certainly bring you happiness to share this abundance with the rest in need. So, sharing and social service is really not the number one secret to happiness. What then is the ultimate secret to happiness? It is you. It is your ability to become active in life and become adept at solving your own problems effectively. Nobody can just tell you how to be happy because nobody knows what makes you happy. When you get involved in your own life and work hard at solving your own problems, you slowly gain the ability to deal with daily challenges. As you solve more of your problems, you can start to become happy. Your involvement in your own life is then the true secret to happiness and success. As you become happy and successful, you might feel the need to share this joy with the rest, which will only multiply your own success and happiness. Thinking positively about life comes automatically without any effort and when this attiude is combined with right action; you can expect great results and see all your dreams come true. As you focus on yourself and your own unique talents, being entirely satisfied with your life, you will become free of the limitation of competition. Then, you will experience a different level of joy. What is important to you? Do you know what is important to you in your life? Can you tell me what the values you stick by in your life? Most people cannot answer these questions because they dont know what are their personal values are. They live by other peoples values. For example, an employee who lives according to the values of his employer such as accountability, work ethic, results and profits, might consider he is successful if he can live up to these values and get promoted. But for most people, success means much more than just earning money. Most of us may not define our success by how much we are able to please an employer by living by his values. It is essential to realize that other people have their own values and these values are important and note worthy, especially when these values work to influence in our lives. But the secret to true happiness is to follow our own core values that are important to us. When we prioritize our wishes and values over others values, we start to truly enjoy life. So, take out a paper and write down what is important in your

Soldiers Home by Ernest Hemingway Essay -- Soldier’s Home Ernest Hemi

Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway In Soldier’s Home, Ernest Hemingway depicts Harold Krebs return home from World War I and the problems he faces when dealing with his homecoming and transition back towards a normal life. After the fighting overseas commenced, it took Krebs a year to finally leave Europe and return to his family in Oklahoma. Once home, he found it hard to talk about all he had seen in his tour of duty overseas, which should be attributed to the fact that he saw action in some of the bloodiest, most crucial battles towards the culmination of the war. Therefore, Krebs difficulty in acknowledging his past is because he was indeed a â€Å"good soldier† (139), whose efforts in order to survive â€Å"The Great War,† were not recognized by his country, town and even worse, his own family. After his late return from the war, Krebs moved back to the home of his family in Oklahoma. Although this seems common to what most soldiers would do after war, Krebs stay away from his family had been an elongated one. This is not just because of his leisure time at the Rhine with German prostitutes after the war had ended, but also because he went to the war direct from a â€Å"Methodist College in Kansas† (136). With that information, we can deduce that Krebs had not lived with his family for more than two years, but most likely between four and six. This must have put a serious strain on his relationship with his family members, who in his own mind, obviously lived in a different world than he did. Before the war, his father did not even trust him with responsibility of taking out the family car. Now, on his return, his â€Å"father was noncommittal† and basically absent from his life, not to mention he is never actually present at any time in the story. The only ti me Krebs father is brought up in conversation, is by Krebs mother when she tells him that they both had discussed Krebs being able to take out the family car. Even when his mother reveals that it had been his father’s idea, Krebs replied â€Å"I’ll bet you made him† (139). This statement is a clear hint into the way Krebs truly feels about his father, whom he seems to have no faith in. Krebs relationship with his mother is not much better, when she asked if he loved her, he quickly responded â€Å"No†(140), which sent her to tears. This was probably not always the truth, Krebs having been raised in the South, was once ... ...hich they had already heard from other returned soldiers. However, the clearest view into Krebs true feelings of how it had been to be a soldier, is â€Å"when he occasionally met another man who had really been a soldier and they talked a few minutes in the dressing room at a dance he fell into the easy pose of the old soldier among other soldiers: that he had been badly, sickeningly frightened all the time† (137). This shows that even when he could be comfortable, in the presence of another real soldier, the only thing that came back to either of them was the raw fear for their survival. Although Krebs had served in some of the turning point and final battles of the war, which had made him think of himself as a â€Å"good soldier,† the true image and feelings of a soldier at war were not always brave and confident, but merely frightened all the time; â€Å"In this way he lost everything†(137). He lost any feeling of personal accomplishment that had surfaced with his return from service; all he could feel was fear and that disgusted him. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. "Soldier's Home", from Ernest Hemingway: The Short Stories. (New York, NY : Scribner Paperback Fiction Edition) 2005.

Philosophy and Education: From Elitism to Democracy Essay -- Philosoph

Philosophy and Education: From Elitism to Democracy ABSTRACT: From its first appearance in western culture, philosophy has been considered able to build up reality, to educate people, and to disclose truth. Plato proposed philosophers as governors in life-long pursuit of philosophical learning. Socrates was the ideal paradigm of an educating philosopher: he tried to wake up human minds so that they could be aware of themselves and of the world, criticizing tradition and prejudices in a logically consistent perspective. A critical and dialogic approach—not by mere chance defined as "Socratic"—to problems has been considered until now the most profitable method of teaching. Socrates is a pioneer in discussing the question of a philosophical (paideia), as he defined his method "maieutic." He was not an authoritarian teacher, but a sparring partner in the process of self-education. Moreover, he considered himself as the most learned and, at the same time, the wisest in Greece, just because he was conscious of his ignorance. Therefore, he understood for the first time in our cultural tradition that knowledge is an endless process rather than a product, within marked bounds. From its first appearance in western culture, philosophy has been considered able to build up reality, to educate men and to disclose truth. Plato proposed philosophers as governors and a lifelong philosophical paideia; nevertheless, yet before him, philopophy and kalokagaqia were in a close relation, as Parmenides and Heraclitus show. Particularly Socrates is the ideal paradigm of an educating philosopher: he tried to wake up human minds, so that they could be aware of themselves and of the world, criticizing tradition and prejudices in a logically consis... ...use free means self-governing. Bibliography Calogero G., Filosofia del dialogo, Milano, 1962; Dewey J., How we Think, Boston,1933; Dewey J., Knowing and the Known, Boston, 1949; Dewey J., Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, New York, 1938; Dewey J., Reconstruction in Philosophy, New York,1920; Dewey J., The Sources of a Science of Education, New York, 1929; Fornaca R., La pedagogia filosofica del '900, Milano, 1989; Kant I., Der Streit der Facultà ¤ten, in AK. A., Bd.VII, Berlin, 1907; Là ª Thà ¢n Khà ´i, L'à ©ducation:cultures et società ©s, Paris, 1991; Piaget J., Sagesse et illusions de la philosophie , Paris, 1965; Sartre J.P., L'existentialisme est un humanisme, Paris, 1946; Veca S., Il ruolo della filosofia nella didattica e nella formazione, in La didattica della filosofia nell'università   e nella scuola secondaria superiore, Padova, 1996.

Art Values Essay -- essays research papers

People from all eras have communicated what they value through art, architecture and style. This statement is obvious. The first example I will discuss is that of the ancient Egyptian society. Their society was one that was based upon death. Everything in their lives revolved around preparing themselves for the afterlife. Included in that is their paintings; they contained the entire figure of the human, making sure their was no limb left unseen, for fear that it would not be their in the after life. Another example of how the ancient Egyptian’s values were expressed through art was the lavish funerary complexes built for their pharaohs. They were monstrous, and intended entirely to help propel the deceased pharaoh into the next life. Ancient Greece was a society of self-perceived beauty. They loved to look at themselves, especially if they were male. They male gender was perceived as perfection in that time period, and as such it should be portrayed in all of its glory, hence the no clothing policy. They sculpted, painted and created in what they believed to be perfection. They created all buildings in perfect rectangles, since they believed that rectangles were the epitome of perfection, the â€Å"golden section† if you will. Greek art was a portrayal of their ideals, which is why most people call this period the idealistic stage in Art history. The Romans were very much like their Greek counter parts. Romans, as a whole, loved Greek art. They enjoyed looking at it and even t...

Attrition Rate of Online Learning

WHAT INFLUENCES ONLINE CLASSES HIGH ATTRITION RATE by Lora Hines Bachelor of Science in Business Education December 1984 College of Education A Research Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Master of Science in Education Degree Department of Workforce Education and Development In the Graduate School Southern Illinois University – Carbondale December 1, 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS ChapterPage I. 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‚¬ ¦.. 1 Background†¦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‚¬ ¦. 1 Statement of the Problem†¦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‚¬ ¦. 6Research Questions†¦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‚¬ ¦.. 7 Significance of the Problem†¦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‚¬ ¦. 7 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. 9 Demographics†¦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‚¬ ¦. 10 Best Practices†¦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‚¬ ¦.. 16 Student Characteristics†¦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‚¬ ¦ 24 III. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 32 Summary †¦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‚¬ ¦. 32 Findings . †¦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‚¬ ¦.. 33 Recommendations†¦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‚¬ ¦ 38 REFERENCES†¦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‚¬ ¦.. 41 VITA†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦52AN ABSTRACT OF THE RESEARCH PAPER OF L ora Hines, for the Master of Science degree in Workforce Education and Development, presented on December 1, 2011, at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. TITLE: WHAT INFLUENCES ONLINE CLASSES HIGH ATTRITION RATE MAJOR PROFESSOR: Glen Blackstone Online education programs have grown tremendously in the past 10 years. From 1991 to 2006, online enrollments have grown from virtually 0 to over 2. 35 million students. Over 3. 5 million students, or roughly one in every six, were enrolled in at least one online course during the fall of 2006.By 2015, 25 million post-secondary students in the United States will be taking an online class. Universities worldwide are providing some type of online learning by developing courses that are available to both on-campus and off-campus students. Online education is no longer in its infancy. Students, parents, educational institutions, government, and businesses are concerned with the quality of online education. This study focuses on quality an d the relationship that exists between student satisfaction and faculty effectiveness.At issue is the question of whether â€Å"faculty effectiveness, as perceived by learners, plays a significant role in learner satisfaction† (Rehnborg, 2006, p. 1). This study reveals that students of varying age, gender, and other demographics value education differently. These differences vary among completers and non-completers, and both groups note differences in the way their instructors implement instructional practices. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background There are many definitions for online education. These include virtual education, Internet-based education, and Web-based education.For the purpose of this research, the definition of online education is based on Keegan’s (1988) definition of distance education. (a) the separation of teachers and learners which distinguishes it from face-to-face education, (b) an educational organization which distinguishes it from self-study an d private tutoring, (c) the use of a computer network to present or distribute educational content, and (d) the provision of two-way communication via a computer network in order for students to benefit from communication with each other, teachers, and staff. Keegan, 1988, p. 4) Kaufman (as cited by Bates, 2005) suggests that there have been three generations of distance education. The first generation used one primary technology-print. The second generation integrated print and other multimedia such as video tapes, television broadcasts, and other forms of broadcast media. The third generation of distance education gave birth to online education. Online education is characterized by the use of the Internet or video conferencing to create two-way communications, connecting students and instructors.Bates (2005) describes this communication as more equally distributed between students and instructors than in the past. In other words, while students and instructors are still separated geographically, they now have a greater ability to communicate with each other than in past generations. Students have progressively gained the ability to dialogue and use critical thinking skills rather than simple comprehension (Kaufman, 1989). Online education is well established as a viable means of education in both the corporate and academic environments, and it has taken a remarkable pace.A survey undertaken in 2001 of online education instructors conducted by the National Education Association (NEA) indicated that 72% of online learning instructors have a positive opinion about online learning. They believe more students can be reached, learning can be customized and flexible, and interaction can increase among students (Focus, 2001). Online education programs have grown tremendously in the past 10 years. From 1991 to 2004, online enrollments have grown from virtually zero to over 2. 35 million students (Allen & Seaman, 2006).Based on reports by over 2,200 colleges and unive rsities, Allen and Seaman estimate growth in post-secondary online education to be more than 10 times that of other post-secondary markets. Over 4. 6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2008 term; a 17 percent increase over the number reported the previous year (Allen & Seaman, 2010). The 17 percent growth rate far exceeds the 1. 2 percent growth of the overall student population. More than one in four higher education students now take at least one course online.By 2015, 25 million post-secondary students in the United States will be taking an online class. While that happens, the classes that are taken physically on campus will plummet, from 14. 4 million in 2010 to just 4. 1 million 5 years later, according to a new forecast released by Ambient Insight; a market research firm (Nagel, 2011). Universities worldwide are providing some type of online learning by developing courses that are available to both on-campus and off-campus students. Online education is no longer in its infancy (Palloff & Pratt, 2003; Samarawickrema & Stacey, 2007).Students, parents, educational institutions, government, and businesses are concerned with the quality of online education. Online or not online has been an ongoing debate, not only for how to preserve the value of human relations but also how to deliver course content. In a traditional or face-to-face classroom, communication and human connections are great assets for knowledge acquisition within a learning community (Allen & Seaman, 2010). When a course moves online, communication lines are altered.Non-verbal communication cues disappear, and since students converse at different times, spontaneous interaction is impossible. Even with webcams in which students and professors can see and hear each other, interactions are not the same as in a face-to-face classroom. However, taking into consideration that online education allows students opportunities to learn independently from anywhere at any time, and to construct and acquire learning at their own pace, online education provides many advantages for students beyond the classroom walls.We live in a changing population since more and more students entering college have grown up in today’s digital world, they possibly are â€Å"digital natives† whose brains could potentially be wired differently from the previous generation (Prensky, 2001). Draves (2002) lists ten reasons why online learning is more popular and, in his opinion, why it is better, cognitively, than in-person learning: †¢ You can learn at your own peak learning time of day. †¢ You can learn at your own speed. †¢ You can learn faster. †¢ You can interact more with the teacher and other participants. There are more topics and subjects online. †¢ Participants come from around the world. †¢ You can learn from the foremost authorities and experts. †¢ Online learning is less expensive and thus more accessible. â⠂¬ ¢ Internet links provide more resources. †¢ You can form a virtual community. Courses taught in an online format hold many challenges for the learner and educator alike (Howell, Williams, & Lindsay, 2003). Challenges include the need for computer literacy and navigation skills, greater electronic connection capabilities, and concerns over isolation.Within online classes students must not only learn the course material, but also the technology skills needed to participate in class. The online learning format places the burden on students to initiate the learning process, and assume primary responsibility for the learning experience. It is likely that in this tremendous movement toward online education, faculty members will be pushed to provide more Web-based courses for both their on-campus and off-campus students. Faculty members are concerned with the quality of online courses they are developing and teaching.While the 2000 NEA survey indicated a highly positive opinion of online courses, the faculty members expressed deep concern that online courses take more work, are more technologically challenging, and require more training and mentoring to develop and teach than traditional face-to-face courses (Focus, 2001). Maddux (2004) suggests that the increased competition for universities to offer online courses has caused campus administrators to put forth numerous online courses as rapidly as possible.Many professors, according to Maddux, are less than a technologic expert and find themselves under pressure to produce these courses. Faculty complain that with their workload they do not have time to get adequate training and support from those on campus that provide it. Only 19 percent of institutions with online offerings report that they have no training or mentoring programs for their online teaching faculty. The most common training approaches for online faculty are internally run training courses (65 percent) and informal mentoring (59 percent) (All en & Seaman, 2010).Of the 10 biggest myths about synchronous online teaching, faculty training focuses on technology tools and educational best practices and is of major concern to the professors (DeMaria, & Bongiovanni, 2010). Various research studies have found a higher percentage of students taking online courses tend to drop those courses when compared to students taking traditional courses (Frankola, 2001; Oblender, 2002). Some have reported attrition from eLearning as high as 70-80% (Tyler-Smith, 2005, Flood 2002. One major reason to study student satisfaction is completion rate of non-traditional students versus traditional students. . Some educators suggest that the high drop rates should â€Å"disqualify online education as high-quality option to traditional education† (Distance Education, 2001 as cited by Diaz, 2002, para. 1). Researchers cite numerous reasons for attrition in both online and face-to-face courses. Students have work, family, and social commitments. Others lack the commitment of time or technological skills necessary to persist in the online environment.Other reasons aside, this research paper focuses on quality and the relationship that exists between student satisfaction and faculty effectiveness. At issue is the question of whether â€Å"faculty effectiveness, as perceived by learners, plays a significant role in learner satisfactions† (Rehnborg, 2006, p. 1). Institutions retrieve student end-of-course data from students who persist and complete online courses. A review of the literature reveals a large quantity of material on faculty effectiveness, with numerous recommendations and conclusions drawn from that student end-of-course data.There is relatively little data available from course non-completers. A 1991 study indicated that 75% of colleges and universities use the end-of-course questionnaire as a method of evaluating the effectiveness of their instructors. Though some doubt the validity of student end-of-cour se questionnaires, most accept the fact that they are useful in providing a measurement of the instructors’ teaching ability and directly reflect the satisfaction level of students (Ramsden, 1991). Statement of the ProblemWith student diversity changing, higher education institutions are finding that it is necessary to meet the needs and demands of our nontraditional students. However, with the growth of distance learning, rates of attrition have increased significantly (Parker, 2003). Some have reported attrition from eLearning as high as 70-80% (Tyler-Smith, 2005, Flood 2002. ) Carr stated, however, that many higher education administrators believe that the completion rates of non-traditional students are 10-20% higher in online learning.Research Questions The research questions for the paper were: 1. What similarities and differences, in terms of demographics (age, gender, ethnicity), are present in non-traditional (online) students attrition rate? 2. What affect do best p ractices have on non-traditional (online) student’s attrition rate? 3. What affect do student characteristics have on non-traditional (online) student’s attrition rates? Significance of the Problem Online courses are generally the first format of course offerings to fill up during registration.Since many online courses have a high withdrawal rate, it would be beneficial for students to be placed in a course format most conducive to their learning (Dutton, Dutton, & Perry, 2002). The identification of characteristics associated with successful online students could provide the necessary information for teachers and admissions personnel to suggest or discourage a student from registering for an online course. A student mistakenly placed into a course may encounter more difficulties and have reduced changes for success compared to an appropriately placed student.With improved technology, students may find it more convenient to take classes online in order to meet their ed ucational needs. Changes in the student population as well as the delivery of the online course at the university may present challenges. Many interconnecting factors contribute to the numbers of students who drop out of distance education courses, many of which are beyond the institution’s control (Rovai, 2002). Rovai (2002) pointed out that this learning-sharing connection among students could provide the learner with a feeling of support from their fellow students.Rovai’s (2002) research also suggested that there might be a possible connection between the sense of community and increased motivation resulting in increased cognitive learning. If individual circumstances affect the ability of a student to continue in an online course and if various curricular delivery and instructional methods contribute to variable outcomes, then the development of online delivery should be researched to determine the best way to serve the needs of the student enrolled in an online co urse. CHAPTER 2REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The advances in telecommunications and the saturation of computers into almost every home in American has drastically changed the way we communicate, the way we store and retrieve data, the way we do research, and the way we socialize. These changes in our day-to-day lives have also obliged us to rethink the way we deliver education. Public, private, and proprietary institutions have come under intense pressure to develop educational systems that are independent of time and place. Within the past 0-12 years, the growth of online course has increased tremendously. The proportion of institutions with fully online programs rises steadily as institutional size increases, and about two-thirds of the very largest institutions have fully online programs, compared to only about one-sixth of the smallest institutions. Doctoral/Research institutions have the greatest penetration of offering online programs as well as the highest overall rate (more t han 80%) of having some form of online offering. (Allen & Seaman, 2006, p. 2)Along with this growth comes the need to ensure courses are developed with some universal structure and the need for instructors to teach these courses using the best practices in the field. Student attrition is also under the microscope. The government, educators, parents, and students want assurances that online education works as well or better than its traditional face-to-face counterpart. One must understand the background and the best practices and issues that relate to student needs and satisfaction in online education. The literature review will discuss these relevant issues.What similarities and differences, in terms of demographics (age, gender, ethnicity), are present in non-traditional (online) students attrition rate? An extensive reading of the literature reveals that face-to-face instruction includes courses in which zero to 29 percent of the content is delivered online; this category include s both traditional and web facilitated courses. The remaining alternative, blended (sometimes called hybrid) instruction is defined as having between 30 percent and 80 percent of the course content delivered online.A course where most or all of the content is delivered online with typically no face-to-face meetings is considered an online course (Allen & Seaman, 2010). Universities want to improve graduation rates and attract non-traditional students by increasing online offerings (Allen & Seaman, 2007; 2010). According to the Allen and Seaman’s report, online students may not share the same demographics as traditional higher education students, thus, instructors need to understand the challenges of distance learning when designing online learning experiences.The shift towards offering more online courses will continue to affect higher education institutions in ways that are not yet understood. The benefits (e. g. , convenience for institutions, instructors, and students) and the challenges (e. g. , student retention) need to be balanced to ensure that students’ outcomes of online courses are comparable with those in traditional face-to-face courses (2010). A continuing question that the researcher must consider is among those studying online education has been the issue of student retention.Online courses typically attract students who might otherwise have not been able to attend traditional on-campus instruction, either because of work, family or other obligations. This difference in the nature of the student body has made the direct comparison of the online and face-to-face very difficult. If students tend to drop out of online classes because of work or family responsibilities, does that accurately reflect the nature of the course or the nature of the student (Allen & Seaman, 2010)? In a study completed by Dutton, Dutton & Perry (2002), the purpose was to determine how online students differ from traditional students?There were two major cate gories studied. The first class of information related to the external, observable characteristics of the students. These include such things as age and gender, work, academic and childcare commitments commute distance and previous computer experience. The second information category contains preferences or considerations that are less easily observable by an outsider but may have influenced the student’s choice of online versus lecture format. Using the demographic data that Dutton, Dutton & Perry (2002) gathered from the student records, it appeared that the gender played little role in the choice format.However, it is clear that older, non-traditional students prefer the online class. The average age of an online student’s age compared to a lecture student was more than five years greater. Nearly two-thirds of the lecture class was less than 22 years old while the same proportion of online section was older than 22. The study also determined that full-time students preferred the lecture course and the part-time students preferred the online. On average the study determined that the online students had greater outside responsibilities and that they live farther from campus.In his dissertation, Bangurah (2004) compared students with passing grades in traditional and online courses. Student’s grades were compared across courses where the same instructor taught both online and traditional formats. Within this study, 3,601 students participated and Bangurah (2004) found that in each course and context, mean GPA’s were highest among traditional students. He also noted females who were enrolled in web-based courses outnumbered their male counterparts by nearly two-thirds. This ratio of female to male students was not found within the traditional course setting.The claim that â€Å"the demographic differences between online and traditional students has been duly noted† (Diaz, 2002, p. 1) has mixed implications. For instance, while Gibson and Graff (1992) and Thompson (1998) concluded that online students are generally older, have a higher GPA, and have completed more credits than traditional students. There are several unidentified assumptions. First, these demographic characteristics portray a trend rather than a fixed number. Observing online education over time has indicated that students are getting younger and demographic populations are shifting (Allen & Seaman, 2010).The Instructional Technology Council (Allen & Seaman, 2010) has reported that in 2008, 52% of students were considered traditional age; whereas, only 46% of students were considered traditional age in 2006. The second assumption is that methods of identifying online students are universal. What constitutes an online student from a traditional student may vary from institution to institution or from course to course. Lastly, demographic characteristics vary largely across the United States and should be taken into consideration when applyi ng theory to practice.For instance, Iowa’s minority population constitutes only 9. 4% of the student population and was ranked the fifth lowest state in terms of diversity in 2007. Thus the number of students represented by any one ethnic category is likely to be very different than population numbers from other states and vary highly from states outside of the Midwest (Iowa Department of Education, 2008). The research should consider the question of student performance and how it has also been further reviewed along lines of gender (Price, 2006; Yates, 2001). Whereas, reviously women were presumed to have an online disadvantage due to access (Kirkup & von Prummer, 1997) or family commitments (Wolf, 1998), studies have shown that enrollment is greater among females in online courses and females may in fact be more successful in the online setting (Price, 2006). In her study, Price (2006) sought to uncover gender differences in female and male students who are enrolled in onli ne courses. In order to do so, she compared the same course in both a traditional and online setting. From 2002 to 2004, 1,991 students participated in the study from the Open University.Two questionnaires were utilized to demonstrate course experience and academic engagement. From her study, Price (2006) was able to conclude that women were more likely to outperform their male counterparts in online course settings. In Aragon and Johnson’s study, they found no significant difference in characteristics of age, ethnicity or financial aid eligibility of students enrolled in online classes. Once again, they found that gender had significant association with completion and non-completion in online courses.Their findings were that females completed at a higher rate than male students in an online but not face-to-face courses (2008). Additionally, it is worth noting that the thought that online instruction is eliminating many of the barriers to education for all students in general and indicated through student interviews (2008). The interviews determined that the self-reported reason for non-completion of an online class was personal and time constraints which accounted for 34% of the reasons for non-completion of their online courses, compared to 100% of the reasons given by the face-to-face students (Aragon & Johnson, 2008).Online students often outperform traditional students when success is measured by the percentage of students that attain a grade of â€Å"C’ or above, overall classroom performance (e. g. , exam scores), or student satisfaction (Diaz, 2000). When comparing the characteristics and success of online and traditional students, Diaz found that online students received twice as many â€Å"A† grades, while traditional students received twice as many â€Å"D† and â€Å"F† grades in a general health education class. The online students were also more satisfied with multiple aspects of their course as demonstrated by their responses to an 11-question satisfaction survey.While online students generally fared better in overall grades and grades on exams, they also dropped the course more frequently: a 13. 5% drop rate for online students versus a 7. 2% drop rate for traditional students. As Diaz noted, â€Å". . . it seems very clear that students who enroll and persist in an online course will fare at least as well as their on-campus counterparts† (p. 95). While the use of surveys in conjunction with empirical data can often provide a more complete picture, surveys as a sole means of predicting student success and learning has been less than successful (Hall, 2008).Employing two different survey instruments, Hall (2008) attempted to uncover which instrument would be the most accurate in determining online student success. Two hundred and twenty-eight students participated in the study which encompassed three regional community colleges in the Midwest. These students were all enrolled in at least one online course in the following areas: business, computer information services, criminal justice, and early childhood development. Hall (2008) found that the class categories were a better predictor of student success than either of the two survey instruments.In fact, the surveys showed little than 8% accuracy in predicting final grades for these students. If online students typically possess characteristics that research has linked with academic success (e. g. , older age and more academic experience), why are they less successful in terms of persisting in a class for the full term? One possible answer is that we may have mistakenly defined â€Å"drop rate† as a characteristic synonymous with â€Å"academic non-success. † However, I believe that many online students who drop a class may do so because it is the right thing to do.In other words, because of the requirements of school, work, and/or family life in general, students can benefit more from a class i f they take it when they have enough time to apply themselves to the class work. Thus, by dropping the class, they may be making a mature, well-informed decision that is consistent with a learner with significant academic and life experience. This explanation would be consistent with their demographics while calling into question the idea that these students are academically unsuccessful or possess inferior academic abilities. In act, a case could be made that many of the students who earn â€Å"D† and â€Å"F† grades would be better served by dropping a class. By doing so at the appropriate time, some might increase the likelihood of a successful academic career. For example, they would obviate the need to retake a course immediately, and dropping the class would not adversely affect their GPA, perhaps helping them to avoid academic probation. (Diaz, 2000, p. 3) What affect do best practices have on non-traditional (online) students? An extensive reading of the litera ture reveals numerous significant approaches to improving online courses.One method is determining what may contribute or detract from a student’s success in an online course is to take a customer/business approach to the question. In other words, what is the business doing and what is the business doing that is satisfying the customer? This approach would lead researchers to look at central themes of investigation in determining the factors that contribute to or detract from student success. First the researcher must determine what aspects students perceive are important to producing success in online learning.In the customer/business approach, it is a given that a satisfied customer is the end-point from which one works backwards to build a successful business. The literature indicates that student perceptions, attitudes, and satisfaction (Biggs, 2006; Clayton, 2004; Valasidou & Makridiou-Bolusiou, 2006) are almost certainly key in the development and instruction of online courses. According to Pearson and Trinidad (2005), hearing from students is essential to learning about what works and where improvements should be made in the future.It is the business/customer model applied to online education. Secondly, the research should consider how educators are conducting their online courses. The scholarly literature reveals that researchers are finding several central factors related to student perceptions and the methods instructors are using to teach and design their courses. Palloff and Pratt (2003) concisely define these factors as (a) instructor support, (b) a sense of community, and (c) an appropriate use of technology in the online setting.However, there continues to be instructor support as well as a sense of community in the traditional classroom as well. Instructor Support The foregoing conclusion for a number of years in education is that the greater the amount of instructor support, the more successful students will be in understanding and achi eving the learning objectives of their courses. Sahin (2007), and Valasidou and Makrdiou-Bousiou (2006) all agree and suggest that a major predictor in online courses is instructor support.In the online environment, students have come to expect instructor support. As an example, data from a qualitative study conducted by Motteram and Forrester (2005) revealed that students have more or less unwittingly come to believe that because of the nature of online learning as being any-time and any-place, instructors are available on a 24-7 basis, able to respond at any hour. Students not only expect instructional support, they expect it in a more expedient manner than the face-to-face student.Another example that indicates students want and need instructor support comes from a study by Ice, Curtis, Phillips, and Wells (2007) who conducted research from Spring 2004 through Summer 2005 with 26 master’s level students and 8 doctoral students in online courses to determine if there is val ue in using asynchronous audio feedback in grading student work. The researchers were attempting to determine what effect, if any, the use of audio feedback might have on increasing students’ success in online courses.In this study, five research questions were posed to determine (a) whether students preferred audio or text feedback, (b) to what degree audio feedback is an effective replacement to the interaction that takes place in a face-to-face course, (c) how audio feedback improved a sense of community, (d) in what manner is perceived learning impacted by the use of audio feedback, and (e) what relationship exists between audio feedback and student satisfaction. The results concluded that students believed that asynchronous audio feedback gave them more insight into what the instructor was trying to onvey, students experienced an increased feeling of involvement, the instructor was perceived as more caring, and content retention improved (Ice, et al, 2007). Again, a majo r finding of this research revealed that instructor support and involvement created what students described as a caring attitude, and this caring is a key to students’ satisfaction and, ultimately, their success in the online course. Leners and Sitzman (2006) undertook a study with online nursing students by seeking their voice in defining what online caring meant.The research revealed the same conclusions that many other studies ( Irlbeck, 2008, & Keengwe, & Kidd, 2010) with online students have reported. What students defined as caring was the method and degree to which the instructors interacted with students and the timelines of the communication. Instructor support was, again, a key to student satisfaction. The body of literature exists in large quantities with reference to research studies revealing that both practitioners and researchers agree: Interaction between students and instructors is an important predictor of student satisfaction in online courses.One of the ma jor findings that Chickering and Gamson (1987) in Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education is just as true in online education today. It is good practice to encourage contact between students and instructors. Whether referred to as instructor, tutor, mentor, teacher or technician, students expect support and are more satisfied when they receive support from that individual. A Sense of Community Next to contact between instructor and student is the contact that emerges within what has become known as the learning community.That community represents interaction from instructor to student and from student to student. Research conducted by Motteram and Forrester (2005) suggests that students’ relationships with fellow students emerged as a prime need in online courses. When taking an online course, students often voice feelings of solitude and the fear of learning alone. A need for interaction with other students is just as apparent in the online environment as it is within the face-to-face classroom. According to Garrison and Anderson (2003), social presence has become highly important in online education.Social presence is defined as â€Å"the extent to which students can project their presence online when communicating in the textual milieu in the absence of visual or verbal signs† (Motteram & Forrester, 2005, p. 284). Kazmer puts forth that when students come into an online classroom they are really performing for each other, for themselves, and for the instructor. In the absence of visual and verbal cues that are normally found in the face-to-face classroom, students create for themselves an identity, and they need a variety of diverse media for interaction to articulate these online identities (2004).Community within the adult online learning environment may be even more important than with traditional-aged students. A great body of research highlighted by Malcolm Knowles’ (1990) theory of andragogy reveals that one way adults learn is by comparing past knowledge and experiences with current experiences. Stilborne and Williams (1996) further advance the need for community in online education when teaching adult students by suggesting that providing a means for interaction and encouraging adult students to share their knowledge is essential to their style of learning.Adult students have a lifetime of knowledge and experience to share, and finding a sense of community brings this to life. University administrators have known for some time that when students are involved in the campus community, attrition decreases. Eastmond (1995) sensed that an increased dropout rate among online students is directly related to the reduction or elimination of social and visual cures lost in an online course format; conversely, increased online community reduces the attrition rate (Rovai, 2002).Diaz (2002) and Carr (2000) report that attrition is up to 10% higher in online courses than the face-to-face counterpar t. As a course design strategy, the use of learning communities has helped reduce this attrition (Diaz, 2002), and when students persist, they become more successful in their learning and persevere to graduation. Not all students are looking for community within online courses, however. Some studies indicate that students do not necessarily desire a sense of community (Brown 2001).In some cases, Brown learned that students simply do not wish to participate or engage in community building, while others participate based on availability of time. Other studies have indicated that students feel they are risking academic rigor if they participate in social relationships or class community building. Based on these views, Liu and Ginther (n. d. ) undertook exploratory study to determine, among other things, if students feel a sense of community in online courses and if that sense of community added to the learners’ engagement and perceived learning and satisfaction.Their conclusion was that there are many positive relationships between sense of community and student satisfaction and perceived learning. No specific agreement between students and instructors emerged, however, on how community building should be undertaken. This led the researchers to further suggest that community building in online courses may not be as intuitive as the advocates of online community might suggest. In other words, community building needs to be intentional; it may not just happen. Analysis and synthesis of the literature explains several things regarding online learning communities.Many students feel that social presence in an online course is essential to reducing their feelings of aloneness and solitude while other students opted for online learning because of the solitude. Still others do not participate in community building for lack of time or fear of lagging behind academically. It may be difficult to distinguish among these groups of students, but a number of instructors and researchers believe that a sense of community helps with retention and, in cases of adult students, adds significantly to the learning and knowledge acquisition process.Diaz (2002) characterized this notion of community by suggesting that good practice would encourage cooperation and discussion among students. The literature illustrates that this principle is present in the online environment as well. Developing community will most likely require concerted design and effort on the part of the instructor. Use of Appropriate Technology Interaction among the participants in higher education, instructor to student and student to student, is generally accepted as fundamental (Liu& Ginter, n. . ). This interaction is also considered a condition to student satisfaction (Garrison & Anderson, 2003) and decreased attrition (Rovai, 2002). Therefore, as previously presented, just as a sense of community and human interaction are both expected in the face-to-face context, they are expected a s well in an online learning environment. The question then becomes, what is the appropriate technology that should be implemented to best facilitate interaction and sense of community?The two primary forms of technology that have emerged within online courses are asynchronous and synchronous interaction (Hines & Pearl, 2004). Synchronous, or real time, interaction requires that students participate at the same time. Asynchronous, or delayed time, interaction does not require students to simultaneously participate (Rose, 2006). Synchronous. Branson and Essex surveyed educators and found that instructors mostly used synchronous communication for holding â€Å"virtual† office hours, brainstorming, community building, dealing with various technical issues, and one-on-one tutoring.The shortcomings of synchronous communications is in the logistics of getting the students together online at one time, students not participating in the faster paced chats because of poor typing skills , and less reflection time for students in formulating their answers (2001). As Hines and Pearl put it, â€Å"Synchronous chats have the advantages of providing a greater sense of presence and generating spontaneity† (2004, p. 34). Synchronous communication, however, is difficult since students may be separated by immense geographic time differences.Maushak and Ou (2007) conducted a study to examine how well synchronous interaction facilitated collaboration among graduate students in their group work. The researchers concluded that students regarded the synchronous interaction with an instant messaging system as beneficial in collaborating on group projects and as very helpful in creating a sense of community. There was not a sense that synchronous interaction would be the appropriate method for communicating full class discussion meetings. Asynchronous.The use of asynchronous interaction lies more in the form of discussion forums whereby students are allowed more time for re flection, where archiving of the discussion can take place, and where all students have the opportunity to participate at a more leisurely rate. Referred to as threaded discussions, these forums generally begin with the instructor or moderator submitting a question for discussion. Students then read the question and comment on it and the threads builds (Palloff & Pratt, 1999).Many educators report more in-depth and thought provoking discussion taking place with asynchronous online interaction (Branson & Essex, 2001) than occurs in face-to-face classroom discussions. Dede and Kremer concluded that the forums produced richer, more inclusive discussions among students but are more time consuming to mediate and generally do not provide much social interaction (1999). A synthesis of the literature shows that educators have always felt that discussion adds value.Knowledge that participants supply is often thought to add as much value to the discussin as that of the instructor (Addesso, 20 00). Knowles (1990) contends that in adult learning the value added by each student is of utmost importance. Physical anonymity in online threaded discussions, according to Sweeney and Ingram, can draw out inquisitiveness, decrease inhibition, and help to bridge the gender gap, thereby increasing interaction (2001). The analysis of the literature draws the conclusion that literature regarding appropriate use of technology in online courses reveals that it is essentially content specific.Asynchronous and synchronous interaction are not mutually exclusive, but asynchronous interaction seems to provide for a higher level of academic and intellectual communication while synchronous interaction appears to be more useful in building a sense of community in the online environment. What affect do student characteristics have on non-traditional (online) student’s attrition rates? An extensive reading of the literature reveals numerous significant approaches to improving online courses . Vincent Tinto 2008), has stated that a wide range of studies have been conducted over the last 30 years that provides definitive data as to what affects high attrition rate. As a result the university administrators have reviewed the findings and implemented a variety of changes, many in student affairs, in order to reduce the attrition rate (Tinto). However, online instruction is here to stay, and the number of online courses has increased, as have the number of conflicting discussions that have attempted to define reasons and solutions for high attrition rate among online classes (Tyler-Smith, 2005).Online students face different issues relating to high attrition rate than do their traditional face-to-face counterparts. As Rovai (2002) stated, online students seem to have very different challenges in which to overcome when attempting to complete an online course which may involve personal distractions, variations in technological abilities, learner readiness, feelings of alienat ion, the instructor, and fellow students. The research will follow these factors and determine the affects these variables have upon attrition rate in the online world.Personal Conflicts Adult students have often indicated that they were unable to attend a traditional class due to conflicts with work, geographic, or family commitments and found that online classes were more suitable to their schedule. Online courses have been designed by the educator with flexibility in mind, as the student can work at their own pace and schedule without time constraints of the face-to-face class (Galusha, 1997; Kim 2004). However, due to work commitments as well as family, many still find completion of online course restrictive (Galusha).Many administrators believe that high attrition rate is due to the fact that online learners are traditionally older and maintain a busy work and life schedule, causing students to drop classes more often (Carr, 2000). In Carr’s research he observed that man y professors noted that they frequently lose students due to work, marriage, divorce, and pregnancy’s. Carr referenced one student’s observation that older students have more clearly defined goals and seems to be comfortable working independently, rather than a younger student more ikely to drop the online class. In a study conducted by Kemp (2002), factors such as â€Å"resilience, life events, and external commitments† (p. 67) were studied to predict online attrition rate. Questionnaires were administered and compared to student records in order to determine if there was a correlation between these three factors. It was determined that resilience and work commitments were significant among the findings, but they were not conclusive due in part to an inadequate method of accumulating data and the length of the study.Parker (1999) observed and stated that many studies of attrition focus on a single factor as the cause for high attrition rate among online courses . Diaz (2002) believes that research be conducted in order to determine the varying reasons for students to drop online courses, as did Kerka (1995) who believes that students that drop online courses should not be lumped into one category, but should be grouped into several in order to recognize the seriousness of non-completion. One should not assume that the student is dropping the class because of academic problems.Since online learners are found to be more mature and experienced, it is assumed that the reason in dropping the class results from careful reflection. Due to outside influences, it may be better for the student to successfully complete the course at a later date (Kerka). Variations in Learning Readiness According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (2003) online learning presents itself with a tremendous presence in higher education which creates a greater demand for exploring learner readiness and student perceptions of online learning.More specificall y, research directs the literature review to an investigation of learner readiness, on-screen reading speed and comprehension, followed by typing speed and accuracy. With the dramatic increase of online learners, successful identification of learner readiness has become a priority (Shilwant & Haggarty, as cited in Watkins, 2005). Profitt (2008) discusses the need for an institutional, pre-assessment requirement, tailored toward learner readiness.The assessment results would not only present information to advise the college and potentially at-risk students, but would also alert students, who would in turn, use the results for self-evaluation and make the decisions if they are a good fit for online learning. However; Harrell (2008) states â€Å"There could be students for whom face-to-face is a better fit, but the online environment is their only option† (as cited in Profitt, 2008, p. 27). Based on the documented learner readiness assessment, at risk students may then contact the institution of higher learning and seek xtra orientation or support services to help prevent an unpleasant online learning experience. Hsu and Shiue along with other researchers have studied individual learner readiness as a reason one might drop an online course (2005). This is a reflection of Knowles theory of andragogy, whereby the assumption of adult self-concept is made that he or she has reached a level toward self-directed learning (Knowles, 1998). Parker (1999) approved the Internet as a method for providing the â€Å"opportunity for the self-directed learner to go where no person has gone before† (p. 1).Parker believes that in order for learning to be successful, instructional media should be carefully selected. In doing so, the online learner should take an online learner readiness quiz that assesses the ability of the student and the potential for success in an online course. READI indicates â€Å"the degree to which an individual student possesses attributes, skills and knowledge that contributes to success in online learning† (Readi. info, 2010). As noted by Willis & Lockee (2004) a determination of goodness of fit of online learning of a potential student should be assessed prior to the initiation of the distance learning commitment.Technological Abilities The revolution of technology and the rise of the Internet age has increased the ease and accessibility to learning for the online student, thereby, allowing a greater opportunity for the autonomous learning which can be defined as â€Å"self-planned, self-organized and self-assessed learning† (Peters, 2000, p. 9). Osika and Sharp (2002) concluded that without solid technical skills, students may have a difficult time succeeding in Web-based learning environments.Through a survey of faculty at a midsize regional commuter campus in the Midwestern United States, an inventory had been established of the minimum technical competencies faculty members believe students should possess to be successful in Web-based instruction. Additionally students at the same university were surveyed to determine how well they thought they met the minimum competencies outlined by the faculty. What was found confirmed the faculty's concerns that students often did not possess the technical skills required to be successful in a Web-based course.Osika and Sharp (2002) concluded that even though students are exposed to technology at a much earlier age, â€Å"this does not mean they are technically competent with the skills required to be successful with Web-based instruction† (p. 324). Muse conducted a study whereby looking at students reasons for dropping a course. He reported that many of the students found difficulties managing the software, falling behind in their course work and became frustrated and anxious, therefore, dropping the class. Today many universities have technical support that will provide guidance to the students so that they do not fall behind.Ove r half of the faculty in Osika and Sharp’s (2002) study listed computer skills such as the ability to use the basic hardware on a computer, prepare word processing task, use the Internet, and send and receive e-mails, which is a prerequisite for online instruction. Students that were polled in their study claimed that they had the ability to access the Internet and word processing, but when asked specific questions about their competency levels, they were unable to do so (Osika and Sharp). However, perceived ability, on the part of the student and instructor, may not actually meet levels of competency.Muse (2003) conducted a similar study that looked at reasons for dropping an online class. They study found that the students that had difficulties with managing the software (Blackboard, Moodle) fell behind in their assignments, therefore, making them feel anxious and frustrated. Feelings of Alienation In order for online students to succeed, they need to feel as if they are pa rt of a â€Å"larger school community† (Galusha, 1997, p. 4). This is indicative of the lack of communication that may exist in distance education, more specifically to the lack of interaction among staff, students, materials and services.In a study, Meyer (2001) observed that the student and teacher lack interaction as the Internet does not allow for it, which commonly occurs in the classroom. The feeling of alienation may give students even more reasons to drop out of the online course. Administrators conveyed that students identified that one problem in taking an online course is lack of personal interaction which they desire, but do not receive with online instruction (Carr, 2000). One student quoted by Carr, â€Å"†¦you don’t have direct contact on a regular basis with your instructor,† (p.A39) and in order to succeed, the student must possess a level of confidence that does not require immediate feedback. Galusha (1997) also reported the lack of confi dence that is required when there is a lack of immediate feedback. This is troublesome for the student, and the lack of contact was specifically identified as an area that affected the success of online students. Rovai and Wighting (2005) addressed the issue â€Å"alienation and low sense of community† (p. 101) and the relationship of student attrition in their research with a sample of graduate students at a private university in Virginia.They felt that the study yielded â€Å"a valid predictive and explanatory tool for researchers concerned with the welfare and persistence of students in higher education programs† (p. 108). Rovai and Wighting stated that, the high quality experiences that students receive in the classroom improve student retention, therefore, these findings should be considered when developing an online class. Rovai and Wighting advised that there needs to be additional research to identify how to foster community in an online classroom in order to l ower attrition, particularly among diverse cultures. CHAPTER 3CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary The literature review summarized that online students have a great number of deterrents to completing an online course (Carr, 2000; Galusha, 1997; Kerka1995). Some of these deterrents include family, employment, finances, technology, instructor communication, feelings of isolation, and procrastination (Kerka, 1995). Instruction is an identifiable problem that can affect the performance of a student. There may be a problem of communication between instructor and fellow students, as well as technological difficulties on the part of the student and instructor.Rovai (2003) states that early intervention with reference to the identifiable problems stated above will better meet the needs of the students. Student’s performance suffers when there is a lack of personal contact among the instructor and fellow students. Therefore, there is a breakdown in communication that must be enhan ced when students are taking an online class. How does one enhance communication? There can be exchanges between the student/instructor through emails, virtual office hours, message boards as well as telephone communication.There is an importance among student and instructor services for online classes. Floyd and Casey-Powell (2004) recommended five student areas that are in need of development for online learner. â€Å"Orientation, development, support, transition, and evaluation are areas that the instructor and or university must provide. † Orientation should be given at the beginning of the online class. The instructor should develop those skills with the students through making assignments, and requiring students to log on to the course a number of times during the week. Colleges, such as John A.Logan College offer an orientation class to their students at the beginning of each semester. They also provide support for online students. There needs to be a gradual transitio n into the online course, as well as mid-term evaluation and an end of semester evaluation so that the instructors can learn from those evaluations. The curricular design of the online class can provide the instruction in a meaningful manner. The course welcome or introduction should include an overview of the course establishing boundaries for the course. This would also be the time that the instructor establishes a learning community.Findings What similarities and differences, in terms of demographics (age, gender, ethnicity), are present in non-traditional (online) students attrition rate? According to Allen and Seaman’s report, online students may not share the same demographics as traditional higher education students, thus, instructors need to understand the challenges of distance learning when designing and creating an online learning experience (Allen & Seaman, 2010). Universities want to improve graduation rates and attract non-traditional students by increasing onli ne offerings (Allen & Seaman, 2007; 2010).The shift towards offering more online courses will continue to affect higher education institutions in ways that are not yet understood. The benefits (e. g. , convenience for institutions, instructors, and students) and the challenges (e. g. , student retention) need to be balanced to ensure that students’ outcomes of online courses are comparable with those in traditional face-to-face courses (Allen & Seaman, 2010). Using the demographic data that Dutton, Dutton & Perry (2002) gathered from the student records, it appeared that the gender played little role in the choice format.However, it is clear that older, non-traditional students prefer the online class. The average age of an online student’s age compared to a lecture student was more than five years greater. Nearly two-thirds of the lecture class was less than 22 years old while the same proportion of online section was older than 22. The study also determined that full -time students preferred the lecture course and the part-time students preferred the online. On average the study determined that the online students had greater outside responsibilities and that they live arther from campus. We need to close the age gap, and encourage young students to take online classes. Advertisement is the key to promoting online classes. Full-time students should be encouraged during advisement to take online classes. However, at the same time, advisors must screen potential online students in order to provide proper placement of each individual student. It may be best to first introduce the traditional learning through hybrid classes. This gives them the best of both worlds. What affect do best practices have on non-traditional (online) students?One method is determining what may contribute or detract from a student’s success in an online course is to take a customer/business approach to the question. First of all, a determination of what is being done correctly, and what is not. This approach would lead researchers to look at central themes of investigation in determining the factors that contribute to or detract from student success. Secondly, the researcher must determine what aspects students perceive are important to producing success in online learning.In the customer/business approach, it is a given that a satisfied customer is the end-point from which one works backwards to build a successful business. The literature indicates that student perceptions, attitudes, and satisfaction (Biggs, 2006; Clayton, 2004; Valasidou & Makridiou-Bolusiou, 2006) are almost certainly key in the development and instruction of online courses. According to Pearson and Trinidad (2005), hearing from students is essential to learning about what works and where improvements should be made in the future.It is the business/customer model applied to online education. There needs to be more communication between the instructor and student. An instruc tor might assign group work, which will allow the student to get to know their fellow students, which will enhance the learning experience for the online student. Secondly, the research should consider how educators are conducting their online courses. The scholarly literature reveals that researchers are finding several central factors related to student perceptions and the methods instructors are using to teach and design their courses.Palloff and Pratt (2003) concisely define these factors as (a) instructor support, (b) a sense of community, and (c) an appropriate use of technology in the online setting. However, there continues to be instructor support as well as a sense of community in the traditional classroom as well. Instructor Support In an online environment, students have come to expect instructor/technical support. Educational institutions should provide online support through orientation, and staff support. A Sense of Community The student needs a sense of community. Th is is established through a good rapport with the instructor.The instructor needs to establish assignments that will bring the fellow students together through projects, discussion board assignments, and creating an environment where as the students may share their knowledge. Developing community will most likely require concerted design and effort on the part of the instructor. Use of Appropriate Technology The two primary forms of technology that have emerged within online courses are asynchronous and synchronous interaction (Hines & Pearl, 2004). Synchronous, or real time, interaction can occur through vi