Tele Education Essay Example For Students

Tele Education Essay 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of Tele-education Tele-education has a longhistory beginning with systems like that for teaching children in AustralianOutback, the British Open University and other such organizations. These builton the idea of correspondence courses where course materials are sentperiodically by post and augmented the experience with broadcasts either onradio or on TV. The problem of student isolation was addressed partially throughtechniques such as telephone access or two-way radio links with teachers. At theend of 1980s, the vest majority of distance education throughout the worlds wasstill primarily print-based. Technologies used for distance education areevolving from primarily one-way technologies and applications such ascomputer aided learning, computer based training and computer aided instruction,to more two-way technologies and applications such as computer mediatedcommunications and computer conferencing systems for education. The significanceof two-way te chnologies is that they allow foe interaction betweenparticipant and tutors, and perhaps even more significantly amongst participantthemselves. This development has allowed and in some senses force researches tolook more closely at the impact of educational environment, on the studentslearning experience. In the future, it is expected that thetelecommunications-based technologies to become the primary means of delivery ofdistance teaching. The reasons for this are as follows: ? a much widerrange of technologies are becoming more accessible to potential distanceeducation participants ? the costs of technological delivery are droppingdramatically ? the technology is becoming easier to use for both tutorsand learners ? the technology is becoming more powerful pedagogically? education centers will find it increasingly difficult to resist thepolitical and social pressures of the technological imperatives. 1.2 TheEmergence of Tele-education Radical changes in the computing infrastructure, spurred by multimedia computing and communication, will do more than extend theeducational system, that is revolutionize it. Technological advances will makeclassrooms mush more accessible and effective. Today, classroom educationdominates instruction from elementary school to graduate school. This method hasremained popular for a very long time and will probably persist as the mostcommon mode of education. However, classroom education has its problems, that isthe effectiveness decline with increase in the number of students per class. We will write a custom essay on Tele Education specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Other pressures affect the instructors, many of whom are not experts in thematerial they must teach, are not good performers in class, or simply arenot interested in teaching. The biggest limitation of the classroom instructionis that a class meets at a particular time in a particular place. Thisessentially requires all students and the instructors to collect in one spot fortheir specified period. But with the emerging technology, these problems can beovercome. 1.3 Reasons for studying Tele-education The current Tele-educationsystems that have been applied in some countries are generally of multipointtransmission technique. It is found that, this kind of transmission techniquehaving several problems or defects. Mostly, problems raised during theapplication of the system. One of the significant problems raised is that, forthe multipoint transmission, the signals or information transmitted by thesender do not completely received by the receiver. This problem is might be dueto error tha t occurs during the transmission of the signals or information. Another problem is lag of transmission. For this case, the signals orinformation transmitted do not arrive at all the receiver at the same time, forexample, the question raised by the lecturer might not received by the studentsat the same time and this is not a good environment for Tele-education system. Some receiver receives the signals earlier than the others and some later oreven not receives at all. Therefore, it is important to study the Tele-educationtechnology from time to time to overcome these problems so that theTele-education system could provide a more effective way of learningenvironment. In order to have a lecture from, for example, a very famousprofessor from other country would require him to come at our place. But theamount of money spent for paying him to give lecture would be very expensive andthis also would cause troublesome for him. However, this problem can be solvedwith Tele-education system in which the professor does not need to go anywhereelse to give his lecture. This would save a lot of expenses and time. Anotherreason is that, in normal classes the learning process would not be veryeffective if the number of students in a class is very big. This is because thelecturer alone can not coordinate such a large class. With Tele-educationsystem, one lecturer c ould deliver his lecture to as many students as possibleeffectively in a way that a large number of students from different sites havingthe same lecture at once. 1.4 Purpose of Research The purpose of this researchis to study the current Tele-education system that has been applied in somecountries. This study covers the background of Tele-education; that is itsdefinition, the publications of Tele-education; that is any papers that discussabout Tele-education as a whole, the performance of applied Tele-education, andalso the technology of Tele-education; that is its network architecture. But themain purpose of this study is to understand the Tele-education system that havebeen applied in another country and try to implement it in our country. 1.5Acronyms ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode CCITT Committee ConsultatifInternational Telegraphique et Telephonique CPE Customer Premises Equipment IPInternet Protocol ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network ISO InternationalStandard Organization JAMES Joint ATM Experiment on European Services LAN LocalArea Network MAC Medium Access Control Mbone Multicast Backbone PC PersonalComputer POP Point-of-Presence PVC Permanent Virtual Channel QoS Quality ofService RAT Robust Audio Tool SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol TCP-IPTransmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol TES Tele-Educational ServiceUI User Interface VIC Video Conferencing Tool VP Virtual Path VPN VirtualPrivate Network VSD Virtual Student Desktop WAN Wide Area Network WWW World WideWeb XC Cross Connect 2.0 METHOD OF INVESTIGATION Since Tele-education is a verynew technology that is popularly discussed today, it is quite difficult for meto find any books that discuss about Tele-education from the library. Therefore,the easiest and the fastest way to gather information relating this project isvia the Internet. I have surfed and found many interesting sites that discussabout Tele-education. Besides surfing, I also have contacted several people whoare involved in t his area, Tele-education, by e-mail . But unluckily, this doesnot really help because most of them did not reply. Besides using the Internet,I also get the information for this project from the IEEE Database at thelibrary of Universiti Telekom. 3.0 BACKGROUND STUDY 3.1 Definition ofTele-education What is Tele-education? Before discussing about whatTele-education means, lets look at what distance learning is. This is becauseTele-education and distance learning are very related to each other. Distancelearning is the acquisition of skills and knowledge through electroniccommunications that allow student and instructor to be separate in either intime or space. The to distance learning is asynchronous learning which canbe defined loosely as learning at different time. It is a highly flexible methodof training because the sender and receiver do not need to be synchronized inspace or time. But Tele-education is more than that of distance learning. InTele-education, not only asynchronous bu t synchronous learning is also madepossible. In other words, Tele-education is the evolution of distance learning. As stated before, asynchronous learning environment is not real-timeenvironment. It is a self-study-based application and is accessed via theInternet to a server. The requirement to the student is only an ordinary PC withstandard software and Internet access. This application is applicable for alarge amount of users who can access the course independent of each other. Thecombination of the lecture-part, group-work-part, and self-study-part is anothertype of Tele-education learning environment, which is synchronous learning. Itis a real-time environment. In this environment, students and lecturers caninteract with each other simultaneously. Tele-education use the technology ofvideo teleconferencing that allows two or more parties at different geographicalarea to interact with each other or to have learning process together. Butpeople usually get confused whether video teleconferencing can be considered asTele-education as well. Tele-education is actually different with videoteleconfer encing in a way that Tele-education usually involve a large number ofpeople as compared to video teleconferencing, that is, it is in videoteleconferencing many people use a single monitor to see other people at otherarea but in Tele-education, students have their own monitor that can be used notonly to see their lecturer and colleagues but also to send and receiveeducational materials. 3.2 Publications of Tele-education There are many papersdiscussing about Tele-education. Most of these papers cover only the general oroverall scope of Tele-education. The area of discussion on Tele-education can besummarized as the following: ? Tele-education service ? Content ofTele-education ? Network architecture ? performance ofTele-education ? operation and management of Tele-education ForTele-education service, it describes about what multimedia tele-service andhyper media service is, and how it can be integrated into Tele-educationservice. It also describes about what Tele-education service fa cilitate. Contentof Tele-education describes about the style or mode of Tele-education system,that is, what kind of education style used, and how the lecture notes or anymaterials delivered to all the students. For network architecture, it describesabout the protocol used for the Tele-education system and its networkinfrastructure. Performance of Tele-education covers the performance of serviceof Tele-education and also the network performance. The description of theseperformances is from the customer point of view. For the operation andmanagement of Tele-education, it describes about what should be taken intoconsideration in order to provide a well managed Tele-education service. 3.3Examples of Systems From the study of materials gathered, there are generallythree examples of Tele-education system that have been applied in the Europe andCanada. Those examples are: ? Tele-education NB ? Delta s VirtualCollege ? ACTS Project AC052 (RACE Project Report) The purpose of lookinginto thes e examples is to try to understand what kind of Tele-education systemis implemented, how Tele-education can be implemented, to know what are therequirements to implement it, and what considerations should be taken intoconsideration for implementing it. 3.3.1 Tele-education NB Tele-education NB isimplemented at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. The present physicalnetwork consists of three independent networks that operate on telephone lines;? Voice ? SMART 2000 computer teleconferencing ? ComputerMediated Communications using NBNet The SMART 2000 bridge for computer softwaresharing and audiographic teleconferencing is owned and operated by theTele-education NB. This is accessed by simple dial connections using ordinarytelephone lines. This allows for the computer monitor at each site to showimages created by users at the other sites. The software can be used like anelaborate electronic blackboard, overhead projector, or slide projector. Inaddition, it is being used for softwa re sharing at multiple locations. Datacommunications are transmitted over NBNet using a SLIP server which resides in auser friendly simple menu front-end created by Tel-education NB to permit easyaccess to NBNet and to facilities available. Students and teachers can accessNBNet for uploading and downloading assignments and other course materials. ACD-ROM server is being set up at the central site and at the University of NewBrunswick library for permitting access to different databases. Tele-educationNB also supports an on-line learning center with a file server located at MountAllison University. Information of relevance distance education and the networkin particular can be accessed there. In Tele-education NB, a special listserv iscreated for internal communications among different sites. As an integral partof the provinces electronic information highway, Tele-education NB issupporting the development of an open, distributed network, taking advantage ofmedia available. The most w idely used delivery modes are audio teleconferencingwith SMART 2000, as well as videoconferencing. However, it is not limiting thenetwork to any one technology, or suite of technologies. It is activelypromoting experimentation and cooperation in the reception and delivery ofcourses using other software and media. Tele-education NB placed routers in theCommunity College Campus in each region, and other sites in regions that do nothave a college. Initially it operates using 56K connections and will move T1. SMART 2000 runs not only on regular telephone lines but also on LANs and WANsusing Novell, TCP-IP and other telecommunication protocols. Tele-education NBare now experimenting with synchronous transmissions using the TCP-IP protocolon NBNet. The Picturetel videoconferencing units existing in province all areCCITT compatible. Tele-education NB has provided the guidelines for selectingappropriate technology for its network as follows: ? The network shallexperiment with different technologies and endeavor not to rely on any onetechnology or any supplier. ? Existing equipment and distance educationsites in the province shall be integrated into the network wherever possible. ? The network shall establish computer teleconferencing and computerconferencing links among the sites, including access to electronic informationhighway and the Internet. ? Satellite delivery and reception capabilitiesand upgrading of sites to PC-based videoconferencing will be investigated forimplementation in future. ? Other optional equipment may be placed insites at the request of users and institutions such as MACs and CD-ROMs. ? The network should be compatible as much as possible with otherprovinces and regions. 3.3.2 DELTAs Virtual College Deltas Virtual College isimplemented in Denmark (Europe). It offers the opportunity for students toparticipate in desktop Tele-education from their homes or offices. This conceptmeans that individual students participate in Tele-educational courses using adesktop computer online connected to a course provider. The user interface is acommon Web browser, that is, Netscape Web-browser, extended with looselyintegrated audio and video tools. The educational environment applies themetaphor of a virtual college. The idea is that students access DELTAs virtualcollege server when participating in a course. The user interface looks like theplan of a college. From the college hallway, the student can enter differentrooms with different functions. Those rooms are: ? classrooms whereon-line lectures and presentation take place, ? group rooms where on-linecooperative work takes plac e, ? studies where off-line study such asself-study material, exercises, slides from previous lectures, supplementarymaterial and links to other sites on the Web take place, ? teacheroffices where it is furnished with course administration tools, ? tearoom where it is used for informal chat and social contact with fellow studentsduring break. The following figure, the floor plan, illustratesthose rooms: Figure 1 : The floor plan The goal of this virtual college is tointegrate different modes of teaching and learning. This includes synchronousmode like on-line lectures and group exercises as well as asynchronous mode likeinteractive self study, participation and threaded bill board conferences andsharing of documents. The virtual college is run primarily in a local networkenvironment in order easily to monitor and control the students and technology. Then, when there are several countries participate, each sites are connected bythe JAMES (Joint ATM Experiment on European Services) broadband network. 3.3.3ACTS Project AC052 (RACE Project Report) This is a big project onTele-education. It covers the whole aspects that should be taken intoconsideration for implementing Tele-education in Europe such as service aspects,management aspects, network architecture, etc. In this project, there areseveral trials have been done in order to obtain an effective Tele-educationsystem. The details of this will be discussed later throughout this report. 4.0CONSIDERATIONS It is not easy to find materials or any papers reporting thearchitecture of Tele-education. Most of the materials found are basicallydiscussing about the general idea on what Tele-education system is, for examplesome papers discuss about the general system of a Tele-education serviceoffered, its advantages over current educational environment, etc. However, Imanaged to find a very interesting material discussing about Tele-education as awhole, that is the ACTS Project AC052 (RACE Report Project). Therefore, I choosethis report as my main reference in doing my study on Tele-education overallsystem description covering the architecture. There are basically five maintopics that are going to be discussed in quite detail regarding theTele-education as a whole in this report. These main topics are: ?Tele-education service ? Tele-education content ? Networkarchitecture of Tele-education system ? Performance of Tele-educationservice ? Operation and management of Tele-education service 4.1Tele-education Service The multimedia tele-service provides both core andmanagement services. The multimedia tele-services are briefly described asVideo/audio conferencing service, which based on the MBONE (Multicast Backbone)tools VIC (video conferencing) and RAT (audio conferencing). Hypermedia serviceallows access to be provided to hypermedia information stored on a WWW server. .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 , .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .postImageUrl , .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 , .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:hover , .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:visited , .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:active { border:0!important; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:active , .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65 .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u24e6a3d08f7c3c78b429a4261ececc65:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Problems in Kuwait EssayThe WebStore service is a managed WWW based multimedia document store, whichallows users to store and retrieve arbitrary documents (text, video, audio,etc.), using the well-known interface of the WWW. The management of the WebStoreincludes subscription, accounting and access control. A mapping between thelearning forms and the multimedia teleservices has resulted in a list of fourbasic paradigms: a) Self-study ? Individual work with web based coursematerial including exercises and discovery/reference search. ? Thisparadigm is supported by the hypermedia and WebStore services. b) Lecture? Teacher to class presentation. ? Supported by the conferencing and hypermedia services. c) Group work ? Discussions, exercises orproject work performed by the students in groups. This paradigm can also includeshared discovery/reference search. ? It is supported by conferencing,hypermedia, and WebStore services. d) Consultation ? Student to tutorconsultation ? Supported by video/audio conferencing and hypermediaservices. In order to support these four paradigms the multimedia services areintegrated into a Tele-educational Services (TES) which provides both the coreservice and the management service functionality. The core Tele-educationalservice provides two user interfaces, one for the teacher and one for thestudents. In Tele-educational service, each course, presented as part ofTele-educational service, would involve the rendering and seamless integrationof audio, text, graphics/bitmaps and appropriate video segments, to suit thepresentation of the course material. An educational service would alsofacilitate the interaction of course participa nts with one another in classdiscussions, as well as with the course tutor. In this way, a course tutor canguide debates on issues arising from course material and allow participants toexchange views and share experience. This interaction is very important, asparticipants need to be encouraged to learn both from the tutored course as wellas from each others practical experience. This forum of discussion alsosupports the tutor in assessing feedback from the participants concerning thecomprehension, benefit and effectiveness of a course for participants. Theeducational service could also facilitate access to simulation environments andlive systems, which are parts of the participants course material. Forexample, it could provide access to specific commercial database information,which would be part of a Database Modeling course. In this way, access may begained to systems and information, which would otherwise not be available on theparticipants site. Course could be taken when the pa rticipants work schedulespermitted. Similarly, participant/participant interaction could be scheduledflexibly. An educational service can be seen as incorporating severalinteraction (tele-services) and course presentation mechanism, for example,multimedia presentation tools conferencing, e-mail or notice board systems. Thefollowing is an example of service layer used in the ACTS Project AC052: Figure2 : Service Layer In the ACTS Project AC052, there are two Tele-educationalcourses offered as a trial of the management service. These courses are An Introduction to ATM and An Introduction to Relational Databasesand SQL . 4.1.1 An Introduction to ATM The course includes bothsynchronous and asynchronous delivery methods. The duration of the course isthree to four days with approximately three hours of teaching and studying eachday. The course consists of five lectures, three self study modules and threegroup exercises with a follow-up discussion of the results. The differentmodules and modes of the course are conducted in a Tele-educational environmentwhich includes course outline information, a database of participants withpictures and CVs, a WWW billboard supporting off-line discussions, access to aWebStore and a tea-room which participants can visit for informal chats. Thelectures are performed by using video/audio conference tools. A system was usedto show slides on the participants web-browsers. The self study modulescontained web pages with information to read and small built-in exercises. Thegroup exercises consist of a number of questions to be answered by the group andreturned to the teacher for correction afterwards. When the teacher hascorrected the answers they are discussed in a conference with all theparticipants. In the first trial a shared editor was introduced for use in groupexercises. The shared editor is a tool for synchronous collaboration on smallertexts, and is meant to complement the chat and whiteboard tools used in earliertrials. An illu stration of the new shared editor can be found below. In thesecond trial, a new floorcontrol-system for use during lectures as well as acomplete new graphical design of the virtual learning environment was tested. The floorcontrol system was used by the teacher during lectures, to determinewhich students wanted to ask a question, and to mute or unmute the microphonesand video cameras accordingly. A new graphical design of the User Interface (UI)was introduced, in an attempt to create an even more homogenous UI. Thefloorplan metaphore was kept, but new images and controls where implementedthroughout the environment. 4.1.2 An Introduction to Relational Databases andSQL This course covered the theoretical principles of relational databasetechnology as well as supporting the hands-on skills of using relationaldatabase language (SQL). Students took the course over a three day period, fortwo hours each day. At the beginning of the course a one hour lecture outlinedthe objectives of the course and provided an introduction to the topics. Theeducational content comprised of text, graphics, and animation and was dividedinto four sections, consisting of a total of twenty one modules (a moduletypically be ing 1-5 pages). The course was made available via the ProspectTele-educational environment. On accessing the course, a separate coursewarebrowser window was opened, called the Virtual Student Desktop (VSD). All studentinteractions with the courseware are facilitated via this VSD. TheTele-educational environment is also accessible by the student for conferencingand synchronous interaction. The VSD is rendered as a set of WWW windows,frames, tool bar and icons. All native WWW browser buttons are suppressed(hidden) so as not to distract the user from the main goal of education. A toolbar specially designed for educational use is provided by the VSD at the bottomof the screen. From this tool bar the student is able to contact tutors orfellow students (asynchronously), access external systems, as well as navigateand interact with the educational course material. Figure 3 illustrates a pagefrom a module in the course, and shows the educational toolbar at the bottom ofthe screen and an ind ex of the topics dealt with by this particular module inthe course on the left hand side of the screen. Figure 3 : page from module inthe course Overall the course comprised several different types of information:Administrative (i.e. how to use the course etc.); A database of (self contained)modules; Indexes or Roadmaps of specific courses through various modules;Evaluation Forms and a Case Study. The roadmaps were important as the modulescan be combined in several ways to satisfy the different requirements fordifferent student objectives. Each roadmap corresponds to different learningobjectives of the RDBMS course. Thus the roadmaps provide a means of re-usingexisting modules with as little redundancy as possible of educational materialand administrative overhead. A significant feature of the system was to providedirect access to a real commercial RDBMS via the same interface as theeducational course. The relational DBMS is seamlessly integrated into thestudent educational desktop. Thus the tool bar offered by the VSD contains anicon which allows students to issue SQL queries on a live database. The idea ofthis is to deliberately blur the distinction between the educational environmentand the target systems. This encourages students to try out variousparts of the course before attempting a larger project. Another feature was theability of the student to store references to distinct locations in the coursematerial (bookmarks). Traditionally these are stored locally on the studentsmachine. However this has disadvantages as students rarely use the same machineall the time. The VSD allows such bookmarks to be stored within the educationalservice and are thus (privately) accessible to an individual student at anytime. Also if the student has logged off the course and logs back on, the VSDallows him/her the ability to resume at his/her most recent position or restartat the beginning. Various forms of on-line tutorials are embedded into thecourse. True or False and Multiple Choice Questions are supported,with automatic correction and notification of marks to the student. Form based(short unstructured text style) answers are also facilitated in some tutorials. In these cases the student answers are automatically delivered to course tutorsfor subsequent correction. Also integrated into the course are evaluation formswhich, when completed, are automatically submitted and stored for later analysisby course tutors. The VSD provides buttons to contact other class members or toseek tutor assistance. Again, this is offered via WWW forms and integratedtransparently with an email delivery system. 4.2 Tele-education Content Thereare several modes of educational interaction, which could be supported by avirtual theatre/study room. These would include lecture presentation, coursematerial presentation and browsing, self-study, group work (sharedapplication/work, class discussions, group presentations), consultation(tutor/participant, participant/participant), tutorial sessions, virtual coffeeroom/virtual lounge, and continuous assessment. There are also some other formof learning that have been identified. These forms of learning are: ?Self learning ? delivery of formatted courses material for students ownstudy ? Lecture presentation ? a one-to-many presentation by thetutor of course or organizational material. ? Exercises ? thefacility to perform exercises either in groups or individually ? Projectwork ? the development of sizeable projects using software outside theteaching environment. ? Discovery/Reference research ? ability tolocate and access background or supplemental learning material ?Seminar/Class discussion groups ? many-to-many communication betweenparticipants. ? Consultation ? private one-to-one communicationbetween participants. There is some overtap between these learning forms. Forexample, exercises, project work, discovery/reference search can be part of theself-learning form, but all of learning forms are listed here for completeness. It has been pointed out that not only should the different modes of teaching besupported in the Tele-educational environment but also the different styles oflearning adopted by the students need to be supported. So for instance studentswho like to annotate their work or their course material should be facilitatedin doing so. This is very much in the spirit of hypertext origins of the WWW. Another point raised is that multimedia activity in the virtual classroom shouldbe captured and associated with relevant course material. For instance, theteachers comments on a particular slide could be captured with the slide inquestion. Also the conversation of students working on group could also berecorded and stored with the exercise. Course material could be presented as ahyper-document with the participant capable of navigating through the documentor choosing the prescribed ordering of the presentation. In addition, theparticipant could also be given access to the more traditional learningmaterial, for example, notes, books, etc. Course assignments could also beelectronically submitted to promote fast feedback on performance. An importantelement of assignments and project work is the need to allow participants toco-operate in groups. 4.3 Network Architecture of Tele-education System From theapplications point of view, network operates as IP (Internet Protocol) networkrouting both multicast and unicast IP packets. Connection from network level tothe Q-adapters managing the switches communicate via ISO stack over X.25 links,but apart from this instances all network infrastructure is in support of IPtraffic. This network structure connects seven sites. The aim of the logicalnetwork infrastructure is to provide stable network interconnections as well asto be managed to some extent by the network management, and to provide aworking, broadband network infrastructure while also supporting an enterprisemodel suitable for multi-domain environment. For the separate customer networks,each sites posses of LANs of Ethernet, or mixed ATM/Ethernet LAN technologies. For maximum efficiency of scarce international, broadband resources, only onesite in each countries (that taking part in Tele-education system) areconnected. The connection, internationally connected customer sites access thepublic network ATM service via an ATM cross-connect (ATM XC) providing ATMpublic network providers Point-of-Presence (POP) in each of relevant countries. Each customer sites posses ATM Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) which is usedto interconnect ATM public network with local routers. For the connection withinthe same country, it is performed via leased lines between routers atinternationally connected customer sites and sites not connected to ATM publicnetwork provider. The ATM CPEs at internationally connected sites and routers atall customer sites managed by VPN (Virtual Private Network) provider. It isperformed in concert with management of ATM public service by VPN provider toprovide Intranet style connectivity between hosts on customer site LANs. Thisnetwork is quite complicated because it connects seven sites in four countriesand consisting of the following core components: ? Four ATM LANs ?Seven Ethernet based LANs ? Four ATM Cross Connects ? Eight staticIP routes ? Seven multicast routers ? Two 2 Mbps leased lines? Ten International ATM links (virtual path) ? One basic rate ISDNlink The following is the figure of logical net work infrastructure: Figure 4 :Logical Network Infrastructure. The ATM infrastructure that represents ATMpublic network provider consists of a single ATM XC at each internationallyconnected sites. These XCs are interconnected by permanent VPs (Virtual Paths). The ATM CPE at each site based on one or more Fore System ASX-200 switches. Itis employed as logically separate ATM LANs besides as providing ATM accessbetween public network and routers at each site. The following is the figure ofATM configuration. Figure 5 : ATM Configuration. The IP configuration consistsof routers at each connected sites being connected by Permanent Virtual Channel(PVC) running over VPs. The routing function at each site performed either bydedicated hardware router or by workstations running routing daemon software. Routing of multicast IP packets (used for multimedia conferencing applications)is not fully supported by most current IP routers, therefore, routing performedby multicast routing daemon (mrouteds) running on workstations. The mrouteds areinterconnected by unicast IP tunnels, which can be used to be routed via routerstogether with all other unicast traffic. The IP tunnels between mrouted atinternationally connected sites used the second sets of VPs. This supportspartition of multicast traffic from other unicast traffic and thus enablesprovision of more deterministic Quality of Service (QoS) for multimediaconferencing application. For external infrastructure, the aim is to provideinternational ATM links between IP routers at the customer sites. Parallel VPsare used between each pair of sites; one for multicast routing and another onefor unicast routing. Figure 6 : The network configuration Reflecting thecontemporary trends in multimedia and information services, all softwarecommunicati on is over IP, including management system traffic. For the networkinfrastructures that are conducted at a single site, the requirement its networkis fairly simple, requiring simply Ethernet connection to support IPcommunication between PCs and workstations. If the system includes themanagement of connections over IP switches, then the network infrastructurewould include both a representative public network ATM cross connect andcustomer premises network ATM work-group switch (a FORE systems ASX200). Theseare connected and configured with multiple VPs to emulate a network with alarger number of nodes. IP routing functions in this network are provided by theSPARC workstations with ATM interface cards performing IP forwarding. Thefollowing is the network configuration of this kind of network: Figure 7 :Network configuration For this network configuration, the TES Customer is ableto request the set-up of a new connection to the TES provider. The TES providerthen requested the VPN provid er to do likewise. The VPN provider made a requestto the Public Network Provider and Customer Premises Network Provider to ensurethat the end-to-end IP/ATM connection was in place for the TES Customer. This isthe goal for the configuration scenario. One of the most important on an ATMnetwork level management system is to provide end-to-end connectivity acrossconstituent ATM network element, and so support the connectivity provisioningwith fault management and quality of service features. Challenged by theserequirements, a system that is able to set up ATM Virtual Paths and to correlatefaulty conditions, determining how these fault effect the connectivity for eachend user has been built. The following is the Network infrastructure of thissystem: Figure 8 : Network infrastructure The figure shows that all the networkequipment is connected to one Ethernet hub, that is, the hub that acts as abackbone for one Public Network domain and two Customer Premises Networks. Inreality, this hub c ould be partitioned into a number of internets that areinter-connected by routers, also known as the Internet. For the network that isrequired to operate over six sites in four different countries, would require amuch more comprehensive network infrastructure. This infrastructure consisted ofan ATM VP service, leased lines, and the internal ATM and IP networkinfrastructure. The following is the example of this network infrastructure :Figure 9 : Network infrastructure 4.4 Performance of Tele-educational Service4.4.1 Courses There were two courses, both aimed at students with above averageprior knowledge of computing and/or computer networks. The first, anintroduction to SQL, was a self-study course, consisting mainly of modules ofwritten text with assessments based on these. The second course, an introductionto ATM, was led by a tutor and involved varied methods of delivery, includinglecture/seminar, individual study and group work. Students were thereforeexpected to interact both wi th one another and with the tutor. This course, too,included assessment modules. Both of the courses were offered over a three-dayperiod and students were expected to participate for three half days. Withinthis time, those taking the SQL course was able to pace their own study. On theATM course, the students use of the different resources was timetabled anddirected by the tutor. Time was divided between events, such as lectures, atwhich all students were expected to be present, and study time, during whichthey would work through a series of modules, with assessment associated witheach one. 4.4.2 Students There were 16 students on the more interactive of thetwo courses, the Introduction to ATM, and a similar number on the self-pacedstudy course, An Introduction to SQL. All the students appeared to beexperienced computer users. This has to be accepted as necessary in a trial suchas this , which takes place in the context of a research project which usesleading edge technology, some of it is still being tested. The prototypicalnature of parts of the system may make unusual demands on the students, such asimposing unexpected delays. Having students who appreciate the difficulties maywell be important. Having said this, it appeared that although they wereknowledgeable about computers, these students were not experts in networkedmultimedia technology, and did need some initial training in the use of thesoftware. This was given prior to the start of the course. The courses wereclearly directed at this target group, as their titles suggest. The studentsalso stated that they had a genuine wish to learn the subjects being offered andthat this was a major motivating factor. They were also paid for theirparticipation, which may have helped improve their persistence when there weretechnical hitches. 4.4.3 System The system used for the ATM course is describedhere. Those taking the SQL course used only those parts suited to self study. .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b , .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .postImageUrl , .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b , .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:hover , .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:visited , .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:active { border:0!important; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:active , .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u3cfd1ed76b2a6fa285d15716c66b4e2b:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Design A Costing System For Use Within An Organization Accounting EssayThere are three main elements: audio, and video communications channels supporta Tele-education system built on a web-browser base, but with considerablefunctionality added. The audio tool, rat, allows participants to receive andtransmit audio, to identify who is speaking, control the volume of incoming andoutgoing audio streams. Since this tool was developed as a research platform,there are many extra features which the average end-user is not likely to use inan application such as this one, for example, the facility to change the audioencoding scheme. The tools basic functionality is easy to learn and use. Thevideo tool, vic, also offers functionality suitable for its use as a platformfor research into networked video. For the non-expert, however, the mostimportant features are that multiple users can send and receive videosimultaneously and that they can control some features of both display andcapture/transmission (image size and frame rate are two examples). Video imagescan be displayed at various sizes from thumbnail image to CIF. Enlarging imagesdoes, however, involve creating a new window for each one. Students access theTele-education system via a web browser and navigate within it using hypertextlinks, buttons and active areas of images. Initial access is password protectedand the system supports the notion of groups and hence, presumably of multipleclasses and tutorial groups. The interface is based on the metaphor of aneducational institution, a building divided into rooms whose function moststudents will be able to predict from their real-life experience of education: classroom, tea room, hall, office, library and seminar room. Users are presentedwith an aerial view of the layout, in which the rooms are labeled. They gainaccess to a room by clicking on the appropriate part of this image. Theresulting window sometimes maintains the metaphor but is more often mainlytextual a list of hypertext links, for example. Once in a room,students have access to the resources they need for the part of the course theyare taking. As might be assumed from the description, the system is intended tosupport a mixed mode of course delivery, including lectures, group discussionsand assignments, individual study, assessment with feedback. The existence ofthe office implies that students can also access relevant course administrativeinformation. The Hall and tea rooms suggest that the intention is also tosupport less formal, social interactions. 4.4.4 Positive Findings The coursesboth seemed to be appropriate for the target group. Students reported that theybelieved th ey had learned a considerable amount and felt they would retain theimportant points. The pacing of the study also seemed successful. The tutorclearly had a sense that this was a real class in a real institution and madeconsiderable efforts to generate a relaxed and positive atmosphere. Use ofstudents names, and greeting them as soon as they logged in, contributed tothis. This is no mean achievement, given the constraints. The tutor tended torefer to the environment as if it were a real place, arranging with students,for example, to meet in the tea room or telling them to go tothe library. Whether the students shared this perception is less clear. This may be due to the short time available to become familiar with it. It wouldbe interesting to see whether the environment would become more realto the students over a longer course. The room-based structure therefore seemsto have been successful. The metaphor seems to have been well chosen, sincestudents seemed to have appropriate expectations of each room. Noneof them appeared to have difficulty navigating between different rooms. Observation did show that some students had to scroll up and down repeatedly,however, when they were working on individual study texts. This seemedparticularly to be the case where they found the material more difficult. Again,there was no sign that they were unsure of where to go or had difficulty innavigation. In terms of course delivery, the trial showed that studentsexperienced considerable variety in the ATM course (inevitably less so in theSQL course). Not only this, but the tutor seemed able to exploit the flexibilityof the system and to direct the student to alternative areas of study from whathad been planned originally, if necessary. One of the problems with distanceeducation is that such flexibility can be harder to achieve than in aface-to-face situation, so this is promising and an interesting result of havingdifferent applications integrated in this way. It also has a pragmatic use:given technical problems in one area, it was possible to shift students toanother activit y quite easily. Interactivity, both structured and casual waspotentially considerable. The shared whiteboard used for group work wasperceived by students as a good feature. It seemed, however, that they did notall realize at first that they could write and draw on it. Perhaps this shouldbe pointed out in the introductory sessions, or the whiteboard should beaccompanied by a short explanatory note. It would also be fair to say that thiswas not a long enough trial to assess usability of this part of the system. Inthe limited time it was also not easy for students to establish relationships. The system and the way the tutor used it did encourage students to get to knowone another since, for example, one of the first activities for students was toupload their CVs and pictures and to browse through those of other students. Thelevel of concentration appeared to be high. Naturally, as in a classroom, therewere moments when students attention moved away from the subject of study butthese were not frequent. Interestingly, they usually stayed at the workstationbut moved to another activity such as reading e-mail. The students observedlive appeared to maintain concentration despite considerablebackground noise and other potential distractions. This is not a surprise, sinceother computer-based teaching and learning trials have drawn similar conclusions but it is another promising feature. At best, the material with which thestudents were engaged appeared well designed for delivery on a computer screen. The information was packaged into manageable chunks and was visuallystimulating. Diagrams, colour and animation were used effectively, and thelayout was clear and appealing. As the next section suggests, however, not allof the written material was so suitable for this method of presentation. Feedback was given to students both by the tutor, during discussions (for theATM course), and as a result of assessments done at the end of each module. Students appeared to take these assessments seriously and were observed toreturn to the relevant part of the notes when unsure or when they had given anincorrect answer. The scope of this evaluation did not extend to assessing thecourse design or the assessment methods, but it is worth mentioning that theregular assessment seems to have been a successful feature of the course. Awareness of other students is something that is hard to achieve in distanceeducation. Interestingly, with the audio channel left open during private studyperiods, it appeared that students experienced something similar to working in alibrary with other students around them. They were able to hear conversationsand could have asked questions if they needed to. The potential disadvantage isthat the additional background noise might interfere with concentration. Itwould probably be worth investigating whether the availability or otherwise ofthe audio channel makes a difference to students. 4.5 Operation and Managementof Tele-education Service A vital element of any service is the reliability,configurability and administration of that service. In order to ensure successof an educational service from both the participants and tutorsperspectives, the delivered service must be well managed and monitored. It iscrucially important to realize the software and procedures necessary to manageand deliver Tele-educational services over broadband networks. Four basicprinciples for successful teaching in a virtual classroom environment have beenidentified as ? media richness, ? interaction, ? timelyresponsiveness and ? organization of materials. Media richness andinteraction mechanisms can be satisfied by the educational services describedearlier. The organization of course materials and the insurance of timelyresponse by systems, participants and tutors are goals of the managementservice. During the delivery of a course, there is a significant mass ofmaterial presented to participants as well as a high degree of interactiveresponses amongst participants. Unless this mass of materials is organized andinteraction controlled, participants can become confused and disillusioned. Proper maintenance and management of the dissemination of material must be putin place to provide an effective learning environment. Segregation of material,both between and within course modules should also be supported. The strategy ofparticipant-paced learning is important so as to ensure that the classmoves through the modules of a course together in order for the interactions tobe meaningful. Timely responsiveness has also been identified as a keyrequirement for Tele-education. Thus access to course material, as well as otherparticipants and tutors, should be reliable and timely. To achieve successfuloperation of the tele-educational service, participant (on-site) software shouldbe configurable for a wide range of computing environments. Also participationof the class members should be manageable e.g. course registration, controllingaccess to class discussions, automatic collection/distribution of assignmentsand projects etc. The on-line management system should provide the rang e ofservices as required by each course leader. 5.0 CONCLUSION Tele-education systemis a very new emerging technology. It has been applied in Europe and Canada, andis still under study in order to improve it from time to time. From thisproject, it is known that Tele-education is a revolution of distance learning inwhich distance learning basically only provides asynchronous learningenvironment. But Tele-education has improved it by providing both asynchronousand synchronous learning environment. After studying all the materials found forthis material, it was found that Tele- education is not easy to implement. Thisis because there are a lot of things need to be considered before implementingsuch as what kind of network structures available, what kind of service can beprovided by network service provider, what is the most suitable network forinterconnection among the involved sites, etc. Another reason is that, afterimplementing it, there need to have several trials on the service to look at itsefficiency which would take a long time. In general, it can be concluded thatTele-education is becoming popular as the emerging of multimedia technology. Itsadvantages that could overcome the problem in current learning environment alsohas made it a preferable way of learning process. 6.0 REQUIRED EQUIPMENT ANDMATERIALS The following are the equipment or materials needed for the completionof this project in third semester : a) Opnet software (Sun workstation) usedto perform simulation b) TV Conferencing System with; i. ISDN Interface ii. H324TV Conferencing Interface iii. Small TV camera iv. Speaker (stereo) ?this is required for some experiment purposes on Tele-education system c)Satellite System with; i. Antenna (2.6 m) ii. RF receiver (C-band) iii. 2 MbpsTV conferencing Interface iv. ISDN (2B+D) Interface Still understudy/discussion 7.0 SCHEDULE OF PLANNING (Timetable)Bibliography1 Krebs, A.M, D21A The Initial Requirement Analysis, ACTSProject AC052, http://www.fok us.gmd.de/research/cc/platun/coop/prospect/new/delivara.htm#D21A2 Jain, R, A Revolution In Education, IEEE, 1997, pp. 1 3Bison, T, Distance Learning Is an Opportunity , Circuit and Devices,March 1997, pp. 41. 4 GammelGaard, A, D21B Final RequirementAnalysis, ACTS Project AC052, http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/platun/coop/prospect/new/delivara.htm#D21B5 Nielsen, A.B, D53A Evaluation of the First Trial Phase, ACTSProject AC052, http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/platun/coop/prospect/new/delivara.htm#D53A6 Krebs, A.M, D53B Evaluation of The Second Trial, ACTS ProjectAC052, http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/platun/coop/prospect/new/delivara.htm#D53B7 Nielsen, A.B, D51A -Operational Plan for First Trial, ACTSProject AC052, http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/platun/coop/prospect/new/delivara.htm#D51A8 Johansen, A, D51B Operational Plan for Trial 2, ACTS ProjectAC052, http://www.fokus.gmd.de/research/cc/platun/coop/prospect/new/delivara.htm#D51BEducation

Reasons for excluding home grown brands from a balance sheet The WritePass Journal

Reasons for excluding home grown brands from a balance sheet Reasons for excluding home grown brands from a balance sheet It is likely that assets are considered as crucially important aspects of an entity that stakeholders pay attention to when looking at a balance sheet. International Accounting Standard Board has defined asset as â€Å"resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected to flow to the entity† (IASB 1989, para.49a). However, there are a number of items that satisfy this definition but cannot appear on a balance sheet. One of them is the internally generated brand one type of intangible assets which has been a controversial topic in accounting context. This paper will particularly evaluate the reasons why this type of brand is excluded from a balance sheet and propose an argument for its conclusion. Adherence to accounting conventions, such as historic cost convention and money measurement concept, home-grown brands should not be recorded in a balance sheet. According to Atrill and McLaney (2008), the historic cost convention means that the acquisition cost or historic cost should be used to record assets on the balance sheet. Furthermore, in accordance to money measurement concept, only if the value of assets can be measured with reliability, they can have a place on a balance sheet (Marriott et al., 2002). IASB has issued a standard reflecting these conventions: â€Å"an asset is recognised in the balance sheet when: it is probable that the future economic benefits will flow to the entity and the asset has cost or value that can be measured reliably† (IASB 1989, para.89). According to Weetman (2006), internally developed brands do not satisfy these recognition requirements. The main reason is that it is impossible to obtain the fair value or cost of them. Furthermore, v alues of these assets are subject to fluctuation due to both internal and external circumstances, for example, only because of a rumour about the quality of products, brand name reputation of the company could be considerably affected. Experts in brand valuation might argue it is possible to obtain a reliable value of brand by a number of complex methods. However, Roslender and Hart (2006) insist that due to the problems in recognising the values at which brands could be included amongst assets of a business, the task of valuing brands has proved a â€Å"problematic exercise† (p. 230). Similarly, Collier and Agyei-Ampomah (2008) explain that it is infeasible to differentiate the cost of them between the expenditure of developing the businesses as a whole. Furthermore, Seetharaman et al. (2001) claim the differences between brands and other intangible assets such as goodwill or trademark are often confused. This problem leads to further difficulties when deciding how to value and include them in a balance sheet. Nonetheless, there are a number of justifications for reporting internally generated brand on a balance sheet. One of the reasons is that it is probably one of the most important and valuable assets of an entity (Lunt, 2008), therefore it should be recorded to inform stakeholders. According to   Motameni and Shahrokhi (1998), brands are crucial for entities due to the fact that they guarantee customer loyalty which resulting in steady demands and future cash flows. In addition, with a successful brand, it could be easier for a company to attract the promotional investment overtime. For these reasons, the authors argue that brands are considered as the â€Å"primary capital† for many companies (p. 286). An example is the famous brand â€Å"Coca Cola†. Anil (2007) points out that its brand value was around $67.4 billion in 2004, equaling to approximately 63 percent of market capitalization of the whole company (about $106.5 billion). According to accounting convention of material, financial statement should include information that can influence the decision-making (Needles et al., 2007). Such notable and valuable assets like brand, therefore, should be recorded. Moreover, Tollington   (2000) insists it is likely that the absence of home-grown intangible assets, such as internally created brands, is one of the reasons making the management be poorly informed. Another reason is that accounting is often vulnerable to be accused of being inconsistent because accountants do not record internally-developed brands whilst recording purchased ones (Tollington, 1998). This problem could contribute to â€Å"an incomplete view of the balance sheet† (p. 181). He argues that the accounting transaction based recognition procedure of assets is â€Å"largely inappropriate† for recognising home-grown brands because basically, purchased brands and non-purchased brands are the same, they are capable of generating wealth for businesses (p. 181). This argument is further explained in his later article in 2000. Tollington (2000) also conducted a survey which includes interviewing 294 accountants across the UK. In this study, the questionnaire result reveals the accountants’ awareness of their failure to recognise and capitalise many home grown intangible assets such as internally developed brands. The â€Å"inconsistency† of record ing purchased brands whilst excluding non-purchased ones is also â€Å"readily acknowledged† by almost three fourths of interviewees agreeing that home-grown brands are â€Å"assets irrespective of whether they arose from a transaction or event† (p. 92). In addition, Leo (1999) points out that the International Accounting Standards Committee, in principle, concurs that there should be no difference between acquired intangible assets and internally created ones. In conclusion, this essay has evaluated a number of reasons for excluding home grown brands from a balance sheet. The main cause is that they associate with a high level of uncertainty so it is not possible to measure their cost or value with reliability. Therefore, due to accounting conventions, they should not be recorded in a balance sheet. This essay has also provided a number of justifications for their inclusion. That is, because brand is one of the most important and valuable assets of a business, the act of reporting it would be useful to help stakeholders make informed decisions. Furthermore, its inclusion could prevent accounting procedure from being accused of inconsistency and ensure a more complete view on a balance sheet. References: Anil, C. (2007), Fundamentals of Accounting and Financial Analysis (For U.P.T.U.), Chennai, India: Pearson Education. Atrill, P. Mclaney, E. (2008), Accounting and finance for non-specialists, Essex: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Collier, P. Agyei-Ampomah, S. (2008), CIMA Official Learning System Management Accounting Risk and Control Strategy, Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science. International Accounting Standard Board, IASB (1989), Framework for the Presentation and Presentation of Financial Statements, para.49(a), para. 89 Leo, K. (1999), Intangible assets: seeking consistency, Australian CPA [Online], Vol. 69, No.10, pp. 30 32, Avalailable: highbeam.com/doc/1P3-46511579.html [Accessed: 5th December 2010] Lunt, H. (2008), CIMA Official Learning System Fundamentals of Financial Accounting, Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science Technology. Marriott, P., Edwards, J. Mellett, H. (2002), Introduction to Accounting, 3rd edition, London: SAGE. Motameni, R. Shahrokhi, M. (1998), Brand equity valuation: a global perspective, Journal of Product and Brand management [Online], Vol. 7, No.4, pp. 275 290, Emerald Available: emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1061-0421volume=7issue=4articleid=857666show=html [Accessed: 5th December 2010] Needles, B., Powers, M. Crosson, S. (2007), Principles of Accounting, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Roslender, R. Hart, S. (2006), Interfunctional cooperation in progressing accounting for brands, Journal of Accounting Organisational Change [Online], Vol. 2, No.3, pp. 229-247, Emerald Available: emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1832-5912volume=2issue=3articleid=1571668show=html [Accessed: 5th December 2010] Seetharaman, A., Nadzir, Z. Gunalan, S. (2001), A conceptual study on brand valuation, Journal of Product and Brand management [Online],Vol. 10, No.4, pp. 243-256, Emerald Available:   emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1061-0421volume=10issue=4articleid=857763show=html   [Accessed: 5th December 2010] Tollington, T. (1998), Brands: the asset definition and recognition test, Journal of Product and Brand management [Online],Vol. 7, No.3, pp. 180 192, Emerald Avalaible: emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1061-0421volume=7issue=3articleid=857660show=html   [Accessed: 5th December 2010] Tollington, T. (2000), The cognitive assumptions underpinning the accounting recognition of assets, Management Decision [Online],Vol. 38, No.2, pp. 89-98, Emerald Avalaible: emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0025-1747volume=38issue=2articleid=865125show=html   [Accessed: 5th December 2010] Weetman, P. (2006), Financial and management accounting: an introduction, 4th, Essex: Financial Times Prentice Hall.

Proposal paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Proposal paper - Essay Example ncreasingly explored if and how the Internet develops or impairs social skills development (Engelberg & Sjà ¶berg, 2004) and psychological health (Campbell, Cumming, & Hughes, 2006; Titov et al., 2008). Previous studies showed mixed results on the impact of Internet use on children, adolescents, and young adults. On the one hand, several researchers showed that high Internet usage can lead to Internet addiction, which can consequently contribute to the formation of poor social skills and adjustment (Engelberg & Sjà ¶berg 2004), including bullying behaviors (Schoffstall & Cohen, 2011), depression, and loneliness (Kim, LaRose, & Peng, 2009). On the other hand, other researchers learned from their studies that Internet usage can be constructively used to develop better social skills (Campbell et al., 2006; Titov et al., 2008), while other scholars observed from their study that the purposes of Internet usage can impact social skills development and psychological welfare (Ceyhan, 2011; Kim et al., 2009). However, these researchers have not examined how Internet use can lead to positive or negative effects on social skills. In particular, they have not examined if only certain uses of the Internet and Internet usage duration contribute to poor social skills and psychological health (i.e. using it mainly for entertainment or socializing with strangers), and if gender and age impact these positive/negative outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to review the research on the positive and negative effects of high Internet usage/purposes on social skills, and to provide support for the gap in literature that will spur further research. Do certain purposes of using the Internet and duration of Internet usage positively or negatively affect social skills? The independent variables are Internet usage and purposes of Internet usage, as well as gender and age, while the dependent variables are social skills. For the age levels, grades three to four are considered as young

Sttafing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sttafing - Essay Example Researches should be done on all departments. Senior management should come up with cross-functional teams that are set to improve the performance of an organization. This piece of work is a close look of staffing issues that cause collapse of companies. The case used is Candle Light Inc., a company that trades in telecommunication, manufacturing and supply. The issues that affect companies are resultant of the leadership (i.e. strong or weak). Weaknesses of a company’s leadership can be manifested in the reluctance in implementation of issues that arise within the company. Among the most prevalent issues that affect the staff of a company adversely are such like leadership vision and the vision of the company, team work failure, and lack of reinforcement of skills and knowledge, as well as poor communication. Candle Light Company Inc. is threatened by a leadership that has no vision and has no commitment to the vision of the company. The board of directors is acting against a CEO who addresses the issues that threaten the company. In their lack of vision for the company, they manifest a level of lack of transparency for they retain the vice president of human resource and administration who is less productive. They have failed to adjust their plans with the changing world trends. For example, they continue to retain workers that were trained many decades ago who have not refreshed their training. Refreshing would have made them more conversant with current trends of business within the world. The administration has not done any research that would identify the needs of their customers. The leadership has manifested lack of professionalism. They engaged in property damage when they failed to agree on a labor contract. Team work has failed terribly in the staff of Candle Light Inc. Leaders such as the senior Vice president for human resource administration insists on his stand. He

Prison and National Probation Service cooperation Essay

Prison and National Probation Service cooperation - Essay Example While some perceived of it as a constructive step toward the reduction of reoffending rates and a positive contribution towards the greater national aim of crime reduction, others critiqued it as a misinformed strategy which would confuse the boundaries between prison' and community.' Such confusion, as critics maintain, will have dire societal consequences insofar as it is predicated on the assumption that inmate and out-mate offender management subscribe to the same concern, principles, aims and, thus, paradigms (Valios, 2004; Palmer, 2003; Peters, LeVasseur and Chandler, 2004). Proceeding from the background and controversy outlined in the above, the dissertation shall focus on the aims of the proposed justice system reform, critically analysing Noms from the perspective of best practices managerial theories. The rationale for selection did not simply emanate from the contemporaneous nature of the issue, or solely from its societal value but because the researcher has been professionally involved in both prison and probation services for a number of years and is, consequently, in a position to analyse Noms and argue the exigencies of its implementation on the basis of experiential evidence. Apart from the experiential knowledge and both subjective and professional interest in the issue, the topic was further selected consequent to the fact that the researcher's professional background places him in a position whereby he can collect primary data, conduct the requisite surveys and administer the necessary questionnaires with comparative ease. In other words, the researcher's professional background and awareness of the fact that community safety and societal interests are best served through the articulation and implementation of an effective and...As earlier stated, the primary areas of co ncern are the National Offender Management Service and organisational and people management theory. As pertains to either of these two issues, the existent wealth of academic literature testifies to their respective values and the extent to which the latter may be constructively informed by the former. Over the past two decades, offender management literature has articulated the imperatives of utilising existent people and organisational management tools and strategies in order to attain the managerial efficiency and effectiveness level upon which the goals of the justice system are predicated. The justice system, operating according to the principles of offender exclusion and rehabilitation within a prison system, followed by the release of offenders into society and under the supervisory guidance of the probation service, has been largely incapable of satisfying the justice system’s expressed goal of reducing overall offence rates and eliminating reoffending. The persistent inability to satisfy the articulated goals exposes what some have identified as a fundamentally flawed people and organisational management paradigm. According to the aforementioned perspective, the failure of the justice system to either reduce crime rates or rehabilitate offenders, thereby offsetting reoffense potentialities, is indicative of the greater failure to embrace effective and efficient people and organisational management paradigms.

Water Sources Assessment for Edo State, Nigeria

Water Sources Assessment for Edo State, Nigeria AN ASSESSMENT OF WATER SOURCES FOR DOMESTIC USES IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA BY  *OKADIGWE L.O.  And  **DR. EFE, S.I. Abstract The study was carried out to assess the water sources for domestic uses in Edo State, by carrying out a survey of households in Ugo, Ebele, Igueben and Urhonigbe. Data were collected using various methods which included observations, oral interviews and questionnaires. On the whole, one hundred and sixty (160) questionnaires were administered on heads of householder. Information were gathered on various sources of water, those provided by the government, distances they go, the cost they buy water, the people who are involved in water collection and what the government should do to help in alleviating their problems. The findings have shown that generally, one major source is rain water stored in wells. From the study almost all the respondents said they fetch water from their domestic uses from dug out wells which their roofs help during the rains for them to trapped and store in underground hand-dug wells. The nearest stream is at Umutu, which is about 20 kilometer away in Delta Sta te. There were only four families with water boreholes for commercial purposes. These water vendors sell water at N5 per ten litres. This is out of the reach of many people in this community to satisfy their water demands. The water board was observed to be non-functional. Reasons advanced by the respondents were poor power supply, inadequate operators, breakdown of equipment and poor maintenance. In conclusion, in Urhonigbe in Edo State of Nigeria, the sources of water for domestic uses are inadequate. There is every likelihood that even the existing water from the dugout wells will be contaminated and not portable. It is therefore recommended that the Edo State government through the state water Board should assist in water supply development in Ugo, Ebele, Igueben, Urhonigbe town to ease the sufferings of the ruralites especially the women and children whose daily chores is providing water for domestic uses. They should equally make the water portable in order to make for good he alth all these are what this study has looked into. Introduction Water use varies considerably around the world depending on the availability of water and the degree of industrialization. However, water use can be classified into four broad categories: Domestic use Agricultural use Industrial use and In-stream use Water is important for domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. The study of water and the means by which it may be obtained and controlled for use is of utmost importance to the welfare of mankind, Lapades (1974). About 70% of the earth is covered by water, which is the next most abundant resource after, air, water is the only natural resource founding three states of matter, (gas, liquid and solid) (Ifabiyi, 2000). Apart from air, water is the most important resources to man. He can survive longer without food than without water. Man requires water for cooking drinking, washing, general sanitation (Ayoade and Oyebande, 1983), based on this Charley and Hagget (1969) has stressed that the availability of water has been important in sitting of human settlements and in the development of towns and cities. The use of water from drinking and household needs ranges from washing, cooking, bathing and for flushing of toilets and for general hygiene (Jennings, 1980). It is universally accepted that an adequate supply of water for drinking, personal hygiene and other domestic purposes is essential to public health and well-being. According to a United Nations publication, on water security 2004, they posited that 1.2 billion people live on less than one U.S. dollar a day and over 2.3 billion live on the equivalent of two U.S dollar or less. These people, who are in millions are of the world’s poor, use less water directly or indirectly but depend upon its resources for their livelihoods for more than the rest of us, out of the 500 million people living in sub-Saharan African the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (1990), revealed that about 256 million lacked safe water for use. This situation is worse in some drought affected areas where renewable fresh water has dropped per person by more than 65% over the past 40 years (Ifabiyi, 2000). It is a well known fact that large numbers of people in Nigeria, most of them living in rural areas, do not have access to safe and reliable source of water. The average daily requirement of an adult for alimentation only is 2.5 liters (Isaac, 1965). Under the tropical conditions, the amount may be double. In addition much greater quantities are required for domestic activities. Total domestic water needs in home with piped water and inside sanitation is at least 115 liters per head per day. Study Area The total population figure of Edo State by 2006 as given by national Population Commission is 3,117,852 showing that the need for water will be high. In the rural communities in Edo State, there are various sources through which water are got for domestic uses. This main objective for this study is an assessment of sources of water for domestic uses in Edo State. This study focuses on the assessment of water sources for domestic uses in some towns in Edo State. Methodology Data for this study were collected through primary sources, which consisted of personal observation, oral interview and questionnaire administration. On the whole one hundred and sixty questionnaires were administered on the respondents in Ugo, Ebele, Iguben and Urhonigbe which were selected rural villages in Edo State based on the severity of water problems. Random sampling techniques were applied. A total of one hundred and sixty questionnaires were administered on the basis of forty to each rural community. The data gathered were presented in tables expressed percentages. The biological characteristics of the quality of water from these rural communities were analyzed with the most probable scientific methods. Various Sources of Domestic Water Rural areas in Edo state, Nigeria have several sources of water which are used for domestic purposes. The sources vary from natural sources like from rivers, streams, rain water, dugout wells, boreholes and in few cases pipe born waters. These rural communities rely on various sources for their households needs as water is for daily need and throughout the year. The study revealed that the main source of water for domestic use is from dug well in which water from rainfall gathered from the roof. Surface Water These are waters which are found in streams, rivers, lakes, springs, dams and shallow wells. Surface water is the commonest water in the rural villages in the developing countries. Women and children get up early in the morning to go to fetch water for domestic uses in these villages. One major problem is that most of these surface waters are polluted all along the path ways through which the flow. People have their baths wash their clothes, cooking utensils and even some abattoirs are close to them which help in polluting and making the water unsafe for drinking and utilization for other domestic purposes. Ground Water Resources Groundwater is an important part of the hydrologic cycle, but it lies beneath the surface, beyond the soil-moisture root zones. It is tied to surface supplies through pores in soil and rock. Ground water is the largest potential of fresh water source in the hydrologic cycle-larger than all surface lakes and streams combined. About 50% of the U.S Population derives a portion of its fresh water from ground water sources. Between 1950 and 1995, annual ground water withdrawal increased to 150%. In some states such as Nebraska ground water supplies 85% of water need and as high as 100% in rural areas, Robert (2002). Despite this volume and its obvious importance groundwater is widely abused by pollution and over consumption in quantities beyond natural replenishment rates. In Canada, about 6 million people (two-third of them live in rural areas) rely on ground water for domestic needs. In many ways ground water is better than surface water. It is available in many parts of the world that lack dependable surface runoff. Whereas surface supplies are affected by short term drought, groundwater is generally free of sediment colour, and pathogenic (disease) organism, although, polluted ground water conditions are considered irreversible. Ground water movement is controlled by the slope of the water table. Ground water is one source of water but it is not very common yet in the rural areas because of the cost of sinking. Rainwater Harvesting Techniques Edo State is not endowed so much with surface water. In rural area of Nigeria, water is traditionally, managed for two major purpose namely domestic consumption and agriculture. The techniques of water harvesting are micro-catchments and roof collection (Olokesusi, 2004). With reference to roof collection techniques, until the advent of western containers such as plastic sand metal African typically collected rain water from roof-tops with the aid of calabashes, and earthen ware pots. These objects are merely placed below the roof eaves and the water drops into them. Another traditional collection techniques, involved the construction of sliced bamboo gutters along the roof eaves, through which the water flows into calabashes and earthen pots. The water would then be taken into homes for domestic uses. Rural Water Treatment In many rural areas of in parts of Edo State water used in homes especially those for drinking area treated in various ways at the level they understand. Whenever surface water has been collected it is allowed to stand for some hours before it is decanted into earthen pots for storage. Some add alum in other to pull down sediments in the water to the bottom of the container after which they use some add ash and only a few boil cool before they use as drinking water. Results Table I: Water use and Sources in the Sample Communities Source of water Location Ugo Ebele Igueben Urhonigbe No % No % No % No % Rain water 10 25 14 35 6 15 8 20 Well 25 62.5 20 50 30 75 28 70 Stream 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bore holes 3 7.5 6 15 4 10 4 10 Public pump 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 40 100 40 100 40 100 40 100 Source: survey data, Feb. 2009. In the four rural areas studied, water stored in the well is commonly used for domestic purposes in Edo State, In order of usage Igueben recorded (75%), Urhonigbe (70%), Ugo (62.5), and Ebele (50%) respectively(see table 1). Only a few uses bore hole and also since state surface water is very scare no respondent mentioned stream as a water source in Ebele, Igueben and Urhonighe. Public pump were not mentioned at all. This is because in many places in Edo State surface water is lacking and is a manor problem for the people residing in these villages. Table II: Local methods of storing water by the respondents Water storage method No % Dugout wells 70 43.75 Clay earthen wares 50 37.5 Plastic tanks 20 12.5 Kegs/ 20 liters and 10 liters 10 6.25 Total 160 100% Source: Survey data Feb, 2009. Local methods used for storing water as gathered from the respondents are dugout well (43.75%), clay earthen wares (37.5%), plastic tanks (12.5%) and kegs of different sizes (6.25%). There is revelation that traditional was of storing and preserving water in the rural areas of Edo State is not being combined with the modern types. For instance one of the respondents interviewed mentioned that if many of the ruralites can afford plastic water tanks that they prefer it to earthen wares which break up easily. Table 3: Cost of Water for Domestic Uses on Daily Bases Cost No of Results Percentage N5 14 8.8 N10 41 25.6 N20 53 33.1 N30 32 20 N40 and above 20 12.5 Total 160 100% Source: Survey data Feb., 2009. It is evident from table 3 that most people spend an average of N20.00 daily to buy water. Thirty two people spend N30.00; forty one respondents agreed that they spend N10.00 daily to buy water. The implication of these expenses is that these rural inhabitants spent between N300.00 to N900.00 and these are predominately peasant farmers. Table 4: Causes of water shortage Causes of water shortage No of Respondents % Government neglect 97 61 Low rainfall 8 5 Absence of surface water 32 20 Few private scheme 23 14 Total 160 100% Source: Survey data Feb. 2009. Table 3 revealed that the government neglect is the major cause of water shortage accounting for 61 percent of responses followed by absence of surface water that accounted 20 percent. Few private borehole schemes accounted for 14.4 percent and low rainfall 5 percent. Quality of Water in the Rural Area of Edo State The rainwater quality in the four rural areas of Edo state showed satisfactory concentration in their physico-chemical and microbiological characteristics. This is because they fell with 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) safe limits for domestic water (see Onotu, 2006), thus it should be harvested, stored and use as alternative source of water for domestic uses since there is virtually the absent of hand-dug wells in these rural communities. The absent of hand dug wells in these rural areas could be attributed the topography of the area which is over 150 feet. The well is rain fed types, where gutter is connected round the roof and a ridge is connected from the gutter to the cemented wells. Nevertheless the rain water need slight purification methods (through traditional and scientific approaches) should be adopted in terms of its pH, Zn and Fe concentration. The detail method could be seen (Efe, 2006 and Origho, 2009). However the quality of the rain water stored in those wells d epreciates with times, the residents adopt the addition of Alum, this actually only allows the suspended substance or particles to settle down. According to Efe (2006) the water quality stored in rain fed wells depreciate by 2% on monthly basis, and gives room for the growth of pathogens. Similarly long storage the rain water makes the quality of the water from these wells vulnerable to bacterial. For instance high concentration of total coliform 1.2 -2.3MPN/100ml and faecal coliform (0.23-1.00) were found in over 40% of the rain fed water samples. And the water is characterized with high level of total dissolve substance (TDS) and total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity. The water quality was observed in open wells and those covered with leaf and thatches. Conclusion and Recommendation In conclusion in Edo State of Nigeria, the sources of water for domestic uses are inadequate. There is ever likelihood, that even the existing water from the dug-out wells which almost of the household have and water stored in plastic tanks which were from rainfall harvesting will be contaminated. Water born disease will be prevalent and the sanitary level will be very low. It is therefore recommended that the Edo State Government, through the state water Board should assist in the water supply development in the State to ease the suffering of the women and their children whose duty on a daily basis is to provide water in various homes in the various areas studied. They should equally make the water potable by adopting some purification methods in order to make for good health and healthy living in these rural environments. REFERENCES Aderibighe, S.A., Awoyemi, A.O. and Osagbemi, G.K. 2008. â€Å"Availability, Adequacy and Quality of Water Supply in Ilorin Metropolis†, Nigeria, European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol. 23. No 4. Anyadike, R.N. 1984. â€Å"Managing Nigeria’s Water Resources Through Pollution Control†, paper presented at the 27th Annual Conference of the N.G.A. University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Ayoade, J.O. and Oyebande, B.L., 1985. In a Geography of Nigerian Development ed, by Oeuntoyinbo et al published by Heinemann Educational Books (Nig), Ltd, Ibadan. Efe, S. I. (2006) Quality of Rainwater Harvesting for Rural Communities of Delta State, Nigeria. The Environmentalist, vol. 26, pp.175-181 Onotu, E, (2006) Quality of Surface Water in Edo State, Nigeria. Unpublished B.Sc Dissertation in the Dept. of Geography and Regional planning, Delta State University, Abraka, pp23-45 Origho, T. (2009) Assessment of Rainwater Harvesting in Ughelli delta State , Nigeria, Unpublished M.Sc Dissertation Dept. of Geography and Regional Planning, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria pp16-67

Gender Bias In Language :: essays research papers fc

Language is a very powerful element. It is the most common method of communication. Yet it is often misunderstood an misinterpreted, for language is a very complicated mechanism with a great deal of nuance. There are times when in conversation with another individual, that we must take into account the person's linguistic genealogy. There are people who use language that would be considered prejudicial or biased in use. But the question that is raised is in regard to language usage: is the language the cause of the bias or is it reflective of the preexisting bias that the user holds? There are those who believe that the language that we use in day-to-day conversation is biased in and of itself. They feel that the term mailman, for example, is one that excludes women mail carriers. Then there are those who feel that language is a reflection of the prejudices that people have within themselves. That is to say that the words that people choose to use in conversation denote the bias that they harbor within their own existence. There are words in the English language that are existing or have existed (some of them have changed with the new wave of "political correctness" coming about) that have inherently been sexually biased against women. For example, the person who investigates reported complaints (as from consumers or students), reports findings, and helps to achieve equitable settlements is ombudsman (Merriam Webster Dictionary) (Ombudsperson here at Indiana State University). This is an example of the gender bias that exists in the English language. The language is arranged so that men are identified with glorified and exalted positions, and women are identified with more service-oriented positions in which they are being dominated and instructed by men. So the language used to convey this type of male supremacy is generally reflecting the honored position of the male and the subservience of the female. Even in relationships, the male in the home is often referred to as the "man of the house," even if it is a 4-year-old-child. It is highly insulting to say that a 4-year-old male, based solely on his gender, is more qualified and capable of conducting the business and affairs of the home than his possibly well-educated, highly intellectual mother. There is a definite disparity in that situation. In American culture, a woman is valued for the attractiveness of her body, while a man is valued for his physical strength and his accomplishments (50).

Central Javanese Gamelan: How Globalization Influences the Students’ Music Consumption

INTRODUCTION Central Javanese gamelan study has been available in some schools. In some schools do not have Central Javanese gamelan study. In my opinion, it is very unfortunate, because students need to conserve our own traditional music, especially Central Javanese gamelan. So, one of ways to conserve the Central Javanese gamelan, is understand the theory, the history about it. Not only understand the theory and the history, but also understand how to play the Central Javanese gamelan (the implementation). Ki Hadjar Dewantara (as cited in Sumarsam, 2003, p. 68) argued that â€Å"put the Javanese art spectacle as an obligated curriculum in Taman Siswa is the most important thing to do. † Actually, the writer agrees with Ki Hadjar Dewantara’s argument. By putting the Javanese art spectacle as an obligated curriculum, then the students can learn and understand about it. And so is the Central Javanese gamelan. The Central Javanese gamelan is one the Javanese art spectacle . So the students must learn, understand the theory and the implementation of it. Because the Central Javanese gamelan is very important to be preserved, Ki Hadjar Dewantara (as cited in Sumarsam, 2003, p. 68) said that: Gendhings lesson are not only needed to look for the knowledge and the ability (to play) the gendhings, but it is important to generate the life of the inner, because gendhings always guide the rhythmic sense, generate the sense of beauty, and silence a sense of decency. (As mentioned in Sultan Agungan’s teaching, and the teachings of western scholars) (p. 168) What Ki Hadjar Dewantara means here is the students do not only just understand the theory and the implementation, but also the students are demanded to be able to feel the song (gendhing). Usually the students just play the song perfunctorily.Actually, it is not allowed. While the students are playing the song, they have to try to feel the song. If they can feel the song, their feeling will be peacefu l. Besides, if they can feel the song, there will be sense of beauty in the students’ feeling. They will understand how that song can relax them. They will understand how that song can relax their mind, body, and etc. They will understand that every rhythm in the song can make their feeling become calm, because the sound of every rhythm is beautiful. Moreover if the students are able to play it softly, the sound that is produced will be nice for the players and the listeners.Besides, it is better for them if they can sing the song. CENTRAL JAVANESE GAMELAN Before the writer explains the definition of Gamelan, especially Central Javanese gamelan, the writer will explain about Gendhing. It is important to you to understand about it. It is because gendhing is related to the gamelan. Gendhing is from Javanese language. In Indonesia, gendhing is ‘Lagu’. So, in English, gendhing is ‘Song’. In the gendhing (song), there is a part called ‘Buka’. The definition of buka is the beginning of the song which is played before the real gendhing is played.Buka in the gendhing can be played by gamelan (bonang barong, kendhang, rebab, gendher, and etc. ) and it can be started by tembang (sindhen). According to Sumarsam (2003), the Javanese priyayi defined gamelan (and so are puppet and traditional dance) as a noble art, or a high valued art (beautiful and noble). So, the Central Javanese gamelan is one of traditional music in Indonesia that must be respected because of its high valued art. Besides, gamelan is a musical unity. What the writer means here is that the gamelan can not be played one by one, including Central Javanese gamelan.If you do that, then the sound that is produced is not good. You can just hear one, two, or three sounds of the gamelan instruments. For example, if you just play Gong, then the sound that is produced is from the Gong itself. The sound of the Gong is like an echo and the sound is not good to hear. So, it is better for you to play it together. LOCAL CULTURE VS GLOBALIZATION As we know that may teenagers, especially students, do not know and understand about their own local culture. It is because the students are following the new trend. They like following the new trend because they are fraid of being ancient people. As Silaban (2006) said that: Many people accept the changes of civilization as something that is commonplace as a process which must be passed, understood, and its presence causes many changes in its practice. So that, it forces cultural society, willy-nilly or consciously or unconsciously faced with a difficult situation between accepting the changes that civilization (because they do not want to be considered old-fashioned) or reject it in spite of the changes are considered primitive, conventional and orthodox.Like the writer said before that the students do not want to be considered old-fashioned people. They want to be new ones. They want to be new in fashion, ne w in technology, new in music, new in culture, and etc. They easily accept the changes. Especially in music, they prefer listening and playing the music from western or eastern to Indonesian music, especially traditional music like gamelan. They always consider gamelan as an ancient music. Whereas, gamelan, especially Central Javanese gamelan is one of our local culture that must be preserved in globalization era.Cultural globalization is caused by some factors. According to Hutagalung et al. (2007) who studied about cultural globalization amid the national identity problem, argued that it is caused by (1) the development of new technologies; (2) economic globalization of capital, labor, natural resources, production, and consumption; and (3) political factors also played a role, from imperialism and nationalism to totalitarian states and the Cold War; so to did social struggles over the construction of race, class, ethnicity, religion and gender.The students like consuming (listeni ng) to western or eastern music because the music is cool, the music is easy to listen, and the artists are handsome or beautiful. Therefore, the western or eastern music easily enters Indonesia. Teenager, especially students, prefers attending the concert of their idol stars to attending the gamelan concert or traditional art show. The students have been affected by modern culture. Day by day, the students forget that traditional music, especially gamelan, is their local culture. They do not care as if gamelan (Central Javanese gamelan) is not part of their local culture.Cultural identity is losing its identity with the arrival of torrent of foreign culture in the form westernization and globalization (Rahman, 2010). It is so unfortunate that we lose our identity. In my opinion, our local culture shows our identity. Western culture is a culture that traded and people in the world generally are only the consumers who enjoy it (Hutagalung, Nugroho, Abiantes et al. , 2007). Actually, the writer agrees with that statement. It proved by the music they listen, the concert they attend, the music they play.The students only are only consumer of western culture, especially in music. CONCLUSION Although the students prefer listening modern music to traditional music, it is better to them to understand and learn about gamelan, especially Central Javanese gamelan. That is for their knowledge about it. It is important for us to preserve the Central Javanese gamelan because it can avoid from another country’s claim. If we do not preserve it, then the other countries can make a claim that Central Javanese gamelan is their traditional music. There are some ways to preserve our local culture.Hasiholan (2011) said, â€Å"The role of all whole society is needed and their cooperation to one another to preserve local culture to build a national cultural resilience and provide socialization and internalization of local knowledge to build a community that would love the cul ture and to implement them in everyday life. † The writer agrees with his statement. We need cooperation from the society, especially students who like consuming the western culture especially music. If the students and the society do the cooperation well, then national cultural resilience will be built strongly.Besides, Sumarsam (2002) said, â€Å"There are gamelan lessons in schools and colleges; there are also schools and academies of gamelan. † In my opinion, there are some schools which do not have gamelan lessons, so the writer suggests that gamelan lessons must be available in all schools. And the writer recommends that gamelan lessons must be an obligated curriculum. So far, the writer has known many schools and academies of gamelan, such as STKW (Wilwatikta Art High School) in Surabaya, SMK 9 Surabaya, ISI (Indonesian Art Institute), IKJ (Jakarta Art Institute), and etc.It is first good step to preserve our local culture. Although the curriculum is the differen t from the art school, but at least there is an obligated curriculum of gamelan lessons. WORKS CITED Hasiholan, S. P. U. (2011, February 28). Peranan budaya lokal mendukung ketahanan budaya nasional. Retrieved from http://www. scribd. com/doc/49525067/Makalah-ilmu-Budaya-Dasar-Peranan-Budaya-Lokal-Mendukung-Ketahanan-Budaya-Nasional Hutagalung, N. P. ,et al. (2007). Globalisasi budaya ditengah masalah identitas nasional. Yogyakarta: Universitas Pembangunan Nasional â€Å"Veteran†. Retrieved from http://feelsafat. files. wordpress. om/2007/12/globalisasi-budaya-ditengah-masalah-identitas-nasional. pdf Rahman, D. M. , et al. (2010). Makna Bhinneka Tunggal Ika sebagai Bingkai Budaya Ke-Indonesia-an. Kementerian Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata. Silaban, S. P. (2006, November 26). Budaya lokal vs budaya global : Sanggupkah ?. Retrieved from http://www. silaban. net/2006/11/26/budaya-lokal-vs-budaya-global-sanggupkah/ Sumarsam. (2003). Gamelan: Interaksi budaya dan perkembangan musikal d i jawa. (p. 168). Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar. . (2002). Introduction to javanese gamelan. Retrieved from http://sumarsam. web. wesleyan. edu/Intro. gamelan. pdf