The Impact of Branding Strategies of New Luxury Brands on Nigerian Young Customers: A Study of Tiffany Amber

Executive Summary: The global fashion industry is a highly evolving market with diverse needs and innumerous wants. While the tastes of consumers may differ, the aim of the luxury fashion brand industry is to associate brands with feelings of prestige, importance, status, and grandeur for customers. While the Western fashion industry is highly developed, the Nigerian fashion industry is slowly progressing into prominence as young affluent Nigerian consumers begin to appreciate Ankara fabric. However, these young affluent Nigerians are also highly comfortable with wearing Western labels, which makes it highly important for Nigerian fashion brands to appropriately brand their product lines to appeal to young Nigerian customers. This study focuses upon the impact of branding strategies of luxury fashion brands in Nigeria upon young consumers and aims to discuss the various branding strategies used and their effectiveness. The study aims to apply special emphasis upon the brand Tiffany and Amber which is known for its uniqueness and use of luxuriant fabric and vibrant colors. With the use of a closed-ended questionnaire, the study is designed to be both qualitative and quantitative in nature as it will contact 60 Tiffany and Amber customers through email for their opinion regarding the brand prominence and branding strategies employed by Tiffany and Amber and their effectiveness. The study will conclude by providing recommendations according to the data obtained. Chapter 1: Introduction1.1 Introduction:Fashion is an evolving term which may have a different context in every culture and may be redefined frequently. It is also a concept which may be defined differently by each individual and may be used as a source of expressing his/her personality. Hence, the fashion industry has a wide scope all over the world and is filtrated by numerous designers attempting to gain their market share by becoming the favorite of the fashion conscious (Okonkwo, 2009a). While fashion trends evolve and the tastes of various target markets differ, designers and brands have used specific branding strategies in order to increase their appeal to consumers and influence them into purchasing their products and wearing their styles (Ahmad, 2011). As different designers target separate target markets, the fashion industry is dispersed according to consumer characteristics which include gender, age group, socio-economic class, occupation, and the type of clothing needed amongst innumerous other characteristics(Okonkwo, 2007b). Accordingly, as the world has fashion hubs which are countries or cities which promote and spread fashion, such as Paris, the West can be considered the global hub for the remaining world as most successful designers attempt to influence the Western fashion market to gain recognition. While Nigerian or African fashion was not highly prominent in the West previously, Nigerian designers have gained recognition and formed their own luxury brands (Okonkwo, 2009a). This dissertation will seek to explore the branding strategies of Nigerian luxury brands, specifically Tiffany Amber, in context of socio-economic class, magnitude of fashion, age group, and other relevant factors which influence the branding strategy of a luxury brand. Accordingly this proposal will commence with an explanation of the background of the topic and the company Tiffany Amber and continue by stating the rationale for the study, research objectives/aims, and the research questions. The next chapter in the proposal will contain a brief literature review covering some of the main points in the literature concerning branding strategies of fashion luxury brands and summarizing the points that the dissertation will seek to explore. The proposal will commence with describing the research design and methodology including methods of data collection and data analysis and conclude with a short summary of all the relevant crucial points in the proposal.1.2 Background:Fashion is not a necessity but is usually a luxury exploited by and available to consumers who are willing to purchase fashionable clothes and have the resources to do so. One of the largest groups of consumers who are influenced by fashion are the young generation or young consumers and this particular target market is also known to spend the most upon purchasing fashionable clothing. Accordingly, designers of luxury brands incorporate different branding strategies within their marketing plan in order to increase their influence upon young consumers (Kotler, 1988). This study particularly focuses upon studying the impact of branding strategies of new luxury brands upon young Nigerian consumers belonging to the upper-middle class and those who have the resources to afford luxury clothing and have access to luxury fashion brands. The study will discuss their fashion choices with relation to luxury and non-luxury brands and their reasons for choosing fashionable clothing such as maintaining an image, looking young, and price and status amongst other factors. Society has always classified individuals according to a number of characteristics and accordingly given them labels such as frontrunners and followers, powerful and weak, elite and poor, and many other universal social categorizations (Kotler, 1988). Thus, individuals are then classified according to factors such as treasure, prestige, capability, education, profession, and even place of residence. These separate factors together form the classification of socio-economic class which is one of the most important consumer characteristics in luxury fashion clothing Tynan et al, 2010). Accordingly, African luxury fashion brands are seeking to make their impact upon the Western fashion market by adopting various branding strategies to appeal to the affluent youth. While the development of African fashion has previously been slow, African fashion brands are gradually entering the Western fashion market featuring Nigerian designers in the lead (Jennings & Ude, 2011). Designers such as Deola Sagoe, Violet Hecksher, and Adebayo Jones have all made their mark as high-end fashion brands which provide and design clothes in the categories ofhaute dressmaking, avante garde, and bridal fashion clothing. They produce commendable work in their own design fields and clearly communicate their brand image in their collections and customer service, representing concepts such as reliability, custom fitting, vibrance, entertainment, and comfort (Chavelier & Mozzalovo, 2008). However, Deola Sagoe exceeds the limitations of other Nigerian fashion designers and features a highly innovat ive high-end fashion line which is not seen elsewhere within the realms of Nigerian fashion. Thus, it is evident that Nigerian fashion has been thriving for some time and has made commendable progress in the last five years. Previously, Nigerian designs such as Ankara were not used daily and Nigerian designers were not paid much regard. However, now consumers under the age of 40 have begun to appreciate the beauty of Ankara and regularly wear garments designed by Nigerian designers. Designers have currently become proud of the country-of-origin of their products and often promote this feeling of patriotism by labeling clothes with emblems saying â€Å"Proudly Nigerian† (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). Due to the new popularity of Ankara fabric and the skills of fashion designers, the Nigerian fashion industry has currently taken a whole new path and is on the road to success, putting Nigerian fashion designers in a better position to target the youth and develop appropriate branding strategies to promote their luxury brands. This dissertation seeks to explore these branding strategies, specifically those employed by the luxury fashion brand, Tiffany Amber (Wilcox et al, 2009).1.3 Company Background:The brand, Tiffany Amber, was incorporated in the fall of 1998 by the brand’s owner and founder, Folake Folarin Cokar, who lived most of her youth in Europe exploring various fashion trends and fashion philosophy in order to later transmit her fashion sense and passion in her new brand. Unlike other Nigerian luxury brands, Tiffany Amber is specifically designed to suit the modern African woman and offers a unique blend of traditional African design with an international aesthetic which is part of the brand’s unique selling proposition. The brand is also widely known for its ultra feminine cuts and pieces created with the most luxuriant fabric and specific emphasis to detail. Unlike other African fashion designers, Tiffany Amber has successfully made a mark in the global fashion market while winning numerous awards and featuring its designs at the New York Fashion Week. The brand’s success can be attributed to a number of things which may include the brand’s specific emphasis to detail and femininity or the brand’s branding strategy of featuring itself under a foreign brand name rather than a local Nigerian brand name (Anheir & Isar, 2008).1.4 Rationale for the Study:While Western fashion and the fashion industries of other countries are well-developed, Nigerian fashion is a newly emerging concept and a newly prosperous industry. Thus, while all major fashion brands indulge in strategized marketing and promotion of their brands, there is little insight into how Nigerian luxury fashion brands adopt branding strategies to make consumers more aware of their brand and increase their prominence. Moreover, while the youth are highly appreci ative of Nigerian fashion in Nigeria, there is a need to understand whether Nigerian designers are effectively targeting the youth and increasing the prominence of their fashion brands or whether there is need for improvement in their branding/marketing strategies (Cayla & Arnold, 2008). While this would not have been an issue previously, with the current success of Nigerian fashion and its penetrating prominence in the Western fashion market, it is essential to study whether Nigerian luxury fashion brands such as Tiffany Amber are effectively using branding as a source to increase consumer awareness (Ahmad, 2011). If branding strategies and marketing plans are not coordinated and presented effectively, it may affect the success and acceptance of Nigerian fashion amongst young consumers. This was not previously a highly researched topic as the Nigerian fashion industry was not highly prominent and was not given due regard, hence there is little insight into this area of research (Shukla, 2011). This study can shed light upon whether the Nigerian luxury fashion market is effectively using branding strategies to gain prominence amongst young consumers and whether young consumers are aware of various Nigerian brands. It can also shed light upon the different types of branding strategies used in the Nigerian fashion industry and how these can be improved to exploit the opportunities available for Nigerian fashion amongst young consumers, if they are not currently being used at optimum level (Phau & Prendergast, 2000).1.5 Research Aims:Principle Research Aim: Exploring the depth of Nigerian fashion culture and the use of branding strategies by luxury brands to gain prominence amongst young consumers.Research Objectives:Aims to critically analyze and explore fashion culture in Nigeria as well as the contemporary fashion industry Aims to critically analyze the development and success of luxury fashion brands in Nigeria and their strategy of targeting young consumers Aims to explor e brand awareness of luxury fashion brands amongst young consumers in Nigeria Aims to critically analyze and explore the branding strategies of luxury fashion brands in Nigeria Aims to explore the branding strategy employed by Tiffany Amber and effectively make recommendations for improvement in light of the information gathered in the studyResearch Questions: Primary Research Question: What types of branding strategies are used by Nigerian luxury fashion brands and are they effectively targeting and increasing brand prominence amongst young consumers?Subsidiary Research Questions:What does fashion culture in Nigeria represent Are young consumers aware of various luxury fashion brands in Nigeria What branding strategies are being used by Tiffany Amber and how can they be improved to increase the brand’s acceptance by young consumers1.6Hypothesis:H0: young Nigerian customers are not aware of brand prominence of luxury fashion brands. H1: young Nigerian customers are aware of brand prominence of luxury fashion brands Chapter 2: Literature Review2.1 Concept of Branding:A brand name is a source of recognition for a product range which gives it a distinct identity and differentiates it from the products of competitors. If it were not for the concept of branding, it would not be possible for fashion designers to gain recognition in the industry and set themselves apart from their counterparts offering similar clothing and styles. A brand name represents a number of concepts and is a source of equity for a business which adds value to the business beyond the value of its material assets. Moreover, it is also a source of communication between the customer and the brand owner which gives off several cues to the customer regarding the product (Amankwah et al, 2012). A brand name is particularly important in the fashion industry and all luxury fashion brands are dependent upon the development of their brand name in order to add value to their brands. For example, Louis Vutton produces a leather handbag which is produced at a cost of approximately ?150 including the cost of overheads, but the bag is sold at a price of ?750 because of its unique style, the brand’s equity, and the brand associations that arise in the minds of customers when purchasing the brand (Wissinger, 2009).The luxury fashion brands industry aims to associate feelings of prestige, importance, power, hi-fashion, and uniqueness within customers regarding the brands they purchase. Thus, the industry’s main aim is to develop their brand name through branding strategies to represent concepts which are highly attractive for affluent customers and influence them to pay a high price for their products while also frequently purchasing their products (Fillis & Remtschler, 2 006). 2.2 Branding Strategies:In order to promote their luxury fashion brands in the eyes of customers, brand owners and managers implement a number of branding strategies. The branding strategies include extending the brand life cycle, increasing brand prominence, creating a brand image and brand position in the market, using celebrity endorsements, and using a foreign brand name amongst other innumerous branding strategies (Atwal & Williams, 2009). Many brands attempt to attract customers through constant innovation and offering completely new looks. Thus, this leaves customers guessing and at a stage of surprise as they are not sure of what to expect from the brand. While this strategy can significantly increase customer interest, it can also be harmful in the sense that it may cause brand confusion for customers and they may not be able to associate an appropriate image with the brand. Some brands attempt to increase their sales by increasing brand prominence and ensuring that customers are well aware of their brand. This may involve sponsoring events, featuring the brand in movies, advertisements, and basically ensuring the brand name is visible wherever possible (Ahmad, 2011). While this may be effective in ensuring that customers are well aware of the brand and it is at the top of their minds, but it may also cause customers to think that the brand has lost its uniqueness if the brand is made too prominent and is featured in the wrong places (Danziger, 2004). Many brand managers feel that their brand will sell itself if the correct brand image is projected and the brand is positioned appropriately. This is one of the most important branding strategies for luxury brands as this determines their identity in the market and how they are perceived by customers. Luxury fashion brands often prefer to create a brand image of uniqueness, importance, high status, and exquisite style. However, they may differ in the manner that they position themselves in the market as some brands may wish to position themselves as traditional brands while others may wish to project themselves as contemporary brands for example (Wilcox et al, 2009). Another very popular branding strategy for luxury fashion brands is using celebrity endorsements or hiring brand ambassadors which are well-known people who represent or use the brand in order to promote it to customers. This is usually considered an effective strategy in the case of luxury fashion brands as using celebrity endorsements often adds an aura of prestige and status to the brand (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). One of the popular branding strategies in brands originating from less developed countries is adopting a foreign brand name in order to give the brand a more Westernized image and possibly even hiding its country of origin. This is one of the strategies adopted by numerous Nigerian fashion designers, such as Tiffany Amber, and touches upon the next topic of the country of origin effect (Tynan et al , 2010). 2.3 Country of Origin Effect:The country of origin effect is seen within brands originating from different countries and how consumers perceive them based upon their c ountry of origin. For example, it may be difficult for a Chinese fashion designer to name a global fashion brand under a Chinese name and then effectively compete with other fashion brands such as Zara, Marie Claire, and numerous others as Western consumers may not be able to completely relate to the brand. It may also be difficult for consumers to associate themselves with the brand or perceive it as a high quality brand. Hence, many brands originating from less developed countries are made to adopt a Western name in order to at times hide their country of origin or relate to customers more effectively. This practice is often seen in Nigerian brands and may be a cause for their recent success in the global market, including brands such as Tiffany and Amber. Accordingly, these brands give off specific psychological cues to customers (Cayla & Arnould, 2008).2.4 Psychological Effects of Branding:Customers wearing branded products often choose to wear these brands because they give the m psychological satisfaction more than for the specific quality or style they offer. For example, a consumer wearing a simple dress which is not branded may not feel as confident as a consumer wearing a dress with a specific emblem or logo on it (Okonkwo, 2007b). Moreover, brands give customers a sense of belonging and may give them the feeling that they belong to a specific group of people who use a particular product. Thus, many consumers feel that they are cool, stylish, of high status, rich, or fashionable because they are wearing a particular brand. Hence, consumers, specifically young consumers in the contemporary fashion market, feel that they are recognized through the brands they wear. The same situations holds true for Nigerian consumers (Danziger, 2004). 2.5 Nigerian Young Consumers:Young Nigerian consumers are becoming increasingly affluent and have a substantial amount of discretionary income to spend upon fashion clothing. Moreover, with the increase in education and a wareness, Nigerian consumers are increasingly becoming fashion conscious and feel highly comfortable wearing Western labels. However, with the current prominence of Nigerian fashion, some young consumers are beginning to wear Ankara fabric and appreciate Nigerian fashion (Kawamura, 2011). However, a lot of the young generation may not be explicitly aware of Nigerian fashion brands and thus may not be targeted properly. The Nigerian fashion industry is in danger of losing such individuals to the Western fashion industry if the correct branding strategies are not implemented and young consumers are not given the feelings of prestige, honor, status, and style while using the brand (Jennings & Ude, 2011). These concepts must be explored in greater depth within the dissertation. Chapter 3: Research Methodology:3.1 Research Philosophy:The research conducted will be exploratory in nature as it seeks to investigate a topic which has previously not been explored in great depth. The study will be designed to be both qualitative and quantitative in nature as it will rely upon qualitative data in order to derive an outcome regarding the branding strategies employed by Tiffany and Amber and other luxury brands and also use a quantitative questionnaire in order to derive an outcome regarding the perception of young Nigerian customers of Tiffany and Amber (Kawamura, 2011).3.2 Research Design:The research will be designed in order to gain maximum in-depth information regarding the branding strategies of luxury brands and also provide a degree of control to eliminate interviewer/researcher bias and other problems associated with only qualitative research. Hence, the research design will depend upon both qualitative and quantitative data and both primary and secondary d ata. Primary data will be gathered through the means of a questionnaire conducted with Tiffany and Amber customers and secondary data will be collected for the literature review through online databases, journals, books, websites, magazines, and other sources (Berg, 2004).3.3 Research Strategy:The research process will begin with the collection of data for the literature review and critical analysis through online databases, journals, and other relevant sources after which a conceptual framework will be formed against which the new data collected is to be analyzed. According to the findings in the literature review, a comprehensive questionnaire will be dispersed to 60 Tiffany Amber young customers (under the age of 40) to gain their opinion regarding their knowledge and association with the Tiffany Amber brand. The data will then be analyzed and compared to the results obtained in the literature review in order to arrive at a conclusion (Berg, 2004).3.4 Data Collection Method:The most appropriate data collection method for this study would be to first gain explicit permission from Tiffany and Amber to contact their customers regarding the study and get a list of email addresses of approximately 60-80 young customers from their database. As some customers may not be willing to participate in the study, approximately 80 customers will be sent questionnaires through email out of which 60 responses will be used for the purpose of the study. The method of email will be used to promote convenience and promptness of responses (Patton, 1990).3.5 Data Analysis:As the questionnaire will be closed-ended, the data obtained from the questionnaire will be analyzed through the use of statistical software such as SPSS. This software is chosen for its appropriateness and accuracy in analyzing such data. The data involving single variables will be presented in the form of bar and pie charts and frequency tables. The data involving two or more variables will be presented in the form of statistical correlation analysis.3.6 Quality of Research:The research needs to ensure validity and reliability and in order to increase the quality of research, it is essential to ensure that the information is interpreted without interviewer bias/resp ondent bias. Questions should be designed to ensure that they are not loaded or leading questions and arouse a level of interest within the respondent in order to avoid dishonest responses due to boredom (Patton, 1990).3.7 Ethical Considerations:There may be a few ethical considerations that must be made when conducting the study which include the situation in which Tiffany Amber may be reluctant to speak of or disclose its branding strategies. Moreover, customers may also be reserved of answering personal questions for fear of misappropriation. In order to reduce the influence of these issues, respondents must be guaranteed anonymity and the researcher must ensure that he/she informs the respondents that he/she is not directly associated with Tiffany and Amber.3.8 Limitations:The limitations of the study include the fact that the study focuses only upon a single Nigerian brand, Tiffany and Amber, and results cannot be generalized towards other brands. Moreover, the sample populatio n used is not representative of all the Tiffany and Amber customers and also does not represent the opinions of the customers of other luxury brands (Cooper & Schindler, 2003).3.9 Timetable: The time table shows the most time spent on activities such as reading literature, drafting the literature review, awaiting tutor feedback, and acting on the final feedback given. These activities are given the most emphasis because they are crucial points in the research process and require extensive time to complete. It is highly essential to spend ample time exploring as much literature as possible in order to develop a full-fledged conceptual framework. Hence, approximately a week and a half is required in order to properly read all relevant sources. Drafting and writing out the literature review is likely to take approximately two and a half weeks as it is essential to appropriately form the arguments and the critical analysis as this is the main foundation of the research. As supervisors and tutors are likely to have a number of students to advise, it will take them some time to provide feedback and thus this is also a milestone in the research process. Analyzing the data is likely to take a shorter period of time than the other activities as it certain statistical functions must be used on SPSS and the data must be interpreted accordingly. The most important part of the research process is acting upon final feedback and ensuring the dissertation is up to the mark in all regards which includes activities such as proofreading, formatting, and correcting any mistakes. Chapter 4: Conclusion In a highly diverse and enticing fashion market, it is essential for Nigerian brands to promote brand awareness and prominence as Western brands do in order to ensure that they continue to appeal to young consumers. In order to do so, they may use a number of branding strategies that have preliminarily been explored in the literature review and will be explored in more depth and detail in the dissertation. However, as Western brands gain increasing prominence and implement effective branding strategies, it is becoming more essential for Nigerian designers to implement highly effective branding strategies to appeal to the youth (Kotler, 1988). With the example of Tiffany and Amber, the study will aim to appropriately explore the branding strategies that this particular brand employs and provide recommendations for improvement accordingly. This study can also lead to further research around the topics of how Nigerian branding strategies are different from the West and understanding how young Nigerian customers perceive the branding strategies of the West compared to those of local brands. Thus, this information can be highly beneficial for the fashion industry to develop a more strategically appropriate marketing plan and become as competent and prominent as Western fashion brands. The study can also lead to studies in other sectors of the developing Nigerian market such as accessories, technology, home decor, and others. References Ahmad, S. (2011). Globalisation and brands.BRANDS AND BRANDING. Amankwah, A. M., Howard, E. K., & Sarpong, G. D. 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Kaplan Publishing. Fillis, I., & Rentschler, R. (2006). â€Å"Creative marketing: an extended metaphor for marketing in a new age† Jennings, H., & Ude, I. (2011).New African Fashion. Prestel. Kawamura, Y. (2011).Doing research in fashion and dress: an introduction to qualitative methods. Berg. Keller, K. L., & Lehmann, D. R. (2006). â€Å"Brands and branding: Research findings and future priorities.†Marketing Science. Vol. 25(6) pp.740-759. Kotler, P., (1988) Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning and Control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Musso, E. (2012).Trendy Growth: Fashion as a Function for Development in Africa (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Colorado). Okonkwo, U.( 2009a.) â€Å"The luxury brand strategy challenge.† Journal of Brand Management. Vol. (5-6). pp. 287-289 Okonkwo, U., (2007b.) Luxury Fashion Branding. Trends, Tactics, Techniques 1st ed. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan. Patton, M. Q. (1990).Qualitative evaluation and research methods . SAGE Publications, inc. Phau, I., & Prendergast, G. (2000). â€Å"Consuming luxury brands: the relevance of the rarity principle.†The Journal of Brand Management. Vol.8(2) pp.122-138. Shukla, P. (2011). â€Å"Impact of interpersonal influences, brand origin and brand image on luxury purchase intentions: measuring interfunctional interactions and a cross-national comparison.†Journal of world business. Vol. 46(2) pp. 242-252 Tynan, C., McKechnie, S., and Chhuon, C., (2010). â€Å"Co-creating value for luxury brands.† Journal of Brand management. Vol. 63. pp. 1156-1163 Ueltchy, L., and Laroche M.,( 2004.) â€Å"Co-branding internationally. Everyone wins?† Journal of Applied Business Research. Vol. 20(3) pp. 91-102 Wilcox, K., Kim, H. M., & Sen, S. (2009). â€Å"Why do consumers buy co unterfeit luxury brands?.†Journal of Marketing Research. Vol. 46(2) pp.247-259. Wissinger, E. (2009). â€Å"Modeling Consumption Fashion modeling work in contemporary society.†Journal of Consumer Culture. 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Plot Twist Essay

A plot twist is a change in the expected direction or outcome of the plot of a film, television series, video game, novel, comic or other fictional work. It is a common practice in narration used to keep the interest of an audience, usually surprising them with a revelation. Some â€Å"twists† are foreshadowed and can thus be predicted by many viewers/readers, whereas others are a complete shock. When a plot twist happens near the end of a story, especially if it changes one’s view of the preceding events, it is known as a twist ending. Revealing the existence of a plot twist often spoils a movie, since the majority of the movie generally builds up to the plot twist. A device used to undermine the expectations of the audience is the false protagonist. It involves presenting a character at the start of the film as the main character, but then disposing of this character, usually killing them. It is a red herring. Example of a plot twist An early example of the murder mystery genre[1] with multiple twists[2] was the Arabian Nights tale â€Å"The Three Apples†. It begins with a fisherman discovering a locked chest. The first twist occurs when the chest is broken open and the dead body is found inside. The initial search for the murderer fails, and a twist occurs when two men appear, separately claiming to be the murderer. A complex chain of events finally reveal the murderer to be the investigator’s own slave. A flashing arrow is a metaphorical audiovisual cue used in films to bring some object or situation that will be referred later, or otherwise used in the advancement of plot, to the attention of the viewers. The device is not introduced into the plot or the dialogue, but is something peripheral; however made obvious (hence the name) by a particular camera shot or background music. An example of this device is a camera close-up in a horror movie that suggests information like danger from an unlocked door. A literal flashing arrow was used in the 1981 film Student Bodies to mock this cliched use. [1] The use of flashing arrows and that particular joke were both mentioned in Everything Bad is Good for You, where the authors says works that have little use of this and require figuring things out yourself have a more deductive viewer base. Another example of a literal flashing arrow can be seen in the Ouran High School Host Club. This device is used several times throughout the anime—for instance in the first episode, a flashing arrow and high-pitched beeping noise indicate a vase  that a character breaks later on in that scene. Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance. [1] For example, in mystery fiction, where the identity of a criminal is being sought, an innocent party may be purposefully cast in a guilty light by the author through the employment of deceptive clues, false emphasis, ‘loaded’ words or other descriptive tricks of the trade. The reader’s suspicions are thus misdirected, allowing the true culprit to go (temporarily at least) undetected. A false protagonist is another example of a red herring. In the comic book fan community, the apparent death and subsequent return of a long-running character is often called a comic book death. While death is a serious subject, a comic book death is generally not taken seriously and is rarely permanent or meaningful. At least three comic book deaths are well known. The first two are the 1980 â€Å"death† of Jean Grey in Marvel’s Dark Phoenix Saga and that ofSuperman in DC’s highly-publicized 1993 Death of Superman storyline. There is one major distinction between the two, however – whereas it was never intended that Superman’s death be permanent, and that he would return to life at the conclusion of the story,[3] Jean’s passing (one of many temporary deaths among the X-Men) was written as the true and permanent death of the character,[citation needed] only to beretconned a few years later to facilitate her return. In more recent history, the death of Captain America made real-world headlines in early 2007[4] when he met his apparent end, but Steve Rogers returned in Captain America: Reborn in late 2009. Usually more subtle, foreshadowing works on the symbolic level. For example, if a character must break up a schoolyard fight among some boys, it might symbolically foreshadow the family squabbles that will become the central conflict of the story. Other times, it is seemingly inconsequential, with the goal of having the audience be surprised by the story’s climax and yet find it justified. If a character learns that a certain man was a regular at the diner where her mother worked many years before, it helps to justify the events later in which she learns that the man is her biological father. If foreshadowing is not done carefully, the common experiences of life can make the foreshadowing too obvious and allow the audience to predict the outcome of the story. Example: a character behaves in an odd and erratic fashion and complains continuously of a headache, then later is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Foreshadowing can also be used dishonestly in a mystery, where a series of events which points to a conclusion is later found to be composed of unlikely coincidences which have been â€Å"dishonestly† added to the story by the author in an artificial way, with the sole purpose of drawing the audience into an incorrect expectation. In such cases, the audience feels manipulated, and the story may be less satisfying.

A Review of Satirism in Screen Guild Awards, a Video at Saturday Night Live

A Review of Satirism in Screen Guild Awards, a Video at Saturday Night Live There is a video that Saturday Night Live made called the â€Å"Screen Guild Awards† and in this video they had created a satire theme. The main purpose of this video was the irony of how there were five nominees for the best actor award and ironically enough all of them were white, but theres another catch to it. In all the films that these men acted in, they were all about African Americans but ironically, the white guys were the ones to get nominated for the award. Also, again, the result for who won the award was that all the white men were all tied for first. When the men were being shown for the award nomination, Saturday Night Live happen to sneak in the nominated man trying to get a high five from the African American actor also in the film. When he went for the high five the man refused to give him a high five which is an example of satire that SNL uses. The point of SNL doing this was because at the Oscar awards, it was the second year in a row that a African America n didnt get nominated for a major character. SNL used this to their advantage and took advantage of the opportunity to use satire to get the purpose across. The satire helped the purpose of this skit because it was an aim toward the Oscars which made the skit more laughable. In the beginning of the skit it starts of with a lady that says â€Å"we wish we could have nominated more†, then moves on to introducing all of the actors. The first character that was introduced was a male African American actor that was a main character in a boxing movie. Then, the actor has a white male beside him tell him that he can do whatever he believes in. The satire involved in this was how the background character white male got the nominee and not the main actor. Next comes a main actor that again, is African American and is trying to motivate some people, then the person that got nominated was the really small part of the white character that had only two lines. After, another satire is when the main actor is trying to motivate himself and says â€Å"I will work all night night to beat out these white folks† then the person that got nominated was the white librarian that tells him there’s only five minutes to closing and forces him out. Lastly, there is a male African American that was in the forest trying to motivate all of his friends when a white cameraman comes into the background and says absolutely nothing and still get nominated for the best actor award. Saturday Night Live used many satires in a skit that was particularly short in only three minutes long. Concluding, SNL used satires of white males getting major awards in the Oscars, main characters motivating others, and how all the nominees all were tied for first.

Seeking Fulfillment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Seeking Fulfillment - Essay Example This well is still in place to this day. Here, next to the forefather’s well met two people Christ and the Samaritan woman. These two figures embodied two different worlds - Jewish and Samaritan who mutually hated each other, although they had common roots. Pagans captured this territory around the 7th century BCE and intermarried with the indigenous inhabitants – Jews; thus forming a nation of Samaritans. From Scripture, they recognized only the Torah of Moses - the Torah. Along with God, Yahweh, they also recognize the pagan idols. The Jews saw them as half pagans and quarreled with them nearly incessantly. As a result of the ill-will harbored between these two people groups the Jews even denied them to participate in the construction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Accordingly, Samaritans built a separate temple on Mount Gerizim which served to only further and intensity the feud that had already lasted for around 600 years. In 107 BCE Maccabeus rebels destroyed the temp le; something the Samaritans Jews could not forgive. They spat toward each other from afar and considered touching each other with their own eyes as worse than touching any other impurity. â€Å"The Jews and the Samaritans were bitter enemies, and as far as possible avoided all dealing with each other. To trade with the Samaritans in case of necessity was indeed counted lawful by the rabbis; but all social intercourse with them was condemned. A Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan, nor receive a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water. The disciples, in buying food, were acting in harmony with the custom of their nation. But beyond this they did not go. To ask a favor of the Samaritans, or in any way seek to benefit them, did not enter into the thought of even Christ's... According to the report findings the meeting of Christ and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well occurred at Samaritan territory near the town of Sychar. There was only one well, 32 meters deep, dug by Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel about fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. This well is still in place to this day. Here, next to the forefather’s well met two people Christ and the Samaritan woman. These two figures embodied two different worlds - Jewish and Samaritan who mutually hated each other, although they had common roots. Pagans captured this territory around the 7th century BCE and intermarried with the indigenous inhabitants – Jews; thus forming a nation of Samaritans. From Scripture, they recognized only the Torah of Moses - the Torah. Along with God, Yahweh, they also recognize the pagan idols. The Jews saw them as half pagans and quarreled with them nearly incessantly. This essay stresses that Samaritans built a separate temple on Mount Gerizim which served to only further and intensity the feud that had already lasted for around 600 years. In 107 BCE Maccabeus rebels destroyed the temple; something the Samaritans Jews could not forgive. They spat toward each other from afar and considered touching each other with their own eyes as worse than touching any other impurity. Therefore, by a careful examination of the historical background to the situation, it becomes clear why certain figures in the story behave in the way that they do.

Entrepreneurial Survival Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Entrepreneurial Survival - Essay Example Therefore, it is important for any company to prioritize credit management and cash flow for increased profitability and survival. There are different issues involved in managing credit in a company. A company first needs to understand well the credit and payment issues of its customers before carrying on a relationship with them. It is essential for a company to identify the high risk customers in order to adopt the most effective strategy of prioritizing collections. The nature of the credit controller of a company also influences the credit management, hence it is vital that a company utilises different credit controllers. Additionally, effective credit management involves strengthening existing customer relationships. A company could for instance renegotiate credit prices with loyal customers, among other incentives, since intuition to customer needs is an important aspect of credit management that can result in more profitability (Bullivant 2012). Having a company credit policy is critical, and this must be up to date with the present creditworthiness of specific customers of the company. Credit insurance is also important in the covering of individual accounts or the whole turnover of company (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants 2009). The strategies used in credit management impact on cash flow. Therefore, effective credit management improves cash flow. However, there are additional factors that enhance the cash flow of a company. First, improving the speed at which goods exchange hands with the buyer is important, because the faster a buyer purchases and pays for a good, the better it is for the company’s cash flow, even as inventory must move for cash to flow. Improved technology for faster payment and delivery of goods also helps to move inventory. Additionally, the use of information is key in improving cash flow. For instance, when delivering goods to customers, a company must track the

The Ford Motor company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The Ford Motor company - Essay Example The company has established manufacturing and distribution units, research and development facilities, warehouses across South and North American, European, Asian along with African regions. The company also undertakes the business of car rental, leasing business, car finance and other activities related to finance (ABR, 2010). Correspondingly, the paper intends to describe the strategic business audit of Ford Motor Company which is very important to study the current situation of the company through a systematic approach. The main purpose for using the strategic audit approach in this paper is to provide an evaluation of the current strategies that have been used by the company to position itself effectively in the competitive market. External and internal factors of analysis have been used in this paper to clearly determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company that would provide an in-depth understanding of the position of the organization in the glob al domain. Qualitative research method has been used in this paper through the medium of secondary data in order to analyze the company. Ford Motors believes that change in the climate of natural environment poses major opportunities and threats to the company. The company concentrates on stabilizing the effects of greenhouse gas in the environmental atmosphere to a certain extent that would result in a minimal effect on the climate change through producing cars in which the level of carbon emissions is relatively lower.

Innate Intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Innate Intelligence - Essay Example Evaluating intellectual, logical, analytical and rational skills and capacities, the IQ measurement and scoring paradigm was perceived of by society as the definitional competence measurement methodology and the predictor of performance and success potentialities. Those who scored high on the IQ measurement were assumed to possess the requirements for success and leadership. This assumption, predicated on belief in the scientific accuracy and comprehensiveness of the IQ test and measurement, sustained the usage of IQ measurements for several decades. Perceptions regarding IQ as the ultimate, and most comprehensive, measurement of intelligence and as the predictor of success and leadership potentiality began to wanes, consequent to the intervention of psychologists and psychological research. The arguments raised maintained that while IQ could function as a partial predictor of success, it was hardly a predictor for leadership potentiality or, for that matter, long-term sustainable success. Long term, sustainable success and leadership potentiality were determined by the possession of the "ability to tune into the world, to read situations and connect with others while taking charge of their own life". Emotional intelligence has been popularly portrayed as critical to human success and sometimes even more important than IQ (D. Goleman, 1995), yet sparse evidence exists supporting such a claim. A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the construct of intelligence during this century, but especially during the past 50 years. The examination of specific abilities that extend beyond the concept of general undifferentiated intelligence has been especially important. In the 1960s, in particular, a growing number of cognitive theorists studied neuropsychology, neuroscience, and higher mental processes. These efforts, described as the cognitive revolution (Miller, Galanter & Pribram, 1960), had a substantial influence on theoretical psychology and more recently in applied psychology. The cognitive revolution has impacted the way intelligence is conceptualized and measured. Spearman (1904), who invented the technique of factor analysis and applied it to the measurement of intelligence, defined intelligence in terms of the over arching construct of "ease or rapidity of problem-solving ability." More specifically, according to Spearman, an intelligent person apprehends experience (i.e., recognizes and understands the various elements that constitute a given situation), understands the salient interrelations among elements of the situation, and has the capacity to extrapolate those interrelations to new and unfamiliar situations. Spearman's (1904) factor analytic data suggested that various measures of intelligence loaded on a single factor, labeled Intelligence. Thurstone (1938) proposed seven reasonably distinct primary mental abilities (verbal comprehension or understanding word meanings; facility with numbers; perceptual speed or ability to rapidly discriminate between complex visual presentations; word fluency or rapid and flexible usage of words, such as making rhymes or

Curriculum Alignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Curriculum Alignment - Essay Example Having established this important link of curriculum design with the people which it is aimed at, it is apt now that the question of how be answered and for this purpose the curriculum needs to be divided into several layers or several modes depending on whom it is directed towards. Instructional level learning is related to giving out a set of instructions so that they are followed and this teaches children to follow simple instructions which obviously leads to a life long journey of understanding and acting when told what to do and be able to prioritize when faced with multiple tasks, priority levels should be taught by instilling in students the importance of realizing how important time really is and what needs to be done quickly because of the importance of the task that is at hand. A good example for this type of study would be to make students indulge in activities such as treasure hunting where clear cut clues could be given to them and they should be asked to follow a set of instructions, these games or activities should be conducted regularly so as to makes students realize that it is going to be a part of the whole process and also it is very important that these activities should be entertaining for the students because to make students follow a set of instructions it is important that the students do not find it limiting to say the least. Students who fail to perform on the larger scale of a treasure hunt should be worked upon in the class room where they might be given simpler tasks with a clear cut instruction set. Developmental Levels The most challenging tasks of all is to mould a childs brain, when the word mould is used it is used in the sense that the process of development starts from a very early level and to develop a proper personality there should be courses or programs instilled in the curriculum so as to start the process of molding and hence lay seeds to a personality of tomorrow. Having laid the foundation of the importance of development programs the next question is, as always, how. The answer to this query lays in the theory that the difference between right and wrong should be taught from the very beginning because this is what brings morality into any character and moralities is the basis of character development or any other sort of development because with out morality there can be no right or wrong. The sense of what is right and what is wrong can be instilled in people this early in life by using stories where there is a clear cut line that shows what is evil and what is good and glorifies wh at is good to such an extent that it becomes a character trait of the people that undertake this program. For example a story could be told to children every day where the difference between right and wrong is clearly marked and to emphasize on this a short movie could be arranged for the children once or twice a week so that they would find it amusing and would also learn using their perceptory sensation because that would leave a deep mark in the memory and would go a long way in contributing to the development of children. Disability To cope with disability there should

Article Critique_Shoe Selection in Safe Light-Industrial Jobs Essay

Article Critique_Shoe Selection in Safe Light-Industrial Jobs - Essay Example It is a requirement for every worker to use necessary protective equipment properly and at all times in the work place. A light industry that involves numerous workers to attain the high number of products should stress the employer’s responsibility to avoid potential injuries in the workplace. Employers should follow the necessary guidelines and standards provided by certain agency such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Hazard assessment is done by identifying the physical and health hazards in every workplace which stand as the first critical step in developing a comprehensive safety and health program. Another factor is choosing the appropriate personal protective equipment for the workers who are the main concern in the industrial job. Right selection of shoe will help to minimize workplace injuries thus, increasing their work productivity. The need for the right shoes is essential for individual’s safety and proper support and comfort. Foot and leg injuries were often due to improper shoe selection and poor knowledge on how to select shoes according to the nature of work. Important outline were made to assist workers in light-industrial job in choosing the right shoe particularly in using a heavy-duty leather shoes. The primary idea to consider is to always measure feet before selecting new shoes because feet may change in size over time due to activities that stretches feet and also due to aging. Next, measure feet while standing because standing for long period of time can stretch feet thus, selecting slightly larger shoes can help minimize foot pain later on. Always measure both feet also then select shoes that fit the larger foot if there is slight discrepancy on both size of feet. It is significant as well to buy shoes late in the afternoon for the reason that feet stretch regularly during the course of the day. Upon purchasing, it is a must to spend a few minutes walking while wearing both shoes to make a

Electrical computer Engineering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electrical computer Engineering - Essay Example article and give my opinion on possible impact of software technology in smuggling of message in the society today. Moreover, I will research for two other articles that relates to the same technology and provide supplementary information that the article highlights for the same technology. Mazurczyk et al. introduces the article using one of the crimes committed by Russian spies in the United States using computer’s software. However, United States people assumed the Russians to be ordinary US residents but turned out to be spies of Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. Mazurczyk indicated that the spies’ mission was to gather information about the United States policies and programs (2013). Thus, for many years, the spies prevented discovery by hiding secret communication on apparently acquitted pictures posted on public websites. Thus, the spies encoded and decoded the information gathered using personalized software. However, the United States Department of Justice detected the spies’ schemes, helping the United States build a case against Russian spies. Thus, in June 2010, the federal government in United States arrested ten suspected spies who owned up to the act of smuggling information. Therefore, steganography is the technique that openly conceals data by use of invisible ink, shrunken text, and tactically placed tattoos. The method used by Russian spies, termed as picture steganography, was old-fashioned method that was easy to detected and used as evidence. However, the modern method of steganography used of networks, which hides information communicated in seemingly internet traffic. Since network steganography uses short delivery channels like Voice over Internet Protocol, the communications in the program is hard to detect. Mazurczyk indicated that most hackers, journalist, and even government use network steganography to communicate secret information. Although, network steganography is hard to detect, Network Security Group at Warsaw University of Technology focuses to help security experts in devising designs for better guard of steganography. Therefore, as communication technology advances in the world, other steganography experts must develop advanced steganography techniques to curb against information smuggling. Mazurczyk posits that most sophisticated methods today target internet services such as search tools, social network, and file transfer systems (2013). Therefore, quick advancement in technology in today’s society perpetrated increasing smuggling of messages especially through networks. Therefore, smuggling of messages is something that happens daily over computer technological devices especially the internet. Remarkably, network steganography allows information communicated read only by the sender and intended message recipient. Smuggling of messages through internet is on the rise in the society. Terrorists, criminals, hackers, and child pornographers could use steganography to sm uggle information. Thus, this poses a threat to the society. Smuggling of messages through steganography, leads to attacks of a country’s internal security without notice. Generally, steganography has become a threat to a county’s internal security. For instance, the Russian spies who were on a mission in dispatching United States policies and program used to hide information

Ducati Solution Essay Example for Free

Ducati Solution Essay Issues/Challenges Today, Ducati is one of the most successful motorcycle companies in the world with a dramatic profit growth since 1996. Before its huge success, Ducati was one step away from facing bankruptcy. Ducati managed to overcome such an obstacle through strong innovation and culture. Today, Ducati is faced with another challenge that may bring fortune to the company if successfully managed. Ducati set a new goal, which is to sustain the explosive double-digit profit growth in the next decade and eventually reach Harley Davison’s profit level. Ducati is considering attacking Harley Davidson by entering the cruiser market, which is Harley Davidson’s niche product and also a very profitable market segment in the industry. To do this, Ducati must invest 17 million Euro and cost of 26 million Euro. Based on this huge capital requirement, should Ducati enter the new market segment or should Ducati just concentrate on its current segment? If Ducati chooses to enter the cruiser market, what are other requirements besides the capital? Does Ducati have what it takes to succeed in the new market segment? The purpose of this memo is to help the executives of Ducati to make the optimum decision for Ducati’s future success. This memo contains the industry analysis, as well as an internal strategic analysis, company performance, and solutions and recommendations. This industry is divided into 4 segments. Ducati’s dominating segment is the sport sector. Ducati managed to utilize its differentiation strategy by taking into account of the industry’s driving forces. The cruiser segment is one sector that Ducati is very interested in entering. Unfortunately, Bert’s consulting concluded that this is not the best option through the feasibility analysis. The analysis contains the advantages and disadvantages of both options and the result was that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages. Also, entering the cruiser market is not really necessary for Ducati based on its current performance level. Industry analysis Although the number of motorcycle manufacturers has declined by a large number over the last century, competition exists among companies from different continents. Currently, all major manufacturers are from Japan, The U. S. , and Europe. The motorcycle industry is segmented into four categories: off-road, cruisers, touring and sport bikes, each of them with different qualities and target customers. Industry forces Economic condition is one of the major factors that drive the industry. This is an important factor because depending on the condition of the economy buyers’ demand will change. For example, when the economy stays strong, more people will buy the product while less people will buy when there is an economic downturn. The reason for this is because motorcycles are products that are not really necessary to possess in life. In other words, they are luxury goods. During the economic downturns, people become price sensitive and they could simply choose not to buy the product or find a substitute such as public transportation or vehicles that can hold more passengers. Therefore, the threat of substitute is very high. Motorcycles, like any type of automobiles, are a source of transportation, except they are luxury products. Companies in this industry compete with differentiation strategy rather than low cost strategy, meaning that companies focus on the quality of the product rather than low price. As long as the economy stays healthy, high income consumers will always buy the product no matter how much it costs. Another key factor is to understand the target market. As mentioned earlier, the motorcycle industry can be segmented into 4 categories. â€Å"A wide variety of individuals, with equally different tastes, bought and rode motorcycles† (Gavetti, pg 2). Each segment has certain qualities that attract different customers with different preferences. The riders can also be categorized into different types just as the motorcycles and they are â€Å"knee down†, â€Å"easy-riders†, â€Å"weekend riders†, and â€Å"highway riders. Different qualities include performance, functionality, lifestyle, and comfort. Riders choose their motorcycle based on which qualities they are attracted to. Motorcycles are not standardized products. They are highly differentiated products and they are not items that can be bought in large volume. For this reason, the power of buyers is relative low. Also, since the majority of buyers are not price sensitive, switching to different vendors is fairly easy. Prices do not affect the buyers in this industry because the buyer heavily demands quality over price. For example, if a new company comes up with a model with the best quality, the buyers will still switch to the new company no matter how expensive the new product is. This is the point where strong rivalry comes into play. All competitors have the same objective, which is to attract as many customers as they can by providing quality products. Although their objective is the same, each competitor follows their objective with their own unique strategies. Since customers can easily be attracted with innovative products, the rivalry in this industry is very high. One of the most important drivers of the industry is strong innovation. Technology advancement is very critical in this industry. Companies heavily invest a large portion of their revenues into research and development to create innovative technologies that differentiate themselves from competitors. This is very important in strengthening their name brands. Major companies used their early technology inventions as their foundation, and built up to an even higher level. Due to strong innovative thoughts, â€Å"motorcycles’ performance, comfort, reliability, and ease of maintenance had improved vastly† (Gavetti, pg 3). Due to very high capital requirement, strong innovative thoughts, and numerous large size competitors, the entry barrier is very high. Also, to be able to compete with these companies, new entrants must design a complex but efficient supply chain system for the manufacturing process. Motorcycle manufacturers rely heavily on the suppliers for quality input and satisfying delivery. â€Å"Outsourcing minimized fixed asset investment, but the quest for quality, reduced costs, and responsiveness to market fluctuations forced final assemblers to create strong commitment at the level of suppliers† (Gavetti, pg 3). To create high quality output at a lower fixed investment, it is very important for the manufacturers to maintain a good relationship with the suppliers. Also, as mentioned earlier, motorcycles are not standardized products, but differentiated products. This means that the components of the motorcycles are also quality inputs provided by the suppliers. The influence of the supplier on the final output is immense; therefore, the power of suppliers is high. Internal strategic analysis Ducati uses differentiation strategy as many other companies within the motorcycle industry. Therefore, all companies compete with each other by producing the best quality motorcycle. Ducati’s unique business model and core activities helped to produce Ducati’s way of quality motorcycles mainly focusing sport sector. Ducati’s strength comes from four core activities, which are production process, distribution system, development of product and RD, and â€Å"The world of Ducati. † One of Ducati’s core strategies is that Ducati heavily outsources its production compared to its competitors. As of 2001, outsourcing had grown to approximately 87%, and the company planned to bring it to 90%, probably the highest in the industry (industry experts estimated that the average outsourcing level for the industry was lower than Ducati’s)† (Gavetti, pg 10). By doing this, Ducati is able to reduce fixed asset investment, and mainly focus on product design, development and quality control. To ensure its product quality, Ducati collaborated wit h a number of the well-known firms such as Ferrari, Lombardini, Motori, etc, and formed the â€Å"Engine Technology District† (Gavetti, pg 11). All the firms within this district had one thing in common. They were all heavily focusing on engine technology. They basically collaborate with each other on activities such as â€Å"RD, purchasing, suppliers’ quality control, employee training etc† (Gavetti, pg 11). Ducati is very strict on selecting suppliers. Since suppliers play key roles in providing quality motorcycle components to the company, Ducati selected different suppliers for each component. Also, Ducati did not make long-term contracts with suppliers except for the major components. Ducati simply switched to different suppliers when the short-term contracts were over if needed. This ensured the quality and reliability of Ducati. Another core strategy that Ducati has is the distribution system. This strategy mainly helps Ducati to create a standard and unified Ducati designed business model for all dealers and subsidiaries to keep the scent and the culture of Ducati alive and therefore increase the value of the brand name. Through this system Ducati found many advantages. First of all, Ducati had full control of the distribution and marketing process. Instead of distributing its products to franchising dealers, and independent distributors, and letting them independently manage their own network of dealers, Ducati established company owned subsidiaries throughout the world. All the subsidiaries were managed under Ducati, which help to retain traits of Ducati’s brand (Gavetti, pg 12). This also increases the profit because Ducati owns the total sales made by all subsidiaries. Second, Ducati re-organized its network of dealers. Unlike many other companies, Ducati concentrated to improve the dealers’ performance instead of geographic expansion. There are many aspects that Ducati took into consideration for dealers’ performance such as sales forces, good technical assistance, and an adequate physical space for product display (Gavetti, pg 11). Instead of expanding the number of dealers, Ducati reduced by a large number. This made it easier for Ducati to manage to improve each dealership since the number decreased. Lastly, under this system, Ducati created its own chain stores. These stores owned by mono-franchisers offered company branded merchandises such as accessories and provided technical support and customer service. These stores provided a unique retail environment emphasizing the distinctive traits of Ducati’s Brand: while a ‘History Wall’ displayed images of Ducati’s racing heritage, and ‘Engineering Wall showed a large scale engineering drawing of the 916, Ducati’s symbol† (Gavetti, pg 12). This is an important factor because it strengthens the brand name and also increases customers’ loyalty by creating a culture. The third Ducati’s core strategy is the unique production development and RD process. Ducati invested a large portion of their revenue in designing new technologies, development of products and human resource management. Ducati created two research centers, the Cagiva Research Center and the Ducati Design center. The Cagiva Research Center focused on external design and Ducati Design Center focused on internal design. â€Å"As a consequence of these efforts, the company greatly reduced the ‘time to market’ for new product launches† (Gavetti, pg 12). This means that Ducati is able to develop a new model in shorter time period. Also, Ducati integrated RD and marketing for technological improvements. Through market research and customer feedback, Ducati managed to improve their technology and design. The World of Ducati is a strategy that helps the development and improvement of the value of the brand through a set of activities. â€Å"In addition to ‘Ducati Stores,’ the ‘World of Ducati’ compromised a series of other activities that had been consistently developing in the past three years† (Gavetti, pg 12). One activity is that unlike its competitors, Ducati implemented an â€Å"Open Paddock† policy, which allow members of Ducati club to be in close contact with the racers by participating in dinners and events. This is very important because ccording to a company’s website survey, the most important purchasing factor is the Superbike competition, followed by magazine tests, sports orientation of the brand, and its link to competition (Gavetti, pg 12). All these factors definitely improved customers’ loyalty to Ducati’s brand which is very important to sustain customers. Racers greatly collaborated with the RD process of Ducati by constantly testing the machines through competitions. Another activity is that, unlike its competitors, Ducati only used special magazines as the source of advertisement. One of the most popular campaigns was â€Å"Ducati/People,† which â€Å"featured Ducati workers and their motorcycles in and around Bologna in black and white retro’ pictures, and emphasized some central values of the brand: the Italian style, the history of the company, the young age of the riders and their sporty attitude† (Gavetti, pg 13). There are many other well-known specialized magazines that are related to motorcycles. Others activities involved Ducati’s museum tour, owners clubs, and social events. All these activities attracted many customers to learn the history of Ducati, get indepth knowledge of Ducati and ultimately increase the number of fans and customer base. Performance analysis So far, Ducati enjoyed the dramatic profit growth. â€Å"Revenues quadrupled since 1996; EBITDA had grown from 33. 4 million Euros in 1997 to around 60 million. In 2000; market share had gone from 5. 1% in the sport bikes segment in 1997 to 6. 7% in 2000† (Gavetti, pg 1). This is clear proof that Ducati is a very competitive opponent to many companies within this industry.

Theatre Evaluation of The Woman In Black Essay Example for Free

Theatre Evaluation of The Woman In Black Essay On December 11th 2001 we went to go and see a production of Woman In Black at the Lowry Centre in Salford, Manchester. The play was a thriller based on a story of man that he had to explain, and needed to tell some one about his experience. This man went to a theatre and asked for help in telling this story. Two male actors retold the story in the theatre using the theatrical effects available. It was set on a proscenium stage. When we were first introduced to the stage setting all we saw were drapes hanging at the back, which were later to be turned into gauze to help portray the later more frightening scenes in the house. The only props on the stage were a large basket, a hat stand, a clothes rail and a chair (later on in the play a door was introduced). Throughout the play these were the only props used, but with great effect. Each prop was brought into a scene and used in a different way. The gauze was used for projective images. This gave a chilling effect for example when the image of a cross was shone on to it. It was also used to create other images like a graveyard, the old house and also other parts of the house, like when you saw the woman in black on the stairs. The use of gauze had a more terrifying effect on what we were witnessing. There were only two actors in the play, but they played numerous characters throughout the different scenes. When they wanted to change characters they simply took clothes off the clothes rail, this was a very quick and swift way to change characters and was very effective, because it kept our minds constantly on the play as the action was constantly on stage. Each prop was used for different things. For example the basket was used as a bed, a basket, a train carriage and a horse and carriage. This moment was particularly effective; the basket was used to take the actor to the house. As approaching the house the horse seemed to become stuck, the use of good sound effects of the horse and carriage, then the use of lighting made this all seem very frightening and disturbing. When the carriage crashed into the marsh the goods sound effects took our imagination and it seemed very real. This was also helped by the skill of the actor driving the carriage. He was playing the old man and as soon as he took on the role he seemed to instantly become this old man. He changed his voice and his face in order to create a very realistic image of the scene. This helped to make the scene more believable. It seemed that the actors fears were being portrayed into the audience. I felt that the frightening scenes were in the house when the actor could hear noises and also saw the woman in black. He seemed very scared. The climax of this was when he finally entered the door into the childs bedroom and we saw the rocking of the chair and the playing of the childrens music toy. This was very disturbing and the actor made us feel his sense of edginess and that he was frightened. The actor helped build up the tension when he first stayed in the house, that the audience was very anxious about when he went back and the audience became very worried about what was going to happen next. There was a third actor, the woman in black. The woman said nothing, which made her even more terrifying. The woman appeared out of the darkness of the back of the audience when we first saw her. She also appeared out of the darkness when we saw her in the graveyard scene, this time she was accompanied by a scream when she appeared, this made the audience very scared and fearful of her. The woman was just an image of a white face and we only saw her as a distant shadow in the house, it made us feel very startled by her. She was very effective as a silent actor because this made the audience use our imagination as to what the woman really was, because we never heard her speak. The sound effects, the shrill scream, that accompanied her on the stage also added to the eerie effect. The screams were very shocking and we could feel it in the audience, they became very jumpy and weary of this ghostly apparition on stage. When the play first started it was very slow at taking up the story and did not really grip our attention straight away. But it soon grew in pace and fright, with each scene moving faster and becoming more and more effective in scaring the audience. The effects used in the play, the gauze, the visions, the sounds and the woman really helped in making the play very successful in creating the disturbing feel of the story. I think everyone left the theatre very jumpy, so the play was obviously successful, and I thoroughly enjoyed my fearful experience.

Internet Pornography Influences For Social Issues Information Technology Essay

Internet Pornography Influences For Social Issues Information Technology Essay Internet is the most popular and resourceful source available in the modern world to gather and share information. According to the World Bank indicators, there are 30 internet users for every 100 people of the world. Following is a chart of the growth of internet users over the years. Source: Trading Economics, 2012 When considering about these statistics, it clearly describes that the internet users have been highly increased over the past few years. According to the Mobile Internet research of Stanley Morgan (2009), mobile internet users have been increased in massively over the past years and passed the desktop internet users. This clearly describes that most of the people use their mobile phones or tablet computers to access internet. This has been increased with the mobile phone technology. After the release of smart phones, many people have used their mobile phones to access internet. Theres a saying that internet is like double edged sword, this means that theres good and bad in internet. So its up to the users to use internet in appropriate manner. Most of the internet users use internet for inappropriate things. Pornography can be described as an example of using internet in inappropriate manner. According to the article of The internet porn epidemic: By the numbers (The Week, 2010) 43% of the internet users are addicted to the pornography. When considering about this fact, mobile phone is the major consideration for this issue, because nowadays many people use mobile phones to access these porn sites. This problem has arisen in many countries and grown over the past few years. Most governments facing this problem and theyre trying new methods to reduce this pornography addiction of their country people. This pornography issue has spread many social, ethical, legal and professional issues in every region all over the world. Mobile phonography has been grown recently with the release of the smart phones and tablet computers. These kind of mobile devices introduced with improved technologies such as HSDPA, 3G, 4G, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ providing enhanced internet access which allowed users to connect internet with high speed. This new trend widely opened the mobile users to the internet. A person who can afford a simple mobile phone allowed to access internet with low data charges. This improvement of the technology somewhat caused the people to addict pornography. Internet has been described as the best way of distributing pornography. So it has been distributed in various types over the internet such as websites, streaming sites, peer-to-peer file sharing, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. There are so many websites in the internet showing pornography related things. According to the Internet Pornography Statistics (Top Ten Reviews, 2006), there are over 4.2 million websites and 420 million web pages on the internet. Another major consideration of pornography is streaming web sites. These types of websites allow users to view videos online without downloading. This facility attracted lots of people to the pornography, because most of the people search for this pornography contents in secret and this is the best way to view these types of contents without any problem. These streaming websites are now becoming popular day by day. This issue has been grown with the technology and the internet speed. When considering about the social issues, this pornography contents have spread many social issues all over the world. The biggest among them is family problems. According to the The effects of pornography on individuals, marriage, family and community research which has been done by Mr.Patrick F. Fagan demonstrates that the many married couples children face for different kinds of difficulties problems due to the Internet Pornography. One of the major problems is psychological damage to the lives of the married couples. Most of the wives of the pornography addicted people have been victimized with deep psychological damage (Fagan P.F, 2009). According to the Mr.Patrick F. Fagan, most of the wives come up with Feelings of loss, mistrust, devastation betrayal anger after getting known about the online sexual activities of their partners. And also when wives get to know that their husbands view pornography, they become harshly depressed and may feel unattractive or sexually inadequa te. Another social issue is sexual violence. There are so many sexual violence contents in the internet which can be viewed free. After watching these contents, people try to use sexual violence when they make love with their partners and some people use objects without the will of their partners. According to the Mr.Patrick F. Fagans research mentioned above, this sexual violence leads to marital dissatisfaction, temporary separation, and divorce. The major social issue in pornography is fake contents. When it comes to the mobile phones and tablet computers, many people take photographs or videos of beautiful girls, boys and change them using software with new technologies which are in built in the modern mobile phones. Then these fake photographs or videos being uploaded and shared through social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Hi5. This is a big social issue which makes people so embarrassed and even the governments finding solutions for this matter by adding and changing government laws. This is a huge issue when considering about the peoples privacy. This mobile internet growth and the pornography have made so much affect for the day to day life of people. Most of these fake contents are created by the people who watch pornography. They collect these pictures, videos mostly from the online social networking profiles. Another social issue is uploading private sexual activities to the internet. When considering about this matter, some people upload their sexual activities in social networking sites, streaming sites, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ This affects to the privacy of their partner because most of them doesnt know that these contents have been uploaded to the internet. Sometimes these situations make these people to take suicide decisions. Apart from that raping and the affection to the children are the other major social issues which are combined with pornography. The article Web pornographys effect on children (American Psychological Association, 2007) describes that Each year about 40 percent of teens and preteens visit sexually explicit sites either deliberately or accidentally. When considering about this article statistics, the mobile internet can be taken as the major reason for this pornography addiction, because nowadays most of the teens and preteens use mobile devices. This article describe s that the average age of first internet pornography exposure is 11 years. Its very clear that the minds of the children are not developed as adults, so the children can be easily misguided through these porn contents. When it comes to the professional issues, the major consideration is celebrity scandals. This can be described as a significant matter, because sometimes this helps to increase the popularity of the celebrity. Most of these scandals are being released by paparazzi reporters. This is a major issue when considering about the term privacy. Another main professional issue is professional porn movies, awards and rankings. There are some websites and award ceremonies which ranks the top porn movie stars and sex tapes. This can be taken as the professional issue, because people are participating for these sex movies as their profession. There are many sex tape jobs available on the internet. Any person can simply register for this kind of job where theres no academic qualifications required and also can get paid well. The cybersex jobs which are mostly known as webcam jobs are the next issue of this topic. There are many websites which provide cybersex facilities and mostly they consist with image galleries of girls. A person who pays the money through the website can enjoy a live nude web cam show of a selected girl. There are people who watch pornography contents within the office time. When it comes to the privacy, sometimes more than one person uses the same computer. So if a single person viewed porn contents, theres a possibility that the others may also exposed as porn addicts. Nowadays most of the companies have banned most of the pornography websites. But the problem is people use their mobile devices to access these pornography contents and this issue affects the employers in so many ways. When considering about the ethical issues which arise by the internet pornography, pregnant sex videos, videos faking nuns and monks, fake contents and spy camera videos are the major issues these days. There are many sex videos of pregnant ladies available on the internet and also there are many porn contents which faking nuns and monks. These contents arise many security and privacy issues. When considering about the privacy in ethical pornography issues, spy camera videos are the main problem. There are so many video clips and pictures taken from the spy cameras. Most of these clips were taken in bathrooms, honeymoon suites, fit-on rooms, public washrooms, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ These contents violate the privacy of the other people. When it comes to the subcontinent countries like Sri Lanka, most of the people have killed themselves after knowing that they have been exposed. These video clips and pictures are mostly recoded and captured using mobile devices, because they come up with built-in cameras and internet access. When it comes to the legal issues, pornography is illegal in Sri Lanka according to the Obscene Publications Ordinance of 1983 in Sri Lanka. A citizen who involved in pornography can be imprisoned or fined. In late 2011, Sri Lanka government banned most of the porn sites for the citizens. This decision raised lots of privacy problems, because even an adult couldnt access porn contents. This decision somewhat caused of increasing sexual abuses in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka police have the authority of taking into custody of a person who travels holding sexual contents, even inside the mobile phone. Child pornography is another legal issue which is illegal in many countries. According to the United Kingdom law, child pornography will violate the Protection of Children Act 1978, Section 160 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 as well according to the Sri Lankan Law child pornography will be violating of the National child protection authority act, no. 50 of 1998. Considering recommendations to overcome these issues, establishing various acts and strict laws would be much helpful. And also educating the children about sex and related topics and conducting awareness programs will somewhat reduce these discussed issues.

Increasing Literacy in Children Kindergarten through Sixth Grade with A

Illiteracy has been a reoccurring predicament ever since people have been able to read. Either children do not understand how to read and write in school, or they require extra help in becoming skilled in the areas of reading and writing. After school programs were created to help schools increase the literacy development in children. An after school program is defined as a program that offers its services to children after school to help them with arts, crafts, sports, or homework. Are after school programs fulfilling their duty to increase the level of literacy in children? After school programs are increasing the level of literacy in children kindergarten through sixth grade because they were created to help children increase their literacy level since schools are not providing children kindergarten through sixth grade with help in increasing their literacy level. The common definition of illiteracy is the inability to read and write. The Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary defines illiteracy as the â€Å"inability to read and write, an error in speaking or writing.† Even if there is a fault in the speaking or writing of a child, that child is defined as illiterate. If that is the definition of illiteracy, is the definition of a literate child one who never makes a mistake in his or her reading and writing? A child will always make mistakes in reading and writing because the child is human, but if that child never progresses in his or her ability to read and write then the child is defined as illiterate. Funk and Wagnalls Dictionary defines literacy as â€Å"the state of being literate† and a literate individual as one that is â€Å"able to read and write, educated, cultured.† Literacy is also indicated by comprehension and a progres... ...b. 2005 . â€Å"Illiteracy.† Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary. 6th ed. 1983. â€Å"Literacy.† Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary. 6th ed. 1983. â€Å"Literate.† Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary. 6th ed. 1983. Prosser, Theresa M., and Levesque, Jeri A. â€Å"Supporting Literacy Through Service Learning.† Reading Teacher Sep. 1997: 31 par. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. University of Denver Penrose Library, Denver. 19 Jan. 2005 . Sylva, Kathy, and Evans, Emma. â€Å"Preventing Failure at School.† Children and Society 13 Sep. 1999: 9p. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOhost. University of Denver Penrose Library, Denver. 19 Jan. 2005 .

Essay --

Have you every wondered why it has become easier for citizens to own a gun. Weather its legally or illegally many people own guns. In the past days and years there have been many news reports involving guns. The amount of firearms that are available have taken a major impact on the murder rate in the United States. In many different places there have been mass killings including, court rooms, movie theaters, schools, airports, and etc. The amount killings from guns are unbearable. People today can fearful to leave their house due to guns and their experience with it. It should not be acceptable for civilians to live in fear because one person has access to a firearm. There are some people that can make the argument that having stricter gun laws wont make a difference. It has been said that guns are not what kill people, and that people kill people. In some cases this argument maybe true but I don’t believe that this argument is completely valid to the reason people die fro m guns. In this essay, I will be explaining why gun control should be stricter. I think its safe to say that America has grown to have a love for guns. In 2012 the small arms survey determined that the United States has 88.9 firearms for every on hundred people in America. That’s more Mexico, Yemen, and Pakistan combined. The U.S. has the highest gun ownership in the world. There are way to many armed civilians in this country. Anti-gun-control activists argue that if guns were banned or regulated severely only In our United States Constitution, the second amendment states, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Although the second amendment is only... ...that are purchased from private sellers do not require background. Under the Gun control act of 1968, the federal law states that private sellers as anyone who sold no more than four firearms per year. But in1986, the Firearm Owners Protection Act lifted that restriction and loosely defined private sellers as people who do not rely on gun sales as the principal way of obtaining their livelihood. Toady many private sellers sell a large amount of all kinds of guns. Because these sellers claim to be hobbyist, they are exempt from the law requirements that follow as a licensed firearm retailer. Some states have taken further action to stricken the law by requiring background checks at gun shows for any type of transaction. States like Colorado And Connecticut, most recently made mandatory background checks on all gun purchases, including purchases over internet.

Never Forget What It Was Like to be a Student Essay -- Philosophy of E

Never Forget What It Was Like to be a Student After a great deal of reflection, I found this statement to be at the core of my teaching philosophy. If you can not understand students, you can not expect to instruct them or guide their learning as effectively. Some of my best teachers, for example, where those who understood that students’ attention spans were limited and at any given moment their pupils were facing many more challenges than those merely presented in class. By developing a connection with students on some level, these teachers demanded a respect that was not simply based on fear. Consequently, in these classes my fellow students and I were more self-motivated to do well since the level of respect we had for our teachers also included a desire to do well and please them with outstanding academic performance. A close student-teacher relationship works in two ways, and in my opinion, not only benefits the students but has the added bonus of benefiting the teacher as well. Teachers who develop a rapport with students will be more likely to be driven to create dynamic lessons that engage a diverse group students than teachers who merely show up and present information in a bland, mundane manner to a monotonous sea of faces. By understanding students, teachers are also able to gauge what type of lessons would be most appropriate and effective. Some classes, for example, may be able to work well cooperatively while another class may need the same mate...

A Improving Your Math Skills Course Education Essay

IntroductionBettering Your Math Skills was offered over the period January 12th to March 6th ( 8 hebdomads ) to ease the new cohort pupils at the Open Campus January consumption. This was the 2nd offering of the class for pupils come ining the BSc Management programme across the Open Campus Country sites. Prior to summer 2008, this class was available to pupils at Trinidad and Tobago sites merely. As with the old offer of the class during summer 2008, the eight hebdomads of class bringing was site based with local face to face coachs supplying 6 hours of direction per hebdomad for a sum of 48 contact hours. Two student/course coordinator and two tutor/course coordinator audio conferences were besides conducted. The class coordinator, Mr. Roger Charles was responsible for posting on-line class updates and reacting to administrative questions and related inquiries in the Tutor/Student Exchange Forum. 118 pupils were registered for this offer of the class across 19 Open campus sites. The module adviser to the programme Mr. Martin Franklin of the Department of Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences, continued to supply support to the class coordinator as required. Course fees remained at the rate of US $ 180.00 per pupil for a entire income of US $ 21,240.00.Course AssessmentThe January/March offer of the class saw a alteration in one of the constituents of the in class appraisal, with an online graded quiz replacing the face to confront mid class scrutiny. The engagement grade for completion of hebdomadal online quizzes as the other constituent of coursework remained unchanged. The displacement to to the full online coursework constituents means that jobs associated with the reception of books and Markss sheets from the OC sites have been eliminated, and pupils were able to see their coursework Markss good in progress of the terminal of learning. The displacement besides realized some nest eggs for the Open Campus, as coachs will no longer be required to tag books as portion of the place duties, and the associated US $ 5.00/per book costs will no longer be incurred.Course MaterialsThe class stuff remained unchanged for this offer of the class. At present this consists of photocopied infusions from a assortment of beginnings in chapter format. The stuff is non unit based, larning aims are non stated and there are no worked illustrations to steer pupil activity in the class. Two transcripts of a recommended Pre concretion text per site were provided for pupil usage as portion of the class resources available at the several site locations. The overall cost for purchase of the recommended text, production and transportation of the class stuffs was about US $ 4,400.00 broken down as follows: Photocopying and transportation of 43 page brochure to 19 sites – US $ 3830.00 Purchase of recommended text – US $ 570.00Course CoachsMost of the face to face coachs were returning coachs, the exclusion being the coach at the Mona, Jamaica site. As stated antecedently, the coach support continued to be site based, with on-line interaction limited to that between the pupils and the class coordinator. No learning took topographic point online. During the old offer of the class, local coachs expressed concern over the deficiency of entree to the on-line constituents of the class ( hebdomadal online quiz for which a engagement grade is awarded ) , given that their pupils often requested explanations/clarification on some of the countries covered. The Learning Support Supervisor agreed to ease sing entree for coachs during the January/February offer, nevertheless the chance was non followed up by most of the coachs and the focal point of their attempts remained on face to confront interaction at the several local sites. In respect to wage, prior to the January/February offer, local coachs were paid at the hourly rate particulars to their sites, up to a upper limit of 48 hours. Ratess varied across the site locations runing from US $ 27 to US $ 37.50 per hr. The January/February offer saw the catching of coachs in conformity with the standardised agreements in topographic point for coach services, and debut of the level rate of US $ 950 for the period of battle. The level rate was reviewed during the period of class bringing in response to concerns expressed by some site coordinators on behalf of the coachs that the wage was unequal given the figure of hours of direction required. The Director APAD agreed to an extra payment of US $ 160, for a entire wage of US $ 1,110.00 per coach. The overall Open Campus cost for proviso of local coach support was US $ 15,540.00.REVIEW OF COURSE COORDINATOR ‘S REPORTSpecific facets of the class coordinator ‘s study ( see fond regard ) are discussed under specific headers below.Course Outcomes – Pass/Fail RatessOf the 118 pupils registered for the class, the concluding grade entries indicate that 61.6 % attained the base on balls grade of 50. In respect to the pass/fail rate for the class, four sites recorded hapless pupil public presentation with in surplus of 50 per centum of the pupils neglecting the class: Cave Hill ( 66 % ) , Mayaro ( 63 % ) , Mona ( 55 % ) and St Lucia ( 84 % ) . One pupil from each of the following sites attempted the class without local coach support and was non successful: Bahamas, BVI, Cayman Islands, Montego Bay and Montserrat. Note that these sites were advised prior to the start of learning that local coach support where the figure of pupils was little would non be cost effectual and those pupils should be encouraged to take the class in the summer. In seeking to explicate student public presentation on the concluding scrutiny the class coordinator ‘s study discussed the inability of â€Å" several of the pupils † to come to footings with some of the subjects in the programme. The subjects that presented some step of trouble were cited as Graphs, Logs and solutions of coincident equations. All three are cardinal countries of accent in ECON1003 – Mathematicss for Social Sciences, the Level 1 class for which Improving Your Math Skills is designed to function as academic readying. In reexamining the debatable countries originating from a reappraisal of the concluding scrutiny books, the Course Coordinator farther noted the followers: â€Å" Areas where pupils were most successful were sets and simple factorisation. Students seem to hold trouble negociating logs in peculiar. Too many pupils had jobs finding the right points for the graph and that was a direct consequence of them non being able to correctly utility values into the equation and being able to work out ( negociating directed Numberss ) . † A reappraisal of the class lineation indicates that the subjects showing the greatest trouble for pupils are those scheduled for bringing subsequently in the class. As a effect, there may non hold been sufficient clip to cover them at the degree of item required.Course DeliveryIn respect to class bringing the Course Coordinator ‘s study suggests three specific countries of concern, as follows: Teaching and Facilitation of Learning, in peculiar the local coach ‘s cognition and accomplishment in steering acquisition Instructional Design, in peculiar the relationship between the class aims, class activities, the instruction schemes, and usage of on-line resources Learning experience in relation to the scholar ‘s prerequisite cognition and the ability of the class to run into their demands. Teaching and Facilitation of Learning: During the lead up to the first offer of the class to the Open Campus Sites in summer 2008, Sites Heads were asked to enroll local coachs on counsel from the module adviser at St Augustine, Mr Martin Franklin. Selection standards included ownership of a first grade in Mathematics, a lower limit of 2 old ages learning experience in the capable country and a instructor ‘s sheepskin. However, run intoing the sheepskin standards proved hard and most of the coachs selected at the respective sites have met the grade and experience standards merely. This has deductions for the facilitation of teaching/learning. The class coordinator ‘s study high spots this in portion as follows: â€Å" . Some coachs may necessitate counsel in fixing their pupils for some of the more debatable subjects in the programme. † The cognition of the single local coachs however, the above statement points to the demand for managed coach support, proviso of enhanced class resources and clear guidelines on the instruction schemes to be employed. Instructional Design: As indicated antecedently, the stuffs for this class are non designed in a mode that speaks to specific larning aims and results. Local coachs were hence guided by the information provided by the class coordinator during the two teleconferencing Sessionss with them, the class lineation where the class purposes are stated and which lists the class subjects in sequence and other information provided by the class coordinator via electronic mail as the demand arises. The class purposes are listed in the class lineation as follows: Engage pupils in larning activities affecting cardinal cardinal constructs in Mathematicss. Improve pupils ‘ proficiency in Pre-Calculus Mathematicss. Build pupils ‘ assurance in Mathematics prior to reading ECON1003. Supply the basic tools needed to assist pupils appreciate and acknowledge the usage of appropriate basic mathematical constructs in a given job state of affairs. The mode in which these purposes are to be achieved is non instantly clear since these purposes are non tied to specific larning aims and declared class activities. The learning schemes to be employed are non stated. This renders monitoring by the class coordinator or class bringing support, hard at best. The outlook that class bringing is happening in promotion of the class aims appears to be an country that will necessitate reexamine given the following infusion from the class coordinator ‘s study: â€Å" After reexamining several of the books it would look that many pupils in the assorted districts, were non able or prepared sufficiently to pull off with the more complex facets of the programmeaˆÂ ¦ † If the class is to function as academic readying for ECON1003, a demand is suggested for clear articulation of course/unit aims, development of related class activities and handiness of standard resources including tutorial sheets and solutions. Online resources besides need to be sourced to advance easiness of apprehension of subjects ; more so in those subjects which student public presentation indicates may be debatable. Learning Experience: The module at St Augustine recommended that all appliers to the BSc Management programme who passed O ‘ Level Mathematics over five old ages ago, or who have taken O ‘ Level Mathematicss at the secondary degree, but did non achieve a passing class, be required to take this class. Students hence come to the class with different degrees of pre necessity cognition that would necessitate changing attacks to instruction in maintaining with their acquisition manners and ability to understand and retain the constructs taught. The full push of the class is remedial, which would besides necessitate specific attacks to instruction to run into the demands of weaker pupils. The extent to which this is evidenced in respect to the construction of the class stuffs or expressed instruction schemes and guidelines is non instantly evident. The class coordinator ‘s study speaks to the proficiency of the pupils and the likely impact on their learning experience. There is a suggestion for reappraisal of the period allocated for class bringing in relation to the deepness of coverage of the subjects. He notes the followers: â€Å" Several of the coachs indicated that because of the low degree proficiency amongst some of the pupils, they needed more clip to decently and adequately present the more hard facets of the programme. † The inquiry hence arises as to the adequateness of an eight hebdomad period of class bringing for coverage of the relevant subjects in the face to confront puting merely, given that the accent is on remedial work as a characteristic of the class design. Alternatively, the figure of subjects to be covered during the period and the deepness of coverage required, may be excessively ambitious given the mark audience and the varying abilities and anterior cognition pupils bring to the class. This poses jobs for bringing when all of the varying abilities are gathered in one schoolroom and the coach has to run into all of the demands in the limited clip available. The class rating instrument was non available at the terminal of instruction, therefore pupils taking the class were non able to measure the learning experience. Such information would hold served as a usher to countries of betterment. However, a reappraisal of the remarks posted by pupils in the Tutor Student Exchange Forum speaks to two facets of the acquisition experience that are informative. Remarks related to the quality of the class stuff and the instructional design are shown below. â€Å" The unit stuff was collected at the campusaˆÂ ¦.I was inquiring where is it that the stuff contains merely 2 chapters and the remainder of it is merely exercises.A I need some illustrations to follow for the last 2 quizzes and was unable to acquire much aid from the stuff given.A What other press release is at that place? A Had some jobs with indicies and powers. † â€Å" Mr Charles I ‘m at a lost hereaˆÂ ¦ I was give a transcript of a brochure with 43 pages which every bit far as Is can Tell does non truly explicate excessively muchaˆÂ ¦..I ‘m inquiring if there is any other class stuff that was given out to the other sites and non here. If so please allow me cognize. Will the cxc mathematics text work for this class? † While these pupil posters speak to the demand for a closer expression at the design of the class stuff supplied to pupils and the supports available, they besides provide limited penetration to the larning experience of pupils and suggest a demand for more contact with class teachers.RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTThe recommendations for betterment highlighted in the class coordinator ‘s study focal point on the followers: Improved resources to back up instruction and facilitate acquisition: Provision of worked illustrations and development of tutorial sheets to steer teaching/learning Monitoring of coach public presentation: Development of supervising systemsExpanded period for class bringingItems 1 and 2 are steps that can be accommodated as short term betterments to ease the following offer of the class ( at the clip of authorship, the bill of exchange register agenda lists the class day of the months as June 1st to July 27th 2009 ) . Item 3 may be considered as portion of a comprehensive reappraisal of the class content, class aims, the class stuffs and bringing manner. This will incur a cost to the Open Campus for the services of either an Instructional Designer or a substantial class author and the services of a Curriculum Development Specialist. For the short term, it is recommended that the following be considered in the context of Items 1 and 2 to ease readying for the summer offer and these enterprises be assessed at the terminal of the summer offering:Summer 2009 OfferImproved resources to back up instruction and facilitate acquisition: Worked illustrations are an indispensable usher to ease pattern. These illustrations should construct on the stuff contained in the recommended text and supply exposure to different combinations of the type of mathematical jobs that pupils are likely to meet as portion of their readying for ECON1003. In run intoing this demand the class coordinator should work with the Programme Coordinator to ease the resources required to back up instruction and acquisition: Designation of on-line resources ( Personal computer to work in coaction with Campus Librarian ) Preparation of tutorial sheets ( Course Coordinator ) Preparation of worked illustrations to supplement stuffs ( Course Coordinator ) Development of guidelines for coachs on countries for focal point in face to confront Sessionss ( Course Coordinator ) Consideration should be given to decrease of the accent on face to confront schoolroom direction and debut of online learning support to complement the direction provided in the schoolroom: Reduce face to confront schoolroom direction to 3 hours per hebdomad and supply clear coach guidelines for the countries of focal point. Emphasis should be placed on those subjects that the reappraisal of scrutiny books indicates as the most ambitious for pupils. Supply all face to face coachs with on-line entree to the online environment Introduce an Online Teaching Assistant to the class to help the class coordinator with facilitation of tutorial sheets, proviso of elaborate solutions at the terminal of each hebdomad and general feedback to pupils. A engagement grade should be awarded for each tutorial sheet entry from pupils Reappraisal of the 30 % coursework constituent to supply more pupil inducements for engagement in guided activities: Participation grade for completion hebdomadal online pattern quiz ( already a characteristic of the class – 7 Markss ) Participation grade for entry of tutorial sheet replies ( tutorial sheet to be available at the terminal of each hebdomad – recommended 8 Markss ) Graded online quiz ( component already included in class – decrease of the weighting required – recommended 15 Markss ) . These recommendations may be considered in the context of the bing scenarios shown in Appendix 1.