Sunday, January 26, 2020

Development of ICT Examination System

Development of ICT Examination System Abstract: Today, conducting examinations for schools or colleges is a serious concern of the government agencies. The mal-practices or the delay in declaration of results are affecting the careers of the students and in turn break the image of delivering bodies and hence government. Government of Maharashtra had constituted one committee on examination reforms to carry out the in-depth study for use of ICT in examination system. The researcher is registered doctoral student, hence presented in the review paper, the examination reforms is the need of every time in the society since its establishment. Keywords: ICT, Examination reform, Education Introduction: Examinations play an important role in imparting education and knowledge to students. Examination is an instrument to evaluate the knowledge, understanding and learning of students. For Teachers, Examinations provides feedback to evolve their way of teaching. In Maharashtra, serious concerns have been expressed on various issues regarding security of university examination papers and image by the media about the capabilities of Universities to hold organize examinations in a fair manner. In this regard, Hon’ble Chief Secretary opined that immediate action needs to be taken to set up a reliable system so that aforementioned incidences do not occur and Universities can hold the examinations smoothly. A Review: In 2011, Mohini Bhardwaj, Amar Jeet Singh placed the need of present time in India in following manner, â€Å"ICT has reached at every door step, but its potential has not been fully utilised. ICT is a very helpful tool for providing good governance by bringing a sea-change in the working of organisations and institutions.† In two years of span the speedy development of ICT implementation in examination is quoted by Dr. Anurag Sankhiyan, that, â€Å"Trend of seeking online applications for regular, entrance /competitive examinations and conducting on-line examinations have made the system very simple and cost effective for the examining bodies. But, on the other hand, this change is also bringing lot of challenges to the rural youth of the country who are not that much techsavvy. The present paper, focus on the possibilities and challenges of integrating ICT in examination system.† Ron Oliver in his research paper titled â€Å"The role of ICT in higher education for the 21st century: ICT as a change agent for education† stated that, the world moving rapidly into digital media and information, the role of ICT in education is becoming more and more important and this importance will continue to grow and develop in the 21st century. The paper argues the role of ICT in transforming teaching and learning and seeks to explore how this will impact on the way programs will be offered and delivered in the universities and colleges of the future. Aatish Palekar in his web article, The Reform of Examination System – Essay, quoted that, in any education system, they must occupy an important place. Yet the way and the form in which they are held need reform. There are so many serious defects in the present system of examination that their purpose is completely defeated. They fail in measuring the progress of students. Many ways of reforming the examination system have been suggested. One is the setting of objective-type questions, instead of the present system in which the questions require long, essay-type answers. Mohini Bhardwaj and Amarjeet singh focused that the need of ICT is at prime stage considering the gross enrollment ratio in India, as per the University Grants Commission (2008) report titled â€Å"Higher Education in India-Issues related to expansion, inclusiveness, quality and finance†, the number of universities in India has increased from 20 in 1950 to about 431 in 2008, colleges from 500 in 1950 to 20,677 in 2008 and enrolment of students has increased from mere 100,000 in 1950 to 11,612,000 in 2008. The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) i.e. which is a ratio of persons enrolled in higher education institutions to total population of the persons in age group of 18 to 23, rose from 0.7% in 1950 to about 11% in 2007. Still the fact remains that the GER in India is quite low compared to that of the developed countries and world average having GERs 54.6 % and 23.2% respectively. Indian government aims to bring GER to 15 % by 2012. The researcher made the current review about GER, and find that the current GER is 19% and the government of India aims to achieve the GER up to 30% by 2020. (The Diplomat, Challenges and Solutions in Indian Higher Education  ByShreyasi Singh, October 02, 2013) The author Anurag Sankhiyan is trying to trouble shoot the challenges in examination system with ICT, hence quote that, â€Å"India is not a rich country where we can change the whole picture in one day. Being a developing nation, the country is facing lot of problems in every sphere. ICT based examination system is quite costly in the initial stage and in case country manage to invest for changing the manual system to ICT we will be facing the challenges on the part of learner who have to adopt the same. Maximum universities, educational boards and selection bodies are inviting the examination applications online. Students who are rural and not have the access to the new technology have to visit cities for filling the application forms. In that case they depend on the people who are managing the cybercafà ©s. Maximum time it has been observed that their forms get rejected due to filling wrong information by such people. Providing proper orientation to the students regarding using the technology is one of the main challenges.† The author rightly focus the challenge of poverty in the nation and the challenge of implementing ICT at lowest possible rate along with the lower ICT literacy among the poor citizens. Anurag Sankhiyan, had also pointed out the significant tangible benefits of using ICT in examination system over the manual system. They quoted that, with ICT integration of technology, process, resources; also streamline procedures in examination system were identified. The author stretch the ICT usage up to quality of service and effective monitoring in the process along with statistical reports at the finger tips. But Mohini Bhardwaj and Amarjeet singh, these authors placed the challenges of main feature of ICT i.e. integration of ICT in examination system in following way- Lot of investment is needed on the part of universities and school examination boards as technology is quite costly. Lack of ICT trained people is another challenge, for which proper training programmes in a regular manner are to be organised. Less initiative taken by the state universities to integrate ICT in the examination system due to lack of funds. Maximum student population of the country is living in the rural areas and not has access to the new technologies. Changing the mindset of the people presently using manual system and making them trained. Orienting students to adopt new technology before shifting to the ICT based examination system. Conclusion: Hence it is clear from above review that in spite of achieving higher GER and ICT promotion at higher stage, the monetary issues are of prime importance. The lack of initiation by universities, rural population and capacity building of the stake holders are challenges in 2013-14, where researcher want to carry out the study to know the implementers thoughts, stake holders e-readyness, how to implement complete ICT solution in NMU region which also covers tribal along with rural region. References: Dr. Anurag Sankhian, (2013) Redesigning Indian Examination System through Technology, GIAN JYOTI E-JOURNAL, Volume 3, Issue 2 ISSN 2250-348X, 57-67 pp Mohini Bhardwaj, Amar Jeet Singh, (2011) Automated Integrated University Examination System, Himachal Pradesh University Journal, 1-10 pp Aatish Palekar, The Reform of Examination System – Essay ARTICLES http://www.publishyourarticles.net/eng/articles/the-reform-of-examination-system-essay.html accessed on 6.6.2013 at 9.30 am Government of Maharashtra, (2012) Reforms in Examinations System in Universities of Maharashtra through use of Technology, Committee Report. Ron Oliver (2002), The role of ICT in higher education for the 21st century: ICT as a change agent for education, HE 21 conference proceedings

Saturday, January 18, 2020

500 Word Essay Essay

What a thing of beauty is the well-written 500-word essay. In some ways, it is the perfect length to express a certain level of knowledge about a particular subject. It is long enough to allow the writer to show familiarity, and possibly expertise, regarding her chosen topic. But it is not a length that requires copious amounts of research. When sufficiently motivated, one can manage to research, write, and revise such an essay in an hour or two, given enough practice. Given the fact that students will write dozens, if not hundreds, of essays in their high school and college careers, it can be advantageous to become familiar with the mechanics, tools, and resources associated with essay writing. The mechanics of a paper include such elements as accurate spelling, correct grammar, and proper formatting. The conscientious writer does not simply rely on spell check to make sure his paper does not contain misspellings. A thorough proofreading will catch mistakes that spell check misses. For instance, spell check might not know the difference between homophones such as â€Å"there,† â€Å"their,† and â€Å"they’re. † A careful review by the writer (or a friend) should catch these errors. Using correct grammar in all its forms – the parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, and punctuation – can ensure that brilliant writing is not overshadowed by careless or sloppy mechanics (Writing Mechanics). The â€Å"look† of the paper is important as well. High school teachers and college professors alike appreciate readable papers with a consistent appearance. This means using the Times New Roman font, size 12, and double-spacing the body of the essay. The title should also be a size 12 font, center justified, with the first word, the last word, and other important words all capitalized. The default margin settings of one inch at the top, bottom, left, and right, give the paper a professional look. While having a crisp, clean look is valuable, the substance of the paper is of the greatest importance. Supplementing one’s own personal knowledge with well-researched material is the key to a terrific essay. A 500-word essay is not going to require as much research as a six- or ten-page paper. The individual assignment and the topic will determine where to seek out information. But once the research is done, the bibliography (or Works Cited list) can be assembled quite easily using EasyBib (EasyBib). What used to be quite a laborious task – putting sources in the correct MLA format, then alphabetizing them all – is now a fairly automatic process using this handy website. Some students are intimidated when given a writing assignment. Hopefully, the hints given in this essay will make it easier for students to get started on their own essays. Becoming fairly automatic about formatting a paper prevents too much time from being wasted â€Å"reinventing the wheel. † Using viable, trustworthy websites and resources for research will help writers supplement their own knowledge. Knowing how to organize these resources into a coherent bibliography will cap off the paper quite nicely. Using these â€Å"tricks of the trade† should help students concentrate on the composition of their papers, and not obsess on the minutiae.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale

Yemi Salami Mrs. R. Patterson English 5 AP 22 October, 2012 Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is one troubled (and multi-faceted) man. A brilliant speaker, a kind man, a wise reverend – everyone loves this guy. He’s pretty much a rock star in the Massachusetts Bay Colony (and that doesn’t seem like such an easy feat in Puritan society). With his education and religious standing it allows him to have a larger sense of humility and understanding. So with Dimmesdale also being Hester’s illicit lover and the father of her child, Pearl. He remains silent about his sin, even while he publicly urges Hester to reveal the name of her lover.The narrator indicates that Dimmesdale is one of those individuals who secretly practices self-flagellation (basically, beating himself) to punish himself for his sin. This suggests that he is susceptible to shame, but secretive about it; he prefers to punish himself rather than to be punished by others. It also leaves open the question that emerges later: did Dimmesdale create the mark on his chest himself, or was it put there by the Black Man (Satan), or did it emerge on his skin because of the struggle occurring in his soul?Dimmesdale is a hypocrite through much of the book. He remains the respected and saintly minister on the outside, but his conscience eats away at him until he can hardly stand himself. He wants people to see him for who he really is. Though he tries to confess his sins to the congregation, they do not take him seriously, because he is never specific about the sins he has committed. For seven years, Dimmesdale is silent, and his health declines as a result. Today, we would maybe say he’s depressed, and that his depression is so bad that it becomes fatal.In Christian theology, sin leads to death unless an individual accepts God’s free gift of forgiveness (this is the concept of grace). In Dimmesdale’s case, unconfessed sin literally drives him to his demise For a few momen ts, really just two days, we see Dimmesdale turn away from his former commitment to Christian ideas and morality. His decision to run away with Hester leaves him open to all sorts of suggestions from the Black Man. Ultimately, however, Dimmesdale’s better self reasserts itself. Although he has taken seven years to reach the point here he recognizes he is destroying himself with his guilt, the moment did finally arrive. The Reverend Dimmesdale represents a weak man who has sinned but failed to accept public condemnation for his sin. His subsequent hypocrisy, however, eats away at him until his health fails. Recognizing that death is imminent, he chooses to purify his soul at the last minute by confessing his sin publicly and revealing the scarlet letter A that has appeared on his chest over his heart. The symbol on his skin, suggests that, though we may hide our sins as best as we can, mostly they will always surface and be revealed.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Interview with Anne Shapiro - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1997 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2019/02/20 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Oral History Essay Did you like this example? On November 13, 2018 I was given the chance to interview a woman named Anne Shapiro. Anne is a retired accounted who taught my grandmother to speak English up until last year when my grandma past away. Together we discussed her life in detail, she held nothing back, and we examined her life through the lens of the broader context of the history of women in the U.S. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Interview with Anne Shapiro" essay for you Create order Anne is the second of two children. She has a brother who is thirteen months older than her. She was born in Chicago in 1942 to educated parents from very different backgrounds who provided models for interesting lives without undue deference to cultural norms. During her lifetime, Anne, a white woman, continued the ways of the middle class she was brought up with by her parents. She grew up in a neighborhood where 100% of the residents were born in America, 100% of them were white, and 90% were Jewish. Anne is now 76, divorced and living in Pasadena to be closer to her only child and her brother. While Anne’s family lived up to the cultural norms of the 40’s and 50’s where the woman stayed at home and the man went to work, they did not preach this lifestyle. She had a liberal upbringing and yet she was not involved in many of the women’s movements going on at the time. After hearing about Anne’s experiences, I see that I can put them in conversatio n with the historical context of Women’s education, sexual division of labor in the U.S., and the birth control movement. Anne’s father missed the first two years of her life because he was enlisted in WWII. He was sent to pacific as a doctor specializing in orthopedic surgery with the Marine Corps and landed on Tarawa and Saipan two really terrible battles of war and he was on front lines doing surgery on the wounded rather than shooting. He probably suffered PTSD but that was not a term then. Anne recalls how the war affected her family by saying; â€Å"It interrupted my parents lifemy mother with the fear of the death of her husband and taking care of two babies alone; my father with the experience of terrible battles.† He was 41 in 1945 and just beginning a life that had been interrupted for the war years. Anne’s mother was a college educated nurse but never worked after having children. As a result of the Great Depression when her parents were growing up the family’s political views were very liberal but not to the extreme of being communists. This allowed their childre n, especially their daughter Anne to have a life that many women of her generation could not. This was a mindset shared by the majority of her extended family including a female cousin who graduated from Yale Law School in 1951 when no women went to law school. The Shapiro family was fortunate enough to have money so that both children could go to college. Her brother became a general surgeon graduating from Johns Hopkins University. Due to her gender Anne was not pushed to enter the medical field by her parents. They did want her to go to college but she did not have the same pressure as her brother to become a doctor or even enter the scientific field, which at the time was dominated by men. Chemist Betty Lou Raskin addressed this idea in a 1958 address to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She blamed â€Å"cultural conditioning and poor vocational guidance† (Raskin 1958) for women’s lack of interest in scientific careers. Anne received her BA from the University of Michigan, MA from University California, Berkeley, MBA from State University of NY Buffalo, and CPA from New York State. In 1963, when she graduated from Michigan, there were limited job opportunities for women but she did not work at the t ime and chose to be a stay at home mom. By the time she completed her MBA/CPA in 1981 most fields were in process of opening up for women but as we know a slow process indeed. Anne was never involved in women’s organization but is very supportive of them. She even says; â€Å"I was not personally involved in formal organizations such as women’s organizations, environmental organizations but always supported/worked for liberal causes.† While at Berkley she did participate in civil rights movement. She was part of the very first sit in and was arrested with 800 other Berkeley students in 1964. The movement was about civil rights. They asserted that, under free speech they were allowed to hand out literature on campus to protest racial segregation in Oakland California. The University said it was private property and they could not hand out the literature. 800 students were arrested led by Mario Savio. After being arrested Anne met her future husband on their way to jail and in the end, they won the court case. She says it was her choice to stay home and raise her child that stopped her from participating in the women’s movement be cause she felt was not in the position to do both at the same time. The division of labor in middle class home in the 40’s and 50’s was defined by cultural norms and Anne’s family followed this pattern: stay at home mother; working father and no divorce. She was very adamant that I know â€Å"They lived the model but did not â€Å"preach† the model.† Her mother was tall, thin and considered by all the kids elegant and extremely pretty. She was educated and read all the time, something unusual for women at that time. For Anne having a child had little impact on work because she chose to be stay at home mom for 7 years and her husband was a professor of literature who did all his professional writing at home so there was home care after she went to work. Her husband arranged his classes for when their daughter was in school so that he can be home with her when Anne was at work. Anne and her husband shared everything financially and generally agreed on how to allocate money. Although they had a very modern household th eir home was still somewhat affected by the traditional roles of the 50’s. Anne cooked and kept the â€Å"house going† though she and her husband shared more responsibilities for their daughter than fathers of the 50’s. Especially Anne’s own father who was old when he had children, war weary and working very hard as a doctor. Seeing as she had a lot of freedom with her parents, husband, and work life, she did not radically challenge women’s roles. Anne worked continuously from 1981 to 2012 all in finance at Cornell University and did not face many of the problems most women of her generation had to endure at work because she started working in the 80’s when a change was taking place for women in the workplace. Anne has been very lucky to feel as though she has always been taken seriously at work and always worked for firms where she had opportunity for advancement. It is important to note this crucial fact relating to her career; â€Å"Remember, I did not pursue my last and final career (CPA) until I was 40 (1982) and by then so much had changed. Had I pursued a serious career in my 20’s there would have been many more constraints related to being a woman. I did not experience being a â€Å"woman† as a detriment to advancement except I did understand that the accounting firm rarely promoted women to senior partners.† The fact that women at her firm were rarely promoted to senior partner is sexual di vision of labor that is right in line with Ruth Milkman’s speculations about the division of labor during and after World War II, and how women were only hired into â€Å"specific classifications that management deemed ‘suitable’ for women and were excluded from other jobs† (Milkman, WA 537) . Anne also adds that there was no women’s work culture in any place she worked. Unfortunately, this was that harsh reality for women who worked at the time and even in some places today. Dating was very important for Anne and her friends in the 50’s. Everyone wanted to be popular. Pre-Marital Sex was not something she and her cohorts were involved in, in high school, or college. In 1963 all of that changed with pill. The issue of â€Å"purity† disappeared before the â€Å"pill† but fear of pregnancy was very strong deterrent to pre-marital sex and abortions were still illegal. Margaret Sanger who coined the term â€Å"birth control.† In 1965, after it was legalized, as described in Beth Bailey’s â€Å"Prescribing the Pill: The Coming of the Sexual Revolution in America’s Heartland,† women were given contraceptives at public clinics only by licensed physicians and a commonly held view was that premarital sex was an immoral practice (Bailey, WA 632- 633) . Anne did not know anything about the fight to have the pill so it wasn’t shameful or difficult for her to use it when she met her husband and always saw it as a n option for herself. They lived together and travelled together before marriage and she was taking birth control at that time. After a short time, she stopped taking them because the pills affected her system and so she switched to a diaphragm. At 30, they decided to have a child and found out that she could not get pregnant due to tubal scar tissue from surgery (appendectomy) when she was 15. So, they did something that was not common for the time. They adopted a daughter. This is incredible because Ann was unable to do the only thing that the people and media at the time thought women were goof for; having children. Instead of abandoning her like many other men would have done, she and her husband adopted a child and lived a life of equality together. Historian Beth Bailey’s research has shown, that mainstream support for, and legalization of, birth control in the 1960s was hastened not so much by feminism. Rather by its connections to Cold War fears over population and Johnson’s Great Society programs that merged public health with family planning in the U.S. Anne’s recollections confirmed this insight; she did not associate birth control or herself with the feminist movement, but rather stated that as far as she could remember birth control was just always an option for her. She saw it as a convenient means of family planning which in the end she did not even need. (630). These days Anne is modestly involved in community and political activities but none are gender specific or related to women’s role. Pro Choice is very important to her and women’s education in general and in math and science are also of great importance to her. Her family life changed with the divorce. As a woman who grew up in the 50’s, she simply never imagined she would be divorced. The most important change she has experienced is a deep understanding about â€Å"individuality†Ã¢â‚¬â€how profoundly different each person is and the critical need to understand, accept and respect these differences. She says â€Å"the 1950’s was marked by a very narrow interpretation of how people are and what they should do. My family never actively promoted these interpretations but they were in the â€Å"air† and therefore influenced everyone.† Her views on women’s roles were always broader than the general culture because of her parents. In terviewing Anne has been very informative for me. It is true that she has not faced the typical difficulties like most women of her time, yet she has and continues to have a remarkable life. The thing I find most inspiring about Anne’s life is her openness and acceptance of people and ideas without judgement. This been an amazing experience and I hope to one day be more like her.