Han Dynasty and Roman Empire Essay Example for Free

Han Dynasty and papistic Empire EssayBoth the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire were bureaucratic. The central rulers all eventually became hereditary and twain empires had rulers that oppressed the peasants in order to boost political control. However, the two empires differ in that the emperor only whenterflys had varying justifications for ruling and rose to power in different ways. The Han Dynasty and The Roman Empire both were able to expand and develop their empires with their distinctive governing methods and control. To mainland China, the centerpiece that supervised e precisething was knows as Confucianism. With all dependability focus oned on the emperor and society serving as a family unit, Han Chinas political system was known for a centralized, closed unit. It was ruled by an emperor who greatly observed the economy of Heaven. The Han developed a supply of soldiers, which kept their borders secured and made them capable to exchange with others from time to time. On the other hand, Rome had a centralized, blended structure. The main focus points of the Roman Society were operated by a Roman Republic, which was more like a monarchy, who controlled their complex structure.The Roman Society had more residents and rights than the Hans, Romans political control put in the hands of the wealthy, which then they were elected to a political seat. The governors were picked from family networks. The only way Romans could accomplish anything big in a certain time nosepiece was to make strong changes in their community. It was an enormous weight on Romes resources and power, when they had to stress over big wins. For example, when there was barely any food to support the developing empire.The Romans and the Hans both had their wealthiest people control over their peasants, which caused a social distribution to each and every one, and could have leaded to outbreaks in little battles, wars between the communities, and what not. This was tout ensemble not beneficial on each empires part and especially their social interaction. The political structures of both Rome and Han China were based on bureaucratic systems with a strong monarchy set of succession. They strengthened their control by reducing the land holdings of old aristocratic families.However, the reversal of this process led to breakdown of authority in the central political science. During its reign of power, the central bureaucracy promoted trading with neighboring societies. However, Rome was more aggressive with its role in trading in the Mediterranean verses Han Chinas river trade. Romes trade led to a much greater technology, culture, and general transfer of knowledge in areas surrounding the Mediterranean which in turn led to a much longer lasting influence on the world. Under the Han Dynasty, the power of the emperor and bureaucracy were emphasized.The organized structure of government allowed such a large territory to be effectively governed, even though it was the largest political system in the world at the time. The Hans political fashion model stressed male dominated families. Han rulers didnt support local warrior-landlords, believing that they were corrupt. Because bureaucracy was so important, civil service exams were first given, a tradition that would be collective into modern politics. Not only did bureaucracy effectively govern, but it had a sort of checks and balance on the upper class.Chinese bureaucracy from the Han Dynasty lasted well into the 20th century. The imperial government sponsored intellectual life, such as astronomy and mathematics. Han rulers promoted Confucianism, with the idea that they were in charge of their subjects beliefs. The administration as well as took part in the economy. It organized production, standardised currency and measures, sponsored public works like canal systems and irrigation, and tried to regulate agricultural supplies to control price increases. The Roman republic allowed all citiz ens to meet in assemblies to elect magistrates.The most important legislative body was the Senate, made up of aristocrats. Public service and participation, political ethics, uncorrupt government, and oratory were extremely important. Roman leaders were very tolerant of local customs and religions and believed that well-made police forces could hold the lands together. Aristocratic leaders supported legal codes to protect private property as well as their poor subjects. It was a sort of check on the upper class. They believed that laws should evolve to keep up with the demands of the changing society. Imperial law codes also controlled property rights and trade.The law of the land was fair and equal for everyone, for the most part. The Roman government also supported public works like roads and harbors to facilitate transport and commerce. It also supported an official religion, but tolerated others as long as they didnt interfere with loyalty to the state. Unlike the Chinese, the Romans didnt emphasize as much on hierarchy, obedience, or bureaucracy, but more on participation. However, some of the Romans political writing did resemble Confucianism. Both governments also supported government funded public works.

American Meat Industry Writing Assignment Essay Example for Free

Ameri plenty Meat Industry Writing Assignment EssayThree master(prenominal) minds why my feelings towards centre of attention have changed is that I now know that the meat that is supposed to be better for you, isnt really better, the animals we eat are handle so badly before they are slaughtered, and that we are depleting our resources. For a long time I thought that eating grass-fed beef was a healthy option to eating feed-lot beef, which according to the bind What are Feedlot Beef, Organic Beef, and Grass-fed Beefs explanation in the section What is Feedlot Beef, treats the animals badly and gives them growth hormones and antibiotics. Eating grass-fed beef, which usually doesnt use antibiotics and treats their animals better, still isnt a good replacement though. It takes up too much land and causes around 50% more nursery gases according to Whats Wrong with Grass-Fed Beef in the section Land Use and 50% more Greenhouse Gases. Now that I know that there isnt a healthy, safe type of meat, I no longer think eating it meat is a good idea. Another reason I now believe meat isnt a wise choice is that animals are put in such awful conditions just so pack can eat meat.The article Factory Farming Facts says A majority of the animals that are raised for food live miserable lives in intensive exertion in dark, overcrowded facilities in its first paragraph. In the paragraph Broiler Chickens it talks about how chickens are put in things called factory farms that do gruesome things like clip off chickens beaks in toes. The article Factory Farming even said that 99% of animals we eat come from factory farms. After hearing that most of our meat could have been treated like that, I dont think eating meat is worth hurting so many animals.The third reason my opinion on meat has changed is that I learned how much our animals are being killed for meat. We are depleting the world of so many animals by eating meat. The article Whats Wrong With Eating Fish in the se ction Overfishing, said that by 2048 we may have completely ran out of seafood because of overfishing. They also talked about the Chesapeake talk and how its oyster population is depleted and that has affected the Bays health overall.Learning that really changed my mind about eating meat and seafood because the Chesapeake Bay is something that can actually affect me and hits close to home. I used to think that eating farmed animals was normal and completely okay. I never knew any better so I never questioned it, until I learned about what I was eating. When I learned that I was hurting the environment and my body, hurting animals, and hurting animals populations, my opinions on meat changed drastically. Now I know to not eat as much meat, if any, and to be much more aware of any meat that I do eat.

How Mary Rowlandsons Puritan Beliif Influenced Her Narrative of Her Captivity Essay Example for Free

How Mary Rowlandsons puritan Beliif Influenced Her Narrative of Her Captivity EssaySome people are just better suited for things and situations then others. If you penury a really hard math equation accepte maybe you should look in the depths of the library. If you need help moving into a new reside and are moving heavy stuff go to the nearest weight room. Everyone, for the most part, is usually good for something. In this narrative, religion is everywhere.With rime after verse creation quoted from the Bible. Some people have umteen Gods while most have one reining all-powerful being. In the case of Mary Rowlandson, I turn over her being a puritan and having the strong puritan beliefs made her more suitable for dealing with the trails she was about to face then say a frequent church goer. Being the wife of a preacher it shows in the text Mary was solidly grounded in her trustingness making and well knowledgeable identify more how to start a narrative essay introductio nThe Puritan Belief is one that was quite popular in the colonies at that time. Major Puritan beliefs are taken seriously. A Puritan had to be a hard worker, be trusty about everything and to be able to be self adapted even though they believed that life on this earth was of little importance, that they shouldnt worry too much because life is temporary. That all peoples faith is already predetermined from the second they were born. From Marys fiction of view she was very obedient to her husband. The Father was the backbone of Puritan households he had control over everything and led the family financially and spiritually.In the start of Marys captivity she is living in Lancaster with her family when the natives attack them. Almost everyone on the village is brutally killed or injure or taken into captivity and bargained for goods from the colonist for their lives. Marys family members were either killed or wounded. She witnessed the brutality of the Indians as she describes in one man in her village wounded in the ground begging for his life and the natives ripped him naked and removed all his bowels (Salisbury, p.68). Now separated from all but her very wounded daughter the natives begin to take them northwest.Eventually her daughter, Sarah, passes away from her injuries. This trail in Marys life for many people would spell doom. I dont think if Mary were a devout Puritan she would have not survived the hardship of losing her daughter plus the abuse of being a captive to the natives. Even with her strong faith Mary writes about her waning faith, the bitterness in her heart and intense sadness she is feeling During this time Mary describes the natives of being like demons. Workers for the evil doings of Satan (Salisbury, p.71). That the natives are more then just enemies of war but enemies of the Christian faith and the spread of the goodness of God. verbalise many times over she yearns for the company of fellow Christians. While writing this narrative M ary constantly revaluates her faith. Even saying at one story after the death of her daughter then she has not been showing the lord enough attention on the Sabbath. Saying at one time The bordering day was the Sabbath then I remembered how many Sabbaths I had lost and misspent, and how evilly I had walked in Gods sight(Salisbury, p.74). Mary realizes that she must keep her faith if she is passing game to survive this ordeal. She always quotes scripture to understand or squander any obstacle she faces.Even in the smallest things she quotes scripture, while walking she simply slips a quotes a Psalm, When my foot slipped, thy mercy, O Lord, help me up(Salisbury, p.96). Reinforcing her puritan beliefs that God had a plan for her. That everything that was happening to her was in an already predetermined plan. God though bes from my point of view was watching over Mary. When her wounds are worsening she happens to run into a British man that had similar injuries and showed her how to heal them.During one of the Indians raids on the Medfield colony, one of the natives recovered a Bible that they allowed Mary to read(Salisbury, p.76). When she needed food somehow she found a way to get food or some was provided for her. King Philip is a tribal leader that even though the war bears his name is not so violent him-self and makes Marys survival chances brighter. Mary gets word from a man that her husband is alive and she gets to see her children which gives her hope that she will live with them again. All these things some small some larger made God seem present with her.Mary knows the Puritan belief requires them to be self-sufficient. She foraged for nuts and grain and started sewing to trade for either meals or goods like tobacco, which she could sell. Mary is always honest with the natives. Never ling to them about her plans or what she thought. Mary Rowlandsons narrative on this story did show me how during rough times during the early colonies these religious puritans held strong.though some beliefs of the new bay puritans may be drastic if seems it was the perfect religion for that time. Throughout the story Mary is tempted with signs of rescue but never rightfully banes God or defiles him. Personally Marys story is very similar to Jobs, who she quotes one or twice, in which God allows Satan to bring many hardships on him to challenge his faith because Satan believe since God blesses Job with many things when all is taken from him he will abandon God and curse him.Job never does though saying to his wife, Shall we only except the good things from God and not the Bad? Marys perseverance eventually leads to her disoblige and she is reunited with most of her family. Her Puritan belief kept her mentally and spiritually prepared for what she had to go through and inspired her to write such a powerful story of faith and hope.

Customer satisfaction and loyalty in convenient stores

guest contentment and firmty in convenient throw insAbstract In this article we look at the nodes expectation from the thingamajig exposes and the factors which drive the customers in the selection of a thingmajig store. The article further looks into the types of convergences that drive customers into convenience stores in Sri Lanka and also analyses their billing patterns to identify the demographics of customers rifleing into the push throughlet and the type of products secured. pull down though the study looks at customers who atomic number 18 regular at the convenience stores their basket rank is relatively very upset which means their leveragings argon autoried out at various differentwise stores also. The study further identifies that change surface customers who are satisfied with the take aims of function delivered by the convenience stores, it does not drive allegiantty as customers look at shop at contrasting stores as per their needs. Based on our findings, further investigate should focus on identifying how customer gladness should be used to convert satisfied customers into loyal customers.INTRODUCTIONRhee and Bell (2002) provinces that even though shoppers often visit and purchase from many different stores, most of them commence a primary association to a master(prenominal) store where most of the purchases are made. This main stores are where the shoppers visit often to purchase when a king-size shopping basket is necessary. It is of the essence(predicate) for a new bowed stringed instrument of convenience stores to be the preferred main store as when shoppers are converted into loyal shoppers they tend to spend double the amount in their first choice store as per Knox and Denison (2000). This is because most shoppers perceive the primary store as a safe bet correspond to Roselius(1971) as the primary store is a trusted place with the lowest level of perceived risk of disappointment when shopping. except T aher et al. (1996) argues that being at ease with a store is not sufficient to ensure repeat patronage. They go on to state further that with more discipline being uncommitted to consumers nigh value/cost alternatives Taher et al. (1996) believes that the number of customers who are willinging to take the perceived risks are growing. This is good news for a gloomy chain of convenience stores, which is relatively new as it means that by providing more information it is possible to attract new customers but the challenge is increase in converting these customers into loyal customers.It is therefore important match to Taher et al. (1996) and Sirohi et al. (1998) that sellers continuously collect information of the consumers who frequent the stores in a structured manner in social club to encounter areas for development of augmented services to develop loyalty to the stores. The strength of loyalty of customers to a store is one of the most important indicators of the stores s trength according to Rhee and Bell (2002). Reichheld and Sasser (1990) reassure that profitability cigaret be increased by increasing the levels of loyalty. Knox and Denison (2000) in their study of the retail celestial sphere in UK goes on to state that it is important for a corporate retail strategy to maximize consumer loyalty and minimize consumers from opting for switching.harmonize to Solgaard and Hansen (2003) assortment of products at the outlet is one of the most important factors that drive the choice between the different stores customers patronize in.MODERN RETAIL LANDSCAPE AND CONVENIENCE STORESRetail comprises of all activities which directly relate to the sale of goods and services to the consumer for personal, non business use. (Retail glossary, 2009) The retail sector in Sri Lanka can be categorized into two as forward-looking trade retailers and traditional trade retailers (grocery shops). The modern retail trade in Sri Lanka is expect to grow rapidly with the p ost war economic development and increase in house involve income. The penetration levels are pass judgment to increase from 15% soon to 30% over the next 5 years.Modern retail format can be categorized into five formats as BIRO (2001) defines they are convenience store, mini market, super market, departmental store and hypermarket. Convenience store is small in nature, offer few products. Its sign upd in convenience goods with extra brands. Mini market is bigger than convenience store in size, but still limited in product brands. Same with convenience store, mini market product offers focus on convenience goods. Department store is bigger in nature than minimarket, with varied products. Departmental store is a large retail store offering a variety of merchandise and services and organized in separate departments. Consumer can find shopping goods on with convenience goods in a department store. Supermarket is a large self-service food store selling groceries, meats, menage goo ds, and so on, usually on cash-and-carry basis. Hypermarket is a variation of a supermarket that offers a variety of non food items, such as appliances, clothing, and services, along with food items, in a vast space much larger than a regular supermarket, some ages in excess of 200,000 square feet also called superstore. The grocery items are often worthd below market to draw calling into the store however, the grocery selection is also more limited than in a regular supermarket.The Sri Lankan modern retail market is dominated by the Cargills chain of supermarkets which has over 50% of the market share. There is only one hyper market in Sri Lanka to fit into BIROs classification of hypermarkets, but it has relatively low floor size. The modern retail market consists of five large players who are subsidiary business units of large conglomerates in the country. With high focus on large volumes and low margins, the customers in the modern retail segment are benefited by having a wid er range of products, including groceries and general merchandise under one roof at relatively low prices.Convenience stores are a relatively new concept to the Sri Lankan market, and many consumers are still associating the convenient shops with mini supermarkets. The understanding of the convenience concept with limited range of products is still not clear in the local market. In Sri Lanka one of the growing convenience stores is Go Getter which was launched two years ago and currently it has 25 outlets. For this dossier the customers who visit Go Getter are studied to remove an understanding of what drives these customers to the Go Getter outlet and which of these factors can be used to drive loyalty amongst the customers.In most of the Asian region the convenience stores are plenty and available in about all locations. The growth of the convenience stores is mainly attributed to increased car ownership, increase number of households with refrigerators and freezers, and the gro wth in the number of working wives. (Jeannet and Hennessey, 1988) In other words the increase in mobility, growing purchasing power and the era constrains bring customers from shopping at supermarkets to convenience stores as customers are on the run and need to purchase products on the go. The wider choice of products and more competition was expected to bring higher pure tone and safety as well as to counter balance to rising price levels (Lipman 2003).According to Calvin B. Lee (2002) higher customer service levels lead to greater revenue and net income. The above stated research finding elaborates the extent to which customer service can lead to the high society development. In every business, the customer service is very important. Without the help of customer convenience stores will find it difficult to attract customers and retention for repeat purchase. books RIVEWAccording to Magi, 1995 and Corstens and Corstens, 1995 most of the consumers shop at more than one outlet. M ost consumers patronage two or more outlets regularly because they arrange their shopping trips from different geographical locations (Solgaard and Hansen 2003) (e.g.,on way home from work, or other non-domestic activities). Similarly different stores may be selected as the purchasing requirement may vary by the amount of goods required (e.g., monthly purchases, topping up when necessary) or it can vary by the range of goods required (e.g., vegetables, meat, frozen foods, discount, etc.). Some consumers may even be looking for the products they prefer most or different individuals of the household may have preferences for different outlets.Therefore, to create loyal consumers one needs to understand what driver the customers to the store, however Mitchell et al. (1998) in their number of studies on store sign had not place a link between store attributes and loyalty. Garton (1995) and Bloemer et al. (1998) states that the consumers experience of the stores quality and service had relatively low level of influence in converting the consumer into a loyal repeat customer.Available belles-lettres has recognized several factors which influence pleasure of outlet whilst shoppingStore attributes such as location of store (Woodside and Trappey, 1992)Range and quality of assortment stocked (Claxton and Brent-Ritchie, 1979 Sirohi et al., 1998)The pricing strategy used (Williams et al., 1978)Promotions carried in-store (Urbany et al., 2000 Kumar and Leone, 1988) tending provided by floor staff (Macintosh and Lockshin, 1997 Mgi, 2003)Atmospherics of store ( Crawley, 1993Yalch and Spangenberg, 199 Babin and Darden, 1996)Volume of purchase (Mgi 2003)Garton (1995) goes on to suggests that to gain store loyalty it is important that the consumers image of the store be in line with the consumers self image. Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000) concluded that the attitudes of consumers which drive the similarity between self image and store image are joined to store cheer. Sti ll there is no evidence to suggest that this satisfaction necessarily has a direct effect on store loyalty.According to (Solgaard and Hansen 2003) a consumers preferred store is based on the perceived utility that they derives from the store. Consumers perceive the utility according to what they get for what they give. What consumers get is the output from the store which include service, products, price and other attributes in the consumer experience (Bucklin, 1966 Bucklin et al., 1996). To receive this output from the store the consumer also has to spend his visions in terms of time and money (Blackwell et al., 2001). As resources are scarce, resource maximization will be the key concern of the consumer and he will opt for the store where he perceives he will get the best store output for the resources he spend according to his knowledge of the services he receive. The available writings has pointed down a few significant drivers which effect consumers perception of store outpu t these include the range of products and its assortment, quality of products available, overall service levels, store assistance personnel, store lay-out, convenience, cleanliness and atmosphere (Blackwell et al., 2001 Levy and Weitz, 2001 Bucklin et al., 1996, Finn and Louviere, 1996). Whilst the cost to the customer goes beyond the monitory value partnerd with the product prices themselves, and include the resource values of the time and money spend on transportation to and from the outlet.Individual determinants such as shopping intension, attitude towards retail outlets and shopping habits plays an important role on consumer shopping decision. Attitude towards retail outlet and shopping habits tend to influence shopping intension. This implies that retailers should concentrate on strategies in building consumers positive attitude towards their retail so that consumers visit their retail in guild to make their visits regular (Siringoringo 2009)DESIGNING OF THE enquiryThe fact ors that drive customer satisfaction identified by literature review were used amongst convenience store customers to understand if these factors hold true in the Sri Lankan context. And if they hold true to what extend are the levels of satisfaction they get from the existing convenience stores and their level of loyalty with the existing convenience stores. Further regular customers of 15 convenience stores were identified and their purchase habits were recorded using specially designed software at the point of sale to understand the alliance between customer demographics and purchase patterns. The objective of the second phase was to identify the types of products purchased and the basket value as literature break aways that consumers spend more at the primary stores than at any other outlet.4.1.1 Objectives Of The Potential Consumer SurveyThe first phase of the study is carried out amongst the potential/current customers of convenience stores to understand their if the satisfa ction drivers of the consumers hold true as per literature review and to understand further if they are loyal to one outlet or if the customers regularly switch between outlets.4.1.2 Convenience Store Customer testThe convenience store users sample size depends on resources available as well as on methodological considerations. Based on these, the study objectives will initially entail a review of approximately 390 convenience store potential customers. For the selection of the sample, a number of options for selecting the sample will be considered, with designation of purposive sampling as the most distract approach of those considered. Purposive sampling will allow for information-rich cases to be selected, which will generate insights into key issues and into strong point of interventions, rather than generalization to a population (Patton 2002). Sampling would entail surveying convenience store consumers and well as potential consumers who will be futurity sullyers of Go G etter.Of the follow population of convenience store potential consumers are undefined therefore a sample size of 390 is identified in the pursual areas Main City limits and suburban area where convenience stores are popular and consumers are more adaptable to the concept of convenience stores. These constitute 5 of the 10 main cities where the convenience stores are currently functioning will be selected as the survey centers. Data capturing will be based on a structured questionnaire.A purposive sampling procedure will be used and the respondents will be selected based on income, profession, family size, gender and place of dwelling. The questions overcompensate information areas such as current purchasing power, goods and services requirement and assessment of assortments and opinion on the services provided by the convenience stores. The SPSS package with an fit code-book was used to process and analyses the data. Mainly descriptive statistics mean, mode and percentages wil l be used.The reason is to select sample is number of population is bigger than the 1 million. According to the Anderson sample chart fewer than 5 % error rate 390 is the best sample size if population is bigger. Hence, they will be selected from the people who work for FMCG sector (suppliers of Go Getter, potential customers, who would like to purchase goods from convenience stores and who live in apartments, who are receiving a salary above 1000US$, who are earning less(prenominal) than one hundred fifty US$, which compel them not to stock up their basic needs as well as young executives in the age range of 20 to 40 years who are living mostly in rented apartments or boarding houses.4.1.3 study Captured In Phase 1The questions will be formulated to reveal the information listed below to understand the level of satisfaction customers are currently getting from the outlets they currently shop at.Table 1 understanding the convenient store landscapeObjectivesDescriptions1. Knowledge of convenience storesSince the concept of convenience stores is new for the Sri Lankan consumers, identifying the consumers knowledge levels is important if they are to comment on the satisfaction they get from the convenience stores.2. harvest categoriesIn the CVS/retail industry products are categories into different groups such as groceries, personal care, tobacco, perishable, impulse purchase etc. Different retail formats such as supermarkets, CVS, meat shops carry only selected categories of products. The products are categories tested are as followsSnack and confectionary BakeryColas Mobile CreditTobacco GroceriesBaby care products dairy productsOthers3. Convenience offered/ pass judgment/neededIdentifying factors that customers associate as factors that drive convenience at the outlets they currently shop at and the levels of satisfaction they are getting from these outlets.4. Customer retention/loyaltyHow loyal are the customers to the outlets that they shop at the moment. Are they switching amongst the outlets or are they shopping only at one selected outlet.5. Expected retail formatWhat other factors do they look from the convenience stores. These include factors other than convenience such as price/quality/atmosphere/relationship as literature review suggest these factors also drive the customer satisfaction levelsThere is a dearth of literature on the use of an appropriate scale to specifically measure the level of store satisfaction and store loyalty. Knox and Walker (2001) in their study of measuring and managing (brand) loyalty, stated that there is limitations in very much measuring of customer satisfaction as well as customer loyalty. Since there is no assured measuring instrument, the Likert five-point itemized rating scale is used in this instance to measure the level of attributions which drive store attributes.4.2.1 Objectives Of The Online SurveyThe main objective of the online survey is to identify if the products which are purchase b y the customers who have been identified as regular customers to the convenience stores are similar to the products stated by the respondents in phase one. This will help understand gaps if any amongst the actual customers at the store and the respondents to the first phase of the survey. The second set of information concerns on the basket value to understand if these regular customers are actually loyal customers as the basket value of loyal customers should be higher than or in par with the basket value in phase one.4.2.2 Online SampleThis data sight is planned to be done from customers who visited the convenience stores using a Convenience card which was given to the shoppers who visited the outlet regularly. This study is planned to be done at 15 outlets of the Go Getter convenience stores. Computerised data is collected from January 2008. The sample comprise of 15 outlets in order of the highest number of customer visited from 1st January 2008. There are 200-300 convenience c ard holder who visit each outlet on a daily basis. Hence, an average of 250 customers per outlet for 15 outlets will result, 3750 customers per day for a month and the same could be taken as respondents. Therefore it can be considered as an adequate representation. Data will be collected monthly.A special modification was done to the point of sales software application where the specially trained cashiers enter profile data of customers prior to the billing process.4.2.3 Information Captured In Phase 2Data which will be collected at the time of checkout is age group, gender, and product availability (were the products that they wanted available or were they out of stock). This data will be automatically correlated with items that they have purchased which will result in the identification and analysis of patterns and trends.5.0 DISCUSSION OF info ANALYSIS5.1.1 Understanding The Product Range And Pricing ConcernFrom the respondents selected for the data collection 77% of the respond ents were in executive or managerial grades. Almost 63% of the respondents earn $ 150 are in the executive grades whist 70.97 % of those who earn As expected more than half the population (57.63%) stated that they buy other products, followed by 35.59% stating CSD/colas whilst milk products were stated by 32.2%. This clearly reflects that customers visiting convenience stores look beyond the major product groups identified.Regarding the value for money received at competitors, 61.2% of those who earn $ 150 agreed that that value for money is received whilst 48.4% of those Given what was discussed above regarding the range, it is important to assess whether consumers have any concerns about the range on offer. However, a more than two third of the sample $150 and 5.1.2 Level of Satisfaction driversService is a key dimension that needs to evaluate in the retail industry is customer service, as the entire concept revolves around service delivery. Nearly half the sample 82.8% stated th at the check out is spry whilst a majority (90.7%) stated that the sales staff can be identified most of the time. Furthermore, 92.6% of the overall sample stated that the outlets kept up(p) cleanliness with 58.2% stated that outlets maintained cleanliness most of the time. Nearly equal number of persons surveyed commented on the price congruity with 164 persons stating that price consistency is maintained sometime while 181 persons out of 390 interviewees stating that price consistency is seen most of the time. The staff assistance was commented positively with near universally 93.1% stating that the staff provides assistance most of the time or sometimes.On receiving goods promptly, 55.9% of those earning above The respondents earning above $ 150 category felt that the service was good sometimes. Almost universally the respondents were satisfied with the overall level of service (92.6%).Furthermore, a cross analysis between those who shop at the outlets, the facilities they loo k for and the times of the day and the product range highlights the following findingsGiven this levels of satisfaction, it is important to look deeper in to data and see what aspects are set by the customers at convenience store outlets. In order, a cross analysis was carried out between those who shop at these outlets and what they value most.As the literature suggested almost half the population in both income levels stated that it is location followed by range and service at an overall level.These findings when analyzed by the respective(prenominal) income brackets come in the order of priority where 48.4% state location, 32.3% stating offering a range and fast service being stated by 25.8% of those below $ 150. The order of importance changes when looking at the data of those above $ 1000. To them it is the location that matters most, followed by fast service and the product range.5.1.3 Tendency To Shop At Multiple Outlets (Low Loyalty)From the total base of 390 respondents, a little less than half the population (40.51%) visit competitor outlets at least once a week and the next absolute frequency was irregular (21.79%) with a similar amount (21.54%) claiming to visit competitor outlets less than once a week. None of the respondents do their shopping at one selected outlet. 40% shift from outlet to outlet more often than not on a regular basis even though there is high level of satisfaction, whilst the balance on a irregular basis shops from different stores. This clearly shows that even though most of the customers are satisfied with the offerings of the convenience stores they still are not loyal to one outlet.Discussion On Data Collected At Selected OutletsThe information which was captured through the POS data collection system was analysed to find similarities in the profile of customers visiting the outlets and the type of products mainly purchased. The literature review highlighted that it is important to identify the main products that are look ed for by the consumers need to be merchandised properly to strain customer satisfaction.When analyzing the Go Getter customer profile it is evident that customers of all ages have patronized the outlets. The regular repeat customers were divided into 4 main segments teenagers, youth, the set develop and the elderly. Table 1 illustrates the summary of the analysis of data collected from the survey of Go Getter customers for a period of two months.Table 4 Profile of customers at Go Getter outletsProfile informationResponseAverage age segmentDependent upon each outlet. However, a notably high number of customers belong to the middle age seem to frequent.GenderMore skewed towards the males, conforming the basic fact that top up is less frequent as a household level in Sri Lanka.Purchase tendencyExcept for a few variations that were dependent upon the outlet location, most demand was generated to beverages, snacks/confectionary and frozen food.Basket ValuePurchases are very small in quantity, bought either on the go or for topping out at homes. Most people (25% 33%) of the customers spend less than Rs 50.Source AuthorOne of the most striking findings is the fact that seemingly lesser number of teens and youth has visited the outlets, especially teens. This is mainly owing to the fact that in Sri Lanka children are dependent on their parents till their secondary education is completed. Culturally, children leaving home takes place only after marriage and till such time parents and grown up children live under the same roof which is quite opposite to the Western countries. Within this backdrop, teens and youth often do not have an income for themselves and depend on their parents to give them cash for their education and other needs.A higher number of the visitors to the outlet were middle aged and elderly, dominated by the males. This coined with the main products purchased beverages/snacks and confectionary shows that most of the purchases were low value produ cts bought on impulse rather than for household topping up.The outlets in residential areas were doing better than the outlets in commercial areas, still the product range commonly sold shows that beverages/snacks are bought more than household products, which shows that consumers still dont buy products for household topping up from Go Getter.What is very discouraging about the information gathered from the online research is the average basket value of the regular customers. From the data analysis is the basket value spent by the consumers per visit with almost a third of the customers spending less than Rs 50 (less than USD 0.5) on an average visit.This is in line with the first phase of the study that most customers prefer to buy from different outlets. Therefore the basket value of even the regular customers who visit the selected convenience stores remain low as they come into purchase products of low value as and when necessary.5.3 Limitations of ResultsThis study was done as a part of the doctorate thesis on understanding the consumers and the challenges in the retail trade for the entrance of a new chain of convenience stores in a market where the concept of convenience stores is limited. Therefore the data was collected on understanding the customer satisfaction drivers and to understand what need to be done to increase the revenue of the Go Getter outlets and not to understand how to grow loyalty as the business is currently at the beginning phase. Therefore further research needs to be done on the regular customers of the outlets to understand their levels of loyalty as the factors used in the research to identify the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty are limited.6.0 CONCLUSIONPrevious studies carried out by Woodside and Trappeys (1992) states when specific attributes such as low overall prices or most convenient are suggested customers respond with a top of the mind association for each of the values. These associations are the strong drivers of satisfaction are what customers associate with the main store where they make most of their purchases.Bloemer et al. (1998) states the store satisfaction is the mediator of the perception of the store and store loyalty. Still even in reason studies though this connection is seen a solid link between store satisfaction and loyalty has not been established. In a recent study, it was identified that customers are loyal to outlets with an image which match their own self image. Through the levels of satisfaction customers get from the convenience stores, they look for a parallel with the self image and the store image, which according to Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000) does not necessarily translate into store loyalty as there is no clear connection. This lack of clear connection between store satisfaction and loyalty, the relationship between these two attributes remain speculative according to Mitchell et al. (1998).When analyzing the information collected from the Sri Lan kan chain of convenience stores and their potential stores it shows high level of customer satisfaction amongst customers who use convenience stores. The study further goes on to show that even though most customers are highly satisfied with the stores they patronize they still are not loyal to any of the outlets they shop at. The customers have a limited loyalty to outlets and prefer to shop at outlets as and when necessary to purchase products as and when necessary.The purchasing habits suggest that even the customers who visit the convenience stores regularly purchase products only for a small basket value suggesting that the main outlet of purchase is different to this outlet even though they regularly visit these selected outlets. This suggests that the customers who visit these outlets regularly are looking for top up products whenever the need occurs and the outlets need to work on cross selling to these customers and increase impulse purchases to increase basket value.The re lationship between loyalty and satisfaction is still not clear but as customers are satisfied with selected attributes they continue to patronize the outlets. Therefore in creating loyalty satisfaction is a basic need. It is not clear how satisfaction can be converted into loyalty or if that transformation can be achieved. Therefore further studies need to be carried out to understand the drivers of loyalty in the local retail sphere to understand better on the development of loyalty amongst customers.

Effectiveness of Active Learning Over Passive Learning

Effectiveness of Active Learning Over Passive LearningIn this study, there has been a thorough scrutiny and cargonful observations which show, that inside passive tuition although a primitive take a hop of training there is withal some kind of progressive visiting winning put in. in that respect is no clear difference between the vigorous and passive information and there is some kind of active education victorious place within the passive skill which is unconsciously be ignored. In actuality, active fall uponing is the measurement of the extent to which the learner is ch anyenged to use his or her mental abilities term skill. The effect of various teach and reading strategies show the clear impact of active forms of pedagogics and eruditeness techniques on high take savants but there ar still some factors that ar posing a great barrier to active learning at second-string levels. These barriers involve curriculum, topic, teaching pedagogy, develop and classroom environs, doings, kindly factors and new electronic media (mobiles and social net behaveing sites) being the worst. In order to create a interrupt active learning environment within secondary schools, there is strong need for giving more autonomy to teachers within the classes. There are also some factors which have been discussed that could influence the students involvement within the classes which also hinders the active form of teaching and learning. There is also a need to realise that there are several teaching and learning personal manners that one could use to gain same learning skills that are again ignored unconsciously. Each and every learning activity has a different processes that could set off the active form of learning within the brain even though they are regarded as active or passive learning in the real world. Teachers also have to realise that there are some students who prefer to learn through a passive style of learning as unlike to an activ e style of learning which may hinder them in a number of ways.ContextI have been teaching in a encyclopaedic girls school where 70% of the students are from an Minority Ethnic Background. The school accommodates over 1000 students with over 100 teachers from diverse back grounds. I was initi onlyy coating for a member of staff, when the position became va arouset and I applied and was appointed to the post. The problem arose when I began teaching MFL as there had been a tendency of learning through passive teaching over a number of years. The behaviour in general of the pupils was good with some odd occasions of bad behaviour. There was a mix tenedency and attitude towards innovation and active learning by the students and the language faculty. The majority of my students were from an ethnic background, learning to improve their Urdu language. The major problem students face was in relation to class period and writing skills because of the alien nature of the writing style of Ur du language. The students speaking and listening skills were very good due to their social environment and the electronic media around them. There is a huge difference between two sets of skills and it is very hard to correlate closely of the date. There were students who were forced to learn Urdu by either parents or their peers and were there without any love or passion for the typeface. Also the students were not for dismounting to accept the new changes such as the new teacher, teaching style and the presence of opposite gender within their classes.There was a change within the school at commission level and was a move towards a change in teaching methodology and assessment. The higher management was trying to implement the OFSTED lesson observation criteria throughout the school. The behaviour management system also went under changes and some staff members had problems in agreement and implementing them within the classes. Alongside these factors there was a huge task of assessing the pupils within all the four essential skills within MFL (Listening, speaking, reading and writing). I had a couple of(prenominal) lesson observations that did not go well because of the behaviour problem and by being defensive as I was teaching more passively than active.I had apply various strategies within the class of which some worked very well and some of them were disaster. One of them was the approach of the active form of learning and teaching upon which some classes appreciated the new strategies and techniques where as some gave an insight of the problem that could arise when introducing the active form of learning and teaching within the classes.Analysis of ProblemActive learning is probably more striking for learners than passive forms of leaning. Learners are supposed to be more cause and evoke when their mental activity is challenged and when they can make decisions nigh their own learning. The remembering capabilities are also greater in case of a ctive learning as compared to passive learning as per figure 1.By being involved in some of the decisions related to their own learning the learners can connect to their preliminary knowledge and their needs more optimally. As a consequence, they will learn all the kinds of valuable skills, such as social skills, decision devising skills and taking responsibility. In addition, by finding out things respectively, they can follow their own interests and motivation.In reality, active learning is the measurement of the extent to which the learner is challenged to use his or her mental abilities while learning. The passive learner does the same in less content as passive learning is mainly involved in the initial phases where as active learning enhances the passive learning. There are various types of learning skills that could structure the focus of process-oriented focal point such as cognitive skills, meta-cognitive skills and concernive-motivational skills. (Simon et al, 2000).T he cognitive skills involve deep learning strategies like comparing, overview skills like summarising, criticising and structuring, reviewing and generalising, schematising, and transfer skills like considering potential and essential conditions of use. Meta-cognitive skills involve planning of times and planning for leaning, realistic polish setting, orientation on goals and outcomes, regular inspection and testing and finally restarting and reflection on process and outcome.There are two main types of communicating which occurs within the class named one way and two way communications. Within One-way communication, Listener has little or no opportunity to respond straight absent and directly. A teacher must make assumptions about the listeners skill level, prior training, and understanding of the material being communicated. Therefore, errors like the following could be made by the teacher making the material as well difficult, making the material too simple, making assumptions which are not fully shared by the audience, thus making it impossible for them to understand what is being said. Other characteristics faster transmission less accuracy, potential escape of common vocabulary.Within Two-way communication, there is a hang of information among and between individuals. Because of the opportunity for immediate feedback, many of the assumptions that one makes under one-way communication about skill level, prior training, and understanding of the material being communicated get tested immediately. Other characteristics slower transmission, greater accuracy, time to develop a common vocabulary.According to Bergquist et al (1975), Psychological effects of one-way communication on students.Frustration the student cannot easily communicate or ask for clarification of teacher information.Apathy a lack of involvement and interest in what is going on.Fear students dont privation to talk in front of the group for fear of being put down or for fear of making the teacher angry.Dependence students expect the teacher to give all the necessary information. Most become unable to judge the value of the information.Hostility and/or aggression-they may chouse or quit coming to classThree other learning styles are more likely to result in classroom participation they areCollaborative This style is representative of the student who feels he can learn the most by sharing his ideas and talents. He cooperates with teachers and peers and likes to work with others. He sees the classroom as a place for social interaction as well as content learning.Participant This style is characteristic of the student who wants to learn subject content and likes to go to class. He takes responsibility for getting the most out of class and participates with others when told to do so. He feels that he should take part in as oftentimes of the class related activity as possible, but he does little that is not part of the subject outline.Independent This response styl e is characteristic of the student who likes to think for himself. He prefers to work on his own, but he will listen to the ideas of others in the classroom. He learns the content he feels is cardinal and is confident in his learning abilitiesResearch shows that students do not have just one style but that instead they have several in varying degrees and in various situations. It is not necessary to have a battery of psychological instruments to assess these styles, since an awareness of your students behaviours will give you clues as to which ones are operating. A more formal way of obtaining this information is to give each student the description of the various learning styles (without the descriptive word) and ask them to rank the styles on a outgo of most and least like them. A tabulation of that information may give you useful information about the predominate learning styles in your classroom. (Bergquist et al, 1975)Students butt a number of learning styles in their approa ch to the classroom. Three that are related to a lack of involvement areAvoidant This response style is typical of a student who is not concerned in learning subject content in the traditional classroom. He does not participate with students and teachers in the classroom. He is uninterested or overwhelmed by what goes on in the classes.Competitive This response style is exhibited by the student who learns material in order to perform better than others in the class. He feels he must compete with other students in the class for the rewards of the classroom, such as grades or teachers attention. He views the classroom as a win-lose situation where he must always win. Other students are unlikely to join this student in participation because of the win- lose nature of the interaction.Dependent This style is characteristic of the student who shows little intellectual curiosity and who learns only what is required. He sees teachers and peers as sources of structure and reward. He looks t o authority figures for guidelines and wants to be told what to do. Consequently, this student is unlikely to grow or have much that is original to say in class discussionsAnalysis of Intervention (Solution)Learning to collaborate and learning from collaboration means acquiring skills like dividing tasks between group members, addressing a group, learning together, monitoring group progress, defining group goals and group learning goals, negotiating and co-structuring knowledge, coordinating cognitive and social communicative actions and creating a positive collaborative climate (Simon et al, 2000).Another pregnant factor is the ability to regulate own learning which is the regular increase of freedom in thinking and learning through systematic scaffolding. Simons and Zuijlen (1995) have suggested the following sequence working independently, Learning strategically and self directed learning. When working independently the learning goals, the learning strategies, the time and place of leaning, the way of testing and feedback is determined by the teacher or learning environment. Students just have to fulfil assignments and learning will occur if and when they obey. (Simon et al, 2000)When learning strategically, students should have freedom of choice related to the learning strategy such as what kinds of learning approach to take, when and where learning will take place. In self-directed learning students have more freedom even though the learning goals remain under teacher control and for cause with respect to choice goals, self testing and or feedback/judgement procedures.As described by the Simon et al (1995), In the beginning stages of any learning the simpler forms of independence should occupy more time than the more complex ones with a gradual increase of time for more complex forms. Whereas more complex forms of independence can regulate and only be practiced with respect to themes where one has relative high level of expertise. Simply there shou ld be more independent work with some strategic learning relating to topics at beginning stages which will provide more room for strategic learning, also in relation to less long-familiar topics and some room for self directed learning about familiar topics.More importantly, by demonstrating and discussing them with each other on a regular basis, the important thinking, learning and regulation skills are made public. One of the main obstacles to learning and think is that these processes are hidden and remain invisible (new learning ref), the students dont realise that all human beings have many different ways to approach tasks instead of believing their way is the only possible way for learning new things.Interventions aimed at fostering students development of active general self regulated learning and conditional or metacognitive knowledge about learning have involved specifically designed learning how to learn programs as well as integrated programs where learning how to learn is embedded within regular discipline instruction. Simpson et al, (1997) especially list the problems of limited transfer of the learned strategies to new situations and the lack of long term evaluation data. One well know successful program of that kind emphasise integrated learning to think, integrated learning to learn and integrated learning to regulate learning and thinking (Simons et al, 1997).In integrated programme, students are induced to jaunt their existing knowledge and strategies about learning, to reflect on their own and alternative approaches to learning, and on the impact of different learning styles on the quality of learning outcomes in their particular discipline area as well as in general. A major advantage of integrated programme is that they can be implemented with, and benefit learners of all ages, all levels of development and across all fields of study. Cognitive interventions during regular instructions rely on reflection, persuasion, awareness raising a s well as constructive frictions (Vermunt Verloop, 1999) in order to raise challenge students possible misconception about learning. Carrying out such interventions during the actual process of learning is in particular well suited to raise students awareness of the relationships between learning strategies and learning outcomes.Evaluation (analysis of findings/evaluation of impact)Active learning is defined as a form of learning in which the learner uses opportunities to decide about aspects of learning process or the extent to which the learner is challenged to use his or her mental abilities while learning. In reality, there is no clear difference between active and passive learning. It is more a dimension a matter of less and more than dichotomy. In other words in active learning the learners make their own time planning, they choose learning goals and activities they like, they test their progress, they take care of their learning and understanding on their own, and they refl ect on errors and successes. Thus active learning also involves preparation, execution, regulation, control, feedback and maintenance of learning activities by learners. (Simon et al, 2000)In independent active learning, it is not so much the number and quality of decisions about learning that count but how much activity is asked from the learner. are the students figuring out things on their own? Are they working without teacher supervision? Are they working together as a group? Are they thinking while learning? The goals and kinds of activities, the control and regulations as well as the feedback and maintenance of the learning are under teacher control.The major findings after the research show the same findings as Riemersma Veugelers, 1997 Van Hout-Wolters, 1994 Veugelers, 1999 (cited in Simons et al, 2000) have identified a number of factors contributing to the difficulties in the implementation of active forms of learning.School Management and organisation Some schools provi de very few opportunities for active learning to students because of too many traditional teacher directed classes and insufficient self study hours in their time table. School experience problems with ever-changing the curriculum to fit in with the learning-to-learn lessons or with integrating learning to learn instructions in the content lessons.Teachers Many teachers are not highly move to give attention to active learning as they do not see the benefits of it within the subject matter and argue that these activities take up too much valuable time. Other teachers want to concentrate all their attention on the instruction of content knowledge as otherwise it will affect their results or grades. This results in creating chaos amongst the students relating various new forms of teaching and learning. The use of active learning within the class makes teaching more intensive and time consuming, while teacher salaries remain the same. Also not all the teachers possess sufficient knowle dge and skills to foster active learning and to supervise their students in active self directed learning. Most teachers would need to develop forms of instruction which are fundamentally different from those they are currently using and familiar with.Particularly the superior barrier of all is the fact that faculty members efforts to employ active learning involve risk that students will not participate, learn sufficient content or use higher-order thinking. There is also a misconception or fears that faculty members will feel a loss of control, lack necessary skills, or be criticised for teaching in unconventional ways. However, each barrier or obstacle and type of risk can be successfully overcome through thoughtful and close planning.Learners are not always motivated to invest much time and energy in gaining the new skills either. They do not always recognise the public utility of these skills, or they dread the needed effort to learn them (Rabinowits , Freeman, Cohen, 1992, (cited in Simons et al, 2000)). Students often hold strong beliefs and persistent approaches to learning especially failure fearing students prefer to learn a whole paragraph by heart than to understand and remember the main issues. Students in especially secondary schools are not very interested in the subject matter instead they go to school to meet their friends learning seems to be more or less a side issue. such(prenominal) students prefer to follow teacher directed lessons, than to engage in self directed activities. Individual differences between students create problems such as attention want students who attract more attention as well as causing disruption. Some students get little teacher attention during individual study hours as they ask very few questions and thus are offered little supervision.A failure to periodically solicit student feedback in a subject about how it is progressing. Are students getting out of the subject what they want? Are the classroom procedure s and methods used well? Are there some things that you are doing which students dont like (for example, lecture, lucidness of presentations, unfriendly manner)? Information on these factors not only helps make the classroom atmosphere better but it also creates an atmosphere where students feel the teacher is interested in what they have to say. This has a tendency to transfer into content areas as well.Contents There are specific learning skills which are considered most important by a school or teacher. There still appears to be a lack of good learning-material within the subject areas in which active learning is incorporated.Snow and Lohmans (1984) argument that direct training of content related cognitive strategies may be counterproductive for more able students because they have already demonstrable effective models of learning. Therefore students were provided with opportunities to witness the mental activity of more able individuals, and then encouraged to practice the st rategies with guidance in a socially supportive environment.While some students learn to self regulate their learning without much tuition or prompts, others need guidance, not only to acquire the strategies but also to develop the conditional knowledge necessary to know how, when and where to these strategies can be applied appropriately (Hattie, Biggs, Purdie, 1996 Winograd Hare, 1988, (cited in Simons et al, 2000)).There are several techniques or strategies that are regarded as Passive learning strategies used for the externalisation of mental activity such as think aloud and expert modelling that provide a learner unique insight into the thinking processes of an expert. While scaffolding, cognitive coaching, reciprocal teaching and other forms of guided learning are expected to provide the support necessary to develop the skills and confidence for independent use of techniques. Two popular strategies based on problem-solving model take account of the case study methods of instr uction and guided design. Whereas other active learning pedagogies worthy of teachers use include debates, cooperative learning, role playing, drama,simmulation, and peer teaching.College teachers are commonly facing problems and complaining that the secondary school teachers are not playing their roles properly as they are wasting their time in games or activities rather than giving attention to reading or improving cognitive skills. Where schools and parents fail students at school, when they get to college they lack the capacity to concentrate on anything for longer than about 10 minutes at a time. Such students have been failed by their schools and teachers, its too late, as in many cases, for them to change and their chances of a decent education/job are already finished.Conclusions and RecommendationsActive learning is also important for teachers. Motivational and burnout problems of teachers are likely to decrease if students are more motivated and more actively engaged in th eir own learning. Besides, teaching becomes more intellectually challenging when students are learning actively and independently.An excellent first step in promoting active teaching and learning is to select strategies with that one can feel comfortable. Low-risk strategies, on the other hand, are structured and planned, naturally of short duration, focused on subject matter that is uncomplete too abstract nor too controversial, and well-known to both the students and the faculty members.The modification of traditional lectures (Penner 1984) is one way to incorporate active learning in the classroom. interchange in class is regarded as one of the most widespread strategies promoting active learning with good reason. If the objectives of a subject are to encourage long-term retention of information, to inspire students toward further learning, to allow students to apply information in new settings, or to develop students thinking skills, then discussion is preferable to lecture (M cKeachie et al. 1986).Bergquist et al (1975) have described the following factors within Getting Students Involved in the Classroom. Encourage exclusive dialogue with the teacher and not between students. This fosters a lack of involvement since students must compete with each other for the kings ear. present to back seating arrangements encourage one-way communication. It is hard to talk to the back of someone elses head. Front to back seating arrangements discourage students from talking among themselves but they do focus attention on the teacher .Students who feel pressurised into attending every session are less likely to want to participate. An overemphasis on grades and grading, constantly stressing the importance of material for the midterm or final, how important a good grade in your subject is, and how much you appreciate good students will lead to a lack of involvement. Students are less likely to be involved when the name of the game is to get a grade and not learning som ething that might be of value to them.If active self regulated learning is to increase in school, at university and in the workplace, there is a need for learners to be equipped with the skills, confidence and commitment for active learning across tasks and situations. It also requires the educational context to provide the opportunities and affordance for active and independent self regulated learning to take place and be valued.All of the above help create an atmosphere where students do not want to get involved (The non-involvement cycle). Consequently, they begin to behave that way, which leads the teacher to assume they are apathetic and uninterested, thus the teacher continues to treat them in ways that lead to more apathy and uninvolvement. Thus a self-fulfilling prophecy begins to emerge.Even though active learning provides a great benefit within the teaching and learning arena the question still remains whether the students at secondary school are ready for this change. Res earch completed with higher level students indicated that when the learning skills and behaviour reached a mature state the majority of the students were there to learn. Whereas at secondary schools, there are several issues that require attention at a higher level such as behaviour issues within schools and classes, teachers training, teachers right with in the classes, more freedom with the curriculum, specially designed curriculum to promote active teaching and learning including others.In a recent article in the Guardian news paper, Mortimore, P (2010) reiterates that teachers are the solution not the problem. This means the profession attracting, and keeping, the most talented and the best-motivated people. It also means the government allowing teachers reasonable autonomy in how they teach. If the officials address the following issues, there will possibility of promoting active learning at the secondary level.

Influence of Culture in Nursing Curriculum | Research

Influence of Culture in Nursing Curriculum inquiryAmber HussainAbstractThe aim of this choose is to identify the influence of grow in treat political platform. 30 nursing instructors participated in the work. A questionnaire was distributed, which included flipper thematic categories. Findings revealed that teachers view definition of close unalikely and they are aware of its importance in nursing in order to provide cultural clear patient mete out, but they view student diversity as challenging in classroom setting.IntroductionDevelopment of curriculum plays a vital berth in creating educational change. In order to improve classroom practices and students acquirement, large-scale curriculum reforms are instigated but these often fall short. There croup be variety of reasons for these shortfalls, among which cultural influence is one. To develop and implement a high quality curriculum, a nuance- warm approach to curriculum development is necessary (Nijhuis, Pieters Voogt, 2013). This approach develop equal or even more importance in the domain of a function of nursing, as nurses are the one who are confronted with patients who belong to diametrical cultural backgrounds. consort to Spritzer et al. (1996), in order to improve nurses cross-cultural awareness, major efforts have been made to develop culturally sensitive theoretical knowledge. To develop this awareness, teacher has to play a major role as teachers multicultural competency is becoming an increasingly vital element in educational curriculum (Malta, 2012). Therefore, a teachers role is to be aware of their own culture, students culture and make students sensitive to cultural diverse patient care, which so-and-so be implemented by using varied commandment strategies in classroom setting. According to Maltby (2008), there are a variety of teaching techniques that can be enforced to engage students in the process of becoming culturally competent such as role plays, using exempla rs and web-based interactions.MethodologyUsing gizmo sampling, 30 nursing instructors of more than 1 year experience, participated in study. The participants teach at different teaching institutions of nursing i.e. Ziauddin college of Nursing, Baqai College of Nursing and Aga Khan University School of Nursing. A survey questionnaire was given to rate responses according to five broad aspects definition of culture, cultural content, students diversity, teachers own cultural values and classroom pedagogies on 3 prime likert scale (refer auxiliary A).ResultsThe study found that the definition of culture is perceived differently by different teachers. 83% view it as lifestyle of hatful, 33% gestate that it is transformed from one generation to another and 37% perceive it as identity of people. 77% teachers disagree that cultural diverse patient care is incorporated in nursing curriculum taught in Pakistan and almost the same percentile (80%) of teachers concord with the consensus that the curriculum is adapting from west and it diverts students from own culture. 73% stated that diversity among students creates conflict and it arise difficulty in students learning.100% teachers perceive that they are aware of their own culture, 93% knew that it is their responsibility to know about students culture and therefore 83% believe that it is important to train teachers regarding cultural diversity. 80% believe that they also face challenge to teach multicultural class. Majority of teachers routine different teaching pedagogies like ice breaker (90%), case studies (77%), internet/videos (70%), formulas (67%) and aggroup work (86%), still there are few who are not using these pedagogies.DiscussionTo investigate what teachers think about the role of culture in teaching and learning in nursing curriculum, questions were asked from them. Results are presented in addition B and C. The results suggest that teachers in nursing schools perceive the understanding of cult ure differently. Majority view it as life style of people and few perceive it as identity of people and few believe that it is transformed from one generation to another .There are various understandings regarding culture. According to Stephens (2007, as cited in Nijhuisetal., 2013), culture gives meaning to beliefs and actions of individual and societies. It is an ideational tool which can be used to describe and evaluate that action. Nijhuis, Pieters and Pieters (2013) view culture as static or dogged phenomena.For nursing content part, results show that 77% of the teachers disagree with the opinion that the curriculum present in local context provides enough cultural information. These finding indicated that the material body of information available on the textbooks is not sufficient to teach the culture, which indentifies a gap in the curriculum content that expose students to outside culture. Maltby (2008) also questioned the discretion of cultural content taught in nursin g curriculum. Moreover 80% agree that, nursing curriculum is adapted from horse opera culture and it diverts students from their local culture. The idea emphases that, as most of the textbooks of nursing are adapted from foreign culture, they may cause learners to lose their own cultural identity. According to Thomas (1997) Poor contextual curriculum leads to cultural mismatches on the level of local context.In relation to the cultural diversity in students, majority of instructors reported that their classroom students are culturally diverse, and they believe that this creates challenge for both students and teachers, for example for teachers it would be difficult to respect and inculcate each individual students cultural needs and use teaching strategies accordingly, whereas, for students, diversity creates difficulty in reaching to a consensus. According to Phuntsog (2001) diversity in student directs teachers to provide equal opportunities to all students irrespective of their culture, caste and learning style. On the other hand, according to Marshall (1995) many institutions value cultural diversity but find it as challenging in a group work because there is a probability of developing a false consensus, as one think differently than other.Moreover, Majority of teachers have reported that they are familiar with their own cultural values and responsible towards knowing student cultural values. This brings forward the idea of culturally responsive teachers who takes the cultural identities of the students in the classroom into account. This would help teachers to teach in a way that recognizes that each learner is an individual, with a particular cultural inheritance, who may rely on a different ways of knowing. According to Malta (2012) by recognizing student diversity it would be possible for teachers to become aware of cultural barriers and learn to teach from a culturally sensitive perspective. Apart from this, majority of teachers had consensus on imp ortance of receiving cultural training, since by nature trainings would help them to handle cultural themes and topics in more ease due to gaining proficiency in the subject area.Lastly, the study shed light on what kind of activities teachers practice in their Classrooms. Majority of teachers agree that they use different teaching methodologies i.e. icebreakers, case studies, videos, internets, reflection writing and group work, in order make students understand their own culture, be socially comfortable and understand aspects of foreign culture. These findings are parallel to that of Gonen and Saglam (2012) whereby teachers use different channels of information which expose students to foreign culture. Therefore, teachers develop a critical view towards foreign culture and these various sources of information a use to foster understanding of diverse culture.ConclusionIn conclusion, culture has an influence in nursing curriculum in the area of content, teaching and learning. In th e field of nursing, there is a lack of in depth content regarding culturally diverse patient care and that limited knowledge is mainly adapted from foreign culture due to which we tend to neglect the aspect of native culture. Moreover, students and teachers diverse cultural background and values are also affecting the learning essence in classroom setting. Therefore, it is important for teachers to incorporate those teaching pedagogies which foster the concept of cultural sensitive patient care and respect among each other.ReferencesDavidhizar, R., Giger, J.N. (2002). Teaching culture within nursing curriculum using theGigerDavidhizar model of transcultural nursing assessment. journal of Nursing Education, 40 (6), 282-284.Flintoff, V.J., Rivers, S. (2012). A reshaping of counseling curriculum responding to thechangingcultural context. British Journal of Guidance and Counseling, 40 (3), 235-246.Malta, B.V. (2012). Am I culturally competent? A study on multicultural teaching compet enciesamong school teachers in Malta. The Journal of Multiculturalism in Education, 8 (1), 1-43.Maltby, H.J. (2008). A reflection on culture over time by baccularte nursing students.Contemporary Nurse, 28 (1), 111-118.Marshall, S.P. (2006).Cultural competence in nursing curricula How are we doing 20years subsequent?Guest Editorial, 45(7), 243-244.Nijhuis, C.G., Pieters, J.M., Voogt, J.M. (2013). Influence of culture on curriculumdevelopment in Ghana an undervalued factor? Curriculum Studies, 45(2), 225-250.Phuntsog, N. (2001). Culturally responsive teaching what do selected unify States elementarySchool teachers think? Intercultural Education, 12, 51-64.Ruth, L.A. (2003). A critical way of knowing in a multi cultural nursing curriculum. Intuition aWay of Knowing, 24 (3), 129-134.Sairanen, R., Richardson, E., Kelly, L., Bergknut, E., Koskinen, L., Lundberg, P., Muir, N., Olt,H., Vlieger, L. (2013). Putting culture in the curriculum A European project. Nurse Education in Practice. 13, 118-124.Simunovi, V.J., Hren, D., Ivanis, A., Dorup, J., Krivokuca, Z., Ristic, S., verhaaren, H., Sonntag,H., Ribaric, S., Tomic, S., Vojnikovic, B., Selescovic, H., Dahl, M., Marusic, A., Marisic, M. (2007). Survey of attitudes towards curriculum reforms among medical teachers in different socio-economic and cultural environments. Curriculum Reforms among Medical Teachers, 29, 833-835.Spitzer, A., Kesselring, A., Ravid, C., Tamir, B., Granot, M., Noam, R. (1996). Learningabout another culture project and curricular reflections. Journal of Nursing Education, 35 (7), 322-328.Thomas, E. (1997). Developing a culture-sensitive pedagogy tackling a problem of meldingglobal culture within existing cultural contexts. International Journal of Educational Development, 17(1), 1326.Vikers, D. (2010). Social justice A concept for undergraduate nursing curricula. SouthernOnline Journalof Nursing Research, 8(1).Appendix A Questionnaire used for data collection along with consent formPurpose The purpose of this project study is to identify the influence of culture on nursing curriculum. In this study, culture refers to values, beliefs, language and customs of a particular people that impact the area of nursing education and practice. The project basically analyze the presence of cultural content in nursing curriculum and its significance, effects of students diverse cultural characteristic in classroom learning and teachers competency in relation to culture.ConsentThis is a project being conducted by Amber Hussain MSCN student in a course of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at IED (institute of Educational Development). You are invited to participate in this project because you are associated with teaching in nursing profession.Your participation in this study is voluntary. The procedure involves filling a questionnaire. Your responses will be kept confidential and the results of this study will be used for research purpose.Participant Signature ______________________A ppendix B Compilation of the responses received by respondents on a 3 point likert scaleAppendix C representical representation of the responses based on 5 broad categoriesGraph 1 The higher up graph depicts that 83% of the teachers view culture as a lifestyle of people and about one third of the respondents view it as people identity and a permanent phenomena which is transformed from one generation to another.Graph 2 The above graph shows that 77% of the teachers believe that nursing curriculum taught in Pakistan does not provide opportunities for culturally diverse patient care but 77% of the respondents agreed that the nursing curriculum reflect patients values and beliefs. Around 80% of the respondents view that nursing curriculum is adopted from western culture and it alienates students from native culture.Graph 3 The above graph depicts that more than 77% of the teachers agreed that the student body in classroom is culturally diverse. Around 70% of the respondents also agre ed that the language barriers create difficulty in learning and diversity creates conflicts in classroom.Graph 3Graph 5 The above graph depicts that more than 70% of the teachers use the above teaching methodologies frequently in order to achieve different learning objectives.

The Significance of Women in the Imperial Family Essay -- Roman Histor

The Significance of Women in the Imperial Family During the time of the Roman Empire women were not allowed to play any part in the political life of the empire. However women were s work able to influence herculean men and manipulate them to use their military force for the wants of woman. The most powerful woman in the roman society was either the wife of a principate or the mother of one. Examples of influential woman in the imperial family include Livia Drusilla, Julia Agrippina and Octivia. The only woman that seemed to aim a stable position with both power and security was the wife of the emperor. For example the Livia Drusilla (58 BC-29 AD), an influential consort of Augustus, who was depicted in imperial propaganda as the cast of womanliness and dedication, while her enemies believed her to be a ruthless seeker of power. Through the example of Livia it can be seen how influential a wife of a powerful man can be. Augustus married her when she wa s very young taking her away from her first husband Tiberius Nero. From then on, Augustus affection was fixed on her. They stayed together till the end, despite certain insecurity from not giving Augustus an heir. Livia was the most powerful woman of her time and Augustus appeared to have taken most of her advice. She sometimes accompanied him from capital of Italy and always served as a trusted confidante and advisor. When a beloved great grandson of Augustus died (a son of Germanicus), she saw to it that the childs statue was placed in his private quarters, demonstrating power she did contain. However modestly she presented herself, Livias life was showcased by Augustus from the first ... ...members.aol.com/zoticus/bathlib/nero.htm http//www.travel-italy.com/ct/agrippina.html http//www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Thread/116676 Books 1. Author Bartman, Elizabeth. Title Portraits of Livia imaging the imperial woman in Augustan capital of Italy / Elizabet h Bartman. Publisher New York Cambridge University Press, 1998. 2. Author Barrett, Anthony, 1941- Title Livia first lady of Imperial Rome / Anthony A. Barrett. Publisher New Haven Yale University Press, c2002. 3. Author Wood, Susan (Susan Elliott), 1951- Title Imperial women a study in public images, 40 B.C.-A.D. 68 / by Susan E. Wood. Publisher Leiden Boston Brill, 1999. 4. Author Barrett, Anthony A. Title Agrippina mother of Nero / Anthony A. Barrett. Publisher London Batsford, 1996.