Code of Ethics for Engineers Essay

In his essay, â€Å"Thinking Like an Engineer†, Michael Davis argues that: engineering is a profession which requires a code of ethics, and that the engineers must abide by the code of ethics. He argues that engineering is a profession which requires a code of ethics so that engineers can be expected to follow specific normative patterns in carrying out their profession. This is for the benefit of the engineer himself, for other engineers and for the public in general. Having a set of normative patterns to follow as guidelines in exercising the engineering profession helps the engineer weigh different factors in making decisions. It lessens the possibility of being effectively influenced by outside considerations. The engineer can choose to abide by what the code of ethics provides and he will still avoid the shame and disrepute in case the decision he made based on his code of ethics will ultimately turn out to be wrong. His fellow engineers are also benefited because they will have a right to expect that an engineer will do according to what the code provides. They can trust that their colleagues will not adopt any conduct inimical to the profession and will not cut them short because of competition. They could reasonably expect that they can perform what engineers are ethically bound to do without the risk of being overruled by other engineers in the ethical aspects of their work by any high-handed method. They need not succumb to the pressure to do the things that an engineer should not do. Also, they could generally criticize the work of other engineers which are more or less opposed to what the code requires of them. The protection to the public afforded by this code of ethics for engineers is generated by giving them the right to expect that engineers will follow what the code requires of them so that the general public could reasonably object to any work done by an engineer which may seem unethical. The public can also be assured that the engineers will apply their expertise for the common good and will not take advantage of the public. The argument that the engineers must abide by the code of ethics is also for the good of everyone including the engineer himself. It is interesting to note here that Davis said that all engineers are obliged to follow their code of ethics whether they have read it or not. Indeed, the ethics they are to follow is inherently embedded into their profession. The engineer must abide by the code for the simple reason that he has chosen that profession and, therefore, must vow to abide by the rules and conventions set out by such profession. As a professional, he also has an obligation towards society to seek the common good and not only his personal aggrandizement. And more practically, he must abide by the code to avoid the shame and embarrassment in case something wrong happens with his work or with its results. He can fall back to the code to justify his decision. In fact, if his decision is totally done by the â€Å"book†, then the â€Å"book† itself will do the explanations for him. What is more, he can trust his colleagues to come to his defense with claims that â€Å"the engineer was just doing his job. † All in all, an engineer must abide by the code of ethics because it is his duty and it is also for his own protection. In conclusion, Davis went further to say that the responsibilities of an engineer goes beyond than just abiding by the code ethics. An engineer must also support it and require his fellow engineers to adopt a conduct which is in consonance with what the code provides.

Natural Selection and North Carolina

Natural Selection Case Study QuestionsName _______________________________ Part I 1. Which state has more plain clover? North Carolina 2. Which state has more striped clover? Minnesota 3. Which state has a warmer average temperature? North Carolina 4. Which state has more days of freezing temperatures? North Carolina 5. Which state has drier conditions? Minnesota 6. Which state has more mollusks? North Carolina Part II 7. Why are the two gene products that are needed to produce active cyanide stored in different parts of the cell?They are stored in different cells because one is covered in stripes which the striped clover contains cyanide while the other is plain which the plain clover don’t contains cyanide 8. What are two ways that the cells can be disrupted causing the two components to come together and produce active cyanide? 9. What would be the advantage of producing cyanide? It allows perennial plants to survive which it grow again in the spring 10. Is there any disadv antage to producing cyanide? Explain.Yes, It can be damage caused by freezing and plant eaters can harm plant cells 11. What do these results tell you about the interaction between the snails and the clover? 12. It takes extra energy to produce the white stripe in the clover. Why would a clover expend the extra energy to produce a stripe rather than using the energy for growth? It would expand the extra energy because of Fitness. Part III 13. Which factors might contribute to / or inhibit the growth of the plain clover in MN?Bacteria that produce vaccines and hormones 14. Which factors might contribute to / or inhibit the growth of the striped clover in MN? Crops that resist herbicides and diseases or contain natural pesticides 15. Which factors might contribute to / or inhibit the growth of the plain clover in NC? Plants which can be eaten as vaccines 16. Which factors might contribute to / or inhibit the growth of the striped clover in NC? Growth hormones to produce lager faster o ffsprings 17.Which factor do you think caused the most selection pressure on the clover population in MN? 18. Which factor do you think caused the most selection pressure on the clover population in NC? Part IV 19. Which type of clover will be more abundant in the shallow depressions? Why? Plain because it covers the area behind the oceanfront dunes 20. Which type of clover will be more abundant in on the hill and why? Stripes because water drains quickly

Online Education

ONLINE EDUCATION: PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES by Jarrod Novicke ABSTRACT Online Education is a rapidly growing field within a highly competitive educational market. With the advances in technology over the last several years, more universities are offering an online curriculum to a diverse range of students. The increased demand for an educated workforce; has increased the need for additional means of education beyond the traditional in-classroom experience. Due to this increased demand, institutions are being tasked with developing a reputable form of online education.The program needs to meet the needs of the faculty responsible for delivering the material, a growing student base, and also prospective employers. This study will look at the perspectives and problems faced by both the faculty and students as this medium for education continues to grow. In doing so, we will take a brief look at the history of online education and how its growth has affected students and faculty, both ne gatively and positively. INTRODUCTION Colaris, Gibson and Harris (2008) defined distance education as asynchronous or remote; computer based, and has an instructional system that supports it.Contrary to what many people believe today, distance education did not begin with the electronic age. The first recorded instance of this form of education was much earlier. Distance education began in the United States as early as the 1800s, when the University of Chicago introduced the first major correspondence by mail program based on the fact that the teacher and student were in different locations (Seibold, 2007). From these early beginnings, distance education has thrived in the U. S. for many reasons such as the expansive geographical distance between U.S. citizens from institutions, the great thirst of our citizens for education, and technologies’ rapid advancement (Casey, 2008). The technological advancement can be seen while tracing the origins of distance education. From the t ime of the first correspondence program in Chicago, technology has played a major role in the advancement of distance education. During the World Wars, our federal government granted radio broadcasting licenses to over 200 universities. This in turn allowed the use of radio as a medium to provide education delivery to flourish.By the early 1940’s, several schools were using both radio and mail correspondence to educate their students (Seibold, 2007). By the 1970’s and thru the 80’s cable and satellite television became a popular form of educational delivery to distance education students. With the invention of the World Wide Web in 1992, a form of distance education referred to as online education has now become readily accessible (Harasim, 2000). One can define online learning courses as a course that has at least 80% of the content delivered via the internet without traditional classroom interactions (Dykman & Davis, 2008).Over the past 20 years, the innovatio ns and technological advancement of the internet has caused an exponential growth and expansion in the delivery of online education. While at first glance this may seem like a positive advancement, there are many problems associated with this new form of distance education. This paper will focus on the growth of this online learning aspect of distance education and will address these perceived pros and cons, along with the perspectives of faculty and students alike. LITERATURE REVIEWDykman and Davis (2008) wrote a series of three papers and in the second one, used for this research paper, the focus was answering the question of how online teaching is different from conventional methods. The article discusses topics including online course planning and organization, teaching constraints and guidelines, tutorials versus lectures, relationships among teachers and students, and student performance assessments. Bejerano (2008) looked at the increasing trend among colleges and universitie s of accepting the internet as a new medium of education.The shift from traditional classroom learning to online learning was studied to see whether or not the students who are taking the online courses are getting a similar quality of education as the traditional face to face students. Bejerano also looks at the universities that offer online learning and the students who enroll in these courses. In the article College Distance Education Courses, Lei & Gupta (2010) evaluated the benefits and costs from the perspectives of the faculty, student, and institutions.Through their studies they have found and suggested that online education maximizes and facilitates learning more efficiently than traditional student learning. They write that although the benefits of online learning are great, there are also some costs that must be carefully evaluated and considered. Mohamed, Hassan, and Spencer (2011) they looked at and tried to measure the perceived risks student’s feel with online education. Their study developed a valid and reliable scale to measure risk of online education by using both quantitative and qualitative techniques.This study showed that the perceived risks of online education has five risk dimensions and the authors list and explain these five dimensions. In the research paper written by Seibold (2007), the author looked at the pros and cons of online education from several perspectives. In doing so, a brief history of online education was given from its early beginnings as distance education through the mail to the online education we a familiar with today. Also discussed is technologies impact on the growth of online education. GROWTH OF ONLINE EDUCATIONFaculty and students are turning to the Internet and online education more and more each year to supplement, or in some cases even replace conventional approaches to classroom teaching. With the advancements in both communication technologies and the computer itself, the internet has turned on line education into a powerful new tool for teaching and learning. Many say that these advancements in technology have the possibility of revolutionizing higher education with a wider reach in the marketplace for education and increased access to educational services for the students of various institutions (Dykman & Davis, 2008).Online education via the collegiate level has risen at an astounding speed, and it is doing so in ways no one would have foreseen years earlier (Lei & Gupta, 2010). Research done by Allen & Seaman (2009) illustrates that for six consecutive years the number of students enrolled in at least one online class has continued to grow at a rate in excess of the growth rate of higher education enrollments overall. Their research showed that for the fall of 2008, 4. 6 million students were enrolled online which represented a 17 percent increase over the fall of 2007. In contrast, there were 1. million students taking at least a minimum of one online course in the fa ll of 2002. The growth of students from 2002 to 2008 represents a 19 percent annual growth rate. Over that same time period the vast majority of the collegiate student body increased at a growth annually of only 1. 5 percent. As of 2008, over twenty-five percent of all higher education students enrolled in at least one course online (Allen & Seaman, 2009). Several of these students are considered to be off campus learners and have a wide range of work experience, ages, and family circumstances.At a number of institutes of higher learning however, close to half of the online students are estimated to be in school full-time and are students that are traditionally educated in the classroom that enrolled in an online course for reasons of scheduling or that of convenience. Most of these students are enrolled at public state-run universities, community colleges and other colleges which all offer at the very least a portion of online education (Mayadas, 2009).Virtually all of the institut ions of higher learning that have the desire and capabilities to add online courses to their curriculum are currently doing so. The small number of schools that still might launch their first programs online is for the most part, small, and has a minimal impact on the overall online enrollment figures. So who is benefitting from the latest growth in online enrollments? The answer to this question is that the majority of online enrollments are coming from the large, more established schools.These schools are in a better position to be able to increase their offerings of online education. The larger institutions on average teach more students online than any other size of school. The mean number of students who are enrolled online per institution has a correlation positive to that of the actual size of the institution. The pattern may be true for both graduate and undergraduate enrollment levels’, however there is a stronger relationship among the undergraduate population.The l arger institutions show a pattern of bigger online enrollments which result in a greater concentration of its online students at just a few universities. As an example, 89 percent of all the online students are studying at universities with more than one thousand online enrollments even though these institutions only make up 38 percent of the ones that offer some form of online education (Allen & Seaman, 2009). The institutions that offer these online education programs are actually both public and private, as well as institutions that are for-profit like the Universities of Phoenix, Capella, and Kaplan for example.Overall, the highest rates of growth in online education are located at community colleges and also at the aforementioned institutions that are for-profit. While the for-profit institutions are growing at a fast rate and definitely meet a big need, online enrollment is still dominated for the most part by the more traditional universities who have acquired the skills, fac ulty acceptance, and infrastructure to allow them to compete effectively (Mayadas, 2009). CONS OF ONLINE EDUCATIONAlthough online education has grown rapidly over the past several years, to the benefit of many, it has not done so without its share of costs/criticisms. One of the factors of online education that is having a major negative impact to the overall acceptance of distance education is the relative ease to which anyone can purchase a degree that is actually fake. The advancement of the internet has created a rise in a new form of graduate school, the diploma mill.It has become extremely easy to create a fake university online that looks like a credible major university simply by using fancy computer graphics and optimizing the search engine so that the school comes up on the first page of any online college searches (Seibold, 2007). Diploma mills are considered any institutions of higher learning that are unregulated and grant degrees with basically few academic requirement s, if any.Due to these so called diploma mills, other legitimate institutions offering online courses are having a hard time establishing their credibility. It was estimated in 2002 that the sale of fake degrees topped the $200 million dollar mark around the world. Commercialization is another aspect in higher education resulting in a negative impact to the perception of online education. Commercialization among institutions is on the rise and several universities are now considered to be teaching toward a job.Many see higher education and specifically online education as becoming more and more controlled by business rather than government and because of this, courses are focused on strictly preparing for the job. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, but many say that this intense focus on job preparation leads to a less rounded student (Vukelic, 2011). With the growth in online education, faculty members see many cons in this relatively new form of online learning. First and fo remost among faculty concerns is the risk of academic dishonesty increasing.Students that want to cheat will find a way to cheat regardless if the class in online or in a classroom, however research found that it is much easier for a student to cheat in an online class (Nagel, Maniam, Leavell, 2011). The eCollege system of course management continues to make changes in regard to its software packages, however students can simply use screenshots of their test questions and save them to share with other students. For this reason, faculty must think of new ways to assess their students to ensure the validity of the test results (Nagel, Maniam, Leavell, 2011).Faculty also might find that online teaching is extremely time consuming and not as rewarding as they would like. Instituting an online class demands a good deal of organization and continuous monitoring during throughout the course. In the beginning, instructors may not be familiar or trained with the tools and the technology that are available to them which makes the job of developing and translating the good practice’s of the classroom they are used to seeing, difficult to achieve (Bejerano, 2008).Once the course is created, instructors might find the rewards associated with the daily interaction and student contact which is immediate in the classroom, is now lost because of time and space. Instructors often lose their chance to mentor, lead, advise, and become a role model amongst students because of the loss of personal interaction and communication with the student on a daily basis. This doesn’t mean that teacher and student interaction totally disappears, it is just not as rich of an interaction because the online environment is more restrictive in nature.Faculty members that enjoy teaching and are excellent at motivating and engaging their students, often do not find the same dynamic with online education that allow them to show their passion and experience the joy and excitement that yo u get from teaching face to face (Bejerano, 2008). From a student’s view, there are also cons associated with online education. One of the major issues is that not all students or potential students have access to nor can they afford new computer technology.In some instances a teacher might want his or her students to participate in a chat session on the web or discussion on the web, however a number of students might not have the ability to immediately access the internet or the means financially to obtain a computer with high speed internet, Skype, or chat capabilities (Lei & Gupta, 2010). Students are also required in many cases to have an excellent understanding of technologies and advanced skills with a computer.Oftentimes students do not have the patience for difficulties with technology that pertain to a sluggish internet connection or certain other issues related to a computer which results in a high level of anxiety from students evident through frequent email and vo icemail messages especially at the beginning stages of an online course. Students are afraid that they may have missed important assignments or that they are not sure of their responsibilities (Lei & Gupta, 2010). Another argument of online learning is that the chances for student’s social and academic assimilation into the learning environment or institution are minimized.These are factors that are a known contributor to student success. Basically, students taking an online course miss the campus experiences which link them to other students and faculty. Since this integration with peers and faculty is lacking, some students begin to feel isolation and alienation which could lead to students not completing their degree. However, many of these students are not aware of how important social and academic integration is and thus view online classes as a replacement to in class learning and they in turn miss the face to face educational experience.The traditional classroom settin g provides students with not only a great education, but it gives them a community of their peers where they can engage, interact, and be supportive of one another (Bejerano, 2008). Although there are many cons associated with online education, growth has been staggering which leads us to believe that the pros are outweighing the cons. PROS OF ONLINE EDUCATION Around the world universities and colleges are turning to the internet as a new method of instruction at a rapid rate as seen from the rapid growth stated above. Recent research has shown that the effect of online learning has been positive.Studies conducted in the area of legal, communication and social work reported no difference of significance between the traditional forms of education and that of online learning. This is true so long as the student has the proper technology and the technology works well (Seibold, 2007). In fact, the technological skills that are gained through the virtual classroom benefit the student and have become a second learning outcome. In terms of the positive effect online education has had on educational institutions, there are important and significant benefits that have led to the significant growth levels we see today.It has become apparent to educators involved in higher learning that the continued growth and demand of online education is changing the way instruction is delivered in a major way. Probably the most significant positive impact of the technology of online learning is that the limitation of space and time that used to exist has been removed for the most part by networking capabilities. Even during the major budget crisis of the past several years, universities are still embracing the same philosophies and educational missions which are to educate their students.The offering of online courses has allowed institutions to meet the educational needs of those students. Online classes tend to reach a broader audience with students from varying geographic areas th an do the conventional classrooms. Online courses can help students who are isolated geographically, disabled, or have extremely busy schedules actually obtain a quality education. Additionally, online learning does wonders to decrease classrooms that have become overcrowded.The online classes allow faculty and institutions to present additional courses at the most popular times demanded throughout the course of the week, which maximizes the resources available that are in short supply by increasing the flexibility of scheduling class. Students that may have had a schedule conflict can simply enroll in an online course. While comparing costs between educating a student in a traditional classroom versus an online course, the latter can decrease the costs of paper as well as the costs associated with photocopying since the majority of communication is done via email.Institutional costs also lessen as its students grow to be more knowledgeable about the multiple resources that are made accessible on the internet. Universities can now communicate effectively with their students and faculty by electronic means which reduces costs of printing class schedules, bulletins, upcoming campus and academic events as well as other forms of advertisements. Students and educators alike believe that by using online learning technology that they are promoting the green revolution, giving them the benefit of personal satisfaction of being socially responsible (Lei & Gupta, 2010).An institution’s faculty can also benefit from the use of online learning as a tool for education. An important benefit of online education for faculty is that the online environment is both place and time independent. Online learning provides professors with flexibility and convenience (Nagel, Maniam, Leavell, 2011). Due to the decreasing demand of work, an institution’s faculty is now able to present papers, attend conferences, and take part in university recruiting.An additional benefit o f the online learning environment is that it trains students in the same technology that is giving global corporations a competitive advantage and allows them to build communities of international knowledge at the same time. Another positive impact of the steady rise of online learning is that this medium provides opportunities for students and faculty to interact as well as students to interact with each other during online discussions which might promote critical thinking and deep learning.By using online teams and round table type discussions students are sure to develop the sharing of knowledge and the construction of global communities of knowledge (Lei & Gupta, 2010). Many faculty members feel that there is a personal dialogue that occurs among them and their students in an online classroom setting that they simply do not get in the traditional classroom. Faculty reported that by using electronic communication, students are able to be involved more than they are in a tradition al in-class setting. In general, aculty perceive that students often are more relaxed and open in expressing their ideas when they are blogging and chatting via the internet, as opposed to face-to-face interaction in the classroom. While there are many positive aspects of online education for the institutions and faculty, students also see the positives as well. Students rely heavily on the computer and internet applications when learning in online courses. The teachers have limited face to face communication which may remove any misinterpretations that may occur due to possible poor communication skills by an instructor.Students enrolled in an online class can take the class wherever they are in the world. If they are taking a traditional campus course, they have to become accustomed to different classroom cultures, and form various learning styles to accommodate their professors. Students often can do away with this bias through online learning (Lei & Gupta, 2010). Another positiv e in the eyes of students is the flexible nature of the course and the independence they have to work at their own speed. Online students also have the ability to hold a full-time job during the day, managing their schoolwork and studying at night and on the weekends.Students can access courses and engage in online learning from anywhere in the world. Many universities are beginning to account for students with busy family and work schedules. Since many students rely on a steady stream of income to cover bills and other expenses, several universities have turned their marketing efforts to take into account the working adult’s lifestyle. Many accredited institutions are recognizing the need for a program that is time sensitive and are adjusting their curriculum for that reason.If students have certain family and job responsibilities but still wish to carry on with learning and developing in their career, online learning is an excellent option. Students also no longer have to w orry about daily parking and commuting issues associated with driving to campus. Not having to drive to class is a positive aspect to a student that is trying to live a more frugal and greener lifestyle. Since the materials, coursework, and teacher is accessible anytime and anywhere, there is not a need to commute to campus which thusly translates to lowering carbon emissions.Without having to travel to class, students are able to save money on gas and are able to decrease the amount of wear and tear that commuting puts on their vehicle (Nagel, Maniam, Leavell, 2011). As you can see, there are several positive factors that have led to the growth in online education FACULTY PERCEPTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES Whether you see online learning in a positive or negative light, it is continuing to grow at a rapid pace and many faculty members have strong feelings and perspectives about it.Faculty members are attempting to adapt to the increasing demand for online education while universities and other institutions of higher education are steering toward online methods of course instruction as an answer to increasing number of student enrollments. Innovation in online education is imperative to not only meet the growing need in the marketplace for higher education, but also to sustain the continued advancement and growth of today’s institutions. In a traditional, classroom-setting education, faculty generally implements a standard 40-40-20 to their workload. This is in reference to the total hours spent instructing a course.Teaching in the classroom accounts for 40% of time spent, 40% spent on course-related research, and the remaining 20% of workload is dedicated to service (Mupinga & Maughan, 2008). This formula for teaching, however, can bring about obstacles when applied to instruction of web-based courses. The inherent nature of a successful online course requires a certain level of technical â€Å"know-how†, technical support capabilities, a need for inf rastructure, and an altered course organization from that of a traditional course format, which can create a significant disconnect between time spent and compensation earned.It is not difficult for one to clearly understand the concerns that faculty face when expected to provide online course instruction. Unfortunately some professors who have never instructed an online course have mistakenly believed the process would be fairly easy, and flexible, unaware of the significant challenges that exist in the creation of the course program. However, often times, professors are very well aware of the technological difficulties related to online course delivery causing them to be apprehensive over participating in this method of education. Colaris, Gibson, & Harris, 2008) Some feel that with the increased demand of time required to effectively educate students through an online course, there should be an increase of compensation to match. However, it is commonly understood by most instruct ors that additional compensation will not be paid for teaching an online course. Most likely it is the case that additional pay would only be applied if the course enrollment numbers become unmanageable or if the technology tools necessary for course development are not provided.These very issues of workload and pay are those that universities and other institutions absolutely must address in order to sustain successful efforts to provide an answer to the needs of online education, while maintaining a focus on achieving their own unique goals within the world of education (Orr, Pennington, & Williams, 2009). Additionally, as universities are continually expanding their reach, and aiming to bring in higher numbers of enrollment, further hiring of faculty is necessary to serve the student body as well as redesign and devise innovative methods of online education (Good & Peca, 2007).Older generations of students are continually seeking out both new skills and new knowledge to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace and economic landscape, adding to the demand for institutions and universities to provide effective and relevant options for online education (Kolowich, 2009). Simultaneously, institutions of education are continually looking for creative solutions to sidestep tuition hikes as they suffer the microscope of tight budget constraints.Aside from the technological, budget, and staffing concerns that go along with an online course, an important question to ask for faculty members responsible for providing quality online instruction is whether or not the institutions where they are employed are effectively responding to the obstacles facing them in both planning and executing the courses. Overall, most faculty members feel that the institutions are doing a satisfactory job in addressing the concerns, though there are still some specific areas that need adjustment and improvement as this sector of education becomes higher in demand.In terms of compensation and a llowance of time off, faculty are well-pleased. These are not however, typical motivating factors for educators. The faculty members at institutions of higher education tend to genuinely enjoy their profession, and are committed to furthering their careers in education. Excelling in the realm of online education instruction only adds to, and broadens the spectrum of their experience, helping them remain competitive in today’s market of higher education where online instruction is no longer just an option, but an expectation of most students seeking higher education.In large part, educators are motivated by concern for meeting education needs of the students, leaving this to be the main factor that drives ongoing dedication. They hold a strong interest in making sure there are ample avenues for students to acquire their degrees and complete their education in a timely fashion. Faculty of higher education believe that they are morally and ethically obligated to provide alternat ive learning formats for the benefit of the students, while some also feel it is important for students to take part in, and experience what the environment of online learning has to offer.Generally, professors share a similar set of values, with compassion, caring, and commitment to their students’ education at the core, fueling the motivation for teaching. Naturally, the effective development of a quality online course is a legitimate concern across the board. Simultaneously the concern of adequate time allotment is consistently a concern at hand with faculty members. When it comes to online education, a member of faculty serves both as role of instructor as well as the role of facilitator.For an instructor to make a quality online learning experience possible for the students, there is the prerequisite of a higher time commitment from that faculty member. Clearly this concern could be mitigated by additional support staff to take part in the workload of online course devel opment. The professors must be involved with the development of online courses at various levels of the process. They are the sole individuals responsible for the content to be taught in the class, but this allows them a solid understanding of course structure.There are many institutions that are beginning to provide teams of developmental support to work alongside faculty members, to remove some of the pressure, as they will then have the ability to delegate much of the basic development activities to the support staff. For some professors who are accustomed to the freedom and creative flexibility of teaching in a traditional setting, learning to adapt to collaboration with a course facilitator or online course development team can be somewhat of a difficult adjustment.For these, the open access to their course through the online system by administrators or other faculty can cause them to feel uneasy, making it the change in course medium quite challenging to accept. A loss of cont rol at some degree exists, so this challenge to their teaching habits and preferred style of course conduct is still very real to many, even after mastering the technology involved with instructing an online course (Dykman & Davis, 2008). However, as a professor gains experience with the technology, process, and systems of online course development, the amount of required ongoing support from other staff will decrease.Many professors feel that the learning curve in transitioning into online course instruction may be significant, but moving forward into this method of educating students is pertinent to the ongoing growth of their careers as well as the future success of their institution. In order to support and enhance an instructor’s success with online classes, it is best that the faculty members have a clear understanding of exactly how their programs work into the bigger picture of the institution’s efforts (Orr, Pennington, & Williams, 2009).The members of faculty need to have clarity and specification of their institutions goals and direction to truly be fully committed to online learning. It is then possible for an instructor to ensure that his or her efforts of designing an online course fit nicely within the framework of their institution. Just as traditional classes, it is very important for online courses to fall in line with the objectives of the school goals. By insisting that these objectives be met, an institution can communicate an unambiguous message of the value and significance of the activities crucial to web-based learning programs.This sets up the instructors for a greater level of focus in designing and implementing an online course with the same degree of passion in educating online students, as they express in instructing a traditional classroom. This can likely lead to higher student success and personal satisfaction of faculty. In addition to creating an environment to encourage internal gratification of educatorsâ€⠄¢ efforts, it is essential for universities and other institutions to provide substantial outward recognition of instructors’ online teaching efforts by department.By instilling a stronger system of recognition for online instruction and providing an outline of how opportunity for promotion is possible, instructors are more likely to increase their skills and master online course development in such a way that meets the institutions standards and goals, ultimately fulfilling the student body’s growing expectation of high-quality online education. It is also critical that institution solicit input from the teaching faculty when addressing various quality concerns of online courses and the reality of student learning outcomes.The majority of professors want to ensure that their students receive an excellent education experience, therefore are open to accepting suggestions to improve the overall efficacy of current programs. This cooperation between instructors, staff su pport and administration will enhance every aspect of the overall design and delivery of online courses. In planning for an increase of online education courses to meet today’s demand, it is imperative that institutions take into account the motivation behind faculty charged with instructing them.By clearly understanding why an instructor is driven to educate, an institution can help show them the value of teaching online. It is then possible to lead faculty members to appreciate exactly how online learning programs are critical in accomplishing the institution’s ability to offer a diversity of courses required to meet the students’ educational needs. Aiding faculty in understanding the true value of online education will increase their proficiency of online class development as well as instruction.This type of support and motivation is a key element in teaching a course online, as faculty members in general need to feel a sense that their efforts add value to t he institution where they teach. Online education has become a proven method for fulfilling the learning needs of today’s students. This can be seen from its exponential growth over the past few years, and for universities and colleges planning to further develop and enhance online education courses, they stand to benefit greatly from ongoing research into methods of faculty motivation. STUDENT PERCEPTIONS & PERSPECTIVESWith online education growing like it is in universities, students are now granted the choice to attend traditional face-to-face classes or choose an online option. Today’s online education opportunities allow students to meet their educational goals in a convenient, flexible, and cost effective manner. While having a bevy of educational options open to them is great, there are many risks that students perceive to go along with the positive aspects of an online education. There is no such thing as a typical student, however online education courses tend to attract mature students hat have several demands on their time so they tend to be in particular fairly discerning regarding their courses. This is the result of the conflicts the course could potentially create with the students’ personal and professional commitments and also because there is a tendency for students to either pay for their own education or be sponsored by their employer. Therefore institutions that provide online education must be conscious of the fact that they are dealing with a student body that value their education and are more than willing to criticize the courses they feel are wasting valuable money and time.These students share in the fact that they invest a substantial amount of time, money, and effort so they are conscious of the way that their investment is being used and/or misused (Tricker, Rangecroft, & Long, 2001). As demand for online education continues to rise, online students are seeking programs with the best reputations, so it is impe rative that educators strive to meet the highest standards in this regard. The risks a student perceives while making the decision on whether or not to take an online class are many, especially considering those students who are new to the concept of online courses.The student may be attracted to this type of education because of its convenience, but at the same time, they may be concerned about course effectiveness, their ability to interact and communicate with their classmates, and the likelihood of their success. Mohamed, Hassan, & Spencer (2011) define risk as â€Å"the variation in the distribution of possible outcomes, their likelihood and their subjective values† (Mohamed, Hassan, & Spencer, 2011). The decision to take an online class can involve some risk because in doing so, there could be uncertain or unexpected consequences which may be negative in nature.Potential students might wonder if they will be able to learn online as well as they do in a traditional class room setting, whether or not they will have communication with their teachers and/or peers, if their grades may suffer, and whether they will be able to finish their course on time and so on. The perception of these various issues, accurate or not, will likely affect potential student’s intention to enroll in an online course. There is a perceived psychological risk that reflects the concern regarding the tension and discomfort that might arise due to enrollment in an online education ourse. Research has shown that some online students often feel more isolated, anxious, frustrated, and confused than a traditional student does (Mohamed, Hassan, & Spencer, 2011). In addition, online education students can also experience a reduced feeling of belonging to the class and may miss the participation and discussions associated with a traditional university classroom. It is very important that instructors stay sensitive to the needs of the students, and have programs in place to reduc e these emotional reactions by creating a culture of involvement.Finally, there is some research that suggests online students might fear they will be unable to complete their course work because of lack of discipline, self-motivation, and writing skills. Today the attrition rates for online students are 10 to 20 percent higher than those of students in a traditional classroom setting (Dobs, Waid, & Carmen, 2009). Performance risk is related to concerns of whether the program will deliver benefits promised or perform as desired. Many students experience some form of technical problems during their course (Mohamed, Hassan, & Spencer, 2011).And at times, online students perceive instructors to be less prepared, use teaching methodologies that are not appropriate, and often give bigger workloads than are given in traditional classrooms. Online students also show less satisfaction than their counterparts on campus with the degree of interaction with their instructor and it primarily occ urs when they did not grasp the material in the lecture. Additionally, online students have reported that their understanding of the subject increases at a lesser rate and the course held less value than the students participating in a traditional classroom.Further, the perceived risk of time demand involves the fear surrounding the required amount of time and the effort that is required to complete the online course. Many students see the convenience and flexibility of taking online courses as a major benefit, however for those that are full time employees or have obligations with their family; concerns often arise about the demands on their time. In a study of student perceptions in online learning performed by Eom and Wen, the study participants often complained about losing work that was previously saved, the length of assignments, and the slow times of screen loads.Another item of note reported by online students is the frustration they felt with the time that was spent doing o nline administrative service tasks like ordering textbooks, advising, and library access (Eom & Wen, 2006). Students also feel a form of social risk that is related to the concern they have regarding what others will think about their degree. Students might fear that their online degree will not be accepted well by family, friends, or most importantly by employers.This perceived risk is an important hurdle that institutions face in attracting online education students. Finally, the last source of perceived risks that students face is source risk. Source risk is the concern for the credibility of the institution that is offering the online education course. When students are deciding on whether or not to enroll in an online course they often worry about the reputation of the institution, the institution’s location, and whether the online program will accept other institutions transfer credits.The students also may worry that potential employers might question the value of the online education institution in comparison to an education in a traditional manner (Mohamed, Hassan, & Spencer, 2011). CONCLUSION Through the research conducted for this paper, it is evident that online education is not only here to stay but growing at a rapid pace. From the beginning of distance education in the early 1800’s to today’s online learning, the advancements in technology have been immense.This advancement in technology has opened up education possibilities to student’s from all walks of life and connected students from all over the world. The first people to embrace this new revolution of online learning were the educators and now with the new and improved online learning tools and amplified opportunities in education, society as a whole is being influenced in ways never seen before. As we delve into the 21st century, the implications behind this newfound educational conversion are beginning to be recognized by the public at large.With it we have se en an extraordinary level of investment, changes in public feelings, and a fury of (sometime not realistic) expectations regardless of the progress that has been made in altering pedagogic and institutional strategies. As we move forward, online education is no longer supplementary or peripheral, it has turned into a vital part of mainstream society (Smith & Mitry, 2008). Though we have seen that there are many pros and cons as well as varying perceptions among students and faculty, no one can deny the level of growth in online education over the years.It is obvious from the growth seen that the pros are outweighing the cons as well as the rewards outweighing the risks for both faculty and students alike. Only time will tell when this explosion of growth in online enrollment and the technology advancements will level off but for now online education is here to stay and growing rapidly. Dedication to advancement and growth in online course development by institutions and instructors alike are pertinent to the future of today’s student. References Adams, J. , & DeFleur, M. (2006). The Acceptability of Online Degrees Earned as a Credential for Obtaining Employment.Communication Education, 32-45. Allen, E. , & Seaman, J. (2009). Learning on Demand. The Sloan Consortium, 1-24 Bejerano, A. (2008). The Genesis and Evolution of Online Degree Programs: Who Are They for and What Have We Lost Along the Way? Communication Education, 408-414. Casey, D. (2008). The Historical Development of Distance Education Through Technology. Tech Trends, Vol. 52, No. 2. Colaris, S. M. , Gibson, S. G. , & Harris, M. L. (2008). Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education. Journal of Education for Business, 355-359. Columbaro, N. & Monaghan, C. (2009). Employer Perceptions of Online Degrees: A Literature Review. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol. 7, No. 1. Conceicao, S. C. O. (2006). Faculty Lived Experiences in the Onli ne Environment. Adult Education Quarterly, 26-45. Dobbs, R. , Waid, C. , & Carmen, A. (2009). Students’ Perceptions of Online Courses – The Effect of Online Course Experience. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 9-26. Dykman, C. , & Davis, C. (2008). Online Education Forum. Journal of Information Systems Education, Vol. 19, No. 1. Eom, S. Wen, J. (2006).The Determinants of Student’s Perceived Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction in University Online Education: An Impirical Investigation. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Vol. 4, No. 2. Good, K. & Peca, K. (2007). The Hidden Hypocrisy of University Faculty Regarding Online Instruction. Curriculum and Teaching Dialogue, 267-277. Lei, S. & Gupta, R. College Distance Education Courses: Evaluating Benefits and Costs from Institutional, Faculty, and Students’ Perspectives, Distance Education Vol. 130, No. 4. Maughan, G. R & Mupinga, D. M. (2008), Web-Based Instruction and CommunityCollege Faculty Workload. College Teaching, 56. Mayadas, A. (2009). Online Education Today. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, Vol. 13, No. 2. Mohamed, F. , Hassan, A. , & Spencer, B. (2011). Conceptualization and Measurement of Perceived Risk of Online Education. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, Volume 15, No. 4. Nagel, S. , Maniam, B. , & Leavell, H. (2010). Pros and Cons of Online Education for Educators and Students. International Journal of Business Research, Vol. 11, No. 6. Orr, R. , Pennington, K. , & Williams, M. R. (2009). Institutional Efforts to SupportFaculty in Online Teaching. Innovative Higher Education, 34, 257-268. Seibold, K. (2007). Employers’ Perceptions of Online Education. The University of Oklahoma Thesis, 1-130. Smith, E. , & Mitry, D. (2008). Investigation of Higher Education: The Real Costs and Quality of Online Programs. Journal of Education for Business, 147-152. Tricker, T. , Rangecroft, M. , & Long, P. (2001). Evaluating Distance Educa tion Courses: The Student Perception. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Vol. 26. Vukelic, B. (2011). Employer’s Evaluation of Online Education. DAAM International, 1471-1472.

The U.S. Financial Crisis- Impact on Trade Research Paper

The U.S. Financial Crisis- Impact on Trade - Research Paper Example As a result of the crisis starting in 2007 and building up by 2008, the Wall Street could be said to have been remade (Jones, 2009, p.2).     The Financial Crisis of 2007/2008: The international trade and the economic growth in the world had presented significant positive results before the economic crisis of 2007/2008. From the time period from 2000 till 2007 the gross domestic product of the world had reflected an increase of 3.2 percent in a year that surpassed the annual growth of the 1990s that figured around 2.5 percent. Countries like China, India, and Russia that were emerging as economic countries in the market also reflected expansions in their growth to as high as 6.5 percent in a year resultant of the different economic reforms. The farmers in the U.S. also benefitted from these growths leading to rising farm income of around 43 percent. The financial crisis affected the world starting in 2007 and deepening in 2008 leading to recession in several countries (Appendix A ) (Liefart & Shane, 2009). The crisis had initiated in the US when the housing bubble burst out and there were increasing defaults in mortgages, particularly in the subprime mortgages, that had grown for the borrowers who were not worthy of such loans, thereby leading to instability in the financial institutions and subprime losses (Appendix B) (Helleiner, 2011, p.69). The different causes that were obtained to have led to the crisis include: imprudent mortgage lending relaxing the standards of lending, housing bubble reflecting rising prices of houses, global imbalances, securitization, lack of transparency and responsibility in mortgage finance, rating agencies giving AAA ratings to several downgraded securities, mark to market accounting, deregulatory legislation, shadow banking system with financial activities moving out of government safety, non bank runs, off balance sheet financing, subprime lending mandated by government, failure of risk management systems, financial innovat ion, complexities, human infirmity, bad models of computer, excess leveraging, relaxed regulation of leverages, credit default swaps, over the counter derivatives, fragmented regulation, no systemic regulation of risks, short term incentives, and tail risk (Jickiling, 2010, pp.5-10). These issues initiated in the US and gradually affected the world and the international trade. With the crisis deepening in 2008, various measures that imposed restrictions on trade activities were initiated by different countries. General hikes in tariffs, particularly in iron and steels, primary products, agricultural foods, were incorporated in countries like Russia, India, Turkey, Vietnam, Ukraine, EU, Brazil, and Ecuador. Standards and certifications in trade also changed in several countries like Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Ecuador, Thailand and South Korea with bans and restrictions on several business issues. Licensing system of imports also altered from ‘free’ to ‘restrictedà ¢â‚¬â„¢ in many countries as a result of the recession.  Ã‚  

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Human Resource Management - Essay Example Once a top executive realises that no matter how hard he struggles for his organisation, all he will receive is his fixed salary, the performance levels of the executive will begin to recede. The removal of incentive is effectively the removal of motivation on the job for such positions. It must also be realised that when such executives join office their primary motivation is the challenge posed by the new position. Once an executive figures out how to manage the new position, the real motivation begins to disappear from the job. In order to keep motivation on the job to a high level, it would be desirable to use a fixed and variable pay structure to serve as the executive’s motivation. On another note, this pay structure aids in ensuring that the executive treats his job more seriously than before because his financial stakes are involved with the performance of the organisation. While it may be considered as cumbersome by some top executives but this model ensures that the organisation pays the executive back in proportion to their

Outsourcing of US Jobs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Outsourcing of US Jobs - Essay Example omotes efficiency and cost reduction so companies can maintain their competitiveness, sending American jobs overseas hurts America because our economy depends on jobs at all levels in order to continue functioning. The economy is suffering from this practice and it will continue to do so because Americans are forced to compete for jobs at pay levels well below the standard of living. The secondary problem with outsourcing is that companies can visit abuse on their employees and the workers have no way of protecting themselves. Even some companies have found that outsourcing isn’t as profitable as they had once thought it would be. When American businesses outsource, it seems that everyone loses. As Americans began to raise concerns about job losses, major companies gave their reassurances that this was only happening to the â€Å"low-end† jobs. This would weed out the lower end, highly repetitive and unskilled labor, leaving better jobs for Americans to fill. These early rounds of "globalization" cost millions of U.S. jobs, but various experts assured Americans that this should not be a major concern because these were blue collar "rust belt" jobs. Old technology, they claimed. Manufacturing is passà ©. The U.S. would enter the new global economy with the new technology. Information, services, cutting-edge research and development—these would be the clean, high-paying jobs that would keep America on top. (Jasper, 2006) This promise has been revealed to be an empty one as Americans watch more jobs leave the United States as outsourcers move up the ladder to target higher skilled jobs such as engineering, medicine and legal research. Between 2003 and 2008 finan cial service companies have moved approximately 500,000 American jobs overseas. Seen in the chart below are the companies with the highest numbers of outsourced workers overseas. These 10 companies alone are responsible for outsourcing nearly 200,000 jobs. These certainly aren’t the only companies

Effect of screening mammography on breast cancer Research Paper

Effect of screening mammography on breast cancer - Research Paper Example This listing of alternative treatments, under the current legal system, must even include the risks and benefits of non-treatment (Marshall, 2005). Despite being clinical screenings, including annual screening mammography and other treatments, being named the most effective method for reducing mortality and detecting early cancers by the United States Preventative Services Task Force (Greco et al., 2009), there is great difficulty in determining the actual efficacy of the technique on mortality rates (Spencer et al., 2004). The difficulty lies in separating the effect of screening on the actual mortality rates of detected cancers versus its effect on the time of detection, what researchers refer to as the lead-time bias (Spencer et al., 2004). Also, any longitudinal study faces the issue that as medical science improves, long-term survival rates for cancer patients improves as well. The sample becomes contaminated as the researchers cannot separate survival due to better screening or due to better treatment (Marshall, 2005). ... d screening mammography is generally done routinely only for women, a perception of its effectiveness should be examined under Madeleine Leininger's theory of transcultural nursing. Women in and of themselves could be considered a cultural group, and they are also subject to high levels of pressures on their behavior due to their cultural environment. Cultural care requires making allowances for the age, ethnic background, and other personal background characteristics of a patient (Hammerschmidt, Zagonel, and Lenardt, 2007). Breast cancer screening effectiveness must be looked at through the eyes of the women in different cultures, generations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and income brackets (Shyyan et al., 2006; Wujcik et al., 2009), as the usage of screening treatments by all of these women is integral to the success of any study. Research Methodology The determination of effectiveness requires quantitative analysis of numerical data. The literature research method should theref ore focus on finding such statistics, but also ensuring that such statistics are comparable. Data from different age groups, for example, should not be analyzed together without allowances for that variance. CINAHL was searched for articles that contained the phrases â€Å"breast cancer†, â€Å"screening mammography†, and â€Å"breast cancer mortality†. The search was limited to articles since 2001. Additionally, Google Scholar was used to locate articles and information about the Leininger theory of cultural care. All sources used are from peer-reviewed medical and nursing journals to ensure the quality of the research. Review of Literature Two major types of studies exist about screening mammography: attempts to determine, empirically, the success of screening techniques, and the general

Information Systems for Accountants Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Information Systems for Accountants - Essay Example As the project progresses, some of these tasks may change due to unforeseen or miscalculated circumstances, therefore the original task duration, and its sequence must be modified. These methods diverge in intricacy from simple to-do lists to GANTT charts, to a more complicated network scheduling techniques such as CPM or Critical Path Method, PERT or Program Evaluation and Review Technique, and Precedence Diagramming. CPM and PERT charts consumes a lot of time to create manually thus outshine the real work to be done by the method used to represent the work. Precedence Diagramming is like CPM and PERT but it let different logic relationships to be signified in graphic form and it allows relationships to be represented in various ways making it more illustrative of the real life construction process. All of the above techniques when done manually are unfortunately very difficult. Project tracking or monitoring involves registering these various changes throughout the project, and making suitable changes to the projected schedule. Making constant schedule revision throughout the life of the project is an arduous task for the planner and the result may not be accurate and probably will not meet the deadline. Nevertheless, there are tools available to help plan and track projects more efficiently like Microsoft Project. Microsoft Project is a computer program designed to automatically plan, schedule, and track the progress of the project. An easy, powerful, and flexible project management tool that puts you in command of your projects, helps you keep everyone up to date and involved, and is well suited with the working style of today. Manage simple or multifaceted projects by scheduling and tracking all your activities so you can stay on top of their development. Sets up your plan swiftly, initialize your plan by creating and arrange your task list so you can simply validate details and overall

Working with and leading people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Working with and leading people - Essay Example The individual abilities of the members are also reinforced as a result of working as a group. This is because the workers share their experiences and help each other out in times of difficulties. The members working in the team are also able to learn and apply their new skills in the course of executing their tasks. Working as a team enables the establishment of participation and the involvement of all team members in Tesco’s activities. This ensures that their assigned activities are performed efficiently and quickly. The decisions that are made as a result of a team working together as a group are better than the decisions an individual makes. The team members incorporate their collective experiences and skills before making a decision (Mathis and Jackson, 2010). The use of brainstorming enables the generation of ideas from different members of the group and helps in bringing in new ideas to the group. Working as a team also enables the members to feel confident of the results they present to the organization,. This is because the ideas generated by the members undergo the necessary criticisms and cross examinations before the decisions are reached. The active participation of the team members enables the generation of many diverse concepts within the organization. They eventually assi st the organization in achieving their set objectives. The concepts and ideas that the team members suggest are considered as alternatives when similar problems occur (Drucker and Ferdinar, 2006). Decision making in a team is slow though most of the times the most appropriate decisions are reached. The harmonious working of the members of a team leads to an increase in their satisfaction. The speed of accomplishing events in the organization is also increased because of the collaboration between the team members. A worker requires to have a problem solving ability as this enables him to handle complex situations. These assists the workers in meeting their

Market Economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Market Economy - Essay Example Therefore, the market will only depend on the pricing, which affects their frequency for demand of some products. For instance, when some prices of some goods are reduced, the customers could insist on increasing the quantity in demand. This technique could be used by markets to shape their demand for products in the market, depending on the market perception of the products and pricing (Gregory & Robert 2004).   In part A, there is need to have a focus on the provided data, which would be used in plotting the demand curve. Given the equation P = 10 – 0.5 Q, there should be a stated acceptable pricing and quantity that will be used by the consumers. The pricing will have a direct effect on the quantity in demand, as they are closely related. Using the current price of ? 6.50, the equation will be denoted as follows; P = 10 – 0.5 Q This will be followed by a substitution of the price, which is P ? 6.50 = 10 – 0.5 Q 6.50 – 10 = - 0.5 Q -3. 50 = - 0.5 Q 3. 50 = 0.5 Q 2 *3. 50 = 0.5 Q *2 7=1Q Q = 7 When the pricing of the moonshine club is at ? 6.50, the attendance according to the above mentioned equation will be seven. This means that, the attendance will be at 7, when the pricing is at ? 6.50. Using the above equation, there is a possible curve that could be derived, given the pricing range from ? 0 to ? 10. The pricing and attendance will have change, depending on the curve and preference of the demand. For instance, many people will increase their attendance when the pricing is low. pricing quantity 0 20 1 18 2 16 3 14 4 12 5 10 6 8 7 6 8 4 9 2 10 0 In plotting a demand schedule, there are various considerations that should be factored. The First factor is the pricing of the moonshine club. The second consideration is the demand for the services of the moonshine club. When the price of the club is at 10, there would be a possible zero attendance. However, when the price of the club is at 0, the attendance is likely to be at 20. Th e elasticity of the moonshine club is evident in their pricing. The highest pricing is denoted at 10, which brings a zero attendance. However, when the club decides to reduce its pricing to zero, the attendance will be full at 20. To make a better reflection on the elast5city of the club in pricing, there is need to focus on the equilibrium point. The equilibrium point is where the lines intercept. This is when the price is at ? 6, and the attendance will be denoted at 8. In part B, there are several considerations that could be used to make the favourable changes in the pricing and demand for the services of moonshine club. In the first instance, when a substitute club initiates a reduction of the pricing from ? 5 to ? 4.50, there are possible changes that could be discovered. Since moonshine is charging ? 6.50. With two visits to moonshine club, the customer will be spending ? 13.00. However, going to the substitute charging ? 4.50 will be favorable as the customer would make thre e visits which will be charged a ? 13.50. ? 5.00 ? 4.50 2 3 In this graph, it is evident that a person would prefer three visits to a substitute club, than spend the equivalent on two visits top moonshine club. In the second scenario, there is a change in the annual income which is a 10 percent increase. With such an increase, there is a possible increase in the

Starbucks Coffee Company Essay Example for Free

Starbucks Coffee Company Essay Executive Summary 1. Starbucks product isn’t only about the goods it provides, but the services and the experience of going to a starbucks as well. 2. Starbucks has two main end user groups, to which Starbucks product has many different aspects that are beneficial to them. 3. SWOT internal analysis reveals strengths of brand image and high standards and weaknesses in over saturation and lack of diversity. Externally, Starbucks has opportunity to expand and diversify to avoid threatening competition and reliance on individual products. 4. Porter’s Five Forces analysis displays threats from high consumer and supplier bargaining power, a large amount of substitutes and a low chance of new competitors although high competition with current competitors. 5. Historically, Starbucks has employed saturation and awareness strategies. 6. Current strategies reflect environmental analysis as Starbucks aims to expand and diversify, as well as raise social awareness and accountability. 7. Starbucks’ competitive advantage draws from its strategies of differentiation, technological advancement and unique atmosphere. Product Description Benefits. Starbucks is an internationally renowned brand, with 20,891 stores in 64 countries. The Starbucks product is not just a range of beverages and food; it is the service, the culture and atmosphere and the sustainability that can be expected in all of its stores. Starbucks represents this in their mission statement: to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one  cup and one neighbourhood at a time. The more obvious part of the product is the coffee as well as other drinks and food, but another significant part of Starbucks product is it’s goals in caring for its community and being an ethical and environmentally friendly corporation. Starbucks’ large market share can be accounted to specifically targeting two main end-user groups and catering the product to their needs. Customers both male and female ages 25-40 make up for a massive 49% of Starbucks total business. Judging by their age we can assume these consumers are most likely working with greater disposable income, and we can assume working people are often busy travelling and on the go. These ages are also typical of people with new families. Another target audience is young adults aged 18-24 who make up 40% of Starbucks total business. Commonly people this age are studying, travelling, and enjoy socialising and hanging out. Generally judging on the age group they will have less income and if they are students they may have no job or only have part time work. The brand image of Starbucks plays a strong part in appealing to consumers. Starbucks’ brand image symbolises wealth and status. Starbucks utilises this by targeting the working adult and creating loyalty to its brand. Starbucks also appeals to young people as they have a strong brand image of being, quite simply, cool. Through many of the benefits of Starbucks we can understand how loyalty is an important role in why it’s customers prefer it to other cafes.There are many Starbucks cafes worldwide, and wherever you are in the world you know what to expect when you walk into a Starbucks cafà ©. Starbucks has a strong sense of consistency throughout its branches, from the menu, to the service and often the appearance of the cafà ©. This makes Starbucks a welcoming and a familiar place wherever you are buying coffee.They also benefit their consumers by being so widely available making it easy to find a Starbucks. Consequently, it is beneficial to travelling and working people who can find a Starbucks in unfamiliar places, providing the coffee and service they know and enjoy. The cafà © itself is part of the service; customers have the option to sit and stay or takeaway as it suits them. The cafà © provides a  great meeting place for young adults to socialize or study and also benefits adults who need to work, meet people or get something to eat or drink during the day. There is free Wi-Fi available which is especially appealing to young people for both study and social networking as well as beneficial to older consumers with work to attend to. Starbucks meets a range of consumer needs by having a very large variety of drinks available, and customisation is a significant part of their appeal to consumers with 87,000 different drink combinations. Because they have such a large variety, they have an option for nearly anybody and this makes Starbucks more appealing over other coffee shops. Young adults have a greater partiality to customisation, as they appreciate having many choices of different flavours and combinations. Older consumers, especially those on the go, often know what they want to order (e.g. trim flat white, long black) but benefit from the consistent menu, which always has their drink available. Loyalty is gained not only from the consistency of high quality products and service to the customers but also from the way in which Starbucks values the community and environment. Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee summed up what makes Starbucks successful in saying â€Å"we have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you cant copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company.† Company’s International Strategy Starbucks is clearly a leading coffee branch that has been very successful over the past 30 years, with its constantly growing market share. However, in order to further develop a company, they must first assess their internal and external environment to evaluate the organisation’s current position. Internal and external assessment provides an opportunity for an organisation to plan, implement and evaluate their operations. SWOT analysis helps to assess the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses as well as their external opportunities and threats. Starbucks’ strengths are high quality coffee beans, strong brand image, excellent employee management, power within the industry, and unique strategy. Starbucks is one of the most powerful brands in the world (ranked 54th for the world’s most powerful brands by Forbes) and is the most powerful brand in the coffee industry. This prevents new entrants from gaining market share and has helped the organisation to remain competitive. On the other hand, they have some weaknesses; one of the main weaknesses is the fact that the entire business relies on the coffee industry. If the coffee industry faces a hard time, it will have a bad influence on Starbucks directly. One of the main reasons an organisation becomes a Multinational Enterprise is to diversify themselves against the risks and uncertainties of the domestic business cycle. However, Starbucks has over-saturated the US market with more than 3 quarters of their business located in the home market. If their home market goes through a recession, this will have a huge impact on its business. Also, their relatively high coffee price increases competition with low priced brands. After assessing the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses, an organisation then evaluates its external environments. Starbucks may extend their supplier range such as developing new products, not only their coffee but products like health and organic drinks, considering there are emerging groups of people seeking well-being products. They could also expand their business to more countries especially developing countries such as China and India. Regardless of the fact that China has a strong tea culture, Starbucks has been very successful. They currently have more than 600 stores in more than 50 cities in China, yet it is only the beginning. The market share for Starbucks is still growing however, compared to past years; it is not doing so well. The main reason for this is because of the new competitors who entered the market, for example, launch of McCafe from McDonald’s. Increased competition and competitors resulted in a higher bargaining power of buyers that lowers the market price for coffee which made it even harder for a brand who sell expensive, high quality coffees, to compete in the market. Starbucks coffees’ main ingredients are coffee beans and milk. A rise of coffee bean and dairy product prices, as a result of various non-government activities, have a strong influence on the company which may result in a  significant drop in their market share. As mentioned above, Starbucks was successful in China. Though copyright law in China is vulnerable and trademark infringement is a huge problem for all companies who are operating in China. Finally, while the earnings in the US and China remains strong, the profit from the European market has fallen due to a different regional tastes and coffee culture that resulted in a just recognisable increase in total revenue. Overall, these are Starbucks’ internal and external environments assessed using SWOT analysis. Starbucks should work through their weaknesses and threats especially their decreasing customer base due to increased competitors. Also, they should create or develop their competitive advantages through their strengths and opportunities. Furthermore, another method that helps to assess for the external environment is ‘Porter’s Five Forces Analysis’. It is a strategic tool that is used to analyse the level of competition within an industry. There are five stages to assess: bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat from substitutes, and rivalry among existing competitors. The bargaining power of buyers is high due to an increasing number of influential competitors and the fact that there are no or minimal switching costs to other companies. No or minimal switching costs means a customer can switch to its competitors easily and a growing number of competitors means that there are even higher chance of a customer switching to other companies. The degree of threats of new entrants depends much on its location for example, markets such as UK and US are already highly saturated and as such there are limited chances of a company entering the market. Also, due to the substantial amount of financial resources associated with buildings and property being required to enter the market, the threat of new entrants to the industry to compete with Starbucks is low. The bargaining power of suppliers is also very high. The world demand for coffee is fierce and coffee beans are available only in certain geographical areas such as, Africa, Latin America and some parts of Asia. There are a wide range of substitute products for Starbucks or their coffee including tea, soft drinks, water, juice and energy drinks. This, combined with an increasing focus on the negative effects of caffeine from media and among consumers, increases the percentage of consumers switching to its substitute  products. Also, there are locational substitutes such as pubs and bars where groups of people can gather and spend time away from their house and work environments. Overall, due to an increased number and power of its competitors, especially, McDonald’s (McCafe), Caribou Coffee and Dunkin Donuts, as well as many others from small local coffee shops to large global brands, the rivalry among existing competitors is very high. Unlike the early 90’s where Starbucks begun to expand, there are copious numbers of influential competitors in the market all over the world resulting in very high competition within the industry. Starbucks needs to work on how to reduce the growing power of its competitors and to gain its market share in the long-term. Starbucks holds a strong competitive advantage over its rivals mainly due to its large market share and powerful brand image. Through constant innovation and expansion, Starbucks has maintained a loyal customer base and a competitive standing within the market. The company has employed strategies such as diversifying its products, attempting to gain a larger market share internationally, such as in China, developing sustainability, such as the use of reusable cups and adapting to new methods of marketing, including social media. Starbucks has also come under scrutiny for some of its marketing techniques which include saturating the market and intentionally placing pressure on competition. Due to its early entry to the market, Starbucks was able to solidify its position and reputation. Starbucks originally built this reputation using strategies which were designed to make it the ‘third place’ people spend their time, along with work and home. This similar setting of comfort set Starbucks apart from its competitors and began the culture that now represents the company. Starbucks then began saturating areas within the United States, which created an awareness of the company whilst putting pressure on smaller businesses and competitors. As stated, Starbucks came under scrutiny for its practise of buying out other businesses and saturating the market, with some stores operating at a loss, in order to put competitors in an unfavourable position. The saturation of markets, originally in the US and later worldwide, has created a huge awareness and familiarity of the Starbucks brand. The company, therefore, has a very unique strategy; Starbucks spends less than 1% of its annual revenue on advertising, relying largely on word of mouth advertising. Comparing this to the fact that its competitors spend hugely on its advertising on media (Dunkin Donuts spent more than 83% of its budget on TV and McDonald’s spent 97%), this is very surprising. Starbucks also cuts back on it’s advertising costs through its increasing use of social media advertising. Keeping up with trends such as social media has allowed Starbucks to stay relevant at this lower cost. To illustrate their effectiveness in social media marketing: they are the highest downloaded food and drink app. Further technological advantages Starbucks uses are cloud controlled coffee machines and cloud integrated equipment and staff which allow quicker transfers of information and greater data gathering. This point of difference creates a competitive advantage that Starbucks uses to maintain its dominant position. Furthermore, Starbucks has begun to focus on diversifying its products with a heavier focus on substitutes and complementary goods such as tea and food. With tea becoming increasingly popular in the West, this allows Starbucks to have a lesser reliance solely upon coffee and creates another point of difference from its competitors. Similarly, Starbucks acquired La Boulange bakery in 2012 in order to increase the quality of its food offerings and again diversify its products to attract a larger customer base and decrease its reliance upon the coffee trade. The adoption of these emerging markets allow Starbucks to not only create greater offerings and secure its place within them, but also to become more competitive with rivals where they couldn’t before. An area in which Starbucks has proven to be focusing on is ethical and environmental responsibility. This reflects modern consumer interests and is of greater importance to Starbucks due to its international exposure. In 2013, a reusable cup was introduced at $1 each, while offering a discount on purchased coffee. This both increased overall revenue and created an environmentally responsible image. According to a YouGov Omnibus survey,  taken in January 2013, 28% of Americans had already bought, or planned to buy the reusable cup, showing the importance of the move. Starbucks’ focus on environmentalism reflects the companies focus on improving its image and its understanding of the consumer. In order to further this image again, Starbucks is currently switching its coffee sources to fair trade and aims to be 100% ethically sourced by 2015. As a further display of its social awareness, the company offers its employees an extensive range of benefits and a pay rate higher than its competitors, which resulted in a high employee loyalty, hence, less staff turnover and higher productivity. Finally, one of the larger challenges that Starbucks had faced was expanding internationally and catering to different tastes and cultures worldwide. The aim behind Starbucks’ expansion was to bring the Starbucks experience to the world. Currently, Starbucks is largely focused in expanding in China due to its size and relevance as an emerging world power. Here, Starbucks has an advantage of brand awareness which aids in establishing a dominant position in China, as well as other markets. Keeping up with trends in tastes and technology also helps Starbucks expand internationally; with the emergence of the tea drinking market into which Starbucks is investing and the global increase in communication which Starbucks capitalises upon with its social media and cloud based ventures. It is important for Starbucks to continue looking internationally for its business expansions due to having already saturated much of the US and therefore to reduce its dependence on the US market and its tastes. It is clear that Starbucks is able to continue to be competitive offering its premium priced coffee due to its constant innovation and understanding of its consumers. Starbucks consistently stays ahead of the competition in its technological advances, expansion, social awareness and product development which makes it recognisable and desirable and reduces said competition in the market. The environment which Starbucks presents creates a willingness in the consumer to pay premium pricing for the service as a whole rather than just a coffee. This is ultimately what has differentiated Starbucks from its competitors and allows it to maintain a strong and growing loyal customer base where customers will be less inclined to switch between  companies. The Starbucks company itself possesses several times more market share than any of its competitors and therefore have an almost monopolized status as an entity in the huge coffee industry. It is Starbucks’ large competitive advantages which allow them to hold this position. Not only that, the coffee giant has been able to sustain its presence for over forty years. This begs the question: is Starbucks able to sustain their competitive advantages in the future? Firstly, what are these competitive advantages? Starbucks puts a lot of focus, time and energy into differentiating itself from the competition. This can be seen in the design of its coffee shops around the world, the music played there and the types of products it sells, such as jazz CD’s, thermos’, key chains and coffee-brewing equipment. It is clear to see that Starbucks sets itself apart with the vivid attention to excellence. This differentiation is achieved by the fact that no matter which Starbucks coffee shop you visit the atmosphere will be the same, thus giving the company a status of independency and uniqueness; not following any preconceived ideas. This provides customers with a sense of belongingness which in turn results in sustained business success from loyalty of customers, unmatched by competitors. As our contemporary lives are heading towards a faster and more efficient fashion, Starbucks makes sure to keep current on the latest technology, often times pioneering the latest in technological and communication advancements for its business and customers, far ahead of the times for a coffee shop. This dominance in technological communication is a competitive advantage which not only allows for quick and sustained adoption, but also builds relationships with its customer base. For example, Starbucks was one of the first companies to adopt location-based promotions and mobile payments. In general, retail stores will set up shop in locations based on demographics, locations of competitors, locations of own stores, traffic  patterns and so forth. However, instead of following the rest of the sheep, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz had a different idea. Schultz decided that his strategy focused on heavily increasing the foot traffic in one specific part of town. By clustering a specific part of town with coffee shops Starbucks quickly achieved market dominance with this competitive advantage. Starbucks boasts the highest frequency of weekly visiting customers out of any American retailer, with over 20 million weekly visitors. Even more so impressive is that the company spends less than 1% of its annual revenues on advertising, against the typical 10% rather, the Starbucks competitive advantage relies on word of mouth. They believe that by creating an intimate and welcoming environment in their stores, as well as providing a great cup of coffee, customers will not only return, but do the advertising for them. Starbuck’s, with its clear points of difference, has created a loyal customer base which is willing to continue paying premium prices for the ‘Starbucks experience’. As Starbucks’ annual revenue increases have been consistent over the past ten years (see table 1), from $3.3 billion to $13.29 in 2012, this experience seems greatly successful and as such it is hard to imagine these competitive advantage formulae and successes being unsustainable for the foreseeable future. References 3 Ways Starbucks Is Innovating and Why You Should Care. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229580 Business Strategies. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://thebusinesstrategy.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/how-has-starbucks-been-so-successful.html Hennessey, R. (2012, August 06). 3 Reasons Why Starbucks Still Shines, Despite Market Shortcomings. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelhennessey/2012/08/06/3-reasons-why-starbucks-still-shines-despite-market-shortcomings/ Many innovations today are associated with companies as opposed to individuals. Why is this, and what does it tell us? (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://research-methodology.net/ Mission Statement. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/company-information/mission-statement Starbucks Competitive Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.slideshare.net/mspinella1016/starbucks-competitive-analysis Starb ucks Company Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.statisticbrain.com/starbucks-company-statistics/ Starbucks reusable cups are a hit. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://today.yougov.com/news/2013/01/08/starbucks-reusable-cups-are-hit/ Starbucks: A Model of Success | TIME.com. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://business.time.com/2013/08/27/starbucks-a-model-of-success/ Sustained Competitive Advantage of Starbucks. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://unrealist.hubpages.com/hub/Sustained-Competitive-Advantage-of-Starbucks Tice, C. (2013, January 17). How Starbucks Will Make Millions Off Its New, Reusable Cup. Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/caroltice/2013/01/17/how-starbucks-will-make-millions-off-its-new-reusable-cup/ The Worlds Most Powerful Brands. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2014, from http://www.rankingthebrands.com/The-Brand-Rankings.aspx?rankingID=279nav=category A look at Starbucks’ marketing strateg y. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.insidebusiness360.com/index.php/a-look-at-starbucks-marketing-strategy-1425/

African American English Essay Example for Free

African American English Essay When it comes to arguing whether African-American English/Ebonics, enriches or contaminates Standard English, most of the negative tone that African-American English gets comes from an educational stand point. One argument teachers, who do not believe in using Ebonics, use is that there is no place for Ebonics in the class room. Stacey Thomas, in her article â€Å"Ebonics and the African-American Student: Why Ebonics Has a Place in the Classroom† writes that teachers can use Ebonics as a way to facilitate the learning of Standard English to African American students. In order to use Ebonics as a vehicle to teaching Standard English, teachers must be bilingual; meaning they most know both Ebonics and Standard English. Thomas states, â€Å"†¦once students see and comprehend the differences between Standard English and Ebonics in terms of structure and syntax, they display a great[er] understanding in Standard English, and as a result, decrease their use of Ebonics† Ebonics and the African-American Student (6). In other words, by working on activities where students have to compare both Ebonics and Standard English, students’ knowledge of Standard English is increasing and their use of Ebonics is decreasing. Another arguments teachers use against Ebonics is that it obstructs the academic potential of African-Americans. Thomas goes further on by stating the Oakland school board Ebonics issue. In 1996, the Oakland, California school board started using Ebonics as a way to teach to African American students whose grades were lower than other ethnicities. As a result of using Ebonics as a vehicle to teaching, Thomas states, â€Å"the Oakland School Districts use of Ebonics in the classroom, [and] the students performance in reading and wring has improved†¦ the students have tested above district averages there was a in reading and writing skills† Ebonics and the African-American Student (6). So not only is the teaching of Ebonics facilitating school work for students, but it is also increasing their grades. Ebonics, a language that is stereotyped as ignorant and uneducated, is now becoming a great tool for educating students.

Android Operating System Analysis

Android Operating System Analysis Android (Operating System) Revolution in Mobile Technology Abstract Androids mobile operating system is based on the Linux kernel and it is a software stack for mobile devices. This operating system is one of the worlds best-selling Smartphone platform. Android involves many developers writing applications that helps in extended the functionality of the devices. There are currently over 1,50,000 applications available for Android. Android Market is the online application store run by Google, though applications can also be downloaded from third-party sites. Developers write in the Java language. The unveiling of the Android distribution on 5 November 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 80 hardware, software, and telecom companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Most of the Android code is released by Google under the Apache License. The Android open-source software stack consists of Java applications running on a Java-based, object-oriented applicationlication framework on top of Java core libraries . Libraries written in C include SQLite relational database management system, WebKit layout engine, SGL graphics engine, SSL. The Android operating system, including the Linux kernel, consists of roughly 12million lines of code including 3million lines of XML, 2.8million lines of C, 2.1million lines of Java, and 1.75million lines of C++. Android logo Ascender Corporation designed the Android logo with the Droid font family. Version history After original release, many updates of androids have been seen. These updates focus on fixing bugs as well as adding new features. Each new version is developed under a code name based on a dessert item. The most recent released versions of Android are: 2.0/2.1 (Eclair), which introduced HTML5 and Exchange ActiveSync 2.5 support 2.2 (Froyo), which introduced speed improvements with JIT optimization , Wi-Fi and Adobe Flash support 2.3 (Gingerbread), which introduced the soft keyboard and copy/paste features, and added support for Near Field Communication 3.0 (Honeycomb), which supports larger screen devices and introduces many new user interface features, and supports multicore processors and hardware acceleration for graphics. The upcoming version of Android is: Ice Cream Sandwich, a combination of Gingerbread and Honeycomb into a cohesive whole, with a possible release in mid-2011. Hardware Running Android The main supported platform for Android is the ARM (Advanced Risc Machines) architecture.ARM is one of the most licensed and thus widespread processor cores in the world. It is used especially in portable devices due to low power consumption and reasonable performance. Now a days cell phones, note books and tablets, including the Dell Streak, Samsung Galaxy Tab, TV and other devices can use the functionality of Android . HTC Dream was the first phone to run android, released on 22 October 2008. Features Current features and specifications: Bluetooth, edge, 3G , WiFi support. Camera GPS, accelerometer support. GSM telephony support. Integrated browser based on the open source webkit engine Media support for common audio video, still image formats. Architecture Architecture Diagram Android architecture has four layers: 1. Application Layer : Android is one of skillful and modifiable OS because of its many applications.Top 25 applications in the list below Goggle voice Advanced task killer Drop box Evernote Droid Analytics Documents to go Amazon kindle Places directory Tripit Seesmic FCC Speedtest Astro File Manager Got To Do Gist TED Mobile Pandora Shazam Dial Zero Google Goggles Google Skymap Tricodor Fxcamera Photoshop Mobile Bump Barcode Scanner These applications are written in Java Language. Screen Shot: 2. Application Framework Layer: Android applications are written in the Java programming language. By the help of SDK tools Androids code is compiled with data and resource file. An archive file has .apk extension. All the code in a single .apk file is considered to be one application. By the help of this file, Android devices use to install the application. Android provides the ability to build extremely rich and innovative applications due to open source platform. These are the services which are provided by it like device hardware, access location information, run background services, set alarms, add notifications to the status bar, and much more. Developers have full access to the same framework APIs used by the core applications. The application architecture is designed to simplify the reuse of components; any application can publish its capabilities and any other application may then make use of those capabilities .This same mechanism allows components to be replaced by the user. Underlying all applications is a set of services and systems, including: Set ofViewsthat can be used to build an application, including lists, grids, text boxes, buttons, and web browser Access data from other applications (such as Contacts), or to share their own data by the help of content providers. AResource Manager, providing access to non-code resources such as localized strings, graphics, and layout files To display custom alerts in the status bar by the help of a notification manager. Lifecycle of applications can be maintained by an activity manager. 3. Libraries: Android system uses a set of C/C++ libraries which helps in functioning of its various components.. Android application framework exposes its functionalities for its users. Some of the core libraries are listed below: System C library a BSD-derived implementation of the standard C system library , tuned for embedded Linux-based devices Media Libraries many audio and video formats are supported by these libraries. These libraries support image formats like MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, and PNG. Surface Manager manages access to the display subsystem and seamlessly composites 2D and 3D graphic layers from multiple applications LibWebCore a modern web browser engine which powers both the Android browser and an embeddable web view SGL the underlying 2D graphics engine 3D libraries an implementation based on OpenGL ES 1.0 APIs; the libraries use either hardware 3D acceleration (where available) or the included, highly optimized 3D software. FreeType bitmap and vector font rendering SQLite a powerful and lightweight relational database engine available to all applications 4. Linux Kernel Layer : The kernel also acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and the rest of the software stack. It contains the drivers for flash memory, camera, keypad, Audio, WiFi drivers , networking, file system access and inter process communication. Android relies on Linux version 2.6 for core system services such as security, memory management, process management, network stack, and driver model. Software Development Kit The Android software development kit (SDK) includes a set of development tools viz. a debugger, libraries, a handset emulator documentation, sample code, and tutorials. Android developer website helps in downloading SDK. Currently supported development platforms include computers running Linux (any modern desktop Linux distribution), Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later, Windows XP or later. Instead of using Eclipse (official IDE) developers may use any text editor to edit Java and XML to create, build and debug Android applications. The SDK also supports older versions of the Android platform in case developers wish to target their applications at older devices. Android applications are packaged in .apk format and stored under /data/application folder on the Android OS. APK package contains .dex files ,resource files, etc. List of those features that android phones do better than the iPhone Browsing Desktop Connectivity PC Connection Multi-notification Endless personalization Market Goggle integration Open source Op[en to carriers Current Distribution The following pie chart and table is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Android Market within a 14-day period ending on the data collection date noted below. Platform API Level Distribution Android 1.5 3 3.9% Android 1.6 4 6.3% Android 2.1 7 31.4% Android 2.2 8 57.6% Android 2.3 9 0.8% Data collected during two weeks ending on February 2, 2011