Tuesday, 24 February 2015

The key factors driving change in education and their impact on teaching and learning in the 21st century

Introduction
21st century has seen lot of changes in education. Every school try to incorporate new ways of teaching and also then assesses how well their initiatives have led to the outcomes. New ideas emerge from analysis and statement all of the time. This essay examines some expected changes in who and how we educate. We emphasize enhancements in both pedagogies and teaching-related technology, and talk about growing pressure to deal with the traditional liberal arts focus of undergrad education and learning. We also analyze the effects of forecasts for changes in teachers and student census. Additionally, in this era of financial belt-tightening in almost every area of higher education, we temporarily touch on issues about the evaluation of academic results for student learning and the basic financial health of the sector of higher education.
Framework for 21st Century Learning
The education in the 21st century has been looked at through a new perspective of teaching. The new elements include focusing on the core subjects and also on the emerging content areas like globalisation, financial, economic, and business as well as entrepreneurial literacy, i.e. civic and health awareness. New learning and thinking skills are included like critical thinking, problem-solving skills; communication; creativeness and innovation; collaboration; contextual learning; and details and press knowledge.
Moreover, learners and teachers today must have ICT (Information and Communications Technology) knowledge and use technological innovation in the perspective of studying and educating. The abilities they need include such life abilities as management, ethics, accountability, personal liability, self-direction, and much more. Moreover, an understanding of how to use 21st century tests, specifically genuine assessments that evaluate all areas of studying, is key. The Partnership’s Structure is a specific, combined perspective for 21st century learning. Among its elements are the factors, program, environment, and tests that schools must apply.
Key factors that are driving change in 21st century education
Automation
Anybody who has visited a factory lately is aware that the effect of automation—the use of computers and computer-driven equipment to substitute individual labour—has been very important. Automation means more than just changing human divisions with automated equipment on set up lines. Today, computer systems are also progressively able to achieve a variety of work-related thinking projects once conducted by people. Work market economic experts Rich Murnane of Stanford School and Honest Levy of MIT have recorded how computerization is improving the requirement for some types of abilities even as it removes many tasks that once compensated good salaries (Education for the 21st Century). Across the economic system, while computer systems are not yet doing everything, they are progressively performing most of the schedules.
That is because computer systems are excellent at details handling, and every job needs detailed processing of some type. Computers are able to do the tasks if the information that is involved can be made digital and also present it in a suitable form which the computer can understand. They are very good at processing the information related tasks which requires following of certain rules. For instance, earlier, an airline customer had to deal with another person in case they wanted to fly somewhere. However, today anyone can book a ticket online by just entering little information. So, in 21st century education automation is one of the key players in driving a change.
Societal Changes
The students of Australia has been going through change for a while, with increased preservation rates resulting in learners of lesser ability staying at school beyond the mandatory 15 years of age. Also, diversity in culture has become a characteristic of Australian schools. In addition, part-time work has become established amongst the students. Together, these social factors have produced a rapid change to the typical profile of Australian learners.
Further, practices in workplace have considerably changed in the last few years. No longer is the build up of skills and information the primary requirement for career, but a capability to be able to evolve to new situations, to continue to learn individually, and to perform cooperatively have become crucial. Rifkin indicates that an era where a worker's worth is identified by the market value of their labour is coming to an end. Creativeness is taking the place of knowledge level in identifying "value", whilst capability to perform in a team environment is a requirement for many job possibilities. This is a need to create educational methods that create a student who is self-directed and life-long.
Globalisation
Another significant pattern forming upcoming expertise requirements is “globalization,” the splitting down of financial, social, and perceptive boundaries between countries. Globalization has not taken place individually because of technological change. The popularity of Windows-enabled computer systems, fax devices, and dial-up designs soon after the drop of the Berlin walls set the level. Then the Internet growth of the 90's motivated financial commitment in the components (fibre optic cables) and application (web browsers) necessary for the appearance of an “information extremely highway” along which all types of work products that are digitized could travel (Education for the 21st Century). Lastly, work-flow application and common technical requirements permitted different application programs to discuss with each other, which often permitted work projects to be designed up into parts, sent out to whoever could execute them best and most affordably, and then reassembled into the final product.
The outcome was a new system for leading business, one that permitted for much more innovative collaboration across much higher ranges. Actually, geographical range is becoming progressively irrelevant. According to Friedman, all of a sudden more individuals from more different locations could perform together with more other individuals on more different types of job and share more different types of knowledge than ever before. Gradually, a whole new set of company methods progressed to take benefits of this new platform—off shoring, freelancing, supply-chaining—signalling a move from “vertical” manufacturing to “horizontal” cooperation.
As per a study which was led by Eric Hanushek, a Stanford economist, the performance of a student on the standardized tests which is half of the standard deviation higher (little less than the variation between the good performers like Singapore or Finland as well as United States) changes to one percentage more growth in the total domestic product for more than a 40 year period. This amount is very huge in comparison to the normal yearly growth rate which is about 2 - 3 percent. Also Hanushek and his other colleagues gave an estimation that if the performance of the students in U.S. improves in an international test to a level of the top performing nations, the gross domestic product of the country would be an additional 5% in more than 32 years from now, which will be enough for paying for k-12 education. And also a 36% higher in 75 years.
Globalization is clearly impacting expertise requirements in many ways. First, because they will experience a job market in which people in America no more have such a huge “home court” job benefits, learners will need to make sure that they have adequate abilities and enough information to contend for good tasks in a truly international economy. And “sufficient” progress indicates much more than primary. Jobs that require fewer skills are outsourced first, but higher experienced work is progressively vulnerable—especially as other countries capture up to and exceed the U.S. in K-12 and also in higher education. Globalization also is impacting the kinds of information and abilities learners will need to flourish. Since they will be working together with individuals all over the globe, they will need to have higher “global literacy”—knowledge about the individuals and societies outside of the country.
Demographic change
Previous year the U.S. Demographics Institution estimated that by the time all of the Baby Boomers achieve the age 65 in 2030, nearly one out of every five U.S. citizens will be 65 and mature. Actually, the 65 and mature population is predicted to more than dual between 2008 and 2050, while the 85 and mature inhabitants is predicted to be more than three times. That’s one purpose we should be involved with keeping financial development, according to the Abilities Percentage report: Very few of us will have to back up many more of us than has ever been the situation before. If each of us only generates only as much as each person  of the generation of baby boom, then each of us will be lesser than we have been, because there will be more mouths to feed.
New Pedagogy and Curriculum
What we know about studying is changing schools, roles of faculties, and student communities in the 21st century. The conventional educating strategies (e.g., lessons and tests) are becoming outdated in a world that motivates people to think seriously and successfully. New types of pedagogy, active studying, self-guided training, and group work are changing education techniques, moving them away from conventional lessons to inactive viewers.  The interaction between the student as well as the faculty is changing with new pedagogies. The teacher is no longer the sage on level in classes and sessions, and often provides several roles through communications with learners including teacher, coach, and advisor (Education for the 21st Century).
Another area that is modifying fast is the incorporation of different types of disciplines. One example is the effort to incorporating the curriculum of science in entry-level programs in reaction to the book of Bio2010, a significant review by the National Research Council (2003) on re-orientating the undergrad biology curriculum for the 21st century. These projects are being motivated by funding organizations, such as the Howard Hughes Medical Institution and the National Science Foundation’s Department of Undergraduate Education and learning.
The task in creating and institutionalizing impressive pedagogy and curriculum is getting buy-in from three different sectors which are faculties, administrators as well as students. Actual professional identification for impressive and efficient educating, not just analysis efficiency, must become an aspect of the institutional lifestyle. Innovative educating should be an essential element in this period and marketing choices. This will need connecting educating efficiency to results evaluation. Conventional end-of-semester course assessments will have to be changed with more student-centred equipment such as students’ self-assessment of their own studying benefits. There will be a need for a serious concentration on staff growth to train teachers in new pedagogies using effective studying and academic technological innovation. Moreover, staff from different professions should be motivated to perform together in categories to create team-taught interdisciplinary programs. Many students go through some discomfort when they are accountable for their own studying. This mind-set of being an “accidental learner” must be changed by a constructivist strategy to studying. Faculties should offer the conceptual scaffold in the self-disciplinary way to allow the students to think seriously and find out new types of information on their own.
21st century curricular offerings
Just as technological innovation have significantly affected how we educate the twenty-first-century category, new information has included to the opportunities for what we can educate, and this mixture of new technological innovation and new information has led to almost unlimited opportunity for twenty-first-century curricular promotions (Education for the 21st Century). We can educate more because we know more; in some circumstances technology allows all of us to do a better job in the distribution of information. The academia also encounters difficulties in ongoing to describe and help students who accept the conventional generous arts as well as science professions. As students’ options of educational degrees turn to applied and professional passions reliable with their own and their families’ issues about post-college profession, we need to keep that as well as perceptive abilities vital in association with the conventional liberal arts. It would be a gloomy world without poems and music, but we also must understand and regard the inspirations that drive students to a realistic and applied research. The task is to provide a career-relevant knowledge that also generates crucial, educated thinkers and long term students.
Conclusion
In this document, we have described why Twenty first century abilities are essential and described what the science of studying informs us about how best to educate and evaluate those abilities, as well as how to ensure that university techniques have the individual investment to bring out this essential objective. Although there is some improvement towards this objective, the work that is remaining will be challenging and complex, and it will require accurately the kinds of abilities that we consider crucial for the next creation. If we believe that twenty first century abilities are the key to fixing financial, social, and international difficulties and to engaging successfully in those areas, then we must act on the fact that using those abilities to overhaul our education and studying techniques is possible.



Monday, 23 February 2015

Gauri Khan

Introduction
The name doesn’t need any introduction. The better half of SRK, Gauri, is a woman of power and strength. Gauri Chibber, as she was known as before marrying Shahrukh Khan, was born and brought up in the heart of India, Delhi. She also did her schooling from the famous Loreto Convent School and did her graduation in History.
Gauri’s Love Life
Gauri met with her lifelong partner Shahrukh Khan when she was only 14 years old, that is, in 1984 and after 6 years of courtship, the couple finally decided to get married in the year 1991 and spend the rest of their life with each other. They are a parent of three lovely kids, two son and a daughter.
Mrs. Khan is not only a great wife and a great mother, but she is also a producer and a famous interior designer. Along with her husband, she founded Red Chillies Entertainment, which deals in film production as well as distribution.
Her media presence
All these years, Gauri Khan has kept a low profile in the media. It is only recently, that she started appearing in media and has also done a commercial for D’décor with her husband, of which she is a brand ambassador. She is the producer of some hit movies like Om Shanti Om and Main Hoon Na. She even co-produced films like Student Of The Year as well as My Name Is Khan with Dharma Productions.

Would increasing the minimum wage help or hurt the working poor in United States?

History
The minimum wage of the federal act has always been used in alleviating the condition of the poor. It was in the year 1938 that the federal minimum wage was first used into action which was a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the minimum hourly rate of a labor was set to 25 cents per hour; however, this law did not include everybody who was coming under the poverty line. In the year 1983 to 1989 the minimum wage was revised and set to $3.35 and within a decade it was revised to at least four times and in the year 1997, it was raised to $5.15 per hour. At the present time, the minimum wage of a labor has been set to almost $7.25 per hour. This clearly states that if we calculate the minimum wage of a labor for the entire year, it comes to around $15,800. As the poverty threshold is $18,500, so a family, who has at least 3 members which may include one or two children, falls under the poverty line. There are many people who say that as the United States is a wealthy nation, a worker who works for full time should be able to support his family. If we consider the income inequality among people in the United States, this seems to be relevant.
Prevalence and Seriousness of the issue
One of the biggest concerns of the public health community is poverty. At the present time, the number of people who come under the poverty line has increased. It is noticed that earlier in 1990s, the poverty of the country declined, but considering the figures from the United States' Census Bureau (USCB), it was reported that there has been a significant rise in the poverty rate, which was 11.3% in the year 2000 but got increased to 12.7% in 2004. It was noticed that it were the children who suffered the most as their poverty rate were more. The proportion of children who were living in poverty saw a rise of 13.4%, that is, it rose from a rate of 15.7%, which was 11.1 million, in the year 2000 to 17.8%, which is 13.0 million, in the year 2004.
Impact of this issue on families
The impact of poverty on families is considered very serious. Children growing in the poverty suffer the most. They go through a lot of health problems; as a result, they rarely go to the school. Even infants are born underweight. It was also noticed that due to the recession in the country, many suffered job loss, due to which there were family fights and abuses. People, who went through the tough time of financial hardship, faced many problems including threats, insults and even corporal punishment.
The people who come under the poverty line are mainly homeless. This creates lot of risks for them especially, if there is a child in the family. There are people who are under the poverty line but still have a home, so there condition is still considered better than the one who do not have a house, as they are at more risk. Families, who are homeless, go through more stress along with problem in working, going to school, etc. They even have a lot of family issues.
Pro and Con Side
Role of Key Players who are in support
The government of United States plays a key role in removing poverty. There are several federal programs and projects that are provided by the government to help the public in education, health and even safety. This assistance is provided through federal agencies. They supply the resources to the poor people. In order to help the poor financially, the US government also provides 'grants'; however, for this, the person has to first apply. These 'grants' are of different types to award people with different needs.
Even Social workers throughout the country try to do everything possible to remove the poverty from the country.  In everyday life social workers come across many poor people, they help them to understand the situation that they are in and to change themselves along with their environment to come out of this issue. Along with that it is also required that each community work towards developing themselves which will automatically upgrade the standard of living of all the people in the community. The social workers even work with individual families where there main focus is on enhancing resources along with providing opportunities where they understand their personal capacities.
To overcome poverty, there are many organizations who work towards removing it. They are among the key players who work towards it. The organizations create new job vacancies and employ people which help them financially. Along with that they also run several programs where they make the people aware of their efforts and try to change their view towards their current situation. This helps them to know their potential and work on them accordingly to enhance their situation.
Key Players who are in opposition
Even though, the increase in the minimum wage of the workers is helping the low-income household to improve their living, still there are some people or organizations who are against this hike. There are some economists who oppose a higher minimum wage. While arguing they say that if the minimum wage of the workers is increased, there will be a decrease in the number of jobs available in the country. For example, a study done by the CBO states that if the minimum wage of the workers are raised to $ 10.10, the total employment in the country will see a decrease of 500,000. If there are less entry-level jobs, then less inexperienced workers will be appointed for a job which requires more skills as well as experience.
There are also certain business groups who stand against this law and oppose them. According to them, the increase in the minimum wage will see a significant decrease in the availability of jobs and it might come to a saturation point. This will again lead to less employment in the country and hence those who are skilled will not get a job according to their ability. Along with that there are also some businesses that are paying less to their employees, so increasing their wages would mean that they will have less profit. So, there are people who are also not supporting this raise on moral grounds.
Strengths and weaknesses of the key players' position
The government and the social workers who are supporting the hike in the minimum wage of the workers are also supporting the fact that the raise in the income will improve the individual's life and they will be able to educate themselves and their children. Many social workers have actually been to the places of the poor people and have felt the bad situation that they are going through. So, since they are supporting this law, they will have more support from the other community people. According to them, everybody should have a good standard of living and they believe in equality. They tend to get more support than those who stand against this law.
On the other hand, people who are standing against this hike would get less support from people. Although according to them, with the increase in the minimum wage there will be less employment, but the employment opportunities can be made available by more vacancies and by establishing more companies. So, there stand against this hike is to some extent, not logical.
Is their argument convincing?
The arguments given by the key players who do not support this hike, is not considered convincing. As per them, with the increase in the wage, the nation will see a significant loss in the number of employment. However, depending upon this it is not considered to let the poor live in the way they are living. On moral grounds, one should think of helping these people rather than allowing their situation to worsen.
According to a study, it was found that only 19 percent of the people who will benefit from the raise in the minimum wage are actually considered poor. So, this means that 81 percent of them would not be affected by the higher wage. Hence, if these 19 percent people start getting higher wage, after a certain period of time, there will be no people in the community who will come under this percentage and there will be about 900,000 people who will come out of the poverty line. Thus, the country will be 100% free from poor people. In this situation, it can be said that the country does not have any poor people.
Conclusion
In reference to the minimum wage, there are different laws that have been enforced.

  • In United States, nine localities have enacted currently on the minimum wage law: Albuquerque, NM; Bernalillo County, NM; Montgomery County, MD; Prince George's County, MD; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Santa Fe, NM; Santa Fe County, NM; and Washington DC. Out of all these localities Richmond, CA has already voted in order to increase the minimum wage to $ 12.30 per hour by the year 2017.
  • Currently, the mandatory minimum wage ranges from $8.50 per hour in Bernalillo County to $10.74 per hour in San Francisco.
  • On an average, the minimum wage laws that currently exist have made it mandatory for the wages to increase by 41.4 percent. Most of them are required to get this increase in multiple steps; however, for some it is to be made effective immediately. There are several localities who have already implemented this law in several steps. The average increase in the minimum wage per step across all the localities is 16.7 percent.
  • All the laws that are enforced in the nine localities are similar and cover the majority of the work which a worker performs while staying within their counties. The coverage of nonprofits was delayed by San Francisco and also it got delayed for small businesses (which were less than 10 employees) for one year. On the other hand, Santa Fe first removed the small businesses; however, later it amended its law and started covering all the businesses.
  • Out of the nine laws, two of them (San Francisco and San Jose) have the same law as the state's for treating the workers who get tips and the workers who don't, hence a uniformity in wage is maintained between both the groups. The other seven laws follow the law of their state which says to maintain a lower minimum wage for the workers who are tipped (even after an increase in the base income of the tipped workers). Similar provisions are made by several of the other laws in context to the commissioned workers.
  • After the enforcement of these laws, it has been seen that it has benefitted many to some extent. There are also many families whose minimum wage was much less than anyone could think of, so for them, these laws have proved to be a blessing. Although few find that there is a small increase in the prices when they go to any restaurant, but in other businesses there is no such increase in the price. So, overall the minimum wage laws have helped people.
  • In future, if the minimum wage of the workers is not changed then the society as well as the country will face lot of problems. As the poor will not get a chance to improve their financial condition, they will keep becoming poorer and the rich will become richer. So, 20 years down the line the country will see a huge demarcation between the rich and the poor. It will have a big impact on the country's financial situation. However, with the enforcement of the minimum wage laws, the poor people get a chance to improve their present condition. They can even start utilizing their skills when their financial condition improves. So, in this case, after 20 years, it might happen that there will not be any section in the community which will be called poor. They will at least have a house to stay and will be able to educate themselves.
  • In order to improve the condition of the poor and increase their minimum wages, there should be more laws that should be made in order to help the low wage workers. Along with that there should be different programs established which specifically targets the people who have low income. These programs might include welfare programs related to stamps and other welfare programs along with the credit of the income tax.

The Journey of Ragini Khanna in the B-town

The Journey of Ragini Khanna in the B-town
Ragini Khanna
The famous multi-talented television actress and an idol of positivity and versatility, Ragini Khanna, is a steadily growing actress who has also landed her steps in Bollywood. She has an unparalleled capability to balance her television and filmy careers, along with hosting several reality shows.
Ragini’s Childhood
Ragini Khanna was born and brought up in Mumbai and attained mastery in commerce from the Mumbai University. Born in the Khanna family, Ragini is also the niece of the super-star of his time Govinda. Therefore, other popular television stars of today like Krushna and Soumya Seth happen to be her cousins’ whereas Amit Khanna is her real brother who is also an actor.
Her Career
The Sagittarius beauty debuted as an actress in her first TV soap, Radha Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi. Then she was chosen for the lead role in the prominent satirical serial, Bhaskar Bharti, which was quite a success. But Ragini was most loved by her fans when she appeared in the romance cum comedy show, Sasural Genda Phool wherein the story revolved around the life of a rich girl who is married to a guy belonging to a middle class family. It showed her journey after marriage wherein she tries to cope up with the changes in her new life. The show was a big hit and the audience soon started recognizing her as Suhana, her character in the show.
Along with television, she also appeared in many of the reality shows, the most prominent of them being Jhalak Dikhala Jaa Season 4. After this she was seen hosting many other reality shows with the passage of time as her anchoring was appreciated a lot by the audience.
Apart from the television, the actress also marked her steps on the big-curtain industry. She played her debut role in the movie Teen Thay Bhai. Though the movie was a flop but her role was appreciated by the Indian audience. She also worked in a Punjabi film Bhaji In Problem. In her upcoming movie Ghoomketu, the actress is paired opposite to Nawazuddin Siddiqui. She has also been the brand ambassador of many social campaigns and endorsements.
Her Love Life
As it is always with the actors, they don't like to reveal their personal life in front of the camera; even Ragini has tried to keep it a secret from her viewers. However, it is still rumored that she is currently dating the well-heeled businessman Jesal Arya. Although when she was asked about it, she chose not to say anything. So, we can just wait for the right time for the revelation of this wonderful news.

Sunday, 22 February 2015

Law of Demand - A Microeconomic Law

Law of Demand

            A microeconomic law that states, all different components being equivalent, as the cost of a decent or administration builds, purchaser interest for the great or administration will decline, and the other way around. The law of interest says that the higher the value, the bring down the amount requested, on the grounds that customers' chance expense to secure that great or administration builds, and they must make more tradeoffs to gain the more extravagant item.

Determinants of Demand

            With the change in price, the demand in quantity also changes. That is an activity along the demand curve which is same. When aspects other than cost changes, there is a shift in the demand curve. The determinants of the demand curve are listed below.
1.                  Income: With the rise in income there is also a rise in the quantity that is demanded. Likewise, when income decreases, demand also decreases with it. Products whose requirement differs inversely with income are known as inferior goods.
2.                  Price: According to the law of demand, with the rise in price, the demand in the quality falls. This also indicates that with the fall in costs, requirement will increase. People platform their buying choices on cost, if all other things are equivalent. The opposite, of course, is also real. When requirement increases, companies will usually increase the cost to prevent being out of inventory and frustrating clients. On the other hand, when requirement drops, companies will usually fall the cost, even if only momentarily for a selling, to offer more of the good or service.
3.                  Prices of related goods or services: The price of supporting services or products increases the overall price of using the goods that you require, so you'll want less. For example, when the cost of gas increased to $4 a quart in 2008, the requirement for Hummervees dropped. Gas is a supporting excellent to Hummers. The overall price of generating a Hummer increased along with gas costs.
4.                  Tastes: This is said to be the preference for any good or any service. When preferences increase, the amount increases. Furthermore, when preferences fall, the amount required also decreases. This is how brand advertising works. In order to make you feel the need for a product, the companies spend millions.
5.                  Expectation: Consumers’ present requirement will increase if they anticipate higher upcoming prices; their requirement will reduce if they anticipate lower upcoming costs. consumers’ present requirement will increase if they anticipate higher upcoming income; their requirement will reduce if they anticipate lower upcoming income.
Law of supply
            Law of supply declares that other aspects which remains continuous, cost and amount provided of a excellent are proportional to each other. In other terms, when the cost paid by customers for an excellent increases, then providers increase the provide of that excellent in the market.
Determinants of Law of supply
            With the change in cost, the amount provided also changes. That is an activity along the same supply curve. When aspects other than cost changes, supply curve will move. Here are some aspects of the supply curve.
1.                  Production cost: Since the goal of many private companies is to maximize its profit, higher production cost will lower advantage, thus limit supply. Production cost is affected by input prices, rate of wage, regulation made by the government and taxes, etc.
2.                  Technology: With the improvement in technology, production cost has reduced and profit has increased. Hence, higher supply is stimulated.
3.                  Number of Sellers: The supply in the market increases with the increase in the number of sellers.
4.                  Expectation for future prices: In order to capture a higher price, in case the producers expect that there is a price hike in the future on any product, they try to hold that product and offer them to the consumers in future.
Efficient markets theory
            When it comes to finance, the efficient market theory means that the financial markets are efficient in information. As a result, one cannot continually accomplish profits in excess of regular industry profits on a risk-adjusted foundation, given the details available at the time the financial commitment is created.
            There are three major editions of this theory which is weak, semi-strong and strong.
The weak form of this theory is that costs on the assets that are traded  already indicate all
past details that are openly available to everyone. The semi-strong indicate that both the
prices include all openly available details and that costs immediately change to indicate new
public details. The strong form claims that costs immediately indicate even invisible or
insider details.
Surplus and shortage
            In the analysis of supply as well as demand in a flawlessly focused industry, there is a market demand curve that is sloping downward and also there is one that is sloping upward. The focuses on the demand curve are the amount requested and the focuses on the supply curve are the amount supplies. On the off chance that quantity demanded is more prominent than the quantity supplies it is said that there's a shortage. In the event that quantity supplied is more prominent than the quantity demanded, there's a surplus.