Self Efficacy Among Academically Low And High Achievers

Self Efficacy Among Academically Low And High Achievers The present study aims to assess the relationship of mindfulness with self-efficacy among academically low and high achievers as Confidence and belief in achieving goals is a good predictor of success. Mindfulness is an inherent state of consciousness that differs among individuals for a variety of reasons and that can be changed by individual. The definition of mindfulness points out that it is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment (Kabat-zinn, 2003). It is considered a capacity available to everyone, although individuals differ in their tendency to be mindful (Brown Ryan, 2003) When students can learn to be fully present they can increase the quality of their learning performance by being more focused and become better able to deal with stressful situations and through their increased learning they can achieve considerably high grades (Langer, 1993). When a student is mindful he/she becomes able to approach learning situations from a novel perspective while drawing upon previously learned material. They can learn the material and are better able to relate it with their previous knowledge (Langer, Hatem, Joss, Howell, 1989) Mindfulness is an element of consciousness that is characterized by a heightened state of awareness in which an individual is attentive to being in the present moment. This enhanced attention to and awareness of current experience or present reality has been shown to be associated with enhanced self-awareness, self-regulated behaviors, and positive emotional states. (Brown, Kirk Richard, 2003) Attention plays a role in a students life to achieve high grades if they pay proper attention at the appropriate time. To be in a state of mindfulness in reference to academics we mean conscious awareness in which the individual is aware of the context and content of information. Increasing mindful awareness can deepen and broaden the understanding of the context and content of the subjects. Attention is a complex construct and is related to a variety of cognitive processes (e.g., perception, memory, planning, and speech) (Mirsky, Fantie, Tatman, 1995; Zimmerman Leclercq, 2002). Because of its centrality in the education it is of significant importance. The individual have tendency and opportunity to continually process information from various perspectives and it helps in increasing levels of creativity and knowledge. When students use mindfulness in their learning processes they utilize creativity, experience cognitive flexibility and are thus able to better use information and retain that information for a longer period of time (Langer, Hatem, Joss, Howell, 1989; Thornton McEntee, 1995). More recent studies in education have revealed a sharp increase in memory and creativity for mindful treatment groups (Langer, 1997). It has been observed that mindful learners are more mentally present and active (Langer, 1993). They plan what they will learn and the strategies they will use and they control and self-regulate their learning. As readers, they use strategies to organize, elaborate on, and evaluate text (Paris, Wasik, Turner, 1996). They integrate what they learn in school texts with their personal experiences to actively construct their own meanings and ideas and to use them in flexible ways. For the reasons that they are more constructive and give meanings to world according to their understandings thats why they are considered to be more real and are original thinkers. More mindful individuals are generally perceived as being more genuine than less mindful individuals and this has been shown to increase positive effect (Langer Moldoveneu 2000). Attention is the foundation of better retention of information and better cognitive functions in our life style (Cooley Morris, 1990), where multitasking has become the norm. Children also are multitasking as they face information overload due to watching hours of television, playing video games, surfing on internet, doing their home works and preparing for their exams etc. Developmental research indicates that childrens attention to specific information depends upon the importance they place on the information and that children in later stages of development are better able to logically control their selective attention (Wright Vliestra, 1975). In a study of mindfulness practice by Richart and Perkins (2000) in the classroom and took an example of a math lesson from a traditional didactic instructional classroom and a mindful constructivist classroom where students had more freedom to explore answers on their own. Second grade students were given the following problem: There are 26 sheep and 10 goats on a ship. How old is the captain? 88% of the students from the traditional classroom setting answered 36. Not one student commented that the question did not make any sense although they averaged in the 85th percentile on the tests. In contrast nearly a third of the students in the more mindful constructivist classroom questioned the sense of problem. (p29) In order for children to learn in the classroom they must be able to focus their attention. Mindfulness affects the grades in such a way that if the student present in the class is not paying attention to the lecture being delivered, then the understanding of the syllabus will not be as easy as it wouldve been had he/she been paying attention hence clearing concepts and asking questions to understand the confusions hence mindfulness is necessary for achieving academic achievements. The more mindful the student in the class, the better is his achievement. In one of the studies by Langer, Hefferman, Keiester, (1988) mindfulness in the workplace showed increase in creativity, decreased burnout and greater enjoyment of tasks Researchers in social psychology have also found benefits of mindfulness in a range of areas including increased creativity, increased productivity in the workplace (Park, 1990), increased attention (Langer Bodner, 1995), greater liking of a task (Langer et al., in press), and use a lot of effective learning methods (Langer Piper, 1987; Langer, Hatem, Joss, Howell, 1989; Langer, 1997). Education is an area that often seems to prosper in mindlessness. Traditionally, children have been taught to memorize course content and view what is being offered in the classroom from the teachers perspective. Children need to make sense of what they learn instead of solely memorizing facts. In the educational context other mindful manipulations have involved asking students to make material more meaningful for themselves, compared to groups asked to memorize it (Lieberman Langer, 1997). As students memorize most of the things that they do not understand. They do not pay attention to clear their concepts and just learn it by rote. As we know that material learned by rote memory has no personal meaning. Many problems are not solved because many students think in automatic and habitual ways. This automatic mode of thought is called mindlessness. The cost of mindless thinking is significant because it limits our ability to make good decisions (Langer, 1997) As discussed earlier that the mindful students retained the information better, for a longer period of time and was able to utilize it in more creative ways. Perspective should be taken into consideration because it brings out better performance (Lieberman Langer, 1997). Almost all of the facts most of people learned in school were taught to us in a perspective-free way that encourages mindless use of the information because it does not occur to us to question it again. In contrast, information presented in the mindful, perspective-taking condition was learned better by high school students, even though they had to deal with more information. In this way mindful teaching practices can have a mark effect on student learning and it also shows that students who learn mindfully can retain the information better. Individuals develop patterns of stress response from birth through continued interaction with the environment. Young (1995) acknowledges that educators today recognize that students are suffering from stress in very different ways than a decade ago. The literature indicates that children are under a great deal of external pressure both at home and in school, resulting in many of the same physiological symptoms of distress as adults (Miller McCormick, 1991). While much of the research on children and stress was conducted two decades ago, available research indicates that environmental stress negatively affects children. In a study seven and eight year olds were studied for two to four years, researchers found that increase in stressful life events were related to decrease in ratings of academic performance, though unrelated to ratings of social behaviors (Kiselica, Baker, Thomas Reedy 1994). Mindful teachings and mindful learning by the students can decrease this stress. Academic achievement Academic achievement is defined as excellence in academic disciplines, in class. Loe Fieldman, (2007) define academic performance as ones ability to complete class work and homework and they define academic underachievement as problem in learning and applying knowledge including earning poor grades. As this study is in Pakistani perspective so we first need to know the Pakistani educational system. There are two main types of schools in Pakistan government and private. In both school types, almost always, the formal education system comprises of 5 years of primary, 3 years of middle, 2 years high (Metric/GCSE) and 2 years of higher secondary schooling (FA/FSc. O level/A level). While similar in their educational structures, the two school-types differ in terms of financing and regulation. Public schools are schools that are provided by state and federal funding. Schools are heavily dependent on the state, although in recent years the system has become considerably decentralized and responsibility for the delivery and management of education has shifted to the districts. The government provides free education till primary although government primary schooling is mandated to be tuition-free and there are nominal fees in middle and high school. Most of the Government schools are single-sex schools (exceptions occur when schools are coeducational up till primary after which they be come single-sex). (Monazza, 2009) Some of the major problems faced by public schools include limited financial resources, poor quality of content and a greater demand for education amongst parents of school-aged children. Pakistans public schools are overcrowded and underfunded. In Public schools classes are often overcrowded. As Class size is a factor that can cause various difficulties in understanding the lecture. The smaller the class size, the more attention each individual student will receive. In a smaller class, child will get personal attention (Grace, 2007). Class size effect the attention student seeks from the teacher as well as he pays in understanding the concepts. Sometimes due to larger class size, students cannot see the blackboard. They then lose their interest in the lecture being delivered, get engaged in gossips with their friends and other activities. And so by wasting their precious time their grades in class gradually decrease. Another reason is that in our schools generally is no concept of s eats rotation due to which the pupils who are less competent always try to sit at the back rows of the class. They become habitual back benchers and the ones who are more competent and capable always try to grab seats in the front rows. As a result teachers pay more attention to them, consequently making them able to remain attentive and engaged in class lessons and activities resulting in higher grades. Since learning is more personal and responsibility is more on the shoulders of the students, education requires students to monitor and regulate their own learning. In order to achieve goals students should have mindfulness i.e. paying attention to the studies and self-efficacy beliefs that will lead to achievement of goals. Students can help themselves by focusing more on what they are studying and it would lead enhance their learning performance/meaningful learning and hence they can better deal with stressful situations. Self-efficacy on the other hand involves confidence in achieving goals and it also in return helps decrease academic stress. Students perceptions of their abilities contribute to their self-esteem, confidence and ultimately to the level of motivation towards their studies are related to educational achievement. Attention is related to motivational processes (Parasurman, 1998; Zimmerman Leclercq, 2002). When student is motivated they will form beliefs about what they can do and set goals for themselves and hence pay more attention to their studies and will eventually lead to academic achievement. Self-efficacy suggests to peoples beliefs about their abilities to perform a task successfully at selected levels (Bandura, 1986, 1997). It influence the choices one makes and the courses of action one performs and so Self efficacy can also be explained as a belief in ones capabilities to organize and perform the tasks required to deal with the future situations (Bandura, in press, p. 2). These beliefs of personal proficiency effect behavior in several ways. Individuals typically select tasks and activities in which they feel capable and avoid those in which they do not. Students who are confident in their ability to manage, perform, and regulate their task performance at a designated level of competence are representing high self- efficacy. The construct of self-efficacy helps in explaining the findings that the behavior of individuals is not always perfectly predicted from their capability to complete a specific task but how a person believes they will perform is often more importa nt. According to Bandura academic self-efficacy is grounded in self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). According to this theory, it is an individuals self-confidence in his/her ability to manage and carry out a given course of action to resolve a problem or achieve a task (Eccles Wigfield, 2002, p. 110). Academic self-efficacy refers to ones belief that one can successfully achieve at a designated level on an educational task or get a specific academic goal and it is positively related to academic achievement (Bandura, 1997; Eccles Wigfield, 2002; Elias Loomis, 2002; Gresham, 1988; Linnenbrink Pintrich, 2002; Schunk Pajares, 2002). Self-efficacy theory suggests that academic self-efficacy may differ in strength as a function of problem solving. Some individuals may believe they are most efficient on difficult tasks, while others only on easier tasks. Ones self-efficacy has a great influence over ones choice of action, the kind of effort one spends, and how much one is able to keep that effort in the face of difficulty (Bandura, 1986, 1997; Schunk, 1995). Thus, self-efficacy beliefs have been found to influence students approach, their academic grades, their engagement in an activity, and how planned they may be while doing a task (Pajares Johnson, 1996; Pajares Miller, 1994, 1995). Therefore, Self-efficacy is supposed to effect performance via the influence on task perception. Each task achievement is assessed as a threat or a challenge, and persons with high self-efficacy beliefs are more likely to evaluate the tasks as a challenge (Chemers, Hu, and Garcia, 2001; Lazarus and Folkman, 1984; Pintrich and De Groot, 1990). That is, the degree to which a person feels confident about his or her capability to handle a given situation affects whether a certain task is supposed as stressful or threatening, rather than as a challenge. When a task is assessed as a challenge, one is more likely to select an effective coping strategy and to carry on the task. Self-efficacy also influences performance, confidence and self belief. Individuals with high self-efficacy practice challenging targets (Locke Latham, 1990), do their best, search for new solutions, and carry on in difficult task; this behavior leads to the improvement of actual ability and to goal achievement (Tuckman Sexton,1992). On the other hand, individuals with low self-efficacy practice lower levels of performance. Doubt and uncertainty during task performance weaken their concentration, and they give up easily when faced with difficult tasks. This process adversely affects the development of actual ability, which is reflected in lower achievement (Tuckman Sexton, 1992). A research suggests that high self-efficacy produces a feeling of calmness when approaching difficult tasks while low self-efficacy may result in an individual perceiving a task as more difficult than reality, which, in turn, may create anxiety, stress and a narrower idea on how best to approach the resolving of a problem or activity (Eccles, 2005). Students self-efficacy beliefs also seem to be considerably associated to the stress and their academic performance (Lane Lane, 2001). Therefore, lesser the stress better will be the performance and more a student will be motivated and more the stress the poor will be the performance and student will be less motivated. Moreover researches show that self-efficacy beliefs have positive effects on student motivation and achievement (Pintrich De Groot, 1990; Zimmerman, Bandura Martinez-Pons, 1992; Pajares Miller, 1994). Self-efficacy beliefs can determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves, and behave. Consequently motivation is improved when students recognize that they are making improvement in learning or feel they are competent enough of handling the task. In turn, as students make effort to do the tasks and become more  skillful they develop a sense of self-efficacy for performing well (Schunk, 1991). Self-efficacy beliefs play a key role in the self-regulation of mot ivation (Bandura 1994). According to Bandura, people motivate themselves and they form beliefs about what they can do, they set goals for themselves and plan courses of action designed to understand valued futures. Individuals who have a high sense of self-efficacy for accomplishing a task work harder and persist longer when they come across difficulties, whereas those who do not feel efficacious may give up or avoid a task (Schunk 1991). . Those who are more competent seem to set higher performance goals, get rid of faulty strategies more quickly, find out solutions in the face of difficulties and work more accurately than those with lower efficacy. Students who are confident in their capability to organize and achieve task performance are showing high self- efficacy. Whereas, students who are uncertain about their ability to successfully complete a task often participate less readily, do not work as hard, and give up quickly when faced with difficulty. Due to repeated failures in the classroom, it was hypothesized that students may feel that they cannot adequately perform certain behaviors and tasks to achieve a desired outcome. The resultant negative outcome may be lower academic self-efficacy. (Bong Skaalvick, 2003; Eccles Wigfield, 2002; Elias Loomis, 2002; Gresham, 1988; Schunk Pajares, 2002; Wentzel, 1999). However, negative self-efficacy could also disappoint a student and cause a student to fail in their personal or professional activities. Thus, students may face stress which may negatively impact academic achievement. Self-efficacy and stress are closely related concepts. According to a research by Zajacova, Lynch Espenshade investigates the joint effects of academic self-efficacy and stress on the academic performance. The survey was used as an instrument to measure the level of academic self-efficacy. The results suggest that academic self-efficacy is a more healthy and consistent predictor than stress of academic success. Self-efficacy is a better predictor of academic success than stress. Studies suggest that both academic stress and self-efficacy have some effect on academic outcomes, and there is some evidence that self-efficacy may be a better predictor (Pintrich and De Groot, 1990). Self efficacy and stress joint influence as determinants of academic success in schools/college. In a study by Hackett, Betz, Casas, and Rocha-Singh, (1992) identified both stress and academic self-efficacy as predictors of good grades. Good grades were associated with low perceived stress and high self-efficacy. In case of education, self-efficacy is seen to be related with effort, persistence and achievement. In one of the research by Chemers, Hu Garcia (2001), shown that children with higher self-efficacy strived for longer periods and used more useful problem solving strategies than students with lower self-efficacy. Therefore, self-efficacy changes the way a student works in order to get good grades and becomes more experienced and accurate about getting good grades in class and they keep on comparing themselves with their peers. Furthermore, classrooms that allow for extensive social comparisons (with the performance of other students) tend to lower self-efficacy of students whose performances are viewed as deficient when compared to others. People with low self-efficacy may believe that things are tougher than they really are, a belief that promote stress, narrow vision of how best to solve a problem. High self-efficacy, on the other hand, helps to create feelings of calmness in approaching difficult tasks and activities. As a result, self-efficacy beliefs are strong determinants and predictors of the level of achievement that individuals finally attain. The relationship between gender and self efficacy has also been a focus of the previous researches. It is assumed that Girls often outperform than boys. However, it is reported that males are tend to be more confident than females in academic areas related to mathematics, science and technology despite the fact that achievement differences in these areas are diminishing (Fuller, Hua Snyder, 1994). While in areas related to language, arts both male and female students exhibits similar confidence and this is also a truth that girls typically are high achievers (Pajares, in press) Keeping the above literature in view the rationale behind this research is to find the relationship between mindfulness and self efficacy among academically low and high achievers. There are a number of factors that may affect students achievement. These may include personal characteristics such as confidence in their abilities and attention they pay while studying. Confidence and belief in achieving goals is a good predictor of success. An increased academic self-efficacy may encourage the students confidence in utilizing his/her abilities to understand the course content, and achieve high grades. Simultaneously being mindful in the classroom can increase students ability to keep their attention which increases learning and academic performance. Moreover study will also allow the readers to understand that high achieving students might have different motivation to study than low achievers and that they are able to organize their study materials and study habits more efficiently. Act ive and independent engagement in the learning process might be more favorable to achievement than a passive and instructor dependent one. Although a lot of work is done on self efficacy and mindfulness in the education field but the lack of research in reference to Pakistan provided a rationale for examining the relationship between mindfulness and self efficacy. The research also investigates that which of these factors are characteristics of high-achieving and low-achieving students in the hope that the outcomes can be utilized to enhance student performance in the future. HYPOTHESES On the basis of the literature review the hypotheses formulated are: There exists a positive/significant correlation between mindfulness and self-efficacy among students. Students who are academically high achievers will perform high on mindfulness and self efficacy as compared to academically low achievers. Method The present study was conducted to find out the Relationship between mindfulness and self-efficacy among academically low and high achievers Participants In the present study convenient sampling technique was used. The sample consisted of 70 students out of which 35 were girls and 35 were boys within the age range of 13 -16 studying in 9th and 10th grades at government schools. Co relational research design was used. Inclusion criteria The participants selected for the research were low and high achievers. Above 70% were considered as high graders and below 50% were considered as low graders. Girls who were above 70% were taken as high achievers and boys who were below 50% were taken as low achievers. The students of age ranging from 13-16 years were included in the study. The sample was collected from government schools to maintain the consistency. Exclusion criteria Students who were average i.e. between 50% 70% were excluded from the study. Also girls below 70% and boys above 50% were excluded from the study. Students suffering from any physical and mental disability to answer were also not part of the study. Instruments The data was gathered by the use of the mindfulness based self efficacy scale and Toronto mindfulness scale. Demographic data sheet Demographic questionnaire (see appendix C) was designed by the researcher for this study to provide descriptive information about the participants name(optional), age, gender, grade, school, hobbies, their grades in last class, their personal evaluation of grades and their participation in co curricular activities and in sports. Academic achievement The academic achievements of the child were screened through his/her examination record in the previous class. Academic achievement was accessed in form of grades that student got. The divisions of grades according to the percentages are given below: Grade A Above 70% Grade B 60-70% Grade C 50-60% Grade D 40-50% Mindfulness Based Self Efficacy Scale (Cayoun Freestun 2004) Self efficacy was measured by mindfulness based self efficacy scale (See Appendix D) The MSES is a 35-item scale and consists of 7 subscales of self efficacy, each containing 5 items. Behavior (items 1, 8, 15, 22, 29), Cognition (items 2, 9, 16, 23, 30), Interoception (items 3, 10, 17, 24, 31), Affect (items 4, 11, 18, 25, 32), Interpersonal (items 5, 12, 19, 26, 33), Avoidance (items 6, 13, 20, 27, 34), Mindfulness (items 7, 14, 21, 28, 35). To calculate self-efficacy, 18 items must be scored in reverse. These are: 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35. High scores indicate high self efficacy and low scores indicate the low levels of self efficacy. The cronbachs alpha reliability of the scale was 0.71. There was no cultural bias item in the questionnaire. This scale is valid and reliable. Participants were asked to evaluate their perception of self-efficacy on a 5-point Likert-type scale (0= not at all, 4=completely). The estimated time to complete the instrument was 10-15 minutes approximately. Scale was administered in English. No special permission was taken from the researcher as questionnaire was easily available on internet. Toronto mindfulness scale (Lau, Bishop, Segal, Buis, Anderson, Carlson, Shapiro, Carmody, Abbey, Devins, 2006) Toronto mindfulness scale (TMS) (See Appendix D) consists of 13-items. This instrument has two-factors Curiosity and Decentering. For the curiosity score following items are summed 3, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13. For the Decentering score following items are summed 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11. All items were written in positively keyed direction. The cronbachs alpha reliability of the scale was 0.72. The items of Factor 1 (Curiosity) reflect an attitude of wanting to learn more about ones experiences e.g. I was curious to see what my mind was up to from moment to moment .The items of Factor 2 (Decentering) reflect a shift from identify personally with thoughts and feelings to relating to ones experience in a wider field of awareness e.g. I was aware of my thoughts and feelings without over identifying with them. Each item was rated on 5 point likert scale (0=not at all, 4=very much). The estimated time to complete the instrument was 8-10 minutes. Questionnaire was easily available on internet. There was no cultural bias item in the questionnaire. Scale was administered in English and is a reliable and valid scale. Procedures Before starting the data collection, a pilot study was conducted on a sample of 7 students. It was done to check the reliability and validity of the instruments and to determine the time needed to complete the instruments to assess the self efficacy and mindfulness in students by the researcher. The results of the present study indicated that the reliability of MSES was .71 (See Appendix E) and the reliability of the TMS was .72 (See Appendix E). This indicated that the scales are reliable. After doing the pilot study the data was collected from 35 girls and 35 boys. The research was conducted in F.G Girls Public High School Lalazar, F.G Girls High School No 2 Iqbal Road and F.G Technical School for Boys. All the schools were taken from Rawalpindi. Participation was voluntarily and data was collected in the classrooms. After the approval of the principal students were contacted. Participants were then provided with a consent form (see appendix A). In order to participate in the study it was required that they confirm consent by signing it. After participants agreed to the consent form, instructions were provided followed by an administration of both the MSES and TMS scales. Data collection was completed in about six or seven days. Average time taken by an individual was 20-25 minutes. It took about 30-35 minutes in each class due to instructions given to children, in distribution and collection of questionnaires. A little difficulty was faced by the students to comprehend the questions like I was more invested in just watching my experiences as they arose. Than in figuring out what they could mean. But later on it was resolved by the researcher. The data was analyzed with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS Version 13.0). For the purpose of analyzing Pearson correlation was used. And to see the difference of low and high achievers regarding variables of self efficacy and mindfulness in data independent sample t-test was applied. Results The study was conducted to find out the relationship between self efficacy and mindfulness among low and high achievers. A sample of 70 students (both girls and boys=35) within age range of (13-16). The sample was collected from 3 government schools of Rawalpindi and questionnaires were administered. Then the data collected was analyzed with statistical package for social sciences (SPSS Version 13.0). Descriptive statistics were computed for demographic characteristics of the participants. For this purpose Pearson correlation was used. And also to see the difference of low and high achievers regarding variables of self efficacy and mindfulness in data independent sample t-test was applied. Cross tabulation was also applied on the academic achievement of the students according to the ranges of self-efficacy. Table 1 Frequency and Percentage of participants according to demographic variables of gender, age, grade and academic achievement (N=70) Variable Label Frequency(f) Percentage (%) Gender Girl

Nokia Smartphone Strategy Essay

Nokia is a world renowned telecommunications corporation that connects over 1. 3 billion people. Nokia’s mission is simple: Connecting People. Their goal is to build great mobile products that enable billions of people worldwide to enjoy more of what life has to offer. The company started out producing wood pulp and paper, the most influential communication technology in history, in Finland in 1865. By the 1960’s Nokia is a booming business with large production of rubber, cable, forestry, electronics, and power generation, and by the late 1980’s the company was among the very largest T.  V. producers in Europe. Nokia launched the mobile phone era in the 80’s by introducing the first international cellular network and started production of the first vehicle cellular phone. Over the next couple of decades Nokia’s market share was huge and dominated the cellular device market. As the new millennium approached, everything about the market changed. The internet went mobile and consumers wanted phones with all new capabilities. Phones are no longer just for calls, and with these changes came an increasingly dynamic and competitive environment. With this intensified competition the development of the Smartphone is born. Nokia’s position in the mobile phone segment is now being challenged by the iphone and android devices. For the first time Nokia is not in control of the market, and as smartphones progressed, Nokia found a declining market share. There was a clear and obvious need for strategy adaptation, but what would the best path be? The change would be the end of an era for Nokia. Prior to February 2011, Nokia’s smartphone strategy was to use the Symbian and MeeGo platforms. These are linked by a common developer environment (Qt) and service layer (Ovi). Nokia would use MeeGo in the highest end devices and Symbian in everything else. But the termination of the Symbian platform was made part of the strategic plan, as MeeGo would gradually erode Symbian away. In the past Nokia had a â€Å"go at it alone† attitude that was a driving force in their smartphone strategy. The company wanted to control both the hardware and software areas of production. But as the company learned, the market is too complex for this approach. Elop, Nokia’s CEO, stated that â€Å"Nokia has failed to keep pace with market disruptions from its rivals and is therefore lacking in competitiveness, that the battle of devices has been superseded by a battle of ecosystems, and that Nokia has lacked accountability and leadership to drive the company through changing times†. The ecosystem he is referring to not only includes the hardware and software of the device, but developers, applications, ecommerce, advertising, search, social applications, location-based services, unified communications, and many other things. The presence of these ecosystems becomes extremely important in analyzing the strategic options Nokia has for its future. Which path would give Nokia the best chance of building a sustainable and viable ecosystem around their products? In examining their options Nokia developed three different decisions they could make. First option would be to continue with Symbian and MeeGo. Obviously they weren’t very successful with these platforms at the time but they were not fully developed yet, and instead of completely changing operating systems, they could build upon the already developed platforms and proceed with next generations of these originals. It was apparent that MeeGo was not ready to take on the role it was envisioned for but it could possibly be by the time another ecosystem was developed. They would also have to consider if these platforms had been tarnish or already discredited by their overtaking competitors. The company would probably have to make a visible change to disassociate with these failures. But more importantly a major change is needed to accumulate a viable ecosystem for Nokia. No single company can build an entire ecosystem on its own, so Nokia cannot provide itself with opportunities to win this battle between their rivals with this option. Neither of their biggest two competitors operate completely within and it is unrealistic to think Nokia could compete with companies that have so much more accumulated assets. So this first option is not very promising. Second option would be to release an Android device. The biggest advantage to this option would be that Android already has an existing ecosystem. A massive downfall would be that Nokia would be at the mercy of Google. Nokia is a company that has strived on being self-sufficient and this would not be ideal. Google would control too much of the value and differentiation ability, especially in services and advertising. Nokia does not want to join an ecosystem, rather help build one. The company believes they can still differentiate its devices from its rivals and would much rather have the value sharing associated with building a new ecosystem than of just joining one. Also, Android is having difficulties of their own’ and implementing this plan would not make a good long-term decision. This option just does not make very good business logic for Nokia. The third option would be to enter into a partnership with Microsoft and develop a new ecosystem that is mutually beneficial for the two corporations. This is the option that Nokia actually chose to implement. There are many reasons why this was the best decision for Nokia but considering the impracticality of the first two options it was the only realistic one. Obviously Nokia will provide the hardware while Microsoft will provide the software. The most common criticism with Symbian was an inadequate UI/UX, and the design language of Metro, Microsoft’s UI, completely fixes that problem. But also, Microsoft will depend on Nokia’s expertise as it continues development of the Windows Phone. The partnership sees Nokia adopting the new Windows 7 operating system, with the Symbian platform gradually being sidelined. To create a viable ecosystem Nokia and Microsoft are also combining services assets to drive innovation. Nokia Maps, for example, will soon be at the heart of key Microsoft assets such as Bing and AdCenter, and Nokia’s application and content store will be integrated into Microsoft Marketplace. Similarly, Microsoft will provide developer tools, making it easier for application developers to leverage Nokia’s global scale. The Nokia/Microsoft partnership simply just makes sense. The companies are complimentary of one another with very little overlap excluding the Windows Phone. Each company contains valuable assets the other can greatly benefit from making a mutual and equal relationship. While there is still much work needed to be done within the partnership in developing a smartphone that can effectively compete in the market, Nokia has positioned itself in a way that success is much more attainable. Since the partnership, Nokia has launched the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, both with Windows 7.

Is technology really benefitting society

Destruction due to TechnologyIs engineering truly profiting society or merely prima to its ruin? This is a inquiry one must inquire themselves. Everyone has in one manner or another been affected by engineering whether bad or good. What was the impact of that experience like? Mary Kolesnikova, writer of the essay â€Å" OMG! If LOL, so KMN! â€Å" , explains the negative impacts engineering has on society and its communicating accomplishments, giving existent life illustrations of incidents that are abashing and black. â€Å" I ‘ve been asked how to spell â€Å" here † and â€Å" one † by high school seniors and seen more your/you ‘re, there/their, to/too confusions than homophone workbook † ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . Those are lone communicating accomplishments that have been affected. Imagine how many more countries it can hold an influence on. This is merely one of many capablenesss which have gone down the drain due to the maltreatment of engineerin g. Similarly, Eric Brende writer of the essay â€Å" No Technology? No Problem † stresses the usage of engineering as good and how it should non be made a necessity in life and is non required. Many feel and agree that engineering is a great assisting manus in our society and plays a major function throughout day-to-day lives. This is a valid point and engineering is decidedly good in mundane lives, but when abused it leads to these negative impacts. Due to the fact of the society non utilizing engineering in a practical manner, persons from ages eight to fifty are missing basic accomplishments required on a day-to-day footing. While the usage of engineering may be helpful and a necessity in society today, if continually abused, will take to a negative impact doing a deficiency in everyday required accomplishments. Kolesnikova in her essay, stresses the function engineering has on a society ‘s authorship accomplishments and how it has affected her and those around her. She sums her point up into one chief factor, this factor being that engineering is doing the population to decrease the art of authorship. â€Å" Chat slang is killing the trade of composing † ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . In her essay she explains how the effects of engineering and confab speak led to her depression. After a canvass held by the Pew Research Center concentrating on 12 to seventeen twelvemonth olds about their usage of chat-speak, about 30 eight per centum said they let it steal into their prep and essays ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . Kolesnikova is an occasional coach in San Francisco public schools and she ca n't conceive of how far chat speak has spread. Along with chat speak, she elucidates the usage of emoticons in prep and essays every bit good. For those who may non cognize what emoticons are, they are defin ed as a crabwise facial glyph used in e-mail to bespeak an emotion or attitude, as to bespeak wit [ : – ) ] . Harmonizing to the Pew Research Center, a canvass resulted in 20 five per centum of teens utilizing emoticons in their trials, prep, and essays ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . Kolesnikova states how it ‘s a shame that the popular civilization today is promoting this lunacy and is traveling every bit far as making chat talk its ain wiki-dictionary. The U.S. Department of Education released the Nation ‘s Report Card on Writing 2007 and merely 30 three per centum of eight graders demonstrated abilities at or above proficiency degree ( Kolesnikova, 623 ) . This is yet the beginning and needs to be brought to an terminal before made worse. Brende, in his essay, discusses a different, yet similar instance of how engineering is non a necessity and can take to negative results. After having his alumnus grade in political scientific discipline from MIT in 1992, he and his married woman moved to an Amish-type community where they spent 18 months populating without technological progresss. â€Å" As MIT graduates go, I realize how unusual I am. I run a jinrikisha service in downtown St. Louis, where I live. I make soap at place, and my married woman sells it at the local husbandman ‘s market on Saturday ‘s † ( Brende, 619 ) . After returning place he goes on to state that these wonts stick with him and him and his household do n't truly experience a demand for such progresss. He besides states that engineering deprives an person of needful physical activity and can take to future issues. In the past persons would ramble on, thrust to the gym, or possibly even play athleticss in order to acquire in some exe rcising and remain healthy. Brende stresses that it has gotten to the point where some people perform hand-squeezing modus operandis since computing machine keyboards do non offer the physical opposition they need and can take to carpal tunnel syndrome ( Brende, 621 ) . In add-on, he explains how engineering is taking off choice clip from households every bit good as impacting the human mental powers restricting the usage of multiple capablenesss. These are merely a few of many factors that can take to a ruin due to the maltreatment of engineering. Harmonizing to the texts stated above, a decision can be reached: the maltreatment of engineering is go forthing a negative impact on society. Both writers, though from different scenarios, have from personal experience recognized that engineering is doing society to miss accomplishments required on a day-to-day footing. These accomplishments include mental, communicating, and physical capablenesss. Kolesnikova ‘s experience as stated above was as a coach and she discovered that the pupils were missing basic communication/writing accomplishments. On the other manus, Brende took a entire opposite position and unusual attack. Although an MIT alumnus, he decided to populate in an Amish-type community with his household for 18 months without any technological progresss. He came to recognize that non utilizing engineering came to his benefit, and for those who were continually around engineering, they seemed to be missing multiple capablenesss. While both took different attacks, the consequences were the same. To carry the reader and go forth a long permanent feeling they besides ended their essays with an appealing last sentence. Kolesnikova ended saying that both parents and teens either battle now or confront a sentence-less hereafter of the three missive word OMG ( Kolesnikova, 624 ) . Brende, on the other manus, stated something rather different, yet relevant to the impact of engineering. He stated that in a universe superabundant in appliances and doodads, the richest among us are those who have mastered the delicate art of thinning out the extra, doing manner for the look of their full humanity ( Brende, 621 ) . It can be agreed that both writers make valid points in their essays. The usage of engineering has changed from what it may hold been in the yesteryear. Younger and younger ages are being affected daily due to the usage of these technological progresss. Progresss such as computing machines, cellular devices, and telecastings have gotten to the point where people are incapacitated without them. Harmonizing to free-lance author Leigh Goessl, childs today would hold a reasonably hard clip imaging life without such points ( Goessl, n.pag ) . In the past kids would pass their clip running about, playing athleticss, and siting bikes. Video games were played in the signifier of out-of-door activities and everything was more relaxed. In present times about every adolescent has some kind of technological device and ne'er truly takes the clip to travel out and acquire some fresh air. They are stuck on these digital playthings all twenty-four hours and dark without recognizing it. Statistics sh ow that in September 2008, Nielsen Mobile announced that adolescents with cell phones each sent and received on norm, 1,742 text messages a month. At the clip the figure sounded high, but merely a few months subsequently Nielsen raised the run to 2,272. A twelvemonth earlier, the National School Boards Association estimated that middle- and high-school pupils devoted an norm of nine hours to societal networking each hebdomad. Add electronic mail, blogging, IM, tweets and other digital imposts and you realize what sort of hurried, 24/7 communications system immature people experience today ( Bauerlein W.11 ) . These progresss are taking over lives and non being noticed. Harmonizing to the American Record Guide the technocrats want an person to believe engineering is neutral-want them to believe that they are in charge. But more and more the persons are engineering ‘s victims. Persons are non running it ; it is running them ( Vroon, 53 ) . It has besides resulted in a major fact or of emphasis, particularly for parents. One may inquire why? This is due to the fact that their kids are more technologically advanced than they are. It is difficult for a parent today to maintain path of their kids when they themselves are non capable of some of the progresss their childs have adapted to. Aside from the parents, instructors excessively are accommodating to the emphasis. Students continually make the same authorship errors on their prep and documents and neglect to acknowledge it. This is due to their technological progresss, leting them to utilize chat speak, about a whole new linguistic communication. Mark Bauerlein, a professor of English at Emory University states that among the many effects of pupil careerism, campus selling, Facebook, texting, and other philistine forces set uping undergraduates today the chief force is the level inconsideration to linguistic communication ( Philology, Etymology, and Phoneticss, n.pag. ) . Harmonizing to the District Adminis tration Magazine pupils are taking advantage of engineering. â€Å" The job is pupils are utilizing and mistreating engineering without understanding digital citizenship † ( Ribble, 85 ) . The abuse of engineering is non merely impacting an person at present clip, but can ensue in a long term issue every bit good. They adopt bad wonts such as confabs speak, which causes proper English to melt out of their lives, the inordinate usage of a reckoner, which limits their mental capablenesss, every bit good as being lazy and non traveling out-of-doorss to acquire some needed exercising which may take to future wellness related issues. Harmonizing to the American Record Guide, the job with most of these engineerings is that they isolate people, kill conversation, and promote sedentary behaviour ( make people lazy and fat ) . They besides waste clip that may be utile ( Vroon, 53 ) . One illustration given by the writer is telecasting, which he feels leads to a overplus of jobs. â€Å" Television, for illustration, isolates people and destroys conversation. These yearss the household rarely even watches telecasting together-there are excessively many sets in every family. Television destroys attending span-just another manner it turns people against reading. It creates passiveness, controls people ‘s ideas, sets the footings of political relations, Teachs people to desire things they do n't necessitate, and stimulates the appetency for debris nutrient. It is mind-numbingly intrusive and invasive. Its velocity and aggression are downright hard-bitten. It is even turning people into chickens † ( Vroon, 53 ) . Brende in his essay makes a great mention to this explicating that these accomplishments may non be as easy to get or retrieve after they are lost. â€Å" Multimedia devices erode and wasting human mental powers and accomplishments like reading and, possibly because these are even harder to retrieve or even place, these losingss can lend to a obscure sense of inutility which our antidepressants have n't been able to bring around † ( Brende, 621 ) . Technology is non needfully a bad thing, but inordinate usage of it is ensuing in negative results. New technological progresss are created daily to assist heighten the manner we live and factors related to it, but the inordinate usage of it is merely doing it debatable. Who does n't desire to utilize a reckoner for those hard jobs, or utilize a cell phone to acquire a speedy response? These progresss are decidedly good, it ‘s merely when it becomes accustomed that it causes issues. Harmonizing to a survey in Britain, the British are looking for a manner to farther incorporate cell phones into their lesson programs for the hereafter. â€Å" We hope that, in the hereafter, mobile phone usage will be every bit natural as utilizing any other engineering in school, † says Elizabeth Hartnell- Young, University of Nottingham research chap and analyze co-author ( Docksai, 10 ) . Technology can ever ensue in benefits if used in a peculiar mode ; America merely has a wont of mist reating anything it can come across which consequences in the ruins. â€Å" It ‘s like everything else ; you have to be careful about it. There ‘s proper and improper usage † ( Docksai, 11 ) . Technology is decidedly a major factor in the day-to-day lives of many, but if continually abused it could ensue in negative results. Kolesnikova and Brende stress the impact it has left on them and society in general. Changeless usage of technological progresss can take to issues affecting an person ‘s mundane accomplishments and capablenesss. It ‘s up to the user to utilize it with cautiousness and understand the dangers of it. If twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours illustrations and incidents go to demo the impact and devastation it has caused already, than why farther encourage it? These progresss are to be used with bounds, and should be taken into consideration when operated. Overall, it is up to those who are already mistreating it to cut down. If continually abused, such progresss may be banned.Plants CitedBauerlein, Mark â€Å" Why Gen-Y Johnny Ca n't Read Nonverbal Cues. † Wall Street Journal – Eastern Edition 28 Aug. 2009: W11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.Brende, Eric. â€Å" No Technology? No Problem † . Readings for Writers ( 13th Edition ) . Ed. Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell and Anthony C.Winkler. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2010. 618-621.Docksai, Rick â€Å" Teens and Cell Phones. † Futurist 43.1 ( 2009 ) : 10-11. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.Goessl, Leigh. â€Å" Technology: Its effects on kids. † www.Helium.com. 3 Nov. 2009.Kolesnikova, Mary. â€Å" OMG! If LOL, so KMN! † . Readings for Writers ( 13th Edition ) . Ed. Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell and Anthony C.Winkler. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2010. 623-625.â€Å" Philology, Etymology, and Phoneticss. † History of Higher Education 56.4/5 ( 2009 ) : B2. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.Ribble, Mike S. , and Gerald D. Bailey â€Å" Districts should learn their pupils digital smarts. † District Administration 40.10 ( 2004 ) : 85. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.Vroon â€Å" The Distracted Generation Victims of Technology. † American Record Guide 72.3 ( 2009 ) : 53-54. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Nov. 2009.

Help with Writing a Research Paper

Research paper is formal writing which includes research and students personal ideas. The process of writing a research paper is not easy, as it demands plenty of work and deep concentration. Following some particular steps in writing a research paper will help to get good results. The first step in writing a research paper is choosing precise topic. The topic of the paper should be interesting. Make sure that you will be able to write on the particular topic, because some of them may be too difficult for you. Try not to select too wide topic; make it specific. After choosing the topic, start to search for information. Nowadays, there is the number of sources of information on any topic available throughout the Web, media, printed sources etc. The most widely used are books, Internet, magazines, encyclopedias, newspapers etc. You can search through several of these sources. After you find some information on your topic, mark the most useful sources, which you will use in your paper. Do not forget to write down the information about your sources, so that you will be able to cite them in your paper. Third step in writing a research paper is identifying a thesis statement. Do not make it too long. Thesis statement should reflect your point of view and the idea of the whole paper. Next step is making an outline of your paper. Write down few ideas that you want to specify. Do not forget about the structure which presumes introduction, body and conclusion. Write few sub-points to the main points of your outline, make it more detailed. This will help you to write detailed and structured paper. After the outline is done, start to compare gathered information to your outline. Find the most suitable sources and information. Organize these sources according to the outline. This will help you to simplify your writing process. During this stage of writing, you will learn much about your topic. Try to organize your notes in the way that is clear for your. Make sure that you will be able to find any information during writing process. Do not use any sources or information that you dont understand. You next step is writing the first draft. Make sure that you follow each step of your outline. Develop each point of your outline into a paragraph. Use the notes and sources that you have prepared. Stay focused; do not write down unnecessary information. Avoid plagiarism; use references and in-text citations for quotes or any other information you take from different sources. After the draft of the paper is ready you should revise it. Read through the paper and make sure that you followed an outline. The essay should be logically structured. All of the points that you make should be clear. Make sure that all of the sources that you used are properly cited. Check the grammar and spelling mistakes. The last step in your writing process is writing a final version of the paper. If you have done the revision carefully, you should not experience problems with your final version. Following all the steps of the writing process that are mentioned above will simplify your work and guarantee you succinct and well-structured research paper.