A Wrinkle In Time Outline :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Outline I. Introduction Do you believe that there is extra terrestrial life? Well, what would you do if you found out that you weren’t born on earth? In Margaret’s case, she went back to her home planet. This story takes place in Willstead, North Carolina in the year 2005. She was found on earth when she was 2 months old, after she went away from her home planet; the name of their species was Tesseract. The Murries adopted her after they married a year before. Several years after she grew up as a normal 10-year-old girl, but had no idea of her past and that she was adopted. II. Body A. She was adopted by the Murries 1. They found her in a dark alley 2. She was raised along with her a. Twin brothers I) Sandy II) Dennis b. A younger brother I) Charles Wallace B. Weird things were happening 1. Margaret met a Mrs. Whatsit who stole a blanket a. She stole it because she was an ET; earth was too cold for her. 2. She started to give Margaret nice things to win her confidence. 3. Mrs. Whatsit told Margaret that she was an ET. 4. Margaret didn’t believe her. a. She slowly started to see why she had to be an ET. C. Mrs. Whatsit started explaining things. 1. She went to the park with Margaret each day a. She described their planet 2. Margaret was sent to earth because their was a computer mistake a. It caused a wrinkle in time D. The return 1. Margaret took an exam a. To see if she would be able to return to her home planet 2. The Murries were planning on a trip to the beach a. Margaret stayed home, it was a perfect time to go back to her planet 3. Mrs. Whatsit had a small device which she pointed to the sky a. A warp portal appeared 4. After Margaret and Mrs. Whatsit went through it they arrive in a beautiful village. A Wrinkle In Time Outline :: essays research papers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Outline I. Introduction Do you believe that there is extra terrestrial life? Well, what would you do if you found out that you weren’t born on earth? In Margaret’s case, she went back to her home planet. This story takes place in Willstead, North Carolina in the year 2005. She was found on earth when she was 2 months old, after she went away from her home planet; the name of their species was Tesseract. The Murries adopted her after they married a year before. Several years after she grew up as a normal 10-year-old girl, but had no idea of her past and that she was adopted. II. Body A. She was adopted by the Murries 1. They found her in a dark alley 2. She was raised along with her a. Twin brothers I) Sandy II) Dennis b. A younger brother I) Charles Wallace B. Weird things were happening 1. Margaret met a Mrs. Whatsit who stole a blanket a. She stole it because she was an ET; earth was too cold for her. 2. She started to give Margaret nice things to win her confidence. 3. Mrs. Whatsit told Margaret that she was an ET. 4. Margaret didn’t believe her. a. She slowly started to see why she had to be an ET. C. Mrs. Whatsit started explaining things. 1. She went to the park with Margaret each day a. She described their planet 2. Margaret was sent to earth because their was a computer mistake a. It caused a wrinkle in time D. The return 1. Margaret took an exam a. To see if she would be able to return to her home planet 2. The Murries were planning on a trip to the beach a. Margaret stayed home, it was a perfect time to go back to her planet 3. Mrs. Whatsit had a small device which she pointed to the sky a. A warp portal appeared 4. After Margaret and Mrs. Whatsit went through it they arrive in a beautiful village.

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman Essa

As time progresses technology increases and improves. However, this progression could pose as a serious problem for generations to come, and New York University department chair of communication arts Neil Postman expresses this concern in his 1992 book, Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. In the opening of Postman’s book he expresses that technology is indeed our friend because technology provides our society with fast and easy convenience and accessibility. As with most other things, there are always two sides to everything and Postman notes, that â€Å"of course, there is a dark side to this friend† referring to technology (Postman, 1992). Many people do not address the negative sides to technology and just turn a blind eye to them so it is refreshing to have someone point them out and discuss the issues technology possess on our society. In Postman’s book that our society is redefining what family, religion, education, privacy, and history mean as a result of technology, known as technopoly. He proposes several theories about how our society got to where we currently are;including social, and symbolic traditions, and totalitarian technocracy. Postman compares technology to Thamus’ concern that writing would have an impact on an individual’s wisdom and memory. However, not all technology has been viewed negatively in Postman’s eyes. He has viewed some technologies as blessing to society; including technologies that once were provided as a helpful tool to society; including technologies such as, the printing press and clock. According to Postman, current technology is now considered a totalitarian order on society (Postman, 1992). These technologies brought beneficial aspects to society but did not control s... ... is an important issue is the impact technology has on the environment currently and for the future generations. As an educator, I would think Postman would be more incline to include this evaluation in his book. Nevertheless, Neil Postman wrote a very thought-provoking novel that should make all Americans rethink their lives, even if it is just a little bit. Postman was very critical in his novel, but he provides a wakeup call for everyone that has not come into contact with the nasty reality technology can have on society. References Mits Cash, M. C. (2000). Technopoly (Book Review). Educational Studies, 31(1), 75. Postman, Neil. (1992). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York: Vintage Books. Wiener, J., & Mohr, L. A. (1994). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. Journal Of Public Policy & Marketing, 13(2), 326-327.

Objective of Education Is Learning

‘The Objective of Education Is Learning' *'The Objective of Education Is Learning, Not Teaching'* *In their book,** *Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track*, authors Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg point out that today's education system is seriously flawed — it focuses on teaching rather than learning. â€Å"Why should children — or adults — be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can? † the authors ask in the following excerpt from the book. â€Å"Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create? * â€Å"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught. † — Oscar Wilde Traditional education focuses on teaching, not learning. It incorrectly assumes that for every ounce of teaching there is an ounce of learning by those who are taught. However, most of what we learn before, during, and after attending schools is learned without its being taught to us. A child learns such fundamental things as how to walk, talk, eat, dress, and so on without being taught these things. But are there intrinsic barriers to learning?Adults learn most of what they use at work or at leisure while at work or leisure. Most of what is taught in classroom settings is forgotten, and much or what is remembered is irrelevant. In most schools, memorization is mistaken for learning. Most of what is remembered is remembered only for a short time, but then is quickly forgotten. (How many remember how to take a square root or ever have a need to? ) Furthermore, even young children are aware of the fact that most of what is expected of them in school can better be done by computers, recording machines, cameras, and so on.They are treated as poor surrogates ; for such machines and instruments. Why should children — or adults, for that m atter — be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can? Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create? When those who have taught others are asked who in the classes learned most, virtually all of them say, â€Å"The teacher. † It is apparent to those who have taught that teaching is a better way to learn than being taught. Teaching enables the teacher to discover what one thinks about the subject being taught.Schools are upside down: Students should be teaching and faculty learning. After lecturing to undergraduates at a major university, I was accosted by a student who had attended the lecture. After some complimentary remarks, he asked, â€Å"How long ago did you teach your first class? † I responded, â€Å"In September of 1941. † â€Å"Wow! † The student said. â€Å"You mean to say you have been teaching for more than 60 years? † â€Å"Ye s. † â€Å"When did you last teach a course in a subject that existed when you were a student? † This difficult question required some thought. After a pause, I said, â€Å"September of 1951. â€Å"Wow! You mean to say that everything you have taught in more than 50 years was not taught *to* you; you had to learn on your own? † â€Å"Right. † â€Å"You must be a pretty good learner. † I modestly agreed. The student then said, â€Å"What a shame you're not that good a teacher. † The student had it right; what most faculty members are good at, if anything, is learning rather than teaching. Recall that in the one-room > schoolhouse, students taught students. The teacher served as a guide and a resource but not as one who force-fed content into students' minds. *Ways of Learning*There are many different ways of learning; teaching is only one of them. We learn a great deal on our own, in independent study or play. We learn a great deal interactin g with others informally — sharing what we are learning with others and vice versa. We learn a great deal by doing, through trial and error. Long before there were schools as we know them, there was apprenticeship — learning how to do something by trying it under the guidance of one who knows how. For example, one can learn more architecture by having to design and build one's own house than by taking any number of courses on the subject.When physicians are asked whether they leaned more in classes or during their internship, without exception they answer, â€Å"Internship. † In the educational process, students should be offered a wide variety of ways to learn, among which they could choose or with which they could experiment. They do not have to learn different things the same way. They should learn at a very early stage of â€Å"schooling† that learning how to learn is largely their responsibility — with the help they seek but that is not impose d on them. The objective of education is learning, not teaching.There are two ways that teaching is a powerful tool of learning. Let's abandon for the moment the loaded word teaching, which is unfortunately all too closely linked to the notion of â€Å"talking at† or â€Å"lecturing,† and use instead the rather awkward phrase explaining something to someone else who wants to find out about it. One aspect of explaining something is getting yourself up to snuff on whatever it is that you are trying to explain. I can't very well explain to you how Newton accounted for planetary motion if ; I haven't boned up on my Newtonian mechanics first.This is a problem we all face all the time, when we are expected to explain something. (Wife asks, â€Å"How do we get to Valley Forge from home? † And husband, who does not want to admit he has no idea at all, excuses himself to go to the bathroom; he quickly Googles Mapquest to find out. ) This is one sense in which the one who explains learns the most, because the person to whom the explanation is made can afford to forget the explanation promptly in most cases; but the explainers will find it sticking in their minds a lot longer, because they struggled to gain an understanding in the first place in a form clear enough to explain.The second aspect of explaining something that leaves the explainer more enriched, and with a much deeper understanding of the subject, is this: To satisfy the person being addressed, to the point where that person can nod his head and say, â€Å"Ah, yes, now I understand! † explainers must not only get the matter to fit comfortably into their own worldview, into their own personal frame of reference for understanding the world around them, they also have to figure out how to link their frame of reference to the > world view of the person receiving the explanation, so that the explanation can make sense to that person, too.This involves an intense effort on the part of th e explainer to get into the other person's mind, so to speak, and that exercise is at the heart of learning in general. For, by practicing repeatedly how to create links between my mind and another's, I am reaching the very core of the art of learning from the ambient culture. Without that skill, I can only learn from direct experience; with that skill, I can learn > from the experience of the whole world. Thus, whenever I struggle to explain something to someone else, and succeed in doing so, I am advancing my ability to learn from others, too. Learning through Explanation* This aspect of learning through explanation has been overlooked by most commentators. And that is a shame, because both aspects of learning are what makes the age mixing that takes place in the world at large such a valuable educational tool. Younger kids are always seeking answers from older kids –sometimes just slightly older kids (the seven-year old tapping the presumed life wisdom of the so-much-more- experienced nine year old), often much older kids.The older kids love it, and their abilities are exercised mightily in these interactions. They have to figure out what it is that they understand > about the question being raised, and they have to figure out how to make their understanding comprehensible to the younger kids. The same process occurs over and over again in the world at large; this is why it is so important to keep communities multi-aged, and why it is so destructive to learning, and to the development of culture in general, to segregate certain ages (children, old people) from others.What went on in the one-room schoolhouse is much like what I have been talking about. In fact, I am not sure that the adult teacher in the one-room schoolhouse was always viewed as the best authority on any given subject! Long ago, I had an experience that illustrates that point perfectly. When our oldest son was eight years old, he hung around (and virtually worshiped) a very brilliant 1 3-year-old named Ernie, who loved science. Our son was curious about everything in the world.One day he asked me to explain some physical phenomenon that lay within the realm of what we have come to call â€Å"physics†; being a former professor of physics, I was considered a > reasonable person to ask. So, I gave him an answer — the â€Å"right† answer, the one he would have found in books. He was greatly annoyed. â€Å"That's not right! † he shouted, and when I expressed surprise at his response, and asked him why he would say so, his answer was immediate: â€Å"Ernie said so and so, which is totally different, and Ernie knows. It was an enlightening and delightful experience for me. It was clear that his faith in Ernie had been developed over a long time, from long experience with Ernie's unfailing ability to build a bridge between their minds — perhaps more successfully, > at least in certain areas, than I had been. One might wonder how on eart h learning came to be seen primarily a result of teaching. Until quite recently, the world's great teachers were understood to be people who had something fresh to say about something to people who were interested in hearing their message.Moses, Socrates, Aristotle, Jesus — these were people who had original insights, and people came from far and wide to find out what those insights were. One can see most clearly in Plato's dialogues that people did not come to Socrates to â€Å"learn philosophy,† but rather to hear Socrates' version of philosophy (and his wicked and witty attacks on other people's versions), just as they went to other philosophers to hear (and learn) their versions. In other words, teaching was understood as public exposure of an individual's perspective, which anyone could take or leave, depending on whether they cared about it.No one in his right mind thought that the only way you could become a philosopher was by taking a course from one of those g uys. On the contrary, you were expected to come up with your own original worldview if you aspired to the title of philosopher. This was true of any and every aspect of knowledge; you figured out how to learn it, and you exposed yourself to people who were willing to make their understanding public if you thought it could be a worthwhile part of your endeavor.That is the basis for the formation of universities in the Middle Ages — places where thinkers were willing to spend their time making their thoughts public. The only ones who got to stay were the ones whom other people (â€Å"students†) found relevant enough to their own personal quests to make listening to them worthwhile. By the way, this attitude toward teaching has not disappeared. When quantum theory was being developed in the second quarter of the twentieth century, aspiring atomic physicists traveled to the various places where different theorists were developing their thoughts, often in radically differen t directions.Students traveled to Bohr's institute to find out how he viewed quantum theory, then to Heisenberg, to Einstein, to Schrodinger, to Dirac, and so on. What was true of physics was equally true of art, architecture†¦ you name it. It is still true today. One does not go to Pei to learn â€Å"architecture†; one goes to learn how he does it — that is, to see him â€Å"teach† by telling and showing you his approach. Schools should enable people to go where they want to go, not where others want them to. *Malaise of Mass Education* The trouble began when mass education was introduced. It was necessary To decide what skills and knowledge everyone has to have to be a productive citizen of a developed country in the industrial age – To make sure the way this information is defined and standardized, to fit into the standardization required by the industrial culture – To develop the means of describing and communicating the standardized infor mation (textbooks, curricula) – To train people to comprehend the standardized material and master the means of transmitting it (teacher training, pedagogy) – To create places where the trainees (children) and the trainers (unfortunately called teachers, which gives them a status they do not deserve) can meet — so-called schools (again a term stolen from a much different milieu, endowing these new institutions with a dignity they also do not deserve) – And, to provide the coercive backing necessary to carry out this major cultural and social upheaval In keeping with all historic attempts to revolutionize the social order, The elite leaders who formulated the strategy, and those who implemented it, perverted the language, using terms that had attracted a great deal of respect in new ways that turned their meanings upside down, but helped make the new order palatable to a public that didn't quite catch on. Every word — *teacher, student, school, disc ipline,* and so on — took on meanings diametrically opposed to what they had originally meant. Consider this one example from my recent experience. I attended a conference of school counselors, where the latest ideas in the realm of student counseling were being presented.I went to a session on the development of self-discipline and responsibility, wondering what these concepts mean to people embedded in traditional schooling. To me, self-discipline means the ability to pursue one's goals without outside coercion; responsibility means taking appropriate action on one's own initiative, without being goaded by others. To the people presenting the session, both concepts had to do solely with the child's ability to do his or her assigned class work. They explained that a guidance counselor's proper function was to get students to understand that responsible behavior meant doing their homework in a timely and effective manner, as prescribed, and self-discipline meant the determina tion to get that homework done. George Orwell was winking in the back of the room.Today, there are two worlds that use the word *education* with opposite meanings: one world consists of the schools and colleges (and even graduate schools) of our education complex, in which standardization prevails. In that world, an industrial training mega-structure strives to turn out identical replicas of a product called â€Å"people educated for the twenty-first century†; the second is the world of information, knowledge, and wisdom, in which the real population of the world resides when not incarcerated in schools. In that world, learning takes place like it always did, and teaching consists of imparting one's wisdom, among other things, to voluntary listeners.

Critical Thinking Essay Essay

Critical thinking includes the component skills of analyzing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, and making decisions or solving problems when evaluating academic content. Background knowledge is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for enabling critical thought within a given subject. Critical thinking involves both cognitive skills and dispositions. These dispositions, which can be seen as attitudes or habits of mind, include open- and fair-mindedness, inquisitiveness, flexibility, a propensity to seek reason, a desire to be well-informed, and a respect for and willingness to entertain diverse viewpoints. There are both general- and domain-specific aspects of critical thinking. Empirical research suggests that people begin developing critical thinking competencies at a very young age. Although adults often exhibit deficient reasoning, in theory all people can be taught to think critically. Instructors are urged to provide explicit instruction in critical thinking, to teach how to transfer to new contexts, and to use cooperative or collaborative learning methods and constructivist approaches that place students at the center of the learning process. In constructing assessments of critical thinking, educators should use open-ended tasks, real-world or â€Å"authentic† problem contexts, and ill-structured problems that require students to go beyond recalling or restating previously learned information. Such tasks should have more than one defensible solution and embed adequate collateral materials to support multiple perspectives. Finally, such assessment tasks should make student reasoning visible by requiring students to provide evidence or logical arguments in support of judgments, choices, claims, or assertions. Critical thinking is an important element of all professional fields and academic disciplines when evaluating academic content. Within the framework of scientific skepticism, the process of critical thinking involves the careful acquisition and interpretation of information and use of it to reach a well-justified conclusion. The concepts and principles of critical thinking can be applied to any context or case but only by reflecting upon the nature of that application. Critical thinking forms, therefore, a system of related, and overlapping, modes of thought such as anthropological  thinking, sociological thinking, historical thinking, political thinking, psychological thinking, philosophical thinking, mathematical thinking, chemical thinking, biological thinking, ecological thinking, legal thinking, ethical thinking, musical thinking, thinking like a painter, sculptor, engineer, business person, etc. In other words, though critical thinking principles are universal, their applicat ion to disciplines requires a process of reflective contextualization. Critical thinking is considered important in the academic fields because it enables one to analyze, evaluate, explain, and restructure their thinking, thereby decreasing the risk of adopting, acting on, or thinking with, a false belief. However, even with knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning, mistakes can happen due to a thinker’s inability to apply the methods or because of character traits such as egocentrism. Critical thinking includes identification of prejudice, bias, propaganda, self-deception, distortion, misinformation, etc. Given research in cognitive psychology, some educators believe that schools should focus on teaching their students critical thinking skills and cultivation of intellectual traits. Socratic method is defined as â€Å"a prolonged series of questions and answers which refutes a moral assertion by leading an opponent to draw a conclusion that contradicts his own viewpoint. Critical thinking skills through Socratic method taught in schools help create leaders. Instructors that promote critical thinking skills can benefit the students by increasing their confidence and creating a repeatable thought process to question and confidently approach a solution. Students also accomplish follower-ship skills that can be used to probe the leader’s foundations. Critical thinking skills through Socratic method serve to produce professionals that are self-governing. However, Socratic method for critical thinking skills can become confusing if an instructor or leader uses the method too rigidly, the student may not know what the instructor or leader wants from him. An instructor or leader may disillusion the students if he uses particular style of questioning. Instructors must reveal their reasoning behind the questions in order to guide the students in the right direction. â€Å"Socratic method can serve twenty-first-century leaders to instruct students, mentor protà ©gà ©s, motivate followers, advise other leaders, and influence peers. In conclusion, â€Å"critical thinking is the disciplined art of ensuring that you use the best  thinking you are capable of in any set of circumstances when evaluating academic content. The general goal of thinking is to figure out some situation, solve some problems, answer some questions, or resolve some issue It also is a process in which a person pursuits reliable and pertinent information about the world. Critical thinking is often described as reasonable, ruminative, trustworthy, and a well practiced form of thinking that assists people with deciding what they should believe in and what actions should be taken. A practiced critical thinker will ask good questions, collects pertinent data, categorizes common characteristics, logically reasons with the new data and then he or she will come to a trustworthy and dependable conclusion. Critical thinking makes use of many processes and procedures. Some processes include but is not limited to asking questions, making judgments, and identifying assumptions.

Labour Markets, Wages and Industrial Relations

Telecommuting is going to change the landscape of labour for years to come. As a matter of fact, the very notion of a job is going to change. A job will be something one takes home to do in the intervals between football matches and household duties, not an activity that reshapes one’s day. Such changes will trigger changes in other aspects of work. Thus, trade union participation and union power will most probably be reduced. A great part of this influence is based in personal interaction. It is much easier to recruit a person to become a member of the union through direct personal contact than through means such as e-mail. Trade union leaders will turn into virtual figures rather than living beings in flesh and blood, and people will feel less affiliated with the union. Besides, as the authors point out, there are reasons to expect an inflow of workers into labour who have never or seldom had employment before, including single mothers or disabled people. Those may feel isolated from the rest of the workforce and have had no experience with unions. As a result, they will be less willing to participate in union activities and bargain with their employer. Besides, more developing nations will be included in the workforce, and it is more difficult to recruit people there in the union as they live in remote places and as well have little experience with unions. However, trade unions will not go away because of telecommuting. There are factors that even call for an increase in their power. For instance, it will become easier to change jobs since it will not involve looking for a job in exactly the same area and workers will probably not have to go to interviews in person. Rather, they may be able to do some kind of audio- or video-interview via Internet. As a result, employees will have more possibility to defend their rights through trade unions as they will not fear loss of job. Communication with trade union leaders will take place through the same interactive means as communication with supervisors – e-mail, telephone, and videoconferencing. Telecommuting will probably to some extent remove the difference between house prices between capital cities and regions. At the moment, housing is pricey in larger cities since there a lot of people willing to move there because higher salary levels. Those people coming from the regions are prepared to pay a premium on house price as compared to the regions because they know the house price will be offset by gains in wages. As a result, they drive demand up even at higher prices. If differences salary levels are reduced, a probable result of telecommuting, more people will prefer to stay in the regions, and housing there will rise in value against capital cities. This does not mean that housing will cost the same throughout the nation. First, not all jobs will be affected by telecommuting. It will take time before the pay for manual jobs such labourers, nurses, etc., will get to about the same level throughout the country. People in those jobs will then still be attracted to larger cities. Second, there are other factors than salary levels that affect housing prices. For instance, in the same city where one can get the same salary living in a nice or unattractive neighbourhood, housing prices will vary from one district to another. The reason for these variations is the difference in infrastructure, ecological atmosphere (as, for example, when the house faces a busy road or something of the kind), and opportunities for entertainment. Surely in larger cities one can have a much more interesting and varied life thanks to the availability of many cultural establishments, and regions will not soon overcome this difference. That is why people may still be attracted to living in the capital even if wages arrive at about the same level. Besides, formerly the attraction of the remote areas was their cheap prices for everything other than housing, such as food, entertainment, services, etc. A rise in wages will probably change that, making prices go up. In conclusion, housing prices will go up in regions as compared to the province as a result of dwindling difference in wages. However, prices in capital or larger cities will still remain higher. Bibliography Sloman, John & Mark Sutcliffe. Economics for Business. Â  

Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Energy - Essay Example This should start with the governments, the institutions then the people themselves. The central role of the government should be to determine the energy consumption picture of their cities. They also have easy reach to their citizens and are better placed to know their needs and influence their behaviors. This is done dependent on the resources, different needs, development paths, mandates and power. An energy plan of a city should take into consideration of the resources it has and the particular need of its dwellers. For instance, in New York, the dwellers are reliant on the power grid and vehicles that are fueled by hydrocarbon and they are hesitant to adopt the small-scale distributed approach that entails a little more costs. Thus, the government can come up with policies that would make the citizens adopt to the sustainable energy options or it can subsidize the prices of the small-scale energy distribution approaches that they can afford. The institutions should also invest in technologies that reduce reliance on the fossil fuels or even the dirty coal. Institutions can do this y retrofitting building to make them sustainable in a way that it reduces its demand for energy. They should invest in renewable energy as it is becoming economically viable since it offers increase employment opportunities and it is cost effective. In addition, investments in renewable energy by institutions are vital since inaction will be high as compared to when action is taken. The energy sector is directly responsible for the climate change whose costs of adaptation are very high. For instance, the Sandy caused losses that were attributed to climate change and in action by the government unwillingness to act against climate change. This is why the Sandy has been highlighted as deeply seated fear due to the physical damage it wrought upon New York and New Jersey. The

Ehnancing level of engagement with performance with data in the Dissertation

Ehnancing level of engagement with performance with data in the allocation and use of Seychelles - would an integrated VFM code - Dissertation Example This culminated to extremely high debt ratios for this nation. Nonetheless, the government needs reforms in the public sector to curb the current problems it is facing. Reforms have been adopted in the various sectors and progress being followed by major bodies like the World Bank and UN Human Development. The allocation and use of resources in this nation shows a huge gap as compared to large nations. Russian being one of them has had adoption of better allocation of resources and aiding institutions develop performance indicators and institutionalize these in budget formulation (Diamond & IMF, 2005, 22). This exacerbates the dire need for evaluating value for money in government spending and finding insights in to areas that the VFM code is lacking and should be integrated. Analysis of the interview 1. VFM processes that are in use and how can they be enhanced through the adoption of a more integrated VFM based approach 67% of the respondents have outlined VFM practices in Educatio n sector. However, there is need to have monitoring unit and review process. 33% of the respondent stated that VFM and performance budgeting will be introduced in 2015. 33% of the interviewee have expressed that VFM is in use in the Auditor’s general office in Seychelles. The reduced number of staff however, is hindering the optimal function of this department. 2. VFM be integration into decision making and resource allocation cycles A SMART analysis is recommended by 33% of the respondent to be used in introducing performance budgets in the budget process. 100% of the respondents state that there is need to have a public monitoring unit or a reviewing body to review budget spending. 33% state that a specific department should be set aside for this purpose only. 3. Feasibility and desirability of the VFM model adaptation in Seychelles 100% response indicate that the integration of this model is a costly agenda but with time it will be fully inducted i.e. 2015. The need for a VFM code is highly vital as expressed by 100% of the respondents. 4. Challenges likely to be encountered and the scope for changes in this direction Ineffective monitoring and implementation unit Lack of good administration in analysis projects Cultural impact – acceptance and gradual change Funding for Research and implementation of the Model in full Bulk budget allocation 100% indicate that there is need to do thorough research in countries that have integrated VFM successfully. There will be gradual implementation of the model by 2015. 5. Form of an integrated VFM code for Seychelles The modest methods recommended are Cost benefit analysis; the 3e’s analysis and the trend analysis deferred form the confidence levels. However, the respondents do not have a clear method to be used. However, there are insights into doing research work in countries that have implemented VFM models successfully. Enhancing levels of engagement with performance data policy Definition of Va lue for Money Code Value for money’ is a term that is used to show an explicit commitment to enabling the best results possible are achieved from the money spent. In the UK Government, VFM has been used to depict a concern for more transparency and accountability in spending