We live in a world where people look to technology to enhance and improve their lives and in fact, laptops have now become a standard item to have and this technology is seen to be utilized everywhere at home, stores, work, and schools (Noel, 2008). Over the last decade, many schools have investigated the educational possibilities of mobile computing while more recently, many K-12 schools are implementing the use of laptop computers and in fact, improvements in portable computing technology as well as examples of successful pilot programs using laptops have inspired many schools to take into great consideration laptops for their students (Belanger, 2001).
As Peyman and Mann (n.d) noted, in the last few years, the use of wireless local area networks (WLAN) has increased significantly and this is something that has made technology popular amongst the various fields of society, including education. Schools are striving to help students become technologically literate at a young age but while there are advantages to laptop computing in K-12 education, there are also many concerns that should be taken into consideration (Miles, n.d).
“A laptop is a general term referring to a computer that has a built-in display and keyboard and is intended to be a portable personal computer. A laptop computer runs the same operating system and software applications as a larger desktop PC, but it is considerably smaller in size and lighter in weight” (National Centre for Technology in Education, 2007, p.1). Laptops or notebook computers are the most prevalent one-to-one computing devices and for more than a decade schools have used laptops and in fact, in 2003 more than 24 million laptops were sold in the United States (Jackson, 2004). As Greenfield (1990) supported, laptops have started making inroads in the educational sector in ways that are practical and innovative.
According to the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 50% of primary schools and 82% of secondary schools reported making at least some use of wireless network technology while also, in 23% of primary schools and 22% of secondary schools, either all or a significant portion of their network was wireless (Peyman & Mann, n.d). The use of laptops in the classroom can provide teachers and students with many benefits and can change significantly the teaching and learning processes in unique ways. As outlined by the National Centre for Technology in Education (2007), laptops are a window into the world and a tool with which to enhance learning while also, they can be used to teach and learn as well as to create and share.
Two important advantages that laptops provide are portability and convenience. Laptops can be taken out of the school by teachers and students and in fact, it is possible to transport them to various environments and this is something very convenient for teachers and students (Greenfield, 1990). These advantages lead also to another advantage of laptops and that is flexibility. As Fay (2006) supported, laptops enable students to engage in their work when and where they want and with few constraints while also, the results of a study conducted by Fay, revealed that students spent more time on task when they had laptops and in fact, they worked more frequently and for longer. Laptops provide flexibility not only to the students but also to the teachers. Teachers have the opportunity to take laptops home from school and can work and up skill themselves according to their personal schedules (National Centre for Technology in Education, 2007). As reported by the National Centre for Technology in Education, teachers can take laptops home in order to prepare lessons, carry out administrative tasks as well as to evaluate educational software programs in more independent way. Furthermore, laptops increase access. As supported by the Keystone Tech Team (2005), laptops provide teachers the opportunity to access the technology where and when they need it while also, laptops can be even compared to calculators and hence, students can use them at their desk or collaboratively in a group setting.
Laptops are also characterized for their functionality. In specific, laptops have almost all the functionality of desktop computers and hence, they allow students to perform all the tasks they were used to perform traditionally on a PC such as creating presentations, e-mailing, surfing the Internet as well as collaborating with other students (Jackson, 2004). It can also be denoted that laptops offer an alternative to traditional computer room scenarios and in fact, they can perform like any desktop computer but in addition, they have the advantage of being more readily integrated into the classroom situations and learning activities (National Centre for Technology in Education, 2007).
Apart from these, the use of laptops helps students get engaged in their own learning. As Negroponte (2009) outlined, when students have access to laptops they get engaged in their own education and they have the chance to learn, create, share, and collaborate while also, they become connected to each other and to the world. In addition to these as Capraro (n.d) reported, laptops offer a new, improved realm of learning for students; they make lessons interactive and this is something that keeps students engaged in the learning process; while they also provide instant feedback and assistance and they can serve as a source for limitless new knowledge.
Furthermore, the use of laptops in the classroom enhances and promotes independent learning. In a laptop classroom, there is lecturing and more individual and group project work and hence, teachers no longer have to provide all the information since, students can gather much of what is needed from the Internet while they can also work more on their own and at their own pace or work in small groups to prepare projects (WikiBooks org., 2006). In addition, as supported by the WikiBooks org., teachers can act as consultants to the students who can offer individualized suggestions and corrections as well as more frequent assessments of individual and group progress.
In a laptop classroom, students “as independent learners, they also have to take on more responsibility for their learning, by working independently they have to monitor their own progress, identify the tools and resources they need to use, and know when to seek help. Developing the ability to learn independently, collaborate with peers to accomplish work, and communicate the conclusions of your work are the core of 21st-century skills, and a highly valued set of competencies in the world outside of school” (WikiBooks org., 2006, ¶4).
A great advantage of laptops is that they promote cooperation among the students. As Cromwell (1999) outlined, cooperation and a sense of community can de developed among the students when they work collaboratively on projects and share information about their laptops. This was also outlined by the results of a study made by Rockman that specifically revealed that the majority of the teachers that participated in the research and made use of laptops in the classroom, reported an increase in cooperative learning and project-based instruction (Belanger, 2001).
An also important advantage of laptops is that they contribute to an improvement of students’ achievement and to an increase in test scores. This was also revealed by the results of the second of a three-year study at Henricho County high school that showed in specific, a noticeable improvement in students’ test scores in the subjects of biology, history, and chemistry (Noel, 2008). Moreover, the results of another study made by Stevenson revealed also that students with laptops demonstrated a sustained level of academic achievement compared to the students who did not make use of laptops while also, the academic benefits were most significant in at-risk student populations (Belanger, 2001). In accordance with these, are the results of a study made by Gulek and Demirtas (2005) that revealed that students who participated in a laptop immersion program tended to earn significantly higher test scores and grades for mathematics, English-language arts, writing and overall Grade Point Averages (GPAs).
The use of laptops in the classroom creates greater interest in and excitement about learning in general. As Cromwell (1999) stated, “Laptops have created … a sense of excitement about learning in general…They’ve created greater interest in research, writing, and projects students work on…The laptops lead to a sense of discovery every day, keeping students more focused and on task” (¶3).
An important advantage of laptops is that they enhance learning for students with disabilities. In particular, laptops provide students with disabilities the opportunity to succeed that may not be otherwise provided while also, laptops provide special education students an additional visual representation of learning material that directly addresses the needs of these students (Gulek & Demirtas, 2005).
Laptops provide also more opportunities for students to develop and acquire important computer skills that will be necessary to them in their future workplace. As Cromwell (1999) reported, many proponents of a laptop for every student think young people need to begin developing and acquiring computer skills in order to be employable when they graduate from high school or college.
According to Jackson (2004), laptops provide also the following general four advantages: (a) speed of implementation and in fact laptops are easy to learn, if you already know how to use a desktop computer; (b) support availability, where technical support, software, and peripherals are readily available with laptops; (c) integration help and in fact educational materials such as lesson plans, mail lists, etc. are easy to locate using laptops; (d) cross-platform capability, where various laptop models are made for PCs and Macs, that ensure a smooth transition from existing technology.
Laptops also contribute to an improvement of students’ writing skills. In particular, the ease of using a word processor along with the ability to go back and modify things that would otherwise not be possible when writing to a paper, helps students learn how to write more coherent and persuasive text (Timmer, 2009). Furthermore, the use of laptops offers students the opportunity to transfer knowledge across disciplines. As Gulek and Demirtas (2005) stated, “This is believed to occur because laptop students are involved in: (1) highly engaged and focused activities spending more time on their work and completing larger projects; (2) frequently apply active learning strategies; (3) interact with each other about their work; (4) problem solve through project-based activities, which usually involve more critical thinking; and (5) regularly find information, make sense of it, and communicate it” (p.6).
Undoubtedly, the use of laptops in the classroom has many advantages and can provide students and teachers with many benefits that can enhance and improve the teaching and learning processes. Laptops can be used in various ways in the classroom in order to enhance and improve learning and some of those ways are next mentioned and discussed. Students can use laptops in class as part of an integrated lesson that can be teacher-directed or student-directed or they can use them at home where their use is totally student-centred (National Centre for Technology in Education, 2007). As stated by the National Centre for Technology in Education “Allocating laptops for student use on a full-time basis can be advantageous for the following reasons: students can explore their preferred learning styles independently; students can collaborate on assignments with peers via email; students can prepare and present homework or project work using multimedia; students can access learning support if educational software programs are made available for home use” (p.2).
Furthermore, teachers can use laptops in all content areas by incorporating blogging, podcasts, quizzes and online textbooks into their instruction and this is something that can improve the teaching and learning methods as well as create a more fun and interactive environment for both teachers and students (Noel, 2008). In addition, as Noel reported, with the use of laptops in the classroom, the amount of paper being used can be greatly diminished.
The 1999 Laptop Learning Challenge sponsored by Toshiba and National Science Teacher’s Association recognized innovative uses of laptops in K-12 science and mathematics education such as: some award-winning ideas that showed students using laptops to facilitate group work, to analyze data immediately during a lab exercise, conduct scientific investigations in the field rather than in the classroom; in writing activities, student projects and presentations; in creating spreadsheets to solve mathematical problems; and creating book reports using presentation software such as PowerPoint or HyperStudio (Belanger, 2001).
On the other hand, the use of laptops in the classroom does not lack of some disadvantages, some of which are next mentioned and discussed. Laptops are too expensive. Many laptops cost $1000 and up and this price is too high for many schools (Jackson, 2004). In addition, “according to a study done by the UCLA Department of Education, software, internet connection, maintenance and training costs must also be considered when budgeting for a laptop program” (Miles, n.d, ¶2). This was also supported by Belanger (2001), who reported specifically that added costs such as hardware and network costs, technical support and faculty training are the greatest obstacles. Moreover, laptops are too expensive to be distributed equitably among children and therefore, their use in just a few classrooms is simply unfair (Cromwell, 1999).
The fact that laptops are too expensive leads to another disadvantage and that is inequities between the students. Students with laptops at home have an unfair advantage over students who do not have laptops at home and this is something that raises concerns about school-system-funded laptops for every student (Cromwell, 1999). In addition to these, the fact that not all students have an Internet connection at home and hence, allowing laptops to be checked out for homework purposes will not be possible if assignments require Internet usage (Miles, n.d). As Belanger (2001) noted, “Laptop programs may worsen technology inequities among students for families who are unable to assume these costs” (¶11).
Furthermore, the use of laptops in the classroom can make students not use their time in class productively or efficiently. For instance, their work can be interspersed with other activities such as checking and writing email, reading news, instant messaging, etc. and consequently, this constant availability of the laptops leads to constraining students’ thinking (Fay, 2006). In addition to these, reliability constitutes another disadvantage of laptops. In particular, during the teaching and learning processes, technical problems may occur and if replacement computers are not available, then valuable time can be wasted (Miles, n.d).
As Jackson (2004) supported, laptops have also the following two disadvantages: (a) mobility, and in fact, laptops are not actually mobile since people cannot walk and work on them; and (b) physical barrier, where the laptop screen can make it difficult for teachers to monitor work and communicate with students. Furthermore, other disadvantages of laptops include the following two as reported by Miles (n.d): (a) security, and in specific, due to the fact that laptops are small and lightweight enough to be hidden in backpacks, there may be thefts if the school does not monitor the laptops strictly or attach a security device to them; and (b) health concerns, since there is growing concern about the safety of the electromagnetic fields emitted from wireless devices used by laptop computers.
Apart from these, another important disadvantage related to the use of laptops in the classroom refers to the teachers’ role as the students’ guardians. In specific, when laptops are used in the classroom, teachers have to become more active guardians over the activities of their students and maybe such tools as remote desktop viewing of students’ laptops as well as old-fashioned walking around the classroom, may keep students in line with using the laptop only for classroom and educational purposes (Manal, n.d).
Relating to the use of laptops in classroom is the use of Wi-Fi. “Wi-Fi is short for Wireless Fidelity and is a particular type of Wireless local area network (WLAN)-i.e., you don’t need to plug your computer into a phone network via a cable. There are many types of WLAN but all of them allow two or more computers to form a network using radio frequency (RF) signals. They allow users to access and share data, applications, internet access or other network resources in the same way as wired (cable) systems” (Snowdon, 2009, p.1).
A Wi-Fi enabled laptop program brings technology to the children and in fact, Wi-Fi can connect the students studying at home to the school’s intranet and its content and instructional software which does not include the internet with inappropriate content for students such as pornography, gambling, etc. (Adrignola, 2009). The option for Wi-Fi connectivity is available for most of the interactive Whiteboards that are increasingly used in schools with educational software in order to cover the curriculum (Peyman & Mann, n.d).
The use of Wi-Fi helps improve the teaching and learning processes and in general it has many advantages, some of which are next mentioned and discussed. Wi-Fi offers flexibility to teachers and students. In specific, teachers can make use of a wireless enabled laptop and can access the wireless network to show students work and educational material, share resources, obtain information from the internet from anywhere within a range of an AP, without being tied to a wired PC (Snowdon, 2009). In addition, as Snowdon supported, Wi-Fi enables for a flexible learning and the accommodation of different learning styles as well as the adaptation of any learning space to suit the type of learning taking place.
An important advantage of Wi-Fi is its low cost. Despite the fact that the initial cost that is necessary for Wireless LAN hardware can be similar to the cost of wired LAN hardware, the installation expenses can be significantly lower (Snowdon, 2009). Moreover, the fact that the cost per subscriber for a Wi-Fi is quite low enables a school district to build its own private access network independent of commercial operators (Adrignola, 2009). Additionally, as Adrignola stated, “Wi-Fi allows local area networks (LANs) to be deployed without cables and wires for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion…Wireless network adapters are now built into most laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continue to drop, making it an economical networking option included in even more devices” (¶16).
Wi-Fi is accessible and adaptable. It provides access to the network from anywhere in the school within range of an access point and this gives users the freedom to use ICT where and when it is needed while also, with Wi-Fi, it is easier and quicker to add or move devices on the network (Snowdon, 2009). In accordance with the advantages of accessibility and adaptability is the advantage of portability and convenience. As Snowdon supported, Wi-Fi allows computer devices to move around the school with the students and this is something that allows for outdoor field work and work in non-classroom spaces such as the library, playground, etc. As Adrignola (2009) outlined, “With Wi-Fi service, students, faculty and staff can conveniently use their Wi-Fi enabled devices anywhere in the school campus during school time” (¶17).
Wi-Fi contributes also to an enhancement and improvement of technology and academic skills. In particular, the longer the students use compute and internet/intranet, the more digital skills they will learn while also, students who spend more time on school’s intranet usually get more information of their subjects and it is most likely that they will find it easier to do their homework and hence, improving of the grade is automatic (Adrignola, 2009).
Moreover, the use of Wi-Fi provides opportunities for students to interact with the teacher, other students as well as with outsiders (Hodgson, 2004). Wi-Fi provides significant advantages for instruction in various content areas such as literacy, numeracy, and writing. For instance, a Wi-Fi enabled laptop loaded with interactive literacy instructional software can greatly enhance instruction and some examples may include English language students who can improve their English vocabulary by making use of sight-sound relationships that are made available via the laptop and software while also, software products offer practice tests that students can use when they are studying for their American Tests (ACT) in order to improve their reading and test taking skills (Adrignola, 2009).
Apart from these, Wi-Fi enabled laptops offer interactive software that can enhance students’ number sense while they also offer math games that enable practice and development of number sense while also, 3-D graphics can help high school students understand physics, biology, and trigonometry (Adrignola, 2009).
Although Wi-Fi has many advantages, it has some disadvantages as well. An important disadvantage of Wi-Fi refers to slower data transfer and specifically, the current data rates of wireless networks indicates that high bandwidth activities are better done on wired networks while also, when the number of devices that make use of the network increase, then the data transfer rate to each device will decrease accordingly (Snowdon, 2009). Another disadvantage of Wi-Fi as Snowdon reported, involves upgrading. As wireless standards change, it may be necessary to upgrade to higher specifications of wireless that could mean replacing wireless equipment while also, security with Wi-Fi is more difficult to guarantee.
According to Snowdon (2009), Wi-Fi has also the following two disadvantages: (a) signal reception, that means that devices will only operate at a limited distance from an access point while also, obstacles between the access point and the user such as walls, trees, glass, etc. can also affect and determine the distance of operation; and (b) configuration, that means that as more people use wireless devices then there is the risk that certain radio frequencies used for wireless will become congested and prone to interference.
As Adrignola (2009) outlined, “Today’s children are digital natives. Today’s adolescence love digital devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, smart phone, and laptop/netbook. With Wi-Fi service on school campus, students with Wi-Fi enabled devices could enjoy surfing on internet during school time. This will most likely to extend their time of practicing technology skills, as well as academic studying” (¶6). Laptops are definitely necessary in the classroom around the world today to help students gain any advantage they can in today’s cutthroat education system (Ryan, n.d). Closing up, with the use of laptops and handheld computers in the classroom, education is becoming more high tech while also, the involvement of Wi-Fi in the classroom helps students with real time streaming and in fact, it can free students from note taking and therefore, it can allow them to concentrate more on the discussion developed in the classroom (Hodgson, 2004).
References
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Monday, August 9, 2010
Media and Society
“In the last 50 years the media influence has grown exponentially with the advance of technology, first there was the telegraph, then the radio, the newspaper, magazines, television and now the Internet” (Rayuso, 2009, ¶1). As Rayuso supported, our society depends largely on information and communication technologies that help people move in the right direction in their work, entertainment, personal relationships, health care, and education. In modern society, media is everywhere, and it is almost impossible to avoid and in fact, Americans spend an average of twenty-eight hours per week watching television while they also spend an undetermined number of hours reading periodicals, listening to the radio, and going to the movies (Elton, 2008). The media effect on society is often debated, whether it is good or bad, overstated or understated, however, the fact is that there is an effect that is becoming more powerful as media becomes more pervasive, more mobile and more global (Mitchell, 2009).
“The media, especially television, socializes and shapes people’s attitudes, values, and beliefs about the world around them. Program content and commercials both strongly influence the way we think about ourselves and others, as well as sex, food, tobacco, and other life concerns. The Internet also strongly influences our behaviour, especially socially. Further, some individuals are addicted to watching television and using the Internet, and as a consequence, they forget about the world and fail to meet responsibilities” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.313). Many people cannot realize the significant impact that the mass media has on all aspects of society whether that is economic, ideological or political due to the fact that the mass media has become such an ordinary and everyday part of society (Elton, 2008). As Elton noted, the mass media influence the way we vote, the things we buy, the way we act as well as the values we hold.
“Mass media are methods of communicating to a vast amount of people around the world. Mass media means things such as Television, Radio, Newspapers, Internet, Magazines etc; they are a means of communication to people. The mass media have a few main functions, which include informing, educating and entertaining us” (Vish, 2008, ¶2). According to Medoff and Kaye (2005), the effects of media on people individually, socially and culturally can be explained through four perspectives which include the strong-effects model, the limited-effects model; the moderate-effects model; and the powerful-effects model. It is the author’s belief and point of view that media has not a limited or moderated effect on society but a powerful effect. “What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do based on our experience and studies; however, on our daily lives we rely on the media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of” (Rayuso, 2009, ¶4).
Television and other media can have positive and negative effects as well but it seems that most of the attention is focused on the negative effects and there is much debate about the degree to which the media influence our attitudes, behaviours, and values (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). As Mitchell (2009) noted, “as the technology powers and empowers the delivery of the media effect in ways not possible before, there are both good and bad outcomes” (¶16). People have trusted the media as an authority to give them news, entertainment and education but however, the influence of mass media on society is so big that people should be aware of how it really works (Rayuso, 2009). The media has a significant impact on society and in public opinion as well and in fact, the media can shape the public opinion in various ways depending of what is the objective (Rayuso, 2009). As Rayuso noted, “Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television, we are constantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and much more, in fact it is known that a child is exposed to about 40,000 ads a year” (¶6). Additionally, the rise of new media such as video games and the Internet has introduced new ways children can be exposed to violence (Anderson, Berkowitz, Donnerstein, Huesmann, Johnson, Linz, Malamuth & Wartella, 2003).
It is the author’s belief and point of view that media has a powerful effect on society. Despite the fact that various kinds of media such as television, radio, advertising and the Internet provide many benefits, they can also have a powerful negative effect on society and people’s lives, especially on children’s lives. For instance, the Internet is blamed for exposing children to unsavoury material and in fact, when children tend to make an extensive use of the Internet, they can be led to social isolation (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). Music videos and music lyrics can also have a powerful effect on society and mostly on children’s lives. “Music videos are also of concern because these videos are sometimes replete with violence. Even those that do not have explicit aggressive content often have antisocial overtones” (Anderson et al., 2003, p.9). In addition, as Anderson et al. supported, watching violent music videos creates attitudes and beliefs that are relatively accepting of violence in young viewers. Furthermore, radio stations get heat for playing songs with racy, violent, and antisocial lyrics and this is an issue of concern because children will do whatever these songs suggest (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Advertising constitutes also an important means of media that has a powerful effect on society and that can significantly impact and influence people’s attitudes and beliefs. As Rayuso (2009) stated, “The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. We buy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on TV, newspapers or magazines to be a product we can trust and also based on what everyone else that we know is buying and their decision are also based on the media”(¶11). Apart from these, teenagers are influenced and consequently buy what their favourite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on fashion that the media has imposed them (Rayuso, 2009). In addition, “According to the Journal of Advertising, studies show that America’s obsession with physical beauty is strongly created and reinforced by advertising” (Fihn, n.d, ¶3).
Comparing the various kinds of media it can be denoted that television constitutes the one that has the most powerful effect on society and can greatly influence people’s opinions, attitudes, behaviour, and beliefs. When we watch TV we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others and this is something that can become traumatic especially in children who are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs and hence, this can result in making them become aggressive or losing the sense of reality and fiction (Rayuso, 2009). As Medoff and Kaye (2005) noted, “Television content is blamed for many social ills, such as violent behaviour, increased crime rated, a lower literacy level, and the breakdown of the family” (p.291).
Psychologists have proven that the minds of children develop cognitively and when they are young, they are not in a position to understand things such as violence on television and therefore, violence on television give children the sense that violence is a part of ordinary life, thus reducing their ability not to be violent (Fihn, n.d). Additionally, it is worth mentioning the results of a research conducted in 1969 by the U.S. Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behaviour regarding the influence of television on children’s behaviour, that revealed that there was a strong link between viewing violence on television and performing antisocial behaviour and in fact, the link was not limited only to children who were predisposed to aggressive behaviour (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Also, the results of another study revealed that the majority of programs on television include violence and this is something that can greatly influence people’s behaviour and attitudes. In specific, “according to the national Television Violence study (NTVS), which, during the period of three years, investigated ten thousand hours of violent programs, discovered that about 60% of all TV programs have violent content. And only fifteen percent of these programs revealed the long-term effects of the violence they depicted. Forty percent of them even ended with the criminals going completely free without being punished” (Fihn, n.d, ¶2).
Additionally, in the 1980, many violence studies indicated that viewing violence is strongly related to aggressive behaviour and in fact, viewing media violence may affect people behaviourally, cognitively, and emotionally since viewers and mostly children, may imitate aggressive behaviours, identify with unsavoury characters and may become desensitized to violence in real life (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). Moreover, as Medoff and Kaye noted, “Repeated exposure to mediated violence breaks down social barriers and may influence antisocial behaviours” (p.313).
As research has revealed, a significant proportion of aggressive children are likely to grow up to be aggressive adults and in fact, the best single predictor of violent behaviour in older adolescents and young adults is aggressive behaviour when they were younger (Anderson et al., 2003). As Anderson et al., “Thus influences that promote aggressive behaviour in young children can contribute to increasingly aggressive and ultimately violent behaviour many years later” (p.3).
Undoubtedly, media has a powerful effect on society and this is a fact that the author strongly supports. If we take a look at every aspect in every field of society, we will see and realize various examples that indicate the powerful effect that media have on society. For instance, ways that media influence people are with polls and trends, especially in political campaigns, where candidates that can pay for more TV and media exposure have more influence on public opinion and hence, they can receive more votes (Rayuso, 2009). Also the media effect was one of the biggest factors in the recent US presidential elections and in fact, rampant sexism in old media hurt Hillary’s campaign and a newly engaged media constituency helped put Obama in the White House (Mitchell, 2009).
The 2008 Presidential election is a representative example of the powerful effect that media has on society. Particularly, “The mass media decided to give the most coverage to candidates who stand for preserving the status quo, while writing off candidates who challenge the status quo (such as Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel) as long-shots –even if polls, straw polls, primaries, and the breaking of world records say otherwise” (Elton, 2008, p.2).
According to Martin N. Marger, “the media are closely interwoven with government, particularly at the national level. Put simply, the relationship between government and media is symbiotic, neither can function effectively without the other […] Moreover, much of the news transmitted by the mass media is prepared by government agencies” (Elton, 2008, p.2).
The media has also a powerful effect in public opinion. For instance, after the attacks of 911 the media gave a huge coverage of the event and exposed Osama guilty for the attack as they were told by the authorities and this was something that shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism as it happened with the war on Iraq (Rayuso, 2009). Another example of the powerful effect of the media on society is the use of cigars by celebrity movies stars, the constant exposure of sex images, the exposure to thousands of junk food ads as well as the excessive images of violence (Rayuso, 2009).
“Media also affects the way Americans view their own appearance, what with super thin models and other beautiful people on TV, on magazines, and in advertisements, giving Americans something new to be insecure about” (Fihn, n.d, ¶3). Many women want to look like the super models and thin celebrities so they become obsessive with losing weight even they are not obese and hence, they engage in eating disorders such as anorexia that may lead to severe health problems and even death (Rayuso, 2009). But not only kinds of eating disorders such as anorexia are influenced by the media but also obesity. As Rayuso noted, “There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideas image of a successful person is to be thin and wealthy” (¶17).
As Elton (2008) outlined, “The influence of mass media on society extends far beyond politics. The media doesn’t just influence who we vote for, but also what we entertain ourselves with, what we buy, and what we believe. Most people have been affected by the mass media since childhood. It starts with children’s movies which serve a primary purpose of corporate marketing, and a secondary purpose of entertainment” (p.2).
Closing up, “Some worry that our fascination with television and the Internet is turning us into media junkies, who live in darkened rooms, transfixed to our screens. These concerns will not likely be settled in the near future and, in fact, are more likely to grow as television screens get larger and more involving and our dependence on computers and the Internet deepens” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.313).
Undoubtedly, as Medoff and Kaye (2005) supported, the media has a powerful effect on society but it can be denoted that not all people respond to the same message in the same way and in fact, the circumstances must be right in order for certain effects to occur and for instance, some viewers may be influenced and may become more aggressive than others under some circumstances
References
Anderson, C.A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L.R., Johnson, J.D., Linz, D., Malamuth, N.M.,Wartella, E. (2003) The Influence of Media Violence on Youth. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/pspi/pspi43.pdf
Elton, M. (2008) The Effects of Mass Media on Society. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/22036108/The-Effects-of-Mass-Media-on-Society
Fihn, J. (n.d) The Effects of Media on American Society. Retrieved December 8, 2009,
from http://www.helium.com/items/464058-the-effects-of-media-on-american-society
Medoff, N. & Kaye, B. (2005) Electronic media: Then, now, and later. Pearson
Education, Inc.
Mitchell, P. (2009) The Media Effect: Pat Mitchell’s Remarks at TED. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://www.paleycenter.org/the-media-effect-pat-mitchell-remarks-at-ted
Rayuso (2009) Mass Media Influence on Society. Retrieved December 9, 2009,
from http://hubpages.com/hub/Mass-Media-Influence-on-Society
Vish, F. (2008) Mass Media. Retrieved December 9, 2009, from http://www.allfreeessays.com/essays/Mass-Media/2939.html
“The media, especially television, socializes and shapes people’s attitudes, values, and beliefs about the world around them. Program content and commercials both strongly influence the way we think about ourselves and others, as well as sex, food, tobacco, and other life concerns. The Internet also strongly influences our behaviour, especially socially. Further, some individuals are addicted to watching television and using the Internet, and as a consequence, they forget about the world and fail to meet responsibilities” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.313). Many people cannot realize the significant impact that the mass media has on all aspects of society whether that is economic, ideological or political due to the fact that the mass media has become such an ordinary and everyday part of society (Elton, 2008). As Elton noted, the mass media influence the way we vote, the things we buy, the way we act as well as the values we hold.
“Mass media are methods of communicating to a vast amount of people around the world. Mass media means things such as Television, Radio, Newspapers, Internet, Magazines etc; they are a means of communication to people. The mass media have a few main functions, which include informing, educating and entertaining us” (Vish, 2008, ¶2). According to Medoff and Kaye (2005), the effects of media on people individually, socially and culturally can be explained through four perspectives which include the strong-effects model, the limited-effects model; the moderate-effects model; and the powerful-effects model. It is the author’s belief and point of view that media has not a limited or moderated effect on society but a powerful effect. “What we need to be aware is that most of our decisions, beliefs and values are based on what we know for a fact, our assumptions and our own experience. In our work we usually know what we have to do based on our experience and studies; however, on our daily lives we rely on the media to get the current news and facts about what is important and what we should be aware of” (Rayuso, 2009, ¶4).
Television and other media can have positive and negative effects as well but it seems that most of the attention is focused on the negative effects and there is much debate about the degree to which the media influence our attitudes, behaviours, and values (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). As Mitchell (2009) noted, “as the technology powers and empowers the delivery of the media effect in ways not possible before, there are both good and bad outcomes” (¶16). People have trusted the media as an authority to give them news, entertainment and education but however, the influence of mass media on society is so big that people should be aware of how it really works (Rayuso, 2009). The media has a significant impact on society and in public opinion as well and in fact, the media can shape the public opinion in various ways depending of what is the objective (Rayuso, 2009). As Rayuso noted, “Of all the media distribution channels the most influential has been the television, we are constantly exposed to thousands of images of violence, advertising, sex, celebrities and much more, in fact it is known that a child is exposed to about 40,000 ads a year” (¶6). Additionally, the rise of new media such as video games and the Internet has introduced new ways children can be exposed to violence (Anderson, Berkowitz, Donnerstein, Huesmann, Johnson, Linz, Malamuth & Wartella, 2003).
It is the author’s belief and point of view that media has a powerful effect on society. Despite the fact that various kinds of media such as television, radio, advertising and the Internet provide many benefits, they can also have a powerful negative effect on society and people’s lives, especially on children’s lives. For instance, the Internet is blamed for exposing children to unsavoury material and in fact, when children tend to make an extensive use of the Internet, they can be led to social isolation (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). Music videos and music lyrics can also have a powerful effect on society and mostly on children’s lives. “Music videos are also of concern because these videos are sometimes replete with violence. Even those that do not have explicit aggressive content often have antisocial overtones” (Anderson et al., 2003, p.9). In addition, as Anderson et al. supported, watching violent music videos creates attitudes and beliefs that are relatively accepting of violence in young viewers. Furthermore, radio stations get heat for playing songs with racy, violent, and antisocial lyrics and this is an issue of concern because children will do whatever these songs suggest (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Advertising constitutes also an important means of media that has a powerful effect on society and that can significantly impact and influence people’s attitudes and beliefs. As Rayuso (2009) stated, “The media makes billions of dollars with the advertising they sell and that we are exposed to. We buy what we are told to be good, after seeing thousands of advertisings we make our buying decisions based on what we saw on TV, newspapers or magazines to be a product we can trust and also based on what everyone else that we know is buying and their decision are also based on the media”(¶11). Apart from these, teenagers are influenced and consequently buy what their favourite celebrity advertise and what is acceptable by society based on fashion that the media has imposed them (Rayuso, 2009). In addition, “According to the Journal of Advertising, studies show that America’s obsession with physical beauty is strongly created and reinforced by advertising” (Fihn, n.d, ¶3).
Comparing the various kinds of media it can be denoted that television constitutes the one that has the most powerful effect on society and can greatly influence people’s opinions, attitudes, behaviour, and beliefs. When we watch TV we usually see many images of violence and people hurting others and this is something that can become traumatic especially in children who are starting to grow and are shaping their personality values and beliefs and hence, this can result in making them become aggressive or losing the sense of reality and fiction (Rayuso, 2009). As Medoff and Kaye (2005) noted, “Television content is blamed for many social ills, such as violent behaviour, increased crime rated, a lower literacy level, and the breakdown of the family” (p.291).
Psychologists have proven that the minds of children develop cognitively and when they are young, they are not in a position to understand things such as violence on television and therefore, violence on television give children the sense that violence is a part of ordinary life, thus reducing their ability not to be violent (Fihn, n.d). Additionally, it is worth mentioning the results of a research conducted in 1969 by the U.S. Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behaviour regarding the influence of television on children’s behaviour, that revealed that there was a strong link between viewing violence on television and performing antisocial behaviour and in fact, the link was not limited only to children who were predisposed to aggressive behaviour (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Also, the results of another study revealed that the majority of programs on television include violence and this is something that can greatly influence people’s behaviour and attitudes. In specific, “according to the national Television Violence study (NTVS), which, during the period of three years, investigated ten thousand hours of violent programs, discovered that about 60% of all TV programs have violent content. And only fifteen percent of these programs revealed the long-term effects of the violence they depicted. Forty percent of them even ended with the criminals going completely free without being punished” (Fihn, n.d, ¶2).
Additionally, in the 1980, many violence studies indicated that viewing violence is strongly related to aggressive behaviour and in fact, viewing media violence may affect people behaviourally, cognitively, and emotionally since viewers and mostly children, may imitate aggressive behaviours, identify with unsavoury characters and may become desensitized to violence in real life (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). Moreover, as Medoff and Kaye noted, “Repeated exposure to mediated violence breaks down social barriers and may influence antisocial behaviours” (p.313).
As research has revealed, a significant proportion of aggressive children are likely to grow up to be aggressive adults and in fact, the best single predictor of violent behaviour in older adolescents and young adults is aggressive behaviour when they were younger (Anderson et al., 2003). As Anderson et al., “Thus influences that promote aggressive behaviour in young children can contribute to increasingly aggressive and ultimately violent behaviour many years later” (p.3).
Undoubtedly, media has a powerful effect on society and this is a fact that the author strongly supports. If we take a look at every aspect in every field of society, we will see and realize various examples that indicate the powerful effect that media have on society. For instance, ways that media influence people are with polls and trends, especially in political campaigns, where candidates that can pay for more TV and media exposure have more influence on public opinion and hence, they can receive more votes (Rayuso, 2009). Also the media effect was one of the biggest factors in the recent US presidential elections and in fact, rampant sexism in old media hurt Hillary’s campaign and a newly engaged media constituency helped put Obama in the White House (Mitchell, 2009).
The 2008 Presidential election is a representative example of the powerful effect that media has on society. Particularly, “The mass media decided to give the most coverage to candidates who stand for preserving the status quo, while writing off candidates who challenge the status quo (such as Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel) as long-shots –even if polls, straw polls, primaries, and the breaking of world records say otherwise” (Elton, 2008, p.2).
According to Martin N. Marger, “the media are closely interwoven with government, particularly at the national level. Put simply, the relationship between government and media is symbiotic, neither can function effectively without the other […] Moreover, much of the news transmitted by the mass media is prepared by government agencies” (Elton, 2008, p.2).
The media has also a powerful effect in public opinion. For instance, after the attacks of 911 the media gave a huge coverage of the event and exposed Osama guilty for the attack as they were told by the authorities and this was something that shaped the public opinion to support the war on terrorism as it happened with the war on Iraq (Rayuso, 2009). Another example of the powerful effect of the media on society is the use of cigars by celebrity movies stars, the constant exposure of sex images, the exposure to thousands of junk food ads as well as the excessive images of violence (Rayuso, 2009).
“Media also affects the way Americans view their own appearance, what with super thin models and other beautiful people on TV, on magazines, and in advertisements, giving Americans something new to be insecure about” (Fihn, n.d, ¶3). Many women want to look like the super models and thin celebrities so they become obsessive with losing weight even they are not obese and hence, they engage in eating disorders such as anorexia that may lead to severe health problems and even death (Rayuso, 2009). But not only kinds of eating disorders such as anorexia are influenced by the media but also obesity. As Rayuso noted, “There are millions of adolescents fighting obesity, but at the same time they are exposed to thousands of advertisements of junk food, while the ideas image of a successful person is to be thin and wealthy” (¶17).
As Elton (2008) outlined, “The influence of mass media on society extends far beyond politics. The media doesn’t just influence who we vote for, but also what we entertain ourselves with, what we buy, and what we believe. Most people have been affected by the mass media since childhood. It starts with children’s movies which serve a primary purpose of corporate marketing, and a secondary purpose of entertainment” (p.2).
Closing up, “Some worry that our fascination with television and the Internet is turning us into media junkies, who live in darkened rooms, transfixed to our screens. These concerns will not likely be settled in the near future and, in fact, are more likely to grow as television screens get larger and more involving and our dependence on computers and the Internet deepens” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.313).
Undoubtedly, as Medoff and Kaye (2005) supported, the media has a powerful effect on society but it can be denoted that not all people respond to the same message in the same way and in fact, the circumstances must be right in order for certain effects to occur and for instance, some viewers may be influenced and may become more aggressive than others under some circumstances
References
Anderson, C.A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L.R., Johnson, J.D., Linz, D., Malamuth, N.M.,Wartella, E. (2003) The Influence of Media Violence on Youth. Retrieved December 10, 2009, from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/pspi/pspi43.pdf
Elton, M. (2008) The Effects of Mass Media on Society. Retrieved December 11, 2009, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/22036108/The-Effects-of-Mass-Media-on-Society
Fihn, J. (n.d) The Effects of Media on American Society. Retrieved December 8, 2009,
from http://www.helium.com/items/464058-the-effects-of-media-on-american-society
Medoff, N. & Kaye, B. (2005) Electronic media: Then, now, and later. Pearson
Education, Inc.
Mitchell, P. (2009) The Media Effect: Pat Mitchell’s Remarks at TED. Retrieved December 8, 2009, from http://www.paleycenter.org/the-media-effect-pat-mitchell-remarks-at-ted
Rayuso (2009) Mass Media Influence on Society. Retrieved December 9, 2009,
from http://hubpages.com/hub/Mass-Media-Influence-on-Society
Vish, F. (2008) Mass Media. Retrieved December 9, 2009, from http://www.allfreeessays.com/essays/Mass-Media/2939.html
The Supply Chain
As Turban, Leidner, Mclean and Wetherbe (2008) noted, problems along the supply chain may occur because of uncertainties or from the need to coordinate various activities, internal units, and business partners. A solution that an organization can apply in order to deal with and solve various problems and improve its supply chain constitutes Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). “An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a generic term for an integrated computing system. It is a customized packaged software-based system that handles the majority of an enterprise’s information systems requirements. It is a software architecture that facilitates the flow of information among all functions within an enterprise. It sits on a common database and is supported by a single development environment. ERP systems are customized to support an organization’s business processes” (Watson & Schneider, 1999, p.3). For universities and educational organizations, ERP constitutes an information technology solution that integrates and automates admissions, recruitment, student records, financial aid and most academic services such as admissions, registration, recruitment as well as administrative services such as human resources, accounting, payroll, etc. (Rico, 2004). The implementation of an ERP can provide great benefits to an educational organization and can help improve its supply chain. An important benefit of ERP is that it provides greater levels of flow. In specific, ERP provides greater levels of information flow along with a higher quality of information and hence, it allows the educational organization to rapidly transfer information from one place to another and in fact, when information is transferred quickly and efficiently, the organization will be able to act on the data within a short period of time (Exforsys Inc, 2000). An ERP also increases cost effectiveness. Although an ERP installation requires a huge initial investment and adequate training, it reduces significantly the cost of operations in an organization (Srivastava, 2009).
Moreover, ERP systems enhance the work efficiency. Specifically, ERP systems enhance the efficiency of the whole organization by smoothly integrating its various divisions while they also help reduce paper documents and provide an online format for quick storage and retrieval of information (Srivastava, 2009). ERP can improve workflow and efficiency and for instance, following completion of online requisitions, workflow processes can forward the form along the approval path more rapidly than with traditional paper methods and this is something that can reduce the likelihood of missing documents and return quick feedback on the status of a request (Swartz & Orgill, 2001). Furthermore, ERP is powerful because it allows an organization to become highly flexible and hence, be able to quickly adapt to changes that occur and in fact, flexibility is very important today and if organizations are not flexible, it will be difficult for them to stay competitive (Exforsys Inc, 2000). The multiple software modules of the ERP aid the coordination of various functions in an organization and this integration provides an opportunity for the various divisions to share a unified database while it also ensures proper communication within the organization (Srivastava, 2009). As Srivastava outlined, “This centralization of data in one place eliminates the problem of synchronizing the changes made by different departments and people. It also reduces the risk of loss of confidential data, by applying difficult-to-crack network security models. ERP systems also provide an efficient method for data recovery, in case of a system crash” (¶4) Additionally, as Rico (2004) noted, with ERP, the new systems offer improved services for staff, faculty, and students and involve less cost and risk than legacy systems while also, academic, administrative, and student data are standardized and the educational organization’s data is globally accessible over the Internet. ERP systems can also provide controls and program alerts and for instance, alerts can use automated email to warn budget managers about budgets that are in danger of running out of funds while also, similarly, controls can be implemented in order to prevent individuals for overspending budgets (Swartz & Orgill, 2001). As King, Kvavik and Voloudakis (2002) noted, institutions of all types and sizes found benefits of their ERP implementations such as improved service levels, and enhanced accountability because of better and more easily accessible information. Moreover, additional benefits of ERP systems may include reduced staff requirements, improved admissions, increased student enrolments, shorten cycle time of school processes, enhanced school security, cutting down costs and employing less labour, increased cost-efficiency and making school operations cost effective, and improved counsellor productivity (Softforall.com, 2009).
References
Exforsys Inc. (2000) The Advantages and Disadvantages of ERP. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/erp/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-erp.html
King, P., Kvavik, R.B. & Voloudakis, J. (2002) Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in Higher Education. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERB0222.pdf
Rico, D.F. (2004) ERP in Higher Education. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://davidfrico.com/rico04f.pdf
Softforall.com (2009) School Management ERP System Description. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://www.softforall.com/SoftwareDev/SourceCode/School_Management_ERP_System08100068.htm
Srivastava, S. (2009) Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-enterprise-resource-planning-erp.html
Swartz, D. & Orgill, K. (2001) Higher Education ERP: Lessons Learned. Using this framework for ERP could save your University millions of dollars. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0121.pdf
Turban, E., Leidner, D., Mclean, E., & Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Watson, E.E. & Schneider, H. (1999) Using ERP Systems in Education. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 1(9). Retrieved February 25, 2010, from http://www.student.seas.gwu.edu/~sachinkp/OrgScience/a3-watson.pdf
Moreover, ERP systems enhance the work efficiency. Specifically, ERP systems enhance the efficiency of the whole organization by smoothly integrating its various divisions while they also help reduce paper documents and provide an online format for quick storage and retrieval of information (Srivastava, 2009). ERP can improve workflow and efficiency and for instance, following completion of online requisitions, workflow processes can forward the form along the approval path more rapidly than with traditional paper methods and this is something that can reduce the likelihood of missing documents and return quick feedback on the status of a request (Swartz & Orgill, 2001). Furthermore, ERP is powerful because it allows an organization to become highly flexible and hence, be able to quickly adapt to changes that occur and in fact, flexibility is very important today and if organizations are not flexible, it will be difficult for them to stay competitive (Exforsys Inc, 2000). The multiple software modules of the ERP aid the coordination of various functions in an organization and this integration provides an opportunity for the various divisions to share a unified database while it also ensures proper communication within the organization (Srivastava, 2009). As Srivastava outlined, “This centralization of data in one place eliminates the problem of synchronizing the changes made by different departments and people. It also reduces the risk of loss of confidential data, by applying difficult-to-crack network security models. ERP systems also provide an efficient method for data recovery, in case of a system crash” (¶4) Additionally, as Rico (2004) noted, with ERP, the new systems offer improved services for staff, faculty, and students and involve less cost and risk than legacy systems while also, academic, administrative, and student data are standardized and the educational organization’s data is globally accessible over the Internet. ERP systems can also provide controls and program alerts and for instance, alerts can use automated email to warn budget managers about budgets that are in danger of running out of funds while also, similarly, controls can be implemented in order to prevent individuals for overspending budgets (Swartz & Orgill, 2001). As King, Kvavik and Voloudakis (2002) noted, institutions of all types and sizes found benefits of their ERP implementations such as improved service levels, and enhanced accountability because of better and more easily accessible information. Moreover, additional benefits of ERP systems may include reduced staff requirements, improved admissions, increased student enrolments, shorten cycle time of school processes, enhanced school security, cutting down costs and employing less labour, increased cost-efficiency and making school operations cost effective, and improved counsellor productivity (Softforall.com, 2009).
References
Exforsys Inc. (2000) The Advantages and Disadvantages of ERP. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.exforsys.com/tutorials/erp/the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-erp.html
King, P., Kvavik, R.B. & Voloudakis, J. (2002) Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in Higher Education. Retrieved March 3, 2010, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERB0222.pdf
Rico, D.F. (2004) ERP in Higher Education. Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://davidfrico.com/rico04f.pdf
Softforall.com (2009) School Management ERP System Description. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://www.softforall.com/SoftwareDev/SourceCode/School_Management_ERP_System08100068.htm
Srivastava, S. (2009) Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Retrieved February 28, 2010, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-enterprise-resource-planning-erp.html
Swartz, D. & Orgill, K. (2001) Higher Education ERP: Lessons Learned. Using this framework for ERP could save your University millions of dollars. Retrieved March 1, 2010, from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0121.pdf
Turban, E., Leidner, D., Mclean, E., & Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Watson, E.E. & Schneider, H. (1999) Using ERP Systems in Education. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 1(9). Retrieved February 25, 2010, from http://www.student.seas.gwu.edu/~sachinkp/OrgScience/a3-watson.pdf
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Commercial Media
If we take a look at the past and make a comparison between the commercial electronic media that existed and were used almost 100 years ago and the media that exist and are used today, we will see that in general, the nature of electronic media has changed dramatically over the years. Various kinds of media that did not exist in the past are now holding the reins in today’s world, in the electronic age.
As reported by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2005), “In today’s society, electronic media are thoroughly integrated into the fabric of life, with television, movies, videos, music, video games, and computers central to both work and play” (p.1). The media scene has been developing at an incredible pace in recent years, but there has been both convergence and divergence (Pleitgen, 2007). In this era of information technology, the old methods of providing information such as the radio, television and newspapers are gradually losing their importance in contrast to the computers and the Internet which have also come to be included in the electronic media (Alamgir, 2002).
Today, people listen to digital radio via their television, watch TV on mobile phones, listen to radio on iPods while also, newspapers have started turning into broadcasters by offering audio and video on websites of their own while also, there has been the arrival and increasing influence of citizen journalism through the use of blogs, vlogs or video blogs, and video clips taken on mobile phones (Pleitgen, 2007).
“The term electronic media… refers to both electronic mass media (e.g. broadcasting) and electronic personal media (e.g. cell phones)” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.5). In addition, “Information and communications technology (ICT) is defined as computers, software, telecoms, such as mobile and fixed phones, the Internet and satellite technologies (United Nations org., n.d).
Before a discussion is provided on the effects that the changes in electronic media have on education as well as a discussion on their advantages and disadvantages, let us take a look at the past and see how the nature of commercial electronic media has changed and evolved over the years.
The start of broadcasting and commercial electronic media was signalled by the invention of radio telegraphy while in the late 1920s, Americans were fascinated with radio which enjoyed its place as the only instantaneous and electronic medium for over 30 years until the World War II, when television broadcasting started to become popular while in fact, television in its many forms such as broadcast, cable, satellite, video cassette, and DVD, was the center point of American media for over 50 years (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Afterwards, computers emerged as the new popular medium while also, the Internet followed, that emerged as a new mass medium at an unprecedented speed (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). “The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960s that saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields (Howe, 2009, ¶1).
As Medoff and Kaye (2005) outlined, the electronic media industry has changed dramatically over the past 10 years, most notably since 1996, when the Telecommunications Act was signed into law while also, satellite direct digital radio service began in 2002. In addition, wireless has grown rapidly in the past few years while also, a next big growth area is the surge towards universal wireless access (Howe, 2009).
Moreover, another trend is “the growth of smaller devices to connect to the Internet. Small tablets, pocket PCs, smart phones, eBooks, game machines, and even GPS devices are now capable of tapping into the web on the go” (Howe, 2009, ¶35).
Apart from these, some recent innovations such as e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms, allow us to talk to others who are connected in real time while also, the use of the Internet led to the development of online journalism that is similar to a print diary and weblogs or blogs which are web pages posted by individuals who want to express themselves on various topics (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Going further, it is worth mentioning the following three important issues as reported by the United Nations org. (n.d): (a) it took radio broadcasters 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, and the Internet just four; (b) there were 50 pages on the World Wide Web in 1993 and today there are more than 50 million pages; and (c) it is estimated that in just over five years some 900 million electronic devices could be connected to the Internet, equalling the number of telephones in the world.
Undoubtedly, the nature of commercial electronic media has changed dramatically over the years. As a result, this change has affected and impacted all sectors of society whether that is business, industry, medicine or education.
Taking as an example the field of education, it can be denoted that the changes in electronic media over the years has significantly impacted education and specifically, the integration and use of computers and the Internet in schools has impacted education and brought some remarkable changes to the teaching and learning processes.
As Rojem (2002) supported, the revolution of the Internet has had important implications for the educational system and consequently, the world of education is experiencing some major changes, not least of which is the use of the Internet in teaching and learning.
Access to world class broadband revolutionised education and provided students with the opportunity to engage more effectively with the resources from around the world as well as to engage in active learning (Rudd, Smith & Conroy, 2007). Past technologies have been capable of disseminating information but they did nothing to encourage student interaction but in contrast, the Internet, supports active, hands-on learning which can provide students with practical, real-life experiences while it can also lead to better retention and understanding of a given topic (Rojem, 2002).
Apart from these, in the past, students’ choice of resources was limited to resources that were available in the school library but now, with the revolution and integration of the Internet in schools, students are offered large amounts of information and resources through the Internet and the World Wide Web, which can access quite quickly and easily and therefore, learning in school now in no longer confined by the walls of the classroom (Rojem, 2002). As Medoff and Kaye (2005) stated, “The Web’s big advantage over traditional media is its lack of constraints in terms of space and time” (p.9).
Moreover, compared to the traditional reading habits of individuals, electronic media tend to be an attractive way of representing information and therefore, children can learn difficult concepts better when such concepts are demonstrated to them through the use of various electronic media (Poorani, 2006).
In addition to these, the Internet’s impact on education includes more student-centred learning as well as a shift from the traditional structure of students as passive learners toward that of active participants (Rojem, 2002).
Going further, various trends in electronic media such as convergence, consolidation, commercialism as well as the process of actually making programs that leads to the need for greater media literacy, have affected and impacted the way education is delivered (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). As Medoff and Kaye stated with media literacy, “the audience has knowledge and understanding not only of the meaning of the content of the media but also of the power of the media, the intent of the media, and the influence of the media” (p.13).
Convergence refers to “the blurring of the boundaries between the different types of electronic communication media” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.10). As Murphy (n.d) outlined, convergence is the melding of previously segregated fields of computing, telecommunications, and broadcasting but this is not something entirely new since, there has long been a convergence of sorts as technological infrastructure has been unified and shared among seemingly unrelated fields. As reported by the United Nations org. (n.d), “The convergence of information technology and the Internet may well become as transformative as the industrial revolution” (p.2).
Except for these, the changes in commercial electronic media have affected in general, the lives of the people in respect of their cognitive, emotional, and behavioural levels. Specifically, as Medoff and Kaye (2005) outlined, electronic media: help people become more knowledgeable about the world, give people information that help them form attitudes towards things and ideas while they also make people feel; and they have the possibility to persuade people to change their behaviour while they can also change how people use their time since, people seem to spend a lot of time each day with electronic media.
Going further, the changes in electronic media have their advantages and disadvantages as well. Apart from the positive effects, benefits and advantages of the use of the Internet that were mentioned and discussed above, another important advantage is the easy and fast access to information that consequently overcomes time and distance constraints. As Poorani stated, “Today’s world… provides easiest and fastest access to knowledge overcoming time and distance constraints through the electronic media. The electronic media in the form of Internet, television etc. prove to be not only the easiest means of access to information but also provides access to immense amount of knowledge” (¶7).
On the other side of the coin, the changes in electronic media seem to have some disadvantages as well. “In this fast moving world, technology has brought about immense changes in a man’s life. [But] with each change [there] is a host of advantages and disadvantages” (Poorani, 2006, ¶2). For instance, cost constitutes an important disadvantage that relates to the changes in electronic media. Particularly, in the field of education, school districts are spending tremendous amounts of money in order to connect schools to the Internet and this is an issue of concern since, there is no money left for the professional development needed to assist teachers in learning how to include the Internet in their teaching while also, the money spent on technology is at the expense of books and other resources needed by teachers (Rojem, 2002).
Moreover, television and electronic media displace social interaction since, time spent on television viewing is a passive experience that replaces a creative activity or interacting with other people and therefore, spending too much time with electronic media can be an isolating experience that can negatively impact the development of social skills (Walsh, n.d).
Apart from these, the Internet contains unreliable information. Unlike the materials found in a library, the information found on the Internet is not proofread or edited for content and hence, children can be uncritical in evaluating information while also, due to the fact that there are many resources to choose from, children may even become overwhelmed and unable to judge the quality of information and materials included in a site (Rojem, 2002). In addition to these, as Rojem supported, some of these materials and resources can be unsuitable and inappropriate especially for students such as sexually explicit materials abound on the Internet as well as sites that publish destructive information such as how to make a bomb or how to grow narcotic drugs.
Plagiarism is also another disadvantage of the Internet that despite the fact that it is not a new problem, it has become easier to do and more difficult to detect due to he introduction of the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web (Rojem, 2002).
Furthermore, a more general disadvantage of Information and communications technology involves the digital divide. As reported by the United Nations org. (n.d), there is still a gap between those who have electronic access and those who have not or in other words, there is a gap between information-haves and information-have nots that exists between communities and between countries.
In conclusion, computers and the Internet are influencing the way we learn while also, radio is still a dominant medium with wide access while in general, all these media are very powerful to reach, teach and enrich (Arulchelvan & Viswanathan, 2006).
Television and radio are crucial for ensuring social cohesion and development in the digital world while also in general, the electronic media have a vital role to play in the information society (Pleitgen, 2007).
The Internet brought, brings, and “will inevitably bring about major changes in our educational system. As more and more schools gain access to the Internet, teachers will be confronted with the challenge of how best to incorporate this valuable tool into their classrooms. Of course there will not be a complete move away from the conventional teaching methods, but the Internet will definitely alter classroom routines in one way or another” (Rojem, 2002, p.7).
As Rojem (2002) stated, “For children growing up in the information Age, it is hard to imagine a world without computers and the Internet… Just as the generation before them would gather to report the arrival of a new colour television, children today are busy debating who has the fastest modem and biggest hard drive” (p.1).
Closing up, we must keep in mind that: “Communications technology is not an end in itself; it is a vehicle for the provision of information and content” (Pleitgen, 2007, p.13).
References
Alamgir, K. (2002) Debate: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Electronic Media. Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/021019/yworld4.htm
Arulchelvan, S. & Viswanathan, D. (2006) Role and Effectiveness of Electronic Media in Higher Education-With Special Reference to Tamilnadu. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education , 7(4). Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde24/pdf/article_2.pdf
Howe, W. (2009) A Brief History of the Internet. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from
http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html
Medoff, N. & Kaye, B. (2005) Electronic media: Then, now, and later. Pearson Education, Inc.
Murphy, M.J. (n.d) Convergence, Interactive Media, and Innovation. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.innovation.ca/innovation2/essay_murphy.html
Pleitgen, F. (2007) A New Vision of Broadcasting in the Information Society. Retrieved November 5, 2009, from http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/Pleitgenfinal_tcm6-56034.pdf
Poorani (2006) On Electronic Media Vs Reading Habits. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-analysis-issue/47225-electronic-media-vs-reading-habits.html
Rojem, K. (2002) The Impact of the Internet on Education. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/libr500/01-02-wt2/www/K_Rojem/
Rudd, K.MP, Smith, S. & Conroy, S. (2007) A Digital Education Revolution. Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.alp.org.au/download/now/labors_digital_education_revolution_campaign_launch.pdf
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2005) The Effects of Electronic Media on Children Ages Zero to Six: A History of Research. Retrieved November 6, 2009, from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/The-Effects-of-Electronic-Media-on-Children-Ages-Zero-to-Six-A-History-of-Research-Issue-Brief.pdf
United Nations Org. (n.d) Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/technology/tech.pdf
Walsh, E. (n.d) Electronic Media and Young Children. Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Electronic_Media/
As reported by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2005), “In today’s society, electronic media are thoroughly integrated into the fabric of life, with television, movies, videos, music, video games, and computers central to both work and play” (p.1). The media scene has been developing at an incredible pace in recent years, but there has been both convergence and divergence (Pleitgen, 2007). In this era of information technology, the old methods of providing information such as the radio, television and newspapers are gradually losing their importance in contrast to the computers and the Internet which have also come to be included in the electronic media (Alamgir, 2002).
Today, people listen to digital radio via their television, watch TV on mobile phones, listen to radio on iPods while also, newspapers have started turning into broadcasters by offering audio and video on websites of their own while also, there has been the arrival and increasing influence of citizen journalism through the use of blogs, vlogs or video blogs, and video clips taken on mobile phones (Pleitgen, 2007).
“The term electronic media… refers to both electronic mass media (e.g. broadcasting) and electronic personal media (e.g. cell phones)” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.5). In addition, “Information and communications technology (ICT) is defined as computers, software, telecoms, such as mobile and fixed phones, the Internet and satellite technologies (United Nations org., n.d).
Before a discussion is provided on the effects that the changes in electronic media have on education as well as a discussion on their advantages and disadvantages, let us take a look at the past and see how the nature of commercial electronic media has changed and evolved over the years.
The start of broadcasting and commercial electronic media was signalled by the invention of radio telegraphy while in the late 1920s, Americans were fascinated with radio which enjoyed its place as the only instantaneous and electronic medium for over 30 years until the World War II, when television broadcasting started to become popular while in fact, television in its many forms such as broadcast, cable, satellite, video cassette, and DVD, was the center point of American media for over 50 years (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Afterwards, computers emerged as the new popular medium while also, the Internet followed, that emerged as a new mass medium at an unprecedented speed (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). “The Internet was the result of some visionary thinking by people in the early 1960s that saw great potential value in allowing computers to share information on research and development in scientific and military fields (Howe, 2009, ¶1).
As Medoff and Kaye (2005) outlined, the electronic media industry has changed dramatically over the past 10 years, most notably since 1996, when the Telecommunications Act was signed into law while also, satellite direct digital radio service began in 2002. In addition, wireless has grown rapidly in the past few years while also, a next big growth area is the surge towards universal wireless access (Howe, 2009).
Moreover, another trend is “the growth of smaller devices to connect to the Internet. Small tablets, pocket PCs, smart phones, eBooks, game machines, and even GPS devices are now capable of tapping into the web on the go” (Howe, 2009, ¶35).
Apart from these, some recent innovations such as e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms, allow us to talk to others who are connected in real time while also, the use of the Internet led to the development of online journalism that is similar to a print diary and weblogs or blogs which are web pages posted by individuals who want to express themselves on various topics (Medoff & Kaye, 2005).
Going further, it is worth mentioning the following three important issues as reported by the United Nations org. (n.d): (a) it took radio broadcasters 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, television 13 years, and the Internet just four; (b) there were 50 pages on the World Wide Web in 1993 and today there are more than 50 million pages; and (c) it is estimated that in just over five years some 900 million electronic devices could be connected to the Internet, equalling the number of telephones in the world.
Undoubtedly, the nature of commercial electronic media has changed dramatically over the years. As a result, this change has affected and impacted all sectors of society whether that is business, industry, medicine or education.
Taking as an example the field of education, it can be denoted that the changes in electronic media over the years has significantly impacted education and specifically, the integration and use of computers and the Internet in schools has impacted education and brought some remarkable changes to the teaching and learning processes.
As Rojem (2002) supported, the revolution of the Internet has had important implications for the educational system and consequently, the world of education is experiencing some major changes, not least of which is the use of the Internet in teaching and learning.
Access to world class broadband revolutionised education and provided students with the opportunity to engage more effectively with the resources from around the world as well as to engage in active learning (Rudd, Smith & Conroy, 2007). Past technologies have been capable of disseminating information but they did nothing to encourage student interaction but in contrast, the Internet, supports active, hands-on learning which can provide students with practical, real-life experiences while it can also lead to better retention and understanding of a given topic (Rojem, 2002).
Apart from these, in the past, students’ choice of resources was limited to resources that were available in the school library but now, with the revolution and integration of the Internet in schools, students are offered large amounts of information and resources through the Internet and the World Wide Web, which can access quite quickly and easily and therefore, learning in school now in no longer confined by the walls of the classroom (Rojem, 2002). As Medoff and Kaye (2005) stated, “The Web’s big advantage over traditional media is its lack of constraints in terms of space and time” (p.9).
Moreover, compared to the traditional reading habits of individuals, electronic media tend to be an attractive way of representing information and therefore, children can learn difficult concepts better when such concepts are demonstrated to them through the use of various electronic media (Poorani, 2006).
In addition to these, the Internet’s impact on education includes more student-centred learning as well as a shift from the traditional structure of students as passive learners toward that of active participants (Rojem, 2002).
Going further, various trends in electronic media such as convergence, consolidation, commercialism as well as the process of actually making programs that leads to the need for greater media literacy, have affected and impacted the way education is delivered (Medoff & Kaye, 2005). As Medoff and Kaye stated with media literacy, “the audience has knowledge and understanding not only of the meaning of the content of the media but also of the power of the media, the intent of the media, and the influence of the media” (p.13).
Convergence refers to “the blurring of the boundaries between the different types of electronic communication media” (Medoff & Kaye, 2005, p.10). As Murphy (n.d) outlined, convergence is the melding of previously segregated fields of computing, telecommunications, and broadcasting but this is not something entirely new since, there has long been a convergence of sorts as technological infrastructure has been unified and shared among seemingly unrelated fields. As reported by the United Nations org. (n.d), “The convergence of information technology and the Internet may well become as transformative as the industrial revolution” (p.2).
Except for these, the changes in commercial electronic media have affected in general, the lives of the people in respect of their cognitive, emotional, and behavioural levels. Specifically, as Medoff and Kaye (2005) outlined, electronic media: help people become more knowledgeable about the world, give people information that help them form attitudes towards things and ideas while they also make people feel; and they have the possibility to persuade people to change their behaviour while they can also change how people use their time since, people seem to spend a lot of time each day with electronic media.
Going further, the changes in electronic media have their advantages and disadvantages as well. Apart from the positive effects, benefits and advantages of the use of the Internet that were mentioned and discussed above, another important advantage is the easy and fast access to information that consequently overcomes time and distance constraints. As Poorani stated, “Today’s world… provides easiest and fastest access to knowledge overcoming time and distance constraints through the electronic media. The electronic media in the form of Internet, television etc. prove to be not only the easiest means of access to information but also provides access to immense amount of knowledge” (¶7).
On the other side of the coin, the changes in electronic media seem to have some disadvantages as well. “In this fast moving world, technology has brought about immense changes in a man’s life. [But] with each change [there] is a host of advantages and disadvantages” (Poorani, 2006, ¶2). For instance, cost constitutes an important disadvantage that relates to the changes in electronic media. Particularly, in the field of education, school districts are spending tremendous amounts of money in order to connect schools to the Internet and this is an issue of concern since, there is no money left for the professional development needed to assist teachers in learning how to include the Internet in their teaching while also, the money spent on technology is at the expense of books and other resources needed by teachers (Rojem, 2002).
Moreover, television and electronic media displace social interaction since, time spent on television viewing is a passive experience that replaces a creative activity or interacting with other people and therefore, spending too much time with electronic media can be an isolating experience that can negatively impact the development of social skills (Walsh, n.d).
Apart from these, the Internet contains unreliable information. Unlike the materials found in a library, the information found on the Internet is not proofread or edited for content and hence, children can be uncritical in evaluating information while also, due to the fact that there are many resources to choose from, children may even become overwhelmed and unable to judge the quality of information and materials included in a site (Rojem, 2002). In addition to these, as Rojem supported, some of these materials and resources can be unsuitable and inappropriate especially for students such as sexually explicit materials abound on the Internet as well as sites that publish destructive information such as how to make a bomb or how to grow narcotic drugs.
Plagiarism is also another disadvantage of the Internet that despite the fact that it is not a new problem, it has become easier to do and more difficult to detect due to he introduction of the Internet and specifically the World Wide Web (Rojem, 2002).
Furthermore, a more general disadvantage of Information and communications technology involves the digital divide. As reported by the United Nations org. (n.d), there is still a gap between those who have electronic access and those who have not or in other words, there is a gap between information-haves and information-have nots that exists between communities and between countries.
In conclusion, computers and the Internet are influencing the way we learn while also, radio is still a dominant medium with wide access while in general, all these media are very powerful to reach, teach and enrich (Arulchelvan & Viswanathan, 2006).
Television and radio are crucial for ensuring social cohesion and development in the digital world while also in general, the electronic media have a vital role to play in the information society (Pleitgen, 2007).
The Internet brought, brings, and “will inevitably bring about major changes in our educational system. As more and more schools gain access to the Internet, teachers will be confronted with the challenge of how best to incorporate this valuable tool into their classrooms. Of course there will not be a complete move away from the conventional teaching methods, but the Internet will definitely alter classroom routines in one way or another” (Rojem, 2002, p.7).
As Rojem (2002) stated, “For children growing up in the information Age, it is hard to imagine a world without computers and the Internet… Just as the generation before them would gather to report the arrival of a new colour television, children today are busy debating who has the fastest modem and biggest hard drive” (p.1).
Closing up, we must keep in mind that: “Communications technology is not an end in itself; it is a vehicle for the provision of information and content” (Pleitgen, 2007, p.13).
References
Alamgir, K. (2002) Debate: Advantages and Disadvantages of the Electronic Media. Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.dawn.com/weekly/yworld/archive/021019/yworld4.htm
Arulchelvan, S. & Viswanathan, D. (2006) Role and Effectiveness of Electronic Media in Higher Education-With Special Reference to Tamilnadu. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education , 7(4). Retrieved November 1, 2009, from http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde24/pdf/article_2.pdf
Howe, W. (2009) A Brief History of the Internet. Retrieved November 1, 2009, from
http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/history.html
Medoff, N. & Kaye, B. (2005) Electronic media: Then, now, and later. Pearson Education, Inc.
Murphy, M.J. (n.d) Convergence, Interactive Media, and Innovation. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.innovation.ca/innovation2/essay_murphy.html
Pleitgen, F. (2007) A New Vision of Broadcasting in the Information Society. Retrieved November 5, 2009, from http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/Pleitgenfinal_tcm6-56034.pdf
Poorani (2006) On Electronic Media Vs Reading Habits. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from http://www.urch.com/forums/gre-analysis-issue/47225-electronic-media-vs-reading-habits.html
Rojem, K. (2002) The Impact of the Internet on Education. Retrieved November 3, 2009, from http://www.slais.ubc.ca/COURSES/libr500/01-02-wt2/www/K_Rojem/
Rudd, K.MP, Smith, S. & Conroy, S. (2007) A Digital Education Revolution. Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.alp.org.au/download/now/labors_digital_education_revolution_campaign_launch.pdf
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2005) The Effects of Electronic Media on Children Ages Zero to Six: A History of Research. Retrieved November 6, 2009, from http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/The-Effects-of-Electronic-Media-on-Children-Ages-Zero-to-Six-A-History-of-Research-Issue-Brief.pdf
United Nations Org. (n.d) Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/technology/tech.pdf
Walsh, E. (n.d) Electronic Media and Young Children. Retrieved November 4, 2009, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Electronic_Media/
Utility Computing
Although computers have offered people an easy way to complete their tasks, the machines themselves can be challenging to maintain and repair and consequently, many companies are forced to spend millions of dollars on IT support in order to keep computers and applications running properly (Strickland, 2008). One potential solution in dealing with this kind of problems is utility computing. Utility computing is one of the many developing technologies and services emerging in the IT world and along with other technologies such as autonomic computing, grids and on-demand enterprise, utility computing gives IT management a new way of managing future workloads and applications (Murch, 2004).
“Utility computing is a usage model in which customers pay for computational resources through an established fee-per-time schedule, as if they were utilities. These fees can cover hardware, software, or storage usage, and fees for associated services rendered…Utility computing as a service has existed for many years, but with the increased demand for high-performance computing (HPC) resources, it is emerging as a World Wide trend” (Willard, Joseph & Lamy, 2007, p.1). Utility computing is based on the following principle: one company pays another company for computing services that may include hardware rental, use of specific computer applications, access to computer processing power, data storage space, etc., depending on what the client wants (Strickland, 2008). “The word utility is used to make an analogy to other services, such as electrical power, that seek to meet fluctuating customer needs, and charge for the resources based on usage rather than on a flat-rate basis. This approach, sometimes known as pay-per-use or metered services is becoming increasingly common in enterprise computing and is sometimes used for the consumer market as well, for Internet service, Website access, file sharing, and other applications” (SearchDataCenter.com, 2007, ¶2).
Utility computing consists of a virtualized pool of IT resources that can be provisioned to ensure that these resources are easily and continually reallocated in a way that addresses the organization’s service needs while also, these resources can be located anywhere and managed by anyone (Murch, 2004). “The vision behind utility computing is to have computing resources available on demand from virtual utilities around the globe-always on and highly available, secure, efficiently metered, priced on a pay-as-you-use basis, dynamically scaled, self-healing, and easy to manage” (Turban, Leidner, Mclean & Wetherbe, 2008, p.59).
As reported by the Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004), utility computing can be separated into the following two kinds: (a) internal utility computing, where the IS organization acts as an information utility that delivers and charges on a pay as you go basis for the use of shared resources; and (b) external utility computing, where one or more Service Providers charge for the on-demand delivery of IT functionality on a pay as you go basis, using resources shared by multiple clients, each of which manages its own Information Utility. As stated by the Saugatuck Technology Inc., “In both cases, the delivered services are enabled by a combined platform of shared IT infrastructure, applications, and business processes” (p.3).
As Willard et al. (2007) noted, utility computing is coming to the fore due to the lowering of the utility computing price point and due to the increasing demand for computing power that cannot easily be fulfilled by capital expenditure alone. The goal of utility computing is to synchronize IT resources to match fluctuating service requirements in order to enable businesses to flexibly provide optimal service levels at a justifiable cost (Wagner, 2006). As Turban et al. (2008) supported, utility computing will change the way software is sold, delivered, and used while it is also estimated that all software will become a service and be sold as a utility one day.
It is the author’s belief and point of view that utility computing will be the dominating option for almost all companies, businesses, corporations, and institutions, including education due to many reasons that basically refer to the advantages of the utility computing model and the benefits it can offer to companies and institutions. Some of those advantages that can possibly contribute to making utility computing the dominate option for the future are next mentioned and discussed. Utility computing provides a cost-effective solution to companies and institutions. The use of utility computing can be less expensive compared to the cost of running computer operations in-house and in fact, most of the cost for maintenance becomes the responsibility of the provider and not the client (Strickland, 2008). With utility computing, companies can create cost-effective virtualized IT infrastructure for flexible workload consolidation while they can also offer hardware and software as a service (3PAR Inc., 2010). With the use of utility computing, clients only pay for the compute capacity they require while simultaneously, they gain access to the capacity of state-of-the-art supercomputers they may not be able to access otherwise (Willard et al., 2007).
As Barmijo (2005) supported, the cost-effectiveness of utility computing can also be explained from the following three aspects: (a) the infrastructure for the application can be defined easily online, one time, and then be reused again, reducing by this way the administration time spent in order to provision and configure servers, switches and volumes; (b) there is no need for spare resources to be retained for staging, testing, support or education because they can be deployed and used only while actually needed; and (c) the design of the applications can be done in such a way that takes advantage of the ability of the utility system to scale the resources they operate on and avoid over-provision.
An important advantage of utility computing involves convenience. In specific, the client does not have to buy all the software, hardware and licenses that are necessary for doing business since the client can rely on another party to provide these services and therefore, the client does not have to worry about and get involve with the burden of maintaining and administering the system since the utility computing company will take care of this and therefore, the client can concentrate on other tasks (Strickland, 2008). As Willard et al. (2007) supported, utility computing allows companies to focus on their core competencies and be more effective within their organization rather than dealing with IT issues.
Utility computing provides flexibility in implementation. As Murch (2004) stated, utility computing “provides total flexibility in implementation, from in-house and self-managed to fully outsourced, with everything in-between -including a hybrid deployment model in which in-house capacity can be supplemented by third-party resources to handle peak needs” (¶8). In addition, utility computing enables clients to be flexible and react to market changes rapidly while it can also avoid all the delays associated with acquiring and implementing the required IT infrastructure and therefore, it can cut the time to market of a new product dramatically (Willard et al., 2007).
Utility computing can reduce deployment time. In particular, utility computing has the ability to deploy resources faster, more effectively and efficiently than a user firm’s internal resources while also, flexible hardware, software and networking platform enable this type of adaptability in a more cost-effective way (Saugatuck Technology Inc., 2004). Furthermore, the utility computing model provides extensibility. It provides clients an extension of their IT infrastructure without the need to own, maintain, manage, and upgrade the technology (Willard et al., 2007).
Availability is also an important advantage of the utility computing model. In specific, the model is always available and hence, the customer can rely on the utility provider to deliver the required compute capacity in order to run business-critical compute-intensive workloads (Willard et al., 2007). Apart from these, compatibility constitutes an advantage of the utility computing model. Due to the fact that the files used by employees in one department of a company might be incompatible with the software used by employees in another department, utility computing offers companies the option to subscribe to a single service and use the same suite of software throughout the entire organization (Strickland, 2008). As reported by the Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004), “Utility computing can deliver more efficient business operations, improve the responsiveness of IT to changing business needs, and reduce the complexities of managing IT, from sourcing to integration to upgrades and maintenance” (p.2).
As mentioned previously, the author supports the idea that utility computing will be the dominating option of the future. Utility computing will become the option of choice for almost all companies in various sectors of society. Consequently, utility computing will also become the dominate option in the education sector in the future that will also have the opportunity to gain the various benefits and advantages of utility computing that were mentioned and discussed above. In addition to these benefits and advantages, the field of education can gain and some other unique and important benefits from utility computing and some of these are next mentioned and discussed. According to McCrea (2009), “As technology proliferates…, a number of schools are looking beyond the traditional purchase and install software options and tapping the trend known as on-demand, software as a service (SaaS), hosted, or cloud computing” (¶1).
Cost-effectiveness is an advantage of utility computing that attracts not only companies and organizations but also the educational institutions. As Subramanian (2009) supported, every country can save millions by using utility computing in education while also, the model of utility computing can improve and increase the efficiency and productivity of teachers and students as well. Additionally, “SaaS enables all institutions-regardless of size-to purchase a software solution for a few dollars per student per year” (SchoolDude.com, 2010, ¶4).
Utility computing can greatly benefit schools in respect of software licensing. Schools do not want to spend more money on licenses but rather they need a simpler licensing model while they also want to invest minimal staff in managing their computer requirements, and hence, utility computing or SaaS can offer them an easy way to get over the clutches and problems associated with the traditional licensing models (Subramanian, 2009). As DeCoufle (2009) noted, utility computing offers schools a reduced and simplified expenditure on software licensing.
Furthermore, with utility computing, reliance on school-based IT staff is decreased. SaaS applications are delivered via the Internet and therefore, they do not require IT resources to configure, install, maintain, or monitor (SchoolDude.com, 2010). Also, with utility computing, fewer applications are hosted locally and therefore, the school-based technical staff has less to do while also, the particular skills and abilities of the staff are further reduced due to the provision of on-demand online help desks and remote access support (DeCoufle, 2009).
Another advantage of utility computing that attracts schools refers to faster implementation. In contrast with traditional purchase-and-install applications that might take months to install and implement, utility computing options can often be up and running within a few weeks or even sooner and as a result, schools can meet students’ needs much faster and therefore, they can focus more on educating students rather than running complex IT configurations and software programs (McCrea, 2009). As reported in SchoolDude.com (2010), “With SaaS, an educational institution can be up and running in days or weeks, not the 18-24 months that is typical with traditional client-server solutions” (¶10). Moreover, utility computing frees students from the boundaries of time and location and in fact, every student with access to a utility version of a database or web server will have the luxury of 24/7 availability of resources from any location with web access (Anderson, Wiles & Young, 2008). Also, utility computing provides teachers and students with greater ubiquity of access to their files, applications and social networks, anytime, anyplace, any device (DeCoufle, 2009).
Utility computing enables schools to experiment. In particular, under the traditional software system it is expensive and difficult for schools to experiment with different kinds of applications and platforms but on the contrary, utility computing offers schools greater flexibility to experiment with newer apps and platforms (Subramanian, 2009). Furthermore, an also important benefit that schools can gain from utility computing is that it will make the curriculum more agile. Due to the fact that with utility computing the current fixed cost is changed to a variable cost based on use it will be easy to add students to a class that requires server services while also, this will make teachers not to worry about reaching classes with infrastructure intensive hands-on components such as database and web development (Anderson et al., 2008). Moreover, utility computing reduces or even eliminates problems regarding software updates and therefore, schools do not have to worry about issues of software updates since they will happen automatically (DeCoufle, 2009). In addition to these, as Anderson et al. supported, utility computing offers students increased opportunities in providing instructional environments which would be impossible or extremely expensive otherwise.
On the other side of the coin, utility computing has disadvantages as well and some of these disadvantages are next mentioned and discussed. An important disadvantage of utility computing involves reliability. If a utility computing company faces financial problems or has frequent equipment problems, it is possible that clients could get cut off from the services for which they are paying (Strickland, 2008). Also, the use of utility computing raises issues of concern regarding security. Due to the fact that industries are extremely competitive, security of the data is priceless to the corporation concerned (Willard et al., 2007). Moreover, cost can be sometimes regarded as a disadvantage of utility computing. Although utility computing deals include declining costs per unit of usage over time, IT depreciation needs to be considered into the pricing and therefore, usage over time often increases as business needs increase and consequently, pricing contracts result in higher usage costs over time (Saugatuck Technology Inc., 2004).
Another disadvantage of utility computing refers to hackers. Utility computing can be an attractive target for hackers who might want to access services without paying for them or who may even want to investigate client files (Strickland, 2008). As Strickland noted, much of the responsibility of keeping the system safe falls to the provider, but some of it also relies on the client’s practices and therefore, if a company does not educate its workforce about proper access procedures, then it will not be hard for an intruder to find ways to invade the utility computing system of a company. Furthermore, there are instances where utility computing might not be an efficient model to use. In specific, “some workloads simply are not conducive to being run over the Internet. This can be due to bandwidth limitations or the amount of interactivity required. If the customer needs to continually evaluate results of many short runs with large data sets that need to be upload at each iteration, utility computing might not be an efficient model” (Willard et al., 2007, p.8).
Comparing the benefits and advantages of utility computing it can be denoted that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and therefore, the author’s belief and point of view supports that utility computing will be the dominating option of the future as it will also dominate in education in the future. Closing up, “Our consumer utilities such as gas, water, and electricity all arrive on demand and independent of the uses to which they are put. This makes for a relatively easy billing structure-consistent infrastructure (pipe, wire) whose capital costs and maintenance are embedded in the usage rate. Exchange is simple: product in via infrastructure, invoice and payment on separate channels. Computing can be bought the same way. This is the basic premise of utility computing, which promises processing power when you need it, where you need it, at the cost of how much you use” (Murch, 2004).
References
Anderson, J.E., Wiles, F.A. & Young, K.P. (2008) The Impact of Cloud Computing on IS/IT Academics. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from http://www.iacis.org/iis/2008_iis/pdf/S2008_1086.pdf
Barmijo (2005) How Does Utility Computing Reduce Cost? Retrieved January 9, 2010, from http://blog.3tera.com/computing/how-does-utility-computing-reduce-cost/
DeCoufle, B. (2009) The Impact of Cloud Computing on Schools. Retrieved January 9, 2010, from http://datacenterjournal.com/content/view/3032/40/
McCrea, B. (2009) IT on Demand: The Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing in Higher Education. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/08/20/IT-on-Demand-The-Pros-and-Cons-of-Cloud-Computing-in-Higher-Education.aspx
Murch, R. (2004) Introduction to Utility Computing: How It Can Improve TCO. Retrieved January 7 2010, from http://www.ibmpressbooks.com/articles/article.asp?p=344241
Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004) Utility Computing: The Current and Future Business Reality. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from http://www.saugatech.com/reports/UC-ACS%2001Oct04.pdf
SchoolDude.com (2010) Why SaaS for Education? Retrieved January 11, 2010, from http://www.schooldude.com/solutions/saas-for-education/
SearchDataCenter.com (2007) Utility Computing. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci904539,00.html
Strickland, J. (2008) How Utility Computing Works. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from http://communication.howstuffworks.com/utility-computing.htm
Subramanian, K. (2009) How Cloud Computing Can Help School Education? Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.cloudave.com/link/how-cloud-computing-can-help-school-education
Turban, E., Leidner, D., Mclean, E., & Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Wagner, D. (2006) Delivering the Advantages of Utility Computing Today Through Proactive Resource Management. Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.enterprisenetworksandservers.com/monthly/art.php?2082
Willard, C.G., Joseph, E. & Lamy, L. (2007) An Overview of Compute-Intensive Utility Computing. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/resources/systems_deepcomputing_cod_pdf_idcutilitycomputingwhitepaper.pdf
3PAR Inc. (2010) Utility Computing. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://www.3par.com/solutions/utility_computing.html
“Utility computing is a usage model in which customers pay for computational resources through an established fee-per-time schedule, as if they were utilities. These fees can cover hardware, software, or storage usage, and fees for associated services rendered…Utility computing as a service has existed for many years, but with the increased demand for high-performance computing (HPC) resources, it is emerging as a World Wide trend” (Willard, Joseph & Lamy, 2007, p.1). Utility computing is based on the following principle: one company pays another company for computing services that may include hardware rental, use of specific computer applications, access to computer processing power, data storage space, etc., depending on what the client wants (Strickland, 2008). “The word utility is used to make an analogy to other services, such as electrical power, that seek to meet fluctuating customer needs, and charge for the resources based on usage rather than on a flat-rate basis. This approach, sometimes known as pay-per-use or metered services is becoming increasingly common in enterprise computing and is sometimes used for the consumer market as well, for Internet service, Website access, file sharing, and other applications” (SearchDataCenter.com, 2007, ¶2).
Utility computing consists of a virtualized pool of IT resources that can be provisioned to ensure that these resources are easily and continually reallocated in a way that addresses the organization’s service needs while also, these resources can be located anywhere and managed by anyone (Murch, 2004). “The vision behind utility computing is to have computing resources available on demand from virtual utilities around the globe-always on and highly available, secure, efficiently metered, priced on a pay-as-you-use basis, dynamically scaled, self-healing, and easy to manage” (Turban, Leidner, Mclean & Wetherbe, 2008, p.59).
As reported by the Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004), utility computing can be separated into the following two kinds: (a) internal utility computing, where the IS organization acts as an information utility that delivers and charges on a pay as you go basis for the use of shared resources; and (b) external utility computing, where one or more Service Providers charge for the on-demand delivery of IT functionality on a pay as you go basis, using resources shared by multiple clients, each of which manages its own Information Utility. As stated by the Saugatuck Technology Inc., “In both cases, the delivered services are enabled by a combined platform of shared IT infrastructure, applications, and business processes” (p.3).
As Willard et al. (2007) noted, utility computing is coming to the fore due to the lowering of the utility computing price point and due to the increasing demand for computing power that cannot easily be fulfilled by capital expenditure alone. The goal of utility computing is to synchronize IT resources to match fluctuating service requirements in order to enable businesses to flexibly provide optimal service levels at a justifiable cost (Wagner, 2006). As Turban et al. (2008) supported, utility computing will change the way software is sold, delivered, and used while it is also estimated that all software will become a service and be sold as a utility one day.
It is the author’s belief and point of view that utility computing will be the dominating option for almost all companies, businesses, corporations, and institutions, including education due to many reasons that basically refer to the advantages of the utility computing model and the benefits it can offer to companies and institutions. Some of those advantages that can possibly contribute to making utility computing the dominate option for the future are next mentioned and discussed. Utility computing provides a cost-effective solution to companies and institutions. The use of utility computing can be less expensive compared to the cost of running computer operations in-house and in fact, most of the cost for maintenance becomes the responsibility of the provider and not the client (Strickland, 2008). With utility computing, companies can create cost-effective virtualized IT infrastructure for flexible workload consolidation while they can also offer hardware and software as a service (3PAR Inc., 2010). With the use of utility computing, clients only pay for the compute capacity they require while simultaneously, they gain access to the capacity of state-of-the-art supercomputers they may not be able to access otherwise (Willard et al., 2007).
As Barmijo (2005) supported, the cost-effectiveness of utility computing can also be explained from the following three aspects: (a) the infrastructure for the application can be defined easily online, one time, and then be reused again, reducing by this way the administration time spent in order to provision and configure servers, switches and volumes; (b) there is no need for spare resources to be retained for staging, testing, support or education because they can be deployed and used only while actually needed; and (c) the design of the applications can be done in such a way that takes advantage of the ability of the utility system to scale the resources they operate on and avoid over-provision.
An important advantage of utility computing involves convenience. In specific, the client does not have to buy all the software, hardware and licenses that are necessary for doing business since the client can rely on another party to provide these services and therefore, the client does not have to worry about and get involve with the burden of maintaining and administering the system since the utility computing company will take care of this and therefore, the client can concentrate on other tasks (Strickland, 2008). As Willard et al. (2007) supported, utility computing allows companies to focus on their core competencies and be more effective within their organization rather than dealing with IT issues.
Utility computing provides flexibility in implementation. As Murch (2004) stated, utility computing “provides total flexibility in implementation, from in-house and self-managed to fully outsourced, with everything in-between -including a hybrid deployment model in which in-house capacity can be supplemented by third-party resources to handle peak needs” (¶8). In addition, utility computing enables clients to be flexible and react to market changes rapidly while it can also avoid all the delays associated with acquiring and implementing the required IT infrastructure and therefore, it can cut the time to market of a new product dramatically (Willard et al., 2007).
Utility computing can reduce deployment time. In particular, utility computing has the ability to deploy resources faster, more effectively and efficiently than a user firm’s internal resources while also, flexible hardware, software and networking platform enable this type of adaptability in a more cost-effective way (Saugatuck Technology Inc., 2004). Furthermore, the utility computing model provides extensibility. It provides clients an extension of their IT infrastructure without the need to own, maintain, manage, and upgrade the technology (Willard et al., 2007).
Availability is also an important advantage of the utility computing model. In specific, the model is always available and hence, the customer can rely on the utility provider to deliver the required compute capacity in order to run business-critical compute-intensive workloads (Willard et al., 2007). Apart from these, compatibility constitutes an advantage of the utility computing model. Due to the fact that the files used by employees in one department of a company might be incompatible with the software used by employees in another department, utility computing offers companies the option to subscribe to a single service and use the same suite of software throughout the entire organization (Strickland, 2008). As reported by the Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004), “Utility computing can deliver more efficient business operations, improve the responsiveness of IT to changing business needs, and reduce the complexities of managing IT, from sourcing to integration to upgrades and maintenance” (p.2).
As mentioned previously, the author supports the idea that utility computing will be the dominating option of the future. Utility computing will become the option of choice for almost all companies in various sectors of society. Consequently, utility computing will also become the dominate option in the education sector in the future that will also have the opportunity to gain the various benefits and advantages of utility computing that were mentioned and discussed above. In addition to these benefits and advantages, the field of education can gain and some other unique and important benefits from utility computing and some of these are next mentioned and discussed. According to McCrea (2009), “As technology proliferates…, a number of schools are looking beyond the traditional purchase and install software options and tapping the trend known as on-demand, software as a service (SaaS), hosted, or cloud computing” (¶1).
Cost-effectiveness is an advantage of utility computing that attracts not only companies and organizations but also the educational institutions. As Subramanian (2009) supported, every country can save millions by using utility computing in education while also, the model of utility computing can improve and increase the efficiency and productivity of teachers and students as well. Additionally, “SaaS enables all institutions-regardless of size-to purchase a software solution for a few dollars per student per year” (SchoolDude.com, 2010, ¶4).
Utility computing can greatly benefit schools in respect of software licensing. Schools do not want to spend more money on licenses but rather they need a simpler licensing model while they also want to invest minimal staff in managing their computer requirements, and hence, utility computing or SaaS can offer them an easy way to get over the clutches and problems associated with the traditional licensing models (Subramanian, 2009). As DeCoufle (2009) noted, utility computing offers schools a reduced and simplified expenditure on software licensing.
Furthermore, with utility computing, reliance on school-based IT staff is decreased. SaaS applications are delivered via the Internet and therefore, they do not require IT resources to configure, install, maintain, or monitor (SchoolDude.com, 2010). Also, with utility computing, fewer applications are hosted locally and therefore, the school-based technical staff has less to do while also, the particular skills and abilities of the staff are further reduced due to the provision of on-demand online help desks and remote access support (DeCoufle, 2009).
Another advantage of utility computing that attracts schools refers to faster implementation. In contrast with traditional purchase-and-install applications that might take months to install and implement, utility computing options can often be up and running within a few weeks or even sooner and as a result, schools can meet students’ needs much faster and therefore, they can focus more on educating students rather than running complex IT configurations and software programs (McCrea, 2009). As reported in SchoolDude.com (2010), “With SaaS, an educational institution can be up and running in days or weeks, not the 18-24 months that is typical with traditional client-server solutions” (¶10). Moreover, utility computing frees students from the boundaries of time and location and in fact, every student with access to a utility version of a database or web server will have the luxury of 24/7 availability of resources from any location with web access (Anderson, Wiles & Young, 2008). Also, utility computing provides teachers and students with greater ubiquity of access to their files, applications and social networks, anytime, anyplace, any device (DeCoufle, 2009).
Utility computing enables schools to experiment. In particular, under the traditional software system it is expensive and difficult for schools to experiment with different kinds of applications and platforms but on the contrary, utility computing offers schools greater flexibility to experiment with newer apps and platforms (Subramanian, 2009). Furthermore, an also important benefit that schools can gain from utility computing is that it will make the curriculum more agile. Due to the fact that with utility computing the current fixed cost is changed to a variable cost based on use it will be easy to add students to a class that requires server services while also, this will make teachers not to worry about reaching classes with infrastructure intensive hands-on components such as database and web development (Anderson et al., 2008). Moreover, utility computing reduces or even eliminates problems regarding software updates and therefore, schools do not have to worry about issues of software updates since they will happen automatically (DeCoufle, 2009). In addition to these, as Anderson et al. supported, utility computing offers students increased opportunities in providing instructional environments which would be impossible or extremely expensive otherwise.
On the other side of the coin, utility computing has disadvantages as well and some of these disadvantages are next mentioned and discussed. An important disadvantage of utility computing involves reliability. If a utility computing company faces financial problems or has frequent equipment problems, it is possible that clients could get cut off from the services for which they are paying (Strickland, 2008). Also, the use of utility computing raises issues of concern regarding security. Due to the fact that industries are extremely competitive, security of the data is priceless to the corporation concerned (Willard et al., 2007). Moreover, cost can be sometimes regarded as a disadvantage of utility computing. Although utility computing deals include declining costs per unit of usage over time, IT depreciation needs to be considered into the pricing and therefore, usage over time often increases as business needs increase and consequently, pricing contracts result in higher usage costs over time (Saugatuck Technology Inc., 2004).
Another disadvantage of utility computing refers to hackers. Utility computing can be an attractive target for hackers who might want to access services without paying for them or who may even want to investigate client files (Strickland, 2008). As Strickland noted, much of the responsibility of keeping the system safe falls to the provider, but some of it also relies on the client’s practices and therefore, if a company does not educate its workforce about proper access procedures, then it will not be hard for an intruder to find ways to invade the utility computing system of a company. Furthermore, there are instances where utility computing might not be an efficient model to use. In specific, “some workloads simply are not conducive to being run over the Internet. This can be due to bandwidth limitations or the amount of interactivity required. If the customer needs to continually evaluate results of many short runs with large data sets that need to be upload at each iteration, utility computing might not be an efficient model” (Willard et al., 2007, p.8).
Comparing the benefits and advantages of utility computing it can be denoted that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and therefore, the author’s belief and point of view supports that utility computing will be the dominating option of the future as it will also dominate in education in the future. Closing up, “Our consumer utilities such as gas, water, and electricity all arrive on demand and independent of the uses to which they are put. This makes for a relatively easy billing structure-consistent infrastructure (pipe, wire) whose capital costs and maintenance are embedded in the usage rate. Exchange is simple: product in via infrastructure, invoice and payment on separate channels. Computing can be bought the same way. This is the basic premise of utility computing, which promises processing power when you need it, where you need it, at the cost of how much you use” (Murch, 2004).
References
Anderson, J.E., Wiles, F.A. & Young, K.P. (2008) The Impact of Cloud Computing on IS/IT Academics. Retrieved January 8, 2010, from http://www.iacis.org/iis/2008_iis/pdf/S2008_1086.pdf
Barmijo (2005) How Does Utility Computing Reduce Cost? Retrieved January 9, 2010, from http://blog.3tera.com/computing/how-does-utility-computing-reduce-cost/
DeCoufle, B. (2009) The Impact of Cloud Computing on Schools. Retrieved January 9, 2010, from http://datacenterjournal.com/content/view/3032/40/
McCrea, B. (2009) IT on Demand: The Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing in Higher Education. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2009/08/20/IT-on-Demand-The-Pros-and-Cons-of-Cloud-Computing-in-Higher-Education.aspx
Murch, R. (2004) Introduction to Utility Computing: How It Can Improve TCO. Retrieved January 7 2010, from http://www.ibmpressbooks.com/articles/article.asp?p=344241
Saugatuck Technology Inc. (2004) Utility Computing: The Current and Future Business Reality. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from http://www.saugatech.com/reports/UC-ACS%2001Oct04.pdf
SchoolDude.com (2010) Why SaaS for Education? Retrieved January 11, 2010, from http://www.schooldude.com/solutions/saas-for-education/
SearchDataCenter.com (2007) Utility Computing. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid80_gci904539,00.html
Strickland, J. (2008) How Utility Computing Works. Retrieved January 6, 2010, from http://communication.howstuffworks.com/utility-computing.htm
Subramanian, K. (2009) How Cloud Computing Can Help School Education? Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.cloudave.com/link/how-cloud-computing-can-help-school-education
Turban, E., Leidner, D., Mclean, E., & Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information technology for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Wagner, D. (2006) Delivering the Advantages of Utility Computing Today Through Proactive Resource Management. Retrieved January 7, 2010, from http://www.enterprisenetworksandservers.com/monthly/art.php?2082
Willard, C.G., Joseph, E. & Lamy, L. (2007) An Overview of Compute-Intensive Utility Computing. Retrieved January 10, 2010, from http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/resources/systems_deepcomputing_cod_pdf_idcutilitycomputingwhitepaper.pdf
3PAR Inc. (2010) Utility Computing. Retrieved January 5, 2010, from http://www.3par.com/solutions/utility_computing.html
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Data Management
Computers and the Internet have made possible Web-based or network-based software systems for managing not only business processes but also many school processes and in fact, today, everything relating to the school environment such as attendance rosters can be handled by computer systems while also, more and more student assessment can be managed with computers, generating data results that can be used for additional software manipulation (Doe, 2009). Education data, that are simply numerical information and are gathered about the operations of the education system, are essential tools for educational decision-making (Durosaro, n.d). The current essay provides a report on the data problems that have been encountered in an educational organization in Cyprus and the measures that have been taken in order to solve these problems. In addition, this report unveils the data problems as they are related to some data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness.
Data management systems are developing large amounts of information that can be stored, combined, and analyzed for data-driven instructional leadership, and the need for this type of information and analysis is further fueled by funding accountability as well as the demands of state and national standards, including the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation (Doe, 2009). As Turban, Leidner, Mclean and Wetherbe (2008) outlined, the goal of data management is to provide the infrastructure that is necessary in order to transform raw data into corporate information that has the highest quality while also, the foundation of data management has some building blocks such as data profiling, data quality management, data integration, and data augmentation.
An important issue related to the data gathered in any organization whether that is business, industry, medicine, or education refers to data quality dimensions. Data quality is an important and crucial issue because quality determines not only the usefulness of the data but also the quality of the decisions based on the data (Turban et al., 2008). As stated by the Melissa Data Corporation (2010), “In order for the analyst to determine the scope of the underlying root causes and to plan the ways that tools can be used to address data quality issues, it is valuable to understand…data quality dimensions” (¶2). The most common and basic data quality dimensions include: accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. “Accuracy of data is the degree to which data correctly reflects the real world object or an event being described” (Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute, n.d, ¶2) For instance, as reported by the Melissa Data Corporation, in correct spellings of the names of persons or products, their addresses or even untimely or not current data can impact operational and analytical applications.
Accessibility refers to the ease with which customers can identify, obtain, and use the information in the data products and relevance refers to the degree to which the data products provide information that meets the needs of the customers (Tupek, 2006). As supported by the Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute (n.d), the timeliness of the data is an also important data quality dimension and this is reflected in issues such as the following: the organizations and companies are required to publish their quarterly results within a given frame of time; and customers’ services need to provide customers with up-to date information. As Wand and Wang (1996) noted, “Timeliness has been defined in terms of whether the data is out of date and availability of output on time…Timeliness is affected by three factors: How fast the information system stated is updated after the real-world system changes (system currency); the rate of change of the real-world system (volatility); and the time the data is actually used” (p.8).
As Wand and Wang (1996) reported, completeness is achieved when all the necessary values for a certain variable are included, and hence a set of data is complete. For instance, in some cases, missing data is irrelevant but when the information that is missing is critical to a specific process, then completeness becomes an issue (Melissa Data Corporation, 2010). As noted by the Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute (n.d), data completeness refers to the extent to which the expected attributes of data are provided and in fact, data completeness refers actually to the expected completeness and therefore, it is possible for data not to be available but it is still considered completed as it meets the expectations of the user.
Going further, the author has interviewed a knowledge worker in an educational organization in Cyprus and has identified the data problems encountered in the organization as well as the measures taken to solve these problems. Next, follows a report on those data problems that are related to the data quality dimensions that were mentioned and discussed above as well as a report on the measures that were taken in order to solve those data problems. The educational organization faced data problems due to the fact that the gathered and collected data had not met the data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. In general, data problems that were encountered included and involved incorrect data, redundant data, irrelevant data, missing data, etc.
The data available at the educational organization lacked of an important data quality dimension, and that is accuracy. As a result, the organization encountered problems that involved data validity, data inconsistency, data integrity, data inaccuracy as well as concurrency problems. In specific, the educational organization’s data were created and used offline and due to the fact that these data do not go through quality control checks, the validity and hence the accuracy of the data is not assured but rather is questionable (Turban et al., 2008). In addition to this, problems that were also encountered involved the inconsistency and integrity of the data as well as concurrency problems. As it was also reported by Turban et al., the actual values across various copies of the data were not synchronized and for instance, changes in students’ information were not made in all applications in the educational organization that require this information.
Moreover, the educational organization encountered data integrity and concurrency problems, which, according to Turban et al., had as a result, the data values not to meet the integrity constraints and in fact, while an application was updating a record, another application could not access that specific record and hence it could not get the desired information. Furthermore, problems of inaccuracy occurred due to the fact that the data had not accurately represented the real-world values they were expected to model and for instance, the operational applications were affected by incorrect spellings of students’ and teachers’ names and addresses (Melissa Data Corporation, 2010). Apart from these, the problem of data inaccuracy occurred due to the fact that the head teachers had not kept and allocated the records and data for their schools accurately deliberately, in order to influence financial allocation to their schools while they had also done this because of ignorance about record keeping (Durosaro, n.d).
The educational organization encountered problems not only because of the low quality of the data regarding accuracy but also because of the lack of accessibility to the data. In specific, the problem of accessibility arose due to the data increase, poor storage and retrieval of the data, and also due to the fact that the data were redundant and scattered as well. In particular, the amount of data gathered at the educational organization was increasing rapidly due to the fact that time to time and year by year, the number of students and teachers was increasing while also, data about old students and teachers was also increasing. As Turban et al. (2008) noted, much past data must be kept for a long time, and new data are added quickly but while only a small portion of the educational organization’s data are relevant to be used for any specific application, that relevant data must also be identified and found in order to be useful.
Problems with accessibility to the data occurred also because the educational organization’s data were scattered. Due to the fact that the data were stored in several servers and in different computing systems, databases, and formats, consequently, the data were scattered throughout the organization and were collected by many individuals using various methods and devices (Turban et al., 2008). As a result, this sometimes presented difficulties in and problems with accessing some of the data. The problem of accessibility was also caused because of the poor storage and retrieval of the data. As it was also reported by Durosaro (n.d), much of the educational organization’s data were kept in files and folders and stored in drawers while also, there were no statistics units in the educational organization to help gather and store the necessary data and there was an insufficient data-based management information system, and this method of collection hindered and prevented retrieval while it also resulted in the loss of data. In addition to these, as Durosaro outlined, “The problems facing educators in the area of data storage are such that people are careless with data. People don’t preserve documents even personal documents such as pay slips, declaration of age, marriage certificates, receipts of payment made on schools fees and even certificates are being poorly kept and lost” (p.4).
Apart from these, the fact that the data were redundant also caused problems with accessibility. As it was also reported by Turban et al. (2008), the data throughout the educational organization were often out-of-date and redundant and hence, data managers faced problems in their maintenance while also, due to the fact that applications and their data files were created by different programmers over a period of time, another problem occurred that involved the duplication of the same data in various files. In addition to these, as Turban et al. noted, as a consequence of accessing data from different applications, the problem of data isolation occurred since the data were organized differently, were stored in different formats and were often inaccessible to other applications.
The educational organization’s data lacked of another data quality dimension, timeliness and this was due to some other data problems such as the non availability of the data. In specific, some important records and data that were necessary were not kept while others were poorly kept and therefore, the needed information could not be found because it had not been obtained by the educational organization and also because data have been lost due to poor storage (Durosaro, n.d). In addition to these, as Durosaro also reported, some data have been mixed up to the extent that retrieval was very difficult when required for use.
The educational organization encountered also problems regarding data security. Due to the fact that new applications were continually added to the system on an add-hoc basis, and hence, with more applications more people had access to data, security was very difficult to enforce in the file environment (Turban et al., 2008). In addition to these, as Turban et al. also reported, another problem that was encountered involved the selection of the data management tool and this was due to the large number of the products that were available while also, another problem that was encountered was that the applications were developed with regard to how the data were stored and in fact, the applications and data in computer systems were not independent but rather they were dependent on each other. Apart from these, another problem that was also reported by Turban et al. and the educational organization also encountered, involved the delegation of data-quality responsibilities to the technical teams that impacted and affected negatively the high-quality of the data.
The particular educational organization in Cyprus encountered a variety of data problems and this has had as a result the data to lack of important data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. In order to solve this kind of problems, the educational organization took some measures that are next mentioned and discussed. The educational organization used data and analysis in order to drive decision-making practices and in specific, it made use of an Education Data Warehouse (EDW) in order to store, manage, and analyze the data. “A data warehouse is a repository of data that are organized to be readily acceptable for analytical processing activities (such as data mining, decision support, querying, and other applications)” (Turban et al., 2008, p.100). The data warehouse gathers data into reports that help guide decision making at schools, districts, and individual student levels (Durosaro, n.d). As Mills (2008) noted, data warehouses are structured in order to facilitate data collection, management, querying and reporting for decision making. Data warehouse can be used to address issues in academic institutions regarding the effectiveness of new instructional techniques, student satisfaction, etc. (Chaplot, 2007). In addition to these, as supported by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (2005), data warehousing is a tool that can help districts become data driven in order to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind legislation and allows districts to find answers and ask complex questions that uncover underlying problems, thus leading to the design of data driven student achievement and school improvement strategies. As Chaplot supported, the fundamental goal of the data warehouse is to support strategic planning, modeling and forecasting at the organizational level while also, it must fulfill the need for knowledge for an area of uncertainty or growth in the organization and therefore, in order to achieve this goal, the data warehouse must provide a comprehensive and consistent view of the organization.
As Turban et al. (2008) noted, data warehousing makes it easier and faster for organizations to process, analyze, and query data while it also provides for improved analytical processing which involves analysis of accumulated data and it includes decision support systems, data mining, Web applications, enterprise information systems, querying, etc. As Mills (2008) stated, “A successful and sustainable data warehouse can be an important contributor to a district’s ongoing success” (¶9) Additionally, effective data warehousing can help create a meaningful relationship between information technology and organizations, thus facilitating enterprise-level strategic planning and growth as well (Chaplot, 2007). A data warehouse may include data such as: personnel data, student demographics and achievement data, financial data as well as assessment data (Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators, 2005).
Moreover, as Chaplot noted, a data warehouse can address various phenomena and issues such as the following three: (a) how can instruction be modified in order to help students learn to write more effective essays; (b) are students who attend classes full-time more likely to succeed academically than those who take classes on a part-time basis; and (c) what kind of training is necessary for new employees?
As Chaplot (2007) reported, a data warehouse has four main components: operational systems of record, the data staging area, the data presentations area, and data access tools, and each of these components serves a unique function in preparing data for manipulation and examination. According to Turban et al. (2008), a data warehouse has the following eight characteristics: (a) organization, where the data are organized by subject and include information relevant for decision support; (b) time variant, where the data are kept for many years in order to be used for trends, forecasting, and comparisons over time; (c) consistency, where the data in various databases may be encoded differently; (d) integration, where data from various sources are integrated while also integration is supported by the use of Web services; (e) real time, where it is possible to arrange for real-time capabilities despite the fact that most applications of data warehousing are not in real time; (f) nonvolatile, where the data are not updated once entered into the data warehouse; (g) web-based, where data warehouses are designed to provide an efficient computing environment for web-based applications; and (h) relational, where the data warehouse uses the client/server architecture to provide the user an easy access to its data.
The educational organization as noted previously, faced various data problems such as inaccurate and inaccessible data, irrelevant data as well as problems regarding the security of the data, the completeness of the data, etc. In order to solve this kind of problems and hence provide for a data management, the educational organization decided to use an Education Data Warehouse (EDW). In addition to solving these particular data problems, as Turban et al. (2008) noted, this kind of data management will help the educational organization ease the burden of maintaining data and will enhance the power from their use while also, it will be able to support easy data access and quick, accurate and effective decision making. Apart from these, the aim of using an Education Data Warehouse is for better management and resource allocation decisions to flow if information can be made available (Durosaro, n.d).
In order to solve the data problems related to education, the educational organization has built and used an education data warehouse. The education data warehouse is a place that helped the organization to easily view and analyze the data collected from multiple data sources and a key support to data-driven decision making (Sanders, Romond & Ferrara, n.d). In specific, the education data warehouse was created in order to unify data collection efforts and to allow the organization to conduct trend analyses and track students and teachers to evaluate programs (The Center for Teaching Quality, n.d). As it was also supported by the Florida Department of Education (2005), the education data warehouse integrates existing, transformed data extracted from various sources that are available at the state level and it provides a single repository of data concerning students served in the public education system as well as educational facilities, curriculum and staff involved in instructional activities.
The education data warehouse has the following characteristics, as reported by the Florida Department of Education (2005): it allows longitudinal analyses, ensures confidentiality, includes historical and current data, is student-centric, and has state-of-the-art analytical capabilities. The data sources include student demographics and background, progression through grades, staff data, basic teacher data such as demographics, addresses, certification data, instructional activities, teacher salary and compensations, licensure test scores, degrees earned, course assignments, licensure status as well as endorsement areas and these data about the teachers are extracted from the databases of the Department of Education (The Center for Teaching Quality, n.d). In addition to these, as it was also reported by the Florida Department of Education, the education data warehouse includes student courses taken, enrollment, test scores, financial aid, awards, educational curriculum as well as educational institutions.
At the education data warehouse, each teacher record is assigned a different unique ID and each year new assignments of IDs are checked using ethnicity, name, and birthday while also, the warehouse includes data on teacher demographics, current work, and certification data with information on preparation (The Center for Teaching Quality, n.d). Additionally, as noted by the The Center for Teaching Quality, the warehouse includes individual records from public higher education institutions that allow tracking of teacher preparation graduates to work in the schools, including information on their coursework.
The education data warehouse was chosen as a solution to the data problems that the educational organization was facing due to the following three benefits it provides, as they were also reported by the Florida Department of Education (2005): (a) it provides capabilities to perform trend analyses and to track students and teachers over time and across delivery systems; (b) it allows the users of the educational organization to run their own queries against summarized data in a timely and efficient manner; and (c) it provides decision-makers with tools and information necessary to make informed, fact-based decisions about education.
Apart from these, the education data warehouse stores information on student achievement and outcomes from various sources that help teachers and administrators to better serve every student in the school and in fact, these data allow for the continual and longitudinal tracking of individual student achievement (Edudata Canada Team, 2005). In addition to these, as noted by the Edudata Canada Team, the education data warehouse provides students’ data that help identify specific learning strengths and weaknesses and help develop strategies to address them and this is achieved by identifying students who need additional help and by informing teachers about student specific weaknesses across the elementary instruction while also, information about individual students from elementary schools can be easily shared with secondary schools through the data warehouse. As Doe (2009) stated, the warehouse forms a longitudinal history from the data that can provide insights into student achievement and educational effectiveness. Furthermore, as Doe supported, users can query the data warehouse in order to compare different types of data such as assessment scores according to demographics while also, the warehouse enables the evaluation of the same kinds of data for various reasons.
The use of the education data warehouse for consolidation of information helped the educational organization in Cyprus, as it was also reported by the Microsoft Corporation (2010), to: manage information in its many forms such as documents, sensor data, imagery, etc.; access information where it is useful such as from desktop to mobile devices; share information with the people who need it within and across the organization; and to secure information for different users in various operations. The education data warehouse, as outlined by the Microsoft Corporation, “provide[s] the technologies that academic institutions need to contain proliferation, manage data in all its divergent forms, and make information easy to access and use” (¶12).
The current essay provided a report on the data problems encountered in an educational organization in Cyprus and the measures taken in order to solve them. The data problems that were mentioned and discussed previously, occurred due to the fact that the organization’s data lacked of important data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. In specific, the data problems that were encountered in the educational organization included the following: data increase, data validity, data integrity, data inconsistency, data security, data redundancy, non availability of data, inaccuracy of data, poor storage and retrieval of the data, problems regarding data accessibility, concurrency problems as well as other problems that were presented due to the fact that the data were scattered. In order to solve this kind of data problems the educational organization made use of an education data warehouse that integrates and stores education data from multiple sources in various methods in order to support organizational decision-making (Chaplot, 2007). The use of an education data warehouse was found to be effective and helped the educational organization to manage the data and solve the data problems that were encountered. Closing up, as Chaplot outlined, a data warehouse “provide[s] users access and control to a wide variety of centralized and formatted data to choose the best course to action and support…decisions. Users can manipulate and customize the data to support specific queries that will enable positive changes at various…levels. Since the various stages increase data accuracy and integrity, complex queries can be conducted with a strong sense of confidence” (p.5)
References
Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute (n.d) Data Quality
Definition-What is Data Quality? Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://www.bipminstitute.com/data-quality/accuracy-consistency-audit.php
Chaplot, P. (2007) An Introduction to Data Warehousing. Retrieved January 17,
2010, from http://www.mtsac.edu/administration/research/pdf/tips/DataWarehouses.pdf
Doe, C. G. (2009) A Look At…Data Management and Analysis Systems. Retrieved
January 18, 2010, from http://www.mmischools.com/Articles/Editorial/Features/A-LOOK-AT...-Data-Management-and-Analysis-Systems-59877.aspx
Durosaro, D.O. (n.d) Problems Confronting School Personnel in Educational Data
Collection, Analysis and Storage. Retrieved January 16, 2010, from http://www.kwsubeb.com/data-collection-collation-analysis/PROBLEMS_CONFRONTING_SCHOOL_PERSONNEL_IN_EDUCATIONAL_DATA_COLLECTION_ANALYSIS_AND_STORAGE.pdf
Edudata Canada Team (2005) Data Warehouse. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from
http://edudata.educ.ubc.ca/exampleproject/NorthVan/datawarehouse.htm
Florida Department of Education (2005) Education Data Warehouse Fact Sheet.
Retrieved January 20, 2010, from http://edwapp.doe.state.fl.us/EDW_Facts.htm
Melissa Data Corporation (2010) 6 Key Quality Dimensions. Retrieved January 17,
2010, from http://www.melissadata.com/enews/articles/1007/2.htm
Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (2005) Data
Warehousing in Michigan Schools: Executive Summary. Retrieved January 20, 2010, from http://michiganedusource.org/Technology/DataWarehousingSummary.pdf
Microsoft Corporation (2010) Server Consolidation and Data Warehousing.
Retrieved January 19, 2010, from http://www.microsoft.com/education/solutions/datamanagement.aspx
Mills, L. (2008) Getting Started with Data Warehousing. Retrieved January 19,
2010, from http://www.schoolcio.com/showarticle/1048
Sanders, D., Romond, B. & Ferrara, J. (n.d) Vermont’s Education Data Warehouse &
Analyzer. Retrieved January 23, 2010, from
http://www.setda.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=23&name=Vermont+Education+Datahouse.pdf
The Center for Teaching Quality (n.d) Florida TQ Data Landscape (K-20 Education
Data Warehouse). Retrieved January 18, 2010, from http://www.teachingdata.org/pdfs/cpre_data_fl.pdf
Tupek, A.R. (2006) Definition of Data Quality. Retrieved January 21, 2010, from
http://www.census.gov/quality/P01-0_v1.3_Definition_of_Quality.pdf
Turban, E., Leidner, D., Mclean, E. & Wetherbe, J. (2008) Information technology
for management: Transforming organizations in the digital economy (6th ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
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Data management systems are developing large amounts of information that can be stored, combined, and analyzed for data-driven instructional leadership, and the need for this type of information and analysis is further fueled by funding accountability as well as the demands of state and national standards, including the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation (Doe, 2009). As Turban, Leidner, Mclean and Wetherbe (2008) outlined, the goal of data management is to provide the infrastructure that is necessary in order to transform raw data into corporate information that has the highest quality while also, the foundation of data management has some building blocks such as data profiling, data quality management, data integration, and data augmentation.
An important issue related to the data gathered in any organization whether that is business, industry, medicine, or education refers to data quality dimensions. Data quality is an important and crucial issue because quality determines not only the usefulness of the data but also the quality of the decisions based on the data (Turban et al., 2008). As stated by the Melissa Data Corporation (2010), “In order for the analyst to determine the scope of the underlying root causes and to plan the ways that tools can be used to address data quality issues, it is valuable to understand…data quality dimensions” (¶2). The most common and basic data quality dimensions include: accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. “Accuracy of data is the degree to which data correctly reflects the real world object or an event being described” (Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute, n.d, ¶2) For instance, as reported by the Melissa Data Corporation, in correct spellings of the names of persons or products, their addresses or even untimely or not current data can impact operational and analytical applications.
Accessibility refers to the ease with which customers can identify, obtain, and use the information in the data products and relevance refers to the degree to which the data products provide information that meets the needs of the customers (Tupek, 2006). As supported by the Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute (n.d), the timeliness of the data is an also important data quality dimension and this is reflected in issues such as the following: the organizations and companies are required to publish their quarterly results within a given frame of time; and customers’ services need to provide customers with up-to date information. As Wand and Wang (1996) noted, “Timeliness has been defined in terms of whether the data is out of date and availability of output on time…Timeliness is affected by three factors: How fast the information system stated is updated after the real-world system changes (system currency); the rate of change of the real-world system (volatility); and the time the data is actually used” (p.8).
As Wand and Wang (1996) reported, completeness is achieved when all the necessary values for a certain variable are included, and hence a set of data is complete. For instance, in some cases, missing data is irrelevant but when the information that is missing is critical to a specific process, then completeness becomes an issue (Melissa Data Corporation, 2010). As noted by the Building Intelligent and Performing Enterprises Institute (n.d), data completeness refers to the extent to which the expected attributes of data are provided and in fact, data completeness refers actually to the expected completeness and therefore, it is possible for data not to be available but it is still considered completed as it meets the expectations of the user.
Going further, the author has interviewed a knowledge worker in an educational organization in Cyprus and has identified the data problems encountered in the organization as well as the measures taken to solve these problems. Next, follows a report on those data problems that are related to the data quality dimensions that were mentioned and discussed above as well as a report on the measures that were taken in order to solve those data problems. The educational organization faced data problems due to the fact that the gathered and collected data had not met the data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. In general, data problems that were encountered included and involved incorrect data, redundant data, irrelevant data, missing data, etc.
The data available at the educational organization lacked of an important data quality dimension, and that is accuracy. As a result, the organization encountered problems that involved data validity, data inconsistency, data integrity, data inaccuracy as well as concurrency problems. In specific, the educational organization’s data were created and used offline and due to the fact that these data do not go through quality control checks, the validity and hence the accuracy of the data is not assured but rather is questionable (Turban et al., 2008). In addition to this, problems that were also encountered involved the inconsistency and integrity of the data as well as concurrency problems. As it was also reported by Turban et al., the actual values across various copies of the data were not synchronized and for instance, changes in students’ information were not made in all applications in the educational organization that require this information.
Moreover, the educational organization encountered data integrity and concurrency problems, which, according to Turban et al., had as a result, the data values not to meet the integrity constraints and in fact, while an application was updating a record, another application could not access that specific record and hence it could not get the desired information. Furthermore, problems of inaccuracy occurred due to the fact that the data had not accurately represented the real-world values they were expected to model and for instance, the operational applications were affected by incorrect spellings of students’ and teachers’ names and addresses (Melissa Data Corporation, 2010). Apart from these, the problem of data inaccuracy occurred due to the fact that the head teachers had not kept and allocated the records and data for their schools accurately deliberately, in order to influence financial allocation to their schools while they had also done this because of ignorance about record keeping (Durosaro, n.d).
The educational organization encountered problems not only because of the low quality of the data regarding accuracy but also because of the lack of accessibility to the data. In specific, the problem of accessibility arose due to the data increase, poor storage and retrieval of the data, and also due to the fact that the data were redundant and scattered as well. In particular, the amount of data gathered at the educational organization was increasing rapidly due to the fact that time to time and year by year, the number of students and teachers was increasing while also, data about old students and teachers was also increasing. As Turban et al. (2008) noted, much past data must be kept for a long time, and new data are added quickly but while only a small portion of the educational organization’s data are relevant to be used for any specific application, that relevant data must also be identified and found in order to be useful.
Problems with accessibility to the data occurred also because the educational organization’s data were scattered. Due to the fact that the data were stored in several servers and in different computing systems, databases, and formats, consequently, the data were scattered throughout the organization and were collected by many individuals using various methods and devices (Turban et al., 2008). As a result, this sometimes presented difficulties in and problems with accessing some of the data. The problem of accessibility was also caused because of the poor storage and retrieval of the data. As it was also reported by Durosaro (n.d), much of the educational organization’s data were kept in files and folders and stored in drawers while also, there were no statistics units in the educational organization to help gather and store the necessary data and there was an insufficient data-based management information system, and this method of collection hindered and prevented retrieval while it also resulted in the loss of data. In addition to these, as Durosaro outlined, “The problems facing educators in the area of data storage are such that people are careless with data. People don’t preserve documents even personal documents such as pay slips, declaration of age, marriage certificates, receipts of payment made on schools fees and even certificates are being poorly kept and lost” (p.4).
Apart from these, the fact that the data were redundant also caused problems with accessibility. As it was also reported by Turban et al. (2008), the data throughout the educational organization were often out-of-date and redundant and hence, data managers faced problems in their maintenance while also, due to the fact that applications and their data files were created by different programmers over a period of time, another problem occurred that involved the duplication of the same data in various files. In addition to these, as Turban et al. noted, as a consequence of accessing data from different applications, the problem of data isolation occurred since the data were organized differently, were stored in different formats and were often inaccessible to other applications.
The educational organization’s data lacked of another data quality dimension, timeliness and this was due to some other data problems such as the non availability of the data. In specific, some important records and data that were necessary were not kept while others were poorly kept and therefore, the needed information could not be found because it had not been obtained by the educational organization and also because data have been lost due to poor storage (Durosaro, n.d). In addition to these, as Durosaro also reported, some data have been mixed up to the extent that retrieval was very difficult when required for use.
The educational organization encountered also problems regarding data security. Due to the fact that new applications were continually added to the system on an add-hoc basis, and hence, with more applications more people had access to data, security was very difficult to enforce in the file environment (Turban et al., 2008). In addition to these, as Turban et al. also reported, another problem that was encountered involved the selection of the data management tool and this was due to the large number of the products that were available while also, another problem that was encountered was that the applications were developed with regard to how the data were stored and in fact, the applications and data in computer systems were not independent but rather they were dependent on each other. Apart from these, another problem that was also reported by Turban et al. and the educational organization also encountered, involved the delegation of data-quality responsibilities to the technical teams that impacted and affected negatively the high-quality of the data.
The particular educational organization in Cyprus encountered a variety of data problems and this has had as a result the data to lack of important data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. In order to solve this kind of problems, the educational organization took some measures that are next mentioned and discussed. The educational organization used data and analysis in order to drive decision-making practices and in specific, it made use of an Education Data Warehouse (EDW) in order to store, manage, and analyze the data. “A data warehouse is a repository of data that are organized to be readily acceptable for analytical processing activities (such as data mining, decision support, querying, and other applications)” (Turban et al., 2008, p.100). The data warehouse gathers data into reports that help guide decision making at schools, districts, and individual student levels (Durosaro, n.d). As Mills (2008) noted, data warehouses are structured in order to facilitate data collection, management, querying and reporting for decision making. Data warehouse can be used to address issues in academic institutions regarding the effectiveness of new instructional techniques, student satisfaction, etc. (Chaplot, 2007). In addition to these, as supported by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (2005), data warehousing is a tool that can help districts become data driven in order to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind legislation and allows districts to find answers and ask complex questions that uncover underlying problems, thus leading to the design of data driven student achievement and school improvement strategies. As Chaplot supported, the fundamental goal of the data warehouse is to support strategic planning, modeling and forecasting at the organizational level while also, it must fulfill the need for knowledge for an area of uncertainty or growth in the organization and therefore, in order to achieve this goal, the data warehouse must provide a comprehensive and consistent view of the organization.
As Turban et al. (2008) noted, data warehousing makes it easier and faster for organizations to process, analyze, and query data while it also provides for improved analytical processing which involves analysis of accumulated data and it includes decision support systems, data mining, Web applications, enterprise information systems, querying, etc. As Mills (2008) stated, “A successful and sustainable data warehouse can be an important contributor to a district’s ongoing success” (¶9) Additionally, effective data warehousing can help create a meaningful relationship between information technology and organizations, thus facilitating enterprise-level strategic planning and growth as well (Chaplot, 2007). A data warehouse may include data such as: personnel data, student demographics and achievement data, financial data as well as assessment data (Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators, 2005).
Moreover, as Chaplot noted, a data warehouse can address various phenomena and issues such as the following three: (a) how can instruction be modified in order to help students learn to write more effective essays; (b) are students who attend classes full-time more likely to succeed academically than those who take classes on a part-time basis; and (c) what kind of training is necessary for new employees?
As Chaplot (2007) reported, a data warehouse has four main components: operational systems of record, the data staging area, the data presentations area, and data access tools, and each of these components serves a unique function in preparing data for manipulation and examination. According to Turban et al. (2008), a data warehouse has the following eight characteristics: (a) organization, where the data are organized by subject and include information relevant for decision support; (b) time variant, where the data are kept for many years in order to be used for trends, forecasting, and comparisons over time; (c) consistency, where the data in various databases may be encoded differently; (d) integration, where data from various sources are integrated while also integration is supported by the use of Web services; (e) real time, where it is possible to arrange for real-time capabilities despite the fact that most applications of data warehousing are not in real time; (f) nonvolatile, where the data are not updated once entered into the data warehouse; (g) web-based, where data warehouses are designed to provide an efficient computing environment for web-based applications; and (h) relational, where the data warehouse uses the client/server architecture to provide the user an easy access to its data.
The educational organization as noted previously, faced various data problems such as inaccurate and inaccessible data, irrelevant data as well as problems regarding the security of the data, the completeness of the data, etc. In order to solve this kind of problems and hence provide for a data management, the educational organization decided to use an Education Data Warehouse (EDW). In addition to solving these particular data problems, as Turban et al. (2008) noted, this kind of data management will help the educational organization ease the burden of maintaining data and will enhance the power from their use while also, it will be able to support easy data access and quick, accurate and effective decision making. Apart from these, the aim of using an Education Data Warehouse is for better management and resource allocation decisions to flow if information can be made available (Durosaro, n.d).
In order to solve the data problems related to education, the educational organization has built and used an education data warehouse. The education data warehouse is a place that helped the organization to easily view and analyze the data collected from multiple data sources and a key support to data-driven decision making (Sanders, Romond & Ferrara, n.d). In specific, the education data warehouse was created in order to unify data collection efforts and to allow the organization to conduct trend analyses and track students and teachers to evaluate programs (The Center for Teaching Quality, n.d). As it was also supported by the Florida Department of Education (2005), the education data warehouse integrates existing, transformed data extracted from various sources that are available at the state level and it provides a single repository of data concerning students served in the public education system as well as educational facilities, curriculum and staff involved in instructional activities.
The education data warehouse has the following characteristics, as reported by the Florida Department of Education (2005): it allows longitudinal analyses, ensures confidentiality, includes historical and current data, is student-centric, and has state-of-the-art analytical capabilities. The data sources include student demographics and background, progression through grades, staff data, basic teacher data such as demographics, addresses, certification data, instructional activities, teacher salary and compensations, licensure test scores, degrees earned, course assignments, licensure status as well as endorsement areas and these data about the teachers are extracted from the databases of the Department of Education (The Center for Teaching Quality, n.d). In addition to these, as it was also reported by the Florida Department of Education, the education data warehouse includes student courses taken, enrollment, test scores, financial aid, awards, educational curriculum as well as educational institutions.
At the education data warehouse, each teacher record is assigned a different unique ID and each year new assignments of IDs are checked using ethnicity, name, and birthday while also, the warehouse includes data on teacher demographics, current work, and certification data with information on preparation (The Center for Teaching Quality, n.d). Additionally, as noted by the The Center for Teaching Quality, the warehouse includes individual records from public higher education institutions that allow tracking of teacher preparation graduates to work in the schools, including information on their coursework.
The education data warehouse was chosen as a solution to the data problems that the educational organization was facing due to the following three benefits it provides, as they were also reported by the Florida Department of Education (2005): (a) it provides capabilities to perform trend analyses and to track students and teachers over time and across delivery systems; (b) it allows the users of the educational organization to run their own queries against summarized data in a timely and efficient manner; and (c) it provides decision-makers with tools and information necessary to make informed, fact-based decisions about education.
Apart from these, the education data warehouse stores information on student achievement and outcomes from various sources that help teachers and administrators to better serve every student in the school and in fact, these data allow for the continual and longitudinal tracking of individual student achievement (Edudata Canada Team, 2005). In addition to these, as noted by the Edudata Canada Team, the education data warehouse provides students’ data that help identify specific learning strengths and weaknesses and help develop strategies to address them and this is achieved by identifying students who need additional help and by informing teachers about student specific weaknesses across the elementary instruction while also, information about individual students from elementary schools can be easily shared with secondary schools through the data warehouse. As Doe (2009) stated, the warehouse forms a longitudinal history from the data that can provide insights into student achievement and educational effectiveness. Furthermore, as Doe supported, users can query the data warehouse in order to compare different types of data such as assessment scores according to demographics while also, the warehouse enables the evaluation of the same kinds of data for various reasons.
The use of the education data warehouse for consolidation of information helped the educational organization in Cyprus, as it was also reported by the Microsoft Corporation (2010), to: manage information in its many forms such as documents, sensor data, imagery, etc.; access information where it is useful such as from desktop to mobile devices; share information with the people who need it within and across the organization; and to secure information for different users in various operations. The education data warehouse, as outlined by the Microsoft Corporation, “provide[s] the technologies that academic institutions need to contain proliferation, manage data in all its divergent forms, and make information easy to access and use” (¶12).
The current essay provided a report on the data problems encountered in an educational organization in Cyprus and the measures taken in order to solve them. The data problems that were mentioned and discussed previously, occurred due to the fact that the organization’s data lacked of important data quality dimensions such as accuracy, accessibility, relevance, timeliness, and completeness. In specific, the data problems that were encountered in the educational organization included the following: data increase, data validity, data integrity, data inconsistency, data security, data redundancy, non availability of data, inaccuracy of data, poor storage and retrieval of the data, problems regarding data accessibility, concurrency problems as well as other problems that were presented due to the fact that the data were scattered. In order to solve this kind of data problems the educational organization made use of an education data warehouse that integrates and stores education data from multiple sources in various methods in order to support organizational decision-making (Chaplot, 2007). The use of an education data warehouse was found to be effective and helped the educational organization to manage the data and solve the data problems that were encountered. Closing up, as Chaplot outlined, a data warehouse “provide[s] users access and control to a wide variety of centralized and formatted data to choose the best course to action and support…decisions. Users can manipulate and customize the data to support specific queries that will enable positive changes at various…levels. Since the various stages increase data accuracy and integrity, complex queries can be conducted with a strong sense of confidence” (p.5)
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