education

Abstract

International students are highly beneficial to various US domestic universities. They aid in the inculcation of intercultural learning. Besides, they enhance global diversity within institutions, thus fostering the economic growth of the US. Amid these benefits, such students encounter various challenges, which hinder their interaction and integration levels with the domestic students. These problems include language barriers, differences in culture, and challenges in academic adjustments. There exists little research in studies on how international students can be fully integrated with the domestic students in the effort to resolve their challenges while studying in foreign environments. Through the deployment of the interview as the primary tool for research, this recommended research paper identifies various challenges encountered by international students, which hinder them from establishing relationships with domestic students. Various alternative solutions are then proposed in the effort to prescribe and recommend the most effective solution to ensure that international students are able to integrate with domestic students within the US’ institutions of higher learning.

Executive Summary

International students who fail to make friendships with domestic students encounter several challenges articulated to adapting to cultural changes. Inappropriate fit within the campus also makes some international students perform poorly in learning English as their second language and the language through which the university curriculum is administered. International students are important in American universities not only in economic terms but also in helping increase the diversity tolerance of the American population. This helps Americans appreciate the significance of global cultures in the effort to promote globalization and internationalization. For students to embrace the diversity of global cultures brought into the US by international students, it is necessary that domestic and International students form friendships and good relationships.

Unfortunately, this expectation is not the case since evidence derived from studies on different US universities shows that more than 38 percent of international students do not have close domestic student friends. In this recommendation research paper, the focus is to establish the reasons for the existence of this problem together with making suggestions on the possible solutions to the problem. International students are nervous and worried about making mistakes while engaging in conversations with international students. Universities are structured such that international students report a week earlier than the domestic students do. The first opportunity to make friendships involves two or more international friends. International students are also less aware of the current topical and key issues hitting public concerns in the US. This leaves them with minimal opportunities to engage the domestic students in various debates. The paper suggests various solutions to this problem. After their comparison, one solution is recommended following the criteria of implementation, cost, time, and human resource requirements.

Background

The discourses of institutions of higher learning are shaped by the concepts of globalization and internationalization. The concepts shape the university programs together with services in the effort to ensure that students develop multicultural awareness in the effort to foster responsiveness to cultural diversities. Higher institutions of learning, which are diverse, aid in enabling students to live with others who are brought up in different ways. Adherence to the perspective of internationalization makes institutions of higher learning in the US focus on strategies of attraction coupled with the retention of international students.

Globalization and internationalization are political forces influencing the functions of institutions of higher learning within a society (Asmar 295). Across all educational institutions in the US, such as universities and colleges, international students are important in the advancement of internationalization paradigms of breaking global physical demarcations for different nations so that the world becomes borderless. In classroom settings, international students increase diversity. The international students in the communities introduce significant social, cultural, educational, and economic benefits.

Unfortunately, these benefits cannot be explored fully when international students do not have opportunities or capabilities to establish relationships with their domestic counterparts. When the hindrances to the establishment of relationships with domestic students are eliminated, international students have the ability to introduce intercultural together with international perspectives in the communities and the classroom. This increases the perspectives from which domestic students view the world. In fact, knowledge on the global contexts has the ability to increase the US’ innovation coupled with competitiveness levels besides enhancing the opportunities for learning and research.

When international students go back home, they take with them perspectives of the American culture. This enhances the growth of intercultural understanding across the globe. This implies that bringing together students from the international community into one classroom has the merit of enhancing not only the intercultural understanding but also helping students build peer relationships, which may increase the diplomatic interest and trade interest among different nations in the future. These benefits are incredibly important while working, living, and interacting in a world of growing complexity in terms of interconnectedness and diversity (Crump 27). However, the benefits of interactions between international and domestic students in the US institutions of higher learning may fail to be realized if challenges in establishing relationships between the two groups of students persist. Based on this hypothetical paradigm, the focus of this paper is to study why international students are not making relationships and/or friendships with domestic students. Therefore, the paper proposes possible solutions to the problem.

Problem description

Interactions through friendship and relationships between international and domestic students are crucial to foster learning and knowledge sharing. Based on my observations in the university, there are problems of interactions and integration of international and domestic students. Therefore, this research seeks to look for better solutions for the problem of international students who are not making friendships and/or relationships with domestic students. Seeking solutions to the current problem under investigation is important since the lack of interactions between international and domestic students influences international students in various ways. For instance, international students fail to acquire skills such as communication fluency, which is a skill they could have learned if given adequate interactions with domestic students. International students also experience nervousness when they are with domestic students who are better exposed to the American culture. Considering their challenges of effective communication in English, nervousness makes conversations and interactions with the domestic students even more challenging. Hence, in most situations, international students resort to avoidance of domestic students.

The problems of poor interaction and conversation with the domestic students severely affect the efforts of internationalization and globalization pursued by different nations across the globe. In the university settings, unless appropriate effective measures to curb the problems are deployed, international students will continue to face challenges of free interactions and integration with domestic students even in the future. Poor relations between domestic and international students can also influence the performance of students in schools. Consequently, looking for solutions to the problems has the implications of not only enhancing the embracement of cultural diversities of different students but also the implications of enhancing the performance of students, with their nationalities notwithstanding.

Approach to the Problem’s Solutions

I am a student at the campus. This implies that I have direct access and an opportunity to interact with various leaders and officers within the campus directly. Hence, I have easy access to resources such as the capacity to have interactions with different key personalities such that it becomes easy to conduct interviews. The researcher will also use direct observation to look for the manner in which international and domestic students interact, behave after meeting and/or while conversing with one another. The main issues under observation are struggles in communicating in English, the people that the international students prefer interacting with, and the most prevalent topics during discussions.

An interview will also be conducted with an international program specialist and an international student assistant. The interview with the international students’ representative is anticipated to be incredibly helpful in this research since he understands international students better in terms of their interaction and integration issues with domestic students. The interviewee is also expected to be helpful in the process of enumeration of viable solutions for the resolution of the challenges encountered by international students. The international students’ specialist will be of massive help in the research since he is specifically trained in matters of resolution of groups’ conflicts involving people of different cultural backgrounds. He is also well acquitted with alternatives that can work well for international students. Upon merging the results of the two interviews, a solution that works optimally for all international students will be developed.

Causes of the Problem

There are several causes of problems experienced by international students in the process of formation of friendships and relationships with domestic students. The environment for the establishment of friendships and relationships is minimal. While living on the campus as foreigners, international students only establish relationships and friendships during classes. The establishment of good group relationships requires an effective and engaging conversation between two or more people. Unfortunately, international students fear making mistakes so that domestic students do not talk about them. International students are also not well acquitted with local vocabularies and slang.

In particular, slang is a major challenge, which hinders the full participation of international students in debates and dialogue with domestic students due to the difficulties of digging out hidden meanings of words. When slang is used, international students feel left out in debates. A major assumption among such students is slang, which is deployed so that they do not get to know that the domestic students are talking about them. In some situations, international students have the urge to engage in conversations with local domestic students. However, they encounter challenges on topics of discussion. They may also not be aware of what interests the domestic students so that the international students can only smile in some situations while the domestic students engage stiffly in debates on topical issues related to the US.

The problems encountered by international students with regard to the formation of friendships and/or relationships with domestic students have several effects. The more international students interact with fellow international students, the more they are unable to improve their English proficiency levels. This suggests that international students require the assistance of natives to improve their written and oral communication in the English language. The international students feel nervous. Hence, it is impossible for them to know the appropriate answers to their mistakes. In some cases, the Native Americans may want to engage in conversations with the international students, but their English fluency levels turn them (natives) off. Lack of shared topics implies that people cannot seek opinions or talk about a given topic under discussion. For international students facing these challenges, it implies that they cannot participate in the discussion of new developments in America. Consequently, they only hear and see natives Americans. Solutions to the problems of the establishment of friendship and relationships among domestic and international students need to change these effects so that international students become more engaged and aware of new developments within the nations where they are schooling.

Possible Solutions

The following four solutions have the potential for solving the problem.

1. Formation of international students club
2. Creation of international friends program
3. Changing of university structures
4. Creation of diversity awareness campaign capturing the entire university communities

Formation of the International Students Club

In the effort to prescribe possible solutions to the problem of building relationships and friendships between international students and domestic students, it is important for various situations forming the background to the formulation of the solutions are considered. A club may be established within the campus to give a room for international students to interact with domestic students. Through the club, international students can also learn about domestic students’ customs. This provides an amicable opportunity for students to integrate within society. This claim is perhaps an ideal way of ensuring that international and domestic students get an opportunity to share ideas and thoughts together with their cultural values.

However, the reality of the situation is that international students find it difficult to fit into local groups. Another drawback is that domestic students mostly go to their native homes over the weekends. These would leave the club fully dominated by international students. It is likely that some international students may resist from joining the club. To deal with this challenge, professors in charge of the club can consider giving incentives such as free membership and free games, among others. The president of the club could provide word games and books or hold some movie nights, which would play some good and new movies or soap series to enhance the number of words. The president can also collect the newest news happening at a fixed period and itemize different styles of topics to hand out when the club has organized small meetings or email those topics to international students.

International Friends Program

International friends program is essentially a buddy program. Through the program, domestic students act as guides for international students. This way, international students are able to assimilate into American college life. Offering such hospitality implies that international students would always seek any aid from the domestic students since they will become accustomed to the perception that the domestic students are the ones who are well acquitted with the campus. Although the chances are that the international students would develop a dependency on the domestic students through the program, the program increases opportunities for interactions between the international students and the domestic students.

Dependency syndrome is a major threat to building long-term friendships. Friendship is two-way traffic. While domestic students will help the international students assimilate into the American college life, they will also anticipate gaining some aid from the international students in some other forms. This means that domestic students who the international students want to establish friendships through the international friend’s program must appreciate that the international students have some potential that they do not have. Hence, the two groups of students need to trust and be loyal and comfortable with each other. They must appreciate and cognize their differences as strengths for building stronger and reliable relationships. This challenge reduces to that of embracing other people’s diversities and differences in talent and ability potential.

Changing of University Structures

The university is structured such that the international students arrive first. When the domestic students arrive on campus, a week later, they find international students already having established possible friendship links. Such structures only create an opportunity for international students to meet only international students the first day when they get to the campus. Consequently, in classes, international students also get to sit together. This creates the impression that international students interact best with other international students. To resolve this challenge, the university needs to alter its admission criteria such that all students report on the same date. Where this may not be possible because of human resource constraints to take care of all admission and clerical works, admission dates can be set according to faculties or years of study, rather than international vs. domestic students’ criteria.

In the freshman classes, international students are separated from their domestic students’ counterparts due to different requirements for each group of students. While this strategy is crucial in helping international students develop a fundamental starting point in a new education environment, it also limits the probabilities of interactions between domestic and international students. Again, this problem requires structural changes. Special units can be created for the international students, but they need to be taught concurrently with other units taught to both groups of students. This can enable international students to gain equal footing in making friends with both domestic and international students.

Creating Diversity Awareness Campaign capturing the entire University Communities

A university is an institution bringing together people from different backgrounds. International students feel that they are less suited in higher learning institutions located hundreds of miles away from their native homes. On the other hand, domestic students may feel that they own the institution by virtue of the fact that it is located within their home country. While such a situation creates inferiority and superiority complexes, respectively, perceptions of diversity differences may also create friction in the process of development of friendship and relationships between international and domestic students.

Developing and investing in a diversity awareness campaign within the university is an incredible effort towards the resolution of this challenge. The campaigns are essential tools for fostering cultural interactions coupled with evaluations of the commitment of different parties forming the university community on ensuring full integration of all students and staff into the university cultures that are not determined by different cultural affiliations of different members of the community. Through the campaigns, it is possible for students to establish similar areas of interest, such as sports, foods, and platforms for the exchange of cultural stories. This creates a desire for all students to learn different things from one another. This effort is an important step towards the formation and sustenance of new friendships.

Comparison of Solutions

Although different solutions can resolve a single problem, the selection of the best alternative is the main concern of analysis and comparison with different solutions to a given problem. Table 1 below illustrates the comparison of the different solutions proposed for the resolution of the problem of failure of international and domestic students to establish relationships and/ or friendships.

Table 1: Comparison of Solutions.

From table 1, the creation of a diversity awareness campaign is the most expensive solution, followed by the creation of international friends program. The cheapest solution is the alteration of university structures since it does not require any additional human resources and incurring the related costs. The solutions result in the engagement of different groups of people forming the university fraternity. The creation of diversity awareness campaigns engages international students, local communities, and even domestic students. The other three solutions only engage domestic students and international students.

Recommendations

Considering the various solutions established in the above sections, each of the solutions has different requirements for its success in the resolution of the problem of the failure of international students to form a friendship and/or relationships with domestic students. Solution 1 has the least time of implementation since a club can be formed and be operational within one semester. Although both international and domestic students can be engaged in the club, its activities would essentially be conducted over the weekends. At this time, most of the domestic students would have gone to spend time with their families. This limits the number of domestic students engaged due to unwillingness to forfeit from visiting their families to spend time establishing relationships with international students on the campus.

Solution 2 is continuous and requires the commitment of university resources to create ways for engagement of the domestic and international students. Solution three ensures that a probability is created for the international students to meet domestic students on the first day of reporting to campus. Although the solution does not require additional human resources to implement it, it does not consider mechanisms of creating friendships and relationships between international and domestic students after admissions are complete. It does not also consider what would happen in case the chances of establishing friendships with domestic students encountered first are lost. The assumption is that when an opportunity is provided for establishing a relationship, it is never lost. Through it, an international student acquires other opportunities to establish relationships and friendships with other domestic students through friends of the domestic student encountered first.

Among the four solutions, I recommend solution 4. Although it is the most expensive solution, it provides avenues for addressing challenges affecting the capacity of international students to initiate friendships and relationships with domestic students, but also incorporate local communities and all other stakeholders from the university fraternity. This translates to better integration of the international students not only within the university but also within the communities from which the domestic students come. Hence, it is possible to break the negative stereotype and perceptions associated with international students and their abilities, including effective communication in the English language.

Feasibility

Solution 4 is feasible both in the short and long term. The university spends a lot of money on students’ welfare projects. The international students pump a lot of money to US universities. Since the goal of the university is to ensure that students acquire the most conducive environment for studying to enhance their career growth, investing in the programs for bettering integration and adaptability of international students is consistent with the goal of the university. Indeed, the resources required for the implementation of the solution are readily available at the university. All that is required is the budgetary allocation to fund the program.

Special Concerns

Investing in programs for enhancing integration of international students is important for career development of the students and minimization of cultural and diversity frictions between them and the domestic students. Upon considering solution 4 as the most expensive solution and recommended for resolution of the challenges of non-establishment of friendship and relationships between international and domestic students, a special concern is that the program is not worth the expense. Some critics may argue that international students school in the US’ universities and then relocate back home to develop their native nations. Hence, it is not necessary to invest in costly programs in the argument that the program would enhance integration of the students in the university. However, different nations want to increase their diplomatic understanding in the effort to enhance global sharing of resources. Consequently, even though the international students relocate back to their native nations after studying in the U.S. based universities, they are still part of global talent pool.

Conclusion

International students experience challenges in establishing relationships and friendships with domestic students. These challenges are explained by different cultural affiliations, negative perceptions and stereotyping, and communication barrier. While various solutions to the problems were proposed in the paper, investing in programs for creating diversity awareness was recommended as the most effective solution amid its high cost. The solution can resolve the core and the root causes of the problems of domestic students shunning away from relating with their international counterparts. Differences between people are dependent on the environmental exposures. Consequently, people have different cultures, languages, and various physical differences. Learning to adapt to new ways of life, including communication fluency when exposed to a different environment, is accompanied by making mistakes.

Interviews

The solutions suggested in the recommendations paper are derived from contributions made by two main interviews. The first interview was done with the international student representative while the second interview was done with the international program specialist.

Interview 1

Interviewer: Hello, good morning sir. Please introduce yourself and your roles at the institution.

Interviewee: My name is Mr. Johnston Kelly. I am the international student’s representative at the University.

Interviewer: Do you think the international students have problems in establishing friendships with domestic students? And what are the likely causes of the problems?

Interviewee: Yes. A new country exposes students to totally new schooling environment with different curriculum, culture and different languages among other challenges. Assimilating new ways of life and dealing with diversity differences constitutes a major challenge that international students must endure while developing tolerance to certain ways of doing things opposed to their local cultures. This only makes international students feel like they are aliens attempting to colonize new lands. Hence, they tend to associate with only students who are like them.

Interviewer: What next? Should we live with problems?

Interviewee: No! No! A solution must be found.

Interviewer: What sort of solutions can resolve the problem?

Interviewee: Awareness programs can go far in helping realize that being born a native English speaker does not make you a better student. International students also need to realize that they are not unique and inferior compared to the domestic students. They also need to embrace the fact that their inability to communicate fluently in English can also be altered. Thus, they should fear making mistakes. Mistakes can always be collected. Indeed this is the best learning approach to develop fluency in communicating in a foreign language.

Interview 2

Interviewer: Hello, sir. I understand you are the international program specialist at the university. What is your take on the capacity of the international students to develop relationships and friendships with the domestic students?

Interviewee: Thank you sir for engaging me in this debate. The ability of international students to form friendships with domestic students has been of great concern to the University over the last five years following rapid rise of the number of international students.

Interviewer: What are the most likely causes of the problem?

Interviewee: Exposure to an unfamiliar environment comes with nervousness. It is also impossible to establish friendships quickly if people are not able to express themselves fully. For international students, English is not their first language. Hence, incidences of communication barrier are a reality. Thus, international students will often tend to avoid embarrassments arising from poor communication with domestics students. Indeed, it is not a wonder to encounter a domestic student attempting to engage an international student in a debate only to be greeted by a nice, well composed smile.

Interviewer: Any solution to the problem?

Interviewee: Oh, yes. Last summer I visited Pittsburg University. Research done in the University revealed that more than 33% of the international students did not have close native friends. The answer to the problem was the creation of Pitt Pal program. Through the program, obstacles to the formation of friendships such as cultural differences, stereotyping language barriers and misconceptions can be addressed. I think such a program is of great help back here.

Interviewer: Thank you for your insights in this debate.

Works Cited

Asmar, Christine. “Internationalizing students: reassessing diasporic and local student difference.” Studies in Higher Education 30.3 (2005): 291-309. Print.

Crump, Johnston. “The new arrival minority: perceptions of their first-year tertiary programming learning environment.” Journal of Women & Minorities in Science & Engineering 10.1 (2005): 21-35. Print.

In your view, what are the benefits of using Second Life as an instructional tool?

• Second life provides an opportunity for global audiences to study together in virtual classrooms and thus providing a platform to share different experiences.
• Due to its virtual nature, Second life provides students and teachers an opportunity to learn and instruct from the comfort of their homes.
• Second life is highly graphical and therefore provides instructors with a perfect way of demonstrating ideas in a visual form.
• Second life as an instructional tool provides an interactive library that enables students to access information in different forms such as short videos, learning games, and quizzes.
• The simulations that are provided in second life enable students to concentrate and have a better understanding of a given process.
• Second life draws a large number of participants from different geographical locations and this makes it simple for research to be conducted on a given topic.
• Unlike the face to face model where shy students fail to participate in class, second life provides a level platform by enabling feedback to be provided alternatively through the chat boxes.

In your view, what are the benefits of using Second Life for your professional development and networking?

• Second life provides teachers with a platform on which they can model structures and objects for better curriculum development.
• Second life enables the teacher to have a wider base for professional interaction through groups or communities that cannot be achieved in the conventional face to face interaction.
• Teachers have access to a wide range of up-to-date materials in a given area of study.
• It provides one with a chance to acquire professional skills without revealing their identities.
• It enables different individuals to network and acquires skills regardless of their conditions. For instance, the disabled interact equally with able-bodied individuals.
• Unlike other online methods of learning, second life provides learners with a community experience through the avatars.

What are the drawbacks/ limitations of using Second Life as an instructional tool?

• Teachers are often obliged to sketch something on the board to illustrate something to students. This is not however catered for in second life.
• Discussions are often carried out as threads and therefore have a higher chance of fragmenting and thus creating an extra job for the teacher by trying to weave the threads to reduce the disconnections.
• Second life as an instructional tool makes it difficult for collaboration between different learning projects to be achieved.
• Second life is prone to technical problems such as slow responses and this can interfere with the overall learning.
• In second life it is not easy to reveal the true identity of individuals unless they are known physically.
• Students in second life may give false excuses such as internet failure when they are not able to finish their work on time.
• The instructor may find it difficult to teach lessons that are too practical.

What are the drawbacks/ limitations of using Second Life as a tool for professional development and networking?

• Teachers using second life as a tool for professional development and networking are required to be up to date with new developments in their area of specialization.
• The creation of the needed course material in second life requires so much time and labor.
• The teachers are required to be conversant with IT to deal with tasks such as regular software updates.
• The practical aspects that are demonstrated in second life may be difficult to carry out in real life.
• Second life as a tool for professional development may lead to complexity in the management of files and other learning resources.

Provide any comments that are not addressed by the above questions.

• Second life provides an opportunity for business and marketing through numerous virtual jobs.
• The replication of the real world in Second life enables users to experience the environment of places they may never visit in real life.
• Second life makes distance learning to be a more interactive and exciting experience.

Lastly, because this was your first time using Second Life, share a summary of your perspectives and experiences. (How did you find it? It was difficult or easy? Did you enjoy it? And so forth)

In the beginning, there was some uneasiness on how to get accustomed to the user interface in second life. Then there was the feeling that real discussions could not be conducted due to uncoordinated responses from different participants. At the beginning of the class, it felt a little weird to think that a class will operate in a totally text supported environment. Initially, it seemed somehow chaotic but as we progressed I realized that second life provides a whole range of advantages, for instance, it allows individuals of different personalities to interact without feeling intimidated. The whole new experience with second life was captivating and I would recommend its full adoption.

Abstract

The present paper is aimed at creating a detailed outline for the research paper on the topic of necessity of school uniform policy implementation at public schools. The outline consists of a thesis statement on which future research will be based and three main points of the research confirming the helpfulness of school uniform policy implementation. Besides, the paper contains references to six credible works that can become a good theoretical background of the future research paper. At first, school uniform policy can appear to be a helpful measure as it improves students’ attendance and makes them more responsible when it comes down to studying. Then, school uniform implementation policy can contribute to decreasing the gap between students belonging to different social layers. At last, such a policy can help to decrease the crime at schools and this is why its implementation remains a very important task for the government.

Thesis Statement

Although there are people voicing an opinion about uselessness and inefficiency of school uniform introduction policy at public schools, it may definitely have positive consequences such as increasing students’ self-discipline, estranging the gap between social groups and reducing crime.

Main Body

To begin with, the school uniform implementation policy can become a useful tool for helping to improve students’ level of academic performance and discipline. Due to some restrictions that wearing uniforms at school involves, the students understand that they are not allowed to do anything they want at school. What is more, they start to realize the difference between formal and informal situations. Consequently, they start taking their studying more seriously. According to the experiment conducted by Agarwal (2015), implementing uniform causes an increase in students’ attendance and academic performance. Wilken and Van Aardt (2012) believe that uniformly increases students’ performance as it helps them to identify themselves with their school more. These arguments are able to make the research more convincing.

To continue, it is very important to implement school uniform policy as it also helps to decrease the gap between students from wealthy families and their peers from low-income families. Wearing the uniform, the students seem to be put on equal footing: they all look the same way, and this is why they cannot be classified as rich or poor according to their appearance. Jensen (2014) assumes that wearing school uniforms during classes in physical education is effective for withstanding social inequality. Achinstein (2015) claims that wearing the uniform distracts students’ attention from the class positions of their peers. The use of these authors’ points can make the thesis sound more believable.

The third argument that can be developed in future research is connected to creating a safe space at schools. Decreasing the crime rates and providing the students with a safer environment for studying are the goals that can be achieved with the help of school uniform policy implementation. Wearing a uniform makes the students from different social groups equal, and students from richer families have a little chance to make their peers jealous. Thus, the cases of stealing are going to become less common. As for other authors’ opinions, Yang (2016) believes that reducing crime is the most convincing reason for the US government to implement school uniform policy. According to the research conducted by Sanchez and Hill (2012), a school uniform is a tool that appears to be essential when it comes down to reducing students’ liability to committing offenses.

References

Achinstein, B. (2015). (Re) labeling social status: Promises and tensions in developing a college-going culture for Latina youth in an urban high school. American Journal of Education, 121(3), 311-345.

Agarwal, D. (2015). Effects of school uniform on student’s achievement, behaviour, and attendance in government school of Odisha: A case study of Sundergarh District (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India.

Jensen, U. H. (2014). Reduction of social inequality in high school. Rettigheder, Empowerment Og Læring, 1(1), 63.

Sanchez, J. E., & Hill, G. C. (2012). Uniforms in the middle school: Student opinions, discipline data, and school police data. Journal of School Violence, 11(4), 345-356.

Wilken, I., & Van Aardt, A. (2012). School uniforms: Tradition, benefit or predicament?. Education as Change, 16(1), 159-184.

Yang, S. (2016). School uniforms, elementary students—“docile bodies”. Race, Population Studies, and America’s Public Schools: A Critical Demography Perspective, 1(1), 55.

Report

Most of the class materials presented the best educational leadership practices. Every school leader should use the best ideas and practices in order to make his or her institution successful. Most of the readings explained why managers should create and empower teams. Educational leaders can use these skills in their schools to create teams (Day, Gronn, & Salas, 2004). The materials also analyzed the differences between middle and distributed leadership in schools. Such practices can help schools achieve their targeted goals. Most of the readings explored the important features of educational leadership.

According to Fitzgerald (2009, p. 58), “a team is a group of individuals with similar goals and objectives”. Such teams are empowered and motivated by their leaders. Educational leadership is a complex practice that calls for “total dedication, commitment, and ability to address the changing needs of every stakeholder” (Fitzgerald, 2009, p. 59). The class readings identified some of the best leadership practices. Such practices include the creation of teams and the empowerment of every player in the learning environment. The materials present some of the best ideas and practices of better educational leadership.

Relate

Every learner has his or her career objectives. My goal is to become a team leader in a reputable learning institution. Most of the ideas learned in class will help me to achieve this goal. The readings explain why every person should be part of a winning team (Cranston & Ehrich, 2009). The learning process explains why every leader should be ready to motivate his or her learners. Every person can become a leader in any organization. The readings have also widened my practices and skills as a team player. Every leader should understand how to encourage his or her employees. This explains why I always solve every problem using the best educational leadership practices (Sheard & Kakabadse, 2004).

These class readings relate to several things. The first one is organizational leadership or management. The practices identified in class are applicable to different business organizations. Business leaders can use these skills to create cohesive teams. Every leader should use these skills to mentor his or her employees. Organizations should also create the best working environments in order to achieve their goals. The readings also relate to my personal goals. Leadership encourages every person to focus on his or her goals (Gunter & Fitzgerald, 2007). The readings encourage people to become critical thinkers and problem-solvers. These readings can help more individuals achieve their professional or personal goals.

Reason

Educational leadership theories “have become common in the recent past” (Mayrowetz, 2008, p. 429). My goal is to become a competent educational leader in the future. Distributed leadership helps managers assign different roles to their employees or teachers. Middle leadership is a modern approach whereby every leader motivates and empowers different stakeholders in his or her institution (Mayrowetz, 2008). The best thing is to use these practices efficiently as a leader. Moreover, I have gained new ideas for better educational management.

Team leadership is a theoretical concept whereby a leader supports different groups in an institution. Many people will achieve their goals easily when they work in teams. Educational leadership theory encourages managers and principals to involve every stakeholder in the managerial process. The leaders should guide the learners and teachers. This practice can help every organization achieve its goals. These readings encourage every learner to use the best leadership practices. The practice will make every organization successful.

Reconstruct

The best goal is to become a competent educational leader. However, every educational leader can encounter various obstacles and challenges. Every educational leader should embrace new concepts and ideas (Gunter & Fitzgerald, 2007). The learning process has equipped me with new skills that can make me a successful team leader. I have gained new skills as a team player. My duty is to be part of a team because the practice is beneficial. Effective educational leaders should be “determined, optimistic, courageous, and self-motivated” (Gunter & Fitzgerald, 2007, p. 7). Every learning institution can realize its goals if it embraces these leadership practices. Furthermore, every educational leader can achieve his or her objectives using the above skills. The best leaders should use middle leadership in their schools or institutions. The practice will ensure every teacher and learner benefits from the learning process.

Every leader’s dream is to triumph. The class readings have equipped me with some of the best leadership practices. In addition, I have also gained new skills as a critical thinker. Moreover, I can apply both middle and distributed leadership models depending on the challenges affecting my institution (Cranston & Ehrich, 2009). Every educational leader can use such concepts to address the challenges affecting his students. A successful leader will be ready to mentor his or her teachers. The leader will also encourage every student to be part of a cohesive team. My future dream is to use these ideas in order to influence and mentor my employees. Furthermore, these ideas will also make me a successful leader. This explains why these class readings are meaningful and informative. The class readings are helpful because they can make every person a successful educational leader.

Reference List

Cranston, N., & Ehrich, L. (2009). Senior management teams in schools: Understanding their dynamics, enhancing their effectiveness. Leading and Managing, 15(1), 14-25.

Day, D., Gronn, P., & Salas, E. (2004). Leadership capacity in teams. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(6), 857-880.

Fitzgerald,T. (2009). The Tyranny of Bureaucracy: Continuing challenges of Leading and Managing. Educational management administration and Leadership 37(1), 51-65.

Gunter, H., & Fitzgerald, T. (2007). Leading learning and leading teachers: Challenges for schools in the 21st Century. Leading and Managing, 13(1), 1-15.

Mayrowetz, D. (2008). Making sense of distributed leadership: Exploring the multiple usages of the concept in the field. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(3), 424-435.

Sheard, G., & Kakabadse, P. (2004). A process perspective on leadership and team development. Journal of Management Development, 23(1), 7-106.

Executive Summary

The study demonstrates the potential of the University in attracting and retaining the best international students. According to findings, the University has not involved all its resources in attracting and retaining international students. Therefore, the University must incorporate study results to implement the needs of different international higher education. Likewise, the attention must also assess the wanting cases of students’ service, satisfaction, cultural orientation.

The research results will focus on how the University plans to enhance the level of satisfaction among different students from other parts of the world. As higher education becomes competitive, the University needs to adopt a vision of sustainable attraction and retention of students in its plan. This will address increasing challenges, and occurrences the internal higher education is undergoing.

Incorporation of old forms of media and modern means of communication to capture all market sections and international, targeted students ensures that the exchange of information and promotional methods will have desired effects in growing the population of students to the University. The new media channels must contain all the required information a person needs to make a decision. In reality, the new means of communication have emerged as the least expensive and fastest means of reaching the international audience.

The University must look into social, cultural, economic, environmental, and increasing competitive situations of the current international education. International students will need education of international standards to meet the high value of their money through support services, learning, and extracurricular activities they undertake in during their studies. The University must enhance its resources to resolve difficulties and problems various students encounter. These resources may include students’ information center, orientation weeks for new students, and cultural weeks for the entire academic fraternity.

Purpose of the proposed research project and time frame

Management Decision

The University management’s main concerns are enhancing the rate of attracting and retaining the best international students. The University has some of the best facilities in Melbourne. These facilities include faculties, well-equipped laboratories, libraries, the best accommodation services in Melbourne, large recreational and sports facilities among other social amenities. The University promotion must also promote the serene neighborhood of the University and attractions of Melbourne city. The University management should build a strong brand to position the University as a place of higher learning that offers a world class education, interaction with the unique culture, and different encounters to students and at the same time, have respect for diverse cultures.

The promotional strategies should be available across the world using long and tested forms of communication such as TV promotional, print strategies, posters, brochures, and other branding strategies. The idea of successful University alumni to support and increase recruitment and retention for the University will also work well. The local media companies should promote excellent attributes to the locals to draw students from neighboring cities.

The University can dedicate websites to broadcasting varieties, of course, facilities, and attraction in the University through new and emerging social media platforms, such as Facebook, YouTube, and other modern real-time communication gadgets like iPhone. These should provide up-to-date information about the University.

The research issue

The University has expressed its concerns that it cannot attract and retain the best students. Therefore, there is a need in doing so. At the same time, the University also shows concern about the need to change and meet the market environment in higher learning and also be able to accommodate the varied students’ expectations and enhance students’ satisfaction (Thomas, 2002).

Studies show that students take their learning experiences seriously. Students experience encompasses all aspects of perceptions of both academic and non-academic services the university can offer during students’ academic pursuits as Ryan and others show. Universities become globalized as people begin to access higher education from various universities across the globe. Therefore, Universities are beginning to have large numbers of international students. Therefore, any University must also increase its global competitiveness to attract and retain the best students (Astin, 1997).

Tinto argues that Universities must strive to improve the experiences of students given their goals of enhancing social and intellectual growth (Tinto, 1989). Therefore, the challenge is to ensure that students feel satisfied with the educational experience, and skills acquired during their students’ life that would assist them in their future academic and professional careers.

This researcher shall take three months to complete this research effectively.

Research Objectives

• To identify most of the important factors/issues contributing to students’ experiences in the university.
• To determine students’ perceptions of the importance and the delivery of university support services in enhancing their experience with the teaching and learning environment.

Research Questions

1. What are the important factors or issues that you consider contributes to students’ positive experiences at the university?
2. Do you believe that the University management, faculties, support staff, and other relations are doing enough to enhance the global competitiveness of this University?
3. How should the University position itself attract, recruit, and retain the best international students?
4. What are your recommendations to the University if they want to attract and retain the best international students? How can the University respond to the market dynamics in higher learning?

Type of Study

A research design offers accounts of the populations’ behavior, prevailing tendency, and thoughts by researching a sample of the target population. The study will rely on the selected sample results to make a common claim regarding the study outcome of the population. The approach plan for this research is to ascertain the latest level of students’ satisfaction with various services the University offers. The study will strive to achieve the most common consequences on the experiences of the students. The result of the study will be important in promoting the University’s vision for future international marketing positioning.

It is mandatory to start designing the research by highlighting the aim of the study and the reasons for choosing a certain design to conduct the research. This research makes a general claim from a sample of the study population to allow the study to propose a conclusion by putting students’ attitudes, thoughts, behavior patterns, prevailing styles, and trends of their experiences. The study will adopt the use of research questionnaires as a means of collecting data because of its easy nature of design and fast response among the survey populations

This study will take the application of a qualitative approach to carry out the research. The study shall apply qualitative methods in gathering data concerning the services, learning, cultural issues, and behavior of both local and international students and comprehend the context of students’ learning. Based on Bryman and Burgess’s studies, social researchers regard qualitative methods as favorable in the daily research of social issues.

Pointing and clarifying variables of the research are important in all studies. The part allows the researcher to judge and establish fast relations among variables, issues of the research, and materials of the research survey items. It highlights well how the study intends to apply questionnaire materials. In some cases, the researcher may use tables and other forms of graphical representations to connect research variables, assumptions, issues, and the type of survey questions. This is important in cases where the populations of study are numerous.

In a qualitative study, there is a tendency to interpret statistical data into problems concerning general conditions of the industry and current dominant trends, income creation, and giving numeric usages among others. Conversely, quantitative research shall give information concerning different human tendency, which in higher learning include its behavior and social and cultural concerns.

Qualitative research in the higher learning consider on samples in their natural learning environment, present issues about importance students give them, creating the issues real and achieving the knowledge of the insiders on problems of students, faculties and support staffs.

Definition of the target population, and sample size

A researcher must identify the characteristics of the population of the study and sampling techniques. The researcher has identified the population of study has a leading university in Melbourne, staff, and non-teaching staff. The researcher intends to use a total of 50 students, 10 faculties, and 10 support staff from different geographical locations and cultural backgrounds. The researcher may need to contact the students’ dean to provide a list of potential respondents for a survey. The survey will use a single-stage sampling where the researcher will have access to a specific list of students, teaching staff, and support staff so that he or she can perform the survey directly (Peach, 2005).

The study will consider students of ages ranging from 20 years to 45 years old. This sample shall provide their experience to cool campus experiences in the University and to gauge the impacts of University approach to attracting and retaining the best students in the promotion of the University as a world-class University for attracting and retaining international students.

The study shall also concentrate on faculties. Their opinions shall provide useful information for evaluating what aspects the University mostly focus on when doing promotion and recruiting students. Likewise, the faculties shall also give their knowledge concerning the level of the University learning, services, and satisfaction among them.

The University is also a place of conducting business. The suppliers and the community around may have chances to offer the experiences with facilities, utilization, and relations to other universities they have interacted with within the provision of services.

The other important population sample will involve the University support staff. These are vital groups since they mainly look into students’ welfare and the University’s general environment. The University has students’ registrar, chaplains, faculties’ supports, cafes’ and mess staff, accommodation and hostel management body, the University librarians, and transport and security departments, among others. This category is important since it covers almost all the major sections of the University and students, in most cases, interact with them.

Sampling techniques and data collection methods and types of scale requirements

The study sampling approach considers the study sample and its main tendencies. The sampling approach shall also clarify the sampling limit and give the importance of the preferred method, and give conclusions. This study will use a random sampling method. The study has identified its population of the study. The study has already identified a sample of students, faculties, support staff, and other relations with the University where the study will take place.

Creswell recommends the use of random sampling to provide equal opportunity for the researcher to select any sample from the population. This randomization enables the researcher to make a conclusive generalization. For effective data collection and access varied students’ experiences, the researcher will stratify the sample so that he or she can collect data from both male and female students, faculties, and support staff.

However, the researcher may use an alternative sampling, snowball sampling, if respondents’ participation is low. Cooper and Schindler note that snowball sampling is one way of selecting a sample that is representative of the average population (Cooper and Schindler, 2011). The snowball sampling approach is a key way of reaching out to respondents that may know anybody who may have the characteristics of research (Heckathorn, 2008).

The researcher must also provide a real survey instrument he or she intends to use. The researcher intends to use both primary and secondary data. Therefore, in using primary, the researcher will design survey questionnaires specifically for the study. The questionnaire design will use an open-ended technique to allow respondents to give an account of their experiences with the University. At the same time, the researcher may also use a closed-ended questionnaire to enable participants to pick from a defined set of responses, like true or false, or yes or no, and with an option of others. The advantages of using closed-ended questions are; they are easy to analyze, their response rates are higher and consume less time, and they are less expensive to the researcher.

The use of secondary data is also crucial for this study. This is a result of the ongoing debate over globalization, culture, and experiences of different people around the world, with others doubting its existence. Therefore, the researcher will turn to secondary data from academic experts and other scholarly journals and publications to ensure the validity and reliability of the collected information.

However, the researcher must also establish the validity and reliability of such existing instruments, and establish whether he or she can draw useful generalization from the data of such instruments. The researcher must establish whether or not the results measure the target content, predict the result, and measure hypothetical concepts. Likewise, the researcher must also identify the chances of consistency, and possibly notice the causes of any possible error in the findings.

Data Collection Methods

This research is quantitative. However, the researcher should recognize elements of qualitative data as a result of using open-ended questions. Likewise, the researcher must convert the information of a qualitative nature into figures i.e. quantify them. This is because the quantitative approach uses numbers for analysis.

Some researchers argue that a correctly drawn sample should have the same characteristics as the whole population. Quantitative research uses non-probability such that every potential part of the study population possesses the same chance of participating in the study. The researcher will recruit participants by phone, electronic mail, the University Registry database, or mail. Participants will receive surveys through an on-line survey.

According to Creswell, “obtaining authorization from organizational personnel requires contacting them before the start of a study and obtaining their permission to participate” (Creswell, 2008). The researcher will ask each participant to sign an informed consent form before they participate in the study. The survey will consist of 50 randomly selected students from the University database. The researcher will solicit students based on their availability to participate in the survey and their ability to provide feedback on the survey instrument’s content, ease of completion, and overall measurement (Cooper and Schindler, 2011).

The researcher may decide to administer the survey questions on-line participation, and via electronic means (e-mails). The researcher will ensure that gathered data remain confidential, and participants’ information will remain anonymous.

Research Budget

Potential managerial benefits of the proposed study

A number of these problems originate from cultural orientation in pedagogical implementations. Trotter and Roberts note “in their intercultural encounters, all participants bring into the classroom their prior educational experiences and different sets of cultural values, beliefs, and learning conceptualizations, which become sources of misunderstandings and issues” (Trotter and Roberts, 2006).

It is obvious the University services and learning experiences do not satisfy the best international students. International students point out some issues as the main cause of their concerns such as learning curricula, study guidance and support, teaching methods, knowledge of the lecturers and teaching attitudes, lecture techniques, comradeship building and socialization, and the sense of inclusion.

The management must listen to international students’ issues and address them before these problems take unmanageable positions. We also identify a chance for faculties to change their lecture approaches and cultures. For instance, the teaching approach should re-evaluate factors of the group works with divided marks, which international students from different backgrounds dislike. At the same time, the management must also find out the local students’ view of such teaching approaches and assignments. The University must take an initiative to implement a global curriculum for international students. Such teaching approaches need University management to conduct a study among international students, and faculties to determine the suitability of approaches.

Management needs to understand how students’ learning is essential to the development of students’ learning, and teaching a globally competitive environment of international learning where diversities in the students’ population have become issues in institutions of higher learning.

Students manifest their diversity through demographic, cultural, and educational backgrounds changing expectations (Ippolito, 2007). One of the main pedagogical challenges is the diversity among different learning styles, and study approaches of students influenced by prior learning backgrounds. The University management must take this into account when designing their global competitive strategy.

Two main discourses about teaching and learning are the feasibility of adapting teaching to suit different audiences and the learning experiences of international students both of which have its origins in student diversity. The debate is how far and how much adaptation should occur. There is a consensus among researchers that strong alignments with different learning approaches are necessary and that management can achieve it through changes in curricula (Mai, 2005).

University management needs to understand that the institution can avoid stereotyping by a good understanding of who the students are. Some education experts argue that while sophisticated stereotyping is helpful to a certain degree (such as Hofstede’s five dimensions of cultures), we should treat “generalization” with “skepticism”. Culture is not a static reality, rather a dynamic and multifaceted phenomenon, and in a period of ever and unpredictable change, such generalization has narrow usages.

Wang recommends that western academics, instead of “considering themselves as the honored bearers of western education who can put pervasive ideas for situations in emerging economies”, should develop their intercultural competence and intercultural learning to become flexible reflectors and commit themselves to cater to the needs of learners from different cultures.

Individual reflections

The study has met my anticipations and given me useful information and ideas in carrying out market studies to address the different cases of international marketing environments. Issues of global concern and the use of different thoughts to favor diverse tendencies of different customers assist me to comprehend the customers’ attitudes and behavior concerning different organizations, institutions, products, and services.

Besides, the crucial idea the learning aims provided concerning cultural orientation and its effects on customers’ attitude, way of life, and socioeconomic status creates a ground for comprehending consumers from different cultural backgrounds in the global context.

Market studies offer useful information on how to choose and conduct market studies on different segments of populations. At the same time, the research and study knowledge and competence I get shall give me the possibility of using my knowledge in solving real market issues in the international arena.

The group dynamics in a form of discussions about the course facilitated the group collaboration during the learning of this course. I was able to interact freely and share my prior knowledge regarding the course. It enhanced a positive learning environment among learners of different social and cultural backgrounds. It also increased my participation in group works. The group discussions helped me address some of the practical challenges in course materials. It is the best model that facilitated learner and learner interaction. I was able to develop and critique different texts on research and marketing and come up with conclusive results.

The course also presented valuable opportunities for peer interactions, evaluation, and intercultural learning among learners of different abilities and backgrounds. Peer interactions improved my motivation, course and intellectual development, and communication skills. Most principles of learning identify interaction as among the most essential in undergraduate studies. This resulted in the development of cooperation, active learning, and instant course feedback from the faculty.

Most learners consider cultural differences as barriers to learning. Therefore, this course raised awareness about these barriers and how best we can understand them in the international context. At the same time, we must also respect their differences. The course demonstrated how we can try to avoid the negative impacts of cultural differences that exist in society. Communication was the necessary means of overcoming cultural barriers.

The course also used a culture-specific context to bring to my attention the most likely sources of conflicts in a cultural setup. It tried to explain and highlight these differences. As Wang notes, we should try to understand others’ cultures and accommodate them to enhance interaction and cooperation.

The course also gave me opportunities to view culture from different perspectives. For instance, culture is always changing, complex, multifaceted, and dynamic. This enabled me to understand that I could not look at culture from a single perspective. Instead, I must critically look at diverse cultural orientation and their meanings to different societies. The ideas changed my approach in looking at culture i.e. a tendency to look at cultural aspects from history and some aspects of life.

Reference List

Astin, A 1997 ‘The changing American college student: Thirty year trends, 1966-1996’, The Review of Higher Education, vol. 21 no. 2, pp.115-135.

Cooper, D R and Schindler, P S 2011. Business Research Methods, 11th ed, McGraw-Hill Irwin, Boston.

Creswell, J W 2008, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 2nd ed, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Heckathorn, D 2008, ‘Sampling and estimation in hidden populations using respondent-driven sampling’, Sociological Methodology, vol. 34 no.1, pp. 23-25.

Ippolito, K 2007, ‘Promoting Intercultural learning in multicultural universities: Ideals and realities’, Teaching in higher education, vol. 12, no.1, pp. 749-763.

Mai, L-W 2005, ‘A Comparative Study Between UK and US: The Student Satisfaction in Higher Education and its Influential Factors’, Journal of Marketing Management, vol.21, pp. 859-878.

Peach, D 2005, ‘Ensuring student success—the role of support services in improving the quality of the student learning experience’, Studies in Learning, Evaluation Innovation and Development, vol.1 no.2 pp. 1-15.

Thomas, L 2002, ‘Student retention in higher education: The role of institutional habitus’, Journal of Educational Policy, vol. 17 no. 4, pp. 423-442.

Tinto, V 1989, ‘Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical synthesis of recent Research’. Review of Educational Research’, Review of Educational Research, vol. 45 no. 1 , pp. 89-125.

Trotter, E and Roberts, C 2006, ‘Enhancing the early student experience’, Higher Education Research & Development, vol.1 no.2, pp. 377-394.

Introduction

The introduction of the Façade Technology Checklist in the learning curriculums in the majority of academic institutions has significantly influenced the roles of students and teachers. It has been observed that teachers who incorporate technology façade checklists in their schemes of work record better result than those teachers who use traditional teaching methods in classrooms. Under the conventional closed classrooms, the educator has exclusive power to devise and convey learning instructions. The students on the other hand play a passive role as they just sit back to receive knowledge (Palak, 2004, p.15). However, the integration of façade technology checklist in academic curricula entails the active participation of students in the learning process. Students are compelled to take control of their learning process by partnering with their teachers and fellow students in finding a solution to intricate and real problems. Thus, students play an active role in the school curricula since they work in union with their educators as both learners and designers. They are no longer considered as “empty vessels waiting to be filled” (Palak, 2004, p.16).

The integration of the technology façade checklist transforms the roles of students and teachers completely. Teachers assume new roles as managers of knowledge while students become independent learners with enhanced roles of steering their learning process (Palak, 2004, p.16). However, successful integration of the technology façade checklist can only be realized when the principal transforms from his traditional role to become a technology leader. This is because the adoption of new technology in the classroom results in a major transformation concerning teaching plans and education syllabus. These changes can only be effective if a new management style is adopted to assist educators to deal with pedagogical and technological demands that come with this change (Kozloski, 2006, p.7).

According to Lawrence A. Tomei, not only are all students and educators in the learning environment affected by instructional technology but the entire society as well (2007, p.45). The invasion of technology in the 1990s in the form of laptops, computer labs, educational software, and the internet has transformed the mode of teaching and learning by teachers and students respectively. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of technology is only realized when educators are well prepared by the school’s administrators; the educators who teach students; and the ability of the school’s management to address various problems that arise from the use of the technology (Tomei, 2007, p.45). Following the swift use of technology in schools, my school plans to spend more on computers. The school administration has realized that using computers in teaching improves the quality of education. The façade technology checklist was made to assess how education institutions have integrated technology in the learning process. The following sections offer an example of a façade technology checklist that I developed from my field experiences in a district school. I will present a quick description of each item and an explanation of why it is essential to an effective technology program. My checklist offers a candid approach through which a learning institution can assess how far it has achieved in terms of making use of technology in its educational curriculum.

The Use of Technology

This section asks questions about computer services, hardware and software, technology-based skills, and the student-to-computer ratio in computer labs and classrooms. They comprise: (1) does your classroom educator use the school’s computer? (Choose one): Computer teacher only [1mark]; a handful of teachers make use of technology but not often [3 marks]; a small number of teachers regularly use technology [5 marks]; technology is regularly used by most teachers [7 marks]. Total Marks ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­…….; (2) Does your school have computer facilities? (Choose one): not accessible during unofficial hours for example lunchtime, recess, and after school [0 marks]; accessible before and /or after school [3marks]; accessible when classes are unscheduled [5marks]; accessible during lunchtime, break, and after school [7marks]. Total marks….; (3) where is your computer situated? (All that applies): library [1mark]; computer lab [3 marks]; classroom [3 marks]. Total marks…… (Tomei, 2007, p.46).

(4) Do classroom instructors utilize technology for (Order each independently, allocating 0 marks for “Never’; 1mark for “Rarely”; 3 marks for “Sporadically”; and 5 marks for “Regularly): lesson preparation; grading; homework tasks; professional development. Total marks…. ;( 5) is the computer instructor expected to put together lesson plans with precise student education plans associated with technology skills? (Choose one): computer training is not related to lesson plans [0marks]; lesson plans are not utilized. There are broad-spectrum objectives for training, but no specific education goals [1mark]; lesson plans enclose broad technical skills and education goals [3marks]; comprehensive lesson schemes mirror precise technological skills expected [7 marks]. Total marks….. ;(6) Does your software mirror present classroom curriculum? (Choose one): software is present but the input of the teacher was not considered during its selection. It rarely mirrors real classroom curriculum [1mark]; software was procured recently but students and teachers cannot access it [3 marks]; the input of the teacher was considered during software selection [5marks]; the software used is up to date and teacher’s input was factored during its selection and is regularly utilized by students and teachers [7points]. Total marks….. (Tomei, 2007, p.47).

Essential infrastructure

This section is mainly answered by the school board members. It covers areas such as professional staffing of technology amenities; strategic technological plans and financial support; and training, preparation, and inducements programs for educators (Tomei, 2007, p.46). The technology facade checklist under this section has the following questions: (1) to what level have the teachers been taught on technology? (All that apply): preliminary coaching over six months old [0 marks]; preliminary coaching at least two times in a year [1mark]; in-service coaching done at least two times in a year [3 marks]; at least two educators per school are persuaded to take up formal instructional technology classes [3 marks]; coaching classes offered on-demand, planned with the technology manager [5 marks].

Total marks….. (2) Are educators allowed to take part in the technology committee and support teams? (All that apply): educators are not an integral part [0 marks]; educators are part of the software/hardware acquisition panel [3 marks]; educators are part of the technology budget preparation panel [3 marks]; educators are part of the team that design technology curriculum [5 marks]; they are part of the strategic technology planning panel [5 marks]. Total marks….. (3) Is the technology panel and its support teams made up of community leaders, parents, students, and alumni? (All that apply): No [0 marks]; yes, they are on the software/hardware acquisition panel [3 marks]; they are part of the technology budget preparation panel [3 marks]; they are part of the instructional technology curriculum panel [5 marks]; they make up the strategic technology planning panel [5 marks]. (4) How does your school finance technology? (Choose one): financed via year-end fallout money [1mark]; contained in the operating budget under a sundry account [3 marks]; contained in the general operating account [5 marks]; catered as a unique recurring line item [7 marks]. Total marks…. (Tomei, 2007, p.47).

Instructional Strategy

This section presents the most challenging situation concerning measurement. The following questions are relevant here: (1) has your school designed a “scope and series” that expressly attend to student technology skills? (Choose one): none present [0 marks]; it is only accessed by graduate students [3 marks]; it is accessed by selected grades-1^st, 4^th, 8^th, 10th, 12^th [5 marks]; a detailed scope and series are accessible to all students [7 marks]. Total marks…..; (2) which specific technology-based lessons have been designed by educators and are used in class for teaching? (All that apply): text resources for example workbooks, study guides, and handouts to direct the lesson [5 marks]; visual resources for example PowerPoint slides to add to presentation [5 marks]; web-based subject home pages to enhance learning capacity for learners [5 marks]. Total marks….. (Tomei, 2007, p.49).

It is not proper to make a comparison between the outcomes of different schools. The proper way to apply the technology facade checklist is by acquiring the score of a specific school in the early stages of the academic year. The checklist should then be used again at the end of the year to compare the scores between the two periods to ascertain the level of progress made so far (Tomei, 2007, p.49).

References

Kozloski, K.C. (2006). Principal Leadership for Technology Integration: A Study of Principal Technology Leadership. Philadelphia, PA: Drexel University.

Palak, D. (2004). Design Strategies for Higher Education Faculty. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 3, 11-23.

Tomei, L.A. (2007). The Technology Façade: Overcoming barriers to effective Instructional Technology in Schools. American School Board Journal, 44-49.

Introduction

Creating the environment, in which young children are enabled to evolve at the required pace and develop the skills that will later help them acquire new knowledge and process information efficiently is, perhaps, the most important step in catering to the needs of a child. The experience gained at center of early childhood education (Pianta, Barnett, & Sheridan, 2015) points quite graphically to the necessity to provide young learners with the required tool and pieces of information at the stage when their brain develops especially rapidly and when the foundation for their further progress is being created.

Early Childhood Education

One might argue that spurring the development of especially young children, such as toddlers, should not be viewed as a necessity. However, the experience at the center has shown that the development at the specified age is especially crucial to the further evolution of a child (Deiner, 2015), as the stage in question defines the child’s ability to acquire and process information. The above-mentioned data includes not only the verbal one but also nonverbal pieces of information, including the sensory input received by a child, i.e., visual, aural, tactile and olfactory data (Sheppard, 2012).

“Motherese” and Dining out: Developing Social Skills

The use of the language that the author defined as “motherese” (The infant and toddler setting, n. d.) may be viewed as one of the controversial issues about the experience of working in the facility under analysis. On the one hand, children do need the communication tools that will help them link their concept of the world and the phenomena and notions that the parents and educators are trying to get across to them. On the other hand, the use of the specified language, when taken to the nth degree and carried out for too long, may impede the further process of knowledge acquisition and hamper the development of the child (Bruce, 2012).

Cognitive and Motor Development

The facility in question also provides several areas of learning for children, where different learning strategies, including active physical actions and quiet moments filled with observations, reflections, and analysis, can be adopted to teach children the basic skills. By splitting the learning area into the designated zones, one creates premises for the multilateral development of a child, i.e., the process of training their cognitive, motor, and logical thinking skills (Saracho, 2012).

Familiar Setting

Talking to the children and waiting for their answers, thus, adopting the technique of active listening, clearly is a very efficient strategy, which allows young learners to experience the world. By making it clear that it is never too early to either read or speak, the educators make a very strong statement regarding the use of the appropriate tools for providing information to students of all ages, from toddlers to older learners. Particularly, the provision of colorful pictures contributes to the further progression of the learners and their transfer to a more complicated stage of development.

Conclusion

The acquisition of the necessary information analysis skills is crucial for the learners’ further progress. The newly found skills, which students need to train further, may wear parents out, therefore, posing a serious threat to the further evolution of the children, since parents may feel unwilling to encourage their further training and the acquisition of skills and information. Working at the center in question, in its turn, has provided essential information on how to create the environment, in which there are no factors inhibiting the young learners’ development. As a result, the environment, in which, practically every element of the environment in question sparks further development of a child, encouraging the latter to evolve, can be designed with the help of the information provided by the Early Childhood Program.

Reference List

Bruce, N. (2012). Early childhood education (4th ed.). London: Hachette UK.

Deiner, P. (2015). Inclusive early childhood education: Development, resources, and practice. Stamford, Connecticut: Cengage Learning.

Pianta, R. C., Barnett, W., & Sheridan, S. M. (2015). Handbook of early childhood education. New York City, NY: Guilford Publications.

Saracho, O. N. (2012). Contemporary perspectives on research in creativity in early childhood education. Charlotte, North Carolina: IAP.

Sheppard, P. (2012). Music makes your child smarter: How music helps every child’s development. New York City, NY: Music Sales Group.

The infant and toddler setting. (n. d.). Web.