Video content delivery for the ESL classroom with vodcasting technology

In this paper I will explain the means by which video content can be delivered to the ESL classroom via a technology known as vodcasting. The ability to deliver video to the ESL classroom CAN profoundly change the learning process, and I will explore the implications of this new technology in this paper. It must be emphasized, however, that the ABILITY to deliver video does not NECESSARILY enhance the learning experience. Content material needs to be appropriate and delivered in a manner that leads toward mastery of required language skills. To meet that goal, I will explain how material can be organized into “knowledge units”, as defined by B.F. Skinner in his work on programmed learning techniques. Using these knowledge units we will progress beyond the linguistic competence emphasized in traditional classrooms and work toward achieving true communicative competence. The American psychologist B.F. Skinner believed people are best able to learn when the cognitive domain, or target material, is divided into knowledge units he called “learning frames”. He defined a learning frame as a limited set of new facts coupled with an incomplete statement or question the learner was required to complete based on information provided from within the frame itself, or from previous frames. Skinner’s “programmed learning” approach required that frames be ordered so that knowledge units required for subsequent frames were mastered before they were needed. Learning was made possible through a series of very small and rigidly ordered steps directed toward mastery of a series of learning frames and the inferences that could be associated with the facts contained within those learning frames. The step-by-step approach advocated by Skinner provided reinforcement for correct responses, and kept the student focused on the material being studied. Skinner was especially critical of traditional education’s inability to provide sufficient reinforcement for the material being studied. “Perhaps,” said Skinner, “the most serious criticism of the current classroom is the relative infrequency of reinforcement.” (Skinner, 1962, page 25) Skinner believed reinforcement was crucial to the learning process because it was only through repetition and reinforcement that a behavior, or acquired skill, could be maintained in strength. Skills not used frequently were easily lost, as language teachers and students can attest to. The concept of programmed learning based on learning frames and the sequential mastery of material became extremely influential in textbook development in the 1960s, even 3 though the practice of computerized programmed learning itself was limited by access to the rather expensive computers of the time. Ironically, interest in programmed learning techniques seemed to have waned just as the development of personal computers made it truly possible to implement the practices Skinner had advocated

Textuality and Imagination: The Refracted Image of Hegelian Dialectic

Examines textuality and imagination with reference to the refracted image of Hegelian dialectical method. Attempts to modify, improve and revamp Hegel\u27s dialectic; Suggestions made by Hegel in his discussion of the three realms of Absolute Sprit

Lobbying Activity in the Standards Setting Process: FASB Statement on Financial Accounting Standards No. 106, Employers\u27 Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other than Pensions

The purpose of this study is to explain and classify the behavior of corporate managers in the accounting standards setting process as it related to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 106. Evidence from this study provides readers a better understanding of participation of corporate managers in the accounting standards setting process. To accomplish the objective, this study surveyed corporate representatives who responded to the Financial Accounting Standards Board\u27s, February 1989, exposure draft, Employers\u27 Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other Than Pensions, (OPEB). A sample of corporations whose representatives did not respond to the OPEB exposure draft, although the corporations did provide OPEB benefits, and which are of a similar industry distribution as firms which did respond, was also surveyed. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify statistically significant variables in the position choice and lobbying participation choice decisions. No other known study has attempted to investigate both the position and decision to lobby on the OPEB issue, although Saemann (1987) examined both the position and decision to lobby on Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 87, Employer\u27s Accounting for Pensions. Evidence from this research provides information useful involved in setting financial accounting standards. The Mission Statement of the Financial Accounting Standards Board includes the precept, to weigh carefully the views of its constituents in developing concepts and standards (FASB, 1992, p.l). Knowledge about why corporate managers choose to participate in the standards setting process for postretirement benefits other than pensions provides insight about the entire constituency of FASB, not only the respondents. The research hypotheses for the position choice model— firm size, impact on financial statements, and leverage position— were not supported by logistic regression analysis. Only one research hypothesis for the lobbying participation choice model was supported in the logistic regression analyses— the research hypothesis for firm size for industrial companies. The larger the number of employees, the more likely it is that the company participated in lobbying activities related to the OPEB exposure draft. The other attributes tested, maturity of the workforce and leverage position, were found not to be statistically significant

Textuality and Imagination: The Refracted Image of Hegelian Dialectic

Examines textuality and imagination with reference to the refracted image of Hegelian dialectical method. Attempts to modify, improve and revamp Hegel\u27s dialectic; Suggestions made by Hegel in his discussion of the three realms of Absolute Sprit