Nature of Creativity

Creativity has been defined in many ways but one feature that is always mentioned is novelty (Sternberg, 1988). That is, the product of a creative endeavor should always be relatively unlike what has been done before. Novelty presupposes that creativity is a process that allows the mind to work out new solutions to problems, to be innovative and to be original. Just how the brain works so that the individual can become creative has been the subject of debate for a long time, creativity is often thought as a component of intelligence wherein highly intelligent persons all seem to be creative thus Guilford (1989) have argued that creativity can be assessed as part of intelligence tests. Creativity as a process involve factors like fact-finding, problem-finding, solution-finding and acceptance-finding (VanGundy, 1987). This implies that creativity is a complex process that can only be arrived at if the mentioned factors have been satisfied. Like when a writer desires to start on a new book, he/she must first research the existing facts about the topic he wants to write about, then he/she goes on to look for the issues or problems within the facts and start writing from that angle, in writing she is starting to form solutions that are different from what has been existing and then scrutinize what has been written to determine if it is acceptable to him/her and judge whether it is creative or not. Creativity is also facilitated by cognitive skills such as visualization, imagination, expressiveness, flexibility, fluency and openness (Finke, Ward & Smith, 1992). This would mean that creative thought process can only occur if the person is able to make use of the said cognitive skills. When a child is asked to come up with new arrangements of blocks, he/she must have an understanding of what blocks are and then to be able to visualize the possible arrangements, to imagine how he/she would build the blocks, to maybe express her thoughts by acting on her imagination like moving the blocks, and to arrange and rearrange it as being flexible and open about how he/she could accomplish the task. These skills can be developed through training and learning or it can be inherent personality traits that a person is born with. Creativity has been compared to problem-solving since it involves the same cognitive skills and process, but creativity is different from problem-solving in the sense that creativity is finding an original solution to the problem. Problem-solving on the other hand has to rely on previous learning and understanding of the situation and to logically solve the problem. Wherein, a person who has been asked to solve a mathematical problem has to consider the laws of numbers and to rationally find the solution to the math question using principles and concepts that govern the field of math. If it was a creative endeavor, then the person can approach the same problem in different ways and come up with the same answer. In short, problem-solving usually follow the correct way of arriving at the answer, while creativity make or develop its own and original solution. Creativity can also be a social process, this mean that creativity is enhanced or developed by the immediate environment of the individual (Amabile, 1983). A company that values creativity encourages the individual to engage in creative thought, while a rigid and structured work environment leaves very little opportunity for creativity. Moreover, a child that grow up in a family where creativity is reinforced and appreciated would more likely become creative in their own lives and parents who stifle their child’s curiosity and punishes creative behavior would be less likely to express their own creativity. Developing Creativity It is important to realize that creativity is a process and that it can be developed in children and adults alike. Practical ways of training a person to become creative involves asking the person what he/she is passionate about, what he/she wants to do that makes him/her happy and which tasks challenges him/her. In this way, the person becomes aware of his/her interests which will serve as the training ground with which creativity can be geared at. For example, the thing that the person loves doing is preparing slide shows for presentations, then the next thing to do is to give the person the opportunity to work on a task that would require him/her to be creative, like asking him/her to create a presentation that is different from the previous one he/she have presented. Another way is to instruct the individual to generate a number of ideas and to explore each idea and find out which is novel and original. The individual’s attempts at being creative should also be recognized and appreciated which would reinforce creative behavior, this is important because to produce something that is creative is subject to how people will react to it and whether it is novel or not, if the individual is praised for showing creativity then he/she would be able to differentiate what is creative thinking. The environment of the individual should also be changed to facilitate creativity, materials for creative thinking should be readily available, he/she should be able to express his/her ideas freely and to be given ample time to work on tasks. The individual can also learn from role models who can be identified as creative personalities. The way these people create new ideas and or things can show the individual how to become creative. By providing him/her with examples, he/she would come to understand what creativity is and what behaviors are indicative of creativity. Lastly, personal traits like being open-minded, flexible, curious, not afraid of change or of doing new things and being excited at creating something should be developed in that person. These attitudes are important because it facilitates brainstorming, innovation, discovery and critical thinking that are necessary for creative thought processes. Helping an individual become creative can only be successful if the person has the willingness and desire to explore his/her creativity, thus even if one provides every opportunity to enable them to become creative is useless if they are not interested in enhancing their creativity. References Amabile, T. (1983). The Social Psychology of Creativity. New York: Springer-Verlag. Finke, R., Ward, T. & Smith, S. (1992). Creative Cognition. Cambridge: Bradford/MIT Press. Guilford, J. (1986). Creative Talents: Their Nature, Uses and Development. New York: Bearly Ltd. Sternberg, R. (1988). The Nature of Creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press. VanGundy, A. (1987). Creative Problem Solving. New York: Quorum.

Organizational Structure Analysis Essay

Our team will be describing three of our member’s current places of employment. Those organizations are Rex Communications & Public Relations Inc., Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union, and Advanced Security Concepts. Analyzing the organizational structure types and their pros and cons for each, to determine whether or not they are affective. Rex Communications & Public Relations Inc. Rex Communications and Public Relations, Inc. is a small agency specialized in public relations, communications and marketing of luxury goods, with an extensive international network of media contacts, freelance editors, stylists, publicists, and tastemakers. The company is ran by our team member, Roy Stewart and his business partner, together they have many years of experience in trade and consumer publications, television and celebrity red carpets. Many of Rex Communications functional duties are split between the specialties of the partners. As one member may help increase the visibility of luxury brands at the levels of social media, printed or online press, social media, television, and so forth. The other member may be required to take care of the necessary paper work and the logistics of goods. As Rex Communications is a small company, many of the divisional organizational structures are split between the partners. Some tasks are sent elsewhere, such as, records for tax season , they are sent to an outside accountant. Overall many of the duties are shared between the two partners at Rex Communications; hence forth, making the company fall closely to the third organizational structure called the matrix organization. Many of their clients will communicate to Roy or his business partner, or both to get an understanding on what procedures they must do. Roy and his business partner believe that their setup of the company structure is both effective and productive. Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union In analyzing Farmers Insurance Group Federal Credit Union, the management structure that’s being used is functional and some of divisional. There are many benefits to a functional structure for instance; groups of people can be placed together with similar skills to be more efficient. These groups can be more attuned for development and will be more adaptable. In performance, standards are better maintained. There is greater opportunity for specialized training. The disadvantages to the functional structure; managers can develop an expertise and will not acquire knowledge of the other areas of the business. This is also true with a divisional structure; as the organization grows the business becomes increasingly diversified. This can cause redundancies throughout the business divisions. Advanced Security Concepts (ASC) Advanced Security Concepts (ASC) is a private security company that offers services that include executive protection, estate security and uniformed guards. ASC is a smaller company and deals on a customer base, therefore, it would be considered a Divisional Organization. The divisions depend on the customer and/or job type for example; estate security is composed of a team of people working at a residence. The team’s duties change per client as to what services they want. This is a very effective way of organizing the company. Each client has different expectations with a unique property and other services to take into consideration. It would not be possible for every team to work out of the same book with the variety of variables within this type of business. It was determined that the organizational structures in the three companies were found to be affective for each.

Role Play Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Role Play - Essay Example In this paper, we would be outlining in detail a role play activity and discuss on the anticipated learning outcomes and procedure, including the sub-skills of speaking that will be focused. The consideration of new learning tasks that become possible with new technologies should be part of the educator's strategic learning plan (Freeman & Capper, 1999, pp.95-116). We thus decided to design and implement a role play as an interactive learning activity within one module of a teaching course for academic staff at a University. The role play was designed to trial the existing face-to-face workshop that might offer more flexibility of access for participants and provide an opportunity to explore various approaches to a contentious topic within the course. Sixteen participants were divided into two groups of eight participants each and given the same directions, information and role statements. The role plays were set up within a classroom, during which participants were expected to contribute to discussion from the viewpoint of the role they were playing. At the end of the role play participants were given access to the postings from both role plays and the contributions we re discussed. Marks were not allocated to the role play, although a specified level of participation was a requirement for course completion. Evaluation Methodology The evaluation methodology was grounded in the interpretive paradigm, the central endeavor of this paradigm being "to understand the subjective world of human experience" (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 205). Case study method was utilized, in which the researcher 'observes' aspects of individual or group activity in order to "probe deeply and to analyze intensively the multifarious phenomena with a view to establishing generalizations about the wider population to which the unit belongs" (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 106-107). In this case study the role play moderator is a "participant-observer" (Cohen & Manion, 1994, p. 107), participating to some extent in the activity being evaluated. To determine the effectiveness of the role play activity the moderator analyzed the descriptive accounts and the face-to-face discussion responses. Participant responses to the activity were also evaluated by questionnaire using closed questions on a four point scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree, with provision for open comments. The questionnaire and discussion covered the effectiveness and purpose of the role play; feelings about taking part; anonymity; and role engagement. Eleven of the fourteen participants completed the questionnaire and participated in the discussion. (Initially sixteen participants were allocated roles but two left the course) The Role Play Description and Purpose The role play was designed to provide participants with a realistic forum to discuss the issue - the letters column of a supposed local newspaper, the Daily View. The role play took place at a mythical university in which criterion referenced assessment had been used within a subject. All students had achieved 100%. Participants discussed the merits of norm referenced and criterion referen

Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 7

Comparison - Essay Example have a wider scope than the question in the study by Potter. The question in the study by Colbert et al. relates to personality and leadership while the inferred question in Potter’s study narrows down to emotional aspects of personality and leadership within educational set ups. University students at Masters and undergraduate levels formed the population in the study by Colbert et al. Stratified sampling strategy was used to sample 80 Masters students, in leadership and personal development program, and 98 undergraduate students in a preliminary management course. Random approach was also used in assigning participants to groups. Population sample in the study by Potter was however general. Sampling strategy identified two groups, leaders and non leaders, and this suggest application of stratified sampling, as was applied in the study by Colbert et al. Sample size in the study by Potter was however small, incorporating only eight participants, four leaders and four non leaders (Colbert et al., 2012; Potter, 2011). Colbert et al. sought to investigate the hypothesis that self-rating and observer rating offer a better measure of the relationship between personality and leadership and results support the hypothesis. With relationships between leadership and personality traits evaluated using both self rating and observer ratings, the study identified extraversion under observer rating as the most significant personality trait in explaining differences in leadership. Openness to the experience, under self-evaluation, and openness to experience, based on observer ratings, then followed in significance to leadership. In addition, active participation in group discussions improved the relationship between personality traits and leadership. The results are based on different statistical analysis tools such as regression analysis, chi-squared test for independence, and representation rely on

The Impact of E-Services on Socio-Economic Development in South Africa Research Paper

The Impact of E-Services on Socio-Economic Development in South Africa - Research Paper Example Accessibility to e-services has a high potential to add value to marginalized communities (Heeks, 2010), reduce poverty (Cecchini and Scott, 2003) and spur development. However, accessibility is not enough. Other factors must be put into account when making decisions on information technology developments for optimal benefits to all stakeholders and de-marginalization of marginal groups. E-services have revolutionized the global market to levels never imagined before; however, the true impact has not been quantified since the concept is new and has not been widely adopted, nor has it stabilized. Background The World Bank classifies the economy of South Africa as an upper-middle income economy, being the largest economy in Africa in terms of GDP per capita. However, over a quarter of South Africans are unemployed and a similar number lives on less than 1.25 US dollars per day; it is this population that e-services target most since they are primarily unbanked by the conventional comme rce systems. The economy is an amalgamation of primary, secondary and tertiary industries, though it has shifted in the recent years towards being a tertiary economy, an industry that contributes about 65 percent of GDP (OECD, 2010). Despite the continuous growth of the online industry, the country still lags behind the world’s leading economies in terms of volumes and amounts spent in online transactions. Laws and policies passed and implemented in the recent years have increased access to e-services by the population mainly by increasing competition among service providers, which results in reduced prices for accessing and using e-services. For instance, the Telecoms Amendment Act of 2001 introduced a competing network provider for Telkom, such that for the two to attract and retain customers, they had to reduce the costs of their services (Z-Coms, 2002). Elimination of monopoly was the first step towards liberalization of the telecommunications sector, which was achieved b y the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) of 2005. Finally, the Electronic Communication and Transactions Act of 2002 that was aimed at facilitation of e-transactions, e-governance, and other services introduced reliable and universal access to e-services. Context Cieslikowski et al. (2008) state that the world has seen exponential growth in coverage by mobile networks for both developed and developing countries; hence the impact of use of these devices cannot be ignored. For instance, money transfer services whereby money is sent through a mobile network and collected from a local retail outlet, have changed how the low-income communities transfer their money. Before the introduction of services like these, the poor had little or no access to banking and money transfer services, mainly because of high rates or the location of the banking institution in cities. In this case, ICT enabled the rural folk to have access to services that were previously a preserve of the rich. Further ch anges are expected on migration to digital terrestrial television migration, as digital signal will include all communication services bundled. Therefore, everyone will be able to access services with relative ease, and the government will use these channels to communicate matters on policy and development (Gupta and Shah, 2012). However, for these benefits to be enjoyed by the common citizen,

Academic paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Academic paper - Essay Example These common images of nursing contribute to the willingness of students to enter nursing programs. Some consider that the nursing shortage that has existed from 1998 (Seago, 2004) has been caused by the negative image the public sometimes has of nurses. Therefore, public images of nursing have consequences in many areas of society. As the public has its images of nursing and what it means to be a nurse, youth are influenced by those ideas. What students believe of nurses will alter their desires to enter the nursing field. This, in turn, contributes to the shortage of nurses in the United States. Of students who choose to enter the nursing field, often their images of nursing change as they enter clinicals (Sand-Jecklin). Nursing students hold images of nursing that evolve, while students who leave nursing programs maintain the stereotype that they’d had previously. This seen, it is obvious that in order to break stereotypes of nursing, one must actually be a nurse and encounter a nurses’ experiences. It is difficult to change society’s perception of nursing. In terms of nursing students, it has been shown that their ideals, stereotypes, and impressions of nursing alter with their experience. Sand-Jecklin studied demographic data of 150 nursing students. Their motivations for entering the nursing field were reported. Twelve percent chose nursing for the variety of positions the profession entails; other reasons were job security, salary, and challenging career. Across the literature, findings show that among the positive perceptions of nursing, mainly found from studies on nursing students, are job opportunity and salary. An aspect of Dr. Sand-Jecklin’s study that gauged the public perception of nursing was the report the perceptions students have of nursing prior to entering nursing programs. Most often, students entered nursing programs with altruistic reasons. This phenomenon is often

Digital Image Metadata and Exif files - Forensics Research Paper

Digital Image Metadata and Exif files - Forensics - Research Paper Example (University of Reading, 2011) Data of raster images are represented in the form of a pixel which is the smallest part of a display screen. Each pixel represents the colour and its intensity. Raster is a display space of x and y grid for two dimension image and x, y and z coordinate for three dimension images. The raster images are difficult to modify without loosing any information as they are mapped directly to the raster space. The size of raster image files is usually far more than the size of vector image files. The most common types of raster images files include BMP, GIF, TIFF, JPEG and PNG. (Whatis.com?, 1997) Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) type of digital images contains complete information about the images and no data is lost when saved. It is generally referred as â€Å"lossless† format. Their sizes are too big to be suitable for delivery by web. (University of Reading, 2011) Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) type of digital images compresses data when saved. It looses its data whenever any modification is done and therefore generally referred as â€Å"lossy† format. It is good for delivery of photographic images by web. (University of Reading, 2011) Graphical Interchange Format (GIF) type of digital images is used for icons and graphics having limited range of colours. It does not loose information when saved and therefore generally referred as â€Å"lossless† format. It is good only for some types of images and used mostly on internet. (University of Reading, 2011) Portable Network Graphics (PNG) type of digital images is added recently in graphics file types. It has better compression result and support true colours. It is high quality and small size digital image file. (University of Reading, 2011) Data of vector images on the other hand is represented by vector objects which are geometrical figures such as lines, circles, rectangles, curves and many more shapes of geometry. Scaling, transformation, resizing, and resha ping are accurately done on vector images as its data is based on mathematical instructions. The most common types of vector image files have extension of SVG. They are used in software that is dedicated towards drawing and illustration such as Adobe Flash, CorelDraw, Inkscape, ACD Canvas, etc. Figure 1 shows comparison between digital images of Raster and Vector types. (JISC Digital Media, 2009) Figure 1: Comparison of Raster Images and Vector Images (JISC Digital Media, 2009) Metadata Metadata is the digital information that describes structure and relationship amongst different contents of digital data files. Earlier databases stored metadata as headers of the actual data files. Metadata is stored in a separate database file generally referred as registry or repository. For example, Windows operating system have registry in which the structure of entire hardware, device drivers and actual data is stored. (Bargmeyer & Gillman) The simplest example of metadata is an index of a book which gives the name of the chapters in the book and page numbers where it is located. If an index is removed from the book, it becomes extremely difficult to find any chapter whenever some information is needed. Similarly, metadata helps in organizing, storing, processing, retrieving and displaying contents of a data file which is otherwise meaningless. Metadata adds meaning to a data file by interpreting its contents according to its context. Digital Image files did not have

International strategic management - Case study (Emirate airline)

International strategic management - (Emirate airline) - Case Study Example The major segment of the stakeholders, the customers and their interests were overlooked by the company when they too much focused on other aspects of the operations of the company. The customer service standards have been adversely affected and the reputation of the airline has been affected badly in the few years. In an ever changing world of business, customers have attained the topmost priority and the bargaining power of the sellers is low compared to the buyers at present. Moreover, competition has been increased a lot because of the new organizations entering into the airline business which forced Emirates airlines to think strongly in terms of restructuring its business policies and strategies to suit the needs of the current business world and the stakeholders. At present Emirates airline has started to reinforce its competitive power by implementing many revised strategies to make the customers happy. Owned and administered by some of the royal family members of the Dubai administration, the major strength of Emirates airline is its immense financial capabilities. Money is not a barrier for emirates airline to try and test new strategies in its business to satisfy the customers. But this enormous financial strength, one way or other misled the company towards unwise strategies like untimely diversification overlooking the interests of the passengers. The rapid progress of Dubai towards becoming the world’s topmost business hub has provided immense scope of business for Emirates airlines. At present, tourists from all over the world selecting Dubai as their favorite destination for spending their leisure time because of the big shopping facilities it offers to the visitors and Emirates airlines can utilize these opportunities for their advantages. Major airliners like Air India, Etihad, Gulf air, British airways, Qatar airways etc are raising stiff challenges to the smooth operations of Emirates airlines. These competitors are offering cheap

Monetary Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Monetary Policy - Essay Example Specifically, a core committee within the central bank is tasked to design and undertake monetary policies based on their assessment of economic conditions and objectives to be achieved. This paper compares the operations and mandates of the three most influential monetary policy-making bodies, namely the US-Federal Open Market Committee, Bank of England-Monetary Policy Committee and European Central Bank-Governing Council. The FOMC is considered as the foremost policy-making body of the US Federal Reserve. It primary function is to formulate monetary policies which serve to promote economic growth, full employment level, stable price level and sustainable pattern of international trade (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). This aim is achieved by making key decisions pertaining to the conduct of open market operations, i.e. the selling and purchasing of US Government and Federal Agency securities. Open market operations mainly affect the provision of reserves to banks and other depository institutions. In this regard, open market operations impact the cost and availability of money and credit in the economy of the US (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). As a background, the FOMC is composed of seven members of the Board of Governors and five Reserve Bank Presidents, who must meet at least four times a year in Washington D.C. as mandated by law. It is during these committee meetings that FOMC decides on the policies to be carried out through voting. In view of the monetary decisions it has to make, the FOMC takes into account vital economic factors such as trends in prices, wages, employment, production, consumption, investments, foreign exchange markets, interest rates, and fiscal policies among others. It should be noted that the monetary policies are implemented with primary focus on supplying level of reserves which is congruent with the economic objectives of the US, both in the short-run and long-run (Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis). This means that the control of open market operations is FOMC's major tool to directly influence the money supply in the economy. The movement in money supply will then affect the other economic factors based on the economic objectives of the nation. Bank of England-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) The MPC's main function is to regulate prevailing interest rates at an appropriate level in order to attain the inflation target over a period of two years. This committee primarily considers the economic performance of the country and determines whether this is accompanied by the risk of acceleration in overall price levels ("Bank of England"). The MPC, which is chaired by the Governor of the Bank of England, consists of five members from the Bank of England and four external members appointed by the chancellor (Bank of England). The setting of interest rates is decided based on the conditions of domestic monetary market, foreign exchange market, production market and labor market ("Bank of England"). To curb inflation, the MPC's primary tool is the setting of interest rates. Should the MPC determine that aggregate demand is expanding and exerting upward pressure on prices, the committee will decide to raise the interest rates in order to control the growth of investment

LIFE CYCLE - PLASTIC BAGS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

LIFE CYCLE - PLASTIC BAGS - Essay Example They are portable, light weight, reusable and easily disposable. However, use of plastic bag has always been a controversial issue given it affects the animal and marine life in many adverse ways and is conventionally manufactured from non-renewable natural resources. Besides, there are many other concerns associated with the use of plastic bags that are of huge significance to the environment and ecology. Use of plastic bags has been globally condemned and criticized with reasonable arguments. This paper elaborates the life cycle of plastic bags and critically analyzes the environmental effects of each stage of their life cycle. Furthermore, various alternatives that can help eliminate the draw backs of plastic bags while maintaining the capacity to deliver the same usability are also enlisted in the paper. All bags are supposedly light in weight, so they inflate once air is filled in them. This property is not limited to just plastic bags. Indeed, all bags irrespective of their material are light weight, and this property fundamentally makes them suitable for use in everyday life for all purposes. However, plastic bag has a significant edge over other types of bags in that they are purely impermeable and are often transparent. This is what differentiates plastic bags from other bags because they offer the user the ease of carrying liquids which many other types of bags do not. The strength of plastic bags is much more than that of a paper, so they are used for carrying significantly larger weights than other bags. Plastic bags are good in resisting tensile stresses. They bear sufficiently larger tensile forces than any other kind of bag. This makes them the best carrier among the variety of carriers available. They come in a variety of sizes. â€Å"Small bags have lower visibility th an large bags and thin light (HDPE) bags snag more easily than heavier (LLDPE) bags.† (Verghese, Jollands, and Allan, 2008, p. 10). In order to estimate the impact

Nursing Practice Act Essay Example for Free

Nursing Practice Act Essay I came to realize just how fare we have come. My article includes information on the scope of practice for the nursing profession. The’re alson many different responsabilities of nurses, and the exams and prcedures they go though to become licensed are something else. There are a lot of things that a person can do to lose their license. The’re are also many avenues you can take in nursing, there are a lot of opertunities to grow. The definition of Nursing Practice is to provide individuals and groups with nursing care requiring specialized knowledge, judgment, and skill derived from the principles of biological, physical, behavioral, social, and nursing sciences. A nurses scope of practice focuses on identifing patterns of human responses to actual or potential health problems amenable to a nursing regimen. They are to execute a nursing regimen through the selection, performance, management, and evaluation of nursing actions, assessing health status, and to provide health counseling and health teaching. The scope of practice includes administering medicatons, treatments, and to execute regimens that are by authorized personal. The scope of practice also includes teaching, administering , supervising, delegating, and evaluating nursing practice. The standards related to the RN’s responsibilities in implementing the nursing process and as a member of the nursing profession is to be knowledgable in your work, always use the best possible route, and always make informed decisions. An advanced practice nurse is a registered nurse who has been certified under a certain chapter to practice in a certain field, by the board of nursing. They have certified registered nurse anesthetist, clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse- midwife, and certified nurse practitioner. Nurse practitioners have to also obtain prescriptive authority, which grants them the authority to prescribe medication. The nursing licensure requirements for a new graduate is first to send in an application for the licensure. The application has to include evidence that the applicant has completed requirements of a nursing education program approved by the board or approved by another jurisdiction’s board that regulates nurse licensure. The application will also include information requied by the board. There will be an application fee required by section 4723. 08 of the revised code. You also have to pass a background check that was brought into effect after June 1, 2003. The board of nursing may revoke, suspend or refuse to grant a nursing license, if a person is found by the board to have committed fruad in passing an examination required to obtain the license. A nurse can also have there license suspended or revoked if caught selling, giving away, or administering drugs or therapeutic devices for other than legal and legitimate therapeutic purposes. To renew a license that was issued for a two-year renewal period you have to have 24 hours of continuing nursing education. At least one hour of the education must be directly related to the statutes and rules pertainig to the practice of nursing in this state. The law and rule that sets the requirements for schools of nursing is section 4723. 07. Section 4723. 07 explains the different precedures and precautions that have to be taught to maintain proper sanitation and cleanliness. Handeling and disposal of needles and other sharp instruments. Wearing and disposal of gloves and other protective garments and devices. All in all the responsibilities of the Ohio state Board of Nursing is to assume and exercise all the powers and perform all the duties required of it by chapter 4723. In the nursing world everything has to go through the Board of nursing and they decide everything by vote. The board of nursing follows specific guidelines that are all mentioned with in the Nursing Practice Act and it is constantly changing. To continue on into advanced practice nursing you have to aquire your masters degree. It is also illegal to call yourself an RN with out being licensed but the board of nursing. The Nursing practice Act is where you want to look to find out what you have to do to get certain licenses and certifications.

The Pharmaceutical Industry Essay Example for Free

The Pharmaceutical Industry Essay 1) Describe the nature of supplying drugs to emerging markets at an affordable price without undermining their profits 2) Research and analyze in depth the effectiveness of one proposed policy response to this issue. (To use economics theory to analyze)    A drug described as a pharmaceutical product used to treat illness, made up of a chemically defined amount of pharmaceutically active ingredients. On the contrary a vaccine is a pharmaceutical product, a biological medicine is difficult to homogenize since it is designed using living systems. It is basically used for preventive purposes. Although the relative importance may vary, a number of facts that impact access to drugs vaccines are similar. [Milstien et. al, 2005] Patents, the monopolies granted by the State for a specified length of time for the commercial exploitation of a scientific or technological invention[navy Blue] are considered important incase of drugs so as to limit general access, as compared to vaccines. However the organizations are dependant on their patents the challenges faced by them, for gaining business; often disagreeing on this by saying that the patent protection has been exaggerated in World Health Organization list only 90% drugs are off- patent. [Strain 2007]   Ã‚   AIDS, a health calamity of unparalleled magnitude, caused by a virus in an individual, the plague must be seen as an economic, social political occurrence killing millions, while the international organizations have been trying to control the epidemic since the past 2 decades after identifying HIV, primarily caused by peoples sexual risk behavior . Leading organizations like the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) states that patents that range up to thousands of dollars, are vital for the protection of investments involved in research development of innovative drugs, failure of which may make it difficult to recover their investments for further projects. Some countries like India do not recognize the patents therefore successfully manufactures generic AIDS cheaply, however obstructions like primitive distribution systems cultural taboos did not allow them to succeed. Mainly the health problems are caused due to many factors overshadowing the under developed world like poverty, lack of health services, clean water proper sanitation. Non availability of efficient affordable medication treatments is the most important factor in this crisis. It is estimated that as a result of many infectious diseases like as acute respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, malaria and tuberculosis around 14 million people die globally. Mostly in Africa South- East Asia infectious diseases alone are responsible for 45% deaths annually, the rate is high even in developing countries. [The health crisis in developing countries] In the developing countries each day around 8000 patients die of AIDS, in contrast to the West, where people always have had access to competent medicines    The year 2001 witnessed a rigorous increase in the AIDS crises in Africa, with statistics declaring more than 30 million HIV positive citizens. An important fact to consider is that the highly patented HIV drugs are more acute than any other disease. AIDS HIV patients in developed countries are getting extensive benefits since 1996, as a result living better improved lives through the expensive combinational anti-retroviral drug therapy (or HAART) which costs about 15,000 US Dollars per year. People living in under developed countries like Africa cannot afford such expensive treatments having only $10 per person [Watts, 2002]. This catastrophe has affected people all around the world, putting the Pharmaceutical companies in a dilemma, by having to choose between their philanthropic penchants their duty to achieve a profit. Especially the international community being burdened with extraordinary pressure regarding worldwide health issues, the pharmaceutical industry has become a fundamental feature of humanitarian work.   Ã‚   According to surveys, from the 39 million people who are suffering with AIDS globally, 25 million are in sub- Saharan Africa with life expectancy to fall by 20 years by the year 2010 due to AIDS HIV. 5 million people got infected in 2004, while 3.1 million died from AIDS. In Zimbabwe, life expectancy at birth was 34 years in 2003, compared with 52 years in 1990, Infection rate are still ranging high especially in China, ex- Russian federation states. The fundamental subject is the high costs of AIDS treatments. The standard cost of 1 years worth the standard treatment, a combination of 3 antiretroviral drugs, is estimated at US$10,000-15,000 as a result, the treatment out of reach of most people in the developing world, where 95% of the people with HIV are from (As quoted in The health crisis in developing countries). 9 out of 10 people infected with the virus are not receiving the required help in order to reduce the disease to a chronic condition. In the global market, pharmaceutical companies in Africa, Asia China represent less than 7%. From 1975 to 1996, among 1223 pharmaceutical products developed to fight diseases, only 11 were designed specifically for tropical illnesses. Maybe in 5 – 7 years vaccines will be developed for AIDS, the Global AIDS Fund needs between $ 10 to 15 billion to fight AIDS, however only $ 6.1 billion was received in 2004 or the US AIDS relief program. [The AIDS Epidemic and Pharmaceutical Companies, 2005] The Trade- related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS) in year 1995, guaranteeing protection of patents across the international market included pharmaceutical products along with other services in the World Trade Organization structure.   Ã‚   The recent years have seen the wealthy governments focusing vast amounts to treat the issues highlighting the world such as lack of clean water, the treatments of infectious diseases that eradicated 11 million people every year, the AIDS death rate is now exceeding by 3 million annually according to the World Health Organization (WHO). After increased pressure by the charity groups around the world such as Oxfam Medicins sans Frontieres to promote the easy availability of drugs, one of the leading global pharmaceutical organizations has planned to lower the cost of its HIV AIDS medicines in 63 poorest countries of the world. It is therefore extremely important for the pharmaceutical industries to take part in the fight against global health issues. However their main focus is the safeguarding of revenue not working on humanitarian inclination, often adopting strategies that eventually damage the mounting issues. [Strain 2007] Additionally, prices in the United States range much higher than in Britain, according to a recent U.S. General Accounting Office report.    The rise in the worldwide health crisis proves the philosophical malfunction of the international organizations to save lives decrease suffering. The subject has raised a number of issues on the pricing of drugs especially in poor countries gaining a lot of publicity when a case has been filed in South Africa court addressing the pharmaceutical companies to license their patents an announcement by Cipla, an Indian pharmaceutical firm that they would copy U.S. firms AIDS drugs sell them at sell them at cost to countries in Africa. [Rapp, 2002] Around 40 South African pharmaceutical companies are suing the South African government at the Pretoria High Court on March 5th to shield their profits ignoring the demise of millions of lives by HIV.   Ã‚   On the contrary, a realistic approach by the United Kingdom has been taken up leading to control, devoid of turmoil by a compromising agreement regarding the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) between the British government the U.K. pharmaceutical industry governing the Prices of medications for the next 5 years under the National Health Service (NHS) involving limitation of profits to 17 -21% of engaged funds as well as pricing freedom for new products. In the advanced countries, HIV AIDS infected people are living a better life, since they have better medical treatments available. In [Geffen, 2001] Justice Edwin Cameron also HIV positive stated that, There are people throughout Africa†¦and nearly 34 million people in our whole world who are this moment dying. And they [are] dying because they dont have the privilege that I have, of purchasing my health and life.   The pharmaceutical industry had 625 registered lobbyists in DC in the year 2001 in 1999-2000 a combined lobbying having budget of $197 million. [Rapp, 2002] An industry having so much power, they are more focused to gain more revenue. It is a fact that expensive drugs like Prozac Viagra are more easily available promoted than any other life saving drug. It is important that the drug industries develop some concern about the suffering humanity design some strategies to control the major health issues in the world today. The governmental authorities should take steps to motivate the firms to allocate special funds low priced medicines especially targeted towards deserving nations. REFERENCE Alan Berkman, The Global AIDS Crisis: Human Rights, International Pharmaceutical Markets and Intellectual Property Symposium [accessed 19 January 2008] http://www.healthgap.org/press_releases/02/031402_HGAP_ALAN_PP_IPR.pdf Robert Strain, The Pharmaceutical Paradox: Helping and Harming the Developing World [2007] University of Pennsylvania [accessed 19 January 2008] http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu/essay.shtml The AIDS Epidemic and Pharmaceutical Companies: Ethics, Stakeholders and Obligations [2005] issue 7- BBS Teaching Research Review [accessed 19 January 2008] www.uwe.ac.uk/bbs/trr/Issue7/is711.pdf Julie B. Milstien, Amie Batson and Albert I. Wertheimer, Vaccines and Drugs: Characteristics of Their Use to Meet Public Health Goals [March 2005] The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development [accessed 19 January 2008] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/HEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/Resources/281627-1095698140167/MilstienVaccinesDrugsFinal.pdf Access to medicines for the Developing World and the pharmaceutical industry [May 2005] EIRIS [accessed 19 January 2008] www.eiris.org/files/research%20publications/seeriskaccesstomedicine05.pdf The Pharmaceutical Industry and the AIDS Crisis in Developing Countries [Aug 13, 2001] Harvard Business School [accessed 19 January 2008] http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=702010 Richard T. Rapp, Civilized Pharmaceutical Price Regulations: Can The U.S. Have It Too? [2001] [accessed 19 January 2008] http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv17n2/reg17n2-rapp.html Jordi Martorell, Drugs companies putting profits before millions of peoples lives [9 March 2001] [accessed 19 January 2008] http://www.marxist.com/drugs-companies-profits090301-4.htm Heather Watts, International Trade, Generic Drugs and the Developing World [April 12, 2002] Deeth Williams Wall LLP. All Rights Reserved. [accessed 19 January 2008] http://www.dww.com/?page_id=1050 Cecilia Oh, The health crisis in developing countries [accessed 19 January 2008] http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/twr131a.htm Warren V.,What Price AIDS Drugs? Developing Countries and Strategies for Paying for AIDS Drugs. Acad Health Serv Res Health Policy Meet. 2002; 19: 6. Nathan Geffen, Applying Human Rights to the HIV/AIDS Crisis [May 6, 2001] [accessed 19 January 2008] http://www.cceia.org/resources/publications/dialogue/2_06/articles/646.html Cheap AIDS drugs for poor countries [June 7, 2001] [accessed 19 January 2008] http://edition.cnn.com/BUSINESS/programs/yourbusiness/stories2001/aids.drug.price/

Six Thinking Hats Model for Learning Tool

Six Thinking Hats Model for Learning Tool Abstract The aim of this project is to implement an effective discussion tool by using six thinking hats model as the mechanism. There is a need to implement an effective learning tool for education in Hong Kong. Discuss tool is a kind of them. Although there are many discussion tool available in the web space, most of them are not developed for specific need especially education. In this project, we used the six thinking hats model as a mechanism in order to develop an effective online discussion tool. The six thinking hats model will use as a mechanism to facilitate the synchronous online discussion. By using this model, a collaborative learning assistance platform will be developed. In this project, we will show you why six thinking hats model is situation for student to learn and the author will also evaluate the proposing environment. Introduction There is a need to implement an effective learning tool for education in Hong Kong. Discuss tool is a kind of them. Although there are many discussion tools available in the web space, most of them are not developed for education. In this project, we develop an effective discussion tool by using the six thinking hats model as a mechanism. And in this section, we will go through some background information for this project. They are: specific definitions related to this project, the need e-learning resource and we will also use the Groupware and 3C Collaboration model to analysis online discussion tool. Background The need of e-learning resources in Hong Kong In October 2009, the Education Bureau of Hong Kong (2009)[1] released a report related to e-learning entitled Working Group on Textbooks and e-Learning Resources Development. The report stated that it is a global trend to use e-learning in education and there is a paradigm shift in school education from a text-based and teacher-centered mode to a more interactive and learner-centered mode. E-learning resources are encouraged to develop in order to enhance the learning effectiveness and provide the student a best mode to learn. The Secretary for Education has announced to launch a three-year Promoting e-learning pilot scheme in 20- 30 primary and secondary schools in the 2010/2011 school year. From the above, we can see there is a potential need to develop an effective learning tool for education in Hong Kong based on the government policy. What is Project Based Learning? Project Based learning (PBL) is a conceptual model that fit learning into projects. According to the definitions in the PBL handbook[2] for teachers, projects are consist of different tasks, based on challenging problems, that required students to design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative activities; Meanwhile PBL allows the student to work relatively autonomously over extended periods of time; and eventually come up with a realistic products or presentations. The definition above is too abstract that cannot distinguish the different between projects and the instance of PBL. According to Thomas (2000)[3], he proposed five criteria that an instant of PBL project should have. They are centrality, driving question, constructive investigations, autonomy, and realism. PBL projects are central, not peripheral to the curriculum. Projects are the curriculum. The central teaching strategy in PBL is the project itself. Students learn the central concepts through projects. The centrality here means students learn things that are outside the curriculum are not examples of PBL. For example, illustrations, examples, additional practice, or practical applications like discussion is only an application of the projects, it is not considered to be the instance of PBL. PBL projects are focused on questions or problems that drive students to encounter (and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline. The project has to be about a driving question or an ill-defined problem which can motivate the student to learn. The question that student pursue, as well as the applications mentioned in the last paragraph, must be well combined in the service of an important intellectual purpose. Projects involve students in a constructive investigation. In order to be consider as a PBL project. Based on the PBL project, the students are able to transformation and construction of knowledge, making new understanding and skill by the PBL activities. If the project represents no difficulty to the student or it is about the already-learnt knowledge, the project is an exercise and it is not a PBL project. Projects are student-driven to some significant degree There is no expected, predetermined outcome for the PBL projects. It is because the PBL projects not like traditional instruction and projects, it is highly dependent to the students choice, organization and responsibility. Projects are realistic, not school-like. The PBL project give the student a feeling of authenticity, it is because of the topic, the tasks, the roles that the students play incorporates real-life challenges where the focus is on authentic (not simulated) problems or questions and where solutions have the potential to be implemented. Why Project Based Learning is effective According to George Lucas Educational Foundation (2001), the project based learning is effective for student as it is student driven, based on this situation, the attendance of the student will increase and thus increase their self-confidence, motivate them to participate in the project Secondly, research show that the academic gains equal to or better than those generated by other models, with students involved in projects taking greater responsibility for their own learning than during more traditional classroom activities (Boaler, 1997; SRI, 2000 ) Opportunities to develop complex skills, such as higher-order thinking, problem-solving, collaborating, and communicating (SRI, 2000) Access to a broader range of learning opportunities in the classroom, providing a strategy for engaging culturally diverse learners (Railsback, 2002) The problems There are many discussion tools available in the web space but seldom of them are designed for learning. Especially, they have addition feature to facilitate learning and at least, the usability of the online tools. For the learning facilitation, we would like to point out an effective discussion tools should help the participant to learn systematically. It is because, our brain was train to think inside the box (habit). This may limited our thought and make the discussion low affectivity. For the user usability, chat confusion is one of other problems for online discussion tools. Thirunarayanan, M. O. (2000)[4] suggests that there may be chat or conversation overlap in chat rooms as the student and instructor submit their responses at their unique pace. The participants may talk simultaneously and interrupt the other participant to follow the conversation. As the text area of the chat history is usually scrolled automatically, participant will have problem when they want to follow the comment of their initiated idea. Introduction to WebQuest Discussion as a learning approach in PBL Difficulties in discussion Aims The aim of this project is to build an integrate discussion tool to serve the needs of discussion task in WebQuest. We are going to used six thinking hats model as the mechanism in the discussion tool. This project will be an application to Web Quest system (Yeung 2009), while this project provides the student a platform to perform the discussion online based on project based learning and Yeungs system provided a platform for teacher to examine and manage the student project. Objective Objective To study the need of a discussion tool in e-learning To study the problem of exiting discussion tool To study the advantage of using a collaborative mechanism in PBL To review and examine the six thinking hats model as collaborative mechanism To redesign the model in order to fit the PBLS To develop a collaborative system for PBL In this section, we have gone through why there is a need to develop the e-learning resources in Hong Kong, it is because the research suggested that e-learning is good for the student and there is a trend to shift the teaching paradigm from correspondent learning to the peers learning . Hong Kong Government is totally supported the development of the e-learning resources. The students are also preferred to communicate online rather than communicate face to face. Communicate Mediated Communication and Computer Supported Collaborative learning is two main ideas in this project. In which, we have gone through the meaning of collaboration learning and the benefit of discussion as the learning activity. Report Organization Discussion as a learning strategy Askell-Willams and Lawson (2005)[5] has carried out a sophisticated study in teaching-learning discussion, they investigated the topic in different aspect, and the overview below is concluded by views of expertise in perspectives of psychological, sociological-constructivism and socio-linguists. There is a convincing reason that why discussion can serve as teaching and learning purpose. Dillon (1994)[6] stated that discussion can benefit in understanding of subject matter and resolution of issues related to the subject matter and its educational function; personal growth; and understanding of the value of group reflection and deliberation. Discussion is also a primary mechanism in students social transactions. The discussion itself served as a knowledge construction process. Social transactions in classroom can encourage student to put the knowledge into public domain, their reasoning and understands can then be the augmented, examined, elaborated, critiqued and related to the understandings of other people. Tobin, Tippins, and Gallard (1994)[7] also stated that the role of discussion provided a perfect platform for students to interact. Group interaction can provide a background in which student can be negotiate differences of opinion and seek agreement. It is more important that student can generate question and clarify understanding of specific content. Peers interaction can develop their ability to speak out, unafraid in order to take a proper stand. Based on the social cognitive perspective, discourse is also a primary deliberation tool for cognitive development. Nuthall (1997)[8] proposed that the potential benefit of discourse is transactional relationship between socio-cultural experience and self-organizational activities of the mind. Such activities of the mind are facilitated through discussion, Askell-Willams and Lawson showed us an example. If a student only acquires knowledge from a teacher, the student will only incorporate the single dependent perspective of the student-teacher relationship. If, on the other hand, the student acquires the knowledge in discussion in which different perspectives are described, explained and debated, the students performance will incorporate with a larger network of intertwined social and logical relationships. Problem rose from discussion Of course using discussion as a learning strategy is not suitable in every situation. Baxter, Woodward and Olson (2001)[9] showed that learning through class discussion might not effective for those low-achieving students, it is too difficult for them to involved in the discussion frequently and they may not have chance to speak out according to their shyness. Hollander (2002)[10] also noted that the organization of effective discussion at the individual level is not straightforward. Some student talk much while other talks little, the content of discussions can be awkward, there is no guarantee that the discussion content will be threaded in a coherent manner and not all students might have developed effective skill for contribution. It should also be noted that, leaving student discuss by their own will not engaging an effective discussion. Many students need specific instruction in order to know how to ask proper questions and give proper respond. Although the expertise may agree that discussion is a potential learning strategy for education, the key stockholder is the learner. If students knowledge is not enough to allow them to make effective use of a discussion, just like how to act effectively, how to ask proper questions and how to give proper respond, in this situation, the benefit of discussion as a learning approach are unlikely to be study. The value of collaboration and discussion in learning strategy for Online learning Environment From the above, we can see that how discussion benefit in students learning, here we will discuss the value of collaboration and discussion in learning strategy for Online Learning Environments (OLEs). Clark(2001)[11] stated that although it is achievable that learning with student interaction(passive learning), active learning through interaction including faculty acting as peers, guides, and moderators is generally consider more effective and well suited to OLEs. Discussion is not like the traditional instructor lecture method of education. Discussion and collaboration increased students involvement in which engages students actively participated in the learning process compare with the traditional instructor lecture teaching method, discussion are able promote the belonging of students achievement and satisfaction. Clark stated that, although the student and instructor remained as a key player in the discussion as learning strategy, there are still some different between the traditional classroom and OLEs. The diagram stated below illustrated their different. The Shift of Face to Face discussion to Computer Mediated Discussion From the last session, we can see that there is advantage of using OLEs in discussion than traditional classroom. How about student? Do they also want to use the electronic resources to learn and interact with each other? An and Frick (2006)[12] found that student preferred to use computer mediated communication (CMC) than face to face (F2F) as communication media under certain condition. Here are the reasons: Flexibility The location and time become an independent variable in CMC such that student can perform discussion on web anywhere. Interactivity increased The flexibility of digital learning platform also contributed to the second point, it will increase the interactivity between the students and as well as the Instructor. The learning style of the students is thus transform from independent learning to peers learning by the use of computer aids. Sutton (2001)[13] (in An and Frick, 2006) suggested that CMC has caused the shift from correspondence learning to social learning. Berge (1995)[14] (in An and Frick, 2006) has also suggested the interaction among instructors, students, contents and interface have been maximized in the online discussion and thus facilitate the constructive thinking. Allow student to learn by their own pace When compare to F2F, CMC provide student more time to respond the question. It allows student to analysis and reflect the question with enough time so that they can compose thoughtful responds. Student can thus learn by their own peak in CMC, they can also take control to their learning and interact with the peer in order to build knowledge. Overview of the Discussion Tool Synchronized and Asynchronous Discussion tool Discussion is definitely a common implementation for Computer Mediate Communication. Generally, online discussion tool can divided in to two types, they are synchronized and asynchronous discussion tool. And as educational platforms, the two distinct format of interaction impact differently. In this session, we are going to investigate the pros and cons of these discussion tools in learning. What is asynchronous discussion tool? According to Johnson(2006)[15], asynchronous instruction occurs in delayed time and does not require the simultaneous participation of student and teacher. The asynchronous instruction was used in distance education in the early year due to postal delays. The asynchronous voice conferencing are already proven useful in some instructional contexts, text-based asynchronous instruction are also widely used in the post-secondary education, it can also be considered as asynchronous online discussion. Johnson stated that educators has been investigate the efficiency of asynchronous online discussion, they reported that it can encouraging in-depth, more thoughtful discussion; communicating with temporally diverse students; holding ongoing discussions where archiving is required; and allowing all students to respond to a topic There are also potential limitations of the asynchronous discussion room. Student may not check the forum frequently, lack of spontaneous feedback may lead students feel isolated, it is necessary to spend more time in the discussion in order to make it mature. Dede and Kremer (1999)[16](in Johnson, 2006) conducted a survey to check the students preferences of asynchronous discussion tool. They found that the asynchronous discussion provided a more comprehensive interchange for them, but it required more time and provided less social interaction than synchronous chat. What is synchronous discussion tool? According to Johnson (2006), Synchronous instruction occurs in real time and requires the simultaneous participation of students and teacher. The synchronous instruction was used in the closed circuit television on university campus in the early year. Until 1980s, video-conferencing and interactive television connected remote classroom, in which, the synchronous discussion allow student to ask question and perform interaction in spontaneously, the educators start conduct study how synchronous discussion tool help student in learning. As you can see, synchronous communication tools allow multiple users communicate with each other at the same time using text messages, According to a report investigated by Branon Essex (2001)[17] (in Johnson, 2006) showed that synchronous chat tools are useful for holding virtual office hours, team decision-making, and brainstorming, community building, and dealing with technical issues. Spontaneous feedback can make student feel connected; student will not feel isolated in this situation, meanwhile, student are all actively participate in the discussion tool synchronously, not like asynchronous discussion tool, required student to login frequently to check for update. But there are still limitations for the synchronous discussion tool. It is difficult to implement synchronous discussion tool compare with asynchronous discussion tool. It is hard to get students online at the same time, and it is difficult in manage large-scale conversation. Lack of reflection time for student and it is demanding for the poor typist. Synchronous Versus asynchronous online discussion Educators are commonly agreed the learning outcome of asynchronous online discussion room is better the face-to-face discussion. But the limitations stated above (isolation and frequently participation) discourage them to use this mechanism alone. There lead to the trend of implementing synchronous chat tool, it is because synchronous chat can override those limitation, as it attempts to emulates face-to-face discussion. Using synchronous chat not only enhanced social transaction but also improve student learning outcome. Johnson(2006) suggested the best methodology is combining the synchronous and asynchronous chat tool in Online Learning Environment in order to get higher levels of student satisfaction and mastery of course requirements than implementation of either mode in isolation. Johnson stated that there is a survey supported student whos used both discussion tools are most likely to achieved the course requirement because using the both tools can maximized personal engagement in learning. Review on different discussion model Structured Academic Controversy The method was firstly introduced by David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson, they are the leading expert in cooperative learning. As titled, academic controversy is a structured discussion strategy by using controversy, in which, controversy means an individual has a different idea and that idea is incompatible with others idea, so two of them need to compromise in order to reach a common agreement. According to the Cooperate Learning Center, academic controversyuses the intellectual conflict to encourage student to reach higher achievement. It will also enhanced the quality of problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, reasoning, interpersonal relationships, and psychological health and well-being There are three goals which SAC are designed to help the to achieve. They are to gain a deeper understanding of an issue, to find common ground, and to make a decision based on evidence and logic The five procedures in SAC Step 1- Organizing Information and conclude Students are separate into two groups, one of them will receive materials which written in supportive side and the other receive material of the opposite side. The groups will discuss together to conclude main ideas for present. Step 2: Presenting And Advocating Positions Student will present their argument, each side have a limited time to contribute the groups ideas. After the presentation, the other side can have a minute to rebut. Step 3: Uncertainty Created By Being Challenged By Opposing Views After the rebuttal of each group, the two sides will be switched. Each of the group will receive material from their opposite side. The students are required to use their material and points they have learnt from the other side earlier to formulate points of the opposite view. Step 4: Epistemic Curiosity and Perspective Taking Students will put down their position and discuss the issue together; they are required to find points which they are agree with and disagree with based on their evidence from the argument in order to reach concurrence. If the group cannot find a consensus of the topic, they are advice to find a compromised procedure which they could use to resolve the disagreements. Step5: Re-conceptualizing, Synthesizing, and Integrating It is a sharing session, the whole class grouped together and discusses how the group worked as a team and how can SAC help them in understanding the issue. Limitation of SAC: Student may be prejudiced by first impressions, they may not able to change their mind even the evident are support the opposite idea. And thus, it is hard to reach consensus at the end of the process. As SAC involved rebuttal, student may thought they are personal attacked by the criticism if the others student are not handle the rebuttal properly. It is demanding for the low-achieving student to speak out in the group they may not have chance to speak out according to their shyness. Civil Conversation Model The model was firstly used by the Constitutional Rights Foundation for encourages student to analyst a text material. With the guidance of the team leader, groups member are encouraged to study a selected text material, they will get to know their own points of view in the discussion procedure and eventually build a shared knowledge within the group. The challenged text material is an essential step for discussion in Civil Conversation. The text should be in a proper length and the conversation will takes place with the students in a circle. The teacher usually acts as a facilitator. The aims of the facilitator are: identify the topic and main points in the text, list what they agree and disagree with in the text, and pose questions about the text they believe are worthy of discussion. The challenged text will organized as a worksheet and contains question which required student to answer. The questions are usually in the below format: What is the selection is about: What is the main points are: What do you agree with What do you disagree with A selected question for group discussion, the question should have no simple answer which can only use the materials as evidence. Debrief Questions What did you learn from the conversation? What did you find you had in common with other members of the group? For anyone not active in the conversation (those good listeners), what did you learn; what did you agree with; who said something that you would have said? The four procedures in CC Step 1- Selected a challenged text Divided students into group and set the time limit of the discussion Step 2- Ask for agreement and Disagreement Ask every member to contribute idea on agreement and disagreement (question 3 and 4). Members should carefully listens to others and contribute new ideas based on that. Step3- Discussion Then ask the entire group to respond to question 5 the predefined discussion question. They are required to jot down the issues raise and they can raise a new problem anytime.The conversation can then continue by discussing the questions raised. Step4: Sharing session It is a sharing session, the whole class grouped together and discusses how the group worked as a team and how can Civil Conversation model help them in understanding the issue. And ask students to return to the Reading Guide and answer questions 6 and 7. Step 5: Make enhancement Conclude the ideas by asking the student to advise ways to improve the model. If appropriate, add these suggestions to the conversation rules. Limitation Facilitator is essential in this model. Student needed guideline on how to make a good discussion. As the student usually asks for factual question of the article, it is only good for additional research. A good question should make student to think about an issue, take position and back it up with evidence. As you can see the quality of the discussion is mainly depended on the facilitator There is no specific guideline for student to follow while they are taking place to discuss the raised question in step 3. The free-style discussion may lead the discussion out-of -track. Civil Conversation Model are designed to analyst a selected material. It may not fitted the nature of Project Based Learning, in which, student are required to research on the topics and collected additional material by their selves. By doing their own research, they can have new ideas by reconstructing the material. Six Thinking Hats Model The Six Thinking Hats Model is a thinking/discussion strategy devised by Edward de Bono in 1994. The model suggested that human thinking was divided in 6 session and the model uses 6 different colors to represent each of them, It requires students to extend their way of thinking about a topic by wearing a range of different thinking hats: The Hats White hat thinking focuses on the information available and needed. Black hat thinking examines the difficulties and problems associated with a topic. Yellow hat thinking focuses on benefits and values. Red hat thinking looks at a topic from the point of view of emotions and feelings Green hat thinking requires imaginative, creative and lateral thinking about a topic. Blue hat thinking focuses on reflection, control and the need to manage the thinking process. The colors help students to visualize six separate modes of thinking and to convey something of the meaning of that thinking. It can be used by student in different ages, here are the 6 thinking hat model teaching materials for the primary school student and secondary school student. Procedure of using Six Thinking Hat Model: There is no parliamentary procedure for the six thinking hats model, the model can be fitted in individual thinking and it can also fit in group discussion. While using six thinking hat model in group discussion, usually, it required the group member to pick a color of hat and let them contribute their idea one by one. In this model, the blue hat is acted like a facilitator in the group. It aims to manage the thinking process and summarize the points contributed by their team member. Advantages: It allow student to think out of the box, not like SAC and CC, the six thinking hats model was a straight forward model to lead student to think the issue based on 6 different aspect. Not like SAC and CC, emotion is brought into the model other than focused in evident, it opens up an opportunity for creativity within Decision Making. Instructor is not necessary in 6 thinking hats model compare than Civil Conversation model, it is because student will take their own part as the blue hat controller, and instructor can just sit around and let the student drive the discussion by themselves. Not like SAC, by using six thinking hats model the student will not prejudiced by first impressions. It is because the six thinking hat model is not aimed for controversywhich required student to rebut for each other, it allows student to express their ideas altogether by role playing. By using this model, there is a directed way the leads the low-achieving student contribute in the discussion. Review on existing system Instructor Controlled Chat System(ICCS) ICCS (Thirunarayanan, 2000) [23] was proposed to let the instructor involve into the student discussion, it can fix the problem with chat confusion and overlap. He proposed two software enhancements in order to achieve the aim: Instructor mediated chat Instructors will have two windows on their monitor, one is the student discussion window and the other is the instructor control window. Each message raised from the student will send to the instructor window first before published to the other students, the instructor will choose the relevant question / response to publish. Students are only type and respond to the question until the instructor sends the message to the student window Instructor hints before the chat section The second point is to save short comments; questions and statement in the database before the chat session begin. Once the student is lack of idea, the instructor can make use of the pre-saved statements to ask question and remind students to stay focused on relevant topic. Potential problem of ICCS As the discussion flow is highly depended t Six Thinking Hats Model for Learning Tool Six Thinking Hats Model for Learning Tool Abstract The aim of this project is to implement an effective discussion tool by using six thinking hats model as the mechanism. There is a need to implement an effective learning tool for education in Hong Kong. Discuss tool is a kind of them. Although there are many discussion tool available in the web space, most of them are not developed for specific need especially education. In this project, we used the six thinking hats model as a mechanism in order to develop an effective online discussion tool. The six thinking hats model will use as a mechanism to facilitate the synchronous online discussion. By using this model, a collaborative learning assistance platform will be developed. In this project, we will show you why six thinking hats model is situation for student to learn and the author will also evaluate the proposing environment. Introduction There is a need to implement an effective learning tool for education in Hong Kong. Discuss tool is a kind of them. Although there are many discussion tools available in the web space, most of them are not developed for education. In this project, we develop an effective discussion tool by using the six thinking hats model as a mechanism. And in this section, we will go through some background information for this project. They are: specific definitions related to this project, the need e-learning resource and we will also use the Groupware and 3C Collaboration model to analysis online discussion tool. Background The need of e-learning resources in Hong Kong In October 2009, the Education Bureau of Hong Kong (2009)[1] released a report related to e-learning entitled Working Group on Textbooks and e-Learning Resources Development. The report stated that it is a global trend to use e-learning in education and there is a paradigm shift in school education from a text-based and teacher-centered mode to a more interactive and learner-centered mode. E-learning resources are encouraged to develop in order to enhance the learning effectiveness and provide the student a best mode to learn. The Secretary for Education has announced to launch a three-year Promoting e-learning pilot scheme in 20- 30 primary and secondary schools in the 2010/2011 school year. From the above, we can see there is a potential need to develop an effective learning tool for education in Hong Kong based on the government policy. What is Project Based Learning? Project Based learning (PBL) is a conceptual model that fit learning into projects. According to the definitions in the PBL handbook[2] for teachers, projects are consist of different tasks, based on challenging problems, that required students to design, problem-solving, decision making, or investigative activities; Meanwhile PBL allows the student to work relatively autonomously over extended periods of time; and eventually come up with a realistic products or presentations. The definition above is too abstract that cannot distinguish the different between projects and the instance of PBL. According to Thomas (2000)[3], he proposed five criteria that an instant of PBL project should have. They are centrality, driving question, constructive investigations, autonomy, and realism. PBL projects are central, not peripheral to the curriculum. Projects are the curriculum. The central teaching strategy in PBL is the project itself. Students learn the central concepts through projects. The centrality here means students learn things that are outside the curriculum are not examples of PBL. For example, illustrations, examples, additional practice, or practical applications like discussion is only an application of the projects, it is not considered to be the instance of PBL. PBL projects are focused on questions or problems that drive students to encounter (and struggle with) the central concepts and principles of a discipline. The project has to be about a driving question or an ill-defined problem which can motivate the student to learn. The question that student pursue, as well as the applications mentioned in the last paragraph, must be well combined in the service of an important intellectual purpose. Projects involve students in a constructive investigation. In order to be consider as a PBL project. Based on the PBL project, the students are able to transformation and construction of knowledge, making new understanding and skill by the PBL activities. If the project represents no difficulty to the student or it is about the already-learnt knowledge, the project is an exercise and it is not a PBL project. Projects are student-driven to some significant degree There is no expected, predetermined outcome for the PBL projects. It is because the PBL projects not like traditional instruction and projects, it is highly dependent to the students choice, organization and responsibility. Projects are realistic, not school-like. The PBL project give the student a feeling of authenticity, it is because of the topic, the tasks, the roles that the students play incorporates real-life challenges where the focus is on authentic (not simulated) problems or questions and where solutions have the potential to be implemented. Why Project Based Learning is effective According to George Lucas Educational Foundation (2001), the project based learning is effective for student as it is student driven, based on this situation, the attendance of the student will increase and thus increase their self-confidence, motivate them to participate in the project Secondly, research show that the academic gains equal to or better than those generated by other models, with students involved in projects taking greater responsibility for their own learning than during more traditional classroom activities (Boaler, 1997; SRI, 2000 ) Opportunities to develop complex skills, such as higher-order thinking, problem-solving, collaborating, and communicating (SRI, 2000) Access to a broader range of learning opportunities in the classroom, providing a strategy for engaging culturally diverse learners (Railsback, 2002) The problems There are many discussion tools available in the web space but seldom of them are designed for learning. Especially, they have addition feature to facilitate learning and at least, the usability of the online tools. For the learning facilitation, we would like to point out an effective discussion tools should help the participant to learn systematically. It is because, our brain was train to think inside the box (habit). This may limited our thought and make the discussion low affectivity. For the user usability, chat confusion is one of other problems for online discussion tools. Thirunarayanan, M. O. (2000)[4] suggests that there may be chat or conversation overlap in chat rooms as the student and instructor submit their responses at their unique pace. The participants may talk simultaneously and interrupt the other participant to follow the conversation. As the text area of the chat history is usually scrolled automatically, participant will have problem when they want to follow the comment of their initiated idea. Introduction to WebQuest Discussion as a learning approach in PBL Difficulties in discussion Aims The aim of this project is to build an integrate discussion tool to serve the needs of discussion task in WebQuest. We are going to used six thinking hats model as the mechanism in the discussion tool. This project will be an application to Web Quest system (Yeung 2009), while this project provides the student a platform to perform the discussion online based on project based learning and Yeungs system provided a platform for teacher to examine and manage the student project. Objective Objective To study the need of a discussion tool in e-learning To study the problem of exiting discussion tool To study the advantage of using a collaborative mechanism in PBL To review and examine the six thinking hats model as collaborative mechanism To redesign the model in order to fit the PBLS To develop a collaborative system for PBL In this section, we have gone through why there is a need to develop the e-learning resources in Hong Kong, it is because the research suggested that e-learning is good for the student and there is a trend to shift the teaching paradigm from correspondent learning to the peers learning . Hong Kong Government is totally supported the development of the e-learning resources. The students are also preferred to communicate online rather than communicate face to face. Communicate Mediated Communication and Computer Supported Collaborative learning is two main ideas in this project. In which, we have gone through the meaning of collaboration learning and the benefit of discussion as the learning activity. Report Organization Discussion as a learning strategy Askell-Willams and Lawson (2005)[5] has carried out a sophisticated study in teaching-learning discussion, they investigated the topic in different aspect, and the overview below is concluded by views of expertise in perspectives of psychological, sociological-constructivism and socio-linguists. There is a convincing reason that why discussion can serve as teaching and learning purpose. Dillon (1994)[6] stated that discussion can benefit in understanding of subject matter and resolution of issues related to the subject matter and its educational function; personal growth; and understanding of the value of group reflection and deliberation. Discussion is also a primary mechanism in students social transactions. The discussion itself served as a knowledge construction process. Social transactions in classroom can encourage student to put the knowledge into public domain, their reasoning and understands can then be the augmented, examined, elaborated, critiqued and related to the understandings of other people. Tobin, Tippins, and Gallard (1994)[7] also stated that the role of discussion provided a perfect platform for students to interact. Group interaction can provide a background in which student can be negotiate differences of opinion and seek agreement. It is more important that student can generate question and clarify understanding of specific content. Peers interaction can develop their ability to speak out, unafraid in order to take a proper stand. Based on the social cognitive perspective, discourse is also a primary deliberation tool for cognitive development. Nuthall (1997)[8] proposed that the potential benefit of discourse is transactional relationship between socio-cultural experience and self-organizational activities of the mind. Such activities of the mind are facilitated through discussion, Askell-Willams and Lawson showed us an example. If a student only acquires knowledge from a teacher, the student will only incorporate the single dependent perspective of the student-teacher relationship. If, on the other hand, the student acquires the knowledge in discussion in which different perspectives are described, explained and debated, the students performance will incorporate with a larger network of intertwined social and logical relationships. Problem rose from discussion Of course using discussion as a learning strategy is not suitable in every situation. Baxter, Woodward and Olson (2001)[9] showed that learning through class discussion might not effective for those low-achieving students, it is too difficult for them to involved in the discussion frequently and they may not have chance to speak out according to their shyness. Hollander (2002)[10] also noted that the organization of effective discussion at the individual level is not straightforward. Some student talk much while other talks little, the content of discussions can be awkward, there is no guarantee that the discussion content will be threaded in a coherent manner and not all students might have developed effective skill for contribution. It should also be noted that, leaving student discuss by their own will not engaging an effective discussion. Many students need specific instruction in order to know how to ask proper questions and give proper respond. Although the expertise may agree that discussion is a potential learning strategy for education, the key stockholder is the learner. If students knowledge is not enough to allow them to make effective use of a discussion, just like how to act effectively, how to ask proper questions and how to give proper respond, in this situation, the benefit of discussion as a learning approach are unlikely to be study. The value of collaboration and discussion in learning strategy for Online learning Environment From the above, we can see that how discussion benefit in students learning, here we will discuss the value of collaboration and discussion in learning strategy for Online Learning Environments (OLEs). Clark(2001)[11] stated that although it is achievable that learning with student interaction(passive learning), active learning through interaction including faculty acting as peers, guides, and moderators is generally consider more effective and well suited to OLEs. Discussion is not like the traditional instructor lecture method of education. Discussion and collaboration increased students involvement in which engages students actively participated in the learning process compare with the traditional instructor lecture teaching method, discussion are able promote the belonging of students achievement and satisfaction. Clark stated that, although the student and instructor remained as a key player in the discussion as learning strategy, there are still some different between the traditional classroom and OLEs. The diagram stated below illustrated their different. The Shift of Face to Face discussion to Computer Mediated Discussion From the last session, we can see that there is advantage of using OLEs in discussion than traditional classroom. How about student? Do they also want to use the electronic resources to learn and interact with each other? An and Frick (2006)[12] found that student preferred to use computer mediated communication (CMC) than face to face (F2F) as communication media under certain condition. Here are the reasons: Flexibility The location and time become an independent variable in CMC such that student can perform discussion on web anywhere. Interactivity increased The flexibility of digital learning platform also contributed to the second point, it will increase the interactivity between the students and as well as the Instructor. The learning style of the students is thus transform from independent learning to peers learning by the use of computer aids. Sutton (2001)[13] (in An and Frick, 2006) suggested that CMC has caused the shift from correspondence learning to social learning. Berge (1995)[14] (in An and Frick, 2006) has also suggested the interaction among instructors, students, contents and interface have been maximized in the online discussion and thus facilitate the constructive thinking. Allow student to learn by their own pace When compare to F2F, CMC provide student more time to respond the question. It allows student to analysis and reflect the question with enough time so that they can compose thoughtful responds. Student can thus learn by their own peak in CMC, they can also take control to their learning and interact with the peer in order to build knowledge. Overview of the Discussion Tool Synchronized and Asynchronous Discussion tool Discussion is definitely a common implementation for Computer Mediate Communication. Generally, online discussion tool can divided in to two types, they are synchronized and asynchronous discussion tool. And as educational platforms, the two distinct format of interaction impact differently. In this session, we are going to investigate the pros and cons of these discussion tools in learning. What is asynchronous discussion tool? According to Johnson(2006)[15], asynchronous instruction occurs in delayed time and does not require the simultaneous participation of student and teacher. The asynchronous instruction was used in distance education in the early year due to postal delays. The asynchronous voice conferencing are already proven useful in some instructional contexts, text-based asynchronous instruction are also widely used in the post-secondary education, it can also be considered as asynchronous online discussion. Johnson stated that educators has been investigate the efficiency of asynchronous online discussion, they reported that it can encouraging in-depth, more thoughtful discussion; communicating with temporally diverse students; holding ongoing discussions where archiving is required; and allowing all students to respond to a topic There are also potential limitations of the asynchronous discussion room. Student may not check the forum frequently, lack of spontaneous feedback may lead students feel isolated, it is necessary to spend more time in the discussion in order to make it mature. Dede and Kremer (1999)[16](in Johnson, 2006) conducted a survey to check the students preferences of asynchronous discussion tool. They found that the asynchronous discussion provided a more comprehensive interchange for them, but it required more time and provided less social interaction than synchronous chat. What is synchronous discussion tool? According to Johnson (2006), Synchronous instruction occurs in real time and requires the simultaneous participation of students and teacher. The synchronous instruction was used in the closed circuit television on university campus in the early year. Until 1980s, video-conferencing and interactive television connected remote classroom, in which, the synchronous discussion allow student to ask question and perform interaction in spontaneously, the educators start conduct study how synchronous discussion tool help student in learning. As you can see, synchronous communication tools allow multiple users communicate with each other at the same time using text messages, According to a report investigated by Branon Essex (2001)[17] (in Johnson, 2006) showed that synchronous chat tools are useful for holding virtual office hours, team decision-making, and brainstorming, community building, and dealing with technical issues. Spontaneous feedback can make student feel connected; student will not feel isolated in this situation, meanwhile, student are all actively participate in the discussion tool synchronously, not like asynchronous discussion tool, required student to login frequently to check for update. But there are still limitations for the synchronous discussion tool. It is difficult to implement synchronous discussion tool compare with asynchronous discussion tool. It is hard to get students online at the same time, and it is difficult in manage large-scale conversation. Lack of reflection time for student and it is demanding for the poor typist. Synchronous Versus asynchronous online discussion Educators are commonly agreed the learning outcome of asynchronous online discussion room is better the face-to-face discussion. But the limitations stated above (isolation and frequently participation) discourage them to use this mechanism alone. There lead to the trend of implementing synchronous chat tool, it is because synchronous chat can override those limitation, as it attempts to emulates face-to-face discussion. Using synchronous chat not only enhanced social transaction but also improve student learning outcome. Johnson(2006) suggested the best methodology is combining the synchronous and asynchronous chat tool in Online Learning Environment in order to get higher levels of student satisfaction and mastery of course requirements than implementation of either mode in isolation. Johnson stated that there is a survey supported student whos used both discussion tools are most likely to achieved the course requirement because using the both tools can maximized personal engagement in learning. Review on different discussion model Structured Academic Controversy The method was firstly introduced by David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson, they are the leading expert in cooperative learning. As titled, academic controversy is a structured discussion strategy by using controversy, in which, controversy means an individual has a different idea and that idea is incompatible with others idea, so two of them need to compromise in order to reach a common agreement. According to the Cooperate Learning Center, academic controversyuses the intellectual conflict to encourage student to reach higher achievement. It will also enhanced the quality of problem solving, decision making, critical thinking, reasoning, interpersonal relationships, and psychological health and well-being There are three goals which SAC are designed to help the to achieve. They are to gain a deeper understanding of an issue, to find common ground, and to make a decision based on evidence and logic The five procedures in SAC Step 1- Organizing Information and conclude Students are separate into two groups, one of them will receive materials which written in supportive side and the other receive material of the opposite side. The groups will discuss together to conclude main ideas for present. Step 2: Presenting And Advocating Positions Student will present their argument, each side have a limited time to contribute the groups ideas. After the presentation, the other side can have a minute to rebut. Step 3: Uncertainty Created By Being Challenged By Opposing Views After the rebuttal of each group, the two sides will be switched. Each of the group will receive material from their opposite side. The students are required to use their material and points they have learnt from the other side earlier to formulate points of the opposite view. Step 4: Epistemic Curiosity and Perspective Taking Students will put down their position and discuss the issue together; they are required to find points which they are agree with and disagree with based on their evidence from the argument in order to reach concurrence. If the group cannot find a consensus of the topic, they are advice to find a compromised procedure which they could use to resolve the disagreements. Step5: Re-conceptualizing, Synthesizing, and Integrating It is a sharing session, the whole class grouped together and discusses how the group worked as a team and how can SAC help them in understanding the issue. Limitation of SAC: Student may be prejudiced by first impressions, they may not able to change their mind even the evident are support the opposite idea. And thus, it is hard to reach consensus at the end of the process. As SAC involved rebuttal, student may thought they are personal attacked by the criticism if the others student are not handle the rebuttal properly. It is demanding for the low-achieving student to speak out in the group they may not have chance to speak out according to their shyness. Civil Conversation Model The model was firstly used by the Constitutional Rights Foundation for encourages student to analyst a text material. With the guidance of the team leader, groups member are encouraged to study a selected text material, they will get to know their own points of view in the discussion procedure and eventually build a shared knowledge within the group. The challenged text material is an essential step for discussion in Civil Conversation. The text should be in a proper length and the conversation will takes place with the students in a circle. The teacher usually acts as a facilitator. The aims of the facilitator are: identify the topic and main points in the text, list what they agree and disagree with in the text, and pose questions about the text they believe are worthy of discussion. The challenged text will organized as a worksheet and contains question which required student to answer. The questions are usually in the below format: What is the selection is about: What is the main points are: What do you agree with What do you disagree with A selected question for group discussion, the question should have no simple answer which can only use the materials as evidence. Debrief Questions What did you learn from the conversation? What did you find you had in common with other members of the group? For anyone not active in the conversation (those good listeners), what did you learn; what did you agree with; who said something that you would have said? The four procedures in CC Step 1- Selected a challenged text Divided students into group and set the time limit of the discussion Step 2- Ask for agreement and Disagreement Ask every member to contribute idea on agreement and disagreement (question 3 and 4). Members should carefully listens to others and contribute new ideas based on that. Step3- Discussion Then ask the entire group to respond to question 5 the predefined discussion question. They are required to jot down the issues raise and they can raise a new problem anytime.The conversation can then continue by discussing the questions raised. Step4: Sharing session It is a sharing session, the whole class grouped together and discusses how the group worked as a team and how can Civil Conversation model help them in understanding the issue. And ask students to return to the Reading Guide and answer questions 6 and 7. Step 5: Make enhancement Conclude the ideas by asking the student to advise ways to improve the model. If appropriate, add these suggestions to the conversation rules. Limitation Facilitator is essential in this model. Student needed guideline on how to make a good discussion. As the student usually asks for factual question of the article, it is only good for additional research. A good question should make student to think about an issue, take position and back it up with evidence. As you can see the quality of the discussion is mainly depended on the facilitator There is no specific guideline for student to follow while they are taking place to discuss the raised question in step 3. The free-style discussion may lead the discussion out-of -track. Civil Conversation Model are designed to analyst a selected material. It may not fitted the nature of Project Based Learning, in which, student are required to research on the topics and collected additional material by their selves. By doing their own research, they can have new ideas by reconstructing the material. Six Thinking Hats Model The Six Thinking Hats Model is a thinking/discussion strategy devised by Edward de Bono in 1994. The model suggested that human thinking was divided in 6 session and the model uses 6 different colors to represent each of them, It requires students to extend their way of thinking about a topic by wearing a range of different thinking hats: The Hats White hat thinking focuses on the information available and needed. Black hat thinking examines the difficulties and problems associated with a topic. Yellow hat thinking focuses on benefits and values. Red hat thinking looks at a topic from the point of view of emotions and feelings Green hat thinking requires imaginative, creative and lateral thinking about a topic. Blue hat thinking focuses on reflection, control and the need to manage the thinking process. The colors help students to visualize six separate modes of thinking and to convey something of the meaning of that thinking. It can be used by student in different ages, here are the 6 thinking hat model teaching materials for the primary school student and secondary school student. Procedure of using Six Thinking Hat Model: There is no parliamentary procedure for the six thinking hats model, the model can be fitted in individual thinking and it can also fit in group discussion. While using six thinking hat model in group discussion, usually, it required the group member to pick a color of hat and let them contribute their idea one by one. In this model, the blue hat is acted like a facilitator in the group. It aims to manage the thinking process and summarize the points contributed by their team member. Advantages: It allow student to think out of the box, not like SAC and CC, the six thinking hats model was a straight forward model to lead student to think the issue based on 6 different aspect. Not like SAC and CC, emotion is brought into the model other than focused in evident, it opens up an opportunity for creativity within Decision Making. Instructor is not necessary in 6 thinking hats model compare than Civil Conversation model, it is because student will take their own part as the blue hat controller, and instructor can just sit around and let the student drive the discussion by themselves. Not like SAC, by using six thinking hats model the student will not prejudiced by first impressions. It is because the six thinking hat model is not aimed for controversywhich required student to rebut for each other, it allows student to express their ideas altogether by role playing. By using this model, there is a directed way the leads the low-achieving student contribute in the discussion. Review on existing system Instructor Controlled Chat System(ICCS) ICCS (Thirunarayanan, 2000) [23] was proposed to let the instructor involve into the student discussion, it can fix the problem with chat confusion and overlap. He proposed two software enhancements in order to achieve the aim: Instructor mediated chat Instructors will have two windows on their monitor, one is the student discussion window and the other is the instructor control window. Each message raised from the student will send to the instructor window first before published to the other students, the instructor will choose the relevant question / response to publish. Students are only type and respond to the question until the instructor sends the message to the student window Instructor hints before the chat section The second point is to save short comments; questions and statement in the database before the chat session begin. Once the student is lack of idea, the instructor can make use of the pre-saved statements to ask question and remind students to stay focused on relevant topic. Potential problem of ICCS As the discussion flow is highly depended t