Tutoring App “Yup” Takes on Cheating in the Sharing Economy

The competitiveness of college admissions and the drastic dip in acceptance rates at top schools has led to a rise in education services as students try to get any edge for success. Digital tutoring services are meeting this demand by tapping into the sharing economy. These range from apps that simply match students to available tutors to full curriculum MOOCs. But, the sharing economy has also created a market for cheating. Many tutoring platforms that allow students to solicit homework help have promoted the expectation that assignments will be fully completed by a tutor on the other end. Instead of learning, students hire ghostwriters to do their homework. The on-demand tutoring market has reduced tutors to problem-solvers who provide quick, easy and cheap answers. That’s why we created â€Å"Yup.† We want to connect students to tutors and create an involved learning process that improves student outcomes. Yup is a mobile app that allows students to message specific problems to tutors and receive step-by-step help. The app utilizes mediums students are already comfortable with: text, photo sharing, and drawing. Tutors follow a four-step guide that we call the â€Å"Personalized Inquiry Learning† framework when answering questions. Every session ends with the tutor introducing a new problem to confirm the student understands what they have learned. The Yup team believes one-on-one learning should support the â€Å"learning† part of the equation. The industry’s existing tutoring model is broken and, at times, even exploitative. Students aren’t getting the help they need and tutors aren’t being held to a standard of accountability. By training tutors, reviewing completed tutoring sessions and providing tutors with feedback every two weeks, we can assess and improve the quality of instruction. We aim to transform the tutoring industry by connecting students to live tutors who emphasize student improvement at an affordable price. As one Confucian philosopher says, â€Å"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.†

Situation Ethics as an ethical theory Essays

Situation Ethics as an ethical theory Essays Situation Ethics as an ethical theory Paper Situation Ethics as an ethical theory Paper Situation ethics is an alternative ethical theory, particularly influential in Protestant Christianity, similar to utilitarianism, in that it is a way a deciding upon the correct action that is to be taken in a given situation, but where happiness has been substituted for love. It does however take an individualistic approach, with the emphasis being upon each person, rather than on looking after the majority, as is the case in utilitarianism. The theory is based on love, and revolves around doing the most loving thing for the greatest number of people. It is teleological which means that is consequential and not based on rules. St. Augustine of Hippo Regius was one of the first to articulate this theory, love and do what you will, however it is more closely associated with Joseph Fletcher. An American professor of ethics, Fletcher developed Situation ethics as a result of his critique of Legalism and Antinomianism. Fletcher disliked like the way in which so many ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, were based upon and around a basic set of rules; that is to say, that they take a legalistic approach. He believed that this was too rigid, and that it did not allow for exceptions. He also firmly disapproved of antinomian approaches where there are not fixed moral principles and where one should act spontaneously, because it Rejects the idea that there are any authoritative laws, rules or regulations that you ought to obey in a decision-making situation. Rejecting these ethical models, he proposed a more relativist version. He circulated this theory in the 1960s, having used his beliefs and concerns to come up with, what he believed, was a fair way of deciding what the right action to take in a situation should be. Instead Fletcher used love as a general rule in decision making; not storge love, to love a country or place; not philia love, to love a family member or friend; and not eros love, to make love and to lust for someone; but instead agape love, unconditional and self-giving love, as is demonstrated by Jesus dying upon the cross. To Fletcher, agape love was fundamentally sacrificing, without any reward or pleasure, as the teachings of Jesus are told in the Bible, and he took a lot of his ideas from this. The quote in Matthew saying, Love your neighbour as you love yourself, epitomises what agape is all about; where agape love is the ultimate duty. He believed that something could be determined as good or evil, depending on whether or not love had been fully served. Fletcher made four presuppositions before setting out his theory: i) Pragmatisim the course of action must work towards an end, where love is that end. ii.) Relativism there are no fixed rules that must be obeyed, but all decisions must be relative to Christian love. Fletcher is quoted as saying, that Situation ethics relativises the absolute, it does not absolutize the relative. iii.) Positivism this can be divided into two categories; natural positivism, where reason deduces faith from natural phenomena or human experience, and theological positivism, where reason works within faith as opposed to being the basis for faith. Though religious knowledge or belief can be approached in either way, people must understand that love is the most important thing. iv.) Personalism situationists put people first, asking what to do to best help them, instead of putting laws first as a legalist would do. Value is only added to something when it is useful to love (working for the sake of persons). In addition to these, Fletcher proposed six fundamental principles: 1.) Only one thing is intrinsically good; namely love: nothing else at all. Love is the only thing that is good in itself, and is good in all situations. In other words, an action is good if it expresses love for others, and bad if it doesnt. 2.) The ruling norm of Christian decision is love: nothing else. You are only required to follow laws, rules and regulations if they serve love, therefore it replaces, and cannot be equalled by, any other law. Good actions should not be done for reward, but for their own sake. 3.) Love and Justice are the same, for justice is love distributed nothing else. Love and justice cannot be serperated from each other, as justice is love at work for the whole community. 4.) [L]ove wills the neighbours good, whether we like him or not. Love is not sentimental or erotic, but driven simply out of desire for the good of the other person. 5.) Only the end justifies the means, nothing else. To ensure that the end is the most loving result by weighing up the consequences of moral actions, we are sure to make the most moral decision. 6.) [L]oves decisions are made situationally, not prescriptively. If an action will bring about an end that serves love most then it is right, and this decision (of which action to take) is made depending on and relative to the situation at hand. 2.) How far does it succeed as a strong ethical theory? For some Christians, Situation ethics appears as the perfect theory, as love is at the heart of the morality, which harmonises with the teachings of Jesus. Even the idea of an act done for love rising in superiority over all rules is supported by Jesus teachings, as he taught Paul that love is the highest principle above the Law. Fletcher argues that, because Christianitys God is a personal one, its moral approach should be centred around human beings too, as opposed to focusing on a worship of laws and principles. Additionally, a key strength this theory possesses is flexibility, and many argue that it allows for pragmatic decisions to be made without having to follow rule-based ethical systems built on absolute commandments, which means that exceptions can be made. For example, Roman Catholics deduce their morality from Natural Moral Law, and believe in the sanctity of life (where life is sacred and must be preserved). Therefore if a terminally ill patient in a hospital desired to be allowed to die to end his suffering, a Roman Catholic would deem this immoral. However someone following the guidelines of Situation Ethics may be able to grant the patient their wish, if it was the most loving thing to do in that situation. However, despite its evident strengths and popularity, Situation ethics has been criticised on a number of important points. Perhaps the most damaging attack is the assessment of this theorys practicality. Fletcher argued that in order to do the most loving thing in every situation we must look at the long term consequences of the options available to us. Unfortunately, this is incredibly difficult; some claim it is impossible. As limited human beings, we are not gifted with perfect foresight. We simply cannot accurately predict the consequences of an action, as there are always a large number of factors, some of which we may even be unaware of, and the required calculations are by and large far too complicated to be done at all, let alone on the spur of the moment in a pressing situation. Some argue that this renders Situation ethics unpractical as an ethical theory. Another devastating attack on Situation ethics is the argument that love is subjective; that it means something different to every individual. What this means, is that in a given situation one person may calculate the most loving thing to do by using Situation ethics, yet another person may perform the same calculations, using exactly the same guidelines and principles, and arrive at a different result. We can also enter into this the actuality that peoples emotions and feelings change daily, so the morals that we hold one day may have changed by the next. The undeniable fact that love does not mean the same thing to everybody calls into question the supposed universality of the theory. In addition to this, Situation ethics can in theory allow acts such as murder, lying, cheating and stealing, for if they were done in the name of love and produced the most love for the community, then by Situation ethics they would be announced morally just. For example, it is generally considered wrong to steal a gun, but if by stealing that gun you prevented the murder of numerous people then your action would be justified, as you had acted in order to serve love. Your theft is non-accountable, as in fact the only accountability in Situation Ethics is whether your actions will result in the highest possible expression on love for others.

Statistic Analysis Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Statistic Analysis - Term Paper Example As a student interested in international studies, with a goal of eventually entering a business or public administrative realm that deals with international technologies and markets, I have prepared this brief paper to analyze a number of variables that pertain to population demographics of a number of Western and non-Western societies in order to determine variables that have an effect on quality of life. Specifically, I have gathered a series of data from the world rankings dataset of educational, sociopolitical, and quality of life characteristics produced for statistical analysis by the Statistics Online Computational Resource center at UCLA, titled the SOCR Data 2008 World Countries Rankings. This data presents a range of information on variables dealing with country size, economic dynamism, literacy rates, health and wellbeing, quality of life, and religiosity for the top 100 countries in the world. I analyzed the data for these countries to determine some of the major characte ristics of the demographic trends within each nation in order to summarize the overall international standings of countries relative to their population demographics. I present a variety of data analysis compilations drawn from this dataset in the brief summary that follows. In order to weigh the overall trends regarding general quality of life as determined by the SOCR dataset, I developed a histogram and stem and leaf plot for the quality of life measure tabulated in the dataset, defined as a multivariate measure including inequality, gender-based, poverty, homicide, environment, and employment indices. Figures 1 and 2 below present the findings relative to this measure. As can be seen from this data, the distribution seemed to follow a relatively normal pattern. This indicated that there were a wide range of countries in the middle of the quality of life demographic

Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 105

Discussion - Essay Example Also, before forwarding a message, obtain permission from the sender, who may have intended the message for you only† (p. 370). As such, disclosing any privileged information that was accidentally received would be tantamount to a violation of trust and would be detrimental to one’s image, or it could even put at risk the security of one’s job. Presentation*. You are preparing for a presentation with a short deadline. You find perfect wording and great graphics on the Internet. Should you lift the graphics and wording but change a few words? You figure that if it is on the Internet, it must be in the public domain. Any information taken from other sources, written by other people, should not be copied. If they are to be used, even paraphrased or copied verbatim, these sources should be cited and properly referenced. Lifting the graphics and paraphrasing, without acknowledging the source is tantamount to plagiarism. As emphasized, â€Å"to avoid plagiarism, you must use material from outside sources properly. You can integrate outside material into your paper in three ways: by quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing† (Gurak & Lannon, 2013, p. 429). Thus, in no instance should any material be lifted and copied without acknowledging the source, as

Principle of Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Principle of Marketing - Case Study Example Coca Cola offers more than 400 hundred brands in over 200 countries.2.The five brands of Coca Cola are as follows- Product life cycle can be explained as the different stages starting from the introduction stage to the decline stage that a specific product goes through. Product life cycle assessment is conducted to find out the current life cycle stage of the product. Life-cycle assessment aims to find out the environmental burdens throughout the whole life-cycle of a product starting from raw material procurement, production, use and finally to disposal.3 Consider the extension of product life cycle and the Jenkins customer growth matrix. Identify and discuss how Coca Cola might have applied these models to help ensure the continued success of Coca Cola products in the market place. Extension of product life cycle and Jenkins customer growth matrix might have been applied by Coca Cola for ensuring the continued success of the Coca Cola products in the market. It is being explained below. Existing customers-existing products: only a very few companies have a 100% share of customers share. Customers buy a product marketed by a variety of marketers. Only true-blue customers always buy the same product marketed by a specific company. ... It is being explained below. Existing customers-existing products: only a very few companies have a 100% share of customers share. Customers buy a product marketed by a variety of marketers. Only true-blue customers always buy the same product marketed by a specific company. Coca Cola could have trued to increase its share of customers' expenditure by increasing its sale among the potential consumers. As Coca Cola has already a wide distribution channel and global presence, by implementing this growth strategy Coca Cola could have expanded its client base. Existing customers-new products: This growth strategy calls for introduction of new products targeted at the existing consumers. A company has to be able to crate value through introduction of new products. Coca Cola could have introduced new products targeted at the existing consumers. A Coca Cola has a vast number of loyal consumers across the globe; Coca Cola could be taken advantage of its position in the existing consumers mind. Considering the image of Coca Cola and its current loyal customer base across the globe, implementation of this strategy could have brought positive results for Coca Cola by strengthening its bottom line. Existing products-new customers: This growth strategy requires expanding the current customer base through increasing market share. Coca Cola could have used this strategy considering its global presence as well as splendid brand equity. Attracting new customers to its wide array of brands could be easier for Coca Cola as its products are viewed as superior than its competitors' products. Furthermore, the existing heavy users could also have been utilized for marketing campaign in the form of WOM (word of moth).

Evolutionary Changes to Horses

Evolutionary Changes to Horses Enough horse fossils have been found so that archaeologists are able to trace the evolution of horses. The earliest fossil of a horse found was a dog sized Eohippus (Tyagi, 2009). This four toed Eohippus lived around 55 million years ago (Hall, 2010). The Equus mostly stayed the same with the exception of slight toe and teeth changes. During the Oligocene era about 34-34 million years ago the horse grew in size and 4 toes evolved into 3. Also in this time the horse had vanished from Europe, Africa and Asia and for the following million years the only place which was habitable for the horse was in the western part of North America (Rice, 2007). The Miocene era saw lush vegetation disappear and the land became a grassy plain. The horse was forced to adapt and evolve in order to survive in this new environment, for example its teeth needed to change so it was able to chew the new food, its toes changed into hooves which made it easier to get about the different landscapes. These horses are thought to have had a similar brain and molars to the modern horse of today (Kimball 2006). The only real wild horse, to compare to the domesticated horse is the Przewalskis horse, although this species is extinct in the wild, there are some captive in zoos which have saved the species from total extinction and are now being captive bred (Boyd 1994). The Fell pony originates from the England/Scotland border. They are only a small breed around 14h maximum but are capable of carrying an adult man (Davis, 2008). They are a hard and sturdy breed and also versatile. The Fell pony matures late and will not breed often until as late as 7 years old. Most of the native Fells are left to roam free until the age of 2 or 3 and they arent overfed. Mares shouldnt breed before the age of 3 or permanent damage could be done to the reproductive organs and the mares maturity and growth can be restricted (Fell pony society, 2006). Environmental Factors Survival of the fittest means that only the strongest most resourceful animals live to breed. In the bad winter of 1946-47 most of the pure bred native ponies survived, but cross-breeds died. This winter was so bad that all but one group of Fell ponies that were cut off by deep snow for 6 weeks also perished (Richardson, 2008) The environment influences a horses characters, for example weight and muscle, these all depend on nutrition and exercise. The athletic ability and temperament also changes with different environmental factors. The size of the pony was due to the quality of grazing, ponies that were bigger than 13hh could not have survived on the moorland as their food intake would need to be greater than the smaller ponies (Mills, 2005). Demographic profiling of horse domestication is hard. Mongol herds show the selective slaughter of stallions at 2 and half years old, leaving the mares to survive (Zeder, 2006). A horses breed typical behaviour is reflected on the combination of two forces- physical environment and humans. Temperament differences are often linked with blood temperature (Jensen, 2009) Human intervention In early history of the Fell Pony, their origins were from indigenous ponies of the region, and in the Roman period of Northern England the horses were cross-bred with horses which were introduced by foreign mercenaries. These horses from Friesland region have the pre-potency and characteristics still seen today in the Fell pony (Richardson, 2008) There was also a mixture of Galloway blood, also Welsh cob from the stallion Comet. Small amount of Andalusian blood and finally Yorkshire trotter, which explains the larger 14.2hh ponies when the breed limit is 14hh (Fell pony Society, 2009). During the industrial revolution the Fell pony was used as a pack pony. They carried up to 16 stone of lead, iron ore, slate and coal from the mines. These ponies travelled 240 miles a week. From Kendal 300 Fells left to go over the country carrying cargo such as fish, grain, chickens and dairy products (Hamlets house, n.d.) The Fell pony society was created in 1916 and has the Queen Elizabeth II as the patron (Fell pony society, 2003). During the depression of the 1930s along with mechanisation the Fell pony breed was threatened and in 1932 at a stallion show there was only 3 ponies that were shown. King George V saved the Fell pony breed with a large donation and also Beatrix Potter donated to save this breed (Richardson, 2008) Low breeding numbers can drastically reduce the gene pool in a breed, causing it to bottle neck. This happened to the Fell ponies. In 1914, 5 stallions were the direct descendant of the famous Blooming Heather. Homozygosity is 54% in British rare breed horses. (Richardson, 2008) In todays terms, nature is taking out of the equation; there is no longer survival of the fittest among these horses. We provide them food and shelter, there is no longer natural selection (Richardson, 2008). Humans took horses from their environment in which they had evolved, and managed them under convenient conditions for us (Waran, 2007) These days the Fell pony is used by man for showing, riding and driving. The Fell pony society regularly holds performance trials where the horse tackles different terrains such as boggy paths and water crossing. These horses are smart and need to be kept active (The Fell pony society, 2009). Gene flow and polygenic inheritance of traits Not all Fell ponies are black. There are also brown, bay and grey ponies. Black didnt become the main colour until the end of 20th century, before this time dark bay was just as common as the black ponies (Fell Pony Museum, 2010). The two subspecies of wild horses are the Tarpan and Przewalskis horse. During domestication mares were crossed with stallions that had more desirable characteristics. It is assumed that mares from different regions were varied in morphology because of the adaptation to their environmental conditions. Gene flow (migration) is the main reason for lack of phylogeographic structure. As horses are so active migration levels are high. Two wild horses were found to have identical haplotypes from the Pleistocene era, one from Germany and the other Siberia (Kavar, 2008) The colour of a horse is built on a base of two colours only, black- E and chestnut e. The colour of a horse is controlled by genes at 12 different loci (Thiruvenkadan, 2008). The two genetic loci: Extension and Agouti control the black or chestnut colour of a horse (Sponenberg, 2003). Black is dominant over chestnut, and chestnut is therefore recessive. A horse that carries 2 black genes EE will be homozygous- black, a horse that carries one black gene and one chestnut gene Ee will also be black however it will be heterozygous, and finally a horse that carries two chestnut genes ee will always be homozygous, chestnut. If two heterozygous black horses are bred together Ee+Ee there will be a 1 in 4 chance of producing a black homozygous EE , 2 out of 4 chances of a black heterozygous Ee and a 1 in 4 chance of a chestnut being produced (Wellman, 2009). See table 1. Polygenic inheritance is seen in a variety of colour patterns in horses, such a shade and mane and tail colour. These might be due to influence of multiple genes (Thiruvenkadan, 2008). Gene mapping has been used to assign numerous coat colour traits and disorders that are inherited to the horse chromosome. Molecular genetic studies for coat colour in horses have helped identify the genes and mutations which are responsible for coat colour variation. Microsatellite markers that linked to the trait were also found (Thiruvenkadan, 2008). Microsatellite loci tests across horse population showed that the highest observed heterozygosity of 0.0782 and highest diversity of 0.779 was the Fell pony, the lowest was in the Friesian horse (Luis, 2007). Microsatellites show high allelic diversity and are used to calculate genetic distance between the breeds (Mills, 2005). Any horse breed existing today is an expression of the history of genetic drift and selection. The genotype for a breed will contain genes and combinations which code for specific characteristics, (such as good temperament and intelligence in Fells (Simper, 2003)). Foal Pony Syndrome Mutations that occur in a gene make it defective or somewhat unusual (Guttman et al 2002). This is seen as a deleterious gene in the Fell pony. In the early 80s it became aware that new born foals were dying from an unknown disease which couldnt be cured by traditional medicines. After post-mortem examinations the conclusion came that is was most likely something of genetic origin (Brunt 2000). Fell pony foals get a condition called immunodeficiency disorder (Fell pony syndrome). Plate 1 shows a foal with the syndrome. It affects foals less than 3 years of age. Both sexes get it; the signs are diarrhoea, pneumonia, lymphopenia, ulcers on tongue, a curly coat which is unusually long and death (Higgins, 2006). Blood samples from the foals revealed that there is a low red blood cell count, low lymphocyte count and a high white cell count. A diagnosis can be made from a bone marrow sample taken from the breastbone. The syndrome causes severe anaemia, impaired immunity and is fatal with the foals usually being put down or dying by the age of 3-4 months. As the syndrome is only known in the Fell pony breed it is assumed that its of genetic origin (Thomas, 2000).Foals usually fall ill around 4 weeks of age. This condition is possibly caused by an autosomal recessive deleterious gene which is inherited (Higgins, 2006) Due to the Fells small gene pool this syndrome is increasing at an alarming rate, as it is estimated that only 5000-6000 ponies are left worldwide. Selective breeding is better than the elimination of carriers when breeding to avoid a syndrome foal. If the syndrome is proved to be of genetic cause and the carriers can be found then they shouldnt eliminate the carrier ponies from the breeding stock as narrowing the small gene pool any further would have a devastating effect to the breed (Thomas, 2000). The level of FPS in the Fell pony population may be due to the history of the breed as after the Second World War there was a huge fall in numbers. This resulted in genetic bottleneck (Horse Trust, 2008). It is likely that two- thirds of the Fell pony population is a carrier, and 10-20% of foals a year are syndrome foals. No affected foals have been known to survive (Thomas, 2000). The stem cells in bone marrow are generally missing in the syndrome foals. The bone marrow matrix might be failing to produce the stem cells and be deficient (Millard, 2000).The most likely cause of the syndrome beginning is thought to have been inbreeding/line breeding in the 1960s (Plate 2). The original carrier stallion isnt known but there is one heavily used stallion in the 1950s that is noticed in the pedigree of each known syndrome foal (Thomas, 2000) The only way of getting rid of this genetic problem is with carefully managed breeding. Genetic disorders are common and the management of breeding has been seen in other animal breeds which have worked successfully for them (Brunt, 2000). The Fell pony society is performing constant genetic tests to try and eliminate the syndrome from the breed. The breeders are working with the society to preserve the Fell pony breed. Carries can still be bred to a test clear pony; this will stop the loss of desirable breed traits. The foals can be DNA tested to see whether they are a carrier or not. A veterinarian can collect samples and have them sent to a genetic lab to determine whether they are a carrier of the deleterious gene or not (Animal health trust, N.D)

Interview With Middle School Principal Essay -- Interview Essays

An effective school leader possesses skills to create, implement, evaluate, improve and share a staff development plan. I met with Ben Rhodes, Sandy Creek Middle School’s principal, to interview him on the specific elements of his yearly staff development plan. We began with the design process focusing on the district and school goals. District goals include improving literacy across the content areas in reading and writing, Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC). Guaranteed and Viable Technology (GVT), and Closing the Achievement Gap (Equity in Excellence). Using a variety of assessments to focus on specific needs, Ben Rhodes and Mary Sonya, our Pupil Achievement Specialist, examined CSAP, Explore, MAP, and RAD data. They use the Colorado Growth Model to help guide them to determine if students have made adequate yearly progress. Together, they created the plan that included the district goals mentioned above as well as continuing to include new technology skills, informatio n on special education changes with Response to Intervention (RTI), maintaining current staff implementation of literacy goals and a new goal of raising achievement in math. In deciding how to meet the skill needs of the teaching staff, Ben begins with the hiring process. Knowing what our School Improvement Plan goals are, his interview questions include specific skills and knowledge that will help Falcon Creek students meet these achievement goals. Mr. Rhodes is very clear about his high expectations of the teaching staff. He is currently in Denver University’s P.H. D. program in Educational Leadership and he utilizes his knowledge of best practice research. His assessments of staff learning needs are gleaned from a variety of sources that include feedbac... ...district trains staff with new technology tools that will include net books, mounted projectors, peripheral technologies, new student achievement reporting system (aka RAD and DAS systems running on Brio software, new access points, that centralizes the management console, so students and staff will be able to connect to the CCSD wireless network at all school sites. Training will also be provided to refine the RTI process. Using district and school goals, assessing needs using the right data, planning specific content and processes to teach best instructional practices, providing resources to ensure success, measuring success and providing frequent feedback, adjusting practices as needed to ensure successful implementation, evaluating and improving strategies and then sharing the plan with the community has been key to ensuring the highest student achievement.