In the marketing arena, marketers are always on the lookout for great things that will keep them ahead of their competitors in the market. You do not have to worry anymore because the solution lies in your purse or the pocket. We are living in an era where mobile marketing is bringing forth a tremendous opportunity for marketers to a greater level. Cell phones help the marketer to reach wider audiences in real time and on a personal level, which is a different engagement you cannot find in other communication channels.Significance of Mobile Marketing to BusinessesAccording to the recent most statistics, almost all customers own a mobile device. Seventy percent of the customers have a mobile phone, seventy-five percent own a laptop, and fifty-five percent own a tablet. At least seventy percent of this population uses their mobile devices for accessing the internet and not the laptop. With an increase in the population of smartphone users, the number of devices in the world exceeds the current population.Using the mobile device is the most viable option, and marketers need to make adjustments towards this medium as many users possess these devices. The extensive use of mobile devices among customers is a growing and crucial part of the market. It helps in unlocking the potential held in the massive, captive, expanding, and engaged audience.Nowadays, many companies are taking the full advantage of this option as it is the new thing in the market. In case your brand is not in mobile marketing, you need to make sure that you get a bandwagon as your competitor will leave you behind. Below are some reasons as to why businesses have to give priority to mobile marketing.i. Social media offers a platform for advertsTwitter, Facebook, and other platforms have understood the potential that resides in mobile marketing. They have recognized this potential and have evolved their adverts platforms for you to target mobile customers efficiently. All you need to do is clicking a button to start. This change will take a few minutes if you use social media marketing.ii. Mobile Advertising Reaches New and Broad AudiencesThe number people who are using mobile advertising exclusively are increasing. If your business is not using mobile advertising, then you are not going to reach your target audience and potential customers.iii. Retailers are Getting Mobile Arrangements WronglyThe news around nowadays shows how retailers are struggling to keep their profit margins high as a result of poor returns. Most retailers have taken their employees and shareholders by surprise in recent years because of a massive decrease in sales and net profits. Such companies view mobile marketing and e-commerce as an option when they are planning their budget. However, despite the vast opportunities the channel gives, the retailers struggle in investing in mobile marketing which makes them fall into the rat race of dwindling sales and profits.iv. Mobile Devices are Growing Online GrowthWith improving internet infrastructure and escalating smartphone penetration in the world, mobile devices have become a primary method that consumers use as a gateway to accessing the internet. Recent research shows that internet access by use of smartphones is a daily action for more than 83% of all users in the world.v. Google Advice Retailers to Use Mobile Marketing The main reason that will make you start mobile advertising is the Google Mobilegeddon update which penalizes websites which have not begun to put mobile marketing into consideration. Your site has to be easy to browse and responsive on mobile devices. In simple terms, your site will get a slap from Google by going down in the search engine ranks. These penalties are getting stricter with time, and your company has to take necessary measures before feeling the impact.vi. It is PersonalIt is hard to get brand close to the audiences when you are doing it behind a computer. Using mobile devices is however different. These devices are special accessories which people carry along at all times. They provide a different physical aspect as compared to other media.This form of marketing is personalized because it allows retailers get closer to consumers. You will have a high chance of converting these people into high-paying customers. For now, mobile marketing is in the market to stay, and researchers say that it will be gaining momentum as time goes. Businesses and firms that are waiting will find it hard to get on board making them spend a lot of money.vii. You Have the Chance Of Hitting Them Time and AgainIn case your strategy is targeting desktops, you need to put in mind that there is a possibility that your audience is also using mobile devices. Therefore, it might take a few attempts to reach and resonate with customers. In case you miss the laptop chance, use the smartphone to get him/her and convert the viewer.viii. It is Getting Costlier With TimeFacebook advertising is the best example when looking at what might happen in the event an advertising method has grown in popularity. Costs have continued rising in the recent past for no good reason. However, you might attribute it to the increase in the market competition.The mobile marketing space is similar; you will have to engage it now or later. It is advisable to do it now because tasting costs are quite affordable than wait for the future when you will have to break the bank before gaining any return.ix. Mobile Advertising Opens Up Possibilities and Virtual RealitiesIncluding exciting technologies such as virtual reality will make mobile ads more useful and engaging. The vast options show that it is easy to make a profit from this channel. Therefore, you need to understand that there exists an opportunity for all businesses in all industries.x. Mobile Marketing is Large and Has Taken ChargeRecently mobile advertising had gone back to face to face mode of shopping. When the internet became populous, the mobile has once again hit the market spending a lot by the use of mobile devices. Research says that by 2018, more than 25% of business profits will be coming from mobile devices. Therefore, mobile advertising is a modest way of ensuring you get profit as people are always ready to purchase via their smartphones.
A Brief History of Special Education
Perhaps the largest and most pervasive issue in special education, as well as my own journey in education, is special education’s relationship to general education. History has shown that this has never been an easy clear cut relationship between the two. There has been a lot of giving and taking or maybe I should say pulling and pushing when it comes to educational policy, and the educational practices and services of education and special education by the human educators who deliver those services on both sides of the isle, like me.
Over the last 20+ years I have been on both sides of education. I have seen and felt what it was like to be a regular main stream educator dealing with special education policy, special education students and their specialized teachers. I have also been on the special education side trying to get regular education teachers to work more effectively with my special education students through modifying their instruction and materials and having a little more patience and empathy.
Furthermore, I have been a mainstream regular education teacher who taught regular education inclusion classes trying to figure out how to best work with some new special education teacher in my class and his or her special education students as well. And, in contrast, I have been a special education inclusion teacher intruding on the territory of some regular education teachers with my special education students and the modifications I thought these teachers should implement. I can tell you first-hand that none of this give and take between special education and regular education has been easy. Nor do I see this pushing and pulling becoming easy anytime soon.
So, what is special education? And what makes it so special and yet so complex and controversial sometimes? Well, special education, as its name suggests, is a specialized branch of education. It claims its lineage to such people as Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (1775-1838), the physician who “tamed” the “wild boy of Aveyron,” and Anne Sullivan Macy (1866-1936), the teacher who “worked miracles” with Helen Keller.
Special educators teach students who have physical, cognitive, language, learning, sensory, and/or emotional abilities that deviate from those of the general population. Special educators provide instruction specifically tailored to meet individualized needs. These teachers basically make education more available and accessible to students who otherwise would have limited access to education due to whatever disability they are struggling with.
It’s not just the teachers though who play a role in the history of special education in this country. Physicians and clergy, including Itard- mentioned above, Edouard O. Seguin (1812-1880), Samuel Gridley Howe (1801-1876), and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787-1851), wanted to ameliorate the neglectful, often abusive treatment of individuals with disabilities. Sadly, education in this country was, more often than not, very neglectful and abusive when dealing with students that are different somehow.
There is even a rich literature in our nation that describes the treatment provided to individuals with disabilities in the 1800s and early 1900s. Sadly, in these stories, as well as in the real world, the segment of our population with disabilities were often confined in jails and almshouses without decent food, clothing, personal hygiene, and exercise.
For an example of this different treatment in our literature one needs to look no further than Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1843). In addition, many times people with disabilities were often portrayed as villains, such as in the book Captain Hook in J.M. Barrie’s “Peter Pan” in 1911.
The prevailing view of the authors of this time period was that one should submit to misfortunes, both as a form of obedience to God’s will, and because these seeming misfortunes are ultimately intended for one’s own good. Progress for our people with disabilities was hard to come by at this time with this way of thinking permeating our society, literature and thinking.
So, what was society to do about these people of misfortune? Well, during much of the nineteenth century, and early in the twentieth, professionals believed individuals with disabilities were best treated in residential facilities in rural environments. An out of sight out of mind kind of thing, if you will…
However, by the end of the nineteenth century the size of these institutions had increased so dramatically that the goal of rehabilitation for people with disabilities just wasn’t working. Institutions became instruments for permanent segregation.
I have some experience with these segregation policies of education. Some of it is good and some of it is not so good. You see, I have been a self-contained teacher on and off throughout the years in multiple environments in self-contained classrooms in public high schools, middle schools and elementary schools. I have also taught in multiple special education behavioral self-contained schools that totally separated these troubled students with disabilities in managing their behavior from their mainstream peers by putting them in completely different buildings that were sometimes even in different towns from their homes, friends and peers.
Over the years many special education professionals became critics of these institutions mentioned above that separated and segregated our children with disabilities from their peers. Irvine Howe was one of the first to advocate taking our youth out of these huge institutions and to place out residents into families. Unfortunately this practice became a logistical and pragmatic problem and it took a long time before it could become a viable alternative to institutionalization for our students with disabilities.
Now on the positive side, you might be interested in knowing however that in 1817 the first special education school in the United States, the American Asylum for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (now called the American School for the Deaf), was established in Hartford, Connecticut, by Gallaudet. That school is still there today and is one of the top schools in the country for students with auditory disabilities. A true success story!
However, as you can already imagine, the lasting success of the American School for the Deaf was the exception and not the rule during this time period. And to add to this, in the late nineteenth century, social Darwinism replaced environmentalism as the primary causal explanation for those individuals with disabilities who deviated from those of the general population.
Sadly, Darwinism opened the door to the eugenics movement of the early twentieth century. This then led to even further segregation and even sterilization of individuals with disabilities such as mental retardation. Sounds like something Hitler was doing in Germany also being done right here in our own country, to our own people, by our own people. Kind of scary and inhumane, wouldn’t you agree?
Today, this kind of treatment is obviously unacceptable. And in the early part of the 20th Century it was also unacceptable to some of the adults, especially the parents of these disabled children. Thus, concerned and angry parents formed advocacy groups to help bring the educational needs of children with disabilities into the public eye. The public had to see firsthand how wrong this this eugenics and sterilization movement was for our students that were different if it was ever going to be stopped.
Slowly, grassroots organizations made progress that even led to some states creating laws to protect their citizens with disabilities. For example, in 1930, in Peoria, Illinois, the first white cane ordinance gave individuals with blindness the right-of-way when crossing the street. This was a start, and other states did eventually follow suit. In time, this local grassroots’ movement and states’ movement led to enough pressure on our elected officials for something to be done on the national level for our people with disabilities.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy created the President’s Panel on Mental Retardation. And in 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provided funding for primary education, and is seen by advocacy groups as expanding access to public education for children with disabilities.
When one thinks about Kennedy’s and Johnson’s record on civil rights, then it probably isn’t such a surprise finding out that these two presidents also spearheaded this national movement for our people with disabilities.
This federal movement led to section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act. This guarantees civil rights for the disabled in the context of federally funded institutions or any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. All these years later as an educator, I personally deal with 504 cases every single day.
In 1975 Congress enacted Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA), which establishes a right to public education for all children regardless of disability. This was another good thing because prior to federal legislation, parents had to mostly educate their children at home or pay for expensive private education.
The movement kept growing. In the 1982 the case of the Board of Education of the Hendrick Hudson Central School District v. Rowley, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the level of services to be afforded students with special needs. The Court ruled that special education services need only provide some “educational benefit” to students. Public schools were not required to maximize the educational progress of students with disabilities.
Today, this ruling may not seem like a victory, and as a matter of fact, this same question is once again circulating through our courts today in 2017. However, given the time period it was made in, it was a victory because it said special education students could not pass through our school system without learning anything. They had to learn something. If one knows and understands how the laws work in this country, then one knows the laws always progress through tiny little increments that add up to progress over time. This ruling was a victory for special education students because it added one more rung onto the crusade.
In the 1980s the Regular Education Initiative (REI) came into being. This was an attempt to return responsibility for the education of students with disabilities to neighborhood schools and regular classroom teachers. I am very familiar with Regular Education Initiative because I spent four years as an REI teacher in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At this time I was certified as both a special education teacher and a regular education teacher and was working in both capacities in a duel role as an REI teacher; because that’s what was required of the position.
The 1990s saw a big boost for our special education students. 1990 birthed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This was, and is, the cornerstone of the concept of a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for all of our students. To ensure FAPE, the law mandated that each student receiving special education services must also receive an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 reached beyond just the public schools. And Title 3 of IDEA prohibited disability-based discrimination in any place of public accommodation. Full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, or accommodations in public places were expected. And of course public accommodations also included most places of education.
Also, in the 1990s the full inclusion movement gained a lot of momentum. This called for educating all students with disabilities in the regular classroom. I am also very familiar with this aspect of education as well, as I have also been an inclusion teacher from time to time over my career as an educator on both sides of the isle as a regular education teacher and a special education teacher.
Now on to President Bush and his educational reform with his No Child Left Behind law that replaced President Johnson’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The NCLB Act of 2001 stated that special education should continue to focus on producing results and along with this came a sharp increase in accountability for educators.
Now, this NCLB Act was good and bad. Of course we all want to see results for all of our students, and it’s just common sense that accountability helps this sort of thing happen. Where this kind of went crazy was that the NCLB demanded a host of new things, but did not provide the funds or support to achieve these new objectives.
Furthermore, teachers began feeling squeezed and threatened more and more by the new movement of big business and corporate education moving in and taking over education. People with no educational background now found themselves influencing education policy and gaining access to a lot of the educational funds.
This accountability craze stemmed by excessive standardized testing ran rapid and of course ran downstream from a host of well-connected elite Trump-like figures saying to their lower echelon educational counterparts, “You’re fired!” This environment of trying to stay off of the radar in order to keep one’s job, and beating our kids over the head with testing strategies, wasn’t good for our educators. It wasn’t good for our students. And it certainly wasn’t good for our more vulnerable special education students.
Some good did come from this era though. For example, the updated Individuals with Disabilities with Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) happened. This further required schools to provide individualized or special education for children with qualifying disabilities. Under the IDEA, states who accept public funds for education must provide special education to qualifying children with disabilities. Like I said earlier, the law is a long slow process of tiny little steps adding up to progress made over time.
Finally, in 2015 President Obama’s Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replaced President Bush’s NCLB, which had replaced President Johnson’s ESEA. Under Obama’s new ESSA schools were now allowed to back off on some of the testing. Hopefully, the standardized testing craze has been put in check. However, only time will tell. ESSA also returned to more local control. You know, the kind of control our forefathers intended.
You see the U.S. Constitution grants no authority over education to the federal government. Education is not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States, and for good reason. The Founders wanted most aspects of life managed by those who were closest to them, either by state or local government or by families, businesses, and other elements of civil society. Basically, they saw no role for the federal government in education.
You see, the Founders feared the concentration of power. They believed that the best way to protect individual freedom and civil society was to limit and divide power. However, this works both ways, because the states often find themselves asking the feds for more educational money. And the feds will only give the states additional money if the states do what the feds want… Hmm… Checks and balances, as well as compromise can be a really tricky thing, huh?
So on goes the battle in education and all the back and forth pushing and pulling between the federal government and the states and local government, as well as special education and regular education. And to add to this struggle, recently Judge Moukawsher, a state judge from Connecticut, in a lawsuit filed against the state by the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding, rocked the educational boat some more when in his ruling he included a message to lawmakers to reassess what level of services students with significant disabilities are entitled to.
His ruling and statements appear to say that he thinks we’re spending too much money on our special education students. And that for some of them, it just isn’t worth it because their disabilities are too severe. You can imagine how controversial this was and how much it angered some people.
The 2016 United States Presidential election resulted in something that few people saw coming. Real Estate mogul and reality star Donald Trump won the presidency and then appointed anti-public educator Betsy Devos to head up this country’s Department of Education. Her charge, given to her by Trump, is to drastically slash the Department of Education, and to push forward private charter schools over what they call a failing public educational system.
How this is going to affect our students, and especially our more vulnerable special education students, nobody knows for sure at this time. But, I can also tell you that there aren’t many people out there that feel comfortable with it right now. Only time will tell where this is all going to go and how it will affect our special education students…
So, as I said earlier, perhaps the largest, most pervasive issue in special education is its relationship to general education. Both my own travels and our nation’s journey through the vast realm of education over all of these years has been an interesting one and a tricky one plagued with controversy to say the least.
I can still remember when I first became a special education teacher back in the mid-1990s. A friend’s father, who was a school principal at the time, told me to get out of special education because it wasn’t going to last. Well, I’ve been in and out of special education for more than two decades now, and sometimes I don’t know if I’m a regular education teacher or a special education teacher, or both. And sometimes I think our country’s educational system might be feeling the same internal struggle that I am. But, regardless, all these years later, special education is still here.
In closing, although Itard failed to normalize Victor, the wild boy of Averyon, he did produce dramatic changes in Victor’s behavior through education. Today, modern special education practices can be traced to Itard. His work marks the beginning of widespread attempts to instruct students with disabilities. Fast forwarding to 2017, for what happens next in the future of education and special education in our country… Well, I guess that depends on all of us…
Business Travel Tips For Home Based Business People
Business travel has actually increased considerably in the last decade. Even home based businesses may involve travel because small companies are now able to sell to markets all around the world as a direct result of the Internet.All this travel is putting an increasing strain on business travelers who often become stressed and fatigued at the constant need to be in another part of the world.Regular travelers tend to ensure that certain routines are carried out every time they travel as this reduces the possibility (and the cost) of wasted trips. Here are some handy business travel tips.LOST BAGGAGEWhen baggage goes missing it is irritating to say the least but for someone on a business trip it can be a whole lot more disastrous. So, wherever possible, pack as much as you can into your carry-on luggage. Having everything to hand means that your checked luggage get delayed you will still be able to meet with clients and get your work done while you wait for less essential stuff to get chased up by the airlines.HOW TO PACK FOR BUSINESS TRAVELWhen you do pack the main luggage, the clothes you won’t be carrying on as hand luggage, make sure to pack only what you need for this trip. In order to accomplish this, make do with a pair of casual shoes and a pair of business shoes only, and be sure to only bring enough work clothes to last you through the trip. All that is left once this is done is to include your toiletries and other business documentation.A way to save space and possibly take a smaller bag is to roll some of your clothing up — this takes less room and is a business travel tip well worth noting. Dark clothing is better if anything gets spilled on it, as it is harder to see stains on dark clothes. Of course if you are working to a tight schedule and the inevitable delay happens then you want to know you can attend a meeting at a moment’s notice and the way to freshen up is by using those hand and face wipes that come in travel packs.MOBILE PHONES AND OTHER ELECTRONICSAlthough most cell phones have very good standby and talk times now, you will need to make sure your phone and any other electronic equipment you take are fully re-charged before you leave home.These tips make sure that no matter what happens when you travel on business, you will be able to continue with your itinerary and those all-important business meetings. Business trips do not have to be boring and stressful if you apply the business travel tips in this article as they will allow you the opportunity to enjoy your free time even more.