How the Romans Built Bridges †History Essay

How the Romans Built Bridges – History Essay Free Online Research Papers How the Romans Built Bridges History Essay Rome was the first nation to create some of the most legendary bridges using stone. Stone is difficult to find, but compared to the more common bridge material, wood, it was better. And it is evident since most of the bridges that Rome made with stone are standing today. Then after realizing that stone is so great, Rome realized the idea of the arch. The concept behind the arch is that the structure of the arch itself is fairly weak. Only able to support a large amount on the â€Å"key† stone (or center most stone), the sides get a very large amount of compression stretching the arch to the side and the stones fall apart. But then the Romans put stones on the sides of the arch and so when the bridge stretched out to the sides, the stones pushed back creating an extremely strong archway. With this new system of bridge making, the Romans were considered the best of the best in bridge making. But after the realization that stone cost far too much, iron was created. Iron was much cheaper than stone and also iron was much stronger. But the realization was not the only development for bridge making. It was only the beginning. After realizing iron was good for making bridges stronger, next was realizing how to create steel from iron. After realizing how much stronger steel is than iron, next was the truss configuration, one of the most popular bridge configurations back then. It allowed for more stability and also, it allowed the bridge to be more resistant to wind. Because of the unique architectural design of truss bridge, wind would pass through the openings in the truss bridge decreasing the force of wind. Another breakthrough was that less brittle metals are better for tensions because they don’t give out as quickly as more brittle metals. The reason behind this is that more brittle metals have cracks and flaws and when they receive a great amount of tension, the cracks and flaws become larger Research Papers on How the Roman's Built Bridges - History EssayThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeTwilight of the UAWComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoThe Spring and Autumn19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Genetic EngineeringWhere Wild and West MeetThe Project Managment Office System

Big Problems with Massive Open Online Courses

Big Problems with Massive Open Online Courses Massive  Open Online Courses (commonly known as MOOCs) are free, publicly-available classes with high enrollment. With MOOCs, you can enroll in a course at no cost, do as much work as you please, and learn just about anything from computer science to transcendental poetry. Platforms like EdX, Coursera, and Udacity bring together colleges and professors that want to contribute to the field of open education. The Atlantic called MOOCs the single most important experiment in higher education and theres no doubt that they are changing the way we learn. However, not everything in the world of open education is going well. As MOOCs have become more popular, their problems have become more pronounced. Hello†¦Is Anybody Out There? One of the biggest problems with MOOCs is their impersonal nature. In many cases, thousands of students enroll in a single section with a single instructor. Sometimes the instructor is only a facilitator rather than the course creator, and other times the instructor is absent altogether. Assignments designed to be interactive such as group discussions can reinforce the impersonal nature of these large courses. Its hard enough for a class of 30 to get to know each other, forget learning the names of your 500 peers. For some subjects, particularly those that are math and science heavy, this isnt a major problem. But, arts and humanities course traditionally rely on in-depth discussion and debate. Learners often feel that they are missing something when they study in isolation. A Student Without Feedback In traditional classrooms, the point of instructor feedback isnt just to rank students. Ideally, students are able to learn from feedback and catch future mistakes. Unfortunately, in-depth feedback simply isnt possible in most MOOCs. Many instructors teach unpaid and even the most generous simply arent capable of correcting hundreds or thousands of papers a week. In some cases, MOOCs provide automatic feedback in the form of quizzes or interactives. However, without a mentor, some students find themselves repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Few Make it to the Finish Line MOOCS: Many will try but few will pass. Those high enrollment numbers may be deceiving. When enrollment is nothing more than a few mouse clicks, getting a class of 1000 can be simple. People find out through social media, blog posts, or internet surfing and enroll in just a couple minutes. But, they soon fall behind or forget to log in to the course from the beginning. In many cases, this isnt a negative. It gives the student the chance to try out a subject without risk and allows access to materials for those that may not be willing to make a larger time commitment. However, for some students, the low completion rate means that they just werent able to stay on top of the work. The self-motivated, work-as-you-please atmosphere doesnt work for everyone. Some students thrive in a more structured environment with set deadlines and in-person motivation. Forget About the Fancy Paper Currently, theres no way to earn a degree by taking MOOCs. There has been a lot of talk about awarding credit for MOOC completion, but little action has been taken. Although there are a few ways to earn college credit, its best to think about MOOCs as a way to enrich your life or further your education without receiving formal recognition. Academia is About the Money - At Least a Little Open education has offered many benefits to students. But, some worry about the negative repercussions to teachers. In many cases, professors are developing and teaching MOOCs (as well as providing e-textbooks) for free. While professorial pay has never been particularly high, instructors used to be able to count on making a supplemental income from research, textbook writing, and additional teaching assignments. When professors become expected to do more for free, one of two things will happen: colleges will need to adjust salaries accordingly or many of the most talented academics will find work elsewhere. Students benefit when they learn from the best and brightest, so this is a concern that will increasingly affect everyone in the academic sphere.