Many employers today are launching worksite wellness programs. But are these efforts truly wellness programs? Read on to see why they may not be.Within worksite wellness, I too often think we view issues as being either/or, rather than being inclusive. Most worksite wellness programs today are not about wellness at all, but rather improving the health status of individual employees. While our attention is focused on employee health status, this does not mean we can’t also start to deliver wellness type programming and interventions as well.So what is the difference?While there are a number of wellness definitions available to consider, I will use the definition and model put forth by the National Wellness Institute (NWI). NWI defines wellness as “an active process through which people become aware of and make choices toward a more successful existence.” The NWI model of wellness consists of six, interconnected dimensions:• Physical• Social• Intellectual• Spiritual• Emotional• OccupationalLike wellness, health is often described as being a multi-dimensional concept. Health is generally measured in terms of:• Physical conditions such as pain, disability or condition likely to cause death• Emotional conditions• Social functioningHealth status is a snapshot of health at any one particular point-in-time. Health status can be measured at both the individual and population levels. Individual health status can be measured objectively through:• The presence or absence of illness• The presence or absence of risk factors• The severity of any diseases present• Overall perception of healthIn the workplace, employee health status is generally measured through the use of health risk assessments and biometric screenings.As best as I can determine, there is no absolute measure of health status. And because the measure of health status also includes overall perception of health, health status is also somewhat subjective.By comparing the above definitions with the way worksite wellness is being practiced today, we can clearly see that what is being called wellness today is not really wellness, but really employee health status improvement (EHSI). So from my perspective, let’s stop calling what we do today worksite wellness and call it employee health status improvement or employee health improvement instead. Instead of creating phony worksite wellness programs, let’s instead focus on creating solid, effective EHSI programs instead.Given today’s worksite wellness program focus almost exclusively on physical health, many of the concepts and practices already in place can be readily applied in the EHSI program model. Since health status is a function of disease states, risk factors and overall health perception, let’s focus the attention of EHSI programs on risk reduction, chronic disease management, medical self-care and helping employees to better perceive and act on their health status.Since we are not faced with an either/or situation here, let’s also start to do wellness programs at the same time we are doing EHSI programs. EHSI programs will never equate to wellness because they are not designed to. At their best, EHSI programs are designed to avoid health problems. Prevention or avoidance alone will never yield wellness. Creating wellness requires the taking of deliberate actions to move beyond the point of prevention or no health risks. Prevention and avoidance are based on the pathogenesis model which will not, by itself, ever create wellness.Recall the definition of wellness. Wellness is about creating opportunities for “a more successful existence.” Wellness is a process where employee health status is a static snapshot at one specific point-in-time. Wellness is closely aligned with the concept of salutogenesis, or the creation of opportunities for health.Given that wellness is multi-dimensional, here are my present thoughts about what constitute wellness type programming in the workplace for each of the wellness dimensions:• Physical – This domain will be covered by the EHSI program• Social – Creating positive, supportive, employee first or employee centric organizational cultures and workplace climates; random acts of kindness; employee volunteer programs• Intellectual – Brain health and fitness• Spiritual – Helping employees find meaning and purpose in both work and life• Emotional – Workplace mental health promotion; stress management; building resilience• Occupational – Integration with employee safety; integration with employee training and developmentI believe pathogenesis and salutogenesis represent different segments of the health – wellness continuum and can successfully co-exist by building off each other’s core principles. Employers can and should deliver both EHSI and worksite wellness programs.

As predicted, E-commerce has boomed (and is still booming). People buy not just through PCs but through phones and tablets as well. Buyers loved the idea! E-commerce’s market and competition is huge, now how do you keep up and advance?The word is “empathy”-put yourself in your customers’ shoes! Your goods are wonderful, your target market is all credit classes yet your customers are just coming from the mid to upper scales. Say you sell apparel-everyone needs clothing. Come on, you don’t want to be deprived of clothing purchases just because you do not have a credit card or have a low credit limit, do you? NOT EVERYONE HAS/CAN HAVE A CREDIT CARD.That’s where financing comes in. I know, you’ve heard about it. House, auto, cash, etc.-e-commerce financing is different. How do you benefit from it?Not everyone can get a credit card. However, not everyone who owns credit cards pay their credit cards. How do you help the minimum waged guy who’s got a job, good payment records and a guarantor?Easy!#1 Forget you are JUST helping the guy -Look, the guy helps you and your business in return! If you offer a financing payment method for an eBay or Amazon product (which cannot be purchased easily without credit cards), you get a big chunk of the market-those without credit cards.# 2 Know the types of e-commerce financing -Financing is making a product affordable for your customers while earning yourself MORE SALES at HIGHER VALUES. There are two ways you can venture in e-commerce financing:A. Plain Financing – You just find the leads, verify their payment capabilities, and finance no particular product-anything goes.B. Retail Financing – You have particular stuff/service to sell and you offer financing as a payment method.#3 Know your clientele -Now, there are three general categories: (1) Those who’ve got 680-850 credit scores with high credit limits (not your financing target); (2) Those with 600-680 scores, typically with $600-limited credit cards or GE capital (the perfect targets!); and, (3) Those with 300-599 scores, NO credit card (great for lay away programs*)#4 Know your risks as a financier -Financing wouldn’t be around if it isn’t profitable. However, as in any business venture, there are risks you would have to deal with. One of which (but rarely happens) is when a customer screws you upon shipping the product-like, they get it and don’t pay you or get it and opt for a return/exchange. Worry not since you can…#5 Secure Yourself & Your Business-Issue in #4: What if a customer screws you? That is exactly why you charge double or triple the worth of the product you finance-to fill in such gaps expenses. That is not the only way, however, to secure your financing business (whether plain or retail). As a customer shows his interest in being financed, he fills out a form for your evaluation and signs an electronic (since we’re talking e-commerce here)/ e-signing agreement that states your ‘financing terms & conditions’ such as his paying for the restocking fee, etc.Now, there you have it: the basic steps to your e-commerce financing success. Also note that you won’t have to use money from your own pocket to start financing. You can have your financing financed by banks and “middle men” a.k.a. financing firms (whom you’d be liable to) depending on your business situation (number of years, operating costs, turnovers, etc.).—-*Lay away financing program – You offer an installment method for your client where he pays you on a weekly/monthly basis and you keep the product until he has completed the payment. Upon completion, you ship him the item.

There is no written evidence which can tell us exactly who has coined the phrase educational technology. Different educationists, scientists and philosophers at different time intervals have put forwarded different definitions of Educational Technology. Educational technology is a multifaceted and integrated process involving people, procedure, ideas, devices, and organization, where technology from different fields of science is borrowed as per the need and requirement of education for implementing, evaluating, and managing solutions to those problems involved in all aspects of human learning.Educational technology, broadly speaking, has passed through five stages.The first stage of educational technology is coupled with the use of aids like charts, maps, symbols, models, specimens and concrete materials. The term educational technology was used as synonyms to audio-visual aids.The second stage of educational technology is associated with the ‘electronic revolution’ with the introduction and establishment of sophisticated hardware and software. Use of various audio-visual aids like projector, magic lanterns, tape-recorder, radio and television brought a revolutionary change in the educational scenario. Accordingly, educational technology concept was taken in terms of these sophisticated instruments and equipments for effective presentation of instructional materials.The third stage of educational technology is linked with the development of mass media which in turn led to ‘communication revolution’ for instructional purposes. Computer-assisted Instruction (CAI) used for education since 1950s also became popular during this era.The fourth stage of educational technology is discernible by the individualized process of instruction. The invention of programmed learning and programmed instruction provided a new dimension to educational technology. A system of self-learning based on self-instructional materials and teaching machines emerged.The latest concept of educational technology is influenced by the concept of system engineering or system approach which focuses on language laboratories, teaching machines, programmed instruction, multimedia technologies and the use of the computer in instruction. According to it, educational technology is a systematic way of designing, carrying out and evaluating the total process of teaching and learning in terms of specific objectives based on research.Educational technology during the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age
Educational technology, despite the uncertainty of the origin of the term, can be traced back to the time of the three-age system periodization of human prehistory; namely the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age.Duringthe Stone Age, ignition of fire by rubbing stones, manufacture of various handmade weapon and utensils from stones and clothing practice were some of the simple technological developments of utmost importance. A fraction of Stone Age people developed ocean-worthy outrigger canoe ship technology to migrate from one place to another across the Ocean, by which they developed their first informal education of knowledge of the ocean currents, weather conditions, sailing practice, astronavigation, and star maps. During the later Stone Age period (Neolithic period),for agricultural practice, polished stone tools were made from a variety of hard rocks largely by digging underground tunnels, which can be considered as the first steps in mining technology. The polished axes were so effective that even after appearance of bronze and iron; people used it for clearing forest and the establishment of crop farming.Although Stone Age cultures left no written records, but archaeological evidences proved their shift from nomadic life to agricultural settlement. Ancient tools conserved in different museums, cave paintings like Altamira Cave in Spain, and other prehistoric art, such as the Venus of Willendorf, Mother Goddess from Laussel, France etc. are some of the evidences in favour of their cultures.Neolithic Revolution of Stone Age resulted into the appearance of Bronze Age with development of agriculture, animal domestication, and the adoption of permanent settlements. For these practices Bronze Age people further developed metal smelting, with copper and later bronze, an alloy of tin and copper, being the materials of their choice.The Iron Age people replaced bronze and developed the knowledge of iron smelting technology to lower the cost of living since iron utensils were stronger and cheaper than bronze equivalents. In many Eurasian cultures, the Iron Age was the last period before the development of written scripts.Educational technology during the period of Ancient civilizations
According to Paul Saettler, 2004, Educational technology can be traced back to the time when tribal priests systematized bodies of knowledge and ancient cultures invented pictographs or sign writing to record and transmit information. In every stage of human civilization, one can find an instructional technique or set of procedures intended to implement a particular culture which were also supported by number of investigations and evidences. The more advanced the culture, the more complex became the technology of instruction designed to reflect particular ways of individual and social behaviour intended to run an educated society. Over centuries, each significant shift in educational values, goals or objectives led to diverse technologies of instruction.The greatest advances in technology and engineering came with the rise of the ancient civilizations. These advances stimulated and educated other societies in the world to adopt new ways of living and governance.The Indus Valley Civilization was an early Bronze Age civilization which was located in the northwestern region of the Indian Subcontinent. The civilization was primarily flourished around the Indus River basin of the Indus and the Punjab region, extending upto the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley and the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, (most of the part is under today’s Pakistan and the western states of modern-day India as well as some part of the civilization extending upto southeastern Afghanistan, and the easternmost part of Balochistan, Iran).There is a long term controversy to be sure about the language that the Harappan people spoke. It is assumed that their writing was at least seems to be or a pictographic script. The script appears to have had about 400 basic signs, with lots of variations. People write their script with the direction generally from right to left. Most of the writing was found on seals and sealings which were probably used in trade and official & administrative work.Harappan people had the knowledge of the measuring tools of length, mass, and time. They were the first in the world to develop a system of uniform weights and measures.In a study carried out by P. N. Rao et al. in 2009, published in Science, computer scientists found that the Indus script’s pattern is closer to that of spoken words, which supported the proposed hypothesis that it codes for an as-yet-unknown language.According to the Chinese Civilization, some of the major techno-offerings from China include paper, early seismological detectors, toilet paper, matches, iron plough, the multi-tube seed drill, the suspension bridge, the wheelbarrow, the parachute, natural gas as fuel, the magnetic compass, the raised-relief map, the blast furnace, the propeller, the crossbow, the South Pointing Chariot, and gun powder. With the invent of paper they have given their first step towards developments of educational technology by further culturing different handmade products of paper as means of visual aids.Ancient Egyptian language was at one point one of the longest surviving and used languages in the world. Their script was made up of pictures of the real things like birds, animals, different tools, etc. These pictures are popularly called hieroglyph. Their language was made up of above 500 hieroglyphs which are known as hieroglyphics. On the stone monuments or tombs which were discovered and rescued latter on provides the evidence of existence of many forms of artistic hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt.Educational technology during Medieval and Modern Period
Paper and the pulp papermaking process which was developed in China during the early 2nd century AD, was carried to the Middle East and was spread to Mediterranean by the Muslim conquests. Evidences support that a paper mill was also established in Sicily in the 12th century. The discovery of spinning wheel increased the productivity of thread making process to a great extent and when Lynn White added the spinning wheel with increasing supply of rags, this led to the production of cheap paper, which was a prime factor in the development of printing technology.The invention of the printing press was taken place in approximately 1450 AD, by Johannes Gutenburg, a German inventor. The invention of printing press was a prime developmental factor in the history of educational technology to convey the instruction as per the need of the complex and advanced-technology cultured society.In the pre-industrial phases, while industry was simply the handwork at artisan level, the instructional processes were relied heavily upon simple things like the slate, the horn book, the blackboard, and chalk. It was limited to a single text book with a few illustrations. Educational technology was considered synonymous to simple aids like charts and pictures.The year 1873 may be considered a landmark in the early history of technology of education or audio-visual education. An exhibition was held in Vienna at international level in which an American school won the admiration of the educators for the exhibition of maps, charts, textbooks and other equipments.Maria Montessori (1870-1952), internationally renowned child educator and the originator of Montessori Method exerted a dynamic impact on educational technology through her development of graded materials designed to provide for the proper sequencing of subject matter for each individual learner. Modern educational technology suggests many extension of Montessori’s idea of prepared child centered environment.In1833, Charles Babbage’s design of a general purpose computing device laid the foundation of the modern computer and in 1943, the first computing machine as per hi design was constructed by International Business Machines Corporation in USA. The Computer Assisted instruction (CAI) in which the computer functions essentially as a tutor as well as the Talking Type writer was developed by O.K. Moore in 1966. Since 1974, computers are interestingly used in education in schools, colleges and universities.In the beginning of the 19th century, there were noteworthy changes in the field of education. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), right from its start of school broadcasts in 1920 had maintained rapid pace in making sound contribution to formal education. In the USA, by 1952, 20 states had the provision for educational broadcasting. Parallel to this time about 98% of the schools in United Kingdom were equipped with radios and there were regular daily programmes.Sidney L. Pressey, a psychologist of Ohio state university developed a self-teaching machine called ‘Drum Tutor’ in 1920. Professor Skinner, however, in his famous article ‘Science of Learning and art of Teaching’ published in 1945 pleaded for the application of the knowledge derived from behavioral psychology to classroom procedures and suggested automated teaching devices as means of doing so.Although the first practical use of Regular television broadcasts was in Germany in 1929 and in 1936 the Olympic Games in Berlin were broadcasted through television stations in Berlin, Open circuit television began to be used primarily for broadcasting programmes for entertainment in 1950. Since 1960, television is used for educational purposes.In 1950, Brynmor, in England, used educational technological steps for the first time. It is to be cared that in 1960, as a result of industrial revolution in America and Russia, other countries also started progressing in the filed of educational technology. In this way, the beginning of educational technology took place in 1960 from America and Russia and now it has reached England, Europe and India.During the time of around 1950s, new technocracy was turning it attraction to educations when there was a steep shortage of teachers in America and therefore an urgent need of educational technology was felt. Dr. Alvin C. Eurich and a little later his associate, Dr. Alexander J. Stoddard introduced mass production technology in America.Team teaching had its origin in America in the mid of 1950′s and was first started in the year 1955 at Harvard University as a part of internship plan.In the year 1956, Benjamin Bloom from USA introduced the taxonomy of educational objectives through his publication, “The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain”.In 1961, Micro teaching technique was first adopted by Dwight W. Allen and his co-workers at Stanford University in USA.Electronics is the main technology being developed in the beginning of 21st century. Broadband Internet access became popular and occupied almost all the important offices and educational places and even in common places in developed countries with the advantage of connecting home computers with music libraries and mobile phones.Today’s classroom is more likely to be a technology lab, a room with rows of students using internet connected or Wi-Fi enabled laptops, palmtops, notepad, or perhaps students are attending a video conferencing or virtual classroom or may have been listening to a podcast or taking in a video lecture. Rapid technological changes in the field of educational have created new ways to teach and to learn. Technological changes also motivated the teachers to access a variety of information on a global scale via the Internet, to enhance their lessons as well as to make them competent professional in their area of concern. At the same time, students can utilize vast resources of the Internet to enrich their learning experience to cope up with changing trend of the society. Now a days students as well teachers are attending seminars, conferences, workshops at national and international level by using the multimedia techno-resources like PowerPoint and even they pursue a variety of important courses of their choice in distance mode via online learning ways. Online learning facility has opened infinite number of doors of opportunities for today’s learner to make their life happier than ever before.