http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/226958/1/.html

summary
-the use of technology in tertiary instituitions such as Republic Polytehnic
-compulsory notebook for students and staff
-increased efficiency and time saved with the use of technology
-the use of technology improves articulation

comments
In the 21st century, the use of Information and Technology is commonplace in tertiary institutions. Apart from increasing efficiency and saving time, technology is also used to make lessons more interesting and to give students easy access to information. Thus, i agree with the article that the use of technology will benefit tertiary institutions.

Technology gives students easy access to information. Students make use of the internet to do their research. With just one click, they will have numerous sources of information to choose from. This would increase efficiency as it would have taken them a much longer time to search for information from books at a library. On top of that, the number of relevant books they can find at the library would also be fewer as compared to the number of relevant websites they can find on the internet. Hence, it is clear that technology benefits tertiary institutions by giving students easy access to information.

However, technology is not always beneficial to tertiary institutions. Computers are prone to viruses and information will be lost if a backup copy is not made. A breakdown in the internet connection will bring about a lot of incovenience as the staff at Republic Polytechnic do not have phone lines and would face communication problems.

source:http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/07/12/transgender.scientist.ap/index.html

summary
-the article talks about gender discimination and about whether "nature or nurture explains the shortage of women working in the sciences".
-One study showed little disparity in the math scores of boys and girls ages 4 to 18 and another showed that girls are groomed to be less competitive in sports
-Neurobiologist Ben Barres, a transgender, feels that "prejudice plays a much bigger role than genes in preventing women from reaching their potential on university campuses and in government laboratories."

Comments

Gender discrimination is still a controversial issue in today's society. While some may feel that women are not able to excel in the scientific sector due to innate sexual differences, others attribute it to gender discrimination.

In my opinion, gender discrimination plays a larger role in causing the shortage of women in the scientific sector. Women are often stereotyped as being less inclined toward maths and science. Therefore, they may be given fewer opportunities to excel in the scientific sector as compared to their male counterparts. In addition, there are many instances whereby female scientists have proven themselves to be equally capable as male scientists. An example is Marie Curie who discovered Radium. This benefited society greatly as Radium could be used in the treatment of cancer. Thus, it is clear that female scientists are also able to excel in the scientific sector.