Assessment Methods Essay Example for Free

Assessment Methods Essay What is assessment? Black and William (1998) declare that the term assessment is generally used to refer to all activities teachers use to help students learn and to gauge student progress. There are many different forms of assessment, however they can generally be divided into two main categories; formative and summative which can be formal or informal. Formative assessment focuses on the gap between where a learner is in their learning, and where they need to be. Marshall (2006) states that formative assessment gives you more flexibility, your assessments can focus on the individual needs of your learners. Formative assessment is usually carried out during the learning process and is a form of giving feedback to the learner, in order for them to understand how they are progressing and to identify areas that may require further attention and what they need to do to achieve the learning outcome. Summative Assessment on the other hand tends to be a formal measuring of the learning and focuses on the achievements of the learner at a particular time. This could be at the end of a term or at the end of a particular program of study. It is generally used to identify if the learner has achieved a level of competence and/or knowledge. Summative assessments can take the form of test, exams Practical, oral or written, the individual is usually given a score which can result in a pass or fail. Assessments can be Objective or Subjective. When assessments are objective, the questions asked have a single correct answer; these questions can take the form of multiple choice or true and false answers. When assessments are subjective, the questions asked may have more than one answer and can take the form of a written response such as an essay. There are also criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessments. A criteria-referenced assessment measures what a learner can actually do (their competence) and it is measured against a set standard, an example of this is the current driving test. Whereas, norm-measured assessment compares learners one against each other, an example being the IQ test. As a teacher in my teaching practice I use a variety of assessment processes. I use criteria based formative assessment in the skills-based Basic First Aid course; learners are expected to be able to perform effective CPR and to be deemed competent they are measured against a set criteria defined by the Resuscitation council and Health Safety Executive regulations. I use observation to measure whether they meet these criteria. However the assessment required for the First Aid at Work course, which is more in depth, requires a summative assessment, which takes the form of objective questioning to ascertain if the learner has gained clearly defined knowledge base and a practical skill test to ascertain if the learner is able to perform effective first aid. This assessment is a defined pass or fail. All learners on our NVQ program are measured by performance criteria which define the context for assessment laid down by the accrediting bodies, and both formative and summative criteria-based assessments are used. This allows the assessor to give students feedback on their development and on areas that may require further attention and also to observe when they have reached occupational competency. All assessment processes must first start with an initial assessment. Black and William (1998) suggest that this initial assessment (for learning) focuses on the gap between where a learner is in their learning, and where they need to be. This assessment is a good starting point to discover what skills your learner has and to direct them to the next stage. I carry out an initial assessment on candidates undertaking NVQ training. This is used as a tool to develop an individual learning plan for them. During this assessment process we would ask the candidates to complete different forms and questionnaires in order to gather the information for their plan. This would include a numeracy and literacy test to judge their level of skills and to ascertain if they will need to be referred for extra help and a learning styles questionnaire so that we can tailor any training towards their preferred learning style. Initial assessment can also be used informally at the beginning of a course as a tool to establish learners existing knowledge and expectations. This information can be used to bias the teaching towards the needs of the learners and also focus the learning towards the learners’ expectations. Other types of assessment can be used to judge whether a learner has made progress such as self-assessment. This is where the student reflects upon their own progress and assesses their own development and achievements made during their learning journey; or it can be a peer-assessment, where the learners peers (who are on the same learning journey) assess the learners developments and achievements through observation of their practice during the journey; or third party, which is where another person not on the learning journey, assesses the learners progress by examining how they have put the knowledge/ skills they have learnt into practice, (these would be a supervisor or manager). Assessment can occur in a number of ways including observation, watching and evaluating the learners progress which works well for practical skills-based courses; written questions to gain an understanding of the learners knowledge in their own words, although this can discriminate against those whose written English skills are less developed; Multiple Choice questionnaires, again this is to assess their understanding of the taught material, and ensures equal opportunities for everyone as it is suitable for those who may be concerned about their writing / spelling or who may be nervous. Please see assignment 8. 3. 6 record keeping in regard to assessment record keeping. REFERENCES Black, Paul, William, Dylan (October 1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. Phi Beta Kappan. Available at http://www. pdkintl. org/kappan/kbla9810. htm. Marshall B. (2006) Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector BTEC Level 3 Edexcel Limited London (page 81) Wikipedia (2009) Assessment (online) available at http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Assessment accessed on 11/12 Oct 09Ã'Ž

A Comparison of Beatrice and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing :: comparison compare contrast essays

Compare/Contrast Essays - Comparison of Beatrice and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing In the play of `Much Ado About Nothing', Beatrice is portrayed as a witty and strong willed woman who talks a great deal, appearing determined not to marry. However, Don Pedro concocts a plot that brings her together with Benedick and they marry at the end. She was an orphan, the niece of Leonato. Her most obvious objective is to stay a lonely spinster. She has known Benedick for years and because he wants to be a bachelor their hate for the opposite sex clashes- until they fall in love that is. She never realized that she could love anyone other than her self until she found someone that was the exact copy of her. Once she fell in love she couldn't be helped. The author portrays Beatrice as being very dominant and strong woman. I believe she protects her cousin and her family from the accusation that has been projected towards Hero as this has insulted not only Hero but also her family. When she is in the tabernacle with Benedict and confessing her love for him....she shows her demanding nature by essentially forcing Benedict to choose between the brotherly love of men and the loyalty of a man to his wife. Beatrice knows that she must destroy Benedict's former male bonding. Her order is therefore a command for Benedict to support her against Claudio, and represents the only way for them to have a mature relationship. Although being quite intelligent, Beatrice does manage to appear gullible when she overhears Hero and another woman discussing Benedict and Beatrice's relationship. So this can be seen that Beatrice does have a softer side as well. Beatrice is the ever-witty Lady Disdain, outspoken and opinionated niece of Leonato. She and Benedick are involved in a "merry sort of war". Always ragging on each other in a sort of easy going way, but never the less hurting each other's feelings. Both are cynical about Love. Beatrice is described by her uncle to mock all of her wooers out of suite.

An Incident That Changed My Life Essay

I admire a lot of people but the person I admire the most is my sister Rufaro .She has come to be the most important person in my life. There is no reason for me to live without her by my side. Rufaro is a nurse. She loves to help other because she says it was always her dream ever since she was a child. She works hard and she likes to learn something new every day. She leads a wonderful family life; she is always cheerful and happy. My sister has now been married for about 5 years and is a great mother to all her three children .She takes care of her family and still manages to find time for us. I just do not know where she gets that strength from. I admire her because she is very intelligent, ambitious and she has many goals in her life. My sister has a great enthusiasm about life that it becomes infectious when she is around other people .She also is a wonderful counselor and friend, very patient, sensitive and warm-hearted. She knows answers to almost every question, even those very silly ones. She is wise, patient and, sensible; she even helps others to solve their problems. She is also great fun to be with as she has a great sense of humor. Believe me; everybody who knows her says that about her. Even though Rufaro is younger than me in age, she is very important to me, because she teaches me to be a better person every day. She is an example to me and I love her for many more reasons. She always wants the best for our family .I wish everybody could have a person like Rufaro in their lives. Read more:Â  Essay About A Book That Changed My Life

Psychic Export Market - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 8 Words: 2494 Downloads: 3 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Health Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? Coursework Header Sheet 130795-287 Course Course School/Level Coursework Assessment Weight Tutor Submission Deadline 000355877 . Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Psychic Export Market" essay for you Create order Tutors comments Grade Awarded___________ For Office Use Only__________ Final Grade_________ Moderation required: yes/no Tutor______________________ Date _______________ A review of psychic distance and their implications on the network relations of SME’s in international business. Introduction This literature review will be based on how psychic distance will have an impact on how organisations employ global marketing strategies; how cultural and political factors play an important role when an organisation chooses to have foreign business interest. It also provides a critic of the global strategy by citing emergence of triad markets and a research on a suggested business term, which is brought upon as an implication of exporting of global trading. Psychic distance has in many ways a major impact on how SME’s networking is measured. Through the different articles that I have studied there are many theories which can be applied. Export development Exporting is one of the most common ways in which SME’s will enter the global market. This is seen as an advantage as to other market strategies because there is low risk. Psychic distance has shown that SME’s have to face challenges such as difference in language, consumer behaviour, cultural standards, legal framework or purchasing power. Bilkey and Tesar (1977), for example, advise firms to initate exports with culturally close markets, before they enter more psychically distant. (Barbara Stottinger, 1998, p. 357) Other studies have stated the five main aspects would be: language of the country; accepted business practices; economic environment; legal system; and communication infrastructure Also there is the aspect of cultural dimension of psychic distance within SME’s when operationalising the construct. For example taking Hofstede’s (1980) measures uncertainty avoidance and cultural distance to form a composite index of cultural distance. However it is argued that summary character suuch as perosnality, value orientation renders the concept of psychic distance an outhstanding preedictor for exort behaviour. the general nature of geographical diversity that a SME will face would be as mentioned above. (Barbara Stottinger, 1998, p. 357) Furthermore analysing the concept of psychic distance with the relationship to export activities with countries. Psychic distance is not based how far geographically the country is but its maps the individually precieved distances between the home and target market which effects Geographic closeness usually results not only economic relation, but manifest itself also in more cultural and social interactions, which a re supposed to reduce pyshic distance. From my reseach it indicated that psychic distance showed no significant effect on export performance also that export distance did not have a siginficant impact on the change of export performance over time. The study of O’Grady and Lane have suggested that business factors, such as legal and compettitve envirpoments, need to be incleded when conceptulisng distance. (Barbara Stottinger, 1998, p. 359) Importance of psychic realtions The research has also indicated the higher the level of psychic distnace, the greater the time and effort required to develop successful business realtionships. There are various implementations invovled in relationship marketing startegy in international markets. My studies indicate that the higher the level of psychic distance, the greater the effort required. If this is the case then this would usggest that the consitiuent varoables of psychic distance should be important factors influenncing the development of SME’s and ther networking relationship marketing startegies. When SME’s are exporting internationally it is important to consider that the important factors would be commitment as this would be a social bonding, as a degree of mutual personal friendships and liking shared by the buyer and seller. (Tony Conway, 2000, p. 1391) Buyers and sellers who have a strong personal realtionship are more commited to maintaing the relationship than less socially bonded partners. Many aspects of relations between customers and suppliers cannot be formalised or based on legal criteria. Instead realtionships have to based on mutaul trust. (Ford, 1984, p.18) Along with commitment trust is a vital factor, these key elements in a realtionship as they encourage marketers to work at preserving relationship investments, by co-operating with exchange partners. With exprtong internationally, networking for SMEs there are many complications, once again it has been pointed out that the greater the distance, the harder to achieve and more rescoure intensive will be process of relationship development. (Tony Conway, 2000, p. 1399) For example when partners will view one anotehr as culturally dissimliar, the feeling of lack of common graound may result in higher degree of percieved behavioural uncertainty. As a consquence the parties may be more likely to place their trust in leagal and written documents. (Morosini 1998 p.140) The more diffe rent the other person’s culture seems, the greater the degree of culture distance. Cultural distance is a potentionally powerful determinat of the way relationships can develop. Working in an international context, the usccess (or otheriwse) of an research marketing based tsragety is dependant both on the stage of relationship development on the degree of psychic distance that exists. Exporting through psychic distance Assumptions of psychic distance is negaticley related with export development and organisational performance. It is argued that businesses whose home country is characterised by a huigh leve of economic development, and developed and concentraed industry structure will perfom well, if not better, in developing marekt because if the distinct opportunity that are available. From my research studies have chosen me that the operating psychillcally close country does not necessarily lead to superior performance. Therefore networking internationally for SME’s either can be a negative factor or a poistive. Furher I have taken into account other elments as findings have indicated to me that they did not support a negative realtionship the concluded that psychic distance has very limited explanatory power. However the study has indicated that SMEs seeking to expand into more foreign markets as the the results indicate that they do not need to focus on similar markets only. (Jod y Evans, 2000, p.164) From my findings other articles indicate that the significance of key factors in SMEs and the external relationships they are able to develop support through internationalisation. As above they articles have not really seen psychic distance as a good impact. One of the explanations would point towards the networks in providing assistance and over coming initial resource and competency gaps. Effective functions of the networks depends on the quality of inter-personal relationships that sustain them. (Bilkey,W.J, Tesar, G 1977 p. 93) There are a range of factors that may trigger and facilitate SME internationalisation has encouraged the integrative modeling of how they contribute to different internationlisation pathways. The theory of Crick and Spencer also added that subsequent internationalisation sometimes required the development of new networks, and was contingent on a whole host of events, whereas further penetration of existing markets could be faci lied by existing networks. I have decided to explain the significance of exporting through Brazil and how UK SMEs were able to network internationally. SMESs will try and expand their business in order to offer themselves new opportunity for market expansion. However studies show that there is a threat to their existing markets. For example I have taken a greater study in Brazil and from this the big attraction was the gas and oil sectors. The way in the Brazilians communicated would be a form of personal meeting which provided a business type of relationship as a new entry to their market. From this the company now accounts for 10 percent of their 14 total export sales values. The relationship that they were able to build through there exports was socio-commercial. (Johanson and Vshlne, 1977, p. 23) This helped as having a strong relationship with a Brazilian partner can be quite functional for coping with an uncertain and distant environments. Studies of Brazilian culture portray it as strongly oriented towards sociability and inter-personal relationships. it also characterised by high levels of conflict avoidance and ambiguity. These features will reinforce the need to conduct business transactions on a basis of personal liking and trust rather than heavily relying on formal and contractual agreements. (Rodrigues and Barros, 2002, p.528). The value of internationlising SMEs of accessing overseas networks is now receiving greater attention. Networking is a very important factor as the study for the Brazilian market indicated. One of the company did business in Brazil explained that going out their you need to build network of friends and contacts. Although mentioned that the bureaucratic side of things that they still did not really understand. However that is very important to have someone that they could rely on. However as going to a new country their will always be a challenge as language and is trust are the main keys elements (Article 1, p. 14). This can make it difficult for foreign SMEs to establish contacts with relevant business networks without local help. Some SMEs have reported that in order to network in Brazil by the various exports -promoting agencies. the quality of local people who can link a UK company into wider networks, and the quality of relationships forged with them, emerge as crucial success factors. (Article 1, p. 15) Studies have indicated that companies have been unsuccessful, in the oil and gas sector however this was linked to networking. The companies were not able to find reliable employees or agents who they could network through. This indicates that networking is very important and getting it right as well in the process can either make you successful or unsuccessful. It shows that the companies entering the new foreign market environment are not just technical in nature, Social and culturally-sensitive skills are required. As mentioned above this would apply the theories set a bove for psychic distance. It shows that there are various factors that will need to be implemented such as how socially different countries are and language, education etc. Psychic distance whist exporting in Brazil The size and growth of the foreign markets might have attracted an offset in the minds of business decisions makers and problems posed by psychic distance. This could be the case, for example, with decisions to do business with China, and it might also apply to other larger emerging markets such as Brazil. Firms may therefore opt to engage with large and dynamic economies before approaching other countries that exhibit lower levels of psychic distance. (Article 2, p. 5) The cultural distance includes differences in language and social norms; administrative distance includes differences in political system, government policies and institutions; and economic distance includes differences in income levels, infrastructure, human and other resources. From this study the greatest distances tended to be perceived in language, regulations and legal system. The largest gap between psychic and its impact was for the system, followed by geographical distance. The dimension with the mid- point was the differences in languages and the regulations between Brazil and the UK. From the data to the importance of different dimensions of psychic distance in the internationalization process. Yet many firms decided to expand to Brazil despite perceived differences. The way that companies were able to over come this issue and the problems they faced was the help of competent and trusted Brazilian agent, distributor or partner. (Article 2, p.16). This will lead to fewer difficulties due to the differences in culture, educational level, logistics, regulations and business ethics and overall will make networking efficient which leads to good performance for exporting. Further more, the encompasses that determinants of a firms export behaviour highlights that synthesis is possible at two broad levels (Aaby and Slater, 1989; Ford and Leonidou, 1991): The external environment level, that includes factors that the individual exporter can only control to a very limited extent, such as macro-economic, social, physical, cultural, and political aspects, as well as industry characteristics that influence export behaviour and performance; and The firm level, also referred to as organizational determinants, that includes those structural and behavioural aspects within the firm that have a potential effect on exporting (Leonidou, 1998a). Initially highlighting the three categories of internal determinants of export behaviour analysed, namely structural characteristics, managerial characteristics, and managerial attitude and perceptions about export activity, helped explain the three export variables under study: export intention; propensity; and intensity. First, export intention was positively related to: a firms competitive position in new product development; and managerial perception that export is advantageous for their firms, as it may improve both global competitiveness and corporate performance. Second, export propensity was positively influenced by: a firms experience in geographic market development; and managers foreign language proficiency. (Sonia M. Suà ¡rez-Ortega, Francisca R. à lamo-Vera, 2005, p. 258) Finally, export intensity is positively associated with a firms experience in geographic market development, and managers foreign language proficiency and experience abroad, while negatively affected by the importance given by managers to the lack of internal resources acting as a barrier to export. In sum, these findings could be suggesting that there exist differences in the set of determinants of exporting when export intention, export propensity, or export intensity is the dependent variable under analysis. Conclusion The various articles have shown a similar understanding in how SMEs network internally and apply this to the literature review, the different the views clearly show that psychic distance does not really consist in the business world today. However the importance of psychic distance between countries has diminished as a result of the increased interaction brought about through the globalization of markets. The studies do not support negative relationship they could conclude that psychic distance has very limited explanatory power. However, the study has important implications for firms seeking to expand into foreign markets as the results indicate that they do not need to focus on similar markets only. However it could be argued that psychic distance does not directly influence the exporting behavior for SMEs. References Books: International business: environments and operation; John D. Daniels, Radebaugh and Sullivan, 11th edition Journals : Babara Stottinger, (1998), â€Å"Explaining export development through psychic distance: enlightening or elusive† International Marketing Review, Volume 15. Tony Conway, (2000), â€Å"International relationship marketing The importance of psychic distance† European Journal of Marketing, Volume 34. Ford, D. (1984), â€Å"Buyer/seller relationships in international industrial are all about† European Journal of marketing, Volume 14. Jody Evans, (2000), â€Å"Explaining export development through psychic distance†, International Marketing Review, Volume 17. Babara Stottinger, (2000), Psychic distance: a concept past its due date? International Marketing Review, Volume 17. Bilkey, W.J, Tesar, G (1977) â€Å"The export behaviuor of smaller Winsconsin manufactruing firms†, Journal of International Business S tudies, Volume 8. Johanson and Vshlne, (1977), â€Å"The mechanism of internalisation†, International Marketing Review, Volume 7. Morosini, P (1994), â€Å"Post-cross-border acquisitions: implementing ‘national culture-compatible†, European Management Journal, Volume 12. Article 1: The Process of SME Inernationalisation: British Firms Entering Brazil. Article 2: Reviving and Extending the Multi-Dimensional Concept of Psychic Distance: Evidence from Smaller Firms Exporting to Brazil (2006). Jody Evans, (2000), â€Å"Psychic distance and the performance of international retailers A suggested theoretical framework, International Marketing Review, Volume 17. Rodrigues S.B and Barros B, (2002) Management in Brazil. In Warner, M (ed) 2nd, The International Encyclopedia of Business and Management. London: Thompson Learning. Sonia M. Suà ¡rez-Ortega, Francisca R. à lamo-Vera, (2005), SMES internationalization: firms and managerial factors, Inter national Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour Research, Volume 11.