Clinical Decision-making in complex care i.e Identify a clinicaL Essay

Clinical Decision-making in complex care i.e Identify a clinicaL decision that you have been involved in - Essay Example The family had a hard time to decide on the removal of life-support systems and the changeover to palliative sedation. The nurse manager advised me to empower the family to make the decision required of them. When I told her that I had never before handled this situation, she advised me on how to do it and convinced me that I would be able to achieve the target and that my few years of experience were sufficient. My feelings The message that I received today was that this situation was a common occurrence and I had to be prepared. I was feeling unhappy that I was not competent enough to handle the situation. It was the nurse’s duty to empower the family in times of crises. With the intention of redeeming myself, I needed to use evidence-informed decision-making in this frequently occurring situation in my practice (Brown et al, 2009). This day had been conducive to my learning a new experience which had stimulated me to further my comprehension of bioethics and empowerment of family members of end-of-life patients. Evaluation This often-occurring situation in the nursing profession and its solution was revealed to me today. That I needed to learn much more to become competent was another revelation. Both of these appeared good to me as I could learn from experience. Another good thing was that I had the support of my seniors. The fact that I was not confident enough to handle this crisis was the bad part but I take this as an opportunity to think positively and find ways to solve this problem so that I am equipped to cope with it at any moment in my profession. Analysis Clinical decision-making could also be termed clinical reasoning, judgment, inference or diagnostic reasoning (Hardy and Smith, 2008). Clinical decision-making could be defined as the process of making an informed judgment over the treatment necessary for patients. Intuition as a form of reasoning had been associated with clinical decision-making (Nyatanga and De Vocht, 2008). Clinical de cision is a type of informal decision-making that combines clinical expertise, patient concerns, and evidence gathered from scientific literature to arrive at a diagnosis and treatment recommendation. Participants, process, an outcome and setting formed a major portion of the nurses’ clinical decisions (Gurbutt, 2006). Clinical reasoning was the process by which the judgments were made. The judgments were difficult propositions and could be managed only if the nurse could understand the salient details and difficulties of a situation (Tanner, 2006). She should also be able to interpret and respond accordingly. In today’s situation, I should have been able to understand the illness and end-of-life experiences of the family when I reached my station, much before the actual situation arose. Their emotional strengths, physical health, social well-being and coping mechanisms should have been gauged before the crisis (Tanner, 2006). Clinical decision-making affected the qual ity of care for the patient and his safety. In fact it had been described as the essential component for professional nursing care (White, 2003 in Hagbaghery, 2004). The resolution of family conflicts and the provision of information on care provider services were also a part of the decision-making. The decision- making performance of the nurse and her capability of reaching heights were hindered by various interruptions expected in a hospital atmosphere (Ebright et

Meaning of Life and Dad Essay Example for Free

Meaning of Life and Dad Essay The most influential person in my life is my dad. The reason why my dad is the most influential person to me is because he is my dad. My dad has been their for me since day 1. He always had my back through everything no matter how much fights we get into he will always be hear for me. My dad always wants to see me succeed in life he doesn’t want to see me fail. He inspires me in so many different way of what he does. A couple of examples of how my dad inspires me is he always helps me through everything he never let me down. He always told me to stand high and never give up on my dreams he was the one who pushed me to succeed to the person who I am now my dad has always been their for me and he will always have my back. He is my hero! My dad is such a hard working man he always told me to get a good job in this economy because you cant go no where in life without a good gob or a good degree in something. Growing up, my father taught me many valuable lessons, specifically to be kind to everyone and to never give up. These simple but important lessons have shaped my life in its entirety. My dad is the kindest man that I have ever met. He never talks bad about others always helps other people, and always tries to do the right thing no matter what the cost to himself. He is kind, thoughtful generous and honest. I attribute much of who I am as a person to my dad and I thank him for his dedication to our family . My dad gave me the confidence to go out and explore the world around me. From these opportunities, I have acquired skills, gained leadership experience and know that I can do anything if I persevere. I know what it means to be accountable for the decision I make and people entrusted to my care. I have stood up to those who were discriminating and demonstrated that respect for each other is important. I have learned in order to achieve a goal one must make a plan, get others on board, secure necessary resources and then go out and DO IT!!! I learned to not listen to the people who say it is impossible, and to get the complainers involved. I have had unique opportunities to train, lead and mentor. I have seen tragedies and poverty and have learned to appreciate what I have: my family friends university and country. None of these life lessons would have be possible without the support and guidance of my father. My dad always told me to follow my dreams and never let go ever since than I am following my dreams thanks to my dad! He is the most influential person to me in my life.

Influence Of Stakeholders To An Organization Economics Essay

Influence Of Stakeholders To An Organization Economics Essay Developing a vision, mission and values is the foundation for long term success, as demonstrated by Collins Porras in  Built to Last, the Disney organisation, and Dee Hock at Visa. If a vision and mission is recognised by all stakeholders and affects every hiring, strategic decision and communication; its effect can be magic. Vision: A vision helps unite people towards a purpose. Creating and living a vision is the role of leaders in organisations. They have to espouse it and help others to believe it. Visions are aesthetic and moral, they come from within as well as outside. According to Disney, a successful vision accomplishes six goals: gives a sense of the future guides decision making and strategy creates a shared purpose provides guidelines that determine behaviour inspires emotion connects to values Mission: A mission statement is a unifying statement of what an organisation is in business to do. It is a key reference point in the planning and implementation of change. A mission statement is a description of the organisations key purposes. Values: Values are the beliefs of an organisation, the expression of what it stands for and how it will conduct itself. Values are the core of an organisations being. They underpin policies, objectives, procedures and strategies because they provide an anchor and a reference point for all things that happen. P2 (04.1.02): Evaluate the extent to which an organisation achieves the objectives of three stakeholders Businesses, like people, are part of the world community and as such have responsibility for the activities carried out in their name. Businesses are also responsible to a range of stakeholders with often differing and conflicting aims. For example an electronics manufacturer might have the following stakeholders: Stakeholder group Objectives of stakeholders Shareholders to maximise profits of the business, dividends and the value of shares Employees to maximise salaries and job security Customers value for money, good quality products P3 (04.1.03): Explain the responsibilities of an organisation and strategies employed to meet them Simply put, strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how its going to get there and how itll know if it got there or not. The focus of a strategic plan is usually on the entire organization, while the focus of a business plan is usually on a particular product, service or program. There are a variety of perspectives, models and approaches used in strategic planning. The way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organizations leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organizations environment, size of the organization, expertise of planners, etc. Quite often, an organizations strategic planners already know much of what will go into a strategic plan However, development of the strategic plan greatly helps to clarify the organizations plans and ensure that key leaders are all on the same script. Far more important than the strategic plan document, is the strategic planning process itself. P4 (04.2.01): Explain how economic systems attempt to allocate and make effective use of resources Economic systems   An economic system is one that a society attempts to meet peoples material needs and wants through the production of goods and services. From the countrys point of view, production of goods and services is influenced by the limited supply of such elements as labour, land and natural resources and capital. The scarcity of supply of resources means that the Government has to decide the allocation of these limited resources among competing claims, given the opportunity costs associated with the decision of producing a certain products and services within the economy systems instead of others. Effective use of resources   The extent to which the mix economies, for effective allocation of resources, between the government intervention and private enterprises varies from countries to countries. Government interventions are usually in the form provision or prohibition, subsidies or tax and regulation In the case of telecom business, Singapore Government has provided that telecom sector to be liberalized in 1998 in line with Singapores broad direction of economic development, that is, to withdraw from commercial activities which no longer need to be undertaken by the public sector. Privatization also allowed government to raise cash through sale of state enterprises, getting rid of poorly managed state enterprises. SingTel has evolved from a government agency since 1955 through the processes of corporatization in 1992 and privatization in 1993 freeing a state enterprise from political interference so that they can function as commercial entities. On the other hand, the Singapore government has created and maintained what is known as an enabling business environment providing the legal and infrastructures needed to support private sector activities to act as the engine of economic growth. By privatization, Singapore government avoided the competition with private sector, hence, creating a business environment that allowed competition among private telecommunication providers. P5 (04.2.02): Discuss the impact of social welfare and industrial policy initiatives on organisations and the wider community The  Industrial Policy  plan of a nation, sometimes shortened  IP, denotes a nations declared, official, total strategic effort to influence sectoral development and, thus, national industry portfolio.  A nations Industrial Policy plan is composed of a comprehensive set of sector-specific industrial policies. Most if not all countries in the world have chosen to intervene actively in their domestic economy through industrial policies. Some authors believe that what motivated the Canadian government to pursue an industrial policy during the 1970s was their concern of  deindustrialization, a problem that seems to justify the use of interventionist practices, since manufacture has been considered the  engine of growth  in economic theory. Even the  United States, a nation historically in favor of free-trade, has implemented strong  tax, tariff, and trade  laws to protect itself from dumping, the flooding of a market by a competing nation with goods or services below market prices in order to gain an advantage over domestic firms. European socialist commitment is for welfare programmes and universal suffrage to extend citizenship and equality of opportunity. Property must prepared to pay for its security and the infrastructures society provides law, stability, a productive, educated population, the right to trade in the market which has institutions and safeguards enabling commerce to occur the features of Adam Smiths marketplace. P6 (04.2.03): Evaluate the impact of macro economic policy measures and the influence of the global economy on UK-based organisations and stakeholders The outlook for the global economy has deteriorated rapidly. We are now faced with a synchronised downturn in most of the worlds major economies. These developments will have a profound impact on the UK economy and raise the prospects of an especially severe recession. As an economy enters a recession many macroeconomic forecasters typically expect growth to return to its trend or average rate reasonably quickly. As economic conditions continue to deteriorate the projections for a recovery are successively pushed further out into the future. The common assumption appears to be that the underlying forces putting downward pressure on economic activity, which we often have a poor understanding of, are likely to dissipate. But often these shocks to economic activity are more prolonged than anyone expects. With Bank Rate at a historic low of 1.5% we must consider the options available to monetary policy makers in case we approach the zero bound in the near future. In this speech I will argue that the Bank of England has a range of tools available to provide an effective monetary stimulus to the economy, even at the zero bound. Meaning of Competition and Competitive Markets: The concept of competition can be defined in many ways. In common parlance, competition refers to rivalry between firms in a market for objects like market share and profits. Market power is the ability to raise market prices above competitive levels and exclude competition. Competition in a market refers to actions of incumbents in an established market and those potential entrants who would like to sell the same product. The instruments of competition would be price or capacity (quantity competition) and other non-price instruments like advertising etc. This involves erecting entry barriers, product differentiation, vertical integration etc. Competition for a market is defined as a process of creating a new market based on innovative technologies and/or new standards (example new operating system for Windows). This involves challenging the sellers of existing products through the introduction of new products or creating potential competition by upfront investment in facilities to supply a new product. Here the instrument of competition is not the price or capacity. Measurement of competition for a market is much more difficult than the measurement of competition in a market. It is helpful to discuss certain standard models that economic analysis uses to understand competition and competitive behaviour. P8 (04.3.01): Use a range of examples to illustrate the relationship between market forces and organisational responses Market forces are economic factors that affect the price and availability of a product or a service in a free market. Major market forces that influence demand and supply New entrants and substitutes Competition among exiting rivalry Regulatory forces Example: SignTels responses: Response to loss of domestic market share- Embark on regionalization enlarging its customer based covering Singapore, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Australia. Build economies of scale through an enlarged market Response to threats from new entrants: building economies of scale through the enlarged regional market. Response to competitive rivalry- backward integration by selling content, i.e. MioTV instead of just merely a broadband supplier- exclusive distributorship for apples I-phone leading to a monopolistic position in the Asia region Response to Regulator:- Collaboration with competitors by allowing them to share telecom network. Market forces have impacted SignTel SignTel responded by its regional and channel strategies to strengthen its leading position in Asia including Singapore telecom market. P9 (04.3.02): Explain the behaviour and competitive strategies employed by an organisation and discuss the role of the Competition Commission and regulatory bodies The choice of competitive strategy is one of the most important decisions for small business success. Traditionally, external adaptation has been the focus of strategy process research. We know little, however, about the relationships between the firms internal resources and the strategic orientations. Current issues that call for action in strategy research include why small business managers make certain strategic choices rather than others, and how small business managers can develop competitive strategies based on available resources. In order to achieve high performance each strategy must be supported with appropriate resources and distinct competencies (Snow Hrebiniak, 1980). Before we address these questions we need, however, to understand the relations between strategies and resources, including the relationships between various resource configurations and the actual competitive strategies employed by small firms. The competitive strategy literature based on Porters seminal contributions and Miles and Snows (1978) typology focuses on the competitive positioning part of strategy. It has to a lesser extent highlighted the internal parts of the firm. Day and Wensley (1988) as well as Spender (1993) called for research addressing the conversion of an organizations skills and resources into positional advantages. We may find that the most critical elements in creating sustainable competitive advantage are found in the internal resource configuration of the firm (Amit Schoemaker, 1993; Barney, 1991; Black Boal, 1994). The interplay between the market oriented positioning aspects of strategy and the internal resource configuration and governance of the firm is still within business strategy research. P10 (04.3.03): Discuss the importance of international trade, economic integration and global markets to UK business organisations The Governments central economic objective is to achieve high and stable rates of economic growth and employment. Trade openness and globalisation have an important role to play in raising the long-run rate of growth in the economy. Evidence suggests more open economies tend to grow faster. Openness to trade strengthens the drivers of productivity by providing greater opportunities to exploit economies of scale; by exposing the domestic economy to greater competitive pressures; by rewarding innovation and providing access to new technologies; and by increasing incentives for investment. Alongside the benefits to economic growth, consumers are already benefiting from globalisation through both the increased choice of goods and services available and through lower prices of imports, for example, of consumer electronics. In addition to these effects, globalisation offers potential benefits to certain subsets of the economy. For example, the creation of global supply chains could increasingly enable specialised SMEs to compete more effectively by performing specific operations in the supply chain. Their flexibility, nimbleness and quality advantages may provide a competitive advantage over larger competitors. P11 (04.4.01): Analyse the impact of two policies of the European Union on UK business organisations Impacts Most participants considered that the benefits of participation exceeded the costs they had incurred. However, although a high proportion of projects were concerned with product or process development there has been little commercialisation of project outputs since completion. In total these represent over 25% of the sample but the size of the commercial returns are in most cases very small, typically amounting to a few thousand pounds per annum. Technical success rates in the project were high with over 80% of participants having achieved all, or most, of their objectives. The fact that participants were satisfied with their participation despite the low levels of commercialisation reflects the other benefits they derived. Over three-quarters of those interviewed cited enhanced scientific or technical knowledge as a key benefit of participation. P12 (04.4.02): Explain the economic implications for the UK of entry into EMU The UK has to decide whether to join the other members of the EU in a monetary union. This choice depends in part on the outturns for the economy inside and outside EMU. The UK has chosen to target inflation, and this can involve some price level drift, whilst the ECB emphasises Price Stability and would plan to reverse the drift in the price level that might be caused by external shocks such as an increase in the oil price. It compares these ideas with the more Anglo-Saxon approach embedded in inflation targets. These regimes are then compared over the future using a large macro model (NiGEM) which includes descriptions of all the European economies. It is repeatedly subject to historically representative shocks. The effects of these shocks on the UK and Europe are compared with the UK in and out of EMU. Membership of EMU helps stabilise inflation and the price level in the UK, but leaves output more volatile. The differences depend on the rules in place and on the set of shocks app lied to the model. It concludes a discussion of the options available to the UK.

The Inefficiency of Airline Security Essay -- TSA, terrorism, 9/11, ra

Everyone who has gotten out of bed in the morning has been exposed to risks. Whether it be risks from the factors around them, from themselves, or from people around them, they have faced some kind of risk. Comparatively, risks presented by situations around them and by themselves are considerably controllable. The risks delivered by people around them, however, are the ones that tend to be the most formidable. When people have a determination to be destructive, they often select targets which will stir up the most attention. Attributable to the criteria terrorists search for, airlines are a common target for terrorist activities. One of the most memorable terrorist attacks revealed sizable gaps in the safety of airlines. Although airline security has been significantly improved since the events of 9/11, the safety measures have gone overboard in the wrong areas, focusing on airport safety rather than airline safety, and need to be ameliorated to add efficiency back to aviation secu rity as a whole. Airport pat downs are at the point where they are intrusive and uncomfortable to many airline passengers and need to be done away with. Transportation Security Officer (TSO), William Touzani notes, â€Å"A lot of passengers are offended when going through airports because they feel violated and degraded† (Touzani) The uproar of the public regarding such feelings of â€Å"violation† has not gone unnoticed. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents throw their arms up and counter the cries, revealing that the bottom line is that those â€Å"degrading† search methods are what is required from them. In the words of an anonymous former Newark Airport TSA screener, â€Å"Every time you read about a TSA horror story, it’s usually about a screener do... ...ty, and the Problem of Rationality." Public Administration Review 1540-6210 62 (2002): 33-43. 17 Dec. 2002. Web. 1 Sept. 2013. Hawley, Kip, and Nathan Means. Permanent Emergency: Inside the TSA and the Fight for the Future of American Security. New York: Palgrave Macmillian, 2011. Print. Post Staff Report. "Former Newark Airport TSA Screener Says the Job Does Little to Keep Fliers safe." New York Post. NYP Holdings, Inc., 10 Mar. 2013. Web. 08 Sept. 2013. Seidenstat, Paul, and Francis X. Splane. Protecting Airline Passengers in the Age of Terrorism. N.p.: Greenwood Group, n.d. Google Books. Google. Web. 27 Aug. 2013. Smith, Patrick. "A Pilot’s View of Airport Security." Theworld.org. PRI's The World, 17 Nov. 2010. Web. 2 Sept. 2013. Touzani, William. Screeners and Virgins: I'm Muslim, My Husband Is TSA. N.p.: n.p., 2011. Scribd. 3 Nov. 2011. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Assessment for Learning Essay

The Assessment Reform Group (2002) identifies ten principles to guide classroom practice in assessment for learning . Choose five of particular relevance to your practice and evaluate them in relation to the pupil experience in your school. Assessment for learning (AFL) is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to be and how to achieve their goal. Black and William (1998) in their research on the use of formative assessment in the classroom found ten principles of assessment which guide classroom practice in AFL. (Assessment Reform Group, 2003) The school I work in is a city based multi cultural school. UIS caters for children from all backgrounds and inclusion is of importance to our setting. I work in key stage 1 as a HLTA. I do PPA cover throughout the year 1 classes and I cover when a teacher is away wherever possible. The subjects I teach are the foundation subjects which are History, Geography, R. S and Music. I plan, implement and assess these subjects. In UIS, we believe that effective assessment provides information to improve teaching and learning. To do this in our school, we undertake two different but complementary types of assessment: assessment for learning and assessment of learning Assessment for learning (formative assessment) involves the use of assessment in the classroom to raise pupil achievements. It is based on the idea that pupils will improve most, if they understand the aim of their learning, where they are in relation to this aim, and how they can achieve this aim i.e. to close the gap in their knowledge. Assessment of learning (summative assessment) involves judging pupils’ performance against national standards. Teachers may make this judgement at the end of a unit of work, a term, a year, or if a key stage. We give our children regular feedback on their learning so they understand what it is that they need to do better. Research has shown that their involvement in the review process raises standards, and that it empowers pupils to take action towards improving their performance. The objectives of this assessment are: to enable our children to demonstrate what they know, understand and can do their work; to help our children recognise the standards to aim for, and to understand what they need to do next to improve their work; to allow teachers to plan work that accurately reflects the needs of each child; to provide regular information for the parents and carers that enables them to support their child’s learning; to provide the head teacher and governors with information that allows them to make a judgement about the effectiveness of the school. To support our teaching, we use the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance, the Primary Framework literacy and mathematics schemes of work based on National Curriculum objectives. We assess children at the end of each unit of work to help us identify each child’s level of attainment. The first principle that I will be discussing is that assessment for learning should be part of effective planning of teaching and learning. The teachers plan their lessons with clear learning objectives. We base these upon the teacher’s detailed knowledge of each child. UIS strive to ensure that all tasks set are appropriate to each child’s ability. Our lesson plans make clear the expected outcomes of each lesson. (Appendix 1) Teachers always share the lessons learning objectives with the children as the lesson begins. They also indicate the way in which the activity is linked to the learning objective, and the criteria against which the work will be judged which is the success criteria. Teachers ask well phrased questions and analyse pupils’ responses to find out what they know, understand and can do, and to reveal their misconceptions. We identify those individual children who do not achieve, or exceed, the expected level for the lesson, and we use this information when planning for the next lesson. Targets are set for end of Key Sage 1 and approved by Governors and the local Authority. UIS set year group targets in Mathematics, Reading and Writing for all our classes, during each academic year. These are expected levels of achievement reached by the end of the year for the majority of children and the more able in class. In Foundation1, staffs know that the next step children need to take is through systematic observation. These are shared with parents and talked through with children where appropriate. In Foundation 2 children have individual reading targets and group writing targets. In Key Stage 1 all children have individual and group targets in reading, writing and maths. Children’s targets are passed over to parents and carers, the progress of each child at the end of each term is reviewed, and revised targets are set. UIS recognise various methods of assessing a child’s learning. The type of assessment that our school make varies from subject to subject. We assess informally throughout the term, based on observations made by teachers or support staff. Every week I annotate assessment of the class I teach on my plan(appendix 2) and at the end of term fill out the assessment sheet. (Appendix 3) These observations are recorded in a variety of temporary formats, such as post-it notes, and are used to inform the Foundation Stage Profile or National Curriculum levels. We take the objectives for individual lessons from the board learning objectives within the school’s curriculum plan. These in turn reflect the demands of the National Curriculum / EYFS. The teachers record the progress of each child against these board objectives. This enables them to make a  judgement about the work each child in relation to national standards and allows them to monitor the progress of each child. Each teacher passes this information on to the next teacher at the end of each year. ` Teachers can review the rate of progress by looking at work in pupils’ folders or exercise books and by the marks in the record books. They can then use this to adjust day to day teaching and plan further work. One way to improve manageability would be to make a note only of those pupils who achieve significantly above or below the expected outcomes of a task’ (QCA, p. 3). The second principle that I will be discussing is how assessment for learning focuses on how students learn. ` If children don’t learn the way we teach†¦ perhaps we should teach the way they learn (Eppig, 1981). ’ The process of learning has to be in the minds of both the learner and the teacher. Assessment for learning helps those pupils, who do not always find learning easy, to make progress. ‘Planning for personalised learning focuses on what teachers need to do ,individually and collaboratively ,to develop assessment for learning and personalise learning by establishing supportive conditions for learning’(AFL,Primary Framework). When we do our assessment of a lesson we have to consider the different styles in which pupils learn. Day to day assessments is an on going and essential part of teaching and learning. Teachers and children continually reflect on how learning is progressing, see where improvements can be made and identify the next steps to take (national strategies standard) . When undertaking assessment of pupils, teachers use their knowledge of individual children in deciding on how to go about assessing the pupil. `Research on grading pupils, shows that children are less motivated and often demoralised when they are continually compared to each other. They need to know the criteria for the next level above ,but they do not need to know what that level is called. (Clarke,2001,p. 74)’ We have to consider the nature and level of support that the pupil receives as part of a normal classroom routine. The tasks and assessments are intended to assess a child’s ability in fair and a comparable way. If a child is a visual learner and for the assessment to be fair to him we adapt the test by having pictures inserted as well as questions. For those children that are auditory learners we read out the questions to the whole class and this enables them to fulfil their learning style. In our setting we have a working wall where the children are able to see what the objective and the success criteria of the lesson are. Appendix 4 On the working wall for the visual learner, we have two eyes to show what the teacher is looking for and ears to show the children to listen. For those children where English is an additional language we have support staff that are available while the test is taking place, so the staff can help where appropriate. Our school aims to be an inclusive school. We actively seek to remove the barriers to learning and participation that can hinder or exclude individual pupils, or groups of pupils. We achieve educational inclusion by continually reviewing what we do, by monitoring data, and through asking ourselves questions about the performance of these individuals and groups of pupils. In our setting there is a boy that is very able but his writing skills are very poor. His fine and gross motor skill are underdeveloped so to get the best out of him, he does all his work on the computer which is then assessed. Children that are on the S. E. N . register have their own I. E. P. ’s to work from with their allocated support staff, once their target is achieved they move on to the next target from their P-scales. The third principle that I would like to discuss is that assessment for learning should be recognised as central to classroom practice. Tasks and questions should prompt learners to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills. In our setting assessment for learning is recognised as central to classroom practice. In the Foundation unit the teachers usually plan the lesson with the ideas given by children. On a Friday afternoon the teacher has circle time with her class where she starts off with a basic topic and the children then give ideas on what they would like to do around the topic. In considering the ideas of the children it prompts the learners to learn and helps with the ongoing of assessments. I did a lesson on electricity in a year2 class which I was covering . In order for me to assess the children I asked a lot of open questions which prompted them to answer. The open questions gave the children the opportunity and encouraged them to think beyond the literal. ‘Research on wait-time showed that teachers need to leave five seconds after asking children a question, to allow them to respond. This is the optimum time it takes to process the question to formulate the answer (Clarke, 2001. p. 87). After having watched the classroom experiment I was able to take on board the idea of waiting time which I now religiously apply. ` Increasing waiting time after asking questions proved difficult to start with due to my habitual desire to â€Å"add† something almost immediately after asking the original question. The pause after asking the question was sometimes â€Å"painful. † It felt unnatural to have such a seemingly â€Å"dead† period, but I persevered. Given more thinking time, students seemed to realize that a more thoughtful answer was required ‘(D e r e k, Century Island School). The negative side to the waiting time is that some teachers wait for two seconds before they either ask another child or answer the question themselves . Children often then do not try to think of a response, because they know that the answer would be given or another child would be asked to answer. The lesson was very inter-active I was able to assess whether my success criteria was achieved. When I handed the worksheets to the children I had asked them to write the learning objective below the date and to refer to it when they were doing there work. The fourth principle that I would be discussing is that learners should receive constructive guidance about how to improve their learning. `An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information that teachers and their students can use as feedback in assessing themselves and one another and in modifying the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes â€Å"formative assessment† when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs (Black and William, 1989). Most learners are curious to know how they have done in a task . `Feedback is sometimes seen as part of a behaviourist approach to learning ,where it is part of the sequence stimulus-response –reinforcement (Wragg,2001,p. 27). The aim of marking in our setting is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. Whilst doing my researchÃ'Ž I found out that Nancy from Riverside school says that her marking has developed from comments with targets and grades, which is the school policy, to comments and targets only. Pupils do work on targets and corrections more productively if no grades are given. Marking is an integral part of assessment and target setting and the outcomes inform short, medium and long term planning. Its rationale is to enable every child to achieve their full potential. It is recognised that one to one oral feedback is most valuable for young children. It should remind the child of the learning intention and emphasise the positive aspects of the child’s practical or recorded work. ` Various research studies have concluded that feedback is most useful when it focuses on the learning intention of the task rather than other features of the work’(Clarke,2001,p. 50). In our setting the minimal response for all written work is that it should be initialled and dated to acknowledge that it has been seen. Maths work is usually ticked if correct and marked with a bullet point to signify that the answer needs to be checked. In UIS traffic lights are used to indicate whether the child has achieved the success criteria for the task. Green-learning objective met, orange-a few examples of learning objective having been met, red-learning objective not met, need to see the teacher. (Appendix 5). When a child meets the learning objective the work may be underlined or highlighted in some way to acknowledge the child’s success. Smiley faces are used to indicate good effort. Whilst doing my research and talking to other teachers in school I found out that each child gets a detailed feedback of their work at regular intervals. This detailed feedback could be oral or written and should be specific and related to the learning intention set for the particular piece of work. Feedback needs to indicate areas where improvements or next step targets are to focus. It is important to allow children the time to reflect on the feedback and make improvements to a specific piece of work. The fifth principle that I would like to discuss is assessment for learning develop learners’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self managing. `In practice, peer assessment turns out to be an important complement to self-assessment. Peer assessment is uniquely valuable because students may accept criticisms of their work from one another that they would not take seriously if the remarks were offered by a teacher’(Black and William. p. 6). Peer assessment and self-assessment is much more than children marking their own or each other’s work. To improve learning, it must be an activity that engages children with the quality of their work and helps them reflect on how to improve it. Peer assessment enables children to give each other valuable feedback so they learn from and support each other. It adds a valuable dimension to learning: the opportunity to talk, discuss, explain and challenge each other enables children to achieve beyond what they can learn unaided. Peer assessment helps develop self-assessment, which promotes independent learning, helping children to take increasing responsibility for their own progress. `Research shows that if self-evaluation is linked with the learning intention of a task, children’s progress, persistence and self-esteem is improved(Black and William,1998). The development of peer assessment and self-assessment takes planning, time, patience and commitment. When children don’t understand the intended learning outcomes they find it difficult to move beyond superficial criteria related to neatness and spelling. By using a range of strategies and by dedicating time to allow children to reflect on and discuss their learning teachers can develop children’s peer assessment and self-assessment skills. ` Independent learners have the ability to seek out and gain new skills, new knowledge and new understandings. They are able to engage in self-reflection and to identify the next steps in their learning. Teachers should equip learners with desire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through developing the skills of self-assessment (Assessment Reform Group, 2002)’. UIS trains children to use the traffic light system to indicate directly on their work to what extent they feel they have achieved the learning objective of their given task and how secure they feel they are in their learning. This helps the teacher to identify if a child is having any difficulty and this also give the children confidence in seeking help. The negative aspects of using the traffic light system at right at the end of the lesson is that some children who are over confident tend to rank their achievement very high and those children that have low confidence tend to under estimate themselves. Teachers in our setting also encourage children use the thumbs up that is when a child is confident they have achieved what was expected of them, thumbs sideways which indicates that they are half way there in understanding the objective ,but could achieve more and thumbs down which indicates that the child does not really understand and needs a bit more help. In order to develop pupil’s skills with self assessing their work we use prompt questions which the children can think about when reviewing their work. Pupils need to be able to assess their own progress to become more independent learners. ` One of the reasons peer assessment is so valuable is because children often give and receive criticisms of their work more freely than in the traditional teacher/child interchange. Another advantage is that the language used by children to each other is the language they would naturally use, rather than school language’ (Black et al, 2003). We regularly do peer marking which I find very helpful indeed. A lot of misconceptions come to the fore, and we then discuss these as we are going over the work. I then go over the peer marking and talk to pupils individually as I go round the room. Peer evaluation works really well because children learn from each other where they have gone wrong and how to put it right. The advantage of peer assessment is that children get to work with different children and they get a wide idea on how the pupil has achieved their success criteria. Some children assume that the more able children never find anything difficult, but this process makes them aware that all learners find some aspects difficult. After having done all my research I have found that the most important aspect of assessment is to have the learning intention and success criteria in focus. In UIS, with the self –evaluation strategies that we use it develops children’s awareness of their learning needs as well as open doors for teachers to get a better understanding of the pupil. Some teachers tend to give feedback to pupils on areas that are not of much relevance to the objective. It takes a while to get into the habit of giving appropriate and relevant feedback but the strategy is simple, make sure that the learning intention is mentioned first and then talk about the secondary features. If it is necessary to mention the secondary features, then say it in a very low tone to the pupil concerned. `As the research demonstrates, formative assessment makes a significant difference to children’s progress –in their ability to be confident, critical learners, to achieve more than ever before and in raising their self-esteem. In a world of continuing pressure, it is good to know that we are making a real difference to children’s lives. (Clarke, 2001, p139). ’Pupils enjoy finding that other children often have the same thoughts, share similar feelings on a particular subject, and have similar problems or successes whilst doing self-evaluation assessment. Ofsted had done a survey on 43 schools and found that 7 of these schools were inadequate in their assessment for learning. `Where assessment for learning had had less impact, the teachers had not understood how the approaches were supposed to improve pupils’ achievement. In particular, they used key aspects of assessment for learning, such as identifying and explaining objectives, questioning, reviewing pupils’ progress and providing feedback without enough precision and skill. As a result, pupils did not understand enough about what they needed to do to improve and how they would achieve their targets. Teachers did not review learning effectively during lessons; opportunities for pupils to assess their own work or that of their peers were infrequent and not always effective’(Ofsted). Michael Fullan also suggests that many educational innovations have been frustrated by the inherent but understandable ‘conservatism’ of teachers. He suggests that real change will only occur where teacher beliefs about teaching and learning have been significantly altered. Education is littered with examples of innovations that have either failed or only been partially implemented because teachers weren’t convinced the change was necessary and would result in real improvement. The result has been that they merely modify their practice at the edges and then abandon the change after a while because it ‘didn’t work for them’. More effective use of assessment, particularly formative assessment, will require many teachers to reconsider their approach to teaching and learning and to re-evaluate their working practices’(Weeden,2002,p. 127). Therefore if schools and teachers want to make changes they have to have the subject knowledge, be committed and dedicated to continually re-examine their teaching styles. Reference Assessment Reform Group (2002) Assessment for Learning: Ten Principles [online] Available from:www. assessment-reform-group. org. uk [Accessed 19th December 2010]Ã'Ž Black, P. ,and Wiliam,D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan Vol 80, 139-149. [Accessed: 19th December 2010] Clarke,S. (2001). Unlocking formative Assessment . London: Hodder and Stoughton Clarke,S. (2005)Formative Assessment in Action London:Hodder and Stoughton Eppig, P. (1981) Education by design –used in the UK as Critical Skills program by Success@Bristol (Bristol Education Action Zone) Weeden,P. Winter,J. Broadfoot,P. (2002). Assessment-What’s in it for Schools. [online] London: Routledge Falmer. p. 127. Available from: http://northampton. np. eblib. com [Accessed:27th December 2010] Wragg,E. C (2001). Assessment and Learning in the Primary School [online]. London: Routledge Falmer. p. 27. Available from: http://northampton. np. eblib. com [Accessed:27th December 2010] QCA (1999) Keeping Track,Qualification and Curriculum Authority. http://nationalstrategies. standards. dcsf. gov. uk/primary/primaryframework Appendices 1. Lesson plan 2. Annotated Lesson Plan 3. Assessment sheets 4. working wall 5. Traffic lights.

Free Essays on Plato Vs Aristotle

Numerous experts in modern time regard Plato as the first genuine political philosopher and Aristotle as the first political scientist. They were both great thinkers in regards to, in part with Socrates, being the foundation of the great western philosophers. Plato and Aristotle each had ideas in how to proceed with improving the society in which they were part of during their existence. It is necessary therefore to analyze their different theoretical approaches regarding their philosophical perspectives, such as ethics and psychology. This paper however will mainly concentrate on Aristotle’s views on friendship and how it impacts today’s society. The main objective in Plato’s philosophy is a creation of a perfect society. He constructs a foundation for a utopian society in his book â€Å"The Republic†. The purpose of his thought process was to cleanse his society of the woes he felt plagued it and construct a new one. Plato lived during the Peloponnesian War, which consequently lead to the end of the Athenian democracy. He had eyewitness account of his mentor’s (Socrates) trial and execution. Bitter and angered by the political corruption that gripped the Athenian democratic government, he disengaged from participating in politics. He strongly felt that neither a moral individual nor a state that is rational could be established in a democratic environment. Plato felt that the common man wasn’t intelligent or capable of dealing with concepts that influence the state such as economics, policy of foreign affairs and other relative matters. He viewed political incumbents in Athens government as being elected for matters that were irrelevant to main factors that affected the state. Another danger was that excessive liberty for the people of the democratic society could potentially lead to anarchy. In Plato’s perfect society, he forged ahead to eliminate the disease (pluralism of f riendship) that plagued the human character a... Free Essays on Plato Vs Aristotle Free Essays on Plato Vs Aristotle Numerous experts in modern time regard Plato as the first genuine political philosopher and Aristotle as the first political scientist. They were both great thinkers in regards to, in part with Socrates, being the foundation of the great western philosophers. Plato and Aristotle each had ideas in how to proceed with improving the society in which they were part of during their existence. It is necessary therefore to analyze their different theoretical approaches regarding their philosophical perspectives, such as ethics and psychology. This paper however will mainly concentrate on Aristotle’s views on friendship and how it impacts today’s society. The main objective in Plato’s philosophy is a creation of a perfect society. He constructs a foundation for a utopian society in his book â€Å"The Republic†. The purpose of his thought process was to cleanse his society of the woes he felt plagued it and construct a new one. Plato lived during the Peloponnesian War, which consequently lead to the end of the Athenian democracy. He had eyewitness account of his mentor’s (Socrates) trial and execution. Bitter and angered by the political corruption that gripped the Athenian democratic government, he disengaged from participating in politics. He strongly felt that neither a moral individual nor a state that is rational could be established in a democratic environment. Plato felt that the common man wasn’t intelligent or capable of dealing with concepts that influence the state such as economics, policy of foreign affairs and other relative matters. He viewed political incumbents in Athens government as being elected for matters that were irrelevant to main factors that affected the state. Another danger was that excessive liberty for the people of the democratic society could potentially lead to anarchy. In Plato’s perfect society, he forged ahead to eliminate the disease (pluralism of f riendship) that plagued the human character a...

The Italian Renaissance essays

The Italian Renaissance essays The ancestors of man were experimenting with art over 12 thousand years ago, paintings as far back as 15,000 to 10,000 BC have been found in caves. Our history of painting was slow to mature into the art we know and appreciate today. The most prolific period was the Renaissance period, with some of the best known masters being represented by this period. The Italian Renaissance was as the name implies the rebirth of painting. This does not imply that all the advances of painting came from this period but that the masters learned to combine new and old. The Italian artist Masaccio, was referred to by some as the father of Renaissance painting. Masaccio made notable advances in the styles of paintings such as perspective, space, and surrounding his subjects in light and air. Masaccio was the next great Italian painter after Giotto who died in 1337. Giotto who painted during the gothic period was able to display naturalistic human dramas and used characteristics with renaissance qualities. Some of these were showing figures as solid and weighty characters. Masaccio recognized what Giotto had initiated and brought it forward with other characteristics as previously mentioned. The other two artist who deserve recognition in the early part of the Italian renaissance are Brunilleschi and Donatello for their innovations in linear perspec tive in sculpture and architecture. An important scientific innovation by Masaccio was in the Holy Trinity with the Virgin and ST. John. The setting reveals a complete command of Brunelleschis new architecture and of scientific perspective. This barrel vaulted chamber is a place that the figures could move freely if they wished. For the first time in history, we are given all the needed data to measure the depth of this painted interior. We note that all the lines perpendicular to the picture plane converge upon a point below the foot of the cross, on the platform that supports the kneeli...

Alcohol Enzymes Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essays

Alcohol Enzymes Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essays Alcohol Enzymes Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essay Alcohol Enzymes Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Essay Alcohol Enzymes Market Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 2019 Alcohol enzymes occur in various organisms which eases the inter conversion between aldehydes and alcohol with the reduction of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. They are significantly-selective catalysts that solve the purpose of inter conversion of complex molecules to smaller ones in different metabolic reactions. Different enzymes such as carbohydrases, proteases and lipases are used which are majorly consumed to manufacture biocatalysts, pharmaceuticals, bio-fuels, cleaning agents, and food beverages.Visit Complete Report Here: www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis-details/alcohol-enzymes-market-global-industry-analysis-size-share-growth-trends-and-forecast-2013-2019 Alcohol enzymes form an important part of the global manufacturing industry and play a vital role in ensuring yield optimization as well as enhancing chemical processes. Moreover, due to growing population coupl ed with the rising disposable income has created a significant demand for consumer products such as cleaning agents, bio-fuels, and food beverages. The industry has also been witnessing positive growth due to specialty and industrial utilization of alcohol enzymes. Factors such as growing demand for cosmetics and rising awareness regarding healthcare have augmented the demand for pharmaceuticals in cosmetics and drugs. Other factors such as technological advancement in waste and energy saving logistics have also contributed to the growth of the alcohol enzymes market. However, regulations on the production of alcoholic beverages, brewing industry, and utilization of synthetic food ingredients are expected to slow down the growth of this market. North America is one of the largest consumers for alcohol enzymes, followed by Europe where the demand for these enzymes has increased in recent years owing to introduction of new drugs implemented in enzyme replacement

Importance of Knowledge of Culture to Business Managers Essay

Importance of Knowledge of Culture to Business Managers - Essay Example The knowledge of the differences in the cultural dynamics is important to the business managers as it helps in the interaction process among the business organizations. For one to understand the impact that cultural differences have on the business organizations, it is important to understand what the concept of culture entails. Culture can be said to consist of the patterned thinking processes and ways in which different human groups acquire and transmit symbols. It also involves the ways in which the different groups react, and their values and ideas. Culture is also said to be a subjective perception of the environment in which one is living. This environment includes the social stimuli, roles, beliefs, and the value system that is shared by the members of the group. Language and religion are said to play a great role in culture. It is important to note therefore that any given organization exists within a given culture and are therefore influenced by the cultures in which they ex ist (Simms 18). The elimination of trade barriers and the increasing ease of penetration of national boundaries have led to the increase in the need to transfer knowledge and skills between the subsidiaries of the various multinational organizations. This means that the work places in these organizations have become multinational and in the process created a new challenge for the business managers in the management of the workplace as they have to ensure that the new employees who are from different nationality and cultural background have been able to transfer the skills and knowledge that they possess. The knowledge of the differences in culture by the business managers is important as it will help in the facilitation of knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer involves the attempt by a given entity to copy and apply a specific knowledge or practice from another entity. Knowledge transfer involves ensuring that the efforts that are put in place are effective and that the new knowled ge that was being learnt or acquired from a different organization has been learnt to the extent that it becomes embodies to the practices of the organization. In the transfer of knowledge, the business managers are often faced with the challenge of cultural hindrances in the transfer process. There are some instances in which because of their cultural backgrounds, those involved in are unable to transfer the knowledge in such a way that it contributes to the desired outcome. This is because the knowledge to be passed is embedded in the individuals and therefore can only be transferred by interacting with the individual. The knowledge also has a social dimension to it in that it has been acquired through a process of socialization and as such can only be transferred through socialization. People of different cultures socialize in different ways and it is therefore important for a business manager to be aware how the particular culture interacts. This will help him in facilitating th e interactions necessary for the transfer of knowledge to take place (Pauleen 223). It is also important for the business managers to have knowledge on the difference between the individualistic and the collective cultures. This will help them in the process of ensuring knowledge transfer. It is important for a b

American and Soviet Policies towards Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Essay

American and Soviet Policies towards Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Cold War - Essay Example The Second World War ended in the European theater on May 8, 1945. And the Cold War began on that day. The cold war had many dimensions; one was ideological, another was political, a third one was economic, and to all these we may also add the rivalry between America and Russia as to who would ‘rule’ the world. With an uncanny political insight Alexis de Tocqueville had predicted as early as 1835 that â€Å"There are now two great nations in the world, which starting from different points, seem to be advancing toward the same goal: the Russians and the Anglo-Americans. . . Each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world† . It would appear; therefore, that history has destined these two nations to be at each other until a final and decisive victory is achieved by one over the other. But that time has not yet arrived, even though the cold war was declared to have been ended on December 3, 1989 at the conclusion of the Malta summit between George Bush Sr. and Mikhail Gorbachev. The ‘political Vacuum’ With the withdrawal of the colonial powers, Britain and France, from the Middle East after WW II, there was a virtual political vacuum in the region. By 1948 Soviet Union had consolidated its hegemony over Eastern Europe. The ‘Truman doctrine’ put a rein to its further ‘expansion’ into Greece or Turkey. But along with consolidating its domination over the East European nations, Soviet Union was busy trying to build and expand its influence among the ‘Islamic’ nations to its south.

Business analysis of an artist's career Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business analysis of an artist's career - Essay Example The Eagles Band has remained active in Music Business for the periods of 1971-1980 and from 1994 to present. They have worked under the Labels of Asylum, Geffen Records, Lost Highway, Universal and collaborated on business ventures with Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Dillard & Clark, James Gang.The band consists of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit.Some of the Band’s former member’s include Don Felder, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon. The American Rock Band is a very successful business venture in terms of strategy and revenues and originates from in California.The Band currently boasts of five Number 1 singles and four Number 1 albums.The band gained immense popularity in the 1970s and its album was rated number 37 on the Rolling Stone list "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".The business success of the band also reflects the fact that the band was ranked number 75 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Alb um â€Å"Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975† has been their most profitable business venture to date.Since its break up in the eighties, the band does not make any new albums but tours together often. However this year in 2007 they have released their first album in three decades called the Long Road out of Eden and it is currently on of UK’s top 40 Albums.The first album, Eagles, was one of the Top 40 singles of its era. Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" ranked Eagles at number 374.... History of business ventures: Success and Failure. The first album, Eagles, was one of the Top 40 singles of its era.. Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" ranked Eagles at number 374.The next album , Desperado, an experimental venture in conceptual song writing did not match the success of their former work and the Album only did business in the U.S pop charts ,with only two major hits.The third venture ,On the Border involved Henley and Frey's wish to employ a new business strategy and move towards hard rock. They had a change of producers from Glyn Johns to Bill Szymczyk for this purpose.The venture proved successful and this Album yielded a lot of profits with the Eagles' becoming the first of five chart toppers. The next album (One of These Nights) was a further experiment in hard rock and the business collaboration between Henley/Frey as lyricists was getting stronger as the album received a hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1975.2However this new business strategy ultimately cost the band its unity as the hiring of Don Felder meant that Leadon's role was being underplayed.In 1976 with the release of "Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)"(29 million copies sold),the band prepared for yet another phenomenal success with " Hotel California", which was also an instant hit on the Billboard in 1977.The single " Hotel California" was a major source of profits and royalties for the band in the years to come as since its release it has appeared on several lists of the best albums of all time.This album remains to date their best-selling studio album, with over 16 million copies sold within America..3 The late 70's saw the disintegration of this phenomenal band

Building and constructions Communication systems Essay

Building and constructions Communication systems - Essay Example In the building, over 550 fibre optic data cables are running from the MDF which provides the ability to virtually access any room in the building. The fibre optic cable used in the building is half lucent laser-speed multimode fibre and half lucent single-mode fibre. In the building more than 45,000 meters of fibre optic cable used. This cabling enables each computer to have a 10,000 megabit per second (10Gigabit) connection speed. In the building, there are approximately 450 telephone lines that end into the MDF telephone cubes, with about 60 kilometres of lucent Giga-speed cables.Telstra, the main telephone service provider in Australia also handles the telephone services for the interpro building and the VOIP is not implemented yet. The computer network in the interpro building is based on 540 desktop computers. The network also gives wireless access to interpro network via three wireless routers distributed in each floor of the building. These wireless routers give access to more than 800 wireless devices such as PDAs, laptops or cell phones. Computers are originally in the network but they can also be unplugged if necessary. Wireless routers have an adapter which allows a cable from the LAN to be plugged in. There are also several output ports for cables which can be connected to the rest of the LAN. Each of these wireless routers support 255 wireless devices and has a unique security setting to prevent the damage to the whole building network if a hacker entered the LAN through a wireless router. All access points are equipped with firewall software that controls the flow of data. There is also a monitoring system that shows the status of the network for each floor. The interpro company's building has three floors and each floor uses a separate LAN for security issues. These LANS are connected to each other and they form a small WAN. The whole network is based on cable LAN and wireless LAN. The building has three servers which all the data for each floor is passed by. There are 400 hub-switch provided links in the LANs and as stated before, there are three wireless routers which provide the wireless access for wireless devices both to the building network and the Internet. At the first floor, there is a main server room which has a cavity for cable runs. Each floor at the company has a star topology and all the devices are connected to the main server. Each server on each floor has a bus topology to access two other servers at other floors and the main DSL cable which enters to the building connects to the bus network after the data enters through a firewall. References Interpro, company overview, viewed on November 22, 2007.

Time to Begin and Sustain Progress Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Time to Begin and Sustain Progress - Coursework Example The teachers currently handle many English as second Language (ESL) students; in both the urban and the rural areas. Multicultural education enhances critical thinking and decision making; and also encourages the movement towards the cultural pluralism of the USA society (Banks, 1997). I would like to concur with Richard Rothstein for claiming that the children for the European immigrants performed better than those of the Africans. This was caused by lots of factors which essentially favored them as compared to their black counterparts. However, it does not mean that they were lesser brilliant. There were certain education factors in the USA that prevented or minimized the good academic performance of the immigrant children. Many immigrant children, both from Pulaski County Special School District, Arkansas and the whole country, experienced language barriers in school. These children faced problems when communicating with their teachers or fellow students. They also majorly live in neighborhoods which were isolated linguistically; hence they developed weak command of the English language. The other reason for the disparity in the performance of the children of the European and African children is that they were taken to different schools. As this scholar exclaims, these children were taken to different schools. There was a high level of racial segregation which was manifested in nearly all sectors of life. In such a society, children would be segregated depending on their social status. Whereas the black children were taken to poor schools, their counterparts from the prestigious and ‘superior’ white families were taken to high cost schools in which they would receive high quality education. I would like to point out that this myth might still persist in the contemporary society. Although the government has introduced

Lesson Plan for The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine Essay

Lesson Plan for The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine - Essay Example They may appreciate the differences and learn how to develop a story. The evaluation of children would be done separately for each objective of the lesson plan. For vocabulary lesson, vocabulary sheets would be filled out from all the students. They will be assessed on the number of words they get right. A peer review will be conducted for the dramatic representation of different passages of the book. The class will vote for the group whose performance they liked best on the basis of following the script, creativity and good acting. Adaptations in teaching plan will be made according to any known weakness of a child. Further more, following the assessment results, individual attention will be given to the children with weak performances. The teacher will begin with reading out aloud the beginning of the book. It is proposed in the anticipatory set that the teacher would pause here and ask the children regarding how they would expect the plot to develop. Such an activity is included so that the reading of the book doesn’t appear monotonous to the children and they taken interest in the story. Also it would stimulate their imagination and allow them to take up the role of story writers themselves hence providing them an opportunity to enhance their creative thinking skills. Furthermore, the teacher may pause at later instances as well to ask general questions regarding what has been read. Such an exercise would keep the students alert and allow greater comprehension skills to develop as well. As the story would be read aloud to them, the children would be encouraged to make a list of the new words they come across. At the end of the reading session they’ll be handed out student dictionaries and showed the manner in which they can locate the meaning of a desired word. Such an activity would work to teach the use of

Building and constructions Communication systems Essay

Building and constructions Communication systems - Essay Example In the building, over 550 fibre optic data cables are running from the MDF which provides the ability to virtually access any room in the building. The fibre optic cable used in the building is half lucent laser-speed multimode fibre and half lucent single-mode fibre. In the building more than 45,000 meters of fibre optic cable used. This cabling enables each computer to have a 10,000 megabit per second (10Gigabit) connection speed. In the building, there are approximately 450 telephone lines that end into the MDF telephone cubes, with about 60 kilometres of lucent Giga-speed cables.Telstra, the main telephone service provider in Australia also handles the telephone services for the interpro building and the VOIP is not implemented yet. The computer network in the interpro building is based on 540 desktop computers. The network also gives wireless access to interpro network via three wireless routers distributed in each floor of the building. These wireless routers give access to more than 800 wireless devices such as PDAs, laptops or cell phones. Computers are originally in the network but they can also be unplugged if necessary. Wireless routers have an adapter which allows a cable from the LAN to be plugged in. There are also several output ports for cables which can be connected to the rest of the LAN. Each of these wireless routers support 255 wireless devices and has a unique security setting to prevent the damage to the whole building network if a hacker entered the LAN through a wireless router. All access points are equipped with firewall software that controls the flow of data. There is also a monitoring system that shows the status of the network for each floor. The interpro company's building has three floors and each floor uses a separate LAN for security issues. These LANS are connected to each other and they form a small WAN. The whole network is based on cable LAN and wireless LAN. The building has three servers which all the data for each floor is passed by. There are 400 hub-switch provided links in the LANs and as stated before, there are three wireless routers which provide the wireless access for wireless devices both to the building network and the Internet. At the first floor, there is a main server room which has a cavity for cable runs. Each floor at the company has a star topology and all the devices are connected to the main server. Each server on each floor has a bus topology to access two other servers at other floors and the main DSL cable which enters to the building connects to the bus network after the data enters through a firewall. References Interpro, company overview, viewed on November 22, 2007.

Lesson Plan for The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine Essay

Lesson Plan for The Diary of a Killer Cat by Anne Fine - Essay Example They may appreciate the differences and learn how to develop a story. The evaluation of children would be done separately for each objective of the lesson plan. For vocabulary lesson, vocabulary sheets would be filled out from all the students. They will be assessed on the number of words they get right. A peer review will be conducted for the dramatic representation of different passages of the book. The class will vote for the group whose performance they liked best on the basis of following the script, creativity and good acting. Adaptations in teaching plan will be made according to any known weakness of a child. Further more, following the assessment results, individual attention will be given to the children with weak performances. The teacher will begin with reading out aloud the beginning of the book. It is proposed in the anticipatory set that the teacher would pause here and ask the children regarding how they would expect the plot to develop. Such an activity is included so that the reading of the book doesn’t appear monotonous to the children and they taken interest in the story. Also it would stimulate their imagination and allow them to take up the role of story writers themselves hence providing them an opportunity to enhance their creative thinking skills. Furthermore, the teacher may pause at later instances as well to ask general questions regarding what has been read. Such an exercise would keep the students alert and allow greater comprehension skills to develop as well. As the story would be read aloud to them, the children would be encouraged to make a list of the new words they come across. At the end of the reading session they’ll be handed out student dictionaries and showed the manner in which they can locate the meaning of a desired word. Such an activity would work to teach the use of

Importance of Internal Communications Essay Example for Free

Importance of Internal Communications Essay Importance of Internal Communications for a company and two case studies. Internal communications is considered a vital tool for connecting people within the company. It does not refer only to those few â€Å"official† channels of communication in a company, it is also the strategic management of information flows to ensure the optima level of employee engagement. (Civicus, 2001) This business context of communication is a dual listening process. It is a top-down, bottom-up, side-to-side communication harnessed as a means of delivering messages, listening to concerns and motivating staff. Maintaining a good internal communications within a company could reinforce the vision, values and culture among employees, who can then communicate it to internal and external audiences. Internal communications aims to ensure that employees in the company work together towards the same goal, know what they should be doing and by when. Internal communication has evolved various ways of communicating internally. Traditionally, it started off with informal and formal one-to-one and one-to-many meetings where usually the ‘the boss’ would communicate in a highly one-way fashion with employees. Lee, 2006) In this case the message is mostly communicated in one way, it does not include feedback from the message recipients. When print materials were introduced, it was then involved for formal, top-down transmission, for instance, company annual report. Internal communication then evolved to the digital era where Internet was highly used as a communication tool. When email was in troduced into the business settings and with it the nature of communication has radically changed. Lee, 2006) As the digital technology advances, internal communication has evolved to the point where not only can employees and employers freely email each other, forward messages without any editing (showing the whole conversational trail), and forward those messages outside of the corporate walls, but also employees and employers can use these emails to bring about grievance procedures, litigation and dismissal. (Lee, 2006) It is seen that internal communication has undergone deliberately change and will continue growing. Today’s internal communication practitioner is focused on challenging and stimulating employees, managing change and gaining employee engagement and commitment. (Chalmers, 2008) The aim has moved from controlling and directing people, through providing information, making announcements and supporting industrial relations, to supporting the development of a flexible work environment which adapts to change, seeks improvement, shares knowledge and know-how, generates ideas and involves people in achieving strategic goals. Chalmers, 2008) Most of the people understand the significance of internal communication but very few could manage it efficiently. Many people think that internal communication is one of the functions that they think they can do well. In fact, when it comes to real situation on handling employees, certain strategies and techniques are needed to communicate and tackle. In talking to many individuals at very different levels in very disparate sectors, what has come across as crucial is the need for internal communication to be championed at the very top of the organization and also for senior management and the boardroom to respect the expertise of the specialist tasked to deliver, be they internally or externally placed. Smith, 2008) A large number of studies by both professional management groups and professional communications bodies consistently find that ‘communicating with employees’ is a useful and powerful way of engendering greater ‘engagement’ – the propensity of the employee to want to come to work and want to contribute to the success of the company. (Lee, 2006) Gauri Deshmukh, head of HR at SAS India states that internal communication is important for a company as it provides information and encourages sharing by driving and supporting the organisation’s short-term and long-term goals and objectiv es. In addition, Deshmukh also mentions that with effective internal communications, it ensures that knowledge-sharing and communication processes are part of the daily workflow across all functions of the business. By having good internal communication, a company ensures that in between employers and employees they are constantly updated with information. In fact, a good internal communications not only affects organizational and operational success, but it has a considerable impact on external functions such as marketing, community and government relations, nd investor relations. (Brown, 2002) Internal communication is significant in any company because it is the building block of the organisational culture. (Civicus, 2001) Furthermore, internal communication is important so that employees become advocates for company. It is important to create a ‘common purpose’ across the company – creating the sense of a team where everyone feels ownership in their roles and in a chieving the company’s goals. (WK, 2010) In this way employees feel accepted and being part of the company. Likewise, internal communication is one of the key ‘intangible’ factors leading to high performance. (WK, 2010) For instance, if communication in a company is managed well employees are more confident and clear with the company mission and vision thus makes excellent financial as well as business. Not only that, having good internal communication helps build out company’s brand internally as employees are the best ambassadors, and internal perceptions should mirror what the company is telling the world. Trout, 2012) When the company is communicating effectively with its internal stakeholders, be it employees, management or volunteers, programmes and departments share more resources and information resulting in less duplication of work and stronger impact as a whole company. (Civicus, 2001) Without an effective internal communications, a company allows others to determine what information (or disinformation) is communicated to employees about their company. Brown, 2002) Smart employers realize that in environments where employees are able to move from one employer to another with relative ease, it is in the company’s best interests to retain the smarter and more productive employees; doing all they can to communicate with them, inform them, influence them and enter into some sort of psychological contract with them is a wise move. Lee, 2006) Besides, without effective internal communications, the crisis of confidence in businesses and corporate leadership could hurt sincere efforts to build a positive corporate culture and to enhance employee morale and productivity, and devastate the overall image of an organization. (Brown, 2002) Case Study I: Nokia is one of the top mobile phone manufacturer favoured by many people. In order to compete with other mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is constantly improvising and upgrading their gadgets to serve people needs these days. The reason Nokia has been so successful is no doubt its creation on mobile phones, as well as the strong team in the company that has made where it stands today. In a technologically savvy company like Nokia, it’s no surprise that they’ve been successfully implementing social media into their internal communications. (Kass, 2012) Nokia’s motto is connecting people and exploring ways to enhance communication. (Kass, 2012) In order to realize that vision, Nokia uses a number of different vehicles for two-way and push or pull communications; social media plays a big part with fitting into that strategy. Nokia’s Social Media Communications team was established in early 2008, aimed to improve inter-company communications and engaging employees. The objective of the team is to: encourage the use of social media internally to bring out the company’s unique authentic voice and to engage in social media externally on behalf of Nokia, and contributing to product and service announcements by opening up a dialogue and driving online engagement. (Kass, 2012) Nokia has 125,000 employees around the world. It is the company’s utmost important task to engage all employees in order to achieve company business goal. There are a few platforms in Nokia allowing employees from global to connect as if they work in a small company together. According to Molly Schonthal who worked on the companys Social Media team in North America, the BlogHub is Nokia’s most powerful and effective social media tool that is used internally. It has been said that BlogHub lowers the barriers for employees to find conversations relevant to them. In terms of interaction, employees are allowed to communicate freely via BlogHub. They could make comment on posts, share ideas and knowledge on issues that have been mentioned. In addition, BlogHub serves as a useful search engine for employees to seek out information relevant to them. From a management point of view, through BlogHub feedback on various issues are gained quickly and track the conversations that are happening inside the company. Voting and ratings on posts are enabled as well for employees to be part of the decision team. Nokia has also introduced Nokia Conversations blog where latest Nokia product news would be posted. Through this blog employees could find a big overview of all the topics going on in Nokia. Similar to any other company that is engaged on social media, Nokia has its very own YouTube and Twitter account. Other than that, VideoHub has grown increasingly popular with employees allowing for postings to be updated on a daily basis. Besides, Nokia’s Infopedia wiki allows employees to share knowledge inside the company. If someone needs to quickly check a piece of information, Nokia’s effective internal communication channel, Instant Messaging (IM) is available for employees. It claims to remove the barrier of more formalized communication in between employees. For global company like Nokia, in order to save cost and time, Nokia has it’s own video conference channel where annual communication meetings and real time conversations could be held. Considering people do not check their mailboxes as much anymore Nokia has slowly cut down prints publications in an effort to become more environmentally aware. In fact Nokia in North America has completely eliminated print publications. Newsletters are now kept to an electronic HTML format, which is e-mail so it is more easily distributed. Similar to every other company Nokia uses intranet communications as well. It is the center of where people go to get information on benefits or organization charts. Furthermore, to reach more employees, Nokia regularly posts relevant company announcements on plasma screens around regional offices, usually in cafeterias and breakout rooms, with its promise on going environmental friendly. At North America, leadership also encourages employees to speak directly with their line managers to better understand organizational strategy and what role they can play in that strategy. For all of Nokia’s Web 2. 0 tools, Schonthal is quick to point out that â€Å"social media is never a replacement for high touch engagement. † (Kass, 2012) Instead, it can contribute to various company events and other in-person initiatives. â€Å"Social media complements these things but doesn’t take away from the ability to internally engage and share ideas,† she further explains. Nokia provides many platforms for employees to stay engaged, all for one clear identified goal – connect all the people in the company. For such global company I believe Nokia in different countries or branches could decide on which channel they prefer but I believe as a whole, all the employees in Nokia stay connected via BlogHub. After reviewing how Nokia strives to engage the employees I could see that the management team work hard on receiving feedback as well. They listen to their employees. They make changes. All these actions give employees feel accepted and belonged to the company. The end result is the employees are clear with the goals, mission and procedures of the company, which can result increase their work effort and efficiency and boost business. Case Study II: â€Å"We were driven to connect the organization with itself, and realized enterprise social networking was the solution. I can truly say after more than two years that we have achieved an official internal communications channel. Socialcast lifted the boundaries and made our organization transparent. We connect daily with people from India, China, the US, and Brazil. Without Socialcast it would not be possible,† says Dennis Agusi, Global Internal Communications Officer, Royal Philips Electronics. Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of â€Å"sense and simplicity†. Philips Case Study 2012) In 2010, Philips began to explore how the company should help its employees spread around the globe to feel engaged, work like a small team driven by shared goals. On the way of researching, the Corporate Communications and IT department discovered that approximately 1,600 employees were actively using a free tool they had found on the Internet to communicate and collab orate. Knowing two platforms for collaboration would not be a great idea so the team took initiative to introduce a new platform to these early users. These early users provided positive and valuable feedback and recommendations on how to improve the enterprise social experience the best it could be. Then it led to a successful launch of an enterprise social network. The company adopted â€Å"Connect Us† and the network was launched with wide support. On launch day, Connect Us had 400 members. Within two months, 7,000 employees had joined the community. Through Connect Us they allow employee-to-employee exchanges as well as management-to-employee communications. Employees are allowed to post freely, share knowledge to make work easier. Connect Us helps to remove barriers between departments as well. Through Socialcast Reach, employees are allowed to share information and data in between departments resulting a more seamless flow of work. In addition, a new idea can be communicated more broadly, increasing sense of connectedness and engagement across the company. From management perspective, through Connect Us, the Communications and IT team could monitor what’s happening in the company, check trending topics or people, at real time. According to report, Connect Us has enabled new and sometimes unexpected forms of employee engagement. All Employee Jam† was a crowdsourcing project designed to bring to life the company’s new, refreshed Mission and Vision statement through dialogue, discussion and debate. This exercise has successfully drawn employees who had not yet joined the social community into Connect Us. According to feedback, employees who participated in this exercise were found to be far m ore aware of and aligned with the Philips Mission and Vision than those employees who did not participate. This resulted Philips truly believes that enterprise social networks help companies increase employee engagement and retention. I liked the idea of how Philips tries to maintain the communication channel as one, which is Connect Us. I believe there are other platforms available for instance intranet but Connect Us is actively used by people in the company. From not knowing employees are using free online tool to communicate to introducing socialcast network, Philips has come a long way into realizing the importance of internal communication. The All Employee Jam has definitely demonstrated the power of enterprised social networking. It encouraged the employees to share knowledge, to stay connected which resulted in a greater identity with the company. In this two case studies, both companies Nokia and Philips selected appropriate channels for communication according to its needs. Nokia has different communication platforms serving different purposes. For instance, BlogHub allows employees to find information they need and Instant Messaging is a tool for quick and easy communication. On the other hand, Philips focus mainly on Connect Us, from searching information to accelerating ideas to sharing data it is all done on Connect Us. However, on my opinion, Nokia has too many platforms it might be tough to engage all the employees in one platform, as the users are free to choose which platforms they get information from. Whereas Philips uses Connect Us, most of the employees are part of the community and anything they need require can be found on Connect Us. I think this is one of the advantages of having a focused channel. Likewise, the tools and tactics, both companies chose to be focus more on information technology. In terms of interactivity, both companies engage their employees as well as welcoming their feedbacks. The employees are encouraged to utilise these channels to feel more accepted and being part of the company. For instance, Philips Connect Us not only allows employees-to-employees exchange, as well as management-to-employees communication. In this case it removes barriers between management and employees so work can be done easier. As for Nokia, feedbacks are valued through voting and ratings on posts and comments, allowing management to understand the employees better. Besides, both case studies reviewed the importance of evaluation on internal communication. In order to improve, the management team has to constantly measure the effectiveness of the communication tools and find ways to improve. Nokia and Philips monitor their employees through these platforms to find out what is really happening in the company. This way they could make sure the employees are on par with company’s goals. In conclusion, internal communication has never been so important. Many people know what internal communication is and they think they know how to function this but they might not know the true meaning behind it. Effective internal communication does not mean to have a lot of communication platforms, spending big budget on this function but utilizing the appropriate communication tool for employees get involved. If you want to build brand for your company first you have to build your brand internally. After all employees are the representatives of your company, they are the brand. Internal communication comes a long way to build, it might need more time and effort to achieve the effective result as desired but the end result is always proven satisfaction, that I am sure. A combination of strong communication, teamwork and camaraderie framed within trusting relationships will help achieve remarkable results in times of large-scale change and uncertainty, writes University of Nottingham chief executive Peter Homa. And finally, in my own words, you cant communicate with your audience until your internal message is crystal clear.

Suspense And Tension In Jaws Film Studies Essay

Suspense And Tension In Jaws Film Studies Essay How does the director Stephen Spielberg use film technique to build suspense and tension for the audience in the film Jaws? The film Jaws was directed by Stephen Spielberg. The film is about the incessant shark attacks that happened in Amity in USA. It was set up in Amity which is near Kansas in USA. It is set on 4th July which was an Independence Day in USA. Everyone has the day off to celebrate their holiday very year and it is a national holiday in America. Throughout the film we are about to discover the fantasy of the war between Shark and People, which the director Spielberg uses the devises to build that tension, suspense and fear. The music is played when the shark comes in distance and closer to the beach. First the music very slowly and when it gets louder and louder we feel like the shark is coming. This sound is like a theme of the film, which makes everyone to keep attention to the film. This type of music is Non-Diegetic music. This gives the audience that they are below the sea imagining the shark is waiting for them. If the shark be revealed straight away, it would destroy the whole story. Stephen Spielberg wants to build suspense by suspense to create the film attentive to it audience. One technique is that the music is used to build up the tension. Stephen Spielberg uses long shot to show this and cover all the details in the proof to show what happened. Second attack was quite different. It is the attack of the little boy whose name was Alex. He swam in his inflatable lilo away from the rocky sand to the sea. When he was there the shark attacked him. We know this by looking from the music and fins coming out from the shark. The camera angles builds up the tension and suspense to show like we are looking from the angle of shark and when the attack happened from the distance it shows people to show exact how the boy was attack. The Director builds up the fear of the shark by making music devious and dangerous like you get on the horror film. Director uses music like dun, dun sound/music that makes you follow the shark on its trail. You will follow the music as well as you are looking from the shark perspective. On this second attack he uses lots of close-up shots of the boy to show off the detail. The camera shot tracking is shown as though as you are shark and following the boy on his lilo. Jump cut is shown to take close shot of the people by cutting people shot one by one. After that camera moves into a close-up of the boy, who is now lying on a yellow lilo. Brody continues to look at the water, which raises tension. When we look around the beach we see yellow objects; umbrella, bathing suits, towels and a boys lilo. This is because yellow associate with fear because most of the warning signs have yellow sings like a hazardous sign. As the camera films the shore, we see a man wearing a yellow shirt playing with his dog. Moments later when he was playing fetch with his dog pippin, pippin goes missing. Dog is nowhere to be seen but only a stick floating on the surface of the sea. This is known as a camera focused, focusing on the stick only and usually called Miss -en- scene. There is no music being played, audience dont know whether the shark came again or the dog run off somewhere along the beach. This creates suspense as well as a fear. Director use number of techniques to build up fear of shark in numerous. At the first attack, Spielberg doesnt reveal the shark so audience will use their imagination a visual picture in their mind of what the attacker looks like. Tension is increased by the music factor. It is played in fast tempo and played in slow and silent way. At the second attack he builds fear for the characters by making a fin visible in the ocean surface bed. This may be first time the audience and characters in the story seen the shark and able to come to decision about first and second attack. Spielberg uses lot of camera techniques as well as music to create the suspense during the story. We hear shark music dun dun sound to tell us that the shark is coming. The music is like a heartbeat which makes louder and louder as it represent mainly shark. The music is like theme or symbol that represents the shark in the film. This is how Spielberg uses the film to become more tense and interesting. As we get to shark, we expect shark to attack or we know it is lurking quite close. Spielberg structured the film so that first and second attacks are together each other. First he kept audience alert at the first attack then continues to build fear and tension at the second attack which we see a boy in his lilo and dog goes missing. Broodys predicted that first attack was done by shark. Most of the films there is some kind of hero. In the film hero is Brody. In first attack he was the male actor to spot the theory of the shark and we were side of him. At the third attack, tension increased after a smaller shark had been killed and it was been killed by two people. But Brody thinks that the shark is too small to bit the people and this tells us more tension is about to come. This third attack is difference by manipulating others. In this attack Spielberg chose Broodys son as an alone poor child. First two attacks were involved strangers, now in the third attack its the Broodys son being involved because this has an effect on Broody. Its the last section of the film which has more tension than any other part. Whereas two attacks had been occurred in beach but now they will be out in sea to catch that killer shark in a small boat. They are fearful because they suddenly remembered that shark will be gone forever. After the investigation team have found a size of the shark, they become more afraid and couldnt believe the size of it. It putting a dramatic suspense on now because the team now realised that they now need a bigger boat to kill the shark. Now the suspense begins and audience knows that shark is going to hunt and maybe eat them. Spielberg made sure the small boat was involved to create that fear, tension and suspense. At the very last, Tension decreased because Broody kills that shark for last blowing the audience remains on seat though out the rest of the film.