Assessment and Feedback Essay Example for Free

Assessment and Feedback Essay Assessment drives the choices students make about their learning. It is widely recognised that assessment and feedback contain the strongest potential to change how, and what, students do to succeed in their learning (Ramsden, 2003). This Effective Teaching Guide on Assessment provides practical suggestions on assessment and feedback. Assessment of Learning and Assessment for Learning David Boud, a recognised researcher and scholar of assessment in higher education, suggests that assessment has many purposes, but particularly to help students to improve their learning and certify students’ learning. These two purposes lead to different ways of thinking about what, how, and when to assess students: According to Boud and Associate’s Seven Propositions for Assessment Reform in Higher Education (2010), assessment has most effect when: 1. Assessment is used to engage students in learning that is productive (including the need for assessment to be designed to focus students on learning); 2. Feedback is used to actively improve student learning; 3. Students and teachers become responsible partners in learning and assessment; 4. Students are inducted into the assessment practices and cultures of higher education; 5. Assessment for learning is placed at the centre of subject and project design; 6. Assessment for learning is a focus for staff and institutional development; and, 7. Assessment provides inclusive and trustworthy representation of student achievement. The power of feedback Feedback plays an important role in improving students’ learning. A useful summary is that provided by Gibbs and Simpson’s (2004). In their meta-study of the research about how assessment and feedback support student learning, 7 of their 10 identified conditions relate to feedback, and students’ understanding of feedback. These are: †¢ Sufficient feedback is provided, both often enough and in enough detail; †¢ Feedback focuses on students’ performance, on their learning and on actions under the students’ control, rather than on the students themselves and on their characteristics; †¢ Feedback is timely in that it is received by students while it still matters to them, and in time for them to pay attention to further learning or receive further assistance; †¢ Feedback is appropriate to the purpose of the assignment and to its criteria for success; †¢ Feedback is appropriate, in relation to students’ understanding of what they are supposed to be doing; †¢ Feedback is received and attended to; and, †¢ Feedback is acted on by the student. Hounsell (2004) also makes the following points about feedback: †¢ It can be extrinsic (assessment-focused) or intrinsic (activity and  practice-based); †¢ It can be immediate and verbal (in order to address the potential lack of engagement when it arrives after an assessment); †¢ It can be provided to be a whole class; †¢ It can be many to many where students are involved in identifying the strengths and weaknesses (peer feedback); and, †¢ Feedback can be a loop – it can be offered on unfinished work. Another useful idea is feed-forward. Feed-forward encourages students to use something like a marking rubric (also captured by the idea of criteria and standards) to help plan their approach to an assessment. While a marking rubric is routinely used by university teachers to mark/grade students’ work (as an expression of what a student needs to demonstrate (and the level they need to achieve) to receive a particular grade), the idea of feed-forward is about encouraging students to use that same information in the rubric to plan their work, and perhaps even, to self-assess it before submitting it for formal feedback. In summary: Feedback example: Develop a marking rubric as a cover sheet. The rubric identifies the elements of the assignment, together with a breakdown of marks for each element or a description of the standard for an A, B, C, D, P etc. Feed-forward example: Provide the marking rubric to students before the assignment is due so that they clearly understand what’s expected, the levels of achievement, and can plan their approach accordingly. In marking student work, you’ll need a suite of feedback techniques. Remember, if you’re going to be spending a lot of time providing feedback, you want to make sure that students read, use and engage with your feedback to improve their next assignment. The best way to do that is to have a range of techniques that you can draw on, when you need to. The table below describes some feedback techniques. One observation you might make about each of these techniques is that they are focused on: (i) engaging students with the criteria and standards, and (ii) with what the student does with the feedback they receive. If you’d like to read more about these two ideas (and others like them), two articles may be especially useful to you: Rust, Price O’Donovan (2003) and Price, O’Donovan Rust (2004). Consistency and fairness in marking and feedback Consistency in marking, or moderation, is aimed at ensuring fairness in marking, and requires finding or establishing agreement between markers. Making sure that assignments contain criteria and standards is a good start because the expectations involved are clear to the student and clear to the marker. Although this does not absolve the marker from interpreting students’ work, without criteria or standards, the job of marking ends up being much harder. The procedures for marking are set out in the University’s Assessment Procedures (an excerpt of the principles is below): Where there is more than one marker, selected pieces of work from each assessment task should be reviewed by the subject coordinator to verify the level and consistency of the marks allocated by the marker. This process, called moderation, increases the reliability of the assessment process and application of standards, promotes consistency, supports objectivity and establishes a shared understanding of standards and fairness in assessment. The university also has a grading schema with a range of Pass grades. Graduate capabilities Alongside the conventional grading schema, from 2012, all commencing first year students will receive a result on the achievement of the university’s six graduate capabilities at the end of the year: †¢ Writing †¢ Speaking †¢ Inquiry/Research †¢ Critical thinking †¢ Creative Problem-solving †¢ Teamwork There are some subjects which have been designated cornerstone, mid-point and capstone status. This means that their curriculum has been designed to teach, assess, provide feedback and report specifically on these graduate capabilities. For each graduate capability, students will receive one of three results: exceeded expectations, met expectations or did not meet expectations. Each faculty has carefully crafted a description of what these standards look like. It may be the case that you will be asked to provide feedback to students about their graduate capability achievement as well. Because faculties will have already done substantial work outlining those standards, it is likely you will be asked to offer students that feedback. Summary When considered together, assessment and feedback are incredibly powerful levers for influencing the direction of students’ efforts, and their learning. For many students, the assessment in the subject is the actual curriculum. It is largely students’ reading and perception of what the assessment demands of them which is a key determinant in how they spend their time in a subject. Therefore, the messages that students take away about assessment from the documents; the Subject Guide; from interaction with other students, are important considerations. In the second week, you will discover just how crucial feedback is to this process and how the  adoption of standards and criteria will help you mark and grade more efficiently and effectively. References Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2004). Conditions Under Which Assessment Supports Student Learning. Learning and Teaching, Issue 1, pp: 3-31. Hattie, J. Timperley, H. (2007). The Power of Feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112. Hounsell, D. (2004). Reinventing Feedback in the Contemporary Scottish University. Scottish Quality Enhancement Workshop on Assessment, University of Glasgow [available online at: www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/documents/events/20040604/Hounsellpaper.pdf]. O’Donovan, B., Price, M., Rust, C. (2004). Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria. Teaching in Higher Education, 9(3), 325-335. Orrell, J. (2006). Assessment beyond intuition. Central Queensland University [available online at: http://www.learning.cq.edu.au/FCWViewer/view.do?page=8896, accessed Feb 2011]. Price, M., O’Donovan, B., Rust, C. (2004).Know what I mean? Enhancing student understanding of assessment standards and criteria. Teaching in Higher Education, 9(3), 325-335. Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in higher education. (2nd edition). Routledge, NY London. Rust, C., Price, M., O’Donovan, B. (2003). Improving Students’ Learning by Developing their Understanding of Assessment Criteria and Processes. Assessment Evaluation in Higher Education, 28(2), 147-164. Taylor, J. (2008). Assessment in First Year University: A model to manage transition. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 5(1).

Men are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Essay Example for Free

Men are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Essay This is the title of the 1990’s Best Selling book which tells that Men and Women are different in their own natural ways. But nowadays, most of the people think that sometimes this is not applicable to both genders. Dual Personality is very common and frequently seen in these days. In fact, Male Vanity is widely experience by most of the men. They are typically described as vain in the way they take excessive measures in making sure they always look gorgeous in social situations, quietly suffer from stress levels that are more taxing than what women experience for the same thing, according to researchers. A lot of women wonder how do men became meticulous and how to identify if a man is already becoming vain. So here’s some of my observations regarding with the reasons why a lot of men are experiencing male vanity and the signs of being vain. Women are known for being beauty conscious. We really like to have fair and white skin, looking sexy and gorgeous all the time and to be beautiful inside and out. And to achieve these things, we sometimes depend on beauty products, herbal medicines and Derma Clinics. But nowadays, the rise of male grooming has led to men taking almost twice as many electrical items with them as women, based on new researches. Beauty Products for men are frequently seen on TV ads. They are answering the demand with products streamlined for the male consumer. Clinique has developed an entire line of skin care products exclusively for men. Their All About Eyes cream diminishes the appearance of eye puffs, darkness and fine lines. They point out that the cream-gel actually helps hold eye makeup in place. Yes. Were still talking about the mens line. Generally, looking clean and pressed is a good idea. But applying expensive moisturizers, powders and creams before and after bedtime is another thing. Should we call it ‘Vanity’? I guess so. Most of the propagandas that women usually read has reached men. Especially in terms of Diet and Health. We can say that a man that is considered vain is also a diet-crazed. A basic guy’s activities to maintain his good health like sports, balance diet and manual labor are enough to offset a normal diet. But if a man knows about yoga, ab cruncher, pilates or a guy who works for better biceps have no purpose for bigger biceps other than self-admiration is not normal anymore. In terms of their outer looks, Fashion and pop culture have a lot to do with the change. The ultra-slim silhouette and skinny jeans that hit the high-fashion world several years ago have infiltrated men’s departments in mainstream stores like Banana Republic and Old Navy. And because of social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, men constantly are confronted with photos of fit male celebs. Men like to live up to a certain standard, a certain level of providing income. The image of a career, however, has become more important than the actual work. Today, men seek clean, domesticated, polite, sedentary jobs. Fathers used to be firemen, farmers and construction workers, which meant getting their hands dirty. Plastic surgery clinics are reporting a surge in business from men seeking a helping hand to stave off the ageing process. And men arent just interested in looking younger, but also thinner and more polished. It is no surprise then that according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS), nearly 171,000 Americans under the age of 18, had some form of plastic surgery in 2000 with the most common operation being rhinoplasty or surgery to change the size or shape of the nose. Joshua Parilla, 25 years old and a call center agent was asked if he shows some signs of being vain as what people had observe to him. And he replied, â€Å"I visit the Parlor twice a month because I want to have a different styles of haircut. Then I visit a massage spa at least once a month as a reward for myself every time I receive my monthly salary. And sometimes I went to a Derma Clinic to maintain my good skin. And I must admit it.† Not only the ordinary men experienced Vanity but also the once who we did not expect to be vain. I had watched a show titled Palaban, hosted by Mareng Winnie Monsod, Malou Mangahas and Miriam Quiambao. Palaban discusses male vanity with Dr. Kho, actor-model Alfred Vargas, Navotas Mayor Toby Tingco, cosmetic surgeon Dr. Manny Calayan and Carole Sarthou of market research firm Synovate Philippines. Women swoon over them and some of their secrets are regimen that includes regularly going to the gym, use of skin care products, getting a hot oil treatment, and even having cosmetic laser treatment. Some of them have taken to stuffing their bag with their own â€Å"kikay kit (vanity kit). They use products intended for women too. So now, who says only women can be vain? It seems that Vanity truly changed the name of men. And the rise of Male Grooming has changed the point of views of many people. Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus but we are on Earth so there’s no boundaries here. Self-improvement is a good thing as it makes us feel more confident when we face the world. However, our confidence is and should always be in our own selves as individuals.

Analysis Of Mans Search For Meaning English Literature Essay

Analysis Of Mans Search For Meaning English Literature Essay The purpose of this paper is to analyse Victor E Frankls Man Search for Meaning. The paper will discuss how Frankl finds meaning in the Nazi death camps and why are some people unable to find meaning. The paper will explain what I have determined to be the meaning of life. Introduction Mans Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl is one of the most impressive works of psychiatric literature after Freud. This 1946 book gives an account of the authors experiences while being an inmate in a concentration camp. He gives a detailed account of the psychotherapeutic method he gives to find a reason to live. Frankl believes that the books objective is to answer the question-How the daily routine life in a concentration camp is depicted though the mind of an average prisoner there. The first part of the book encompasses the analysis of Frankls experiences in the concentration camps. It gives lengthy and stark and profoundly moving personal essay about the imprisonment of Frankl in the concentration camp of Auschwitz and others for five years. He struggled during this time to determine the reasons to live. The second part, Logotherapy in a Nutshell, depicts the psychotherapeutic method that Frankl establish as a result of the days he spent in the concentration camps. He introduces his ideas of what exactly meaning is and what is logotherapy theory (Viktor E Frankl). finding meaning in the Nazi death camps One of the different believes that Frankl nurtured during this time was that mans strongest desire is to look for meaning and purpose. His logotherapy theory, (logos, a Greek word, denotes meaning) which is quite compatible with the Western religions, unlike Freuds, is an amusing, advanced and very human work. His personal and professional discussions conflate into a style of great power. He writes, Our generation is realistic, for we have come to know man as he really is. (Viktor E Frankl). Being a well-known Viennese psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl was able to scrutinize how he and the other inmates of the Nazi camp suffered in Auschwitz. He observed that the men actually comforted others. They even gave away their food and actually proved that life can take almost everything from them but cannot change their attitude towards it in any situation. The prisoner became a unique sort of person and it was due to an inner decision. The life in the camp was not an only influence. Only the prisoners who lacked a strong inner control on their ethical selves gradually became victim to the camps deteriorating environment. On the other hand, the prisoners who became victorious of the sufferings and harsh experiences eventually turned them into a triumph of the self (Viktor E Frankl). Frankl writes about the three psychological reactions which the inmates of the camp experienced to a great extent: shock after going through the preliminary phase of admission in the camp, Numbness after becoming used to the life in camp, where the inmate values only the thing which helps him and his fellow inmates survive reactions of reification, resentment, moral disfigurement and disenchantment from life if he is lucky enough to survive and is released. The meaning of life Ascertaining the meaning of life is the key theme of the book. The book makes you ask yourself -what is the meaning of my life? It even moves the people who have not thought about it. And for some of them it was a recurrent quest. The book made me think that it is certainly not an easy question to ask anyone. No denying that is one is not an easy question either to ask or to answer. However, Viktor Frankls Mans search for Meaning explores this question in a great detail. Why Mans search for Meaning helps in understanding the meaning of life, is because it is beautifully crafted book. Other than the precious details of the Frankls experience in the Nazi camps, the book also takes us to his philosophy by presenting logical details. The main theme of the book is the detailed explanation and development of Logotherapy therapy theory (Viktor E Frankl). As I understand Logotherapy, it says that a primary motivational force helps a person to come through any annihilating crisis is his or her constant search for meaning in life. Unlike the other theories such as Psychotherapy, Logotherapy is futuristic. It tries to help the person find out the meaning in life and what will make his or her life meaningful or to put in Frankls words, life-to-be-lived. Frankls idea to find meaning is in the midst of utmost suffering. Other people in the nazi camp were unable to find meaning in life because they wanted to run away from suffering and not just sit and understand it. Frankl does not say that suffering is important to find meaning in life-rather he says that understanding lifes meaning is possible even despite suffering (Viktor E Frankl). Frankl discovered that most of the prisoners died when they were doing less hard work and were suffering more than the people who survived. The survivors were supposed to be the people who had a vision of a glorious future for themselves despite the horrible present. They believed they were pursuing a meaning in life and refused to surrender to despair. The prisoners life and experience in a concentration camp was finally only a remembered nightmare. Even when the fear of Nazis was utmost, he knew that he has nothing left to be afraid of, except God. The true meaning in life for Frankl is to make others find their meaning. As a victim and a successful survivor of the dreadful Nazi concentration camp, his pursuit of meaning kept him from losing his last possession. His strong and incessant will to finish his manuscript destroyed earlier, became the key for his believe in life and survival. His dream to finally hold a complete manuscript in his hand, actually helped him to endure every hardship and suffering imposed upon him in the death camp (Viktor E Frankl). Conclusion Frankl concludes in Mans Search for Meaning that one can find the meaning of life is almost every moment of life, whether it is of suffering or of happiness. He believes that life never stops to have a meaning; it is just that a person has to find it out right on time. He learns a lot from his experiences in the camp and believes that a prisoners psychological reactions are not only caused by the sufferings or adverse conditions of his life, but also from the freedom of choice that he always has even at the time of suffering. The strong inner hold that a prisoner has on his spiritual self depends on his faith in the future. Once a prisoner loses his faith in future, he not only loses his track to find the meaning of life, but is also doomed.

The Physics of Basketball Essay examples -- Athletics Sports Essays

The Physics of Basketball The more and more I look around I begin to see how physics are integrated into practically everything that we do. These things would surely go unnoticed without making a conscious effort to notice them. For example simple things like riding a bike, or driving a car, or playing catch with a son or daughter. Just as these activities are loaded with elements of physics, sports are also, especially basketball. Physics play a part in every aspect of the game, from dribbling, passing, and shooting, to things as simple as setting a screen. First we should take a look at the elements of dribbling. Dribbling is all based on conservation of energy and the two different types of collisions, elastic and inelastic. The more air pressure a basketball has inside it, the less its surface will bend or deform during a bounce, and the more its original energy will be stored in the compressed air inside (Bill Willis, 2001). The reason for this is that the air inside of the ball can return the energy of the ball better than that of the material of the ball, which is usually leather. This is the basic concept of the conservation on energy. A reason to inflate the ball more is to produce a more elastic collision between the ball and the surface it is hitting. The more inflated the ball is the less energy is lost in the deformation of the ball, ensuring you that it will bounce back. The less energy that is lost in this process will make the collision more elastic, and produce a better bounce of the basketball. Another aspect of basketball that relates to collisions in the very basic, but useful technique of setting a â€Å"screen† or â€Å"pick.† This collision is more of an inelastic process that involves one player runn... ...I step foot on the floor. Sometimes I think we get lazy and don’t take the time to think about how physics affect our lives, because you don’t realize how integrated physics are in every thing we do until you have to look at things critically. With this newfound knowledge, hopefully I will be able to play basketball just a little bit better. Bibliography 1).Kirkpatrick, Larry D. and Wheeler, Gerald F. Physics a World View. 4th ed. Fort Worth, Philadelphia, San Diego, New York, Orlando, Austin, San Antonio, Toronto, Montreal, London, Sydney, Tokyo: Barrosse and Vondeling, 2001 2).Willis, Bill. The Physics of Basketball. 30 April 2003 http://www.geocities.com/thesciencefiles/physicsof/basketball.html 3).Unknown. The Physics of Basketball. 1 May 2003 http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/trobinso/physicspages/PhysicsOf/Basketball/Physics%20of%20 Basketball.html

Heideggers Reading of Descartes Dualism Essay -- Dualism Essays

Heidegger's Reading of Descartes' Dualism ABSTRACT: The problem of traditional epistemology is the relation of subject to external world. The distinction between subject and object makes possible the distinction between the knower and what is known. Starting with Descartes, the subject is a thinking thing that is not extended, and the object is an extended thing which does not think. Heidegger rejects this distinction between subject and object by arguing that there is no subject distinct from the external world of things because Dasein is essentially Being-in-the-world. Heidegger challenges the Cartesian legacy in epistemology in two ways. First, there is the modern tendency toward subjectivism and individualism that started with Descartes' discovery of the 'cogito.' Second, there is the technological orientation of the modern world that originated in the Cartesian understanding of the mathematical and external physical world. Descartes stands at the beginning of modern philosophy and Heidegger accepts Descartes' role in the history of metaphysics. Descartes is the first thinker who discovers the "cogito sum" as an indubitable and the most certain foundation and thereby liberates philosophy from theology. He is the first subjectivistic thinker in the modern philosophy and he grounds his subjectivity on his epistemology. The orientation of the philosophical problems with Descartes starts from the "ego" (the "subject") because in the modern philosophy the "subject" is given to the knower first and as the only certain thing, i.e., the only "subject" is accessible immediately and certainly. For Descartes, the "subject" (the "ego", the "I", "res cogitans") is something that thinks, i.e., something that represents, perceive... ...icture", The Question of Technology and Other Essays. Trans. by William Levitt. (New York: Harper and Row Pub., 1977.), 127. (27) Bernard Charles Flynn, "Descartes and the Ontology of Subjectivity", Man and World, (Vol. 16, No: 1, 1983), 10. (28) Ibid., 10. (29) Ibid., 14. (30) Ibid., 14. (31) C. D. Keyes, "An Evaluation of Levinas: Critique of Heidegger" Research in Phenomenology. (Vol. II, PP 121-142, 1972), 131 and Martin Heidegger, Being and Time 46. (32) Ibid., 131. (33) Martin Heidegger, Basic Problems of Phenomenology, 119. (34) John Richardson, Existential Epistemology: A Heideggerian Critique of Descartes Project, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), 91. (35) Aristotle, Physics Book IV The Basic Works of Aristotle. Ed. and Intr. by Richard McKeon. (New York: Random House, 1941.), 219b. (36) Martin Heidegger, Being and Time , 376.

Sweetheart of the Song of Tra Bong as Metaphor Essay example -- Things

Sweetheart of the Song of Tra Bong as Metaphor  Ã‚   The Vietnam War is a strange and unexplainable event in American history. The controversies surrounding the American involvement in Vietnam and the need for Vietnam veterans to tell their stories of the war are prevalent in the post-Vietnam culture of America. "The stories that will last forever are those that swirl back and forth across the border between trivia and bedlam, the mad and the mundane"(89). The story of the sweetheart of the Song of Tra Bong explains this quote of the veteran stories never make exact sense, but they are stories from a war that never quite made exact sense either. The story of "Sweetheart of the Song of Tra Bong," involving a young girl coming to Vietnam for her boyfriend, becomes a metaphor for the rite of passage that a young soldier would experience during his service in Vietnam. The other soldiers in the medical detachment were shocked and amazed at the arrival of Mary Anne, Mark Fossie's girlfriend. She arrived in a typical Americana glory, with her "strawberry ice cream complexion," and in a somewhat lost and tired daze. Her journey was a myriad of plane connections and layovers. Even in her arrival a metaphor is seen as to how a soldier would arrive in Vietnam. The exact arrival of soldiers into the war is somewhat a confusing and shocking fact of debate. Mary Anne was only seventeen when she arrived in Vietnam, but the soldiers over fighting were not much older than her, many the exact same age. After the initial shock of landing in Vietnam wore off, Mary Anne became curious of her surroundings and what was going on in the war. This also is what a young soldier would experience during his first days of service, and he was trying to u... ...ut the hidden thoughts and feelings of the narrator are the real things that need to be examined. The Vietnam War is so colluded with uncertainties that it's meaning and questions of why are still lingering in the minds of citizens of the United States. Although this interpretation of the metaphor is not one that many adhere to when they first read the story, it is one that deserves some attention. The story can be seen as this transformation of the soldier while serving in Vietnam. This story explains some of the smaller battles that the soldiers went through. They fought for their own identity, killing, and survival. All these battles can be seen through Mary Anne and her trails while in Vietnam. The story of Mary Anne ends with her going to the jungles of Vietnam never to be seen again, and this happens to the soldiers, they will always have Vietnam in them.

Removal of tea breaks in the company Essay

It has been noted that many employees have been taking their tea break for more than an hour. The tea break is only supposed to be for thirty minutes, from 10h00-10h30. The customers have been complaining about poor service and it has come to my attention that the reason poor service is being provided to our customers is because of the long tea break hours. This gives a very bad impression to the customers and visitors and it reflects badly on the company. Staffs are reminded that tea breaks will no longer be taken as from 10 September 2012 until further notice. The decision to remove the tea breaks was taken by 70% of the staff members, who all voted to remove tea breaks. Staff should note the following points: * Because of the removal of the tea breaks, lunch has been extended for an extra thirty minutes. As from 10 September 2012, lunch will begin at 12h30 -14h00. * All employees are expected to be in their offices at all times, from 08h00 until lunch time. Should any of the employees feel like taking a break during working hours, permission should be asked from their immediate supervisors. * The company kitchen will be open and available for use at all hours, however, employees are asked not to stand around and chat in the kitchen during working hours. * No eating is permitted in the offices during working hours. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.