Business Policy & Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 11500 words

Business Policy & Strategy - Essay Example Established companies are already in the industry and dedicated to maintaining their clientele. Initially, such disruptive technologies have no market. During the ‘tug-of-war’ for expansion, ventures aimed at the explicit requirements of existing clientele or on the wants of current consumers that a dealer has not yet been capable to get in touch with will always influence schemes to extend goods for markets that are not present (Christensen, 2003, p. 77). A huge business may not think about a fresh, undersized market as a lucrative option. It might think that a million-dollar deal is not something to be worried about. The extent of the business must be proportionate with the extent of the market. From time to time, established companies have done well within small and simple product markets by starting ‘spin-offs’, or independent divisions to manage the fresh product. A well-known example is the division IBM in Florida, which created the Personal Computer d uring 1980. The head of the company seriously wanted the PC. He struggled against the interfering conflict as well as institutional disinterest for a number of years to obtain one. At last, he funded the venture with unrestricted finances, with project supervisor reporting to him directly without anyone’s interference. This initiates one of the most magnificent achievements in the history. The IBM PC was invented within record time, sales go up rapidly, and in a couple of years, IBM was the unbeaten leader of the industry. However, during the year 1984, sales of PC turn out to be vital to IBM's revenues, so executives in corporate headquarters regained power on the business. They suppressed improvement, decreased IBM's market share to below 5 percent, and from 1984, the company has persistently lost funds. In the meantime, the competitors such as Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and Dell have earned billions (Dastur, 2011, p. 139). Entering market for simpler, cheaper products may be inexpensive, but it is also less lucrative, sluggish, less consistent, and/or less resourceful.

Safety Supervisors in the work place Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Safety Supervisors in the work place - Essay Example Most of the accidents caused are directly related to unsafe practices and actions taken by people at workplace. In addition, ancestral causes, social environment, unsafe acts and mistakes lead to accidents or injuries at work place. Just by eliminating unsafe worker behaviors, often referred to as risk behaviors and ignorant behaviors, about 90% of the accidents at work place can be effectively prevented (Taylor, Easter & Hegney, 2004). To increase the safety at work place and to encourage behavior based safety, every organization has its own methodology which it follows. Some organizations lay very rigid safety measures to be followed without fail while some offer spot incentives for fun and get the behavior based safety measures maintained to the best. In few organizations, spot warnings are given to employees that commit defects of faulty and unsafe actions; extreme measures such as dismissal letters are also issued to the defaulters. To positively reinforce behavior based safety actions, supervisors incentivize their staff with goodies, applauds, appreciations etc. At an organizational level, such staff members can be rewarded with monetary incentives. As a safety supervisor, it is important to communicate safety methods and practices to all employees and ensure they understand the significance of safety and reasons for implementing such safety measures.

Types of Demonstrative Evidence

Types of Demonstrative Evidence Demonstrative evidence illustrates the witnesss testimony. Illustrations include: maps, diagrams of the initial crime scene, charts and/or graphs the injuries to the plaintiff. Injuries could be defined as physical or financial. These are used at trial by both the plaintiff and the opposing council. (Real and Demonstrative Evidence) There are different types of evidence and in this writing I will discuss eight specific types of demonstrative evidence. Photos are considered to be demonstrative evidence that is shown during trial. I know you might have heard the saying A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, well that is fairly true. Photos can prove that a person was at the scene of the crime, and it could also show the offender acting out the crime they are being charged for. In todays society everyone has their phone at the ready; just waiting for something to happen. This goes into my next demonstrative evidence; video. (Leesfield Scolaro, P.A.) I did mention everyone having their smart phone ready, well majority of the time people starting recording incidents either when the confrontation begins or when physical harm to another person has begun. In my own opinion sometimes video footage just isnt enough to bring charges against a person. Ive seen several police officers that have gotten away with their behavior towards persons in a community. They may have gotten a written remark in their records or even administrative paid leave, but some have not been brought on guilty charges. Sound recordings are another example of demonstrative evidence, and Ive seen this being used a lot in the earlier days. What I have seen is that a lot of undercover personnel use hidden wires to get the other person to admit to a crime that was committed. This can be used as evidence to get someone put into prison. Drawings are another form of demonstrative evidence. I would prefer to use sketches as way to describe the kind of drawing being used. A lot of victims are able to describe the offender to law enforcement to get a visual on the person that committed the crime against them. Usually they can use the sketch with the facial recognition software and try to get a match in their facial database. Diagrams or maps are known as demonstrative evidence. These are used in some cases to show the jury or witnesses to simply the explanation of where scene of the crime happened. Maps should be clear and focused to ensure that the information you are trying to display to the targeted audience is understandable. (Publishing, 2014.) Simulations as demonstrative evidence can be known to not be as clear compared to an actual witnesss testimony. Along with the other demonstrative evidence, it is hard to replicate what actually happened in that moment. We have come a long way with technology and we have a lot of experts that are able to replicate some of the things so that when it is presented to the court as a visual, then the court can get an understanding of what happened. My eight demonstrative evidence would be that the jury is presented with forensic animation. Which is an audio-visual reconstruction of the incident that is being brought to trial. This form of evidence is being used more often in our courtrooms because it provides detailed information for the court so they can get a very clear understanding on what happened. Authentication of evidence is done before evidence is admitted to the court. It means that the party that wants to present the evidence during trial must state what the document is what it claims to be. This does not mean that the document will be sufficient enough to prove the offender being innocent or guilty. Authentication will also prevent the party from fraudulently creating the document. Authentication of the evidence and the relevance of the evidence are related because once the authentication of the document is complete and it is admitted to the court, then the opposing party needs to see that what is in the authenticated evidence is either true or false. Is this proof relevant to the case or not? (2012) There are several steps to authenticate evidence. Decide, When, Mark, Show, Identify, Introduce and Argue. The party needs to decide if the document they want to admit as evidence is what they say it is. You need to mark the document stating what it is; i.e., Exhibit A is the orange shirt the offender was wearing. You need to show the evidence to the parties staying that this will be the evidence being presented to the court. Introduce the evidence to the jury and of course the opposing party will try and argue that the evidence being presented is not accurate. Certain items like pictures, computer printouts and maps can be authenticated. For computer printouts can have a lot of information; this can come from their personal computer or other electronic devices like the persons cell phone. The person who found the digital information will have to testify during trial. Stating what was found and to state what was showing is what the evidence claims to be. With photographic evidence, before it is admitted as evidence it needs to show the actual scene of the incident. Meaning that it must be relevant, clear and not distorted. Evidence being admitted that is of a map or diagram; the attorney needs to be very clear when presenting it to the jury. If they have the witness point to the map or diagram and they have to state the jury what they are pointing at, and then of course you would need to show the jury so they can get a better understanding. (Larocca, 1975) Chain of custody if very important when handing evidence. It is a written record of all of the individuals who have maintained unbroken control of the items that are considered evidence for the case. It shows that if it remains unbroken, that the evidence taken from the crime scene, will be the same evidence presented to the court. It is very important because this can ensure that the prosecutor put away the correct suspect that committed the crime. If the chain of custody was broken, the evidence will be dismissed from the court and that can also get the case dismissed. References Real and Demonstrative Evidence. (n.d.). Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/real-and-demonstrative-evidence.html Leesfield, I. (n.d.). Leesfield Scolaro, P.A. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from https://www.leesfield.com/effective-use-of-demonstrative-evidence.html Publishing, J. (2014, November 07). Using Charts, Diagrams, Graphs, and Maps in the Courtroom. Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://jamespublishing.com/2014/using-charts-diagrams-graphs-maps-courtroom/ (2012, November 7). Retrieved March 01, 2017, from http://federalevidence.com/blog/2012/july/foundation-admitting-documents-authentication-and-relevance Larocca, N., Jr. (1975). Authentication, Identification, and the Best Evidence Rule,36(1), 1-30. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4140context=lalrev

A Womans Career Path Essays -- Gender Studies

The statistics prove that women are making tremendous strides in achieving careers in a variety of fields that were almost exclusively the domain of men. This much heralded progress, spurred by the feminist movement and the rejection of more traditional and oppressive gender roles, has defied thousands of years of sexual subjugation and has proven that women can succeed at any occupation just as well men. However, as married women with children have moved into the role of (in many cases dominant) wage earner, they have left behind a vacuum where the job of homemaker use to be. In American working class culture there are mounting opposition and obstacles to choosing the job of raising children and taking care of the family. This reversal of conditions, pushing women out of the role they were previously forced into, can also have ill consequences on society. The role of homemaker was naturally placed upon women early in human history, presumably due to the vulnerability of human biology. In other animals, pregnancy and child birth typically does not leave the mother in a state of compromised mobility as is the case in human pregnancy. Our primitive ancestors, sustaining themselves through hunting and gathering, would not likely have placed pregnant women in the role of as strenuous an activity as hunting. The role of rearing children and taking care of the home could then have justifiably been passed on to women. Arguably, the aggressive and dominant nature of the male gender, demonstrated even by modern apes for whom we share the closest biological link, would have been a force practiced by our ancestors to kept women in this role of subservience. In our society, where our biological makeup and physical abilities have very lit... ...age/> Gilbert, Susan. â€Å"Two Studies Link Child Care to Behavior Problems.† The New York Times Online. 16 Jul. 2003. Lu, et al. "Child day care risks of common infectious diseases revisited." Child: Care, Health & Development 30.4 (2004): 361-368. CINAHL with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 17 Apr. 2011. Nelson, Sofia, and Lips, Hilary. â€Å"The Motherhood Penalty: ‘Sequencing Moms’ Pay a Price.† Women’s Media. 15 Dec. 2009 . Warren, Elizabeth. â€Å"Transcript. February 6, 2004.† Interview with Bill Moyers. NOW with Bill Moyers 06 Feb. 2004. Woolf, Virginia. The Death of the Moth and Other Essays â€Å"Professions for Women.† Harcourt Brace & Company, 1942 235-242

Online Sales and Inventory Essay

1.1BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Auto supply or auto parts dealers are stores which sells variety of car parts. Some auto supply companies also offers services like car repairs or maintenance and even a car wash. Auto supply has a lot of product line to sell with; it’s either for the performance side (brake fluid, coolant, radiator, engine belts, oil filters, clutch disc, hoses) or the physical side (paintjob, tires, mugs, lights). Some stores are more into car accessories (car alarm system, central lock, sound systems, vinyl, etc.) or tires and mugs selling. Big scale companies tend to have all of these. JTU Auto Supply is a medium scaled company that sells car parts for performance and maintenance of the car. It has been running around 5 years since it was established January 2008. JTU Auto Supply’s name was derived from the initials of â€Å"Jessie T. Uy† who is the owner of the company. From the experience of its owner, Jessie T. Uy of being a taxi driver before, He got interested and came up lots of ideas about different car parts that make him successfully established JTU Auto Supply. JTU Auto Supply’s main colors are red and yellow because the colors are striking, attractive, and visible. The owner also likes the color red because he has Chinese blood. JTU Auto Supply is different compare to other medium scaled auto supply companies because they are keen on having a certain image. They are clean, organized, and has a good structure. An impression to the buyers in proving their tag line â€Å"Tapat sa Presyo†. JTU Auto supply has five physical branches around Cavite located at Pag-asa subdivision which is its main branch, Buhay na tubig, along Molino road near SM Molino, Along Aguinaldo Highway and Salitran. Each branch is dependent on their main branch at Pag-asa. They provide varieties of products and selling five main product lines. These are replacement parts, performance, accessories, fluids and chemicals, and tools. The uses of these for the vehicle are for maintenances or performances. Under replacement parts includes air conditioning, battery and accessories, belts and hoses, body, trim and mirrors, brakes, charging and starting, engine parts, cooling, heating, exhaust fuel, emission, ignition, transmission, wiper and lot more. Under performance includes body styling components, oil, sealers, and additives, tuners, safety equipment and more. If you go for accessories it includes chrome, dress up, exterior and interior and also for trucks. If you need tools they have for body repair, diagnostic tools, electrical, lift equipment, gloves, work wear, safety equipment, tapes, books and manuals too. Under fluids they have windshield wash, A/C chemicals, antifreeze, de-icers, cleaners, brakes, battery chemicals, fuel system, gasket markers, remover, sealers, grease, lubes, adhesives, paint, body repair, maintenance chemicals, leak detectors and oils. Mr. Jessie T. Uy mentioned that they have approximately 15,000 products all-in-all and over a thousand each product line that they have. The main goal of the JTU business is to give its customers a trust and confidence to buy its products and services. To prove to its customers that JTU Auto Supply is dependable, clean, consistent and honest. For the future, they wanted to be like a convenience store and to franchise its business. This impressions and trusts JTU Auto Supply gives customers an attraction to come back. The tagline â€Å"Bringing services to your doorstep† m eans offering to the customers, a great services in terms of delivery of products. They have free delivery fee and can deliver products within 13-15 kilometer radius from its branches for 10-20 minutes. They still offer free delivery beyond the said distance but JTU Auto Supply cannot guarantee the time of delivery. It comes to proponents interest that they never seen a medium scale auto supply have grown this fast yet still having some operational problems and transaction flaws. The problems of the company that they often encountered are mostly in the sales and inventory. JTU Auto Supply manually encodes large amount of items in their inventory. Manually generates sales reports from the receipts or sales invoices they have. They also manually checks and track the inventories in every branches through phone calls, texting or even visiting. This may cause inconvenience in their part especially now that the company starts to grow more. They store their data into Microsoft Excel and open source software such as Quickbook that may cause some security problems in terms to the employees working inside the company. There is a possibility to alter the reports and confidential data. A problem observed is that when it comes to compatibility and specification of the product is hard to find, having lots of possible models in just a single part. Mainly in there free delivery, customers will not be able to see the product itself and causes a lot of misunderstanding or mistakes on the products they ordered. 1.2STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM JTU Auto Supply has five physical stores, all of the branches including the main branch are manually tracking, and checking the remaining items and sold items on each branches’ inventory is by calling, texting, and visiting each branches. Mr. Jessie T. Uy always visit and call each branches (except if he has emergency appointments) just to check updates of sales and inventory such as its needs of every branches. This is very inconvenient for his part since he has also other businesses and works to do. JTU Auto Supply also manually adds, edit, and delete the large amount of items on the Microsoft Excel which is inconvenient. As of now, they already have approximately 15,000 items but as the company grow, JTU Auto Supply is having difficulty in maintaining their inventory. The data on their company such as inventory files, sales invoice files, reports, and a like are also not secured because any person or employee can add, edit, view, and delete it on the Microsoft Excel without the permission and not knowing of the owner. They also manually compute and generate the sales report that may lead to data inconsistencies and errors. They generate it using their copy of sales invoice. JTU Auto Supply has some problems in handling orders via telephone. In their operation they take orders what they can see physically and do not deduct it on the main inventory they have, this causes the items to run out of stocks. Example of this is when a customer calls to order a 5 pieces of 1 litre of brake fluids, the employee will accept the order and deduct on their store’s inventory but someone came to the store and buys exactly 5 pieces of 1 litre of brake fluids. The problem is that physically, an employee sees that there are still remaining item on the storeâ⠂¬â„¢s inventory without knowing that someone has already purchased it. 1.3RESEARCH OBJECTIVE 1.3.1 General Objectives The proposed JTU Auto Supply Online sales and inventory system aims to develop and provide JTU Auto Supply an Online Sales and Inventory system. 1.3.2 Specific Objectives 1.3.2.1 Conduct an interview to identify the problems and needs of the company. 1.3.2.2 Study existing system to define the company problems and needs. 1.3.2.3 Gather information that will be needed in developing proposed system. 1.3.2.4 Analyze gathered information to come up with solutions and in order to design a proposed system. 1.3.2.5 Create a system that will be functional and much help for the company. 1.3.2.6 Evaluate and test the system and help in maintaining the system. 1.4SIGNIFICANCE/JUSTIFICATION 1.4.1 To management. JTU Auto Supply will be able to use the online sales and inventory system because it will fix the problems encountered by the employees. These problems particularly are the manual checking and tracking of inventory from one branch to another and manual computation and encoding of sales in Microsoft Excel. The proposed JTU Auto Supply system also will advertise them further through the website to attract more customers. 1.4.2 To customers. The customers would benefit from the proposed system due to its ease in making transaction, creating orders and buying through online. It is convenient for the customers to buy online and deliver it to their doors hassle-free. Customers can check the availability and price of the item they wish to buy anytime without visiting JTU Auto Supply stores. 1.4.3 To proponents. The Proponents idea and knowledge in establishing a website will become broader. Techniques and programming skills will be developed and will understand more the programming language that will be used. The study will also help them to understand the process of transactions and real problems in real world business. 1.4.4 To future researchers. The study will be useful to the future researchers who will conduct a similar study to JTU Auto Supply Online Sales and Inventory System. The study can serve as the reference in creating the documentation of the future studies including its format and content. 1.5CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK InputProcessOutput 1.6SCOPE OF THE STUDY The scope of the JTU Auto Supply Online Sales and Inventory system are selling and tracking its products and services through online. It features different categories of the products and services, its prices, their descriptions and modes of payments. The mode of payment is cash-on-delivery basis only. The JTU Auto Supply Online Sales and Inventory system will also allow the customers to avail its products only if the user has an account to the website. The proposed will have a built-in shopping cart for the list of orders of the customers. Customers can confirm and cancel their orders through shopping cart. Once the order is confirmed, the item will be delivered. The coverage of its delivery is limited only 13-15 km radius of their branches. 15-20 minutes of delivery is guaranteed only if the location is covered in the 13-15km radius. Directions and contact information of JTU Auto Supply are also included for those customers who wish to visit and call directly the branches. Allowing and providing a customers’ corner will also be included for them to post their questions, inquiries, suggestions and other important concerns regarding the services and products of JTU Auto Supply. The JTU Auto Supply Online Sales and Inventory system will also include the tracking inventory and sold products on every JTU Auto Supply branches. The Pag-asa branch which is the main branch of JTU Auto Supply will be in-charge with the online ordering and delivery of the ordered items. The system will provide an account for administrators of the JTU Auto Supply to control and maintain the system process such as adding, editing, and deleting items on the inventory database. For the communication of each branch, the proposed system will also provide message box or e-mail for the administrator to administrator account from one branch to another.

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: |Assessment OF Learning |Assessment FOR Learning | |Focused on learning that has already happened; |Focused on learning for the future; | |Making a judgement about final performance; |Goal is to provide useful information to students about how to learn | |Designed to discriminate between students’ achievement and performance; |more effectively; | | Focused on grades, precision and measurement; |Helps students to identify what they do and don’t know – focus is on | |Concerned that tasks are reliable and valid; |improvement; and, | |Testing usually takes place under ‘standardised’ conditions; and, |Develops students’ judgements about the quality of their work – and how | |Grade contributes to final certification. |to improve. | 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:  Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ 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. |Technique |Why use this technique? |How would I use this technique? | |Use a marking rubric that contains information |To encourage students to engage, wrestle |Set aside time to discuss the rubric with students| |about criteria and standards. Offer it to |with and develop an understanding of the |in class. Provide examples of what an A, B, C, D | |students so that they can use it to plan high |criteria and standards related to an |and P level answer /assignment looks like. Explain| |achieving work. |assessment task before embarking on their|the differences to students and engage them in a | | |work. |dialogue. Get them to mark assignments samples so | | | |that they have to engage with the criteria and | | | |standards before embarking on their own | | | |assignment. | |Provide verbal ‘global’ feedback to the whole |To emphasise the common achievements and |As you mark assignments, make a list of 3 things | |class. |errors made across all assignments within|done well, and 3 things in need of improvement | | |a student cohort. |across the whole cohort. Use the next available | | | |class to provide feedback to the whole cohort. Be | | | |specific and provide an example. Post a summary on| | | |Moodle. | |Provide written feedback only. The mark/grade |To focus students’ improvement efforts on| | |is released only after students demonstrate a |the written comment rather than the | | |plan for improvement. |number/grade. The technique assumes that | | | |the learning for students is located in | | | |the staff comments. | | |Invite students to tell you 2-3 specific |To develop students’ capacity to |Ask students to write these 2-3 elements somewhere| |elements of the assignment they would like you |self-assess the quality of their |on the assignment cover sheet before submitting | |to focus your feedback on. |submitted work. |it. Your feedback on these elements does not need | | | |to be extensive but they warrant comment. | |Ask students to indicate the grade (ie, A, B, |To encourage students to engage with the |Invite students to write a 100 word justification | |C, D) they think their assignment should |criteria and standards for the assignment|about the grade they’ve nominated. Your final | |receive. |as part of their planning. |feedback and grade does not need to align with the| | | |students but you may wish to note any differences | | | |in each of your perceptions about the quality of | | | |the work. | |Encourage students to demonstrate/write how |For students to demonstrate how they have|Make this aspect a ‘hurdle’ requirement – to be | |they’ve used your feedback as part of the next |used feedback to improve future learning. |submitted with the next immediate assignment. | |assignment. | | | 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. |80-100% |A | |70-79% |B | |60-69% |C | |50-59% |D | |Ungraded |P (may also denote satisfactory completion of a Masters Prelim course of | | |postgraduate thesis) | 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).