Wednesday, January 29, 2020

The Value of Evaluating University Students Essay Example for Free

The Value of Evaluating University Students Essay Education can be referred to as the development of character together with the persons mental powers . It encompasses teaching as well as learning of specific skills . It imparts knowledge on a person who is getting educated. Education plays a very critical role in the development and growth of each and every person . It is considered to equip a person with the knowledge that is required in day-to-day activities that one may undertake. The potentials of a person are put into maximum use through the process of education. This is because education empowers a person to use his or her skills, or talents to maximum use. Education enables a human being to be in his proper sense. Education is very important in a person’s life. The values that education gives to a person are incomparable with those of an uneducated person. Education is considered important for several reasons. One is that, it trains a person `s mind. An individual can be able to learn and practice it. It also makes a person to become a right thinker. This means, that one can be able to think wisely and appropriately . It enables one to think and make decisions as required. Education is very crucial that in enabling people to receive information from the external world . One can be able to learn about different states or regions in the world and the occurrences in those particular places. Past history information can be acquired through education. Present necessary information as well. Education has different levels depending on the content of education at that level. Age also determines which level of education one should be in. Globally university education is the highest institution of learning. It offers knowledge and skills that are very specific to certain profession. For example students are trained depending on the profession that they want to be in after completing their education. In most universities, students are evaluated through examinations. In this essay, the subject of whether university students should be evaluated will be discussed. Evaluation assists tutors or lecturers to find out what knowledge, skills, attitudes or behaviour the course has instilled to the students (William, 2006). Through examinations as a way of evaluation, students are able to give to the lecturer what they understood or learnt from a certain course. Evaluation assists lecturers to set clear, measurable and realistic objectives of the course to be taught . The lecturer can be able to find out how much students can learn over a given period of time. For example, a course with a lot of content if covered over a very short period of time, students may fail to understand it better showed by poor performance in their examinations. Through evaluating students, a lecturer can develop and select the course content that can achieve the goals of that particular course. The students understanding of the course indicated by evaluating him or her shows this. This helps in ensuring the quality education given to the students in maintained at all times, or even improved. Evaluation encourages seriousness of the student to education. The methods of evaluation used demand that students must read thoroughly, as well as understand the content of the course. This means that the knowledge can be absorbed in the students mind. They can also apply the skills in their practical work correctly. Teamwork spirit is promoted amongst the students. This is whereby assignments that are down in teams encourage sharing of knowledge and ideas. They can work together to ensure they achieve their main objective, which is their success in that course. Evaluation encourages solving of problems in a course if they arise . For example failure of students to understand a particular course may be as a result of other factors . For example, poor lecturing or poor concentration of students in class. The problem can be addressed to ensure success. Evaluation promotes hard work in students Assignments or an exam obligates a student to research, learn and even understand much better. Evaluation has its negative face also . It may promote vices in the education system. The necessity of the student to pass evaluation tests may cause them to cheat during the examinations. This is whereby students may carry reference materials, where they can refer to for the correct and accurate answers. This lowers the value of education that the student gets. Selective reading and understanding of the course by the students may be encouraged by exposure to the evaluation tests. The students concentrate on reading and understanding, only what might be examined . The student cannot therefore acquire, all the required skills and knowledge that the course should give him or her. Evaluation may not always show the true ability of a student. For example, a student may be given a low grade simply because he or she never excelled in a certain test. Unfortunately, it might be that the student was only evaluated on few topics that he or she did not understand . If one would be examined all topics of the course, they would get a good grade. Students evaluation at the universities should be done but care should be taken to ensure there is high quality of education maintained. References William M. 2006. Research Methods Knowledge Base. Introduction to Evaluation. Education Evaluation 1

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Redefining The American Dream :: Philosophy Psychology Essays

Redefining The American Dream Consumption patterns portray the dynamic effect of the American Dream. The American Dream today is significantly different that it was fifty years ago. Today Americans work longer work hours, spend 40% more time watching T.V and 40% less time with their children (AGO 2001). â€Å"The avarice of mankind is insatiable,† claimed Aristotle when describing how the appetite of mankind is never satisfied (Durning). As every desire is satisfied a new one rises up to take its place (Durning). This is true for all people; we want more money, a better job, a new car, better benefits, on and on until suddenly it is clear that we have wasted our lives in search of something that actually never made us happy. A wise woman always told me â€Å"never have any expectations and you will always be pleasantly surprised†, the same holds true for consumption. Imagine a world where consumption was an addiction similar to alcohol or drugs. Over consuming is a crime punishable with jail time and â€Å"Consumer Anonymous† rehabilitation meetings. This was the world we attempted to portray during our brief â€Å"Consumers Anonymous† meeting. The opposite is currently happening, the economy expanded 4% between the first quarter of 1998 and 1999 (Krugman 1999). Consumption grew 5.5% during that period (Krugman 1999) . When the economy toke a down turn after President Bush was elected into office, the federal government urged Americans to â€Å"do their part† by spending. The average savings in the United States during 1970 was 8.5%, which has plummeted to an obscene low of 2.1% in 1997 by 1998 savings dropped even further to less than 0.5% (SLI). The lowest saving rate ever witnessed was in 1933 during the great depression at a –2.1% (SLI). By 1997 the total debt of U.S. households had reached 89% of the total household income (ecocompass 2000). The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population however; Americans consume 24% of the world’s energy, 27% of the world’s aluminum and 21% of the world’s beef (SLI). The big shocker is with all of this consumption the happiness levels are not raising (SLI).

Monday, January 13, 2020

Outline the relative strategic positions of Netflix and Blockbuster. What are the key factors that explain the ultimate Blockbuster demise? Essay

Outline the relative strategic positions of Netflix and Blockbuster. What are the key factors that explain the ultimate Blockbuster demise? (as of the time of the case) In the following assignment I will begin by giving the relative strategic positions of Netflix and Blockbuster as of January 2007. I will then outline what I believe to be the top three key factors that explain the ultimate Blockbuster demise. Strategic Positions Netflix – An outside-in company At the time of the case, Netflix was a perfect example of an outside-in thinking company. Netflix‘s strategy was very straight forward – it was to allow the best home video viewing for its customers. This was a simple and clear strategy. This strategy meant Netflix could adapt and change its model of allowing the best home video viewing for its customers as its customers habits changed. By January 2007 Netflix was fulfilling this strategy via its DVD home delivery service. By the end of 2006 we are told in the case study that Netflix had 6.6 million subscribers, a library of 70,000 different titles which were held on over 55 million DVD’s, revenues of nearly one billion and free cash flow of $64 million. The company could deliver to 90% of its subscribers within a single day. Netflix demonstrated that it listened to customer feedback from very early on. When something didn’t work they changed it until the results showed that the replacement service was working. They changed their charging model from a per-movie price to a monthly subscription, they improved their delivery service through opening more distribution centres to allow for quicker delivery and therefore improving customer service, the range of movies on offer was not being limited to new releases but was instead being broadened to offer its customers more of what they liked, the tailoring of movies to the individual and finally carefully considered partnerships and alliances to increase their customer portfolio. At the time of the case Netflix had a sound business model however the CEO, Reed Hastings, could see large-scale change was imminent and he did not want to be left behind. He could see Video-On-Demand was the future and he wanted to be ready for it. The company had already been investing tens of millions in cash in VOD for several years. This demonstrated their desire to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Netflix was evolving to meet its customer’s desires. Blockbuster – An inside-out company At the time of the case Blockbuster were playing catch up. They had spent the recent past in a very dominant and comfortable position with almost 50% of the home rental market. During the period of dominance their model worked. They were in a position which was similar to that of Kodak at the time of the early introduction of digital cameras which ultimately saw the end of Kodak’s dominance in the photographic market. (Johnson, Whittington & Scholes, 2011, pp. 308). They had been very much in the position of an inside-out company whose success had been built around â€Å"depth of copy†. (Ritson, 2010, pp. 62) The only evidence of a strategy was to copy and try to improve upon models which had already been developed by its competitors. Blockbuster did not identify any threats to its market position until it was too late, and when they did recognise the threat their response was to copy, not to innovate. Blockbuster first dismissed the concept of online rentals in 2002, but went on to launch a version of their own in 2004. Key Factors in the ultimate demise of Blockbuster 1 – Blockbuster did not take its competitors seriously. Ritson tells us that a key factor in the demise of Blockbuster was one of ignorance and arrogance. Blockbuster ignored a tiny upstart with a new business model (Netflix) which began in 1999. In an interview with Fortune magazine in 2003, Blockbuster senior management were openly dismissive of the threat posed by Netflix. They stated that their customers were more â€Å"spur of the moment renters who did not necessarily plan their movie watching in advance†. Blockbuster viewed itself as a rental outlet and Netflix as a delivery service. It did not consider Netflix as a competitor. (Ritson, 2010, pp. 62) 2 – Blockbuster was always playing catch-up. Blockbuster saw itself as competing in a different market. Ritson states that if Blockbuster had realised early enough that it was in the entertainment business instead of the home rental business it could have launched a competitor service to Netflix or perhaps even acquired Netflix. (Ritson, 2010, pp. 62) In the case study we are told that Hastings stated in 2005 that, â€Å"we’re just thankful Blockbuster didn’t enter four years ago†. Again from the case study detail we can see that when Blockbuster did eventually start competing with Netflix in 2004 it launched similar products to its competitor and tried to differentiate itself through price. In the article, â€Å"Reinventing your Business Model† we are told that, â€Å"pursuing a new business model that’s not new or game changing to your industry or market is a waste of time and money†. (Johnson, Christensen & Kagermann, 2008, pp. 56) Blockbuster missed an opportunity to leap frog its opponents and instead of trying to break new ground they simply followed what was already working for its competitors. Meanwhile its competitors were already moving on. 3 – Blockbuster did not listen to its stakeholders or strategise. Blockbuster did not listen to what its stakeholders were saying and doing. The article â€Å"Strategic Management of Stakeholders: Theory and Practice†, tells us that by â€Å"attending to important concepts emerging from the stakeholder literature†, it is possible that â€Å"top management teams can increase the robustness of their strategies†. (Ackermann & Eden, 2010, pp. 179). The article goes on to demonstrate that by mapping their stakeholders in the following way companies can see very quickly who has the relevant interest and power to influence the company’s strategic direction. Stakeholder mapping diagram Keep satisfied Manage Closely Monitor Keep informed The lack of a strategy at the time of their dominance saw Blockbuster having to give up revenue when trying to imitate their competitors – $600 million forgoing late fees to match the Netflix model as well as spending heavily on advertising when taking their version of their competitor’s products to market. This money could have been diverted early on to innovate and to remain dominant in the home entertainment market. (Pugatch, 2007, pp. 43). BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Ackermann, Fran & Colin Eden. (2011) ‘Strategic Management of Stakeholders: Theory and Practice’, Long Range Planning 44, pp.179–196. 2. Johnson, Gerry, Richard Whittington & Kevan Scholes. (2011) Exploring Strategy, Text & Cases, Ninth Edition. Harlow: Prentice Hall Financial Times. 3. Johnson, Mark W., Clayton M. Christensen & Henning Kagermann. (2008) ‘Reinventing your business model’, Harvard Business Review, December 2008, pp. 50–59. 4. Pugatch, CB. (2007) ‘Rent this’ (Online). Available at: http://www.response-digital.com/response/200707/?pg=42#pg42 (Accessed 19th June 2013). 5. Ritson, Mark. (2010) ‘This Blockbuster is one you mustn’t miss’ (Online). Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/this-blockbuster-is-one-you-mustnt-miss/3018752.article (Accessed 19th June 2013).

Sunday, January 5, 2020

British Columbia Health Care System - 815 Words

At some point in time, we all have had a chance of sitting in a waiting room of an hospital. I had a chance to visit doctor last week and it was horrible, I had to wait to meet the doctor for around 4 hours while I was dying of pain. That made me to curse the whole hospital system in Canada and that s the main reason that lead me to prepare this essay . British Columbia health care system emphasis on Providing patient-centred care. which is defined as Shifting the culture of health care from being disease-centred and provider-focused to being patient centred. This represents a great polished political language which they use to make people feel happy and confident by confusing without they knowing that they are being confused. The health care statement seems to be impressive when reading it , and compared to my first experience of going to a hospital being sick made me realise that all those polished words are totally fake . As I had to go through a very different and terrible experience and me felt like being on to a shop during boxing day .As the hospital was over crowded with patients and everyone was waiting in queue to get their product at any cost which is considered to be the doctors service. There was sheer cloudy vagueness in hospital according to Orwell s language as everything seemed to be blurred together like ink on a wet page . As looking on the picture we can see that most people have hands supporting chin and its pretty sure that they areShow MoreRelatedBritish Columbia Health Care System825 Words   |  4 Pageshospital system in Canada and that s the main reason that lead me to prepare this essay . British Columbia health care system with emphasis on Providing patient-centred care. which is defined as Shifting the culture of health care from being disease-centred and provider-focused to being patient centered. 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