Importance of open book assessments Essay Example for Free

Importance of open book assessments Essay An open book examination is one in which examinees are allowed to consult their class notes, textbooks, and other approved material while answering questions. It is ideally suited to teaching programmes that especially aim at developing the skills of critical and creative thinking In order to appreciate the merits of open book examinations, it is first of all necessary to understand the nature of teaching programmes in general. Most conventional examinations test how much information the students have been able to store in their minds. In order to cope with this demand, students memorize the information in class notes and textbooks, and transfer it to answer books during the examination. In this type of examination, success depends on the quantity of information memorized, and the efficiency with which it is reproduced. Does this leads to creative thinking? Noooo This is where open book examinations come in. Open book examinations Provides a chance for students to acquire the knowledge during the preparation process of gathering suitable learning materials rather than simply recalling or rewriting it. It Enhances information retrieval skills of students through finding the efficient ways to get the necessary information and data from books and various resources Also it enhances the comprehension and synthesizing skills of students because they need to reduce the content of books and other study materials into simple and handy notes for examination A more important reason for using open book examinations is that they have a tremendous impact on promoting the right mental sets in both learning and teaching. The most immediate result on students will be that they will stop mugging or rote learning. Most students used to conventional examinations think of studying as the mechanical memorization of information in textbooks and class notes in order to reproduce it in examinations. Open book examinations will effect a fundamental change in this attitude. If textbooks can be consulted in the examination rooms, why bother to memorize them? Does this mean that students dont need to study for examinations? No. It implies that studying should not be equated with memorizing; instead, it should be of understanding concepts, and using these concepts (along with available information) to practice the skills of modifying and building knowledge, thinking critically, and solving problems. In acquiring the right strategies of studying, nothing is as effective as the shocking realization that mugging is of no use in the examinations. Given open book examinations, there will be no more mugging. Once the burden of mugging is taken away, education can be a pleasurable activity, not a painful drudgery. What is learnt with pleasure is learnt more effectively, and retained better.

Racism in Deadly Unna by Phillip Gwynne Essay example -- essays resear

Deadly Unna "Deadly Unna" is the story of Garry Blacks realization of racism and discrimination in the port where he lives. When everyone else seems do nothing to prevent the discrimination Blacky a young boy steps up to the plate and has the guts to say no against racism towards the local Aborigines. Blacky is beginning to realize that the people he looks up to as role models might not be such good examples as most of them including his father his footy coach and even the pub custodian all accept racism as a normal way of life and Blacky begins to realize this and tries to make them aware. At the beginning Blacky becomes aware of the apartheid of white and black first in the players at the local footy team, the white players (Goonyas) all got changed at one end of the club change rooms while the Aboriginal (Nunga) players got changed at the opposite end ?Usually the nungas got changed at one end us goonyas got changed at the other? pg. 21. This is when Blacky begins to realize that even though he sees everyone as equal the rest of the town does not necessarily feel the same. Even Blackys friend Pickles encourages in a way Blacky not to be Dumbys friend, Blacky goes along with it but eventually admits to his friendship with Dumby red, ? Mate of yours now is he? (Pickles) No way not him I hate his guts (Blacky)?pg. 25 after he said this he spat on the ground to prove to Pickles that he meant it Blacky had not realized that his friend were so racist and had previously gone along with any racist slurs they made. His suspicions were confirmed when, at the grand final prese ntation Mark ?Arks? won the Mcrae medal instead of Dumby red. Dumby had been the heart and soul of the team all season and deserved to win h... ...rn because he specifically told Blacky that he was to go fishing with him and nowhere else. Despite his strong feelings for Cathy Blacky even misses out on going to Kathy barbie on her last day in the port this is (to the best of blackys knowledge) the last chance he will have to tell her how he feels about her, despite this he gets up at dawn and walks for three hours to reach the mission. In conclusion Black?s quest to make people aware of racism in the port got him into a lot of strife but he did manage to show people that he did not in any way condone this kind of discrimination and took a stand against the way the entire town thought forcing them to think about their actions. in the end the people that Garry most affected were his brothers and sisters , he may not have changed the whole towns attitude but he taught his siblings a priceless life lesson.

Attack by Siegfried Sassoon; Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred :: English Literature

Attack by Siegfried Sassoon; Anthem for Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen; Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson; No More Hiroshima's by James Kirkup Compare and contrast the attitudes to conflict shown in three or four of these poems, pointing out how the poets use language to explore their ideas and emotions. Two of the poems listed above, attack and anthem for doomed youth are to do with things that happened during world war 1. Both Wilfrid Owen and Siegfried Sassoon were involved with this war, fighting for their country. The poems that they wrote about the war told of their experiences and in attack some of the terrible things Sassoon saw and was made to do. Anthem for doomed youth is more about what happened to the people at home and what they had to go through when they realised their men weren't coming home. I think that the authors of these poems wrote about the war because they wanted people to realise that war wasn't a good thing, all it brought about was pain, suffering and it killed a lot of people unnecessarily. Belfast Confetti is written about the troubles in Northern Ireland. In it the poet Ciaran Carson describes his route through the troubled streets. the poem talks of home-made bombs, firing guns and other missiles. It mentions some of the street names that he goes through all of which are the names of battles in various wars. When reading the poem you imagine that it should be said very fast almost imitating the gun shots spoken about by the author. The last poem I'll be writing about is No More Hiroshima's by James Kirkup. This poem is all about what remains of the city of Hiroshima after an atomic bomb was dropped on it at the end of world war 2. Kirkup describes his first impressions of Hiroshima as he passes through and other things he saw there that made him upset. I think that he decided to write this poem because what he saw affected him greatly and in some way he was almost angry when he saw some of the inhabitants attempts at trying to once again reconstruct a normal life for themselves. The bomb itself which was the first atomic bomb ever to be used in warfare was dropped on August 6th 1945. Over 130, 000 people were killed or severely injured by the bomb and its after effects. This means that Kirkup had nothing at all to do with Hiroshima itself as the bomb was dropped before his time. Also he wasn't Japanese. The first poem that I have decided to write about in full is attack by

Plains Indians

The destruction of the Plains Indians' cultures connected with the technological developments and government actions in the United States. During the period of struggle between Indians and Whites in the late 19th century, Indian leaders often traveled east to plead their case before the federal government, with few results. The building of the transcontinental railroads and all their branches was an inevitable part of the Industrial Revolution that drove America following the Civil War. The Indians were repressed due to the railroad, which cut through their territory in the West, the declining population of the buffalo, wars, and the loss of their land to White settlement. The federal government tried to quiet the Indians' protests by signing treaties with the chiefs of the tribes. However, the treaties failed because those who signed didn’t necessarily represent groups of people in Indian culture, and in most cases, the Indians didn’t recognize the authority chiefs outside of their own tribes. In the 1860s, the U. S. government made new efforts to relocate Indians into even smaller reservations than before. Indians were often promised that they wouldn’t be bothered further if they would just move out of their ancestral lands, and often, Indian agents were corrupt and sold off cheap food and products to their own fellow Indians. White men often ignored the treaties, though, and frequently scammed the Indians. In frustration, many Native American tribes attempted to fight back. After the Civil War, the U. S. Army’s new mission became to move the Indians out of the West so the White settlers could move in. A couple of Indians and Whites battled between 1860s to 1890s in a series known as the Indian Wars. Many times though, the Indians were better equipped than the federal troops sent to stop their revolts because arrows could be fired more rapidly than their rifles. However, the invention of the Colt . 45 revolver and Winchester repeating rifle put the Indians at a disadvantage. During this period, there was much violence among the Indians and Whites. Generals Sherman, Sheridan, and Custer all battled Indians in battles such as Little Big Horn. The building of the railroads is connected with the settlement of the West and the steady destruction of Indian cultures. The main food source for Plains Indians were the bison. In the early days, millions of bison populated the American prairie, and by the end of the Civil War, there were still 15 million buffalo. Many people killed buffalo for their meat and their skin but many people killed the bison for sport and just left the rest of the carcass to rot. However, it was the expansion of the railroad that really started the bison massacre. Railroads enhanced the value of the land enormously, but made farmers dependent on railroads. The need for open land led them to kill off the bison for railroad land. Railroad construction led to further settlement of the West, which in turn complicated conditions for the Indian tribes. The Plains Indians were driven out of their territory and into too small reservations. With the expansion of the railroad, down came their number one food source, the bison. Inventions such as the Winchester, led to the disadvantage of Indians during battles when protecting their land. The wars, overall, also affected the Indians. The government actions, building of the railroad and other inventions, contributed to the steady decline in the Plains Indians' population.

How Far Did Martin Luther King Further the Cause of Civil Rights Essay

Dr. Martin luther king is one of the most famous civil rights activists in America to date. However, the importance of his legacy has been debated over how important really was he to the civil rights movement. I personally his movement was a key catalyst for the acquiring of equal civil rights in America. Martin Luther King’s peculiar method of campaigning gained him a large amount of white sympathizers to the civil rights cause. This support, which included President Johnson as a supporter; proved a great asset to the success of the civil rights movement, which highlights King’s importance. His use of peaceful campaigning put the activists on a moral high ground against the police and authorities trying to physically stop them. King being a Christian Pastor, used his acquired rhetoric to communicate the moral issues of his campaigns to the largely Christian white Americans. His importance is clearly evident as had he not tried to communicate to the masses on a religious level, support for the civil rights movement would be very small outside African American community. Perhaps a more militant approach like that of the Black Panthers would have proven a possible hindrance to the success of the civil rights movement as sympathy from white people and moral justification would be eradicated. This is why the work of Martin Luther King could be considered very important to the civil rights movement. Another reason why Martin Luther King’s contributions could be considered very important is due to King’s character and personality. He was like a spokesman for the movement. His impressive oration skills granted him a large audience on which he could lay down his ideas. Civil Rights was mostly associated with him and his personality gave him connection to many people within the political spectrum. King had an inspirational factor to his speeches, as seen during the March On Washington where he delivered his famed ‘I have a dream’ speech in front of 250,000 spectators. His popularity on a national level meant the government had to change their actics in regards to civil rights as upheaval may follow. In this sense, King forced the government to speed up the laws of civil rights, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964. King’s flair for words and his personality made his a valuable element to the entire civil rights movement; his popularity gave him audience with President Kennedy, who eventually supported King. This is why he could be seen as have important contributions to the civil rights movement. As far as King’s work may have lead the civil rights movement, he can still be considered not that important in the grand scheme of things. Some of his ideas and methods were not supported by some members of the civil rights movement. His peaceful methods were rejected by some African Americans – some of who were involved in the Watts Summer Riots and wished to pursue liberty through violent means. Groups such as Nation Of Islam and Black Panthers labelled King as an ‘uncle tom’- a man who worked for the white people and not his own. This hate towards King made his work less important as opposition decreases his support and gave him enemies within members of the movement itself. Furthermore, King’s speeches were heavily Christianity-based. Although they fitted the majority of citizens, who were mostly Christian, some people were not so his ideas were not understood and accepted very well. In this aspect of things, opponents of King and those who he did not represent made his contributions less important. All in all, King’s contributions largely were very significant and important in the Civil Rights movement, his borrowed methods of peaceful protest , along with his oration skills and inspirational attitude ensured his work is probably the most single significant aspect of the entire movement. Despite not representing some members from the civil rights community, his legacy is very famous. The most important aspect of his work is his use of moral defences against authorities, his pacifism gave him support from the biggest politic figureheads and therefore his work undoubtedly was very important.

American poets Essay

Argued to be the â€Å"greatest of all American poets† (Gale 71), Walt Whitman is regarded by both local and foreign critics as one of the most influential literary minds in the history of the United States. His poem â€Å"O Captain My Captain† which he revised thrice in his lifetime (Gale 72) was one of the most published works during his time. The poem was written shortly after the end of the American civil war which was won by President Abraham Lincoln against the secessionists known as the Confederate States of America. However, President Lincoln was assassinated shortly after the victory. Whitman wrote the poem as a tribute to the late president who he revered as the man responsible for keeping America together through the troubled times of civil war. Lines 1-8 The poem’s first lines introduce the controlling metaphors that build up the rest of the selection. The first line introduces the metaphor of the â€Å"Captain† which is actually Whitman’s representation of Abraham Lincoln and the second line introduces the â€Å"ship† which is the metaphor for the United States of America. The â€Å"fearful trip† is the metaphor that Whitman used for the American Civil War. Both lines express the end of a struggle (the Civil War), with the second line describing the victory as hard won by saying that the ship â€Å"weathered every rack†(Whitman). The second and third lines indicate joy and relief, with people â€Å"exulting’ as the ship finally docks. This line is followed by sudden surprise. Whitman makes use of the repetition of the word â€Å"heart! † to denote that something shocking had happened. What happened is elaborated upon by the succeeding three lines at varying degrees of disclosure. The sixth line is subtle, only hinting some act of violence with the â€Å"bleeding drops of red†(Whitman) that denote the drawing of blood. The seventh line gives a victim for the violent act described in the sixth by mentioning that the Captain had fallen on the floor and it is only on the eight line that the captain’s death is confirmed. Lines 9-16 The 9th and 10th lines both express Whitman’s lamentation at the irony of his â€Å"Captain† dying just after they had achieved victory. In desperation, he asks the impossible of the dead â€Å"Captain† such as to â€Å"Rise up! † or â€Å"hear the bells. † and entices the corpse with the prospect of fanfare. This continues through the 11th and 12th lines where Whitman blends both the public’s celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s military victory and their lamentation for his assassination, with â€Å"bouquets† being more commonly used on events such as the former and black â€Å"ribboned wreaths† on the latter. There are also various descriptions of a massive crowd with words like â€Å"shores a-crowding† and â€Å"the swaying mass† which sends the notion that the entire nation are celebrating and mourning the late president. The 13th to 16th lines detail an expression of denial on Whitman’s part to accept the death of his â€Å"Captain†. The speaker dismisses the â€Å"Captain’s† death as a dream. Whitman describes himself assisting his â€Å"Captain† by offering his arm. In the 13th line, the speaker also refers to the â€Å"Captain† as â€Å"Father†, perhaps to emphasize how Whitman perceives Abraham Lincoln as the man who kept America together. It’s â€Å"Father† so to speak. Lines 16-24 In the 16th line, the speaker is brought back to the reality of the â€Å"Captain†, his â€Å"Father’s† demise. The â€Å"Captain’s† lips are described as â€Å"pale and still† and in the 17th line, the more definite signs of death such as not feeling anything and having no pulse are given. The speaker again makes reference to the ship’s achievement because of the â€Å"Captain† from the 18th to 19th lines. He describes the ship as having been able to dock safely with its object won. This is pertaining to the Civil War waged by secessionists who the American government had triumphed against under President Lincoln’s leadership. The last four lines present the speaker’s point of view regarding the victory. While he commands the shores to â€Å"exult† his â€Å"captain’s† honor, he himself decides to continue mourning his loss. In the last two lines, the speaker finally faces the reality of the â€Å"Captain† has indeed â€Å"fallen cold and dead†. Works Cited: Whitman, W. â€Å"O Captain My Captain†. Poetry-Online. 20 July 2007. Gale, Thomas. Exploring Poetry. Gale Group, 1997.

Bowman Strategy Essay

1.0 Introduction Strategy is a long term directions for companies. Bennett (1996, cited by Cousins 2000) describes strategy as: â€Å"The word strategy is used to describe the direction that the organisation chooses to follow in order to fulfil its mission†. Today, strategies are vital for businesses, in many cases it helps to achieve a competitive advantage. Increasing competition in most sectors and technological development has led to accelerated changes in the global economy. In order to meet the market needs, strategies encourage and enable the adaptation of companies in a changing environment (Tribe, 2010). The aim of the report is to conduct a research on Bowman’s Strategy Clock which will demonstrate a rational, reflective and critical evaluation of the concept. To do so, the report is going to be divided in three parts. The first or the report part is going to give an overview of the Bowman’s strategy with its background. The second part will analyse the model and its different strategies by using example from companies. Then some authors’ opinions about the model will be analysed. 2.0 Bowman’s Strategy Clock 2.1 Strategy Overview In 1980 Michael Porter published his seminal book wherein he identified three generic strategies for a business to gain competitive advantage: cost leadership, product differentiation and market segmentation (Johnson et al., 2008). Basically, Porter analysed that business compete either on price (cost), on perceived value (differentiation), or by focusing on a very precise customer (market segmentation). Source: Eldring (2009) With his model, Porter (1980- cited in Eldring, 2009) explained that a company must choose between one of the three generic strategies otherwise it will be â€Å"stuck in the middle† and suffer from below-average performance. In 1996, Cliff Bowman and David Faulkner developed Bowman’s Strategy Clock Looking at Porter’s Generic strategies in a different way. This model extends Porter’s three strategic positions to eight. Figure 1 below, represents Bowman’s eight different strategies that are identified by varying levels of price and value. Figure 2: Bowman’s Strategy Clock Source: Johnson et al (2008) 2.2 Model explanation Bowman strategy is a competitive strategy. Competitive strategies are tools that businesses use to achieve competitive advantages (Johnson et al. 2005). The Bowman’s clock strategy is a more sophisticated approach, which recognizes and deals with certain criticisms of Porter’s model (Tiwari, 2009). For instance, as it has already been said, according to Porter generic model, a business has to choose one generic strategy are it means that the company is place in the middle which means being â€Å"dead†. However what Bowman believes is that a business can be both low cost and differentiated and still be successful over the long term, such as the companies Swatch, IKEA, Sainsbury and many others. In Bowman model, these companies are situated at the hybrid position, also known as combined strategy (Dobson et al. 2004). Figure 3 demonstrates that there are eight approaches on the clock in total. Meanwhile, these strategic positions can be grouped into three- risk strategies, low price strategies and differentiation strategies (Thomson & Banden-Fuller 2010, 184). Figure 3: Bowman’s Strategy Clock companies examples Source: (Thomson and Baden-Fuller, 2010: 184) To have a clear understanding of the eight different positions of Bowman’s Strategy clock, the author has decided to illustrate them with some companies’ examples. 2.2.1 Low Price Strategies Number 1 and 2 (No frills and Low price) on the clock are organisations who are going to position themselves in a part of the market which is looking for reasonable prices. The examples given are Ryanair and Easyjet. Indeed these two companies have managed to cut their costs by only focusing on their core service (every extras have to be paid by customers), also by using online bookings, and using secondary airports. The advantages of these two strategies are that the expectations of the customers who are choosing their services are very low because of the costs of the service/ products; they are more likely to be satisfied as figure 4 demonstrate it. Figure 4: Customers’ expectations Source: Cook (2008: 17) However the drawbacks of these two positions are that the only way to succeed here is through cost effectively selling quantity, and by constantly attracting new clients. These businesses will not be winning any customer loyalty contests, but they may be able to sustain themselves as long as they stay one step ahead of the consumer (Mindtools, 2012) 2.2.2 Differentiation Strategies From number 3 through number 5 (hybrid, differentiation and focused differentiation) are companies that are offering a customised product or service. The service or product is designed separately for each individual customer, and therefore customers are prepared to pay a price premium for that. The examples given is British Airways whose goal is to present better-quality service to its customers, stakeholders and employees alike (British Airways, 2010). A lot of companies in hospitality industry (such as 3 to 5 star hotels) would not try to compete on price; they would try to position themselves near position 4 or 5 on the model by offering something better, or improve a service. However in order to choose focused differentiation as strategy, businesses need to have a strong branding to make sure their customers are willing to pay a higher price for it. Strong brand have the power to capture consumer preference and loyalty (Armstrong, 2009). This is the reason why this strategy often takes place in the luxury segment. But it can also takes place in other segment such as technology, where for instance with the brand Apple. The company Apple has such strong brand images that according to a recent survey cited in Hughes (2011) consumers are extremely interested in the prospect of an Apple-branded television, that they are willing to pay a twenty percent premium over existing TV prices for such a device. Although it can be difficult for businesses to carry on the successful hybrid strategy due to the lower level of margins caused by the low costs products. As it has been mentioned earlier, companies that have both low cost and differentiated can sometimes be successful because they are quite difficult to compete against The value and quality is good and consumers are assured of reasonable prices. This combination builds customer fidelity. 2.2.3 Risk Strategies The strategies 6, 7 and 8 are called risk strategies because there is a high risk for failure when applying them within a business. For instance number 7, increasing price and keeping a low value product or service is only possible in a monopoly market situation and the customers have no choice else than to pay high price for poor value (Thomson and Baden-Fuller, 2010). However, in a competitive market, this approach remains unsustainable for long. Generally the companies arbitrarily increasing prices soon lose market share, as consumers migrate to competitors that offer the same value at lower prices. An example of a company in hospitality industry that was using high Increased price and standard values is the previous national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001 before its bankrupt (Castle, 2001). Regarding low value and increased price suggests Dwyer et al. (2010) that the night club cover charges as example. 2. 3 Model criticisms Although most of the researchers agree that it is an excellent model for companies to understand how to compete in the market place. Some remains sceptical regarding the position number 3 (hybrid). Simister (2011) believes that a differentiated, low cost hybrid position may be an achievable position only under certain conditions and that therefore it is not it is not applicable for every sector. The strategy clock can also lead to negative thinking and almost justify doing nothing for companies. The model’s strength is to consider competitive actions to possible moves in the clock but all of them could be damaging to business’ profit. Sometimes companies have to be ready to take a risk and make a decisive move because if they do not, another competitor will. . Conclusion The strategy clock represents a set of eight generic strategies for achieving competitive advantage: It is a very useful model to help understand how businesses compete in the market place. This is a powerful way of looking at how to establish and sustain a competitive position in a market driven economy. A competitive advantage is an advantage gained over competition by offering consumers superior value, either through lower prices or by providing additional benefits and service that justify similar, or higher, prices. By looking at the different combinations of price and perceived value, companies can begin to choose a position of competitive advantage that makes sense for them.