Accounting theory in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Accounting theory in Australia - Essay Example One such standard that has been much debated is the fair value accounting measure. Fair value accounting has gained popularity in the recent years as the standard for measuring assets and liabilities by firms. Although, fair value accounting has been accepted and adopted by firms across the world, it is still considered to be inefficient in its utility. Perhaps it is because of the discrepancy in the financial systems and conceptual frameworks which have given rise to the chaos that is evident in todays corporate environment. In the following discussion the researcher shall discuss the impact of fair value accounting and disclosures based on current accounting standards, conceptual frameworks and theoretical assumptions with the view to enumerate on its viability, utility and efficiency. International accounting standards are broadly divided into the United States’ independent regulators’ approach and the European public ownership approach. The European approach had been based on the theoretical framework that since corporations are usually serve their own profit interest, it is up to the government to curb private monopolies and monitor their activities. On the other hand the US independent commissions for monitoring and enforcing regulation had been developed with the view to give the market economic independency on the premise of laissez faire. Ironically, as Gaffikin (2005) points out, both the systems fail to achieve its objective of regulation as a result of market inefficiency and economic regulation consideration. This led to the development of a regulation system based on interest theory - that is serving both the private and public interests (Gaffikin 2005). Today, accounting standards across the world is based on the US Financial Accounting Standard Board and the International Accounting Standard Board. Australia follows similar measurement

The History of the Asian community in Britain Essay

The History of the Asian community in Britain - Essay Example The history of the Asian community in Britain dates back to the 18th century, that is 1850s up to date, where they have along moved into Britain, making it one of the world’s multicultural centers, with diverse tribes from the four corners of the world. Migration and settlement of Asians in Britain is attributed to the existence of favourable emigration policies in the land of origin, as well as migration policies in the land of settlement. A conflict in the Asian land and the desire for employment among the Asian people has also caused great migrations. Asians are also known to be very outgoing people in regards to invention, and their presence in the land has excellent rationales, though some are attributed to negativity. The Asian community also consists of people from distinct origins, the earliest coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri-Lanka. Importantly, the presence of Asians in British land is known to have influenced the culture, agricultural, industrial and the ur ban sectors of the economy. In addition, the political and social sectors have not been exceptions from the influence by the long presence of these aliens. However, the continued migration and settlements of Asians in the recent years has drastically raised Britain’s populations to high scores (Addison and Jones, 2007). The discussion in this paper investigates the history of Asian community in Britain, in addition to the migration and settlement of the Asians in the land. An establishment of the Asian statistics in Britain is also included in the discussion, as well as the kind of influence on Britons and original settlers in Britain. History in Great Britain Asians in Britain have a long told and untold history dating back in the 1850’s. The migrations occurred in phases due to conformity with immigration laws that have Marjory controlled the immigration trends. The earliest settlement origins of the Asians from south Asian regions to Britain are not acknowledged. Th e middle ages are anticipated to be the original times with the inclusion of the Romani and Sinti tribes. The Sinti are believed to have emigrated from the areas today known as Pakistan and the Northern India. The period 1000 saw Asians begin to travel westwards, where the Southwest Asians mixed with people from Europe. Moreover, sizeable numbers of Romanis started arriving at the Western Europe in the 16th century. The 1660 saw the enactment of the Navigation act that restricted employment realms for sailors from Non-English regions. Records of baptism in the East-Greenwich indicate that Malarban coast people origins were seeking better areas to establish their religion. In addition, the south Asian people have been settling in the Great Britain since the time when the East India Company was established. The recruitment of lascars to fill the vacancies that had been left by men from India who did not get passage backs to accompany their company into Britain and the existence of the domestic servants as well as nannies and ayahs who had left their Asian country to get employed in the rich families of Britain also saw many people migrate (Spencer, 1939). The 17th century was marked by the incorporation of many lascars from South Asia into Great Britain due to the enlargement of the East India Company. The Bengali people majorly migrated to this area and married wives from Britain as a result of inadequacy of Asian women in the region at the

Analyzing the Efficiency and Competiveness of Operational Structures & Essay

Analyzing the Efficiency and Competiveness of Operational Structures & Information System in Argos - Essay Example The paper tells that Argos is one of the largest brands that Home Retail Group boasts of. Argos is a unique multi-channel retailer that has made a special place with the consumers because of their varied choice, strong values and convenience. Apart from having over 700 stores across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, they also sell products online, over the telephone, via a tele-partner – Vodafone, a special mobile website and so on. With their 33,000 employees, they are one of the biggest organizations and consumers seem to love them. Their website was the most visited high-street website in UK in 2008. What probably separates Argos from competitors is the commitment they show in their work. They indulge in what they call ‘Responsible Retailing’, better known as Corporate Responsibility to the layman. By taking various measures, they do much more for the economy and the environment than many other organizations in their category. They play a great role in preser ving the environment by dealing with issues such as waste management and energy consumption. They take steps to ensure that the consumer also is being environmentally-friendly. To do this, they ensure that they provide the consumer with information about their sources of timber, and so on. They also play a very important role in supporting the ecology, by giving back to the community that they are a part of. They believe in recycling and ensure that it is a strictly-followed policy in all of their stores. Another important thing that they have done is: taken measures to ensure that people with disabilities can have an easy shopping experience in their stores. (argos.co.uk) From all this we can see how much Argos is a part of the community. They are not only taking from the community, but are doing the best they can to ensure that whatever they take, they return more to the community. By being supportive of the ecology, they are also showing that they are not a corporation that just cares about profit, they care about the planet and the people on it! Operations Management Operations Management is a function that basically is responsible for managing the operating core of an organization. This includes various activities such as ‘creation, production, distribution and delivery of the organization’s goods and services’ (iiml.ac.in).  This means that Operations Management revolves around all the activities that are involved in the daily functioning of an organization. Let us take a retail chain for instance. Here, Operations Management would revolve around the designing, production, distribution and delivery of the products to the different stores, or even directly to the consumers if need be. Operations Management is very essential for any organization, as it gives direction and a structured plan to follow. Without it, we’d probably be lost. (mitsloan.mit.edu). One can only imagine the amount if chaos an organization, especially a ret ail store, could be in, without a properly designed Operation Management system. Take for instance

The History of the Asian community in Britain Essay

The History of the Asian community in Britain - Essay Example The history of the Asian community in Britain dates back to the 18th century, that is 1850s up to date, where they have along moved into Britain, making it one of the world’s multicultural centers, with diverse tribes from the four corners of the world. Migration and settlement of Asians in Britain is attributed to the existence of favourable emigration policies in the land of origin, as well as migration policies in the land of settlement. A conflict in the Asian land and the desire for employment among the Asian people has also caused great migrations. Asians are also known to be very outgoing people in regards to invention, and their presence in the land has excellent rationales, though some are attributed to negativity. The Asian community also consists of people from distinct origins, the earliest coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri-Lanka. Importantly, the presence of Asians in British land is known to have influenced the culture, agricultural, industrial and the ur ban sectors of the economy. In addition, the political and social sectors have not been exceptions from the influence by the long presence of these aliens. However, the continued migration and settlements of Asians in the recent years has drastically raised Britain’s populations to high scores (Addison and Jones, 2007). The discussion in this paper investigates the history of Asian community in Britain, in addition to the migration and settlement of the Asians in the land. An establishment of the Asian statistics in Britain is also included in the discussion, as well as the kind of influence on Britons and original settlers in Britain. History in Great Britain Asians in Britain have a long told and untold history dating back in the 1850’s. The migrations occurred in phases due to conformity with immigration laws that have Marjory controlled the immigration trends. The earliest settlement origins of the Asians from south Asian regions to Britain are not acknowledged. Th e middle ages are anticipated to be the original times with the inclusion of the Romani and Sinti tribes. The Sinti are believed to have emigrated from the areas today known as Pakistan and the Northern India. The period 1000 saw Asians begin to travel westwards, where the Southwest Asians mixed with people from Europe. Moreover, sizeable numbers of Romanis started arriving at the Western Europe in the 16th century. The 1660 saw the enactment of the Navigation act that restricted employment realms for sailors from Non-English regions. Records of baptism in the East-Greenwich indicate that Malarban coast people origins were seeking better areas to establish their religion. In addition, the south Asian people have been settling in the Great Britain since the time when the East India Company was established. The recruitment of lascars to fill the vacancies that had been left by men from India who did not get passage backs to accompany their company into Britain and the existence of the domestic servants as well as nannies and ayahs who had left their Asian country to get employed in the rich families of Britain also saw many people migrate (Spencer, 1939). The 17th century was marked by the incorporation of many lascars from South Asia into Great Britain due to the enlargement of the East India Company. The Bengali people majorly migrated to this area and married wives from Britain as a result of inadequacy of Asian women in the region at the

Agency budget Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Agency budget - Research Paper Example icant change is expected in terms of sales and gross margins, which in the next five years is estimated at; $300,000, $350,000 and $550,000 for year 1,2,3 respectively. The net profit expected within this period will be $10,000, $50,000, and $100,000 respectively for year 1, 2, 3. An investment of up to $1,000,000 is likely to be injected in the projects to realize the mentioned above monetary gains. Crexoc advertising agency will design and build after which it will test and deploy the email advertising campaign. Part of the project will entail reporting the progress of the real time, which gives the customer convenience in terms of flexibility (Kitcher, 2011). Crexoc will finally do an analysis of its success to find out on the other areas to support the tool in future campaigns of thee company. Email marketing is a scientifically developed tool with effective strategies that are geared to assure the company the success of reaching so many clients in real time. The basic threat is only the risk that the potential customer might completely reject the advertising. Crexoc advertising agency plans through this project to offer marketing services to companies willing to adopt the same techniques as a cornerstone of their marketing program. They estimate that email marketing will launch over 250 billion emails across the cyberspace in a cost effective manner and maximized effects. I t is worthwhile to note that research has it that email ad-response rates are currently averaged at around 15% (Lee, 2003). The company will use the already established extensive network of contacts with companies already using the mode of marketing. In addition, it will engage its internal expertise to launch an intensive email marketing campaign to selected groups (Shore & Carfora, 2011). The groups entail 50,000 selected businesses quarterly with online companies targeted as suitable while offline companies will be targeted as long-term strategies. Sales are expected to strategically

Strategies for Learning Mathematics

Strategies for Learning Mathematics Introduction: This essay focusses on assessing and monitoring the progress of learners using different strategies during the period of ten lessons focussing on two units of mathematics. School X has structured assessment for learning, every lesson is designed in a way that every student is assessed in different ways. The research is focussed on year 7 mathematics lesson. This class is set 2 mostly high ability students however few students should be achieving their targets. Gould and Roffey-Barentsen (2014) provide a useful definition of assessment as having a key role in the planning process as well as delivery of teaching. Assessment serves a number of important uses in that it helps consolidate and check learning as well as providing feedback to those who require it. My school expects me to use a vast number of assessments when teaching. We use many forms of assessment such as, initial, diagnostic, formative, and/or summative to be able to deliver inclusive teaching and learning. I have selected two units 1) surface area and volume of prisms and 2) Ratios and proportions. The purpose of unit 1 is to help students extend their knowledge of area, perimeter, and volume to include surface area. The major goals NCTM proposes are for students to understand quantifiable characteristics of objects and the units, systems, and procedures of measurement. The purpose of unit 2 is that the concepts of ratio and proportionate fundamental to mathematics and important in many other fields of knowledge. Many phenomena can be expressed as some proportional relationship between specific variables (Chaim,Keret,llany, 2012). Literature Review: Monitoring is the skill of effectively overviewing and analysing a learning situation (Headington, 2000). In schools context, professional monitoring systems (Tymms 1999) exist in parallel with the monitoring of learning in the classroom. Assessment is the closer examination of pupils learning (Headington, 2000). It is reporting as a central issue in teaching and learning throughout education as it lacks consistency primarily due to each teacher within the school has adapted a different method of assessment and this is what makes one teacher a good and another poor. In England, since 1988 Education reform act national testing has taken central stage in monitoring standards in schools (Capel, 2009). Assessment for learning is Any assessment for which the first priority is to serve the purpose of promoting students learning'(Black et al, 2003) . AFL aims to close the gap between a students present situation and where they want to be in their knowledge and attainment. Accomplished teach ers plan tasks which support learners to do achieve their targets. Since 2002 there has been an obvious inclination in some assessment strategy reports in the UK to study alternatives to using external exams for summative valuation of pupils performance. Several research studies have shown that the use of assessment to develop pupils future learning makes a substantial difference, not just to pupils attainment, but to their attitude to learning, their engagement with school subjects and their motivation to do well in these subjects (Black and Wiliam 1998). Formative Assessment A key literature investigation of over 250 sources on formative assessment (Black and Wiliam 1998) found that effective assessment practices can play a influential role in the learning experience, moving an average student, for instance, to the top third of the class but only if certain settings are satisfied. Student tasks required to be aligned, or on target, with learning goals, and students need to obtain meaningful and appropriate response on their performance, as well as targeted follow-up work. To adjust their learning effectually, students need to understand three things: (a) the measures on which they will be judged, (b) where they stand on these measures, and (c) how they can improve (Black and Wiliam 1998, p. 143). Formative assessment has been thought of as providing teachers with more frequent evidence of students mastery of standards to help teachers make useful instructional decisions. In this way, formative assessment is intended to enhance student learning. Research carried out by Balck and Wiliam, and also by projects such as Suffolk Advisory service (2001) into feedback and marking indicates that improving learning through formative learning depends on the following five key factors. These are: Modelling Quality: According to (Bourdillon and Storey, 2002) pupils are more successful when they know what they are learning. This means communicating clearly what the pupils will be learning and how they can recognise their success. Therefore, learning intentions can be shared with pupils through modelling and how learning objective is achieved. According to Lee (2006), objectives can be broken down into small steps called success criteria, therefore its easier for pupils to know what that need to achieve and they can measure it at the end of the lesson. Questioning and dialogue with pupils: Clarke(2005) gives a wide range of suggestions for varying the format of questions in classrooms as it is the quickest and easiest way to assess pupils. I have also developed skills in asking questions across the full range of Blooms taxonomy, from simple recall and comprehension to complex evaluative questioning. The key to success in developing fruitful channels of dialogue with pupils about their learning lies in creating a relaxed and trusting overall climate in the classroom, so that pupils are not afraid to answer, contribute to discussions and make public their thinking or volunteer their uncertainties to you and rest of the class (Clarke,2005). It is best to plan questioning strategy, for instant questions on prior learning to setup the major themes of the lesson, also to check learning and to reinforce learning that has taken place. It is also important to plan how questions will be asked, whether from the whole class, just one group or an individual. Sometimes teachers give no time to students to think and accepts answers from those who raise their hands, and some teachers use no hand policy and giving pupils thinking time (Brooks, Abbott, Bills, 2007). Mini white boards: Another formative assessment idea that engages the entire class and provides evidence of student learning is the white board. Teachers can quickly grasp student understanding and adjust how they move forward. According to Black and Wiliam (1998) teachers need to build in opportunities for pupils to express their understanding. Pupils benefit from opportunities of formal feedback through mini white boards, as this gives chance to pupils to express their knowledge and understanding and to articulate their thinking, and also misconceptions can be spotted straight away. The figure below shows how students learning can be assessed through mini white boards. Dialogue and effective feedback through marking According to the National Research Council report How People Learn (Bransford et al. 2000), timely feedback and revision, on activities congruent with learning goals, is extremely important for developing adaptive expertise, learning, transfer and development. Constructive feedback is vital in helping pupils to progress. Nevertheless, one review of the literature on feedback found that two out of every five feedback effects were negative (Black and Wiliam, 1998). According to Ofsted (1996) marking often fails to guide on how work can be improved, as the information about pupils performance received by the teacher is insufficiently used to inform subsequent work. Target settings can address these difficulties, by taking a defect and converting into a target, offering guidance on how to improve. It has been found to increase pupils motivation and sense of purpose and accelerates rate of progress (Black and Wiliam, 1998). I will be marking books every two weeks, giving pupils targets and showing them example questions to help throug positive feedback on the things they have done well. Marking is guidance to pupils so that they can react upon provided feedback and the aim is for the student to reà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ect upon their mistakes and answer accurately so that adequate notes are made in their exercise books for revision, it must also include dialogue between the teacher and student so that informed feedback is provided which underlines pupils strengths. School x has a strict book checks every three weeks which focuses on timely and constructive dialogue between teachers and pupils. Self-assessment and understanding how to improve Formative assessment achieves its full potential when pupils become engaged with the process through self-assessment. Pupils who become skilled in self-assessment make impressive learning gains. According to one study, pupils were trained to make regular self-assessment over20-week period and that group made double the progress of the group who were not trained for self-assessment. However, Black and wiliam have concluded that self-assessment is too difficult for pupil, unless they are trained in self-assessment and can understand its main purpose and reflect on their learning effectively. Throughout my lessons self-assessment was vital at the end of each lesson, showing what went well and even better if. Summative assessment: Preparing pupils for external exams and assessment has been an increasingly important part of the secondary teachers role. The purpose behind national external assessments has been clearly formulated, to identify individual achievements, strengths and weaknesses in order to help them in next stages, to enable parents to put their childs attainment in context, to make available to public schools attainment and to help school evaluating their own teaching (Bourdillon and Storey, 2002) . Case study and students progress: My case study includes five students selected after observations and from discussions with my mentor, who I will assess. Their names are coded as Student E,F, G, H and I and in the table below I have mentioned why I would like to assess them during this course of study and check if by the end of the research they have achieved their targets. Table 1: Shows the description of students and their current and target grades I have monitored throughout the course of 10 lessons of the above students when the learning outcome does not meet the learning objective for the class or groups or individuals. Such monitoring when analysed, can provide an insight into the teaching and learning which is taking place. The subject monitoring sheet for maths lessons (Figure 2) shows an example of this. The learning of the five targeted students was monitored for a course of two units against learning objectives drawn from national numeracy strategy. The monitoring was coded as follows: Figure 2: Subject monitoring sheet for maths This data shows the results through the formative assessment I have collected. The research proves one of the best ways to check if pupils understanding is to ask questions. During my first few lessons, the typical response was same children continually have their hands up, and usually in order to elicit the right answers , teachers uses the right children, and I did the same in my first 2 lessons. From third lesson I changed my tactics and targeted students who were not participating in the class, or I used to wait for more hands up, and encouraged students to raise hands through E-praise. Student E is very shy, she was reluctant in the beginning to answer, but I encouraged and praised her to answer, since then I can see her raising hands for not all questions but some Students E, F and H has shown significant improvement during target questioning, they were more attentive and responsive. Setting a routine of target questioning resulted in pupils raising their hands up without asking. I cultivated the classroom atmosphere where more and more pupils are prepared to open up and share their thinking about their uncertainties. To accomplish this approach requires full sensitivity, knowledge of your pupils, first-rate interpersonal skills as well as perceptiveness in formulating adroitly posed questions. In my practice, I always start with open end questions to give students a chance to think and then I try to develop a structure in their mind through these questions and then moving on to close end questions to scaffold their understanding. Target questioning helped me to clear misconceptions throughout my lessons. Refereeing to all my lessons, I have used mini white boards instantly in each lesson, introduce a topic, show them at least two questions and then check their understanding on the mini white boards, I get instant feedback from every child. They arent broadcasting that they think they dont understand something, they give me an actual mathematical answer from which I judge the accuracy and target the misconceptions. It is more subtle than directly admitting you cant do something in front of your peers. They allow algebraic answers just as easily as numerical or wordy ones. You know which kids to differentiate for at both ends. For example student E and H along with some other students showed weakness understanding the concept of surface area of prisms, and picked it up their misconceptions through mini white board activity, it was mostly to do with area of a triangle. Therefore, The next lesson I did a revision lesson on same topic so that all misconceptions were cleared, and in lesson 3, both student E and H showed significant strengths. Similarly in lesson 8, student G showed weakness, which I assessed during white board activity and I made sure that student G understands it properly, as I probed targeted questions throughout lesson. This data also helped me to mark students work, so that I can compare the assessment I performed during class through mini white boards and questioning is correct or not. I marked students work and homework. Homework in school x is given twice a week to each year group. According to Ofsted, marking reinforces underachievement and under expectation be being too generous or unfocused. Therefore, I marked with feedback on each mistake as shown in the example below. I modelled the incorrect questions step by step and asked them to do it again. I also made homework spreadsheet, which showed me exactly how many questions students attempted were correct as shown in table below. Table 3: Shows the percentage of correct answers students did in each homework. This table helped me to understand pupils misconceptions and therefore, I gave questions as starter which I saw were most difficult. I also followed students homework by rechecking if they have corrected the mistakes in the following lesson, as the list provided me clear instructions which students book I have to check. By following this routine, Student G made remarkable change in providing her homework with full potential. The class slowly developed the routine of teacher and student dialogue, by making students aware that if I have made any comments, its students responsibility to check it and comment on it, and if the comment is about redoing the questions than it has to be done again. It can be noticed from the table that students homework percentage got better each week. Year 7s were not aware of self-assessment, therefore I briefed them with three key points with: During my first three lessons I used the slide given below, by giving them examples of how they can think and evaluate their learning. Students were questioned to summarize the learning objectives and success criteria before they embark on the task. From lesson four, when people were confident I used the slide below to make them think themselves without giving the example. Students F, H and I books showed clear evidence that they were honest about their reflection and were trying in the next lesson to make their learning better. Figure 6 and 7 shows some examples of pupils reflection Summative assessment was done by unit test after each unit. Before each unit test, a revision lesson was run to clear the misconceptions as the books were marked before the revision to check students understanding, their homeworks and self-assessment. After each unit test, teacher marked the test and made two comments on what students did well at, and two comments what they need to improve on. As shown in the picture 9 below. Students evaluated their performance in the yellow sheets provided by teacher, on their strengths and on action points. A spreadsheet was also created for each question, which helped me to create green pen questions for students and to check which part of unit test students found most difficult, as shown below in table 7. Green pen questions were prepared by teacher, and were allocated to each student according to the action points as illustrated in the figures below of student E and H. These action questions helps them again to reflect on their mistakes and improve their mistakes. The summative assessment results after two unit test I performed with year 7s are shown below which has shown significant improvement in their grades from previous grades, that they have moved a grade higher from their previous targets. Analysis: Analysing the sequence of lessons and assessments methods used during the period of 10 lessons, assessing through questioning and mini white board activity showed very good results as , it showed me clearly students misconceptions and cultivated the culture of engaging and thinking before answering, but when I marked their books, I saw some very obvious mistakes repeated which I pointed during mini white board activity. There is a potential risk of students copy the answers from peers just of the fear of getting pointed for mistakes and they are hesitant to ask questions. Therefore, mini white board activity is a very effective way to assess students understanding and it has shown a tremendous effectivity during all my lessons as it enables to test the depth of students understanding but it is not 100 percent accurate as students sometimes tend to copy from their peers, if they were targeted and the answer was wrong, they potentially can copy answer of next question from their peers to avoid embracement. It is the same case in questioning, mostly gifted students answer questions. Targeted questions help to encourage students to answer questions, as through diagnostic assessments and marking books, teachers knows which student to target. But if the culture of questioning and use of mini white boards remain there, it will help students to try harder and remain attentive throughout lessons. Assessing through marking books gives a very clear idea that how much progress student has made in the class and by doing their homework. Spread sheet of homework helped me and I asked some students to come during break time to clear their misconceptions, I also ran revision lessons where I cleared those concepts and did target questions from less progressing pupils through marking books. During marking books I started a dialogue with students, for example how this question can be made better and by giving them model answers, as soon as pupils got their books back they had to comment on their mistakes, which helped in building an environment of students teachers dialogue. Similarly self-reflection helped students to start thinking about their strengths and weaknesses and it consolidates their learning more. In each lesson they commented about something to improve and what they did well at, it improved the sequence of learning and each lesson showed evident improvement. Since year 7s started to reflect on their learning during my teaching, it is still very confusing for some students what to write but I still encourage them to summarize their learning objective and think before writing. Finally the summative assessment triangulates the research, Students E,F,G,H and I have made tremendous effort through these weeks and shown that through these assessments they have already reached their targets. References Headington, Rita. (2000). Monitoring, assessment, recording, reporting and accountability. London: David Fulton, 8,9 Last name, First initial. (Year published). Title. Edition. (Only include the edition if it is not the first edition) City published: Publisher, Page(s). Gould, Jimm. And Roffey, Jodi. (2014). Achieving your Diploma in Education and Training. Sage publications ltd. Chaim, Keret, IIany, David, Yaffa, Bat-Sheva. (2012).  Ratio and proportion. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 1. Cambridge-Community. Getting started with assessment for learning. [online] Available at: URL [http://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html] Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the black box: Raising standards through classroom assessment, Phi Delta Kappan 80(2), 139-148. Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L. and Cocking (2000). The Design of Learning Environments: Assessment-Centered Environments. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, pp. 131-154. Wilson, M. Scalise, K. 2006, Assessment to Improve Learning in Higher Education: The BEAR Assessment System, Higher Education, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 635-663. Stiggins, R. 2005, From Formative Assessment to Assessment for Learning: A Path to Success in Standards-Based Schools, The Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 87, no. 4, pp. 324-328

The Romance of Travel Essay -- Manfred Byron Essays Papers Traveling

The Romance of Travel Romance, as it confirms human agency with regards to understanding the world and organizing one's existence, is an enabling genre. Northrop Frye identifies "romance" in its questing, adventurous, persistently nostalgic, and "perennially child-like quality" as the "nearest of all literary forms to the wish-fulfillment dream" (186). Arguably, many of the texts that we have examined over the course of the term can be understood as (more or less) participating in the affirmative conventions of romance in the ways that they show men and woman turning travel into a journey. Take for instance Gilpin's essay "On Picturesque Beauty:" what a light hearted quest ("the searching after effects") it is that he assigns to the picturesque traveler. He would not bring this intention of travel into conflict with the other more "useful ends of travel," but he also offers it as a goal for those who "travel without any end at all." Gilpin even describes the amusements of picturesque travel as a sort of adventure: This great object [beauty of every kind] we pursue through the scenery of nature. We seek it among all the ingredients of landscape -- trees -- rocks -- broken-grounds -- woods -- rivers -- lakes -- plains -- vallies -- mountains -- and distances. The gaze of the traveler ranges "with supreme delight among the sweet vales of Switzerland," as well as through the "limits of art;" it "seeks" after nature's "various effects;" the "scene of grandeur bursts on the eye." Indeed, Gilpin's picturesque traveler is very active. Moreover, when the traveler finds him or herself among less visually appealing natural environments, then it is that the wish-fulfilling imagination can be "let [. . .] loose" to "plant h... ...eader, as he reads personal travel accounts that are informed by those same conventions, enjoys a rapport with the authors, texts, and characters within those texts that make him/her feel (at least they made me feel) as though they (and I) were going somewhere. Works Cited Auden, W. H. and Elizabeth Mayer. "Intoduction." Italian Journey by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. London: Penguin, 1970. Byron, George Gordon, Lord. "Byron's Swiss Tour" (1816). http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Travel/Byron_Oberland.htm Frye, Northrop. The Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1973. Gilpin, William. "On Picturesque Beauty." http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Travel/gilpine2.htm Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Italian Journey. London: Penguin, 1970. Wordsworth, William. "Tintern Abbey." http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Tintern/Tintern_c.htm The Romance of Travel Essay -- Manfred Byron Essays Papers Traveling The Romance of Travel Romance, as it confirms human agency with regards to understanding the world and organizing one's existence, is an enabling genre. Northrop Frye identifies "romance" in its questing, adventurous, persistently nostalgic, and "perennially child-like quality" as the "nearest of all literary forms to the wish-fulfillment dream" (186). Arguably, many of the texts that we have examined over the course of the term can be understood as (more or less) participating in the affirmative conventions of romance in the ways that they show men and woman turning travel into a journey. Take for instance Gilpin's essay "On Picturesque Beauty:" what a light hearted quest ("the searching after effects") it is that he assigns to the picturesque traveler. He would not bring this intention of travel into conflict with the other more "useful ends of travel," but he also offers it as a goal for those who "travel without any end at all." Gilpin even describes the amusements of picturesque travel as a sort of adventure: This great object [beauty of every kind] we pursue through the scenery of nature. We seek it among all the ingredients of landscape -- trees -- rocks -- broken-grounds -- woods -- rivers -- lakes -- plains -- vallies -- mountains -- and distances. The gaze of the traveler ranges "with supreme delight among the sweet vales of Switzerland," as well as through the "limits of art;" it "seeks" after nature's "various effects;" the "scene of grandeur bursts on the eye." Indeed, Gilpin's picturesque traveler is very active. Moreover, when the traveler finds him or herself among less visually appealing natural environments, then it is that the wish-fulfilling imagination can be "let [. . .] loose" to "plant h... ...eader, as he reads personal travel accounts that are informed by those same conventions, enjoys a rapport with the authors, texts, and characters within those texts that make him/her feel (at least they made me feel) as though they (and I) were going somewhere. Works Cited Auden, W. H. and Elizabeth Mayer. "Intoduction." Italian Journey by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. London: Penguin, 1970. Byron, George Gordon, Lord. "Byron's Swiss Tour" (1816). http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Travel/Byron_Oberland.htm Frye, Northrop. The Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1973. Gilpin, William. "On Picturesque Beauty." http://www.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Travel/gilpine2.htm Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Italian Journey. London: Penguin, 1970. Wordsworth, William. "Tintern Abbey." http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/Tintern/Tintern_c.htm