Alternative Assessment Essay Example for Free

Alternative Assessment Essay Consequently, assessment has also undergone a massive reform. This has led to a wider range of assessment now than there was twenty-five years ago (Gipps, 1994). Evidence has shown that educational systems have undergone assessment reforms, which are coincident with curriculum reforms (Nitko, 1995). A number of assessment methods have been applied in the Ghanaian educational system since the introduction of schooling in the country (MOE, 1987). The educational reform in Ghana began with the hope that learning was to be more practical and examinations should be based on practical oriented syllabus. What had emerged was that the cost and difficulties involved in assessing students’ practical work and the unreliability of teachers’ assessment had resulted in a return to the status quo, that is pen and paper tests. Currently, Ghanaian teachers tend to monitor students’ understanding through pen-and-paper tests and exercises in class, and move through the syllabus and textbook with little or no attempt to use new instructional strategies if students do not understand the material. The use of pen-and-paper tests has been used almost exclusively by schools to monitor students’ achievement. These tools have also dominated examination for the 1 professional certification of teacher and college admission. These strategies of assessing students have come under severe criticism by many educators (Wolf, 19891). The perception that much of what gets tested is not relevant or has not been taught to students has been a source of concern to many educators and parents. Such concerns have made educators direct their attention to a new approach to testing variously described as â€Å"performance assessment†, â€Å"authentic assessment†, portfolio assessment†, and â€Å"alternative assessment† (Winzer, 1992). The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM, 1989) call for significant change in the way mathematics is taught. In conjunction with this demand for change in mathematics instruction, a change format for assessing students is needed. To document these new expressions of teaching and learning, alternative assessments have emerged as the vehicle by which students and teachers can organise, manage and analyse life inside and outside the school. One of the most exciting and liberating things about the current interest in assessment is the recognition that numerous assessment tools are available to schools, districts, and states that are developing new assessment systems. These tools range from standardized fixed-response tests to alternatives such as performance assessment, exhibitions, portfolios, and observation scales. However, in Ghana, alternative assessment is relatively an unknown concept and only few researches have been conducted in this area. Each type of assessment brings with it different strengths and weaknesses to the problem of fair and equitable assessment. Recognizing the complexity of understanding performance or success for individuals, it is virtually impossible that any single tool will 2 do the job of fairly assessing student performance. Instead, the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (1996) suggests that an assessment system made up of multiple assessments (including norm-referenced or criterion-referenced assessments, alternative assessments, and classroom assessments) can produce comprehensive, credible, dependable information upon which important decisions can be made about students, schools, districts, or states. Since the influence of testing on curriculum and instruction is now widely acknowledged, educators, policymakers, and others are turning to alternative assessment methods as a tool for educational reform. The movement away from traditional, multiplechoice tests to alternative assessments, variously called authentic assessment or performance assessment, has included a wide variety of strategies such as open-ended questions, exhibits, demonstrations, hands-on execution of experiments, computer simulations, writing in many disciplines, and portfolios of student work over time. These terms and assessment strategies have led the quest for more meaningful assessments which better capture the significant outcomes we want students to achieve and better match the kinds of tasks which they will need to accomplish in order to assure their future success. Billions of dollars are spent each year on education, yet there is widespread dissatisfaction with our educational system among educators, parents, policymakers, and the business community. Efforts to reform and restructure schools have focused attention on the role of assessment in school improvement. 3.  After years of increases in the quantity of formalized testing and the consequences of poor test scores, many educators have begun to strongly criticize the measures used to monitor student performance and evaluate programs. They claim that traditional measures fail to assess significant learning outcomes and thereby undermine curriculum, instruction, and policy decisions. The way in which students are assessed fundamentally affects their learning. Good assessment practice is designed to ensure that, in order to pass the module or programme, students have to demonstrate they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. To test a wide range of intended learning outcomes, diversity of assessment practice between and within different subjects is to be expected and welcomed, requiring and enabling students to demonstrate their capabilities and achievements within each module or programme. The aim of this paper is to provide a guide to the range of alternative assessment tools available, to discuss the potential benefits and difficulties in using the approach and suggest a process for its use. Alternative Assessment Alternative assessment is a generic term referring to the new forms of assessment (Winzer, 1992). It includes a variety of instruments that can be adapted to varying situations. The teacher and the students can collaboratively decide which procedures are to be used for assessment (Huerta Macias 1995). Individual students are also often given the responsibility of selecting specific products of their work on which they will be assessed. It provides the students with the opportunity to reflect on his/her learning 4 experience, pointing out what he/she understands, and the factors that contribute to his/her lack of understanding. The main goal of alternative assessment is to gather evidence about how students are approaching, processing, and completing â€Å"real-life† tasks in a particular domain (Garcia and Pearson, 1994). Alternative assessment may include interviews with students, journal writing by students, developing portfolios of students’ work and writing of reflections. Also, students are encouraged to engage in small co-operative group learning and may be assessed individually and jointly. Alternative assessment, most importantly, provides alternative to traditional assessment in that it; i. ii.does not intrude on regular classroom activities; provides multiple indices that can be used to gauge students progress; and iii. provides information on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student (Huerta-Macias, 1995; p. 9) One of the major advantages of alternative assessment as a tool for assessing students is that it empowers students to become partners and decision makers in their learning (Smolen et al 1995). Curran (1997) in his study with middle level educators found that alternative assessment is most valuable for students’ involvement in metacognitive learning. Vlaskamp (1995) found that alternative assessment processes engage students to become active in learning. The processes offer them opportunities for reflection and to be thoughtful respondents and judges of their own learning. Lee (1996) 5 found that the real value of alternative assessment is an information source for teachers and a learning tool for the students. Alternative assessment includes a variety of instruments that can be adapted to varying situations. These instruments include the use of checklist of students’ behaviour or product, journals, reading log, videos of role plays, audio tape of discussions, self evaluation, questionnaire, work samples and teacher observation of anecdotal records (Huerta-Macias, 1995, p. 12). According to her, the teacher or instructor and students can collaboratively decide which procedures are to be used for assessment in a given class. Individual students are also given the responsibility of selecting specific products of their work on which they will be assessed. Portfolio Assessment The concept of portfolio assessment comes from the field of fine arts in which portfolios are used to demonstrate the depth and breath of an artist’s talents and capabilities. A portfolio is a systematic, well organised collection of evidence used to monitor the growth of a student’s knowledge, skills and attitudes (Bonnestetter, 1994). It is a purposeful collection of students work that exhibits to the students and others the student’s efforts, progress or achievement in (a) given area(s) (Reckase 1995). This collection according to them should include: ? Student participation in selection of portfolio contents ? The criteria for selection, and evidence of student self-reflection (p. 12) To fulfil the purpose of portfolio assessment as a methodology based on multiple measures and high content validity, the portfolio is to be composed of materials that 6 should be selected jointly by the student and the teacher to reflect the students work over the entire schooling period. activities. To help the students select materials for the portfolio, a set of guidelines should be made available to the students. The guidelines include how the content of the All work are to be taken directly from the classroom portfolio is to be selected and the criteria that would be used to assess the portfolios. The contents of the students’ portfolios are to include the following: i. ii. iii. iv. individual assignments (homework and tests); group assignments; self reflection on each selected student or group work group reflection on group work. The reflections are to indicate evidence of learning mathematics in the school, what they know and can do. They are also to explain what they have understood and the action that contributes to their understanding. They are to identify what they still do not understand and explain the cause of their lack of understanding and what they can do to change the situation. Journal A journal is a daily or weekly record of occurrences, experiences or observations (Berenson and Carter, 1995). Journal writing by students can be used to record the daily and weekly mathematics learning experiences and the attitude of students towards mathematics. The journal can be used to keep track of the students’ progress in  mathematics and to gain insight into the understanding and misunderstanding of the 7 student. The journal can also be used to document the students attitudinal changes during the project. Students are asked to write three sets of journals in each semester (term). The first one is to be written during the first week of the semester (term), the second in the fourth week and the third journal in the last week of the semester (term). At the beginning of the semester(term), the students should be asked to write journals to indicate their previous and current feelings about mathematics. They are also to assess their strengths and weaknesses in mathematics, pointing out the factors that contributed to their failure or success and describe what they need to do. During the fourth week of the semester, the students would be asked again to write journals to identify ideas they understood easily during discussions with the teacher or their colleagues, and then explain why it was easy for them to understand such ideas. They are to identify ideas, which are still difficult for them to understand, and explain why they thnk they are having such difficulties in comprehending these ideas. They are to comment on a homework or class test they did, and explain why they thought they did well or did not do well. They are to identify aspects of their work that needed improvement. They are also to explain what they learned from doing homework or taking a test and state what they would do differently if they are to do the homework or take the test again. During the last week of the semester(term), students are to write another journal. They should be asked to express their feelings of the test, classwork, homework etc, and their feeling about mathematics. They are to state whether there is any improvement in 8 their learning or understanding of mathematics, and identify things, which contribute to their understanding or lack of understanding. Journal writing can be used as means of regularly focusing on course progress and possible modifications. The journals are the first step in placing the responsibility for learning with the students. Research had found that the journal was an important diagnostic tool in three important ways. First, as a writing sample, it provided information about students’ strengths and weaknesses in mathematics. Second, the journals gave an indication of how the students perceived themselves, and finally, the journals revealed students’ perceptions of the mathematics learning process. The journal the students write will help teachers to know early in the course how students perceived themselves as mathematics learners and how they understood the learning process entailed. Whenever their work was seen, evaluations were made which either corroborated their assessment or highlighted their misconceptions. With this information, the students will be helped to become better more efficient learners. When misconceptions are discovered, students will be helped to establish realistic expectations about what mathematics skills they need to achieve their goals. In fact, the first journal they write is an important point of reference when working with individual students and helping them to identify their objectives during the learning process. Research findings show that journal writing provides the opportunities for the students to reflect on the learning process, and to develop new learning skills. These opportunities will help the students to identify differences between their school experiences and those they are encountering at college. 9 Challenges Testing for accountability purpose is essentially large scale testing and for this reason it relies on tests that are relatively cheap, brief, offer broad but shallow coverage, are easy to score and reliable (Gipps, 1994). Alternative assessment by contrast is timeconsuming, tends to provide detailed multi- dimensional information about a particular skill or area; (and because of time factor, depth may be exchanged for breadth), scoring is generally complex and usually involves the classroom teacher Standardisation of the performance is not possible and therefore reliability in the traditional sense is not high (Mehrens, 1992). However, alternative assessment in general, has become the cornerstone of educational reform movement. The arguments for using these forms of assessment to support instructional practice are that; (i) they engage students in tasks that are more comprehensive and consistent with the goals of a discipline or resonant with the desired outcomes of educational process; (ii) they provide detailed evidence about student’s thinking that enables more specific instructional decision making; and (iii) they encourage students to take active role in their own assessment enabling a sharing responsibility for learning (LeMahieu, et.al. 1995, p11) Many educators are of the view that alternative assessment must be held to the same stringent standard of reliability, validity and objectivity as those achieved by standardised norm referenced assessment, if it is to provide credible and legally defensible measure of learning and performance (Linn and Burtin, 1994). 10 Objections to alternative assessment are often voiced in terms of validity, reliability and objectivity. Questions that focus around these issues are: i. ii. iii. Does the instrument measure what it is supposed to measure? Is the instrument consistent in its measurement? Is the instrument unbiased? (Garcia and Pearson, 1994). Alternative assessment represents the best of worlds in that it looks at actual performance on real life tasks, such as writing, self-editing, reading, participation in collaborative work, and doing a demonstration in front of a group. These procedures are in themselves valid (Garcia and Pearson, 1994). As regards reliability of alternative assessment, Huerta Macias (1955), mentions triangulation as a means of ensuring reliability in a qualitative research. In qualitative research, triangulation refers to the combination of methodologies to strengthen a study design. When applied to alternative assessment, triangulation refers to the collection of data/information from three difference sources/perspectives teacher, student, and parent. On the question of objectivity of alternative assessment, research findings show that, standardised tests merely represent agreement among a number of people on scoring procedures, format or content. These individuals are not objective; they just collectively shared the same biases. In this regard, Huerta Marcias (1995) says that standardised test is not more objective than an alternative assessment. Other challenges of alternative assessment have to do with curriculum and instructional practice. Torrance (1993) reviewed the impact alternative assessment has on curricular and instructional practice in the context of the National Assessment in England and Wales. Among the concerns raised were exorbitant demands on teachers, adding up 11 to two to three hours of extra work daily. Teachers also reported dissatisfaction with managing assessment interactions with small groups of students while trying to maintain the focus of all students. Torrance (1993) concluded that teachers treated assessment as a special activity set apart from teaching, and they felt obliged to do this by the instructions they received, a vision at odds with the integrated assessment and instruction offered by alternative assessment advocates. The question of relative practicality of alternative and traditional assessment in terms of time consumption has been raised by many authors (Linn, 1993; Gipps 1994). Research results indicate that alternative assessment is not more time consuming than traditional assessment on the part of the students. Research has shown that students can cope with the time demands of the alternative assessment(Eshun Abledu, 2000). Educational Implications and Recommendations The following educational implications and recommendations are made for improving the academic performance and enhancing positive attitude of students in mathematics: i. Through alternative assessment processes, the teacher is given the opportunity to know from the students’ journals and portfolios the positive and negative points of his teaching process and work out strategies for his subsequent teaching. ii. Alternative assessment processes offer a chance for the development of better student- student and student-teacher relationship. During their group work and discussions of their journals with the teacher a friendly climate is generated which helps them to get to know one another better. 12 iii. With alternative assessment the teacher is given a chance to break the everyday monotonous teaching routine. Activities are organised for the students that create a pleasant and motivating atmosphere in the classroom, which revives the interest of the pupils for the subject. iv. Alternative assessment processes lead to discovery learning and planning. Thus, it is valuable for increasing and maintaining the efficiency of the skills and concepts that the students learn. However, it makes heavy demands on the teacher to plan activities for the students. v. Students who have language problems will be unwilling to communicate in writing with the teacher. Teachers who use alternative assessment processes should rely more on oral interview than the writing of journal. vi. The positive benefits of alternative assessment lie not only in its  implementation but also in the teachers’ ability to extend and enrich the curriculum through the activities he/she arranges for the students. Thorough planning and understanding of the skills students must develop are prerequisite to successful implementation of alternative assessment processes. Teachers must be trained to live up to the task. It is recommended therefore that pre-service teachers be introduced to the alternative assessment processes. In-service and induction courses on alternative assessment can be organised for teachers who are already teaching. This training is worthwhile since teachers will have the means to bring about higher achievement in mathematics and higher attitudinal changes in female pre-service teachers towards mathematics. 13 vii. Teachers need to provide many opportunities for students to explore and reflect on mathematical concepts. Having students talk and write about mathematical concepts and how these ideas are applied in various problems situation can strengthen their understanding and provide valuable information to the teachers. It is therefore recommended that mathematics concepts be presented to students through the alternative assessment processes. This will then enhance the current programme of promoting the interest of girls in Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME). viii. To evaluate our programmes and the progress students are making, me must look beyond the current traditional assessment alone, and find better ways of assessing students’ creativity, ability, and sensitivity in mathematics. The point is, continuous assessment ought to provide a more comprehensive view of pupils’ all-round performance. The Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other policy makers on education must adopt alternative assessment to improve female students’ performance and attitudes in mathematics. Conclusion Knowing mathematics is doing mathematics. We need to create situations where students can be active, creative, and responsive to the physical world. I believe that to learn mathematics, students must construct it for themselves. They can only do that by exploring, justifying, representing, discussing, using, describing, investigating, 14  predicting, in short by being active in the world. Alternative assessment is an ideal activity for such processes. Reference Brady, R. (1991). A Close Look at Student Problem Solving and the Teaching of Mathematics: Predicaments and Possibilities. School Social Science and Mathematics. 91(4), 144-150. Eshun B. A and Abledu, G. K. (2001): The Effects of Alternative Assessment on the Attitudes and Achievement in Mathematics of Female Pre-service Teachers. African Journal of Educational Studies. Vol. 1. p. 21-30 Garcia, G. E. Pearson, P. D. (1994). Assessment and Diversity. In L. Darling Hammond (Ed. ) Review of Research Education . 337-391. Huerta – Macias, A. (1995). Alternative Assessment: Responses to Commonly asked Questions. TESOL Journal. 5 (1) : 8-11. Smolen, L. et. al. (1995). Developing Student Self-Assessment strategies. TESOL Journal. Vol. 5(1) 22 27. Gipps, C. V. (1994). Beyond testing: Towards a theory of educational assessment. The Falmer Press, London. Lee, T. W. (1996). Mathematics portfolios. NCTM’s goals and students perceptions. A complex analysis. Abstract International 57 (6). Vlaskamp, D. C. (1995). Encouragement of Student Learning through a Portfolio Process. Dissertation Abstract International. 55(1). Mehren, W. A (1992). Using Performance assessment for accountability Purposes. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. 11, (1), 3-9. 15 Linn, R. L. Burton, E. (1994). Performance Based Assessment: Implications of Task Specificity. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. 13 (1) 5-8. Torrance, H. (1993). Combining measurement –driven instruction with authentic assessment: Some initial observations. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis,15, 18-90. 16.

Emily Dickinsons poem #371 Essay Example for Free

Emily Dickinsons poem #371 Essay Analyzing the poem by discovering how the author used literary elements usually is very essential to understanding the poems theme. As one of the significant elements, extended metaphor may convey one of key ideas in poetry. Depending on the poem, extended metaphor may provide the opportunity to reflect on even more deep and hidden, but just as important concepts the author chooses to convey. Similarly, in the poem # 371, Emily Dickinson uses extended metaphor as practically the most essential element to convey her feelings in regard to The Antique Book held as fascinating and exciting volume. Emily Dickinson compares real historical characters to the Antique Book, giving it the qualities of a fine gentleman. It is a precious pleasure to meet such a gentleman who will entice with and tell of his radical but thrilling notions. What must mesmerize Emily in the Antique Book are realistic images of the Dress his Century wore, along with the opportunity of learning about compositions by Shakespeare, Sappho, Sophocles, Plato, to inspect their thoughts in detail, and to understand their contradicted ideas- dreams of the future. Such account of acquaintance, enhanced with the facts of history, is an Enchantment. This sophisticated figure may be dear to the narrator in the same way Beatrice may be to Dante. It is only one of the many reasons why Emily Dickinson would call Antique Book a gentleman-like, where the contents of a volume either entice, reflect, intrigue, puzzle, or fascinate the narrator. The development of this metaphor may be compared with the process of reading and enjoying a book. It can also be seen as an acquaintance with a particular person. As when meeting the gentlemen, the narrator may acquire strong fascination for this person. Fascination of Emily Dickinson may be seen through diction, since it is evidently apleasureto meet and Antique Book. Further on, it is a venerable Hand to take and later it is His quaint opinions- to inspect. It seems as if the subject begins to fascinate the narrator and thus the conversation begins to be more intriguing. Here, then, Old Volume shake their Vellum Heads, thus tantalizing -just so- The encounter leaves the narrator with only the wish and that is to hear more. Undoubtedly, the same concept can be addressed to  an act of reading a book. The acquaintance is then with an interesting book which one reads on to inspect its contents over and over, filled with radical but inspiring ideas. It can be said in overall that the point of interest in this poem arises from the first stanza to the last. Such usage of an extended metaphor and also other literary elements is meant to reveal the theme. What especially underlines the extended metaphor and thus helps to reflect narrators fascinating and exciting account is the use of allusion, diction, iambic pentameter in the poem, and also such elements as assonance and consonance. Basically, a reference to some of the great people in history is intended to be an aspect of the extended metaphor, which personifies The Antique Book, and is an allusion to the great philosophers, poets, and playwrights. Iambic pentameter is a significant tool because it, though seemingly plain and simple as an element, may convey numerous things, ideas that prosperous elegance is admired. Emily Dickinson also uses slant rhyme that might add to the effect of the poem, created as a bit formal but still a bit irregular. It can produce the same effect a book must produce on the narrator in this poem. In turn, assonance and consonance help to distinguish the key ideas in the poem. Though not many, Emily Dickinson uses consonance to connect the words such as theme, mutual and mind. Also assonance is used in words venerable Hand to take, repeating the vowel sound to emphasize, especially, the privilege behind this act. Referring to all the literary elements Emily Dickinson uses, it must be that otherwise understanding of the poem may have become convoluted. Consequently the poem thoroughly can be analyzed to trace the elements essential to the theme. It is very important to use such elements where poem may otherwise be seen pointless. In the poem #371, Emily Dickinson effectively reflects on her feelings thus enabling the poem to be intriguing, as the book is to the narrator. It may be true that Emily, as an author, gets her ideas, such a strange at the time and a curious at others embodied in a poetic form, from the sort of Old Volume as the one described in the poem. If so, this correlation may help suggest a message of a broader issue reflected in this poem.

Generate Ideas Of The New Products Marketing Essay

Generate Ideas Of The New Products Marketing Essay This is a project for Mr Bean to launch a new product for a new segment. The process starts from idea generation, idea screening, business analysis, product development, test marketing and ends at 4Ps. Chosen Segment The new chosen segment is aiming at families, especially, the group of people who like soya bean food and do not go to Mr Beans outlets very often. Most of Mr Beans products are with short shelf life or difficult to store after selling. Usually, the products are eaten just after being sold. This restricts the sales. The consumers wouldnt buy a lot by one time. And the products are not available at home. If the consumers do not pass by Mr Beans outlets, the products are not available. So, Mr Bean may lose a lot of business opportunities. The new segment can length the time period for consumers to consume Mr Beans products. It will increase Mr Beans sales obviously. But, on the other hand, new products in this segment will affect the sales of existing products. Some consumers may do not buy products from Mr Bean when they pass by the outlets. It may be because that they have just eaten some Mr Beans similar products at home or they would eat at home. Considering the stagger location and time of the consumption, the effect will be slight. Overall, the new segment is expected to drive up Mr Beans sales significantly. The new products are expected to have a long shelf life and be easy to store, so that they are available for the families at home. 2 New Product Development 2.1 Idea Generation To generate ideas of the new products, internal and external surveys were held. The ideas were created by the employees and customers of Mr Bean. They are the following: Soy milk power: Instant soy milk. Dried bean curd: Traditional dried bean curd with package. Soya bean: Use complementary branding with a soy milk maker producer. And sell soya bean as the main material. Vacuum-packed pancake: New taste with package, the product can be stored at home. Mascot cookie: Cookies with different shape of Mr Beans mascot. Bagged soy milk oatmeal: A mix with soy milk power and dehydrated oatmeal. Frozen steam stuffed bun: A traditional and popular food. Boxed ice cream: Different to Mr Beans existing soft serves. 2.2 Idea Screening After the idea generation stage, the new product ideas were evaluated through some internal criteria, such as the consistency of the company positioning, of Mr Bean. Soy milk power: The production method of soy milk power is complex. And some large equipment is required. Mr Bean cant produce it now. Rejected. Dried bean curd: Dried bean curd can be produced easily by simple tools. Accepted. Soya bean: Directly sell soya bean takes low expense. Fabrication is not required. Accepted. Vacuum-packed pancake: The new taste pancake is very similar to the existing ones. Low cost and simple equipment is required. Accepted. Mascot cookie: The production process is simple. And tools to cook cookies are easy to get. Accepted. Bagged soy milk oatmeal: This new product is based on soy milk power. Since Mr Bean cant produce its own soy milk power, rejected. Frozen steam stuffed bun: Not soya bean related food. Inconsistent to company positioning. Rejected. Boxed ice cream: New equipment is required. But it is small and cheap. Accepted. The Screening result is as the table below: No. New Ideas Screening Result Accepted Rejected 1 Soy milk power 2 Dried bean curd 3 Soya bean 4 Vacuum-packed pancake 5 Mascot cookie 6 Bagged soy milk oatmeal 7 Frozen steam stuffed bun 8 Boxed ice cream 2.3 Business Analysis After the Idea screening, then the residual 5 ideas were examined by some external factors. Cost, sales and profitability need be considered in business analysis stage. Dried bean curd Cost: The main raw material is soya bean. And only simple tools are required. Cost should be low. Sales: Its a traditional food with a long history, demand may be high. As a soya bean food related company, the brand can help to get considerable sales. Profitability: Considerable sales with low cost makes it be very profitable. Soya bean Cost: Only some packaging fees are required. Sales: Lots of Singaporean dont like to cook at home, so the demand may be low. And its a convenience product, Sales may be disappointing. Profitability: Even cost is low, Sales may be also low. Its not profitable. Vacuum-packed pancake Cost: The cost of a vacuum-packed pancake with new taste is quite similar with the existing ones, just need extra packaging fees. Sales: Since the new pancake can store at home, both demand and sales are expected to have a obviously increase. Profitability: Net profit margin should be very similar to pancake. Profit should be high with good sales. Mascot cookie Cost: Cookies are easy to make with simple tools. Raw materials are also cheap. Cost is expected to be low. Sales: Most of the mascot cookie lovers should be little children. This limitation restricts the demand. Sales may be low. Profitability: Because of the low sales, it cant generate satisfying profit. Boxed ice cream Cost: The method and recipe are different from existing ice cream, but cost is very similar, both are low. Sales: Singapores climate stimulates the demand of ice cream. Sales are expected to be doubled. Profitability: High sales and low cost can bring good profit. Based on the profitability, the result is as the following table: No. New Ideas Analysis Result Accepted Rejected 2 Dried bean curd 3 Soya bean 4 Vacuum-packed pancake 5 Mascot cookie 8 Boxed ice cream 2.4 Product Development After many evaluations, the rest 3 ideas are developing into products. Dried bean curd The product is cut into small squares and with a lite taste. As the first product in this product line, choose original taste. Choose plastic as the packaging material. Some part of the package should be hyaline, so that the consumer can see the dried bean curd inside. Net weight is set at 150 gram per pack. So the consumers can eat up one pack one time. The label should show the flavor. Vacuum-packed pancake The new taste pancake was designed as a jam taste. It retained the soft texture of the existing ones. To reduce pressure on the product, the space inside the package should be fixed. So it can have a good appearance. As many other vacuum-package, use plastic as the material. Use specific color to show the flavor. Single pack can fit customers behavior. Boxed ice cream Boxed ice cream is different to Mr Beans existing soft serve. The new product has a relatively high hardness and low storage temperature. Its more suitable for transportation and storage. Strawberry taste is a common taste my other competitors use, and is very suitable to be chosen as the taste for the new product. Choose paper as packaging material. And the package should embody the flavor by color. Net content is 1L, a common quantity on the market.The label should highlight the new feature: it can be store at home. 2.5 Test Marketing Test marketing is to try to infer the response of a full-scale launch by a small regional test. The result may be not reliable (McDonald Christopher 2003, p.180). So choosing an ideal region can improve the reliability of the test result. Singapore is a very small country. This can help improve the accuracy of the test marketing. And the convenient public transportation makes the movement of mass very active, especially in MRT stations and bus interchange hubs. So choosing the outlets in these places to launch the prototypes can get a relatively reliable data. The outlet in Toa Payoh Hub is an ideal place to conduct the test. In location, it is at the center part of the country. And the passenger flow is high. Price is one of the considerations for the consumers in their consuming behavior. So the prices of the three products were based on the variable cost. And the contribution margin was set at 30% of the variable cost. So the selling prices are the following: Dried bean curd: 0.9 SD per pack Vacuum-packed pancake: 1.2 SD per pack Boxed ice cream: 4 SD per box At the same time, the customers who bought the new product were asked to take part in a survey. Customers voted to their favorite new product. The test lasted for a month. Then the data was collected and analyzed by Mr Bean. The result is as the following graphs: From the graphs, the sales of boxed ice cream were far ahead to the other two. And in customers choice, dried bean curd failed to get a good acceptance by most customers. The degree of vacuum-packed pancake and boxed ice cream among the customer is very similar. Boxed ice cream got a slight lead. Combining with data from all aspects, the result of test marking is as the following table: No. New Ideas Analysis Result Accepted Rejected 2 Dried bean curd 4 Vacuum-packed pancake 8 Boxed ice cream 3 Commercialisation Marketing mix is very often used in complex marketing strategies. It involves both targeted customers and companys objective (DIMCC 2008). Boxed ice cream should be classified as a product, so the marketing mix should base on 4Ps. 3.1 Product Product is the most important part in the 4Ps. The whole marketing mix bases on the products. Characteristics The new boxed ice cream is classified as a kind of regular ice cream. Its quite different from soft serves in recipe, hardness, taste, storage, process, etc. So it is a new product in a new product line in Mr Bean. And the taste is strawberry, a very common flavor on the market. So it is more probable to be accepted by the consumers. Regular ice cream is appropriate for many kinds of flavors. So it is possible to translate it into a series of products to length the product life circle. Different to many other regular ice cream on the market, Mr Beans boxed ice cream uses soya bean as one of its raw material. Packaging Package is an important part of the product. It has many functions. Contain the core product is the basic function of a package. For the boxed ice cream, paper box with cap is an ideal container. The design capacity is 1.1 liter. Since the net weight was decided to be 1 liter, the design capacity of the package must have some cushion. But the cushion mustnt be too much, or the customers may have a wrong impression that the product is short in actual weight. The paper must accord with food hygienic standard. And material quality must be waterproof paper. The package must have the ability to bear some situation that the ice cream melted. It can avoid leakage. The package protects the ice cream from external impurities and protects consumers from touching the ice cream, even when it melted. Piling method was considered to make sure the package is burly enough to bear the pressure. The design of the package must contain the information of the ice cream to consumers. Slight pink was chose n as the background color of the box, and strawberry was added into the design. So the consumer would know that it is a strawberry flavor. And Mr Beans trademark was designed on the striking area of the box. And some necessary information, such as ingredient, shelf life, was added on the package. Labeling Label is used to persuade or inform consumers. For the new boxed ice cream, the label was design to show the difference from Mr Beans existing products. The slogan on the label is designed as Enjoy simple pleasure at home. The background color was designed to be deep brown, a contrast color to slight pink. It can catch consumers attentions and arouse interests on the product. 3.2 Price To make a pricing strategy is very complex. There are too many aspects can affect the decision. There can be 6 steps in the process of setting a price (Kotler Keller 2006). A simplified process was used to set the price for this new product. Step 1: Choosing a pricing objective Pricing objectives can be classified as profit-oriented, sales-oriented and status quo. To the boxed ice cream, status quo pricing objectives are the optimal choice. Firstly, its a convenience product, the price must be competitive. Secondly, to Mr Bean, its new product line in a new market. And its still at the introduction stage. Surviving is the primary task. So, the pricing strategy should meet competitions prices. Step 2: Positioning After deciding to meet competitions prices, the question became to which competitor should be chosen to follow. On the market, there are many kinds of ice cream with different positioning. Analysis Mr Beans existing pricing strategy and the value of boxed ice cream to get the positioning. Then compare with the existing products on the market. Some competitors on the market are listed in the table below: Brand Product/Flavor Net Content Price Haagen-Dazs Mango 1L S$13.90 Haagen-Dazs Strawberry 1L S$14.45 Nestle La Gremeria 1L S$4.80 Weis Sorbet 1L S$9.15 KINGS VCRM SWT CORN 1L Similar PositioningS$3.57 KINGS VCRM R BERRY 1L S$3.57 Walls CRM-PADD RAINBOW 1.5L S$5.00 Walls CRM-CHOCLOLATE 1.5L S$5.00 So, the price of Mr Beans new boxed ice cream should be around S$4.80 per liter. Step 3: Estimating costs and adjusting Cost is an important factor to be considered in the process of setting price. It directly affects the contribution margin. The price should be set with a positive profit. The contribution margin was compared with the target profit, and the price was adjusted to S$4.60, a more competitive price with satisfying profit. 3.3 Promotion The role of promotion can be summarized as DRIP, Differentiation, Remind, Inform and Persuade (Ho 2012). As its in the introduction stage, the main objective should be Inform. Mr Bean is good at promote its product in many different ways. As boxed ice cream is a convenience product at the introduction stage. Combining with Mr Beans methods, the chosen tools are advertising, public relations and sales promotion. Advertising Overall, the purpose of advertising is to increase sales and profit. But it can be subdivided into different communication objectives (Jobber 2004, p.423). As this is the introduction stage of a new product, the communication objective is to create awareness. The following are the tools used: Poster and leaflet Enjoy Simple Pleasure At HomeSince the new segment is to length the time period for consumers to consume Mr Beans products, the main group of the targets is Mr Beans existing customers. Putting up a poster and distributing leaflets around Mr Beans outlets can get a good effect to create awareness. And most of the innovators should be Mr Beans loyal customers. And comparing with many other traditional advertising media, the total cost is very low. Good design of the poster and leaflet also can increase customers interest on boxed ice cream. Internet On the homepage of Mr Beans official website, there is a striking space for the companys star item and new products. This space is big enough to show a detail of product. Put boxed ice cream on the space. The visitor can aware it at first glance. Public Relations Public Relations is a good tool to build up a good image for a company and introduce new products to public. Mr Bean is very good at using this tool. For example, in the last few years, Mr Bean continually worked as a principle sponsor of National Day Parade. Such events are good opportunities for the introduction of boxed ice cream. The remarkable events can help boxed ice cream get awareness effectively. And by using public relations, many new consumers may be attracted.http://www.mrbean.com.sg/cmsresource/Events/NDP%202011/NDP2011_W243.jpghttp://www.mrbean.com.sg/cmsresource/Events/NDP%202011/NDP2011_W7.jpg Sales Promotion After consumers getting the awareness and reason for purchasing on boxed ice cream, sales promotion gives consumers the incentive to buy it. The short-term but obviously effect can help shorten the introduction stage and lead boxed ice cream to the growth stage. In the introduction stage, coupon is a very useful tool. It can stimulate the consumer behavior and increase the sales significantly. Since leaflets are used to advertise boxed ice cream, coupon can be distributed with the leaflets. 3.4 Place A place strategy affects the accessibility of the product to consumers and the profit of the originations in the marketing channel. Mr Bean defines itself as a retailer. Actually, it is also a producer. The company produces all the products by itself. So, the company uses direct channel for consumer products. Without the intermediaries, Mr Bean can get a significant profit from the sales.One of the reasons why does Mr Bean only use direct channel is the feature of the existing product. Most of Mr Beans products are made and sold on the spot. They are with short shelf life and are not convenient to transport and store. So other market channels are not suitable to Mr Bean. The new product, boxed ice cream, doesnt need to be restricted to the existing channel strategy. The new features make it possible to be sold by third parts. But, by considering the stage in product life circle and the capacity of the company, boxed ice cream was decided to launch by the existing channel strategy. As a new product, Mr Bean managed its capacity at low level in the introduction stage. And there are more than 60 Mr Beans outlets in Singapore. Its enough to offer a good accessibility to the consumers. Centralized production mode was selected for the new product. So the outlets didnt need to add any new equipment. Boxed ice cream was sold in all Mr Beans outlets. The channel strategy decision is a temporary one. With the increase of acceptance of the product, Mr Bean will increase its capacity. Other channels are possible to be used to increase the sales. 4 Conclusions After going through many screening and well planned by Mr Bean, the new product, boxed ice cream, came to the market. But whether it is a successful new product or not, is still waiting for the examination by the market.

Animal Testing :: Animal Testing

Is it right to take the life of an innocent animal? Animals have been burnt, crushed, sliced, electrocuted, tortured with drugs, poisoned with toxic chemicals, and tormented in psychological testing. They do all these test just to make money or find if a chemical is safe for humans. Is this right? Lab experimentation involving animals is inhumane. Animal testing is cruel because an animal s life is just as important as a human s life, people are exploiting animals, and animal testing doesn’t t show whether or not a product is safe for humans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In laboratories around the world, scientists test a company s product on animals. Why do these companies test their products on animals? Many scientists would argue that it s more cost-efficient to test products on animals than on humans. Others say that they experiment on animals because animals are not as important as humans, which isn’t necessarily true. Why should humans risk the death of animals for their own benefit? What makes a human s life any more valuable than any other creature s? Every creature on earth has one life to live, a common bond that all organisms share. Who is to say that one creature should have his one life taken away from him? This is different from eating another animal for survival purposes. Scientists do not need to test their products.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People are exploiting lab animals because of their inability to communicate with humans. The prominent English philosopher Jeremy Bentham, when commenting on animal testing, is quoted as having said, The question is not can they reason? nor can they talk? but can they suffer? The answer to his question is yes. Historical information from animal observations shows that animals do, in fact, suffer. Because of an animal s inability to communicate or reason, does that mean that humans have the right to decide their fate? Testing a company s product on animals doesn’t t mean that it will necessarily be safe for humans. For example, the drugs Oraflex, Selacryn, Zomax, Meritol, and Suprol have produced side effects, even death, in humans.

Settling of America (1620s -1670s) :: history

Settling of America (1620's -1670's) Christopher Columbus discovered the America’s for Spain in 1492. The explorers and settlers that settled in Central and South America were mostly Spanish and Portuguese. The English took notice of the Spanish success in the America’s, so they decided to explore the upper part of the America’s, North America, in the late 1500’s. Virginia was the first settled in the Chesapeake region in about 1607, and then later settlers went north to places like Massachusetts in the New England region in about 1629. Though both areas were settled by the English, they developed two different societies. While Captain John Smith was in Virginia in 1624, the men on the ship waited for the large ship to leave and ‘those of us that had money, spare clothes, credit to give bills of payment, gold rings, fur, or any such commodities, were ever welcome to [purchase supplies. The rest of us patiently obeyed our] vile commanders and [bought] our provisions at fifteen times the value’ (Doc. F). While other men were searching for gold ‘with their golden promises, made all men their slaves in hope of recompense.’ A Puritan lawyer, John Winthrop, immigrated to New England because his views on religion were different from those in England. Even though Puritans are Protestants, Puritans tried to purify the English Church. In 1630 on board of the Arabella on the Atlantic Ocean on way to Massachusetts, he wrote â€Å"A Model of Christian Charity† which gave his views on what a society should be. ‘†¦the condition of mankind, [that] in all times some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, other mean and in subjection†¦.[Yet] we must knit together in this work as one man.’ (Doc. A). In this he is saying that men may be different but to make a new world work, they must work together. All through his speech he mentions God. For example, he opens his sermon with ‘God Almighty in his most holy and wise providence†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. This shows that in New England, the people were very religious. New Englanders actually took religion a little too seriously. In the 1680’s and 1690’s Witch trials were taken place, especially in Salem Massachusetts. Women and some men were killed after being suspected of witchcraft until 1692. The religion bracket this happened in was the Puritans were Calvinists with very strict views about society.

What Christmas Means To Me :: essays research papers

Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me. Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent’s house, in East Tennessee. My husband, our three children, and myself travel from California. My two sisters, their husbands, and children come from a nearby town, for our celebration. We spend the day baking cookies, making fudge and preparing a big Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings. The children love to see each other. They spend the day playing games and sharing their new gifts and toys that Santa Claus brought for each of them. They get so eager to decorate, that it is hard to restrain them.Decorating for Christmas is so much fun. My father always draws a new background scenery, for the Nativity scene, that he displays, every year. He, my brother-in-laws and my husband start with the decorations for the outside of the house and the front yard. Every year, my parents add a little more to the outside decorations. My mom, sisters, our children and myself decorate the inside of the house. My mom has so many indoor decorations that they can not all possibly be displayed. We try to change the decorations, which we put out every year. The men finish up just about the same time as, we women and then it is time to decorate the tree together. The children love this the most. The tree is always real, and is usually six to seven feet tall. Most of the ornaments have been collected over the years and are very old. They have become real family treasures. We all have a favorite one that we each put on the tree. All the children put their First Christmas ornament on the tree, that I brought, as a gift.I am not usually a shopper, but during the Christmas season, I actually enjoy shopping. I rarely go into department stores, but during the Christmas season, I love to shop. The stores are so beautifully decorated and very festive. I can easily get carried away, with spending so much money. I must admit the thought of spending too much money hardly comes to mind.

Hr Policies of Ibm by Bal Essay

About ibm IBM is a global technology and innovation company that stands for progress. With operations in over 170 countries, IBMers around the world invent and integrate hardware, software and services to help forward-thinking enterprises, institutions and people everywhere succeed in building a smarter planet. IBM has been present in India since 1992. The diversity and breadth of the entire IBM portfolio of research, consulting, solutions, services, systems and software, uniquely distinguishes IBM India from other companies in the industry. IBM India’s solutions and services span all major industries including financial services, healthcare, government, automotive, telecommunications and education, among others. As a trusted partner with wide-ranging service capabilities, IBM helps clients transform and succeed in challenging circumstances. IBM has been expanding its footprint in India – and has a presence in over 200 cities and towns across the country – either directly or through its strong business partner network. IBM India has clearly established itself as one of the leaders in the Indian Information Technology (IT) Industry – and continues to transform itself to align with global markets and geographies to grow this leadership position. Widely recognised as an employer of choice, IBM holds numerous awards for its industry-leading employment practices and policies. IBM has one of the largest professional workforces in the world today. And what we bring to market is the expertise of our people, a workforce which is responsive to market requirements, with the skills and expertise to deliver value to clients, is resilient to market forces and delivers strong leadership. IBM has retained its position as one of the World’s Top Employers of Choice over these years because of its three-fold initiatives for the employees: * Capability: Rigorous and ongoing career/skills development programs * Climate: A challenging, empowering work environment, with world-class infrastructure * Culture: Sensitive to a global workforce The attributes that qualify these 3Cs are the Top Reasons that people come to work at IBM. IBM HR Policies 1. Global employment standards At IBM, we have always set high standards for the way we conduct business – in areas from corporate and social responsibility to sound business ethics, including compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. These Conduct Principles apply to all IBM employees. However, they are not meant to describe the full scope of IBM human resource policies or practices. More detailed statements of policies, procedures and practices are contained in documents such as the IBM Business Conduct Guidelines. Employees are required to comply with all IBM policies, procedures and practices at all times and are responsible for consulting their management if they have any questions. Our goal is to ensure full compliance with these principles by IBM managers and employees. A companion to this document, the IBM Supplier Conduct Principles, governs our relationships with and standards for IBM suppliers. . Forced or involuntary labor IBM will not use forced or involuntary labor of any type (e. g. , forced, bonded, indentured or involuntary prison labor); employment is voluntary. 3. Child labor IBM will not use child labor. The term â€Å"child† refers to any employed person under the age of 16, or under the age for completing compulsory education, or under the minimum age for employment in the country, whichever is greatest. We support the use of legitimate workplace apprenticeship, internship and other similar programs that comply with all laws and regulations applicable to such programs. 4. Wages and benefits IBM will, at a minimum, comply with all applicable wage and hour laws and regulations, including those relating to minimum wages, overtime hours, piece rates, nonexempt or exemption classification and other elements of compensation, and provide legally mandated benefits. 5. Working hours IBM will not exceed maximum hours of work prescribed by law and will appropriately compensate overtime. Employees will not be required to work more than 60 hours per week, including overtime, except in extraordinary business circumstances with their consent or where the nature of the position requires such work, as for exempt employees and employees in executive, managerial or professional positions. In countries where the maximum work week is shorter, that standard shall apply. Employees should be allowed at least one day off per seven-day week. 6. Nondiscrimination and harassment IBM will not discriminate in hiring, promotion, compensation of employees and employment practices on grounds of race, color, religion, age, nationality, social or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, pregnancy, political affiliation, disability or veteran status. IBM will create a work environment free of discrimination or harassment based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age or veteran status. . Respect and dignity IBM will treat all employees with respect and dignity and will not use corporal punishment, threats of violence or other forms of physical coercion or harassment. 8. Freedom of association IBM will respect the legal rights of its employees to join or to refrain from joining worker organizations, including labor organizations or trade unions. IBM complies with legal requirements worldwide regarding employee and third-party involvement. IBM respects the rights of employees to organize, and makes managers at all levels aware of those rights. The company’s long-standing belief is that the interests of IBM and its employees are best served through a favorable, collaborative work environment with direct communication between employees and management. IBM endeavors to establish such favorable employment conditions, to promote positive relationships between employees and managers, to facilitate employee communications, and to support employee development. 9. Health and safety IBM will provide its employees with a safe and healthy workplace in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. Consistent with these obligations, IBM will have and will implement effective programs that encompass things such as life safety, incident investigation, chemical safety, ergonomics, and will provide safe standards of health and safety in any housing and transportation provided for our employees by the company. 10. Protection of the environment IBM is committed to worldwide leadership in environmental protection.