Formulation and implementation of Business Strategy-Nestle

Contents

Business Strategy

Vision and Mission

Formulation and implementation of Business Strategy

Task: 1

AC 1.1: Explain Business strategy, Vision and Mission.

Strategic Change Management-Report

Task: 1 Develop systems to involve stakeholders in the planning of change and develop a change management strategy with stakeholders.

AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Management Strategies in Educational Institutions (8615): Assignment No.1

Q. 1 Give your own concept of managment while referring defintions of other scholars. Elaborate significance of educational managment with reference to models of manamgnet. 

Answer: 

The term ‘management’ has been used in different senses. Sometimes it refers to the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling, at other times it is used to describe it as a function of managing people. It is also referred to as a body of knowledge, a practice and discipline. There are some who describe management as a technique of leadership and decision-making while some others have analyzed management as an economic resource, a factor of production or a system of authority. 

Objectives of Management: 

The primary objective of management is to run the enterprise smoothly. The profit earning objective of a business is also to be kept in mind while undertaking various functions. 

Following are the broad objectives of management: 

1. Proper Utilization of Resources: 

The main objective of management is to use various resources of the enterprise in a most economic way. The proper use of men, materials, machines and money will help a business to earn sufficient profits to satisfy various interests. The proprietors will want more returns on their investments while employees, customers and public will expect a fair deal from the management. All these interests will be satisfied only when physical resources of the business are properly utilized. 

2. Improving Performance: 

Management should aim at improving the performance of each and every factor of production. The environment should be so congenial that workers are able to give their maximum to the enterprise. The fixing of objectives of various factors of production will help them in improving their performance. 

3. Mobilizing Best Talent: 

The management should try to employ persons in various fields so that better results are possible. The employment of specialists in various fields will be increasing the efficiency of various factors of production. There should be a proper environment which should encourage good persons to join the enterprise. The better pay scales, proper amenities, future growth potentialities will attract more people in joining a concern. 

4. Planning for Future: 

Another important objective of management is to prepare plans. No management should feel satisfied with today’s work if it has not thought of tomorrow. Future plans should take into consideration what is to be done next. Future performance will depend upon present planning. So, planning for future is essential to help the concern. 

Significance of educational managment with reference to models of manamgnet: 

1. Forecasting: 

It is a systematic assessment of future conditions by collecting all sorts of information about the present position of the system, its present and expected resources and trying to form a picture in terms of the accepted Philosophy in a particular country to arrive at a fruitful forecast. 

2. Decision-making: 

Decision-making is a key factor in educational management as here we have to think of generations which will be affected by the policies decided. Having considered various alternative and consequence of each course of action, a suitable course of action must be determined. Guess work, arbitrary exercise of authority, ill considered hasty decisions should have no place in educational management. The following points must be borne in mind while deciding that the: 

• Course of actions should be simple and easily understood by all concerned; 
• Standards for targets must be laid down; and 
• Goal must be clear. 

3. Planning: 

The plan should be flexible. The very existence of variables and uncertainties make decision-making and planning a necessity. There should be enough scope of change to cater for any unforeseen situations. There are many variables - the priorities may change due to unforeseen circumstances; 3 equipment and grants may not become available as expected; personnel may be posted out or they may proceed on leave; all these variable contributing to the non-implementation of decisions. 

4. Organization: 

It is the combination of necessary human effort, material equipments in systematic and effective correlation to accomplish the desired results. Under educational administration, we organize: 

• Ideas and principles into school systems, curricular and co-curricular activities, time schedules, norms of achievement and the like; 
• Human beings into schools, classes, committees, groups, school staff, the inspecting staff. 
• Material into buildings, furniture and equipment, libraries, laboratories, workshops, museums and art galleries. 

5. Motivation: 

Involvement in deciding policies and plans help in motivation. The term motivation aims to make the man to be cheerfully willing to do the job we want him to do. Face to face communication is quite useful if organization members are to be motivated to do their best. Communication, down, up and across is also of great importance to the motivation of organization members. 

6. Control: 

Effective control is an important element in educational administration. The administrator must constantly check on his terms and his wn performance vis-a-vis the standards laid down. He needs to take corrective action to the form of adjustments to the physical environment of work, modification and addition of materials and methods or abilities and motivation review of the personnel in terms of their spirits. 

7. Cooperation: 

It is required of all the elements the persons, material and ideas, knowledge and principles and so to interweave them as to achieve a common objective and a single effect. The administration should look into the: (a) relations among people, (b) allocation of tasks, and (c) division of labour. 

8. Evaluation: 

Evaluation is a good way to find out the success or failure of a project. Good measures are required to find out the reasons why it failed or succeeded, which steps in the process were most successful, 4 what should have been done to improve the action and what should be done differently at the next trial. 

9. Recording and reporting: 

Recording and reporting are essential elements of educational management which is answerable to the parents, the higher authorities, the society etc. 

10. Supervision: 

The purpose of supervision is to bring about a continuing improvement in the instructional programme. Cox and Langfitt write, "Management executes, directs; supervision advises, stimulates, explains, leads, guides and assists. Both plan, both diagnose, both inspect, but management decides and orders execution, while supervision helps to decide and assist in improving instruction."

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Please Check Solution to Other Solved Assignments B. ed (Spring 2018)

Q. 2 How does the knowledge of management help the managers? Enrich your answer with solid examples for the field? 

Answer: 

All organizations can benefit from their people sharing, innovating, reusing, collaborating and learning. Here is a list of 15 benefits that can result from knowledge management (KM) and enterprise social networks (ESNs). What would you add to this list? 

1. Enabling better and faster decision making 

By delivering relevant information at the time of need through structure, search, subscription, syndication, and support, a knowledge management environment can provide the basis for making good decisions. Collaboration brings the power of large numbers, diverse opinions, and varied experience to bear when decisions need to be made. The reuse of knowledge in repositories allows decisions to be based on actual experience, large sample sizes, and practical lessons learned. 

2. Making it easy to find relevant information and resources 

When faced with a need to respond to a customer, solve a problem, analyze trends, assess markets, benchmark against peers, understand competition, create new offerings, plan strategy, and to think critically, you typically look for information and resources to support these activities. If it is easy and fast to find what you need when you need it, you can perform all of these tasks efficiently. 

3. Reusing ideas, documents, and expertise 

Once you have developed an effective process, you want to ensure that others use the process each time a similar requirement arises. If someone has written a document or created a presentation that addresses a recurring need, it should be used in all future similar situations. When members of your organization have figured out how to solve a common problem, know how to deliver a recurring service, or have invented a new product, you want that same solution, service, and product to be replicated as much as possible. Just as the recycling of materials is good for the environment, reuse is good for organizations because it minimizes rework, prevents problems, saves time, and accelerates progress. 

4. Avoiding redundant effort 

No one likes to spend time doing something over again. But they do so all the time for a variety of reasons. Avoiding duplication of effort saves time and money, keeps employee morale up, and streamlines work. By not spending time reinventing the wheel, you can have more time to invent something new. 

5. Avoiding making the same mistakes twice 

George Santayana said, "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." If we don't learn from our mistakes, we will experience them over and over again. Knowledge management allows us to share lessons learned, not only about successes, but also about failures. In order to do so, we must have a culture of trust, openness, and reward for willingness to talk about what we have done wrong. The potential benefits are enormous. If NASA learns why a space shuttle exploded, it can prevent recurrences and save lives. If FEMA learns what went wrong in responding to Hurricane Katrina, it can reduce the losses caused by future disasters. If engineers learn why highways and buildings collapsed during a previous earthquake, they can design new ones to better withstand future earthquakes. If you learn that your last bid or estimate was underestimated by 50%, you can make the next one more accurate and thus earn a healthy profit instead of incurring a large loss. 

6. Taking advantage of existing expertise and experience 

Teams benefit from the individual skills and knowledge of each member. The more complementary the expertise of the team members, the greater the power of the team. In large organizations, there are people with widely-varying capabilities and backgrounds, and there should be a benefit from this. But as the number of people increases, it becomes more difficult for each individual to know about everyone else. So even though there are people with knowledge who could help other people, they don't know about each other. The late Lew Platt, former CEO of HP, is widely quoted as saying "If only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times more productive." Knowing what others know can be very helpful at a time of need, since you learn from their experience and apply it to your current requirements. 

7. Communicating important information widely and quickly 

Almost everyone today is an information worker, either completely or partially. We all need information to do our jobs effectively, but we also suffer from information overload from an increasing variety of sources. How can we get information that is targeted, useful, and timely without drowning in a sea of email, having to visit hundreds of web sites, or reading through tons of printed material? Knowledge management helps address this problem through personalized portals, targeted subscriptions, RSS feeds, tagging, and enterprise search engines. 

8. Promoting standard, repeatable processes and procedures 

If standard processes and procedures have been defined, they should always be followed. This allows employees to learn how things are done, leads to predictable and high-quality results, and enables large organizations to be consistent in how work is performed. By providing a process for creating, storing, communicating, and using standard processes and procedures, employees will be able to use them routinely. 

9. Providing methods, tools, templates, techniques, and examples 

Methods, tools, templates, techniques, and examples are the building blocks supporting repeatable processes and procedures. Using these consistently streamlines work, improves quality, and ensures compatibility across the organization. 

10. Making scarce expertise widely available 

If there is a resource who is in great demand due to having a skill that is in short supply, knowledge management can help make that resource available to the entire organization. Ways of doing so include community discussion forums, training events; ask the expert systems, recorded presentations, white papers, blogs, podcasts and videos. 

11. Showing customers how knowledge is used for their benefit 

In competitive situations, it is important to be able to differentiate yourself from other firms. Demonstrating to potential and current customers that you have widespread expertise and have ways of bringing it to bear for their benefit can help convince them to start or continue doing business with you. Conversely, failure to do so could leave you vulnerable to competitors who can demonstrate their knowledge management capabilities and benefits. 

12. Accelerating delivery to customers 

Speed of execution is another important differentiator among competitors. All other things being equal, the company that can deliver sooner will win. Knowledge sharing, reuse and innovation can significantly reduce time to deliver a proposal, product, or service to a customer. And that translates into increased win rates, add-on business, and new customers. 

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Please Check Solution to Other Solved Assignments B. ed (Spring 2018)

Q. 3 Suppose you are coordinating a training programme of employees in your school / institution / office. Explain its step wise process including all activities. Also prepare PERT diagram of this activity (Please follwing guidelines to prepare PERT diagram) 

Answer: 

Complex projects require a series of activities, some of which must be performed sequentially and others that can be performed in parallel with other activities. This collection of series and parallel tasks can be modeled as a network. 

In 1957 the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed as a network model for project management. CPM is a deterministic method that uses a fixed time estimate for each activity. While CPM is easy to understand and use, it does not consider the time variations that can have a great impact on the completion time of a complex project. 

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a network model that allows for randomness in activity completion times. PERT was developed in the late 1950's for the U.S. Navy's Polaris project having thousands of contractors. It has the potential to reduce both the time and cost required to complete a project. 

The Network Diagram 

In a project, an activity is a task that must be performed and an event is a milestone marking the completion of one or more activities. Before an activity can begin, all of its predecessor activities must be completed. Project network models represent activities and milestones by arcs and nodes. PERT originally was an activity on arc network, in which the activities are represented on the lines and milestones on the nodes. Over time, some people began to use PERT as an activity on node network. For this discussion, we will use the original form of activity on arc. 

The PERT chart may have multiple pages with many sub-tasks. The following is a very simple example of a PERT diagram: 

PERT Chart 

The milestones generally are numbered so that the ending node of an activity has a higher number than the beginning node. Incrementing the numbers by allows for new ones to be inserted without modifying the numbering of the entire diagram. The activities in the above diagram are labeled with letters along with the expected time required to complete the activity. 

Steps in the PERT Planning Process 

PERT planning involves the following steps: 

1. Identify the specific activities and milestones. 
2. Determine the proper sequence of the activities. 
3. Construct a network diagram. 
4. Estimate the time required for each activity. 
5. Determine the critical path. 
6. Update the PERT chart as the project progresses. 

1. Identify Activities and Milestones 

The activities are the tasks required to complete the project. The milestones are the events marking the beginning and end of one or more activities. It is helpful to list the tasks in a table that in later steps can be expanded to include information on sequence and duration. 

2. Determine Activity Sequence 

This step may be combined with the activity identification step since the activity sequence is evident for some tasks. Other tasks may require more analysis to determine the exact order in which they must be performed. 

3. Construct the Network Diagram 

Using the activity sequence information, a network diagram can be drawn showing the sequence of the serial and parallel activities. For the original activity-on-arc model, the activities are depicted by arrowed lines and milestones are depicted by circles or "bubbles". If done manually, several drafts may be required to correctly portray the relationships among activities. Software packages simplify this step by automatically converting tabular activity information into a network diagram. 

4. Estimate Activity Times 

Weeks are a commonly used unit of time for activity completion, but any consistent unit of time can be used. A distinguishing feature of PERT is its ability to deal with uncertainty in activity completion times. For each activity, the model usually includes three time estimates: 

• Optimistic time - generally the shortest time in which the activity can be completed. It is common practice to specify optimistic times to be three standard deviations from the mean so that there is approximately a 1% chance that the activity will be completed within the optimistic time. 
• Most likely time - the completion time having the highest probability. Note that this time is different from the expected time. 
• Pessimistic time - the longest time that an activity might require. Three standard deviations from the mean is commonly used for the pessimistic time. 

PERT assumes a beta probability distribution for the time estimates. For a beta distribution, the expected time for each activity can be approximated using the following weighted average:

Expected time = ( Optimistic + 4 x Most likely + Pessimistic ) / 6 

This expected time may be displayed on the network diagram. 

To calculate the variance for each activity completion time, if three standard deviation times were selected for the optimistic and pessimistic times, then there are six standard deviations between them, so the variance is given by: 

[ ( Pessimistic - Optimistic ) / 6 ] 2 

5. Determine the Critical Path 

The critical path is determined by adding the times for the activities in each sequence and determining the longest path in the project. The critical path determines the total calendar time required for the project. If activities outside the critical path speed up or slow down (within limits), the total project time does not change. The amount of time that a non-critical path activity can be delayed without delaying the project is referred to as slack time. 

If the critical path is not immediately obvious, it may be helpful to determine the following four quantities for each activity: 

• ES - Earliest Start time
• EF - Earliest Finish time 
• LS - Latest Start time 
• LF - Latest Finish time 

These times are calculated using the expected time for the relevant activities. The earliest start and finish times of each activity are determined by working forward through the network and determining the earliest time at which an activity can start and finish considering its predecessor activities. The latest start and finish times are the latest times that an activity can start and finish without delaying the project. LS and LF are found by working backward through the network. The difference in the latest and earliest finish of each activity is that activity's slack. The critical path then is the path through the network in which none of the activities have slack.

The variance in the project completion time can be calculated by summing the variances in the completion times of the activities in the critical path. Given this variance, one can calculate the probability that the project will be completed by a certain date assuming a normal probability distribution for the critical path. The normal distribution assumption holds if the number of activities in the path is large enough for the central limit theorem to be applied. 

Since the critical path determines the completion date of the project, the project can be accelerated by adding the resources required to decrease the time for the activities in the critical path. Such a shortening of the project sometimes is referred to as project crashing. 

6. Update as Project Progresses 

Make adjustments in the PERT chart as the project progresses. As the project unfolds, the estimated times can be replaced with actual times. In cases where there are delays, additional resources may be needed to stay on schedule and the PERT chart may be modified to reflect the new situation. 

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Please Check Solution to Other Solved Assignments B. ed (Spring 2018)

Q. 4 What are the benefits of strategic decision? Explain the concept of SWOT analysis in strategic managment. 

Answer: 

Benefits of strategic decision 

Strategic planning is a formalized, documented organizational management process used to analyze its current situation, set priorities, and to focus resources and energy to achieve and maintain an organization’s competitive advantage. While many organizations understand the importance of strategic planning and spend a great deal of time and money coming up with the strategic plan, it still remains something that is reviewed just once a year or worse - a glossy document that sits on the shelf! "

If you don't know where you are going, you are certain to end up somewhere else." - Yogi Berra 

You might be thinking: Is it worth embarking on a strategic planning process? There are many benefits that go along with strategic planning. The key to successful strategic planning is to build in measures and implementation steps that allow you to engage your staff and monitor the results at regular intervals. The work of strategic planning doesn’t stop at the strategic plan, but it’s a start! 

Here are the top 5 benefits of strategic planning: 

1. It allows organizations to be proactive rather than reactive 

A strategic plan allows organizations to foresee their future and to prepare accordingly. Through strategic planning, companies can anticipate certain unfavourable scenarios before they happen and take necessary precautions to avoid them. With a strong strategic plan, organizations can be proactive rather than merely reacting to situations as they arise. Being proactive allows 12 organizations to keep up with the ever-changing trends in the market and always stay one step ahead of the competition. 

2. It sets up a sense of direction 

A strategic plan helps to define the direction in which an organization must travel, and aids in establishing realistic objectives and goals that are in line with the vision and mission charted out for it. A strategic plan offers a much-needed foundation from which an organization can grow, evaluate its success, compensate its employees and establish boundaries for efficient decisionmaking. 

3. It increases operational efficiency 

A strategic plan provides management the roadmap to align the organization’s functional activities to achieve set goals. It guides management discussions and decision making in determining resource and budget requirements to accomplish set objectives -- thus increasing operational efficiency. 

4. It helps to increase market share and profitability 

Through a dedicated strategic plan, organizations can get valuable insights on market trends, consumer segments, as well as product and service offerings which may affect their success. An approach that is targeted and well-strategized to turn all sales and marketing efforts into the best possible outcomes can help to increase profitability and market share. 

5. It can make a business more durable 

Business is a tumultuous concept. A business may be booming one year and in debt the next. With constantly changing industries and world markets, organizations that lack a strong foundation, focus and foresight will have trouble riding the next wave. According to reports, one of every three companies that are leaders in their industry might not be there in the next five years... but the odds are in favour of those that have a strong strategic plan! 

From a decision viewpoint the overall problem of the business of the firm is to configure and direct the resources-conversion process in such way as to optimize the attainment of its objectives. Since this calls for a great many distinct and different decisions, dividing the total decision ‘space’ into several distinct categories can facilitate a study of the overall decision process. One approach is to 13 construct three categories: Strategic-, Administrative-, and Operating decisions. Each related to a different aspect of the resources-conversion process. 

Operating decisions usually absorb the bulk of the firm’s energy and attention. The object is to maximize the efficiency of the firm’s resources-conversion process, or, in other words, to maximize profitability of current operations. The major decision areas are resource allocation (budgeting) among functional areas and product lines, scheduling of operations, supervision of performance, and applying control actions. The key decisions involve pricing, establishing marketing strategy, setting production schedules and inventory levels, and deciding on relative expenditures in support of R&D, marketing, and operations. 

Strategic decisions are primarily concerned with external, rather than internal, problems of the firm and specifically with selection of the product-mix, which the firm will produce, and the markets to which it will sell. To use an engineering term, the strategic problem is concerned with establishing an ‘impedance match’ between the firm and its environment or, in other words, it is the problem of deciding what business the firm is in and what kinds of business it will seek to enter. Specific questions addressed in the strategic problem are: What are the firm’s objectives and goals; should the firm seek to diversity, in what areas, how vigorously; and how should the firm develop an exploit its present product-market position? A very important feature of the overall business decision process becomes accentuated in the strategic problem. This is the fact that a large majority of decisions must be made within the framework of a limited total resource. Regardless of how large or small the firm, strategic decisions deal with a choice of resource commitments among alternatives; emphasis on diversification will lead to neglect of present products. The object is to produce a resource-allocation pattern, which will offer the best potential for meeting the firm’s objectives. 

Administrative decisions are concerned with structuring the firm’s resources in a way, which creates a maximum performance potential. One part of the administrative problem is concerned with organization flows, distribution channels, and location of facilities. The other part is concerned with acquisition and development of resource: development of raw-material sources, personnel training and development, financing, and acquisition of facilities and equipment. 

While distinct, the decisions are interdependent and complementary. The strategic decisions assure that the firm’s products and markets are well chosen, that adequate demand. Strategy imposes operating requirements: price-cost decisions, timing of output to meet the demand, responsiveness to changes in customer needs and technological and process characteristics. The administrative structure must provide the climate for meeting these, e.g., a strategic environment which is characterized by frequent and unpredictable demand fluctuations requires that marketing and manufacturing be closely coupled organizationally for rapid response; an environment which is highly technical requires that the research and development department work in close cooperation with sales personnel. 

In this sense ‘structure follows strategy’ – the environment determines the strategic and operating responses of the firm, and these, in turn, determine the structure of authority, responsibility, work flows, and information flows within the firm. As new business environment changes, different strategy opportunities became available to business. As firms took advantage of these opportunities and thus changed their previous strategies, operating inadequacies develop which dictated new forms of organization. Alfred P. Sloan in his memoirs has diagnosed one of the major requirements which strategy has imposed on structure: to organize the firm’s management in a way, which assures a proper balance of attention between the strategic and operating decisions. 

Such balance is difficult to achieve. In most firms everyone in the organization is concerned with a myriad of recurring operating problems. Management from top to bottom continually seeks to improve efficiency, to cut costs, to sell more, to advertise better. Problems are automatically generated at all levels of management, and those, which are beyond the scope of lower management authority, become the concern of top management. The volume of such decision is great and constant, particularly because of the need for daily supervision and control. In fact one of the major concerns of top management is to avoid overload by establishing decision priorities and by delegating as much as possible to lower managers. 

By contrast, strategic decisions are not self-regenerative; they make no automatic claims on top management attention. Unless actively pursued, they may remain hidden behind the operations problems. Firm are generally very slow in recognizing conditions under which concern with the operating problem must give way to a concern with the strategic. Usually when such conditions occur, operating problems neither ceases nor slacken. On the contrary, they appear to intensify. 

Conditions in the environment of the last decades demonstrate these competing claims on operating and strategic responses. On the one hand forces of change buffer many firms: technology obsolescence, saturation of demand, rapid obsolescence of products. On the other hand, the very same firms have to meet competition of intensity which they have never experienced before. 

The immediate demands on management time and effort raised by such operating problems can readily obscure the fact that the basic ills lie not in the firm but in its environment. Even when a continuous downward trend in profitability or obvious signs of market saturation strongly point to the need to revamp the entire product-market position, a natural tendency is to seek remedies in operational improvements: cost reduction, consolidation, a new advertising manager, and the most popular may be that the demand for the firm’s products is on a rapid decline. 

Since strategic problems are harder to pinpoint, they require special attention. Unless specific provisions are made for concern with strategy, the firm may misplace its effort in pursuit of operating efficiency at times when attention to strategic opportunities (of threats) can produce a more radical and immediate improvement in the firm’s performance. 

A proper balance of managerial attention requires three kinds of provisions. One is to provide management with a method of analysis, which can help to formulate the firm’s future strategy. The second provision is to provide a method by which management can determine the administrative structure, which will be needed to manage under the new strategy. The third provision is to provide a method for guiding the transformation from the present to the future strategy and from the present to the future administrative structure. 

The balance of management attention to strategic and operating decisions is ultimately determined by the firm’s environment. If the demands in the firm’s markets are growing, technology is stable and customer demands and preferences change slowly, a firm can remain successful by focusing its attention on the operating activities, and letting its products, markets and competitive strategies evolve slowly and incrementally. In such environments a majority of firms typically focus their attention on the operating decisions. Strategic decisions seldom find their way into the corporate office, and the strategic evolution of the firm is ‘from the bottom up initiated and implemented through cooperation among the R & D, marketing and production departments. 

Only a minority of firms in growing and stable environments are strategically aggressive. These are the firms led by restless and ambitious entrepreneurs who are bent on expanding the firm beyond the limits made possible by its markets. If environment turns turbulent and changeable, and/or demand approach saturation, firms no longer have the option of a dominant concern with 16 operations. Continued success, and even survival, is possible only if management gives a high priority to the firm’s strategic activity. 

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Please Check Solution to Other Solved Assignments B. ed (Spring 2018)

Q. 5 Define performance apprasial. Explain different ways and uses of Feedback and coaching in the process of performance managment. 

Answer: 

Performance Appraisal is the systematic evaluation of the performance of employees and to understand the abilities of a person for further growth and development. Performance appraisal is generally done in systematic ways which are as follows: 

1. The supervisors measure the pay of employees and compare it with targets and plans. 
2. The supervisor analyses the factors behind work performances of employees. 
3. The employers are in position to guide the employees for a better performance. 

Objectives of Performance Appraisal 

Performance Appraisal can be done with following objectives in mind: 

1. To maintain records in order to determine compensation packages, wage structure, salaries raises, etc. 
2. To identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees to place right men on right job. 
3. To maintain and assess the potential present in a person for further growth and development. 
4. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status. 
5. To provide a feedback to employees regarding their performance and related status. 
6. It serves as a basis for influencing working habits of the employees. 
7. To review and retain the promotional and other training programmes. 

Advantages of Performance Appraisal 

It is said that performance appraisal is an investment for the company which can be justified by following advantages: 

1. Promotion: 

Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to chalk out the promotion programmes for efficient employees. In this regards, inefficient workers can be dismissed or demoted in case. 

2. Compensation: 

Performance Appraisal helps in chalking out compensation packages for employees. Merit rating is possible through performance appraisal. Performance Appraisal tries to give worth to a performance. Compensation packages which includes bonus, high salary rates, extra benefits, allowances and pre-requisites are dependent on performance appraisal. The criteria should be merit rather than seniority. 

3. Employees Development: 

The systematic procedure of performance appraisal helps the supervisors to frame training policies and programmes. It helps to analyse strengths and weaknesses of employees so that new jobs can be designed for efficient employees. It also helps in framing future development programmes. 

4. Selection Validation: 

Performance Appraisal helps the supervisors to understand the validity and importance of the selection procedure. The supervisors come to know the validity and thereby the strengths and weaknesses of selection procedure. Future changes in selection methods can be made in this regard. 

5. Communication: 

For an organization, effective communication between employees and employers is very important. Through performance appraisal, communication can be sought for in the following ways: 

• Through performance appraisal, the employers can understand and accept skills of subordinates. 
• The subordinates can also understand and create a trust and confidence in superiors. 
• It also helps in maintaining cordial and congenial labour management relationship. 
• It develops the spirit of work and boosts the morale of employees. 

All the above factors ensure effective communication.

6. Motivation: 

Performance appraisal serves as a motivation tool. Through evaluating performance of employees, a person’s efficiency can be determined if the targets are achieved. This very well motivates a person for better job and helps him to improve his performance in the future. 

Past Oriented Methods 

1. Rating Scales: 

Rating scales consists of several numerical scales representing job related performance criterions such as dependability, initiative, output, attendance, attitude etc. Each scales ranges from excellent to poor. The total numerical scores are computed and final conclusions are derived. Advantages – Adaptability, easy to use, low cost, every type of job can be evaluated, large number of employees covered, no formal training required. Disadvantages – Rater’s biases 

2. Checklist: 

Under this method, checklist of statements of traits of employee in the form of Yes or No based questions is prepared. Here the rater only does the reporting or checking and HR department does the actual evaluation. Advantages – economy, ease of administration, limited training required, standardization. Disadvantages – Raters biases, use of improper weighs by HR, does not allow rater to give relative ratings 

3. Forced Choice Method: 

The series of statements arranged in the blocks of two or more are given and the rater indicates which statement is true or false. The rater is forced to make a choice. HR department does actual assessment. Advantages – Absence of personal biases because of forced choice. Disadvantages – Statements may be wrongly framed. 

4. Forced Distribution Method: 

here employees are clustered around a high point on a rating scale. Rater is compelled to distribute the employees on all points on the scale. It is assumed that the performance is conformed to normal distribution. Advantages – Eliminates Disadvantages – Assumption of normal distribution, unrealistic, errors of central tendency. 

5. Critical Incidents Method: 

The approach is focused on certain critical behaviors of employee that makes all the difference in the performance. Supervisors as and when they occur record such incidents. Advantages – Evaluations are based on actual job behaviors, ratings are supported by descriptions, feedback is easy, reduces recency biases, chances of subordinate improvement are high. Disadvantages – Negative incidents can be prioritized, forgetting incidents, overly close supervision; feedback may be too much and may appear to be punishment. 

6. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales: 

statements of effective and ineffective behaviors determine the points. They are said to be behaviorally anchored. The rater is supposed to say, which behavior describes the employee performance. Advantages – helps overcome rating errors. Disadvantages – Suffers from distortions inherent in most rating techniques. 

7. Field Review Method: 

This is an appraisal done by someone outside employees’ own department usually from corporate or HR department. Advantages – Useful for managerial level promotions, when comparable information is needed, Disadvantages – Outsider is generally not familiar with employees work environment, Observation of actual behaviors not possible. 

8. Performance Tests & Observations: 

This is based on the test of knowledge or skills. The tests may be written or an actual presentation of skills. Tests must be reliable and validated to be useful. Advantage – Tests may be apt to measure potential more than actual performance. Disadvantages – Tests may suffer if costs of test development or administration are high. 

9. Confidential Records: 

Mostly used by government departments, however its application in industry is not ruled out. Here the report is given in the form of Annual Confidentiality Report (ACR) and may record ratings with respect to following items; attendance, self expression, team work, leadership, initiative, technical ability, reasoning ability, originality and resourcefulness etc. The system is highly secretive and confidential. Feedback to the assessee is given only in case of an adverse entry. Disadvantage is that it is highly subjective and ratings can be manipulated because the evaluations are linked to HR actions like promotions etc. 

10. Essay Method: 

In this method the rater writes down the employee description in detail within a number of broad categories like, overall impression of performance, promoteability of employee, existing capabilities and qualifications of performing jobs, strengths and weaknesses and training needs of the employee. Advantage – It is extremely useful in filing information gaps about the employees that often occur in a better-structured checklist. Disadvantages – It its highly dependent upon the writing skills of rater and most of them are not good writers. They may get confused success depends on the memory power of raters. 11. Cost Accounting Method: Here performance is evaluated from the monetary returns yields to his or her organization. Cost to keep employee, and benefit the organization derives is ascertained. Hence it is more dependent upon cost and benefit analysis. 12. Comparative Evaluation Method (Ranking & Paired Comparisons): These are collection of different methods that compare performance with that of other co-workers. The usual techniques used may be ranking methods and paired comparison method. 20  Ranking Methods: Superior ranks his worker based on merit, from best to worst. However how best and why best are not elaborated in this method. It is easy to administer and explanation.  Paired Comparison Methods: In this method each employee is rated with another employee in the form of pairs. The number of comparisons may be calculated with the help of a formula as under. N x (N-1) / 2 

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): Plan Implementation and Educational Management (8617): Assignment No. 2

Q.1 Describe and discuss how school mapping is an essential tool for educational planning? Also describe the impact of school mapping on educational reforms in Pakistan. 

Answer: 

AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): School Administration and Supervision (8616): Assignment No.1

Q.1 How you will define school administration, strengthen your answer with relevant literature and in your opinion what is the scope of educational administration in teacher education? 

Answer: 

Educational administration is the study and practice of managing the resources, tasks and communications involved in running a school. The goal of the administrator is to keep the school's overall process flowing smoothly, making decisions that facilitate successful education. The administrator identifies and articulates a school's mission and goals and makes them happen by implementing programs, delegating tasks and allocating resources. 

Meaning of Educational Administration 

Educational Administration is a discipline within the study of education that examines the administrative theory and practice of education in general and educational institutions and educators in particular. The field ideally distinguishes itself from administration and management through its adherence to guiding principles of educational philosophy. 

The concept of educational administration may not be totally different from what we are familiar with in the concept of administration. Education at different levels has its objectives, the most important of the objectives that cut across all the levels of education is teaching and learning. It is the function of the school to produce educated and enlightened human beings who would be able to contribute positively to the development of the society. This formed the opinion of Olaniyi (2000) who describes school as a social institution which does not exist in a vacuum. He said further that a school is a micro-community, existing within a macro community to mould the habits, interest, attitudes and feelings of children and transmit from one generation to another. The school also comprises certain personnel i.e. teaching and non-teaching staff as well as the students. These human resources in the school work with some materials, such as instructional materials, equipment and financial resources in order to achieve the objectives of the school

Administration is very germane to the realization of the school’s objectives – indeed, the success of the school system depends largely on the administration of the school it handled. The teachers, students, non-teaching staff and resources must be efficiently arranged, monitored and controlled, so that they would work harmoniously according to (educational plan). Even the National Policy on Education emphasizes the success of the entire educational system on proper planning, efficient administration and adequate funding. School administration is the process by which principles, methods and practices of administration are applied in educational institutions to establish, maintain and develop such institutions in line with the goals of the institutions. Akinwumi & Jayeoba (2004) define school administration as the scientific organization of human and material resources and programs available for education and using them systematically and meticulously to achieve educational goals. Basically, educational administration implies the arrangement of the human and material resources and program available for education and carefully using them systematically for the achievement of educational objectives. 

Thus educational administrator, whether in the ministry of education, the schools board, or in a school is essentially the organizer, the implementer of plans, policies and program meant for achieving specific educational objectives. The educational administrator may contribute, one way or the other, in planning, policy–making and program designing, yet his major role rests with the effective and efficient implementation of such plans, policies and program for the benefit of education. Viewed from this angle, educational administration is concerned with organization and implementation – it may be categorized under broad areas of: 

• Planning and Policy 
• Implementation 

Although such a categorization is essentially arbitrary and broad and these aspects of management are closely tied, inseparable and inductive, it is possible to separate the functions of administration from that of planning and policy–making in education. For example the administrator is concerned with formulating general plans and policies for education.

Roles of Educational Administrators 

The top administrator, whether she's called superintendent, head of school, president or principal, is the institution's equivalent of a chief executive officer in business. She takes an active role in personnel issues, budget decisions, curriculum planning and setting policy that staff and students will abide by. Administrators are responsible for setting the institution's tone and serve as its public face. School districts, colleges and universities often employ assistant administrators to be responsible for budget, curriculum and personnel. Still other educational administrators work in research and policy-making roles in governmental and private departments and organizations where students typically never set foot.

Educational Administration Degrees 

Typically, an educational administrator will need at least a master's degree in education, master's degree in educational administration or doctorate in education. At the master's level, coursework typically includes the sociology and law of education, educational research, curricular and instructional strategies and leadership and management skills. Earning a doctoral degree requires advanced study in leadership; educational theory, practice and planning; supervisory skills; research and statistics; and organizational dynamics. 

Styles of Educational Administration 

Educational researchers have devoted considerable effort to defining and analyzing what makes an effective administrator. Effectiveness is measured using research tools such as school climate surveys and institutional health assessments. The [Encyclopedia of Educational Research and Administration] (http://www.sagepub.com/refbooks/Book226460) published by Sage Research identifies four distinct styles: authoritarian leaders who employ a top-down, unemotional style and run tight ships using coercive tactics, participative leaders who emphasize collegiality and collaboration, transactional leaders who strive for a 4 happy middle ground between the two and transformational leaders who focus on servant leadership and empowerment. There is no definitive proof that one of these styles works better than all of the others; what matters is a good fit between the administrator and the institution's key stakeholders. 

Making a Career in Educational Administration 

Many a teacher takes a look at the way things are being run and either admires or detests it so much that he decides to go for that master's and become a decision maker, and many graduate programs are designed to accommodate the needs of these working teachers. Aspiring educational administrators need to prepare themselves for long days during which they'll handle a variety of problems and successes and be the one held responsible in good times and bad. It's a job for problem solvers with superb time management skills. 

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Q.2 Elaborate educational administration and its scope. What are the responsibilities of a head teacher in a school? 

Answer: 

Within TimeClick there are several different levels of administration that allow you to spread the work of administering TimeClick across different departments. Note that all three levels of administration are accessible with a unique administrative password. Having multiple admin users makes it easier to split the work among others and ensures the proper tasks are assigned to the appropriate administrator. Each of the three administration modes can be open on any of the TimeClick computers by clicking the administration button, choosing the administration mode you would like to enter and then typing the password. The first option is the main administration mode. This administrator will have access to everything in the time tracking system. This is where you will add and edit employees’ records, modify times, view reports, set preferences, and manage your accruals. Next, you have the Level 2 – Restricted Administration mode. This will allow anyone with the appropriate password to view reports and/or modify times if the main administrator allows them to do so. By default, the Level 2 administration is only able to view reports in TimeClick. You can, however, allow them to modify times by going into the main administration mode, selecting preferences then password and misc controls and then check the box that reads allow level 2 and department supervisors to modify times. 

Last, there is a Department Supervisor administration level. Again, like a level 2 administration you can allow department heads the ability to just run reports or to modify times as well. In order to allow a department supervisor these administrative capabilities, you will first need to create the department, and then set them up as a department supervisor in the administration mode under Departments. After you’ve assigned an employee to be a department supervisor they will be able to access reports and modify times for employees listed within their department. The department supervisor(s) will be able to use their employee password to log in to this restricted area. 

Educational Administration: 

As we know the very fact that educational administration needs integration and coordination of all the physical and human resources and educational elements. Besides this it requires a great efficiency with it based on human sympathy, understanding, knowledge and skill. The physical resources mainly contribute building equipment’s and instructional materials. The human resources include pupils, teachers, supervisors, administrators and parents. The additional elements comprise the various aspects of educational theory and practice including philosophy of education, objectives of education, curriculum, method of teaching, discipline, role of the teacher, rules and regulations etc. These elements are “parts, made into whole” and are components brought into harmonious relationship. So the purpose of doing such vital task is to fulfill different purposes which are known as the objectives of educational administration. 

These are: 

1. To provide proper education to students: 

This objective seeks to mention the fact that good education doesn’t mean education at a very high cost as is practiced in modern public schools. Rather it means the right type of education from the right type of teachers within reasonable cost. This objective also implies quantitative expansion and qualitative improvement of education. 

2. To Ensure Adequate Utilization Of All Resources: 

For adequate realization of the various purposes of educational programme there is the need of ensuring adequate utilization of all available resources-human, material and financial. 

3. To Ensure Professional Ethics And Professional Development Among Teachers: 

As teachers are the senior and mature human elements to accelerate the programme in time their role is highly felt in this regard. They are to be encouraged and given the facility to devise and try out innovative ideas on instruction and to participate in service education programmes. In this context, it can be visualized that educational administration should aim at developing a desire for hard work, dedication and commitment for their job among teachers. 

4. To organize educational programmes for acquainting students with the art of democratic living and giving them excellent training in democratic citizenship. 

5. To mobilize the community: 

Like general administration, educational administration seeks to maintain and improve the relations with the community. For this it should seek community support and co-operation for quantitative expansion, qualitative improvements, smooth and fair examination in the educational system. 

6. To organize co-curricular activities effectively for developing talents of students and work efficiency of educational teachers. 

7. To get the work done: 

The most important objective of administration is to get the work done effectively, efficiently and with satisfaction to the individuals and benefits to the society. 7 8. To prepare students for taking their places in various vocations and avenues of life. 9. To train the students in developing scientific attitude and objective outlook among them towards all aspects and activities of life. 10. To ensure qualitative improvement of education: Good education can be provided to students by bringing qualitative improvement in instruction. Regular supervision of teaching and guidance of teachers help to ensure quality teaching in schools. 

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Q.3 We came away with the belief that the administrative functions are the scope of educational administration. It is important to identify the task areas of the educational administrator. What are the main tasks areas of educational administration that we need to identify? 

Answer: 

Educational Management is a multi-faced activity. It is a social process that is designed to ensure co-operation participation, intervention and involvement of others in the effective achievement of given or determined objectives. Management, being a social process, lays its major emphasis on the interaction of people, mar inside and outside the institutions and people above and below one’s operational position. Thereto% aims and objectives of educational management have to be understand from the above dimension, 

Several attempts have been made by Early Childhood Education Training to define aims and objectives of educational management different terms. Broadly the objectives: 

1. To define the functions of the school. 
2. To plan for the future and arrange the plan of operation. 
3. To organize/build up the material and human resources required for proper running of the school 
4. To command the staff both teaching and non-teaching to do their work efficiently 
5. To co-ordinate the functions of various human elements and correlate all the activities. 
6. To control and to ensure everything is done in accordance with the rules which have been down and the instructions which have been given. 
7. To create environment and facilities for educational research etc. 

Functions of Educational Management/Administration 

There are seven clearly defined functions of educational management which throw more light on viz. planning, organization, direction, control, co-ordination, evaluation and reporting. There are seven clearly defined functions of educational management which throw more believe it viz. planning, organization, direction, control, co-ordination, evaluation and reporting. 

Planning 

Planning is the crucial step in the educational management. An unplanned management/administration will not go very far. Only a planned approach can achieve the desired. Planning should precede every performance. 

Organisation 

It is the fundamental task in every administration. Organization is the machine for getting thing done. It mainly concerned with provision, arrangement, and manpower, which enable the administration to carry out its functions. In fact administration works through the available organization. 

Direction 

It is the process of guiding the human efforts and achieving aims/objectives. Direction represents leadership; which has a key role to play in administrative. This is the authority, which direct thing done direction shows the way. It channelizes the entire organization towards the common goal. In administration there is always the involvement of number of persons,. Different functionaries of the machinery are made to pursue the common goal by proper control failing which they pull in different directions. 

Co-ordination 

It is the process of harmonizing in a uniform way all the elements-the persons, materials and services so as to interweave them to achieve a common objective. For this purpose the management should clearly define (1) division of labour (2) allocation of tasks and control & supervision over the Die human or material elements and establishing good rapport/relationship between them. 

Evaluation 

It is the process of formulating judgment i.e. stocktaking of an administration. Since administration is a dynamic process, it has to be reviewed from time to time examining the extent to which objectives have been achieved, and reasons for failures Proper evaluation enable the management to understand its own strengths and weaknesses and planning for introduction of better techniques or discovery of new knowledge or processes. 

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Q.4 Explain the central bodies of educational administration that play important role in administration. 

Answer: 

An education system with government as the major investor and social partners as coinvestors. In current stage, local government is playing a key role in compulsory education, while central and provincial government are dominant in higher education. In occupational and adult education, social partners including industrial organizations, businesses and public institutions are playing a more and more important role. Ministry of Education of PRC is the supreme education administration body in China, which is responsible for carrying out related laws, regulations, guidelines and policies of the central government; planning development of education sector; integrating and coordinating educational initiatives and programs nationwide; maneuvering and guiding education reform countrywide. 

Since 1978, Chinese government has promulgated such codes as Degree Statute of the People's Republic of China, Law of Compulsory Education of the People's Republic of China, Law of Teachers of the People's Republic of China, Law of Protection over Juveniles of the People's Republic of China, Education Law of the People's Republic of China, Statute for Teacher's Eligibility and Law of Higher education of the People's Republic of China, and released more than ten sets of education administration regulations. The Ministry of Education, within its jurisdiction, has issued more than 200 sets of administrative rules and regulations, significantly facilitating development of education of different natures. With regard to education budget, financial allocation is still the major source, while multiple fund channels have been opened up. At present, fund needed by schools directly controlled by the central government comes from the central financial pool; schools controlled by local governments are supported by local finance; schools sponsored by township and villageship governments and by public institutions are mainly financed by the sponsor institutions and subsidized by local governments; funds needed by schools operated by social partners and celebrities are raised by the sponsors themselves (including collecting tuition from students and soliciting contributions). In addition to these sources, the central government is advocating work-study programs, aiming at improving the education conditions through premium services. Education administrators are employed in universities and colleges, schools, preschools, and daycare centres. They manage routine activities and provide instructional leadership at these institutions. They may also be employed at businesses, museums, correctional facilities, and community service organizations to direct their educational programs. 

What does an Education Administrator do? 

School administrators work in every level of education. They may direct programming, hire and supervise staff, manage budgets, and make decisions that affect the academic community. They are also in charge of developing a direction and mission for the facility at which they work. 

The actual specific job functions for an education administrator will vary depending on the institution of employment. For schools, this job is usually the role of a principal or assistant principal. For private schools and businesses, the job may be as a director of programs or head master. Libraries and museums often employ administrators as instruction coordinators. For colleges and universities, education administrators are employed at all levels of the management structure — as admissions officers, department heads, and as deans and provosts. Making policies and procedures and setting educational aims and standards is the responsibility of an education administrator. They act as a supervisor for managers and support other faculty, such as librarians, coaches, teachers, and aids. In small organizations, such as a daycare, there may be only one administrator in charge of all these duties. At larger institutions, such as universities or large school systems, several administrators share the workload, each having a specific responsibility. Education administrator's responsibilities include: 

• handling relations with parents, students, employers, and the community 
• managing budgets and ensuring financial systems are followed 
• overseeing record-keeping 
• managing student services such as guidance programs 
• training, supervising, and motivating faculty including teachers and auxiliary staff 
• working on committees including academic boards, governing bodies and task groups 
• assisting with recruitment, public or alumni relations and marketing activities 
• providing administrative support to an academic team of lecturers, tutors or teachers 
• drafting and interpreting regulations and dealing with queries and complaints procedures 
• maintaining high levels of quality assurance, including course evaluation and course approval procedures 
• contributing to policy and planning 
• purchasing goods and equipment, as required, and processing invoices 
• liaising with partner institutions, other institutions, external agencies, government departments and prospective students 
• organizing and facilitating a variety of educational or social activities 

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Q.5 What is the difference between the administrative structure of public/government and private schools? Explain the functions of an educational administrative office. 

Answer: 

Which is better: Private school or public school? It's a question many parents ask as they consider where their children should go to school. There are generally six factors for a family to consider when determining which is right for them. 

1. FACILITIES 

Many public school facilities are impressive; others are mediocre. The same is true of private schools. Private school facilities reflect the success of the school's development team and that of the school to continue to generate financial support from parents and alumni. Some private K-12 schools have facilities and amenities which surpass those found at many colleges and universities. Hotchkiss and Andover, for example, have libraries and athletic facilities on a par with those at Brown and Cornell. They also offer academic and sports programs which make full use of all those resources. It is hard to find comparable facilities in the public sector. They are few and far between. Public schools also reflect the economic realities of their location. Wealthy suburban schools will have more amenities than inner-city schools as a rule. Think Greenwich, Connecticut versus Detroit, Michigan, for example. The most important factor to consider is, what does your child need to succeed? If your son is an aspiring football player, than a school with great athletic facilities and coaching staffs will be a top priority. 

2. CLASS SIZE 

According to the NCES report, Private Schools: A Brief Portrait, private schools win out on this issue. Why? Most private schools have smaller class sizes. One of the key points of private education is individual attention. You need student/teacher ratios of 15:1 or better to achieve that goal of individual attention. Many private schools boast class sizes of 10-15 students with 7:1 student-teacher ratios. On the other hand, a public system is a challenge that private schools don't: they have to enroll almost anyone who lives within its boundaries. In public schools you will generally find much larger class sizes, sometimes exceeding 35-40 students in some inner city schools. If the teacher is a strong teacher with a well-behaved class, this can be a suitable learning environment. But a student who is easily distracted may need something different. 

3. QUALITY OF TEACHERS 

Teacher salaries can make a difference in the quality of teachers, as can the methods for hiring. Public sector teachers are generally better paid and have superior pension programs. Naturally, compensation varies widely depending on the local economic situation. Put another way, it's cheaper living in Duluth, Minnesota than it is in San Francisco. Unfortunately, low starting salaries and small annual salary increases result in low teacher retention in many public school districts. Public sector benefits have historically been excellent; however, health and pension costs have risen so dramatically since 2000 that public educators will be forced to pay or pay more for their benefits. Private school compensation tends to be somewhat lower than public. Again, much depends on the school and its financial resources. One private school benefit found especially in boarding schools is housing and meals, which accounts for the lower salary. Private school pension schemes vary widely. Many schools use major pension providers such as TIAA-CREF Both public and private schools require their teachers to be credentialed. This usually means a degree and /or a teaching certificate. Private schools tend to hire teachers with advanced degrees in their subject over teachers who have an education degree. Put another way, a private school hiring a Spanish teacher will want that teacher to have a degree in Spanish language and literature as opposed to an education degree with a minor in Spanish. 

4. Budgets

Since local property taxes support the bulk of public education, the annual school budget exercise is a serious fiscal and political business. In poor communities or communities which have many voters living on fixed incomes, there is precious little room to respond to budget requests within the framework of projected tax revenue. Grants from foundations and the business community are essential to creative funding. Private schools, on the other hand, can raise tuition, and they also can raise significant amounts of money from a variety of development activities, including annual appeals, cultivation of alumni and alumnae, and solicitation of grants from foundations and corporations. The strong allegiance to private schools by their alumni makes the chances of fund-raising success a real possibility in most cases. 

5. ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT 

The bigger the bureaucracy, the harder it is to get decisions made at all, much less get them made quickly. The public education system is notorious for having antiquated work rules and bloated bureaucracies. This is as a result of union contracts and host of political considerations. Private schools on the other hand generally have a lean management structure. Every dollar spent has to come from operating income and endowment income. Those resources are finite. The other difference is that private schools rarely have teacher unions to deal with. 

6. COST 

A major factor in determining what's right for your family is the cost. Not just of tuition, but in terms of time and commitment. Most private schools require students be driven to and from school and there are significant obligations for students to participate in activities outside of normal school hours. This means a lot of hours and miles for families every week to make it happen. A family needs to weigh the financial costs, time investment and other factories So, who comes out on top? Public schools or private schools? As you can see, there are no clear-cut answers or conclusions. Public schools have their advantages and disadvantages. Private schools offer an alternative. Which works best for you? That's a question you'll have to answer for your own family. 

Functions of an educational administrative office: 

Education administrators often work within the central administrative (academic registrars) department and for individual faculties, departments and sections of universities and colleges of further and higher education. Opportunities also arise within private, tertiary and specialist training colleges. There is no ‘typical' job profile: administrators may have student recruitment, funding, quality assurance, marketing, or public relations roles, or they may be responsible for budgetary/financial administration, project management or human resources management. Many work in a general capacity – undertaking tasks from all of these areas. 

Typical responsibilities of the job include: 

• handling correspondence 
• organizing and servicing committee and academic board meetings (producing agendas, taking minutes etc) 
• researching and writing reports 
• preparing statistics and handling data, such as attendance figures 
• processing invoices 
• purchasing equipment/other goods 
• liaising with potential students, other institutions, government departments and external organizations 
• helping with course approval and evaluation activities 
• formulating and implementing regulations/policies 
• timetabling and planning events 
• administering and coordinating student recruitment, examinations and assessment activities 

The job can be busy at key times in the academic year, when some long hours may be necessary. There are good opportunities for career progression via promotion into senior administrative, managerial and project management roles, or transfer/secondment between departments.

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Spring 2018): School Administration and Supervision (8616): Assignment No.2

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AIOU Solved Assignment (Autumn 2018): General Methods of Teaching (8601): Assignment No. 1

Q.1 A teacher's personality traits are important to create and maintain a class room/learning environment why? 

Answer

Knowledge and skills are taught and learned at school. School is a little community in itself where teachers and students interact with each other. During this interaction teachers influence their learner’s behavior and learners influence their teacher’s behavior.

The nature of this interaction is an important factor in determining the learner's perceptions of school and his/her attitudes toward school-related persons and activities. This factor involves the relationship between the personality of the teacher and that of the learner.

A teacher’s personality traits are important as Callahan, (1966) says that the teacher whose personality helps create and maintain a classroom or learning environment in which students feel comfortable and in which they are motivated to learn is said to have a desirable teaching personality.

Research says that teachers are cognitively oriented toward pupils while pupils are effectively oriented toward teachers. Teacher’s personality is, therefore, directly and indirectly related to learning and teaching in the effective domain as well as to that in cognitive and psychometric domains, (LEW, 1977).

  Teachers have rights and responsibilities to develop a climate in the classroom which supports     effective learning. Aristotle quoted in Stephen Covey, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective       People", says we are what we repeatedly do.

Climate in their classroom is based on the teachers’ personality and style of teaching, the tone of their voice, and the little things they continually say and do on a daily basis. In the classroom, the learners’ behavior could be determined from the way their teachers behave with them.

Best, (1991, p. 275) says the teaching is “primarily concerned with developing qualities such as curiosity, originality, initiative, cooperation, perseverance, open-mindedness, self-criticism, responsibility, self confidence and independence”.

Marchbanks, (2000) in a study, examined the personalities of sixty students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through a 110-question questionnaire. The traits of passion, patience, cooperation, authoritativeness, and creativity were studied in particular because these are the essential personality traits of an effective elementary school teacher. He says teachers in the twenty- first century are responsible for the overall well-being of their students, as well as educating, disciplining, and stimulating their developing minds. Because teachers have these additional duties, many more requirements are needed to be an effective teacher. Let us read the personality traits, necessary to be able to accomplish all of the above stated tasks and duties.

Personal qualities

Elementary school teachers need the following characteristics:

• strong interpersonal and communication s kills
• a genuine interest in children and respect for their individuality
• the ability to sens e children's individual needs
• the ability to be creative, imaginative, patient, energetic, organized and resourceful
• the ability to establish rapport children   and parents
• strong leadership and teamwork skills and a good sense of humor
• a high level of dedication to work which often impacts personal life style choice s
• a clear, pleasant speaking voice and the ability to convey confidence
• Positive  conflc   resolution skills and the ability to handle stress well.

They can enjoy finding different ways to solve problems and present information, and organizing and coordinating the work of others.

One must be passionate, patient, cooperative, authoritative, and creative in order to be an effective teacher beside the basic and extended knowledge of the subject he/she is teaching. A true passion for both the profession and the children is indispensable; a teacher must look forward to his/her job every single day, having the desire to instill in the students all the knowledge and skills needed to lead a happy, healthy life in today’s world. Patience is needed to maintain that passion and desire for teaching. In order to interact with the children and other teachers most effectively, an overall cooperative personality is needed. A degree of authoritativeness is necessary to preserve order and discipline in the classroom. Finally, teachers have to be creative in their approaches to instruction to earn the most successful results in educating their students (Marchbanks, 2000).

Thompson, Greer, and Greer (n.d) says that “every teacher should possess twelve characteristics such as displaying fairness, having a positive outlook, being prepared, using a personal touch, possessing a  sense of humor, possessing creativity, admitting mistakes, being forgiving, respecting students, maintaining high expectations, showing compassion, and developing a sense of belonging for students”. Let us read these characteristics as given bellow:

1)   Fairness

Fairness is one of the characteristics of the students’ favorite teachers. All humans possess an inbuilt sense of fair play. Whenever a person violates, the other person in this situation is prone to react negatively.

Any impression of favoritism, or lack of fairness, leaves scars on the life of persons that lasts forever. The students report in great detail, the unfair actions of their teachers when they had negative experience of competition between classmates, even after many years have passed.

2)   Positive Attitude

Another characteristic that students’ like most is the positive attitude and approach of their teachers they

use into the classroom. Scholars suggest that effective teachers are those who use meaningful verbal praise to get and keep students actively participating in the learning process. The effective teachers are generally positive minded individuals who believe in the success of their students as well as their own ability to help students achievements.

If the teachers have positive attitude they “catch students doing things right” rather than “catching them doing something wrong.” The students often recall praise and recognition that was given by their teachers at schools, and they point to the confidence and direction that often resulted in their lives.

3)   Preparedness

Competence and knowledge of the content area being taught is something that our college students have always mentioned about their favorite teachers. In a research the students pointed out that in classrooms where teachers were well prepared, behavior problems were less prevalent. The well-prepared teacher is more likely to be able to take time during lessons to notice and attend to behavioral matters, and is less likely to miss the beginnings of potentially disruptive activity. If, on the other hand, teachers have not  spent sufficient time in planning and preparation, they tend to be so focused on what they are doing that they miss the early signs of misbehavior. This ultimately results in frequent disruption, waste of valuable instructional time, and student’s frustration.

4)   Personal Touch

Teachers who are connected personally with their students; call them by name, smile often, ask about students’ feelings and opinions, and accept students for who they are. As well as the teachers who tell stories of their own lives events which relate to subject matter currently being taught, motivate student’s interest and endorse bonding with the students. Teachers who show interest in their students have interested students.

5)   Sense of Humor

If a teacher has the ability to break the ice in difficult situations with the use of humor, this is an extremely valuable asset for teaching. According to McDermott & Rothenberg (2000) students enjoy teachers with a sense of humor and remember those teachers who made learning a fun. Good teachers enjoy a laugh with the class occasionally.

6)   Creativity

Students always like the unusual things that their teachers do in creative ways. Construction of models or things from wastage like plastic bottles provides a field xxxvi

into which children could go and work by themselves quietly on academics activities like puzzles and word-finds.

Fun activities arranged by teachers into the classroom encourage the students towards learning.  Teachers can use unique ways of motivating their class. Teacher can set a reward for the class on reaching a particular academic goal. For example a teacher can give extra marks of work done by the students in a creative way.

7)   Willingness to Admit Mistakes

Like everybody, teachers may make mistakes. Sometimes students may know when their teachers make mistakes. Unfortunately, some teachers try to let the mistakes go unnoticed or cover over them quickly. Teachers who recognize their mistakes in a very humble and pleasant way and apologize them. This act of teacher provides an excellent model for the students, and they may be remembered as a good teacher.

8)   Forgiving

The effective teachers reflect a willingness to forgive students for misbehavior. For example if a student repeatedly asks irrelevant questions and detracts others from the lesson. The teacher can simply say the question is irrelevant and direct the student for further study.

9)   Respect

The teachers desire be respected by their students. The teachers who give respect to their students are always respected by them. Effective teachers can train their students be respectful by many ways such as, he can keep individual grades on papers confidentially, or can speak to students privately after misbehavior not in front of others. Good teachers show sensitivity for feelings and consistently avoid situations that unnecessarily make students uncomfortable.

10)   High expectations

Teachers with positive attitudes also possess high expectations for success. Teachers’ expectation levels affect the ways in which teachers teach and interact with students. Generally, students either rise to their teachers’ expectations or do not perform well when expectations are low or non-existent. The best teachers have the highest standards. They consistently challenge their students to do their best.

11)   Compassion

Hopefully, school is a place where children can learn and be nurtured in an emotionally safe environment. Sometimes in youngsters classrooms there may happens a significant amount of cruelty and hurt feelings. In these situations a caring teacher tries to reduce the impact of hurt feelings on learning xxxvii

12)   Sense of Belonging

Teachers developed a sense of family in their classrooms. A variety of strategies, such as random act of kindness awards, class picture albums, and cooperative class goals build a sense of unity and belongings and maintain an emotionally safe classroom. Good teachers also took strong measures to prevent mean and hurtful behavior like teasing and bullying. Effective teachers know well that when children feel emotionally and physically safe, they learn far better.

The teacher quality is the most important factor in determining school quality. But what factors determine the teacher quality? There are fifteen key characteristics that the administrators look for in their teachers, given in an article from Teaching for Excellence. Let us read the teacher’s characteristics from the administrator’s point of view:

 Exhibit enthusiasm: The enthusiastic teacher can make learning fun for the students. if the teacher

has willingness to teach he can make a difference in the motivation of students. This quality also helps in building a sense of teamwork even beyond the classroom.

 Know your content: Teachers must keep up with their field of expertise. The teacher must have

mastery of the knowledge and new developments in the field. For example if you teach kindergarten, subscribe to an early childhood journal. If you teach chemistry, attend the seminar at the local college. Only the knowledge of changing trends can make the teachers expertise of the field.

Be organized: In order to be organized, the teacher must learn how to handle the routine for example collecting student work, handing out materials, posting assignments, what to do when finished with an assignment, communicating class news, etc. Organized planning of teaching lessons spare teacher’s time and let him/her spend more time on student’ learning. Time with students. Established routines keep the class on track and give you more time for teaching and engaging students.

Teach actively: Hard working teachers are always appreciated. Good teachers are actively involved in teaching. They continuously move around, and notice the students’ behaviour and their learning activity.

 Show a good attitude: A philosopher, Voltaire, said, "the most courageous decision one makes each

day is the decision to be in a good mood”. The students need models with positive attitudes. Notice what you say to others and your tone of voice. The teacher must show care, concern, and respect.

 Establish successful classroom management: Teacher must establish the classroom management system from the first day of class. Because the discipline and management structure are essential for students to be on work. Teachers enforce management rules for an orderly class environment by using their qualities of consistent and fair. The inconsistent rules should not be enforced.

xxxviii

  Pace instruction: learning is directly related to the opportunity to learn. Students learn the most by doing, not by watching, not by standing in line, and not by listening. Teachers must plan an instructional time line for courses to be taught.

 Maintain good people skills: On a primary report card, this trait is referred to as "works well with others". the teachers must have quality of work well with other people. the teacher’s behavior is judged by

others. Education is a people business. Good human relations skills are necessary for successful teachers.

Communicative: Good teachers give information clearly. They are concise, demonstrate and explain in detail. Teachers must give accurate directions when presenting new information. This process includes

explaining, outlining, summarizing, and reviewing. Too often children have no idea what they are learning or why they are learning it.

 Question effectively: Questioning is a powerful teaching tool. The productive thinking occurs only through questioning. Ask questions directed to the whole class as well as to individuals. The questions are asked directly to the students by calling them by their names. Give time for students to think through their responses. This wait time keeps everyone involved and gives students a chance to think.

Differentiate instruction: One of the biggest challenges to teaching is working with students having a great range of learning styles, personalities, and rates of learning. Teachers need to mix different teaching

techniques such as auditory, visual, and hands-on techniques. For specific lessons, make subgroup of the students with similar weaknesses or skills.

 Build success into your class: Success rate is important. If a student continuously makes mistakes, he/she can become frustrated which may result in behavior problems and loss of effort. Researches indicate that eighty percent success rate is acceptable. When students are not successful, provide them,

i) further instruction and/or ii) simplify the task until they can master the task.

 Hold high expectations: High expectations need to be communicated for good performance.

Successful teachers don't just accept participation but they require it. In fact, students respect teachers who expect them to do their best.

Create a pleasant atmosphere: Don't allow your classroom to send out the aura of the haunted house on the hill. Miserable, dull, and boring environment will decrease the percentage of learning. Cheerful and

happy classrooms will stimulate learning. Teachers have to create a pleasant situation where students feel comfortable is a must for turning up the academic burner.

 Be flexible: teaching requires flexibility. Teachers must be able to adjust and their teaching according to the available time and resources. During teaching it usually happens when teacher is sensitive enough to student needs. He/she can vary from the routines and rules to help a child? As a recent saying goes,

"The flexible shall not be bent out of shape."

Let us have a knowledge of the teachers’ professional qualities.

Please Check Solutions to Other B. ed Assignments (Autumn 2018)

Q No 2. Describe the process of course design planning? 

Answer

A lesson plan is a road map of the instructions. It shows what will be taught and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Teachers require a lesson plan to describe their course of instruction for one class. The lesson plan is necessary to guide the instruction. A lesson plan is required to describe the preferences of the, subject being covered, activities being held in the class, and to ensure the progress of the students about the lesson being taught to them

A well-developed lesson plan reflects the interests and needs of students. It contains the objectives of the lesson formulated in behavioral terms (indicate the change in behavior). The best and appropriate practices of teaching methodology and techniques to achieve the objectives are included in the lesson plan. The content to be covered in a class is indicated in a lesson plan. The evaluation procedures are also included in the lesson plan.

Lesson planning is beneficial for the teacher in many ways; such as:

 It he lps in a chieving goals and objectives, and same can be said on the part of the students.

 It he lps to ge t rid of proble ms or a void the m.

 It gives a rea lity check of e ve ryda y pe rformance.

 It improve s the ha bit a nd a ttitude of the s tude nts .

 It improve s the teaching skills.

 It ma ke s te a ching ordina ry a nd e a s y.

 It ma ke s the te a che r orga nize d during te a ching.

 Le s s on pla nning de te rmine s whe n to include the inte re s ting fa cts to a ttra ct the s tude nts a tte ntion.

 It enables  the  teacher to impa rt the  thni gs the students can do at the best of their abilities.

1.1   Process of lesson planning

First of all, a teacher need to identify the learning objectives for the class, then design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components:

 Obje ctive s for s tude nt le a rning

 Te a ching/le a rning a ctivitie s

 S tra te gie s to che ck s tude nt unde rs ta nding

Objectives specified for student learning help in determining the kinds of teaching and learning activities to be used in class. These activities will define the achievements of learning objectives. The following figure outline the planning of a lesson lxv

Figure No. 1: Planning of a lesson

A detailed planning of a lesson is emphasized through following stages:

Pre-Planning Stage

Before teaching the teacher has to think about the lesson plan for a particular class. The Center of Excellence in teaching (1999) recommends that the answers to the following questions may help the teachers to proceed for effective planning:

-  What are my objectives for this class?

Objectives are the statements of what the teacher wants students to learn. The objectives are most likely to be the same, or close to, the goals outlined during course planning. These are specific for a particular class.

-  What are the objectives for this class?

Objectives are the specific goal statements written in behavioral terms. They state exactly what the students should be able to do, in a class/ on a paper/ in an exam, etc. Objectives also specify the conditions under which the students should learn the material.

-  Why is this material important?

The teacher thinks about the importance of the skills or knowledge being taught to the students.

-  What content will be covered in the particular class?

Statement of the rationale (logical reasoning) will help the teachers to decide What content needs to be conveyed? Or

What will students need to know to meet the goals and objectives laid down in the course? Or What content is most essential for them to understand?

-  What will the students already know?

Each learner has different knowledge, the teacher must try to assess, what it is the students already understand or are able to do. Having the knowledge of the students’ previous learning the teachers are in a better position to decide where to begin the class and how to help students learn.

-  What materials will be needed?

These are the equipment to accomplish the goals the teacher decides if he/she needs equipments, overheads. Well planning in advance will allow the teachers to be prepared.

1.2   Designing a Lesson Plan

There are three main elements to a lesson plan that most of the teachers use. There is variation among these components. All of these may not be used in every class, because some plans may spread out over two or more classes. The elements are as following:

i)  Introduction

The introduction is a way to warm up students, to ease them into the class and to give them a context for what they are about to learn. Any of the following will be helpfull to take a good start:

 P rovide a n outline of wha t will be done in the cla s s . Giving a s tructure he lps the s tude nts to orga nize

their thoughts and integrate new ideas.

 S umma rize the pre vious les s on if the ideas a re s imilar to this clas s . Re call of previous knowledge helps

the students to relate new ideas too.

 P re s e nt a n is s ue re la te d to the topic a nd a s k s tude nts to ge ne ra te a lis t of que s tions . Conne cting the lesson with these questions will give a picture of students’ experiences, they are familiar with and be able to relates the topic to their lives. This shows that what you are teaching is relevant and draws their attention.

ii)  Development

Development is an important part as it describes about teaching, or “instructional methods” such as, lectures, discussions, labs, collaborative learning, etc.

 Try to e nga ge s tude nts a s much a s pos s ible in the le a rning proce s s . Active le a rning is one of the wa ys

to engage students. It not only retains students’ attention but also helps them to develop higher-level thinking skills.

 Atte mpt to us e a va rie ty of teaching methods in a class. Any single method may not work for all

students. A variety of methods keeps their attention and enhances learning.

 Give s tude nts the cha nce to a pply the ta ught s kills by us ing the conce pts . This will he lp the m le a rn a nd give a chance to the teacher to assess informally. This assessment will provide clarification of learning  and need for further practice.

iii)   Conclusion

Planning of how to tie it all together for the students is also important. Tell them once again what they would learn and why it is important to them. Consider the following activities in conclusion:

iv)   Ask for questions:

The last few minutes of class are an excellent time to have students raise questions and explore the ideas on their own.

v)   Summarize the main points and explain how they relate to the course:

Students do not always see how everything fits together. The teacher makes the link between the activities of one class to the larger course. In this way a teacher best helps the students develop a conceptual understanding.

vi)   Next lesson:

Again, this shows relevance to the lessons linked to one another and helps students develop a conceptual understanding.

vii)   Recapitalize or one-minute writing about the taught lesson:

With one or two minutes remaining in class, ask students to take out a sheet of paper and, without putting their name on it, write what they believe was the main idea of the class and one question they have about the lesson content.

1.3   The Post-Planning Stage

The teacher’s lesson planning process should take into consideration the need to assess whether students have learned? How effective the lesson was?

This assessment is not a complicated or difficult task. It is very simple and informal. For instance, using part of the class to let students work on problems you have given them, or discuss issues and apply concepts, can give you a good sense of what and how much they have learned. The one-minute writing about the lesson or homework problems can be similarly helpful.

Let us do an activity to ensure the learning of the read concept.

Please Check Solutions to Other B. ed Assignments (Autumn 2018)

Q No.3 What strategies a teacher canuse in the classroom to motivate students?

Answer

“The strategic teacher”. A strategic teacher is a model and mediator who demonstrates how to think through a given task, how to apply the strategies, and “what to do when you don’t know what to do”. Intercedes between the students and the learning environment to help students learn and grow. Anticipates problems in learning and plans solutions to solve them. Guides and coaches students through the initial phases of learning to independent learning.

Tkfinley (2011) has suggested different ways to create classroom discussion where students enjoy more freedom and safety to express them. These are as followings: clvi

1.   Classroom arrangement: Chairs and desks arranged in a circle is a preferred classroom arrangement for a discussion group. Students do not feel comfort in sitting in rows because it covers too much space and classroom looks confined. With a circle, the room will also feel less cluttered and students are likely to have more conversations because they can see each other's faces.

2.    Respect of opinions: Teacher should establish rules before generating classroom discussion. An environment where every one’s ideas are given respect is highly appreciated.

3.    Tackle the opinions: Teacher should tackle the wrong answers very carefully. Students with wrong answers should not be openly disagreed in front of the class. It may create unrest and fear among students of giving wrong answers. If a student gives an incorrect answer or doesn't understand the material, he/she may be asked questions to get him to reconsider. These questions can also be directed at the group. This process of asking questions will help him to rethink his position, help other students  who are confused and give their peers the opportunity to answer correctly.

4.   Memorization of students’ names: It is important for a teacher to motivate students to learn each other’s names. The first few days of class, if students have learnt their names and shared something interesting among the class, it would give them an opportunity to develop some rapport for onward classroom discussions. Teacher can play his role to help students to memorize their names by playing a game where students try to match names with personal information. When students are given permission to speak, call names. Identifying everyone by name will make the class more personable.

5.   Grouping: grouping is another important thing to create a smooth discussion. Small groups are more preferable. In these smaller groups, each student may be given a mini-assignment. Now everyone in the small group has a responsibility and something to share. This encourages students who are shy or less

comfortable with speaking in front of larger groups.

6.   Students’ involvement: Keep students involved in the discussion. Some students are very open and feel comfortable to share their opinions but some students are very shy to share their views with others. Teacher should ask follow-up questions to encourage students to get involved.

7.    Flexible schedule: flexible class schedule is also very important. Local, national, and international events can grab students' attention. Take some time to discuss these events. It will show to students that they are being valued what they're thinking about.

                               

Please Check Solutions to Other B. ed Assignments (Autumn 2018)

                                                         

Q No.4 What is meant by inductive reasoning? Provide examples regarding application of this method in classroom setting?

Answer

In any class students come from different backgrounds and contexts, they have different capabilities and different styles of learning. This situation demands different teaching techniques, strategies and methodologies, which teacher adjusts according to the situation and requirement. There are variety of techniques and methods which teachers use under the umbrella term inquiry approach. Inquiry is an approach that roots in the Socrates logical thinking. Teachers often use logic to foster the thinking of their students. During this process the teachers impose questions to their students after judging the level and ability. If the student answers the question correctly the question of higher order is asked. On the other hand if he/she could not the follow up questions are imposed to create the link between the known and  the unknown. There is variety of techniques but many teachers prefer inductive method according to Prince and Felder (2006) in inductive teaching learning process the instruction begins with specifics for example a set of observations or experimental data to interpret, a case study to analyze, or a complex real-world problem to solve. As the students attempt to analyze the data or scenario or solve the problem, they generate a need for facts, rules, procedures, and guiding principles, at which point they are either presented with the needed information or helped to discover it for themselves.

The inductive reasoning method moves from specific to general. These examples will help us to understand the concept of inductive reasoning. Consider this “Previous car accidents of this sort were caused by brakes failure, and therefore, this accident was also caused by brakes failure.” Similarly  while doing exercises of mathematics children use induction method “as previous question was solved by adding the numbers, therefore, this question may also be solved by same method”, and most of the time it comes true.

Some important aspects of the inductive teaching method are given as below.

1.   It gives new knowledge as student are supposed to involve in the process of knowledge construction.

2.   It is a method of discovery, where students discover the fact by their own involvement.

3.    It is a method of teaching; teachers used this by starting from the known facts and using different inquiry techniques to discover the hidden ones.

4.   Child acquires firsthand knowledge and information by actual observation.

5.   It is a slow process, as all the steps are interlinked and the students cannot move forward without the

mastery of the previous one.

6.    It trains the mind and gives self confidence and initiative to the students after being exposed to inductive method the students has more positive attitude towards taking initiatives in their studies.

7.   It is full of activity, many activities lead towards the generation of new knowledge.

8.    It is an upward process of thought and leads to principles, the students understand the philosophy behind that principle.

Examples:-

Education is back bone in the development of a society and teacher has a pivotal role in the education system. Effectiveness of a teacher is always gauged on the basis of teaching skills. Effective teaching skills are a precondition for translating theory into practice. The criterion of effective teacher includes not only the subject expertise, but ability to create an effective classroom environment in the classroom to reshape and redesign the knowledge, stimulate intellectual curiosity, encourage innovative and independent thinking of students. To inculcate these attributes in teachers, teacher training programs put utmost stress on developing skills among student teachers. During teaching practice, the novice student teacher uses teaching skills strictly per guidelines given by the teacher educator, but this state of affair becomes different in real class room situations.

Most importantly, the aim of teachers has always been to assist students to learn efficiently. To meet with this target, teachers have to be expert in applying different teaching skills during instruction. To achieve learning targets and to maximize learning, teachers must understand the significance of individual skill and the integration of various skills. This is imperative in secondary classes where teacher uses various techniques to keep students involved in the classroom, e.g. discussions, questions answers, use of teaching aids to change the sensory focus and, in particular, summarize to help students learn. A thorough knowledge of content matter is fundamental for teaching effectively. Besides this, logical presentation of subject matter is also essential for effective instruction. To plan the instruction in a logical sequenced way, teaching expertise is crucial. Even experienced teachers need to refine this aspect and add value to maximize the effect of teaching in the classroom (Sharma, 2000).

Teacher training programs inculcate effective teaching skills among teachers. Such Pre-service training programs assist teachers in grasping different teaching-learning theories related to help them to design subject matter, develop curriculum, and know psychological principles of andragogy and pedagogy. Such trainings foster teachers to learn the basics to teaching-learning process. Without understanding of how and under what circumstances a pupil becomes engaged in instructional activities, mapping a learning environment is vague. The circumstances under which students engage in learning include the classroom environment, the explicit teaching strategy used, and the place of the learning goal. In executing plans for instruction, a significant role is the introduction of introductory experiences a teacher applies to produce the yearning high level of students’ involvement. Techniques for set induction are crucial for planning and following precise procedures for getting the best of instruction. Pre-service training programs make use of a range of techniques i.e. simulation, demonstration, and especially, micro teaching to increase teaching skills among novices. Much value is attached to proper use of set induction, presentation, understanding

students’ psychological needs and students’ evaluation (Murthy, 2008).

There are two aspects of effective teaching. One aspect focuses on the teaching behavior and second aspect emphasizes on learning outcomes. Effective teacher is one who intellectually effective and utilizes different approaches during instruction by applying different learning activities. Implementation of teaching principles in the classroom is facilitated with certain skills acquired by teachers through education and training. Teaching skills is the combination of verbal and non-verbal behavior of a teacher. These skills can be examined and gauged in terms of a student’s change in behavior. This indicates that teaching skills are instructional techniques used by teachers to make teaching learning viable by initiating two way communications between teacher and student. Teacher’s performance is judged by the ability to know where and how to apply these skills. Teaching skills are essential for teachers as the means to  accomplish the eventual target of bringing constructive and desired change in the behavior of the students. All the teaching skills are interrelated and indispensible for each other. Teacher’s success is not determined not by the number of skills he/she applies in the class, but depends on how these skills are interlinked, regulated and adapted to make teaching an effective tool in helping students to become active learners, explorers and critical thinkers (Bhargava, 2009).

Example:

Here is a simple example of how induction works. Below is a proof (by induction, of course) that the th triangular number is indeed equal to  (the                                                                      th triangular number is

defined as dots).imagine an equilateral triangle composed of evenly spaced

Base Case: If

then         and

for

So,

Inductive  Step:  Suppose  the  conclusion  is  valid  for   . That is, suppose we have

Adding                 to      both      sides,      we      get

conclusion holding for complete. so              the

implies that it holds for and our induction is

                                                        

Please Check Solutions to Other B. ed Assignments (Autumn 2018)

  Q No. 5 a) What is an activity ?Discuss the importance of activity method. 
Answer

What is Activity Method?

Before explaining the activity method, it seems better to answer this question, what is an activity? Anything which is carried out with a purpose in a social environment involving physical and mental action. Such activities help in the establishment of stimulating environment for creative expression.

Types of Activities:

Activities can be of three types:

1.   Exploratory – Knowledge getting

2.   Constructive – Experience getting

3.   Expressional – Presentation

Activities will vary according to the age group of the students. At elementary level of education pupils may involve in different activities such as listening observing, planning, collecting, talking, singing, dramatizing, experimenting and constructing. The variety of activities grows as children progress in elementary program. This may include, painting, drawing, designing, wood carving, writing, composing, interviewing, acting, reading, map-making and graph making, field trips, gardening and camping. It is not always necessary that activity should only be motor or manipulative. It can also be mental. Knowledge-getting activities occupy a prominent place.

a)   Knowledge – Getting Activities

(i)   Here a group of pupils may be asked to make a study of the various sources of food articles consumed at home by questioning parents, merchants etc; by consulting labels on the foods. The data may be compiled and interpreted by the group.

(ii)   A committee of pupils may undertake to find out in a rural area, how many families have members who work also in the city or town for a part of the time. In a city, it may be enquired how many people in the

local community have come from rural areas and why they have come. With the teachers help, rough estimate of probable experience can be made.

b)   Experience – Getting Activities

For selection of activities and giving firsthand knowledge to the students teacher may arrange some field trips of any area such as industrial or agricultural. But for arranging the visit of any area, the provision of the available local resources must be focused, otherwise school will never allow for having this experience. Overall focused must be laid on no cost field visits.

c)   Presentation

A debate can be arranged on the topic “In the opinion of the house, mechanized agriculture is the only way of economic uplift in the Punjab. Maps showing the distribution of (1) agriculture crops, (2) major industries, (3) outstanding and localized cottage industries in the Punjab can be drawn. Charts showing

(a) The classification of industries on the basis of nature of goods produced, (b) flow of raw materials, labour and power to few major industries can be made. Graphs showing the member of industrial laborers in the Punjab from 1947 to 2010 etc can be prepared.

Practical and productive work can help in the better understanding of almost every subject. In geography, it may take the form of drawing maps, making models, illustrations, organizing excursions, keeping weather records, constructing in appropriate materials scenes from the life of different region is of the world etc. In history, in addition to the preparation of suitable illustrations, they may prepare and stage historical plays making the costumes, the stage effects, fixing the lights etc, themselves or co-operatively study local history or set up a small history museum and in fact, take up any projects that will bring history to life, in connection with the study of languages – particularly the mother tongue – they may undertake to write small booklets on subjects of special interest to them. The collection of material from relevant sources, its writing, editing, the binding of the booklets attractively will all form parts of a joyous project. Illustrated charts about great writers may be prepared-containing their pictures, short notes on their lives and works and brief appropriate question in prose or poetry from their writings or they may possibly attempt translations of some easy books and articles in English with the object of providing rich reading material for their fellow students in the library. Taking in view these three types of activities, some of the activities are suggested as under:

1.   Local survey and excursions.

2.   Debates, discussions, dialogues and symposiums.

3.   Hobbies

4.   Dramatization

5.   Clubs and societies

6.   Projects

7.   Competitions

8.   Re-creational and cultural programmes

9.   Social Service squads

10.   Students-self Government

11.   Camping

12.   Writing of community books in games etc.

In modern education, creative activities are occupying a prominent place in the school programme. Creative experiences and social activities are breaking away from the other approaches and exploring the new avenues of learning. This emerging pattern for teaching requires that teachers play a more vital role. The creation of a stimulating atmosphere for the learner, both in the learning laboratory and in the community is essential for an experience approach to function. Education for children should be rich enough to meet all needs in a way that will contribute to society.

Examples of Classroom Activities

Furthermore, in the classroom, students work primarily in group and learning and knowledge are interactive and dynamic. There is a great focus and emphasis on social and communication skills, as well as collaboration and exchange of ideas. This is contrary to the traditional classroom in which students work primarily alone, learning is achieved through repetition, and the subjects are strictly adhard to and guided by a text book. Some activities encouraged in the classroom:

 Experimentation: Students individually perform an experiment and then come together as a class to

discuss the results.

Research Project: Students research a topic and can present their findings to the class.

 Field Trips: This allows students to put the concepts and ideas discussed in class in a real-world context.

Films: These provide visual context and thus bring another sense into learning experience.

Classroom Discussions: This technique is used in all of the methods described above. It is one of the most important distinctions of student centered teaching methods.

Activity method is more applicable in computer assisted teaching and online learning.

Role of Teacher

The teacher occupies very important position in the activity method. While it is really a sound practice that pupils should involve practically in different learning activities but, in all this accomplishment, the teacher and has to play a vital role. The teacher has got mature experience, deeper and broader knowledge than the pupils. For this very reason, his guidance and prompting is not only desirable but also indispensable. The pupils are out on a venture; they need suggestions and guidance at every step. The teacher has to save the pupils from faltering and floundering. So the teacher has skilfully guided in the selection of activities. The teacher is supposed to give help when help is required. So, let the teacher be a good prompter, just behind the curtain and not make his appearance on the stage itself, for stage is meant and reserved for the actors and actresses, the pupils.

The relations of the teacher to the pupils are to be much closer and informal than it is in an ordinary classroom teaching. He is there like a friend or elder brother with rich and mature experience. He is a

director and not a dictator. His psychological knowledge must be thorough and scientific.

The teacher must be a keen observer and a true sympathizer. He should be able to win the good will of the pupils so that they would not feel discouraged. He should be a storehouse of information and knowledge so that he may anticipate the difficulties before-hand and suggest remedies as and when necessary. He should command respect of the pupils so that the pupils might look to him for help, guidance, support and affection. No method, however good, is ever superior to its teachers. So the need is for devoted educational leaders.

The teacher has still another role to play. He has to see that all the pupil’s work co-operatively. The activity method is based on correlated teaching. This presupposes that the teacher should have knowledge of many subjects. He has to guide the selection and execution of the activities in such a way that the maximum number of subjects concerned is learnt by the pupils; gaps are properly filled. He should see that not only practical knowledge is to be imparted but complete and integrated knowledge is given. Experiences and contributions of the group should provide increased knowledge in the particular context.

Lastly, the teacher should be able to spare enough time for the success of this method. Only a devoted and enthusiastic teacher can make a success of this method, not the discouraged, time-serving, bell- watchers.

Overall in the activity based teaching learning classroom, the teacher’s role is to prompt and facilitate students. Thus, the teacher’s main focus should be on guiding students by asking questions that will lead them to develop their own conclusions on the subjects.

Benefits of Activity Based Learning Approach

-  The learners are actively involved as the environment is democratic.

-  The activities are interactive and student-centered.

-   The teacher facilitates a process of learning in which students are encouraged to be responsible and autonomous.

-  Children learn on their own pace.

-  Provision of more time for self-directed learning and teacher directed learning is reduced considerably.

-  Group learning, mutual learning and self learning are promoted.

-   Teachers teaching time is judiciously distributed among children. Only needy children are addressed by teachers.

-  Children participation in every step is ensured in the process of learning.

-  Evaluation is inbuilt in the system it is done without the child knowing it.

-  Role learning is discouraged and almost no scope for rote learning.

-  Periodical absence of child from school is properly addressed.

-  Classroom transaction is based on child’s need and interests.

-  Freedom to child in learning as he chooses his activity.

-  Multigame and multilevel in learning is effectively addressed.

-  No child can move to the next higher step of learning unless attains the previous one.

-  Sense of event boosts child’s confidence and morale.

-  Attractive cards and activity create interest among children.

-  Scope for child’s development in creative and communicative skills.

-  Children will have a feel of security as they sit in rounds in the groups.

-  Children are allowed to move in the classroom as they choose their activity.

-    Moreover the distance between teacher and the child is largely reduced and the teacher acts as a facilitator rather than teacher.

                                                                                     

Limitations of Activity Method

-     Careful consideration of emotionalized controls may be overlooked during classroom activities. Apparently some teachers forget that all classroom activities contribute directly or indirectly to the formation of attitudes, favorable or unfavorable.

-  Some classroom activities become contradictory with values of and culture of the students.

-  This method is time consuming and does not cover the course/subject matter timely.

-   Our teachers are over burden. So they feel difficulty to plan relevant and appropriate activities all the time.

-   Our classes are overcrowded so there is problem to arrange, organize and manage classroom activities properly.

-   Lack of professional training of teachers affects to plan and process the innovative classroom activities such as computer based activities.

-  Lack of physical, financial and instructional facilities become hurdles in the application of activity method.

b) Summarize the main points bearing on the role of research project. 

Answer

Uses of Projectors:

1.  Large image: It projects a very large image on the screen form a minimum of projection distance.

2.   Face the class: In this projector the image is projected over the shoulder of the teacher. Therefore, he can face the class at all times. He can maintain eye contact with the students. It helps the teacher to keep watch on the class as or indicates points of importance on the transparency.

3.   Lighted room: O.H.P. can operate in an illuminated room. There is no need of darkening the room. It enables the teacher to develop a ‘circuit of understanding’ by watching expression of others.

4.   Bright image: The lens and mirror arrangement in overhead projector makes it possible to have a bright image even in a well lighted room.

5.   Simple operation: It is simple, easy and convenient to operate the overhead projector. It does not need separate projector operator or the instructor. It permits the teacher to face the class and at the same time operate the machine. Slides can be changed quite easily.

6.  Light weight: The light weight of the equipment makes it portable.

7.   Class control: The teacher can maintain complete class control and interest in a lesson by turning a switch on or off. He, while sitting on hi desk, can indicate specific items on the screen buy location them with his pencil on the slides.

8.   Process on the screen: By putting a piece of ground glass over the slide space the teacher can draw a diagram sketch with pencil or wax pencil and the class can watch the process on the screen. He can also place sheets of transparent plastic over the slides for writing on them. Thus the overhead projector permits the teacher to use the screen as a blackboard.

9.   Large slide: Due to largeness of its aperture it may allow the use of slides of the size 20 X 20 cms or 25 X 25 cms. It may facilitate the preparation of art work for slides.

10.   Use of pointer: The teacher can use a pointer or pencil to point out important details of a slide. He has not to run about the machine to the wall to explain things to the students.

11.   Preparation and presentation of transparencies: Transparencies can be prepared ahead of time, presented exactly when required and quickly remove, when they serve their purpose.

12.   Low cost: Effective visuals can be made in a minimum of time and at low cost. Once a transparency is made, it is permanent. It need not be erased as in a blackboard. It can be stored for recall at any later time.

13.   Easier to write on horizontal surface.

14.   Permits the use of color.

(iv)   Limitations:

1.   Cannot be used for long time.

2.   Writing by some types of writing pens get blotted out on plastic.

3.   Transparencies create a storage problem.

(v)   Advantages:

It permits the teacher to stand in front of the class while using the projector, thus enabling her to point out features appearing on the screen by pointing to the materials at the projector itself and at the same time, to observe the students reactions to her discussion. Gains attention of the student

5.6 Multimedia

Multimedia is a term frequently heard and discussed among educational technologists today. Unless clearly defined, the term can alternately mean .a judicious mix of various mass media such as print, audio and video or it may mean the development of computer-based hardware and software packages  produced on a mass scale and yet allow individualized use and learning. In essence, multimedia merges multiple levels of learning into an educational tool that allows for diversity in curricula presentation.

According Fenrich, 1997 Multimedia is the exciting combination of computer hardware and software that allows you to integrate video, animation, audio, graphics, and test resources to develop effective presentations on an affordable desktop computer.

Multimedia is characterized by the presence of text, pictures, sound, animation and video; some or all of which are organized into some coherent program. (Phillips, 1997).

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the concept of multimedia took on a new meaning, as the capabilities of satellites, computers, audio and video converged to create new media with enormous potential. Combined with the advances in hardware and software, these technologies were able to provide enhanced learning facility and with attention to the specific needs of individual users. A primary application of the interactive multimedia for instruction is in an instructional situation where the learner is given control so that he/she may review the material at his or her own pace and in keeping with his/her own individual interests,  needs, and cognitive processes. The basic objective of interactive multimedia material is not s much to replace the teacher as to change the teacher’s role entirely. As such multimedia must be extremely well designed and sophisticated enough to mimic the best teacher, by combining in its design the various elements of the cognitive processes and the best quality of the technology. With today’s multimedia courseware, once a programme has been designed and built in with the appropriate responses, it should be flexible and permit change and alteration.

Today’s multimedia is a carefully woven combination of text, graphic art, sound, animation, and video elements. When you allow an end user, i.e. the viewer of a multimedia project, to control ‘what’ and ‘when’ and ‘how’ of the elements that are delivered and presented, it becomes interactive multimedia.

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