explain how the three different formative assessments; Think-Pair-Share, Peer-feedback, and Exit tickets can contribute to students’ ongoing learning.

Year 7 English Lesson – Identifying persuasive techniques and target audience in a print advertisement

Curriculum Standards

Interpreting, analysing, evaluating

Analyse and explain the ways text structures and language features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose (VCELY379)

Transition

In the previous lessons, students will have learned; what is an advertisement, a range of persuasive techniques, and how to identify a target audience. In this lesson students will need to identify persuasive techniques and a target audience in print advertisements.

Learning Intentions:

• To identify the target audience and persuasive techniques in a print advertisement
• To explain how persuasive techniques have been used to persuade the target audience

Success Criteria:

• Students should be able to identify the target audience and persuasive techniques in a print advertisement
• Students should be able to explain how persuasive techniques have been used to persuade the target audience.

Formative assessments (write a brief overview of formative assessment)

What are formative assessments? Formative assessments are….

Assessments should engineer learning environments to create student engagement and to ensure that the learning is proceeding in the intended direction (Wiliam, 2011)

Formative assessments is the data which is used to monitor the ongoing learning of students (Marsh, 2014)

Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded Formative Assessment – practical strategies and tools for K-12 teachers (US ed). Solution Tree.

Marsh, Colin J. & Clarke, Maggie. & Pittaway, Sharon. (2014). Marsh’s becoming a teacher. Frenchs Forest, NSW :  Pearson Australia

(Summary of assignment)

Using the Year 7 lesson listed above, I will describe and explain how the three different formative assessments; Think-Pair-Share, Peer-feedback, and Exit tickets can contribute to students’ ongoing learning. Moreover, demonstrate their effectiveness in pedagogical practice.

Formative assessment 1

Think- Pair-Share

Description

“Think-Pair-Share” is an assessment tool that has been around for many years and became highly regarded in Higher Education in the 1980s(Wiliam & Leahy, 2017). Think-Pair-Share is beneficial when getting students to cooperatively work together to think, talk, and articulate their own interpretations of a topic or concept.

The structure of Think- Pair- Share

1. The teacher tailors a question related to a topic/concept that students will be learning about in the lesson
2. Students are given time to think about their responses to the question
3. In pairs, students discuss and share their opinions
4. Teacher calls on students to share theirs or their peer’s response

(Wiliam & Leahy, 2017).

The application of Think-Pair-share to Year 7 English Class

Think-Pair-Share would be a useful tool to assess students understanding of persuasive technique and target audiences while proceeding to talk about print advertisements. For example, the teacher may pose the question, “Is print media the most effective form of advertising?” In the time given to think about this questions, students should begin to recall their understanding of what is an advertisement, the range of persuasive techniques that may be evident in print media and how they effectively target an audience. Students will the

Formative assessment 2

Peer Feedback

Formative assessment 3

Exit tickets

Bibliography

Wiliam, D., & Leahy, S. (2017). Embedded formative assessment (2nd ed.). Solution Tree Press.

Discuss issues with opioid prescriptions and how it threatens patient safety.

Topic:

Patient Safety with Opioid Prescriptions

Description

Discuss issues with opioid prescriptions and how it threatens patient safety. Discuss ways to combat this issue including healthcare communication to increase patient safety. Peer reviewed references no older than 5 years.

How do faculty members in research-intensive universities perceive effective teaching?

Post-Secondary Instructors’ Perspectives of Effective Teaching

Introduction and Purpose (1.5 page)

Freire (1998), in his discussion of the relationship between teachers and students, noted that “an educational practice in which there is no coherent relationship between what educators say and what they do is a disaster” (p. 55). Post-Secondary Education has experienced several changes, which has led educational leaders to focus on enhancing the teaching quality. Some of these changes are the growing heterogeneous student population, the heavy reliance on modern technologies, and the increasing of tuition (Austin & Sorcinelli, 2013; Boyer et al., 2016). Thus, the pressure for excellent academic performance in higher education becomes profound with faculty members often compelled to be innovative and creative to deliver effective teaching (Kember & Kwan, 2000). Even more so during the pandemic requiring faculty members in Canada to suddenly shift to remote teaching. The feelings of the faculty members’ mission in that situation was best described by Hodge (2020) as being “instructional MacGyvers” who need to “improvise quick solutions in less-than-ideal circumstances” (p.). After almost two years of on-line education, teaching in the higher education is criticized for various reasons. The growing lists of concerns include lack of face-time between students and teachers; techno-centric models prioritized over face-to-face culture; concerns that complex and deep learning cannot be satisfactorily achieved without real-time classroom experience (Mostafa, 2012). Further, there are those who has questioned and continues to question the ability of universities to successfully fulfill their teaching mission, and they are not alone in this. Within universities, many faculty members also perceive that the online teaching is not an adequate education compared to the conventional learning. That has been observed when some post-secondary students in Canada demonstrated publicly claiming they want a ‘real’ education (p.). This event even took place on Toronto campus, recently, where students were asking for better education which is related to teaching effectiveness. With all of this, faculty members were urged to adapt and optimize their expertise by choosing the best fitting teaching approaches to achieve effective teaching.

Scholars such as Kane et al. (2002) suggest that comprehending the fundamental constituents of effective teaching in higher education is best achieved when teachers’ perspectives and actual practice in higher education are investigated. Unfortunately, tertiary research often relies on research from university teachers’ beliefs without examining their practices, which Kane et al. (2002) considered as “half of the story” (p. 107). Conversely, Kember and Kwan (2000) argue that significant alterations in the quality of learning and teaching would unlikely happen if lecturers’ perceptions of teaching are not well understood. Nonetheless, the examination of theories of teaching as well as faculty members’ perspectives about their teaching is key to guiding teachers in identifying, articulating and justifying their teaching approaches (Pratt, 2002). Therefore, proposed study aims to explore Canadian faculty members’ perspectives of effective teaching, their teaching practices, and the relationship between their teaching practices and their perspectives. This aim led to the following research questions:

Q1. How do faculty members in research-intensive universities perceive effective teaching?

Q2. To what extent are the faculty members’ practices aligned with their perspectives?

The present study aims to understand faculty members’ perceptions about effective teaching which can provide a clear picture of what is needed to enhance teaching in PSE.

Definitions of Key Terms (3/4 page)

There are definitions of key terms used in this study. Overall, literature shows there is no agreed-upon definition of effective teaching in post-secondary education (PSE) (Skelton, 2005). However, Gross Davis (1988) suggests that there are commonly cited characteristics of effective teachers at the tertiary level (i.e., instructors, academics, lecturers, and professors) can inform our understanding of teaching effectiveness. Gale (2007) suggests that there is a baseline competence shared by all successful teachers which includes: knowledge of their subject matter; an understanding of how to assess student learning; being up-to-date in their field; being excited about the material and the practice of teaching; being reflective and responsive; and the ability to foster critical engagement and active learning (p. 33). Based on this baseline, this research will examine effective scholarly teachers on “not only knowledgeable about their field but also well-informed with regard to the latest ideas about how the field is taught and how students learn the discipline” (Gale, 2007, p. 34). Another term examined in this study is academics’ perspectives. There is no perspectives in school …… The present study will adopt Pratt’s definition (2011) of a perspective on teaching as…………. (Use Pratt’s article page 1 -2)

Researcher Position/Research Motivation and Background (1/2 page)

The topic of effective teaching in higher education has been an area of great interest to me ever since I am a graduate student and an academic with more than 13 years of teaching in higher education. Although much of that experience had been in a developing country context (…….), my experience had been uniquely shaped, among other things, by having attended my graduate education in three different continents (….). It is my conviction that effective teaching is a universal goal for universities in our contemporary times. At present, post-secondary academics often determine the content and scope of what they will teach, then choose methods or strategies, instructional materials, and the e-learning technologies they believe will best help the learners to gain new knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes. As such, educators have the freedom as well as the responsibility to determine the purpose and outcomes of the learning activities (Zinn, 1990). These decisions are embedded in their teaching philosophies and practices. As such, knowing our philosophical views is important. And yet, many educators’ philosophies are often unrecognized and rarely expressed, though they may be understood implicitly (Elias & Merriam, 1980). Thus, I realize that to achieve effective education, there is a need to understand the beliefs that university academics hold about teaching in order to better understand their teaching practices and improve the practices of others. Draper (1993) asserts that an examination of our opinion, or philosophy-in practice, is more than an academic exercise. Our philosophy determines how we perceive and deal with our preferred teaching methods. I also agree with the notion expressed by Gale that “scholarly teaching presupposes improvement; embracing the idea that teaching can and should be enhanced through systematic understanding of practice” (p. 34). Gale (2007) argues that teaching excellence “requires more than knowledge, expertise and commitment to improving learning” but also “a scholarly approach to the practice of teaching and learning” which he refers to as “braided practice” (p. 32). By not being an outsider—I can be an impartial observer of events which transpired over a term and I can get engaged in meaningful and informed conversations with participants as they explored their own perspectives of teaching. I will be able to unravel the tangled distinctions between theory and practice in educational research.

Philosophical Assumptions & Research Paradigm (2 pages)

For the purposes of my research, I plan to listen to, observe, and interact with the participants to gain an understanding of how they perceived their teaching philosophies through their own lived experience in the classroom. Therefore, the paradigm of inquiry to which this research adhered lay in the “shadow” of constructivism. Guba and Lincoln (1994) identified the aim of constructivist inquiry as “understanding and reconstruction of the constructions that people (including the inquirer) initially hold, aiming toward consensus but still open to new interpretations as information and sophistication improve.” (p. 113). Lincoln and Guba (1985) believed that what a person asserts to be real is a construction in the mind of the individual. Guba and Lincoln (1989) stated that constructions “do not exist outside of the persons who create them and hold them; they are not part of some ‘objective’ world that exists apart from their constructions” (p. 128). As such, faculty members can be considered as constructivists as construct knowledge about their teaching theories and practices in order to make sense of their experience (teaching) and, further, they continually test and modify these constructions in light of new experiences and circumstance such as the Pandemic.

In these two pages:

Make sure to relate to the topic using what has been written or other resources. Using page p. 181 and 182 in Kane el al (Why Study the Beliefs Academics Have About Teaching? )

• what is the philosophical perspective? What is assumed about how we conceptualize/understand reality? What is assumed about evidence and truth claims? E.g. Do organizations exist without people? Are dreams knowledge? ! Why does your study require qualitative data? In other words, what is your paradigm? ! E.g. If you want to be able to quantify the economic impact of bilingual education, you are operating within a quantitative paradigm. If you want to qualify the experience of patients to whom chemotherapy is administered, you are operating within a qualitative paradigm

Critically appraise existing knowledge and understanding of infection prevention and control.

Description of the assessment

Summative Assessment [Graded Assessment] Guidelines

Coursework 1 – Presentation (Learning Outcomes 1 & 2- 30% of the module mark).

1. Choose a specific area of infection prevention and control that is important to your work now (or work you may have undertaken previously).
2. Produce both a practice based (make sure you ensure confidentiality) and literature based rationale for your choice of area.
3. Draw on the chain of infection framework and choose the most relevant link in the chain.
4. Explain to colleagues what they should be doing to break that link (include when, where and why etc).
5. Ensure that each part of your explanation can clearly be linked back to your critical reading of the relevant and contemporary evidence (policy, research, guidelines etc).
6. ‘Students will prepare and present a presentation which could be used within a department meeting for colleagues’.
7. Your tutor will give you instructions on exactly how and where to submit your presentation.
8. Presentation

Maximum of 10 slides excluding your title slide and reference list and up to 10 minutes of audio (in total for whole presentation).

Title and brief description a specific area of Infection Prevention Control (IPC) that is important to your work now (or previously).

Consider practice based and literature based rationale for your choice of IPC. Demonstrate original thinking, critical analysis and evaluation.

Use the materials from unit 10 to present your rationale.

Use the materials from units 2-7 to discuss the most relevant link in the chain of infection framework. Including an explanation to colleagues of what they should be doing to break that link and when, were and why.

Provide a script to support your audio

Coursework 2 – Essay (Learning Outcome 2 & 3 – 70% of the module mark).

Using a critical incident approach critically appraise applicable infection prevention and control protocols, taking account of contemporary issues and debates in this field.

Your essay should be structured in a formal academic manner with an Introduction, Main Body discussion and Conclusions, followed by a Reference List and (if necessary) Appendices. The Reference List and any Appendices are excluded from the word count.

Module Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

1. Critically appraise existing knowledge and understanding of infection prevention and control.

2. Critically analyse the need for strict infection prevention and control within any care environment.

3. Examine current and future issues and debates around infectious diseases, epidemiology, prevalence and morbidity.

demonstrate an understanding of safeguarding in line with Standards for competence for registered nurses

Electronic submission via turnitin

Workbook

Welcome to NURS 1450 Leadership and Management in Adult Nursing

You are about to qualify as an adult nurse which is a complex and diverse field of nursing. The scenarios in this workbook provide you with the opportunity to apply knowledge of professional issues to realistic scenarios that you may face in the workplace.

It is important that you discuss and relate leadership and management styles and other relevant material taught in the module within these scenarios. You are advised to refer and include the NHS Leadership Model. You may also wish to link the impact of COVID 19 to the issues you discuss in the workbook.

These scenarios relate to the following professional issues:

1. Care and compassion (compulsory)
2. Time Management and prioritisation (option A)
3. Risk management (option B)
4. Safeguarding (option C)

You should complete two reports centred around a discussion of the professional issue in relation to the outlined scenario. Professional issue 1. Care and compassion is compulsory, you may choose 1 other and for each:

• Write a concise report of 1250 words therefore, total word allowance is 2,500. You may use sub-headings to structure your report
• Provide an overview of the professional issues raised in the scenario and outline the potential impact of these on patient outcome supported by relevant contemporary evidence.
• Critically discuss with rationale how you would respond to this scenario demonstrating safe and effective practice in line with The Code (NMC 2018)
• You should discuss related professional issues such as leadership, accountability, confidentiality and the patient experience.
• You should discuss practice implications in relation to relevant national or professional guidance and policy
• You may provide one reference list for both reports.

You should refer to additional guidance provided by the Module leader in the assignment preparation sessions on the Module and on the Module Moodle shell.

Professional issue 1 – Care and compassion (compulsory)

Being unwell or admitted to a hospital can be an extremely stressful life event. Adult nurses are in a privileged position to support patients through this time by providing compassionate care. This scenario provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate your understanding of compassionate care in line with Standards for competence for registered nurses (NMC, 2018).

(50%)

It is the night shift and you are looking after a 70 year old man admitted with an exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. After handover you notice that his mouth appears very dry and he asks for some water. He tells you he hasn’t had anything to drink all afternoon. His water jug is full but he tells you he can’t pour it himself due to the shakes in his hand caused by his medication. You challenge the day staff about this as they leave who respond that it has been so busy they didn’t even get a chance for a break. They say that the ward should have a housekeeper who could make sure patients get fed and watered as it’s not really their job.

Your discussion must centre around care and compassion.

Professional issue 2 – Time management and prioritisation

Time management and prioritising clinical demands are challenges you will face throughout your career as a nurse. Whether you work in the community or acute health setting you will face constant demands on your time which will require you to make many clinical decisions. This scenario provides an opportunity to demonstrate safe and effective clinical decision making in line with Standards for competence for registered nurses (NMC, 2018).

(50%)

You are a newly qualified nurse working in an acute medical ward. You receive handover for a bay of six patients. The health care assistant you are expecting to work with has not arrived on shift yet. Patient 1 (Mr Brown) is frail and confused and is wandering around the ward. The night nurse tells you he has been a nuisance overnight which has prevented her doing much of her work. Patient 2 (Mr Green) has just arrived from the emergency department with pneumonia. The night nurse hands over that he still hasn’t received his first dose of intravenous antibiotics yet. She states that he seemed quite short of breath when she admitted him but hasn’t had a chance to review him as she has been trying to get the Mr Brown back to bed. Patient 3 (Mr Black) is a surgical patient and is due to go to theatre this morning for an appendicectomy. Patient 4 (Mr Grey) has been admitted with acute sickle cell crisis. He is requesting some subcutaneous morphine which is prescribed. You looked after the two other patients yesterday and understand they are in a stable condition. Directly after handover the consultant arrives and asks you to attend the ward round.

Your discussion must centre around time management and prioritisation.

Professional issue 3 – Risk management

There are many risks in healthcare. Nurses must be able to safely recognise and assess risks and instigate prevention strategies appropriately. Risk cannot be totally removed from healthcare and incidents may occur occasionally. Nurses must be alert to recognise incidents when they occur and immediate incident management including immediate management and reporting. This scenario provides an opportunity for you to demonstrate safe and effective risk management in line with Standards for competence for registered nurses (NMC, 2018).

(50%)

You are admitting a patient to the ward. She has been admitted with a urinary tract infection and you learn that she has a history of mild dementia. She is partially sighted and you are informed she has left her glasses at home. She has a history of falls both at home and on previous admissions. She seems anxious about coming into hospital but says she doesn’t want to be a burden on the nurses as she knows you are so busy.

Your discussion must centre around risk management.                    

Professional issue 4 – Safeguarding

Working as an adult nurse it is likely you will come into contact with vulnerable patients. A working knowledge of safeguarding is crucial in order to recognise potential safeguarding issues and take appropriate action. This scenario provides an opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of safeguarding in line with Standards for competence for registered nurses (NMC, 2018).

(50%)

You are a newly qualified nurse working in a community district nursing team. You visit a patient at her home to dress a non-healing surgical abdominal wound. During the visit you notice she seems more quiet than usual. You notice some bruising on her right face. Her husband is present while you are doing the dressing and when you ask how she got the bruise he answers stating that she hit her face on the kitchen door, joking that she is very clumsy.

Your discussion must centre about safeguarding.

Reference

Nursing & Midwifery Council (2018) Standards for competence for registered nurses. London, NMC. Available online @ http://www.nmc-uk.org/Documents/Standards/Standards%20for%20competence.pdf

Useful Websites:

Department of Health https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence http://www.nice.org.uk/

NHS England http://www.england.nhs.uk/

NHS Improving Quality http://www.nhsiq.nhs.uk/

NHS Leadership Academy http://www.leadershipacademy.nhs.uk/

Nursing & Midwifery Council http://www.nmc-uk.org

Discuss the symptoms the nurse should assess while completing a head-to-toe assessment of a client in potential sickle cell (yaso-occlusive) crisis.

1. Discuss the relationship between sickle cell anemia and a client’s ethnicity. Does Joan’s ethnicity play a role in her diagnosis? If so. How and why? (3 points)

ANS:

2. Discuss the pharmacologic management for a client with sickle cell anemia. Discuss the potential adverse effects of the medication (5 points)
3. Describe the use of transfusion therapy for the management of sickle cell anemia. Discuss the potential complications of chronic red blood cell transfusions. (5 points)
4. Bone marrow transplant (BMT) offers a potential cure for sickle cell disease. Why is BMT a treatment option available to only a small number of clients with sickle cell disease? Would Joan be a candidate for BMT? Why or why not? (3 points)
5. a) Discuss the symptoms the nurse should assess while completing a head-to-toe assessment of a client in potential sickle cell (yaso-occlusive) crisis.
6. b) What diagnostic and lab tests should be ordered for a client with sickle cell anemia and ii) state why for each (10 points)
7. Discuss how Joan’s lab results are consistent with clients who have sickle cell anemia. Discuss at least 3 of the abnormal lab values provided.
8. Identify three priority potential nursing problems appropriate for Joan and a potential cause for each (3 points)
9. Describe the nursing management goals (at least 5) during the acute phase of sickle cell crisis (10 marks – must identify goals based upon the problems that are associated with acute phase and describe it – not just list them)
10. Need
11. There are four common patterns of an acute vaso-occlusive sickle bone crisis, acute chest syndrome, abdominal crisis and joint crisis. Briefly describe the characteristics symptoms of each pattern. Which pattern is most congruent with Joan’s presenting signs and symptoms?

Describe and adequately cite at least one empirical source of information on the topic

Description Instruction: This essay require students to identify a topic from the reading assigned up to the date the Essay is due and write an essay of 2-3 paragraphs describing the training impact(s) of that topic. Students should: 1) Define and describe the topic, 2) Describe and adequately cite at least one empirical source of information on the topic, and 3) Explain how you think the topic could impact training.

Produce a critically informed research design with the appropriate combination of methods, sample sizes and selection criteria

Assessment Brief : You are expected to produce a research proposal for the dissertation stage of your MSc in no more than 4,000 words. This proposal will build on your first assessment in which you forwarded the research context, question and objectives and together they form the first three chapters of your dissertation in advanced yet skeletal form. Consequently, the standard of work must consistently represent Masters’ level standard and be as advanced as the time constraints allow. Research Proposal#2 will consist of the following: 1. The research title, research question(s), aim, and objectives only – from assessment#1. This will not be included in the word count. 2. An outline of the critical discussion of the literature and a conceptual framework drawn from the literature and an explanatory rationale. 3. A critical discussion of research methods and approaches as the justification of the research design framework. This should include the underpinning research philosophy; research strategy; a critical review of appropriate methods to include an explanation of how triangulation will be achieved (if applicable); considerations of the issues of validity and reliability in the research design process. Learning Outcomes LO2: 2 Produce a critical appraisal of relevant literature synthesised into an appropriate conceptual framework LO3: Demonstrate a firm grasp of differences between research philosophies and the justification of that one selected LO4: Produce a critically informed research design with the appropriate combination of methods, sample sizes and selection criteria 5 4. A critical evaluation of the overall research design including any limitations in the approaches chosen and the possible impact these may have on the research objectives. This should reflect any particular constraints in the specific context of your research. Issues of sample criteria, sizes and representativeness should be clearly dealt with. 5. A Reference List/Bibliography in the Harvard convention, further details are available from http://www.bolton.ac.uk/bissto/Finding-Information/Referencing/Harvard-Referencing.aspx This work is at Level HE7 and this assessment forms 80% of a 20 credit module. Assessment Criteria. The Pass mark is 50% Minimum References Requirement: Level HE7 – It is expected that the Reference List will contain between fifteen to twenty sources. As a MINIMUM the Reference List should include four academic books and five refereed academic journals.

Critically evaluate types of innovation/change and organisational and environmental inhibitors and accelerants

Learning Outcomes Assessed

Brief

Write a (structured) essay of 4500 words (±10%). In this essay, you will analyse a specific change that you have experienced over the last two years, during the covid-19 outbreak and how the pandemic has changed, the way businesses have managed. This must be within your current or previous organisations where you have worked. You must write about this in relation to your previous organisation where you have worked or that you are experiencing within your current organisation. Specific content is outlined below.

The submission should include a front sheet which includes the module code and module name, a title “Analysis and Reflection on Change Management within <your former/current organisation>”, your name and your student number; a proforma will be available on Moodle.

A table of contents is not needed; and the recommended structure/content (with suggested word count) is as follows:

1. Introduction (750 words)
   • Company Background and Summary of Role
   • Overview of change chosen
     • Area(s) of business
     • Type of change
     • Motivation for change
     • Forcefield analysis
   • Reason for Choice
   • Brief introduction to following sections
2. Models and Concepts (750 words)
   • Key Concepts
   • Chosen Models (with justification)
3. Analysis of Change (1500 words)
   • Context
     • Macroenvironment
     • Microenvironment
     • Organisational
   • Application of Models to Change
   • Critical Review of Change
   • Importance and Impact of the Change on the Organisation
4. Reflection on Change (1000 words)
   • Reflection on Models
   • Personal Reflection on Change
5. Conclusion (500 words)
   • Review of Key Themes and Issues

• References (Not included in word count)

Guidance on formatting and presentation requirements, including font sizes, line spacing, etc., are included in the Module Guide.

Minimum Secondary Research Sources Requirements

It is expected that the Reference List will contain a minimum of ten to fifteen sources, with no fewer than eight high quality journal articles. Citations and references should follow the Harvard Referencing System: see https://www.bolton.ac.uk/leaponline/My-Academic-Development/My-Writing-Techniques/Referencing/Level-2/Harvard-Referencing.aspx.

Specific Assessment Criteria

Appendix A provides a rubric identifying specific assessment criteria (rubric) for the elements identified in the proforma feedback sheet.

Appendix B contains a copy of the proforma feedback sheet that will be used to mark and provide summative feedback on the essay.

Appendix C provides a mapping of the Learning Outcomes assessed onto the elements of the feedback sheet.

Please note that the General Assessment Criteria (see Module Guide) are a useful supplement to guide and indicate the general academic qualities expected at HE7.

Critically evaluate the challenges faced by managers in the development and deployment of strategy

Learning Outcomes Assessed

Background

You should approach this assignment from the perspective of a Business Consultant engaged to critically evaluate the challenges facing a selected organisation in developing and deploying strategy for sustainable competitive advantage. This will require you to apply a range of models and concepts in exploring strategic issues, processes, and resources, plus the recommendation of plausible and evidence-based options suitable for your selected organisation.

Important! Before undertaking any work on this assignment, please select an appropriate organisation within which to contextualise your work and seek written confirmation from your module tutor (or tutorial leader) that this is suitable for your paper. Please submit this written confirmation (normally an email) as an appendix to your written work.

Assignment Tasks

Using the selected organisation, you have agreed with your tutor, undertake a critical analysis of key strategic challenges it faces, using an evidence-based approach to inform your assessment. Where you use tools, models or theories of Strategic Management to structure your analysis, you must include commentary setting out your rationale for adopting these, and explaining any key critical issues associated with their use in exploring strategy.

From your analysis, present a prioritised summary of the organisation’s key strategic challenges, supporting this with an explanation of how these priorities were arrived at.

Next, for each of the two highest ranked strategic priorities from your analysis, explore the strategic options potentially available to your selected organisation, providing theoretical support to frame your discussion.

As a practical output from your assessment, draw appropriate and logical conclusions and recommendations that would, in your view, best enhance your organisation’s competitive position, using evidence set out previously in your analysis to support your proposals.

Finally, comment upon the effectiveness of the tools and techniques of strategic management in supporting your investigation, evaluation and building recommendations.

Please include a short reflective assessment of your overall learning journey in completing the assignment, using an appropriate framework (e.g. Gibbs Reflective Cycle) to set out insights and their chronology.

Your report should contain as a minimum the following content (N.B. this is NOT a suggested structure for your paper):

1. An introduction setting out your understanding of the task, your planned (150-200 words) 5 marks
2. An outline of the organisational context selected for the report and key milestones in its development. (200-300 words) 5 marks
3. Evidence of your engagement with relevant academic sources and literature. You should aim to demonstrate balanced critical evaluation of relevant theoretical concepts drawn from a range of appropriate sources (2000-2500 words maximum) 40 marks
4. Application of theory in the context of your selected organisation, as directed above, and using insights and examples from your literature review to provide support for any observations and arguments (1200-1500 words maximum) 30 marks
5. A short concluding section drawing conclusions about the relevance of Strategic Management theory in informing organisational strategy (400-500 words maximum) 15 marks
6. A short ‘Reflective Assessment’ of your key learning from undertaking the assignment (150-300 words) 5 marks
7. A reference list for all resources used in compiling your This element is not part of your word count.
8. Appendices (if appropriate) including evidence of approval for your selected organisation – not part of the word count for the

Minimum Secondary Research Source Requirements:

Level HE7 – It is expected that the Reference List will contain between fifteen to twenty sources. As a MINIMUM the Reference List should include four refereed academic journals and five academic books.

Important and helpful information

Late work will be subject to the penalties:

• Up to 7 calendar days late = 10 marks subtracted but if the assignment would normally gain a pass mark, then the final mark to be no lower than the pass mark for the assignment.

• More than 7 calendar days late = This will be counted as non-submission and no marks will be recorded.

Late submission of assessments on refer and those which are graded Pass/Fail only, is not permitted. Students may request an extension to the original published deadline date as described below.

Please refer to the Module Guide for information regarding indicative reading, guidelines

for the preparation and submission of assignments, and the assessment criteria.

Submission, Assessment & Feedback

Electronic copies of assignments should be submitted via “Turn-it-in”. Please ensure you

follow the instructions provided by your module tutor and on the assessment brief.

Written feedback in the form of annotations onto your electronic submission and summary

comments will be provided within three working weeks of the submission deadline,

together with your internally moderated grade for the assignment.

THERE IS NO NEED TO SUBMIT A HARD COPY OF THIS ASSIGNMENT

YOU SHOULD ALWAYS ENSURE YOU KEEP A COPY OF ANY ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED.

In the case of exceptional and unforeseen circumstances, an extension of up to 14 days

after the assessment submission deadline may be granted by your Programme Leader.

You should complete an Extension Request Form available from Student Services and

attach documentary evidence of your circumstances, prior to the published submission

deadline.

Requests for extensions for periods longer than 14 days must be made using the

Mitigating Circumstances procedures.4

Please see the Programme Handbook for further details.

This assessment satisfies the learning outcomes as specified in your module guide.

The pass mark for this assignment is 50%.