Friday, January 24, 2020

Using Problem-Solving Approaches in Vocational Education :: Learning Education Educational Essays

Using Problem-Solving Approaches in Vocational Education Problem Solving for Teaching and Learning Agricultural education has emphasized problem solving as a means of helping students to develop decision-making skills and teachers to alter their teaching methodology. The traditional method of problem solving for decision making reflects Dewey’s five-step model for learning, expanded to six steps by Newcomb, McCracken, and Warmbrod (Straquadine and Egelund 1992): (1) identification of the problem situation: What is happening?; (2) definition of the problem: What must be done?; (3) search for information: What do we need to know?; (4) analysis of data: What are the important considerations?; (5) testing possible solutions: What will happen if this action is followed?; and (6) conclusion: What action is most promising? The problem-solving method of teaching incorporates problem-solving activities, but places the responsibility for learning on the student. It requires teachers to move from the traditional instructional model to one that engages teachers and students as partners in learning, with the teacher functioning in the role of facilitator or coach rather than leader or all-knowing authority. It requires the use of problems that have real meaning to students, thus motivating them to reach a solution. Educators and special reform groups in other subject areas refer to a process known as "problem-based learning," which has many similarities to the problem-solving approach. In problem-based instruction, all learning is done in context, within the learner’s social environment. Learning occurs as students negotiate with others and evaluate the viability of each individual’s understanding (Savery and Duffy 1995). Stepien and Gallagher (1993) discuss four critical features of problem-based learning: 1. Engagement. The problem raises concepts and principles relevant to the content area and addresses real issues that connect to the larger social context of the students’ personal world. 2. Inquiry. The problem is ill-structured in that it has no one right answer. It often changes as more information is found. It requires exploration to define and refine the questions and ideas surrounding the problem. 3. Solution building. In problem-based learning, solutions are generated by the students who are the problem solvers; teachers are the coaches. As problem solvers, students engage in observation, inquiry, and investigation into hypotheses and issues, and they formulate conclusions that are consistent with the nature of the problem. As coaches, teachers promote learning by acting as models, demonstrating behaviors they want their students to adopt. They prompt students to take ownership of the problem and responsibility for its solution, and then fade into the background.

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Importance of leading teams to achieve organisational goals and objectives Essay

1. Evaluate the role of leadership in helping teams to achieve organisational goals and objectives What is it that leaders do to help their teams achieve organisational goals and objectives? Every organisation has goals and objectives which are essential for it to succeed in an ever changing environment. Ken Blanchard’s study of leadership identified two broad types of behaviour, directive and supportive, and the extent to which these are combined are demonstrated in Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model. Among other things this model suggests that a leader needs to be adaptable to a given situation and aware of the social context in which they work. There are evidently numerous ways a leader helps their team to achieve goals and objectives and these are summarised in John Adair’s model of action centred leadership which defines three core management responsibilities: achieving the task, managing the team or group and managing individuals. To help their team achieve goals and objectives a leader must undertake certain functional responsibilities which include: defining objectives, briefing, planning, monitoring and evaluating, with these being continuous as new situations develop and objectives change. At the same time a leader needs to be able to recognise and encourage individual strengths, while being aware of and facilitating improvement in areas of weakness, an awareness of team and individual motivating factors is also crucial. Leaders must also be able to adapt their style of leadership taking into account the varying factors of the task such as time, complexity, resources and individual expertise. Why are these actions  important? The importance of the functional responsibilities are evident, to get the job done! For instance without planning a team has no direction, and no evaluation means that how well the plan is working is unknown and therefore pretty useless. Motivating a team is also a high priority as morale has a significant impact upon long term productivity and hence success. The ability to adapt ones leadership style is significant as situations are open to change, a simple task with little time to complete will require a different approach to one with opposing factors, and the success of each are highly dependent on the approach taken. Individual encouragement and improvement is also necessary as a person’s attitude to the goal or objective is largely influenced by their own feelings towards it and involvement in it. In the areas of task, team and individuals the importance lies in incorporating all three as neglect of one will affect the others. Assessment unit title ILM unit no. AMSPAR unit no Understand the importance of leading teams to achieve organisational goals and objectives M5.46/1 604/1 Assessment Criteria 2. Assess the effectiveness of own organisation in measuring team performance against organisational goals and objectives. How effective is the organisation in measuring team performance – is it â€Å"fit for purpose†? In many areas my own organisations performance measures are â€Å"fit for purpose†, there are some however that could be improved. What part of measuring for performance does the organisation do well? QOF achievement is measured using a data extraction system which automatically monitors our achievement in Vision in real time, and as it forms a large part of the practice income it is essential that we have access to it at any time. This allows us to measure data entry frequency and quality. Prescribing targets. We have an annual prescribing budget for the practice which is monitored on a monthly basis, overspend is highlighted and the GP’s have to work on reducing it. An audit of incoming telephone calls is carried out periodically which gives us a good idea of numbers of calls, waiting times and how many are abandoned which in turn enables us to measure the call handling performance. We aim to process script requests within 48hrs and an audit of this is used to measure the percentage of which are completed in this time. What does it not do so well? Staff appraisals – the current format is woefully lacking. There is a very limited form given to staff members to fill out before and the appraisal itself constitutes a friendly chat with no objectives set. 100% of team members when asked express the opinion that the process is currently a â€Å"waste of time†. This results in individual performance not being measured. There are currently no reception team meetings. These would serve as a measure of on-going performance as objectives and progress can be discussed. Instead there is a predominant reactionary attitude to problems that arise instead of planning to avoid them where possible. What are the implications of your findings? The organisation performs well when staffed with appropriately skilled people  but takes a long time to bring new staff up to the required level of competence. Communication is poor at times which results in low team spirit and this is further impacted by the negative appraisal experience. The current appraisal system also fails to develop individuals as objectives and goals are not set and hence provide little motivation or progression. Assessment unit title ILM unit no. AMSPAR unit no Be able to develop and lead teams M5.46/2 604/2 Assessment Criteria 1. Critically review your own ability to develop and lead teams to achieve organisational goals and objectives Assessment unit title ILM unit no. AMSPAR unit no Understand own ability to fulfil the leadership role M5.06/1 607/1 Assessment Criteria 1. Evaluate your ability to use a range of leadership styles, in different situations and with different types of people, to fulfil the leadership role Give three examples of the different personalities or situations you have in your team. 1. New starter who has been in the team for two weeks. Enthusiastic but lacking skills. 2. Senior team member who has been in the job for nineteen  years. Highly skilled but lacks motivation. 3. Team member been in job three years. Very capable but lacks confidence to work alone. How does this affect the way you manage them? If I class these individuals using Hersey and Blanchard’s development levels their differences influence the approach I try to take when dealing with them. Person 1 needs a high level of both direction and support, whereas persons 2 & 3 need high support but less direction. Think about each of the different styles you have chosen (e.g. Telling, Selling, Consulting & Delegating). For each style†¦ Style 1 (name this style and describe it in twenty words or less) Telling or Autocratic – Roles and goals are extensively clarified, the leader defines objectives and standards with performance being closely monitored. Give an example showing when you have used this style. Centralised computer system failure requiring emergency procedures to be put into place to maintain a safe level of patient care. Was it effective? Give yourself a score out of 10†¦ 10 Explain why you gave yourself that score: why was it the right (or the wrong!) thing to do? The nature of the problem meant that there was no time for discussion. Operable working practices needed to be adopted instantly with team members being assigned specific tasks. The problem was short term. Does applying this style come easily to you? Why or why not? Yes – my natural tendency leans heavily to a directive approach and I easily trust my judgement in situations which need immediate response. Style 2 (name this style and describe it in twenty words or less) Selling or Coaching – The leader provides direction with two-way communication used and support provided, allowing the team to buy into the process. Give an example showing when you have used this style. Explaining a new method of recording instances of pharmacies losing prescriptions and the benefit of having the subsequent data. Was it effective? Give yourself a score out of 10†¦ Explain why you gave yourself that score: why was it the right (or the wrong!) thing to do? Because retrospectively I wasn’t aware of all the factors which would affect the outcome or best working practice. Other team members were therefore the idea was very hard to sell as its failings were quickly apparent. The situation would have benefited from a more participative approach. Does applying this style come easily to you? Why or why not? No – I find it much easier to either tell people what I want to happen, or to open the process with input from everybody. I doubt my sole decision if I there is time to analyse it. Style 3 (name this style and describe it in twenty words or less) Consulting or Participative – Emphasis is on joint decision making, with team members allowed more freedom to take initiative and regular support maintained. Give an example showing when you have used this style. When considering changing the appointment system due to low patient satisfaction a meeting was held with the reception team. Was it effective? Give yourself a score out of 10†¦ Explain why you gave yourself that score: why was it the right (or the wrong!) thing to do? The reception team were the most knowledgeable about the day to day demands upon the current system and the most significant shortcomings. Their involvement in the decision making created a revised system which best addressed the current failings. Does applying this style come easily to you? Why or why not? Yes – despite scoring heavily towards a directive approach on questionnaires, I feel comfortable discussing problems within a group and value the input of others in an area where their expertise is greater than mine. Style 4 (name this style and describe it in twenty words or less) Delegating – The leader remains involved in decisions but passes responsibility for tasks and processes to the individual or group. Give an example showing when you have used this style. When requesting that a senior team member be responsible for producing the annual significant event report. Was it effective? Give yourself a score out of 10†¦ Explain why you gave yourself that score: why was it the right (or the wrong!) thing to do? The report needed updating periodically and completing by the end of the year. The team member in question had the required capability and could be trusted to fulfil the objective in a way that they saw fit. There was no specific format that the report had to take. Does applying this style come easily to you? Why or why not? No – I worry that people will have a negative response to being asked. Thinking about how easy (or difficult) you find it to apply each style†¦ What factors should you take into account before deciding which style to use? There are a number of factors that I would take into account: The ability of individuals or the team as a whole, the time available to complete the objective, the complexity of the issue and who has the most expertise, not always the person in charge! What score would you give yourself, out of ten, for your ability to apply different leadership styles? Explain that score here: 6 – Some styles come easier to me than others, on a situational leadership style scoring sheet my score was highly directive, suggesting that I subconsciously tend towards a more autocratic approach. Feedback from other team members has also shown this to be the case and coupled with my inexperience in a leading role results in me not always making the most appropriate choices. Assessment unit title ILM unit no. AMSPAR unit no Be able to develop and lead teams M5.46/2 604/2 Assessment Criteria 1. [Be able to] implement changes to your leadership style in order to more effectively develop and lead teams Change proposed (Specific, Measurable) How best to implement this (Achievable) Resources Schedule (Timed) Create new staff appraisal system for reception team, which will improve knowledge of individual strengths. Up to 75% of team members to answer on feedback forms that appraisal was of â€Å"some use† to them. Ask practice manager if I can attend upcoming seminar which includes section on appraisals. Practice manager to be consulted about possible budget for training and time available. Training completed by 30/09/13, one month before start of appraisals. Improve self -confidence. Do confidence scoring questionnaires now and in six weeks’ time. Complete daily visualisations from self-help book. Guided visualisation CD and questionnaires. Review with questionnaire six weeks. Create a more balanced leadership approach, currently heavily directive. Complete leadership style questionnaire now and in eight weeks’ time. Ask for anonymous feedback from team. Contact consensus training provider to clarify cost and duration. Set time aside to complete training. Practice manager to be consulted about possible budget for training and time available. Review with questionnaire and feedback in eight weeks. References Cherith Simmons Learning and Development 2013 Leadership, supervision and team building information pack. Mind Tools Ltd (2013) The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_44.htm. Date accessed 06/06/13 businessballs.com (2013) action centred leadership. Available at: http://businessballs.com/action.htm. Date accessed 06/06/13.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

The Video Empire Of Death - 1734 Words

The video Empire of Death attempts to explain the circumstances surrounding a group of Nubian people who had been buried alive. It questions if they were they participants in a mass suicide or if they were murdered? The video discusses the similarities between the beliefs of the ancient Nubians and modern day mass suicide cults such as Heaven’s Gate and the people who died at Jonestown. Searching for examples of the mass suicides, the video discusses various graves that have been excavated in the Egyptian desert. It critiques the assumption made by George Reisen that a grave site discovered was Egyptian and not Nubian, as was later determined. The video details the loss of valuable artifacts due to the building of a dam close to ancient†¦show more content†¦Mr. Reisen mistook the Nubian grave site for an Egyptian site due to its location and the artifacts that were found inside of the tomb. Also, the discussion of the building of modern dams in the area of the Nubian societies remnants and its effects on the modern people who live in the area did not help to answer the question of the reason for the deaths of these people. The coverage of the beliefs of the ancient groups was very slight and superficial. Modern day suicide cults were mentioned without depth, and the comparisons of the beliefs of the two groups was too basic to provide any valuable insights. As a student researching the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the servants of the king who followed him in his death, I would find it hard to use this video as a source due to the lack of convincing evidence that is presented. Video #2 The Plague In The Plague the effects of the Black Death that ravaged Europe in the fourteenth century are described. The video begins by discussing the conditions that were the norm at the beginning of the 1340’s. To the people at the time, the church and its teachings were the answer to all of life’s questions. Even medicine was closely associated with the teachings of the Bible. The plague began in Mongolia and followed the trade routes that had been opened between Europe and China. 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