Describe      how assessment can be created that evaluates a student’s true knowledge      without bias towards language barriers, learning differences, or cultural      differences.

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Tomlinson (2001) described differentiated assessment as an ongoing process through which teachers gather data before, during, and after instruction from multiple sources to identify learners’ needs and strengths. In a quality class that is built on the foundation of differentiation, the teacher will infuse a constant stream of assessments (before, during, and after) to help identify student’s needs and to help improve learning.
Use the information in your text and from the following websites and video to explore definitions, explanations and examples of pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments.

  • 25 quick formative assessments for      a differentiated classroom.
  • What is Differentiated Assessment? (Links to an      external site.)

Instructions
After viewing the resources:

  • Explain      the role of assessment as it applies to theoretical foundations of      differentiated instruction.
  • Describe      how assessment can be created that evaluates a student’s true knowledge      without bias towards language barriers, learning differences, or cultural      differences.
  • Choose      one differentiated assessment strategy (either pre, formative, or      summative) from the course text (or from the recommended websites or      video) and present a rationale for using the assessment to meet the needs      of diverse learners and how it will be used to drive future      instruction.

Post a brief comparison of the legal codes of two distinct cultures in your local community, state, or nation related to gift giving

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Ethical Codes Across Cultures

Ethical codes are not universal across professions or even governments. A wide variety of social and cultural factors might influence an individual’s code of ethics. Likewise, for an organization, social and cultural factors in combination with its mission could influence its code of ethics. Laws, codes, and regulations even differ between state and federal governments. Consider, for example, gift giving to public servants. In some nations or locales, gift giving to public servants is acceptable and even encouraged, whereas in others, depending on perspectives, it is considered a breach of cultural and/or legal ethical codes. How might you, as a public administrator, anticipate and manage the potential ethical dilemmas that may occur as a result of these differences in codes of ethics?

In this Discussion, you compare and contrast the ethical codes of two distinct cultures in your local community, state, or nation. You also may choose an international comparison. Explore the influence of culture on these ethical codes and analyze strategies for handling conflicts in ethical codes across these cultures.

Post a brief comparison of the legal codes of two distinct cultures in your local community, state, or nation related to gift giving. (You also may choose an international comparison if both cultures are familiar to you.) Then, explain the influence of culture on the ethics of gift-giving practices. Finally, explain how you might resolve any potential conflicts among personal, professional, or legal ethical codes regarding the acceptance of gifts.

Define the type of organization (corporate, non-profit, education institution, etc.) you will use for your assignment.

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For your assignments, you will assume the role of the head of a modest training department in a medium-sized organization. Your organization has merged with another like organization and will need to train all employees on the new corporate culture as well as new work systems, such as timesheets, payroll, file servers, etc. The director of Human Resources has tasked you to develop a training proposal for the organization and recommend a training solution. The catch is that you need to deliver this training in three (3) months and money is tight because of the expense of the merger. The new CEO is also skeptical of training and your department, as he thinks anyone can produce training and believes those fancy Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) courses are a waste of money. Your assignment will be to write a training proposal and justify your recommendation for the training.

HR has tasked your department to provide training for the following topics. You can assume that the subject matter is new for everyone.

  • A welcome overview to the new company. Employees will need to know:
    • Why this merger happened.
    • The goals of the new organization.
    • The new organization structure.
    • The new benefits package and pay plan.
    • Contact people for any questions.
  • Training on the following new organizational systems, which will be all COTS products. This means they will be commercial products like MS Office, PeopleSoft, Google Drive, and other software packages that companies can buy outright and implement. There are no proprietary or custom-built systems.
    • The new timesheet system.
      • This system uses a COTS product but the interface is branded with the organization’s logo and colors.
      • Employees need to record their time accurately and submit time sheets by the close of business each week.
    • The new project management system, which is a COTS product, no modifications.
      • The basics of the system, such as setting up projects and assigning employees to projects, is similar to the system employees have used in the past.
      • Employees are now required to run a number of reports using the data in the system.
        • Employees will need to learn how to set up those reports in the system, run those reports, and update the reports on a monthly basis.
        • These reports are critical to upper management, which wants to keep a close eye on expenses and resources as the new organization gets started.
    • You are free to select any COTS product for the two systems.

Before you start you will need to:

  • Define the type of organization (corporate, non-profit, education institution, etc.) you will use for your assignment. Assume that:
    • The new organization has a headquarters location and a few other office locations that require at least a few hours travel to reach. (If you want to bring everyone in for a meeting, they will incur travel expenses and require overnight accommodations.)
    • Your offices have conference rooms but do not have computer labs.
    • Employees have their own work laptops and all organization locations have adequate Wi-Fi.
  • Research your COTS products.
    • Find out what training is available for each of them. Many COTS companies offer training on their products and there are many third-party vendors that offer training.
    • Determine an estimated time for each of the three (3) trainings – the welcome and two (2) COTS products.
  • Research the time it takes to develop custom training for both classroom and online.
    • There are many different formulas for this information. You will need to find one and be able to justify it in your proposal.
    • Consider at least three (3) types of training delivery:
      • In-person classroom training.
      • Synchronous virtual training, such as through a web conferencing system.
      • Asynchronous virtual training, such as “canned” online modules.

When considering training alternatives, you can assume that your training department capabilities are:

  • Basic webcast capabilities including some simple microphones, a decent digital video camera, and web conferencing software like WebEx or GoTo Meeting. You do not have a dedicated webcast studio or production studio.
  • COTS instructional design packages like Articulate and Storyline.
  • Minimal graphics budget – mainly stock art and what you can do with PhotoShop.
  • A basic LMS for hosting online training and tracking student progress.
  • You all have MS Office suite.

Assignment 1: The Proposal

Due Week 3 and worth 150 points

Refer to the background and scenario for assignments 1-3.

For this assignment, you will write a three to five (3-5) page paper giving an overview of your organization, the training goals, and how you will assess the effectiveness of the training.

  • Description of your organization, the employees, and the stakeholders. Include in your description:
    • Target audience for the education program in this section.
    • Stakeholders for this education program.
    • Organizational goals.
  • Goals for each training program (e.g., do you want employees simply to know the information, be able to demonstrate specific skills, become proficient with new software, etc.).
  • Map training goals to the organizational goals.
  • Describe the assessment method for each training program.
  • Cite at least two (2) quality references from the past two (2) years.
    • Include as much real-world information as possible on the COTS products and other products as they pertain to your proposal.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

  • Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
  • Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

  • Examine trends and issues in assessment of adult learners.
  • Analyze models used for assessment.

Evaluate an assessment tool, with at least one authentic assessment technique, for adult learners

What are some of the ways you could help support a friend or family member who might be displaying symptoms or behaviors that could be identified as a psychiatric illness or disorder?

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What are some of the ways you could help support a friend or family member who might be displaying symptoms or behaviors that could be identified as a psychiatric illness or disorder? Discuss how you think services in your area would be able to help them. What are some of the risks involved in doing so?

Respond to the two students post below and comment on the elements of the act they discuss. Is there an element of PL94-142 raised by these postings that you had not considered? If so, note this and comment on the implications you see.

Nicole post

 

The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA), ensures that all children, regardless of disabilities, have access to a free, appropriate, public education. I feel the most important component of this act for children with disabilities is to be placed in the least restrictive environment. The text states, “Children with disabilities must be educated alongside students who do not have identified disabilities” (Allen & Cowdery, 2015). I feel it is the most important component of this act because the only way a child will be able to thrive is if they are in an environment that is conducive to their needs. This may include extra staffing, related services, and a physically accessible space. If a child does not receive what they need in order to thrive, then it is not the least restrictive environment.

In my school, there is usually one classroom per grade level that is dedicated as the “inclusion” classroom. This means that students on IEP’s and 504’s are typically placed in the inclusion classroom depending on their accommodations. Students with hearing deficits are placed in a carpeted room, students with physical disabilities are placed on the first floor in the modular buildings where the rooms are larger and there are no stairs, and students needing quiet spaces are placed in the classrooms on the ends of the building where there is very little foot traffic. Looking at each individual child is important in determining if the child is in the least restrictive environment. If the child is not receiving all that they need to be successful, they are not in the least restrictive environment.

Alison Miller post

 

The Education for All Handicapped Children Act came about in 1975 and was renamed Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990. This law “entitles everyone with a disability, from birth to age twenty-one, to a ‘free and appropriate public education’, requires every child with a disability to be educated in the least restrictive environment, and children should be educated in the environment more like the education environment of their peers who are typically developing, where the child can be successful with appropriate supports in place” (Allen, 2015, 4).

I think the most important component of this act for children with disabilities is their right to being educated in an environment more like their peers who are typically developing, where they can be successful with support in place. This allows students with disabilities to be involved with regular life and not feel excluded. For some students with disabilities, they are able to learn at the same rate, however need more physical assistance, others need a bit more time to finish or understand an assignment. These differences and challenges can be accommodated for just as a teacher would accommodate missed assignments for a sick student or modifications while a student has a broken arm.