This article studies the effectiveness of formative assessment techniques for an econometrics course. A large scale project with extensive formative assessment was included in the course, incorporating both summative and formative assessment. The specific assignment is for students to learn all steps to turn raw data obtained from the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) using the statistical software SPSS into a viable thesis that is worthy of undergraduate conference presentations and publications. Learning gains from implementation of this project using extensive formative assessment are measured by changes in student course grades.
"Good things in Life begin small. SMEs (Something More for Everyone)" The small businesses in India are big nowadays. The small and medium enterprises (SME) sector in India is undergoing a 'Big Transformation' riding on the government's recognition of its significance, in terms of its contribution to the GDP and its huge potential for employment generation. A significant observation indicates that during the last 14 years of a liberalized regime, the country has seen phenomenal growth in the SME sector. Developing and venturing into the new products, diversifying their businesses and services by adopting new technical skills and thereby improving productivity has been the overall action plan for this ever multiplying closet. Over the years, the SSI sector in India has continued to remain an important sector of the economy with its noteworthy contribution to the gross domestic product, industrial production, employment generation and exports. As per the Third All India Census of SSIs (2001-02), there were 10.52 million SSI units in the country, of which 1.37 were registered and 9.15 unregistered units. For the year March 2004, the said number increased to 11.52 million, providing employment to 27.40 million persons and contributing an output of over Rs.3, 480 billion in FY2004. As a result of globalization coupled with the WTO regime, Indian SMEs are beginning to show a sign of steady transformation with the industry undergoing a sweeping change in its entirety.The SME sector in India is highly hetero geneous comprising of tiny unorganized enterprises to modern and more organized factories at the higher end of the spectrum. The rapidly increasing globalization of the Indian economy has been providing enormous opportunities for the small and medium enterprises in India to enhance their business. This paper attempts to find how SMEs could capitalize on such opportunities and the need to grapple with fierce competitionino verseas markets increasingly, which is becoming more challenging with realignment and coming together of global markets after liberalization.
