Turning students into writers
NeilMaguire
Registered, Administrator Posts: 153 🤖 Admin 🤖
Mike Webster recently posted the following article on Tutor talk which I thought you may be interested in:
Hi all
Following Cathy Littler's excellent presentation on 'Turning your students into writers' I thought I would share the 'formula' we've been using to help our students get to grips with written tasks looking at financial ratios.
Here's our 'formula' students can use for any ratio:
1. The........... ratio has deteriorate/improved from ......... in 20XX to ........... in 20XX.
2. This is good/bad or the company or This is a good/bad indicator.
3. Because it is now:
• more/less profitable
• more/less liquid
• more/less risky
• more/less efficient
4. Expand of the comment above - why is it good/bad?
• less profitable - the business generated less profit pr £ of revenue/capital employed/equity/total assets
• less liquid - the ratio is below the ideal ratio of ...... and the business might not be able to pay its current liabilities on time
• more risky - the business is more reliant on borrowed funds which incur interest cargoes and reduce profits
• less efficient - inventory took ..... days longer to sell, receivables took ..... longer to pay which could cause cash flow problems
5. The reason(s) for this improvement/deterioration could be..........
We always emphasise that they should be using improve/deteriorate rather than increase/decrease to demonstrate to the assessor that they understand not just the calculations, but also what the changes actually mean.
Using this flowchart has seen a marked improvement in assessment feedback on tasks requiring analysis of financial ratios in Financial Statements, Credit Control and Financial Performance.
I am sure someone will have a better formula for such tasks but, for us, this flowchart has helped reduce the stress learners experience when answering such tasks.
Thanks
Mike
Hi all
Following Cathy Littler's excellent presentation on 'Turning your students into writers' I thought I would share the 'formula' we've been using to help our students get to grips with written tasks looking at financial ratios.
Here's our 'formula' students can use for any ratio:
1. The........... ratio has deteriorate/improved from ......... in 20XX to ........... in 20XX.
2. This is good/bad or the company or This is a good/bad indicator.
3. Because it is now:
• more/less profitable
• more/less liquid
• more/less risky
• more/less efficient
4. Expand of the comment above - why is it good/bad?
• less profitable - the business generated less profit pr £ of revenue/capital employed/equity/total assets
• less liquid - the ratio is below the ideal ratio of ...... and the business might not be able to pay its current liabilities on time
• more risky - the business is more reliant on borrowed funds which incur interest cargoes and reduce profits
• less efficient - inventory took ..... days longer to sell, receivables took ..... longer to pay which could cause cash flow problems
5. The reason(s) for this improvement/deterioration could be..........
We always emphasise that they should be using improve/deteriorate rather than increase/decrease to demonstrate to the assessor that they understand not just the calculations, but also what the changes actually mean.
Using this flowchart has seen a marked improvement in assessment feedback on tasks requiring analysis of financial ratios in Financial Statements, Credit Control and Financial Performance.
I am sure someone will have a better formula for such tasks but, for us, this flowchart has helped reduce the stress learners experience when answering such tasks.
Thanks
Mike
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Comments
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After speaking to a tutor recently, it was clear that students still struggle to interpret financial data in the real world.
I thought I'd share a video which captures the importance of being able to interpret financial data in real life...well, kind of, although it may be something to share with students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfrMMNeK2k
Does anyone else have any thoughts around how they help turn students into writers?1