THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF POLICY, PLANNING AND
ADMINISTRATION

Master of Education in Administration, Planning, and Policy

Studies [MED APPS]

TERM PAPERS FOR ALL COURSES

2014/2015

Note:
Attempt only one Question from each course.

Write an essay of between 3000 and 3500 words - observe the rules and regulations
for academic writings which are APA Style.

Font size should be 12 and font Times New Roman.

Your essay should preferably be clearly divided into sub-headings such as abstract,
introduction, substantive sub-headings, and references/bibliography.

Deadline for submission of ALL term papers is 31st January, 2015. All term papers
will be submitted to DRCs of respective regional centres and delivered to HQ together
with Jan/Feb exams.

OED 624: DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZATIONS

1. With reference to the current inefficiency of Public Secondary schools in your
country, discuss the rationale of managing the schools using Scientific Management
principles.

2. Using concrete examples, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Kotters Model of
Organizational Change Management.

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OED 625: EDUCATIONAL PLANNING

1. Educational planning involved many stakeholders in order for the plan to be accepted
especially in the governmental levels. Explain the features of stakeholders directly
involved in planning for a bigger scale project and explain the model of planning that
is mostly used by educational planners. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of this
model and a strategy to minimize the weaknesses.
2. Economic constraint of many developing countries hinders many good educational
plans. Discuss three non monetary resources that are important to enhance the
implementation of educational plan despite of lack of enough funds.
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OED 626: RESEARCH METHODS IN EDUCATION

The Government has just abolished Grade A Teacher Training and elongated the training
period to three years for a Diploma Teaching Qualification. Develop a Research Proposal as
follows:1] Discuss the context and rationale for the change in one page;
2] Delineate and discuss three variables only that can account for effective or poor teaching
behaviors in two pages;
3] Give and describe two ways or research designs which can be used to study whether the
change will make a difference or not in one page;
4] Select one of the two research approaches in (3) above and design a proposal giving:
A. The research problem;
B. The Purpose of the study;
C. Two researchable objectives of the study;
D. Two testable hypotheses of the study;
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E. Two quantifiable research tasks

5] Give in full bibliographic APA style
a. Two research methods books
b. Three relevant references

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OED 627: EDUCATION POLICY ANALYSIS, IMPLEMENTATION AND
EVALUATION
1.

Evaluate any national education policy of your Choice. Identify and

discuss areas that need improvement.

2.

Critically examine at least 5 models of Policy formulation. Illustrate how

each of the models can explain any education policy you are familiar with.
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OED 628: ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY EDUCATION
1. Discuss with concrete examples, the role of local governments in the development of
education.
2. Educational reforms are important in bringing change in primary and secondary
education. Identify one reform from a country of your choice and discuss its strengths
and weaknesses in bringing change.
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OED 632: ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION
1. Public funding promotes equality of education opportunities. Discuss this statement
while referring to the increased enrolment and financial problems in higher education
in the country of your choice.
2. Education provision is one area that consumes money from the public. Private
educational institutions offer services for cash and some are categorized as richest
institutions. Why many citizens are ready to support the expensive educational
institutions and are reluctant to support poor public educational institutions?

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OED 633: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Effective management of human resources such as teachers is important, because
they are the central resource of education sector. Discuss this statement with relevant
examples from any country of your choice.
2. Using examples, explain the importance of in-service or employee training in
education sector. Discuss the situation of in-service or employee training in your
country and provide a way forward for effective teacher development.
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OED 634: EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP, TRAINING, AND DEVELOPMENT

1. Describe two different school leaders that you know and then explain why you think
they are good or bad leaders. You can use pseudonyms.
2. Critically analyze how school leaders are obtained in your country and comment on
whether they are ascribed or emergent; before suggesting a better way forward for
obtaining school leaders.
THE END

Term Papers as Training and Learning Exercise

Please take note of the following as you prepare for your TERM PAPER
A. It has now been firmly decided that assessments in all courses in MED-APPS will
comprise three parts as follows:1) Term Paper -- 12-15 pages = 30 points;
2) Annual Examination
= 70 points;
3) Dissertation of choice but closely related to the courses taken or/and your future
career plans. This is an independent piece that carries 100 points.
B. It is now strongly recommend that students and staff use the Term Paper for non
formal training of students in the three endangered skills in the academy, which are:== Thinking skills
== Studying skills
== Communication skulls
These skills can be obtained from many reader friendly resource books. In fact, the Term
Paper is basically a literature renew piece which might even help the student to discover own
area of dissertation. Therefore, write it well and concentrate on five areas, which are, inter
alias:1) Mastery of the subject matter Do you know well your area of interest? E.g., if it is
on truancy, absenteeism, motivation, management, supervision, please make sure you
know the concepts in the area very well. Use the internet, English and subject
dictionaries;
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2)
3)
4)
5)

Clarity of thought and presentation of ideas in a logical attractive manner;

Organization of ideas from super ordinate (idea mama) to subordinate (ideas watoto);
Focus, precision, conciseness, integration and simplification of messages;
Factual Accuracy, language- grammar and punctuations.

C. Use the attachment to check your own products, from the start to the end. Can also
consult methodological textbooks on dissertation wring.
*** Checking the Quality of Your Own Writing. ***
The following is a writing checklist that a student or any writer could use to review and
moderate own work as explicated in Makoni (2000) and Omari (2011). Look at your own
work critically and check as follows:-

a. Focus and purpose

1) Have all the requirements of the assignment been addressed?
2) Has the assignment been written according to conventions of the discipline?

b. Scientific and academic principles

1) No colloquialism and slangs such Hit man;
2) No strong contradictions such as Do not ever;
3) The writing is concise == no meandering, verbosity, clichs, euphemism,
repetitions, and gross exaggerations;
4) Tables, figures, and other visuals are well integrated into the text.

c. Expression and language

1) Correct spelling is used consistently, e.g. labor or labour!!
2) There is discord between the verb and pronouns e.g., They turns;
3) Punctuation marks are used appropriately to make the reading enjoyable;
4) The tenses are consistently applied, normally past tenses in most report

d. Paragraphs
1) Each paragraph has topic sentence and clear main idea running though;
2) The topic sentence indicates clearly what the main theme of the paragraph is;
3) All supporting statements are relevant to the theme of the paragraph;
4) Supporting statements are in the best logical order;
5) All supporting statements are elaborated, with logic and evidence;
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6) Each paragraph is self contained, concentrating in one theme and concluded ,

e. Coherence
1) One paragraph follows and flows naturally from one to the never in the best order;
2) Paragraphs are linked clearly with link words between them, such as: However,
But.

f. Cohesion
(1) Paragraphs are fluent and logical, using a variety of linking words

All works need review and reading, again and again and again, and proof
reading.

GOODLUCK
For further inquiry please contact;
Faculty of Education
FED Postgraduate cordinator, Dr. Swai 0767 228 353
MED-APPS cordinator, Dr. Mary 0718 570 096