Referencing Convention: APA6th Edition. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT AND NOT A GROUP TASK! Please read this entire instruction sheet carefully. This is a complex task with multiple components. Task Description
This task is an online role-play within a small group discussion board. Each student will be assigned a different educational service provider to represent in the role-play. The role-play scenario is a case conference with the family of a kindergarten student Max (6 years old) who has Cerebral Palsy, Autism, and complex care needs. You will be assigned a specific educational program to represent and your task is to write a “pitch” explaining your program’s educational approach and benefits. This task will teach you some valuable skills in digital literacy, communication, critical appraisal of research, and reflective learning. We hope you will enjoy the experience! Your teaching team and markers will be there to support you throughout the task. You will also have a chance to discuss and work on your assignment during your seminars.
This is an individual assignment, however there will be 3-4 other students submitting pitches for different programs on your role play discussion board. You will need to read and comment briefly on their pitches. Your final pitch is due with your other assignment components on Monday 2nd September, 9 am (week 8). It should be submitted like a regular assignment via the AT2 dropbox on our HDS101 unit site. This task includes five components:
your pitch (1,000 words)
some peer feedback (brief, no word limit)
a learning reflection (300 words)
a learning goal and strategy for the next assignment (200 words), and
a self-marked rubric.
These are explained in more detail below, along with their assessment criteria.
Written Pitch (1,000 words +/- 10%).
At the end of week 4 you will be assigned a hypothetical educational program, and provided with some basic profile information about the case student (accessed via the assessment 2 folder). You will then write a “pitch” for your assigned educational program, explaining how it would meet the learning needs of this student. In your pitch you should:
Describe your assigned program’s educational approach in relation to Max’s learning and inclusion needs, and
Justify your program’s educational approaches with evidence from research and other published sources.
You will be provided with some readings to get you started, and are also expected to find additional peer-reviewed evidence to support your arguments. Your pitch should include in-text citations and a reference list, formatted to APA 6th Edition requirements. Remember that your audience is Max’s family and supporting health professionals, so your information should be explained clearly and should take the family’s concerns into account.
Your pitch will be marked against the following criteria:
CriteriaHigh DistinctionDistinctionCreditPassUnsatisfactory
Pitch: Explanation/108-10 points
As for distinction, plus:Student’s content addresses specific theoretical models or philosophies in disability, education, or inclusion. 7-7.5 points
As for credit, plus: Student’s examples are realistic for the assigned case and context. Student’s examples are illustrated with applied, practical examples. 6-6.5 points
Student provides detailed, accurate descriptions of key
learning considerations for students with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and complex care needs.Student describes in detail at least one educational strategy or approach used by their program. These descriptions are consistent with the assigned case and profile.
5-5.5 points
Student provides brief, mostly accurate descriptions of key learning considerations for students with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and complex care needs.Student briefly describes at least one educational strategy or approach used by their program. These descriptions are consistent with the assigned case and profile.
0-4.5 points
Definitions of terms are incorrect. Student does not address education strategies or learning considerations, or lists these without detail. Information is not consistent with assigned program or profile.
Pitch: Justification/108-10 points
As for distinction, plus:Student addresses the challenges or limitations in their program’s educational approaches.Student evaluates their program’s approach against other educational models or programs.
7-7.5 points
As for credit, plus: Student addresses the value of educational participation and social inclusion for people with complex disability across the lifespan.
6-6.5 points
Student provides clear and evidence-based justifications for their program’s educational approach.
5-5.5 points
Student identifies some strengths of their program’s educational approaches for students with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and complex care needs.0-4.5 points
Student’s pitch does not provide a justification for their program’s educational philosophy or approaches. Pitch: Use of Evidence /108-10 points
Most of the points have been supported with evidence.Evidence has been drawn from a wide range of sources. Student engages in some critical appraisal of the evidence, or provides detail about the sources.
7-7.5 points
Student used a range of relevant sources (in addition to those prescribed).
6-6.5 points
Sources used were mostly those prescribed, with some evidence of wider reading.
5-5.5 points
Only the prescribed readings were used as supporting evidence.
0-4.5 points
Minimal or no referencing of sources within the student’s work.
Pitch: Writing and Referencing/54-5 points
As for distinction, plus:Students directly address common concerns of young adults with disability and/or their parents, concerning the topics of education, employment, or transition to adulthood.3.5 points
As for credit, plus:Language used was respectful, professional, and highly appropriate to the target audience (parents).
3 points
Language used was generally clear, concise, and coherent.Occasional errors in spelling or typography. Referencing is in APA6th format and is mostly correct. 2.5 points
Language was sometimes unclear. Some errors in spelling, typography, or referencing.Referencing in APA6th format has been attempted with several errors. 0-2 points
Language was frequently unclear. Frequent errors in spelling or typography. Referencing has not been attempted or contains major errors. Draft post and peer feedback:
You are expected to post a draft of your pitch on your role-play discussion board by Wednesday of week 6 (August 21st). Your marker and peers will read your draft and provide you with early feedback in the form of some questions. This feedback is designed to help you reach a higher level of performance on the assessment rubric. You don’t need to post your learning reflection, learning goal, or self-marked rubric on the discussion board.
In addition to posting a draft pitch, you are also expected to read and comment on the other students’ submissions on your board by Tuesday 27th August, 5 pm. Please note that you will be unable to see or respond to any posts until you have posted your own draft.
In your comments, try to provide some encouraging, constructive criticism to help your peers develop their argument. This could be posed as a suggestion, a link to a further resource, or a request for additional information (please see some guidelines for constructive discussion board posts in AT2 folder on our cloud site). You will receive a small number of marks for providing constructive comments to your peers on time, as indicated below:
Assessment criteria for peer feedback (3 marks):
You have posted peer feedback on the discussion board on time (one mark).
You have left feedback for all of the posted drafts on your board (one extra mark).
Your feedback is consistently thoughtful, constructive, and well-written (one extra mark).
Learning Reflection (300 words max.)
In this assignment you were asked to represent the perspective of an educational provider, and find evidence in support of that program’s approach. You may not have fully agreed with your assigned program’s education approach or you may have found some conflicting evidence – that’s ok! This section of the task gives you an opportunity to reflect on your learning experiences. In your learning reflection, you should consider:
What made it easy and/or difficult to research the educational model you were representing, and why? How did you feel about representing this model?
What skills did you utilise or develop in completing this research and making your pitch? How has this changed your future practice?
What might this research and decision-making process be like for parents, teachers, or policy makers in education? The discussion board activities have prepared you for this type of self-reflection. I encourage you to review the boards from weeks 1-5, for examples of good self-reflection and critique by your peers.
Your reflection task must be submitted via the Dropbox along with your final pitch, on the 2nd of September at 9 AM. Your learning reflection will be evaluated against the following criteria:
CriteriaHigh DistinctionDistinctionCreditPassUnsatisfactory
Learning Reflection/5
4-5 points
As for distinction, plus:
The reflection is well-written, cohesive, and shows that the student can generalise their own experiences in the task to the wider practice context (e.g., the experiences of others, or their own future practice).3.5 points
As for credit, plus:
Student also considers why these challenges may arise as the result of research practices or policy. 3 points
As for pass, plus:
Student considers some implications for families, education providers and/or policy makers.2.5 points
Student provides a brief reflection on their experiences of completing the research component of the task.
0-2 points
Student does not provide a learning reflection, or their learning reflection is unclear, off-topic, or lacks sufficient detail.Learning Evaluation and Goal (200 words max).
In this unit we expect all students to mark their own assignments prior to submission. This process allows the markers to give you more tailored and useful feedback.
To mark your own work, please download and complete the rubric and cover-sheet in the AT2 resources folder. Indicate the criteria you think you have met by marking them in bold or highlighting them in colour. These self-evaluations won’t affect your calculated mark, so you should be as honest as you can.
In this task you are also expected to write a learning goal for your next assignment (AT3). A good learning goal will include:
A specific skill you would like to work on (e.g., referencing, writing, time-management)
A reason for selecting that goal (e.g., based on your current performance or experience, or your future ambitions as a student or professional)
At least one plan for achieving that goal (e.g., a resource you will access or a strategy you will implement).
Try to be as specific as possible. A good goal will be clearly written (what exactly are you aiming for?), measurable (how will you know you have achieved it?) and realistic within the timeframe between AT2 and AT3 (4 weeks). More information about writing clear goals can be found here: https://michaelhyatt.com/goal-setting.html. A list of available study supports at Deakin can be found here: http://www.deakin.edu.au/life-at-deakin/why-study-at-deakin/study-support.
Write your learning goal for AT3 in the space provided on the assignment coversheet, and submit this along with your marked rubric and final pitch to the Dropbox on the 2nd September. Your learning goal and self-marked rubric will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Self-marked Rubric (3 marks):
You have marked your own assignment against the AT2 rubric (one mark).
Your rubric has been completely marked (one extra mark).
Your marks realistically reflect your performance (one extra mark).
Learning Goal (4 marks):
You clearly state one goal you wish to work on for AT3 (one mark).
You have presented your goal in a “SMART” format (specific, measurable, achievable/realistic and within the time-frame of the next assignment). (one extra mark).
You clearly explain how this goal relates to your self-evaluated performance and/or learning experience from AT2, or your broader aims as a Deakin student (one mark).
You identify one realistic strategy to help you achieve this goal (one extra mark).
What will help me to complete this task?
There will be a lot of information and guidance provided for this task in the AT2 folder on our cloud site, from week 4. Your educational program’s profile document will contain some background readings (core to every profile) and one focus reading, to get you started with your research. You are encouraged to read the other profiles as well, so that you can develop a robust argument for your own program’s approach.
In this unit students who regularly attend the seminars tend to perform much better on the assessments than those who do not – so I strongly recommend you keep your attendance up! Please note that the week 5 and 6 topic modules will be highly relevant to AT2, and should be reviewed carefully prior to the completion of this task.
The AT2 discussion board houses a list of FAQs about the task that will be added to over the following weeks. It’s a good place to start if you have any concerns. Feel free to post additional questions on the board. General study support can be found on the Student Life website, and support for researching your assignment can be found on the library’s Find resources page. Our liaison librarians have also placed a research guide for HDS106 in the AT resources folder on our cloud site.
What feedback will I get for this task?
For this task we are providing students with some early feedback in the form of questions, to help improve your marks on your final submission. These initial feedback questions should be returned to you by Wednesday of week 8 (for on-time submissions), via the Perspectives platform. You can also exchange feedback with your peers on this platform. Your final feedback will be returned by Friday of week 11 via the assignment dropbox. It will consist of rubric marks and general comments.
Extensions and Late Submissions
Drafts submitted late without an extension will not receive formative feedback from the teaching team.
Late submissions of the final pitch will attract a 5% penalty PER DAY to a maximum of 25%.
If you require an extension for your draft or final submission, please contact me at
[email protected]. I am very happy to give extensions for a wide range of circumstances. Please apply for your extension as early as possible, using the extension request form in the AT resources folder. This will ensure I can place you in an appropriate extension group, avoiding inconvenience to you and other students. Requests after the submission date cannot be accepted and will require special consideration, which can be accessed via this link.
Plagiarism and Academic Misconduct
You must ensure that the work in your assignment is your own. This means that you must:
Write your own assignment (don’t pay for someone else’s work, or ask another person to write or edit your assignment for you).
Submit a unique assignment (it should not be the same as another student’s)
Acknowledge all sources of information (this includes direct quotes, paraphrased quotes, and key ideas).
You can learn more about Deakin’s rules for academic integrity on their website. You should also review Deakin’s general guidelines around research and referencing.