Course Coordinators: A/Prof Renee Turner and Dr Anna Leonard

Many guest lecturers

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1	Understand the pathogenesis and management of common and important neurological diseases including cerebrovascular disease, brain injury, neurotransmitter disorders and dementia
2	Acquire the ability to relate these basic pathological processes to the pathogenesis of these common and important neurological diseases
3	Gain knowledge and understanding of the predisposing factors, causes, pathogenesis, morphology, potential complications and how they arise, natural history of, and the main symptoms and signs of such diseases
4	Correlate clinical features with causes and mechanisms of disease
5	Understand how knowledge of pathological processes can be utilised in the investigation, management and prevention of disease
6	Use and understand terminology for the field of neuosciences correctly and contextually
7	Ability to verbally present a scientific topic to an audience of peers
8	Acquire, read, interpret and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner
9	Acknowledge and reference sources of information appropriately
10	Work in groups and individually in the pursuit of scientific knowledge

There are no required resources specified.  However, lecturers will make reference to latest literature in relation to their lecture topic.

Recommended textbooks are:
Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 8th edition, 2009 by Kumar, Abbas, Fausto, and Aster published by Elsevier Saunders.
OR
Rubin's Pathology, Clinicopathologic Foundations of Medicine, 6^th edition, 2011 by Rubin, and Strayer (eds), published by Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

My Uni
All course correspondence including important course information and regular announcements will take place through MyUni. All lecture notes, lecture audio recordings etc are available on MyUni.

In addition, tutorials will be run online in 2020. Please check your course announcements for specific details.

Lectures are supported by interactive tutorials designed to develop and clarify topics covered in lectures. These are generally problem-solving sessions and may include discussion of potential examination questions and answers. Practical classes are designed to provide students with an opportunity to further explore the macroscopic and microscopic features of pathological processes related to important diseases covered in lectures, as well as to protect time for completion of assessment tasks such as assignments and preparation of oral presentations. Some of these sessions will also be used to provide regular feedback to students about assessment tasks.

As a 3 unit course, Neurological Diseases will require approximately 12 h of work per week, including lecture and large group attendance, completion of assignments, preparation of the recorded oral presentation and private study for the quizzes, mid-semester examination and final examination.

In order to pass Neurological Diseases, students are required to have completed all components of the assessment.

Students must achieve a grade of at least 40% in the end semester theory  examinations, and achieve an overall grade of at least 50% for the course.

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
5 x online MCQ tests	Summative	20%	1-6, 8,9
Mid semester examination	Summative	20%	1-6, 8, 9
Group Presentation	Summative	25%	7-10
End of semester theory examination	Summative	35%	1-6, 8, 9

The end of semester exam is a hurdle requirement. The hurdle benchmark is set at 40%. If students do not meet the hurdle, but are passing the overall course, they will be offered a redemption assessment. Students may earn a maximum score of 50% for the course if they achieve 40% or greater for the redemption assessment. If a student fails the additional assessment or fails to attend the exam they will get a Fail grade for the course.

Assessment comprises several parts:

• Online MCQ tests – There will be 5 online MCQ tests throughout the semester which will correspond to completion of course modules. Each of these tests are worth 4% (so 20% in total).

• There will be a mid-semester exam,  conducted in a lecture time slot within a lecture theatre and will comprise some MCQs as well as some short/medium sized answer questions. This test is worth 20%.

• Group oral presentation worth 25% of your final grade. Students work in groups of a maximum of 6 to answer a specific neuropathology related question and create and present in the form of an oral presentation (Eg: powerpoint presentation, youtube video or acted out clinical scenario) on a topic selected form a provided list of neurological diseases on MyUni. Group communication and planning via online discussion boards etc will also be assessed by group members and staff.  Your mark for this assessment piece will comprise evaluation by course coordinators, group members and the class. Further detail on the assessment task and mark breakdown is provided within the assessment instructions outline under assignments in MyUni.

 All assessments are summative. Assignments and examinations will be graded using marks. The total possible mark for each will be specified on the assignment/examination.

Referencing in assignments
To avoid plagiarism, the answers should be written in your own words and should be referenced where appropriate. It is not appropriate to use sentences straight from a textbook, journal article or website, or even to just reorganise a sentence or change a few words from information in a textbook, journal article or website. Information obtained from reference sources should be extensively rewritten to demonstrate your understanding of the topic.
 
Appropriate referencing is important for academic integrity. It is important that the contribution of the work of others is acknowledged, it provides evidence to support your argument and it provides evidence that you are not plagiarising. The reader should be able to consult the exact source of your information if they wish. You should ensure that your reference includes the information that you are stating it contains. When using a journal article as a reference, you should have read the entire article, not just the abstract.
 
All sources used for obtaining information should be referenced, including lecture notes and web sites. Each reference must be indicated in the text and in a reference list at the end of the assignment. When referencing use the Harvard style, by citing the first author (followed by et al if there are also others) and the year of publication in the text and putting the references in alphabetical order by first author in a references section at the end of the assignment.  Page numbers containing information obtained from books, in addition to journals, should be stated.
 
References should conform to the following style (Harvard style):
 
Books: Fishman AP: Pulmonary Hypertension and Cor Pulmonale. Pulmonary Diseases and Disorders. Edited by Fishman AP. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1988, pp. 999-1048
Journals: Meyrick B, Reid L: Hypoxia-induced structural changes in the media and adventitia of the rat hilar pulmonary artery and their regression. Am J Pathol 1980, 100:151-178
 
You may use non-peer reviewed websites (e.g. Wikipedia) to aid your research for assignments, but be aware that such websites do not necessarily contain reliable accurate or sufficiently detailed information. Use of such websites as references in assignments is strongly discouraged and should be kept to a minimum. However, if websites are used, they should be referenced in a similar style to that above, including the authors name, name of the article and website and web address.

Mark penalties may be applied for inappropriate referencing in assignments. This may include being awarded 0 marks for the assignment. Unacceptable practices in addition to frank plagiarism include presenting information without appropriate attribution to the original source and students separately submitting the same or very similar pieces of work with the intention to deceive the assessor as to the contribution they have made to the assessment work (collusion).

Please ensure that you have read the University’s Policies on Plagiarism and Cheating in Examinations and Related Forms of Assessment. It is each student’s responsibility to read and follow the instructions distributed by the university, school and discipline, including course guides and those related to assessment tasks. These include referencing requirements. Ignorance of appropriate practices, carelessness in note taking and referencing, and finishing an assignment in a hurry are not excuses for inappropriate referencing. For those students requiring further information on this topic, a good powerpoint presentation can be downloaded from http://www.adelaide.edu.au/professions/hub/downloads/plagiarism-referencing-tutorial.ppt .

Where applicable submission of written assignments is through TURNITIN on MyUni.

Generally there is a 2-3 week turnaround time for staff to mark assessment pieces. We will endeavour to return work with appropriate feedback as quickly as possible. If a student requires further clarification and feedback they can contact the course coordinator.

Penalties will apply for late submission of assignments unless an extension with appropriate reasons and supporting documentation (e.g. medical certificate) is provided to the course coordinator BEFORE the due date and time of submission.

REPLACEMENT/ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENT

On Medical or Compassionate Grounds
To request a replacement/additional assessment on Medical or Compassionate grounds, appropriate forms should be obtained from your faculty office or the appropriate web site, completed and submitted in the appropriate time frame. Students are advised to refer to the university’s policy on examinations (see below). Academic staff will make the final decision regarding the offer of a replacement/additional assessment. Sitting a replacement/additional assessment is offered on this basis will result in a formal mark being awarded, i.e. pass, credit or distinction. Both written theory and practical replacement/additional assessments may be offered.

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/supps.html

On Academic Grounds
Replacement/additional assessments will be offered to selected students on academic grounds.
Those sitting these will be required to achieve a grade of at least 50% in either a written theory examination, written practical examination or both, depending on which of the examinations the student did not meet the necessary requirement to pass the course, and obtain an overall mark of at least 50% for the course. Successful completion of supplementary examinations offered on this basis can only result in a final mark for the course of 50%.

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/supps.html

Examinations are timetabled by the university and held during the official university examination periods and students are expected to be available to sit examinations at these times. Students who fail to sit on the set date and time without satisfactory medical or compassionate reasons submitted in writing in the appropriate time frame, will be deemed to have failed Essentials of Pathology. Only one sitting for replacement/additional assessment is offered.

Examinations WILL NOT be rescheduled for students on holidays or away attending weddings etc.
Information provided in applications for replacement/additional assessments or extensions for assignments will be treated in confidence.