EDUC 2002 - Professional Practice & Research

North Terrace Campus - Semester 2 - 2015

This course enables students to evaluate and utilize a range of educational research methods. Students will examine a range of techniques, analyse a variety of research studies and be prepared to conduct small scale research projects. The course provides skills, techniques and methods to enable students to teach the new personal research project in South Australian high schools.

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Course Details

Course Code	EDUC 2002
Course	Professional Practice & Research
Coordinating Unit	School of Education
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 3 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Prerequisites	EDUC 2001
Assumed Knowledge	EDUC 1001 & EDUC 1002
Assessment	Examination

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Anthony Potts

Location: Room 8.45
Level 8
School of Education,
Faculty of the Professions
10 Pulteney Street, Adelaide, 5005
Email: anthony.potts@adelaide.edu.au
Phone: 831 30849.

I am in my office most days from 5.30am. Simply drop in, phone or email. Replies to emails will be done as soon as possible.

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Lecture attendance: 1 hour per week
Tutorial attendance: 1 hour per week
On-line activity: 1 hour per week

Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course students will be able to:

Identify the major research methodologies used in educational investigations,

Describe the main differences between quantitative and qualitative research,

List the specific types of research that fall into the broad categories of quantitative and qualitative research,

Give examples of research problems that might be investigated by either approaches,

List the steps involved in the research process,

Evaluate educational research on various dimensions,

Plan and conduct small scale educational research,

Teach the Personal Research Project in South Australian High Schools,
Engage in reflective and self-directed practice as stated in Aitsl's (2011) Standard 6: Engage in Professional Learning.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised.	a,d
The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner.	b,d,e
An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems.	a,b,e
Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication.	c
A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies.	b
A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life.	b,d
A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community.	a,c,e
An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities.	d,e

Learning Resources

Required Resources

Text Book
You need either your own copy of this or a copy shared with a friend or friends. You need to bring it to each class.
Kervin, L., Vialle, W., Herrington, J., Okely, T., Research For Educators, Cengage, South Melbourne, 2006.
This text is available at Unibooks, at on-line outlets and other bookstores.

Recommended Resources

Ary, D., Jacobs, L., Sorensen, C. 2010, Introduction to Research in Education, Wadsworth Cengage, Belmont, California.
Emerson, L. (Ed.), 2005. Writing Guidelines for Education Students, Cengage, South Melbourne, 2nd Ed.
Sikes, P. & Potts, A. Researching Education From The Inside, Routledge, London, 2008

Online Learning

The complete course is available on MyUni. It is active well before the course officially commences so you can commence the course early.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

There is one lecture, one tutorial and one on-line activity each week. Attendance at formal classes is highly recommended. For each missed tutorial or none or inadequately prepared tutorial 2 marks will be deducted. It will be impossible for the course to be taught again the day before the final examination.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Lecture attendance: 1 hour per week

Tutorial attendance: 1 hour per week

On-line activity: 1 hour per week

Learning Activities Summary

The course consists of lectures and tutorials. Students are expected to prepare for tutorials by familiarizing themselves with the set readings and doing the set activities.

Classes will be held weekly commencing the first week of semester . Please ensure you bring along the text and your answers to class from this first week.
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Week 1
Lecture: Some Issues in Educational Research

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 1

Each week you need to read the chapter in the textbook and any other readings, make a page of thoughtful (not simply copying out the textbook verbatim) notes on the readings, questions and in particular the question/activity in bold and bring the textbook and notes plus any other required material to the tutorial and be prepared to discuss the questions and your responses.

What is research?
What ethical issues do educational researchers need to consider?
Why do teachers need to understand research and the research process?
Who was Cyril Burt and for what do we remember him? Can you find any recent Australian equivalents – search for questionable research involving the contraceptive pill and research involving morning sickness for example.
Create a concept map of the research process.
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Week 2
Lecture: The Research Process

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 2

What steps are involved in the research process?
How does research differ from reflection?
Complete the task on page 23. (You can use an article from the Course Profile, one from the collection on MyUni or one you find yourself. You may wish to select one you will use for your essay).
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Week 3
Lecture: Different Research Approaches

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 3

List the characteristics of quantitative and qualitative research.
How is educational practice influenced by research?
Examine newspapers’ reporting of a current educational or other issue- either from the printed copies or the web versions. Upon what sources is the reporting based? How do different newspapers report the issue? Why do we need to be aware of the differences?
Find a qualitative and a quantitative research article preferably on a similar topic. You could either do this by browsing in the educational journals such as The Australian Journal of Education in the library or on line. You could use the articles provided in this handout or the ones on MyUni. What are the differences between the reports? Do the reports complement or contradict each other? How could the results influence classroom practice?
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Week 4
Lecture: Initial Stages in Research

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 4

How do we select a research topic?
How do we conduct a literature review?
How do we develop research questions and hypotheses?
Chose 2 articles and summarize these in four main points per article. Are there common themes? How can you compare and contrast the 2 articles? What research question might the 2 articles lead you to ask?
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Week 5
Lecture: Planning Research

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 5

List the characteristics of the main types of quantitative research.
List the characteristics of the main types of qualitative research.
What is case study research?
Identify the different sorts of descriptive data that teachers can collect. What can we use this for?
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Week 6
Lecture: Collecting Data

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 6

What do we mean by data?
How do we collect data for quantitative and qualitative research?
What do we need to do as we prepare to gather data?
What do we need to do as we gather data?
Safely and ethically observe a small group of people for about 10 minutes. Record the most pertinent events during that period. Describe the situation, analyse the data and say what you have found out about these people as a result of this observation. (Students in the past have done superb work here so do not let the side down).
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Week 7
Lecture: Making Sense of Data

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 7

What does data look like?
How can data be organised?
How do we organised and prepare data for analysis?
Do the activity on page 117.
Do activity 2 on page 138.
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Week 8
Lecture: Data Analysis Techniques

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 8

How do we analyse qualitative data?
How do we analyse quantitative data?
Do activity 4 on page 159
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Week 9
Lecture: Publicising The Research

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 9

What are some of the main ways we can publicise our research findings?
What should a first rate research report contain?
Do activity 2 on page 168.
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Week 10
Lecture: Action Research

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 10

What is action research?
How can action research help teachers and schools?
Do the activity on page 196.
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Week 11
Lecture: Completed Research: School Teachers and Curriculum Reform

Tutorial Reading
Research for Educators Chapter 10

Do activity 3 on page 198.
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Week 12
Lecture: Completed Research: Principals and Faith Schools, Australian Textbooks.

Tutorial Reading

Research for Educators Chapter 10

1. Think of at least one Personal Research Topic for your Students in Years 11 or 12 and map out how you would advise your students to do this. [Recall the two topics I sent you earlier - one on cemeteries and one on swimming pools].

2. Think of the subjects you will teach in school and pick a topic for an action research project and map out how you would do this.
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Specific Course Requirements

Knowledge of course requirements
It is a student’s duty to acquaint himself/herself with course requirements. Ignorance of course requirements due to a student’s non-attendance at lectures or seminars is not an acceptable reason for non-fulfilment of any requirements.

Students attending lectures and seminars should note that behaviour which interferes with the conduct of the lecture or seminar may result in a student being asked to leave the class and may result in suspension from the unit. In particular mobile phones must be turned off and placed in students’ bags before the commencement of lectures and seminars. Students are not to have mobile phones out during seminars and this includes texting under desks and sitting in seminars with mobile phones messaging others will result in you being asked to leave the seminar.
Lectures
Attendance at lectures is strongly recommended and on the basis of the research evidence is highly profitable. (See Woodfield, et al., 1-22, in Studies in Higher Education, 31, 1, 2006 and Rodgers and Rodgers, 2003, 27-41, in Education Research and Perspectives, 30, 1, 2003).
Lectures:
Indicate the overall scope of the subject,
Emphasise essential points,
Provide a starting point for private study,
Give explanations of certain difficult points ,
Give examples relevant to the particular course area,
Provide a preliminary map of difficult reading material,
Suggest sources of further information and reference,
Stimulate student thinking and provide guidelines for thoughts assisting to develop a critical interest in the subject (RMIT Counselling Service, 1969)

Tutorials
Attendance and whole hearted and spirited participation is compulsory. If you cannot attend due to sickness or other valid reasons (this does not include taking a holiday or other non academic reason) then you must follow this procedure. By October 19, 2015 you need to hand to me personally copies of doctor’s certificates for each missed session plus the 1 page of preparation for each missed session. Put a cover sheet with your name, number and tutorials missed in summary form. Failure to do this will result in you being considered absent.
Special Consideration
Students who wish to seek special consideration because of illness or special circumstances should apply to the lecturer in charge with relevant documentary evidence. This is usually a doctor’s certificate. For both special consideration and extensions you need to complete well beforehand the Application Form – Assessment Task Extension or Replacement Examination due to Medical and Compassionate Circumstances and/or Application Form – Extenuating Circumstances Application Form. These along with relevant information and instructions are on the university web site.
Extensions and deadlines
If due to illness or other valid reasons, a student is unable to meet a deadline, he/she must contact the lecturer before the deadline in order to seek an extension (which may or may not be granted). Students are required to produce original documents to support their application for an extension. Any assignment handed in late, without authorised extension, will be penalised at a rate of 10% of the assigned mark per 24-hour period late, to a maximum of 7 periods. Assignments handed in more than seven periods late, without authorised extension, will not be marked and an automatic fail grade for that piece of assessment will be recorded.
Plagiarism

Plagiarism is “the reproducing of someone else's intellectual work and representing it as one's own without proper acknowledgment”. Examples of plagiarism include: direct copying or paraphrasing of someone else’s words without acknowledging the source; using facts, information and ideas directly derived from an unacknowledged source; and producing assignments which are the work of other people.

Students have a responsibility to:
Access and use available information provided by the University to avoid plagiarism;
Declare sources in their work submitted for assessment, from which they obtain material or ideas: Retain drafts, notes and copies of all assignments submitted for assessment;
Ensure that you do not make your work available to other students in any form for the purposes of plagiarism;
Discuss any questions you may have about plagiarism with your kindly and supportive lecturer.

Specific Requirements
Students should write their assignments independently. Students are expected to produce their own work. This might involve students choosing, analyzing, summarizing and interpreting the (often competing) ideas of others, and developing arguments and drawing conclusions. Students can: discuss assignments with other students and their tutors; communicate with one another in constructive ways about the learning process; and assist each other, e.g. by discussing the approaches that might be taken to assignment topics, or helping with the availability of reading materials.

Students must acknowledge an original author/creator for the ideas and concepts used in their work by providing a reference or citation. A reference is the written detail of the original source for ideas, which may be referenced within, and at the end of the assignment in the form of a reference list.

You may use quotations: exact words of an original author in written work. The quotation (exact words) should be placed in quotation marks and be accompanied by a reference. If paraphrasing (rewrite completely another author's words or ideas with the intention of presenting the author's ideas), it is vital that the passage is fully rewritten, including the sentence structure. Any short phrases or key words that are used should be handled as quotes. The source must always be referenced.

Small Group Discovery Experience

This is incorporated in the other year 2 education unit.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

The overall mark required to pass is 50%. Students need to attempt and pass each of the three components that is tutorials, assignment and examination.

Assignment: A 2000 (maximum – no 10 % either way) word paper. Please attach both a cover sheet and the assignment marking template to your essay. You can find these on MyUni. Worth 30%.

Due Date: Hand in to the lecturer personally at the lecture on August 25, 2015 and upload to MyUni by 11.59pm.

Tutorials 10%

Weekly Preparation and Participation [for each missed, un or nonprepared or non participation deduct 2 marks]. Please see the instructions above on what to do for genuinely missed tutorials.

Two Hour End of Semester Examination [in Formal Exam Period] Worth 60%. Examinations are controlled by Central Administration and so the date and time are set by this Office. Accordingly the date and time of these are outside my control. The Examination Period usually covers November and December. You need to be available to sit examinations during this time in Adelaide. Please do not schedule other activities in this period as we are unable to schedule examinations at other times and in other places.

Assessment Related Requirements

Essay Guidelines and Referencing

Mr Les Hankin’s Essay and Referencing Template

Reproduced with kind permission is Mr Les Hankin’s Essay and Referencing Template™. You may profit from reacquainting yourselves with it prior to and during your assignment work.
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These points have emerged from marking essays.

Please note: You will be expected to have taken account of these points when you write your essay.

1. Plan the shape and structure of the assignment and indicate this in the introduction: “In this assignment …” Then stick to your plan and use subheadings to keep you there.

2. It is perfectly acceptable to include your opinions but only after you have considered all the evidence you can muster from respectable and authoritative sources. Keep all your opinions to the conclusion at the end.

3. Think of the marker. Use headers and footers for your name and page number.

4. Recommended layout: Arial 12 pt, with 2 lines spacing. This is the academic standard. You don’t ever need to use italics or underlining or bold. Keep bold for headings only.

5. Subheadings are very useful for organising your ideas.

6. If you must use quotations, they must flow from the text, not disrupt it.

7. Address the question! Also, you must use the full word allowance or close to it. (Check in pull-down menu: File/ Properties).

8. Never ever have one-sentence paragraphs. Paragraphs are for building ideas. Use paragraphs. They are a great invention. They organise the prose and ease the eye.

9. Stick to the Harvard referencing system and never use numbered footnotes.

10. You need to demonstrate that your work is informed by current academic thinking. Websites don’t convey this, but rather the opposite.

11. URLs on their own are not acceptable. Never cite any website that doesn’t have .ac or .gov in them. There is no way of proving the veracity of what they say.

12. Spelling! Where/ were; there/ their! It’s = it is! Apostrophes are important!

13. Grammar: if in any doubt, use a full stop and start a new sentence. A sentence must have a verb.

14. Have someone proofread your submission, aloud, to check its grammar works.

15. Accuracy in names is important.

16. Use the spelling / grammar check on Word (Press F7 key at the top.)

17. Avoid words like ‘amazing’. You need to be academic and objective.

Referencing is a very important aspect of your work and is not tutors being fussy. It demonstrates your academic reading and commitment:

18. When citing sources (Oxfam 2004) make sure this is carried through and included in the reference list at the end. A reference list is essential and must follow on immediately in the same file. Do not separate them or leave a gap in your essay.

19. A set of references that is only drawn from the Net is not acceptable. It comes over as laziness. Be adventurous: use the Library.

20. Look at how references are laid out in the set books to get it right, but the following table explains all eventualities.

	In the main body	In the Reference List/ Bibliography
One author	Penn (2005) - if paraphrasing. Penn (2005:99) – if a direct quote.	Penn, H. (2005) Understanding Early Childhood. Maidenhead: Open University Press
Two authors Also note the position of (2nd edn) This is the 2nd edition of this book.	Blenkin and Kelly (1996) – if paraphrasing. Blenkin and Kelly (1996:15) – if a direct quote.	Blenkin, G.M. & Kelly, A.V. (1996) Early Childhood Education (2nd edn). London: Paul Chapman.
More than two authors	Gopnik et al. (1999) or Gopnik et al. (1999:21) - if direct quote.	Gopnik, A., Meltzoff, A. and Kuhl, P. (1999) How Young Babies Think. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
A chapter from an edited book	Mukherji (2005) or Mukherji (2005:145) – if direct quote.	Mukherji, P. (2005) ‘The importance of health’, in Dryden, L., Forbes, R., Mukherji, P. & Pound, L. (2005) Essential Early Years. London: Hodder Arnold.
A quote about another author within the text – a secondary citation.	David (cited in Bruce, 2005) or David (cited in Bruce, 2005:17) - if direct quote	Bruce, T. (2005) Early Childhood Education. (3rd edn). London: Hodder Arnold. (i.e. David will not appear in the Reference List/Bibliography because you have not read David’s original work; you have read about it in Bruce’s book).
Newspaper article	Furedi (2004) or Furedi (2004:15) – if direct quote	Furedi, F. (2004) ‘Plagiarism stems from the loss of scholarly ideals’, Times Higher Education Supplement. p.16.
Online newspaper article	Furedi (2004) or Furedi (2004:15) – if direct quote	Furedi, F. (2004) ‘Plagiarism stems from the loss of scholarly ideals’, Times Higher Education Supplement. p.16. http://thes.co.uk. (accessed 12 February 2005).
Journal article	Dryden et al. (2003)	Dryden, L., Hyder, T. & Jethwa, S. (2003) ‘Assessing individual oral presentations’, in Investigations in University Teaching and Learning, vol. 1, no. 1, pp.79-83.
Electronic Journal	Kwon (2002)	Kwon, Y.I. (2002) ‘Changing Curriculum for Early Childhood Education in England’, in Early Childhood Research & Practice, vol. 4, no. 2. http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/ (accessed 30 June 2006)

Website with author	Stainthorp (2003)	Stainthorp, R. (2003) ‘Use it or lose it’. http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Pubs/stainthorp.html(accessed 6 October 2004)
Website without author but linked to a recognisable organisation	Froebel Foundation (2005)	Froebel Foundation (2005) ‘Three Education Principles’ Education Principles. http://www.froebel.com/ (accessed 29 July 2005).

This chart is adapted from : Dryden, L., Forbes, R., Mukherji, P. & Pound, L. (2005) Essential Early Years. London: Hodder Arnold.

Assessment Detail

Weekly Tutorials

Each week there are tutorials in which we [that means all of us] will discuss the topic and the literature listed for that week, watch a video or some other activity associated with the topic. All students are required to read the relevant parts of their text for this and take part in the discussion. It is not meant to be another lecture. The success of the tutorials depends on everyone reading some relevant material and discussing that with the group. We aim to review the research literature on the topic and not recycle educational folklore.

Students must bring to the tutorial their text and 1 page of thoughtful notes from the relevant chapters and the set activity. Simply presenting at the tutorial session having not done the reading and the activity prior to the tutorial and without notes or prescribed texts and sitting passively or doing other things is not acceptable and will not count as fulfilling course requirements.

Assessment of Tutorials
This will include assessment of a student’s apparent preparation for tutorials and the reading of the relevant chapters in the text (and the preparation of a summary), willingness to contribute to discussion, the usefulness of the contribution, the assistance given to others in the group, the quality of the ideas, etc.

Again simply turning up and failing to do the reading or to willingly and constructively contribute to the discussion and failure to engage in the other class activities will not count.

Written Assignment
Topic
Answer the following question.
Monitoring and Evaluating Research For and By Teachers – What Does This Tell Us?

Some hints as to how to proceed.

Read your text Research for Educators very carefully and thoroughly. This is obviously essential. You may also wish to look at a past student’s analysis scheme for some insights. This is on MyUni.

Browse either the journals The Australian Journal of Education, The Australian Journal of Teacher Education, The Australian Educational Researcher or the Professional Educator or journals specifically related to the subjects you will teach in school such as English, Mathematics, History and Science education journals These are available in either the University or State Library in either hard copy or on line. Or you can use the articles attached to this Course Profile or the ones in the folder on MyUni. (Education Review available in both hard copy and on line will have popular reporting of the latest educational research and is recommended reading. However, the articles in this are not recommended for this assignment)

Take 3-5 recent issues of the journal/s and select at least 3-5 substantial articles in terms of length and depth of treatment of issues. If you select insubstantial articles to deal with then you cannot claim this as an excuse when your assignment lacks depth and substance. You may wish to select articles which deal with one particular theme.

Conduct a 2000 word analytical review and appraisal of your selected articles using but not necessarily slavishly adhering to the guidelines that follow. Your paper must not simply restate the articles but must use the concepts, ideas and suggestions in your set text to appraise the articles. You must analyse the articles in terms of how they are good/poor examples of the particular kinds of research they represent. Good assignments will be high on analysis and synthesis dimensions. Less competent papers will be less strong on these dimensions and will be more concerned with knowledge and comprehension dimensions. You will need to have read and mastered your set text to do the assignment especially the areas concerned with the various strengths and weakness of the various types of research whether this is qualitative, qualitative or mixed method research.

1. What are the main concerns expressed in your chosen articles? What is a key theme or what are key themes? This section will not be particularly long.

2. What research is reported and what are the details of this e.g. studies, authors, methodologies, strengths and weaknesses etc. Again make sure you either select studies that refer to these issues or follow up the original studies to ascertain this. Do not simply say that this was not referred to or you do not know.

3. What are the main research methods and their acknowledged and or unacknowledged strengths and weaknesses? [Here you could comment on either the article or the study it is referring to and how it exemplifies the characteristics, the strengths and weaknesses of whatever type of either qualitative or quantitative research. You could comments on type of research, sample selection, sample size, access, ethics, reliability, validity, creditability, trustworthiness, etc.]

4. What are the main teaching/learning/school/teacher/pupil/etc., implications/recommendations and how feasible would these be for schools/teachers/students/principles/parents? This section could be related to the previous section on the robustness of the research.

Your sources must be referred to in the essay itself and not simply appear in the bibliography or reference list. This does not mean that you necessarily have to have verbatim quotes from the sources. Paraphrase and acknowledgement is fine. Be very wary of over quoting. In a paper this length you should aim for approximately no more than say 12 lines of quotations in total for the whole paper. This could be for example 2 lines of quotes for each of your 6 different sources. Only quote when to not do so would destroy the essence of what has been said. Be wary of simply stringing quotes together. There is a simple test for this - print off your draft and highlight your verbatim quotes – you will soon see if you have overdone them.

Before commencing this literature review examine the Assignment Marking Template for this Assignment provided on MyUni.

One Published Example
Available on MyUni (and in the printed collection of articles) under Resources is A Harvey, Against school-based teacher education, Professional Educator, 6, 1, 2007, 32-34.

This is but one example of what your assignment could possibly look like. But of course you do not have to slavishly follow this. Harvey’s article carefully analyses school based teacher education by looking at the evidence on the topic. Now it is unlikely that you need to do an assignment that is as complex as Harvey’s but you will note that this article comes from the Professional Educator – a journal for practicing teachers. Careful study of Harvey’s article may give you some ideas on how to proceed. You will note that in effect there are two segments to his analysis. One examines existing evidence on the efficacy of school based teacher education. If you adopted this approach in your assignment you would need to follow up on other research to critique the articles you selected. The latter part of his article from pages 40 onwards is a critique of current Australian school based models. If you read this section carefully you will see how he analyses the current research in terms of its methodological weaknesses. You may find that the approach in this section is especially worthy of emulating in your approach to your assignment.

If you are unsure about matters of style etc., then go to Lisa Emerson, Writing Guidelines for Education Students.

Some Previous Student Examples

I am loathe to give examples of previous assignments as students use this as an excuse for lack of originality and critical thinking but I have relented somewhat. On MyUni you will find a folder containing past examples of students’ efforts. There are some words of warning here. Once you have looked at these you will then not be able to use the articles that these students have used. These are not perfect examples and indeed some are much better than others. The grades for these varied accordingly. We often have trouble getting out of our mind some song we have heard. Do not read these and then be so blinded by what you have read you cannot come up with a good paper yourself.

A Streamlined Approach to the Written Assignment
If you have had difficulty deciding which articles to use I would suggest bite the bullet and use the articles given out and attached to the Course Profile or the ones in the folder on MyUni - with the exception perhaps of the first one by Andrew Harvey. You will find 3-5 very pertinent articles there and using these will save you the procrastination of trying to decide which ones to use.

Then read carefully pages 13-16 and especially 13-15 of the Course Profile.

Note especially points 1-4 on pages 13-14 of the Course Profile.

Read the article by Andrew Harvey in the Course Profile especially pages 40-41

Read the relevant parts of your set text especially as they relate to the issues in points 1-4 for your essay and discussed on pages 13-14 of the Course Profile. Use the table of contents and the index of the set text for this. Pay special attention to issues such as type of research, validity and reliability and so on.

If you must, and bearing in mind the warnings noted above, perhaps look at previous student examples, but keep in mind that this may limit you in what you can say if they have done these articles.

Then proceed to do draft one and then draft two etc of your essay.

Submission

Assignments

1. Double space the lines. Use at least 12 point and a clear and legible font. This makes it easier for the maximum grade to be awarded by staff that wear multifocal spectacles but are otherwise kind and caring, full of compassion, slow to anger and rich in justice.

2. Leave a margin of at least one inch on the left hand side of the paper.
3. Use a footer or header with your name, course and page number.

4. A title page should be placed at the front of the assignment. This should contain your name, the subject, the title of the assignment, the name of the lecturer concerned, and the date. All assignments must be accompanied by an Essay Cover Sheet, which includes a Statement of Authorship

5. Students who wish to submit assignments via the postal system must ensure the envelopes are post marked no later than the due date for submission and are sent by registered mail. Students are advised that the School of Education takes no responsibility for assignments sent by post.
6. Assignments will not be accepted for marking after other work in that subject has been returned unless a special consideration request has been approved.
7. The completed assignment should be stapled or fastened in the top left hand corner. Please do not use manila or other forms of folders and please do not under any circumstances place each separate page in a separate plastic envelope.
8. Keep a hard copy of your essay and other submitted work. Sometimes accidents do happen, mail fails to arrive or computers crash.
Note: Failure to follow these prescriptions will result in a lower mark on the essay.

Course Grading

Assignment Grading
Your assignment provides you with an opportunity to comprehend research material criticize it and create an argument of your own. Your papers will be assessed on the basis of the following which appear in detail in both the Assignment Grading Templates. Please note all of these especially the previously noted stricture on the judicious use of quotations.
(a) the depth and scope of the research. Has the student used at least 3-5 different sources (excluding newspaper and popular press material)? Has the student simply restated the sources or made an attempt to evaluate these sources and create an argument of her/his own?
(b) the quality of the ideas and the soundness of argument. Is the essay a critical exposition as opposed to a listing and reproduction of the research?
(c) the organization of ideas within the paper. Is the essay logically organized and well structured?
(d) the style of writing including appropriateness of language, clarity of expression, sentence structure, etc.
(e) length, etc. Are there glaring errors of expression, spelling etc? Errors in this area will mean that an essay is very unlikely to obtain more than a P grade.
(f) the quality of presentation, including attention to grammar, punctuation, spelling, legibility and very importantly consistency and correctness in matters of referencing and bibliography. Unless these latter matters are near to perfect then it would be unlikely that an essay would be graded higher than a P grade.

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the university grading scheme and due to the large numbers a distribution on the normal curve will be expected.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

As a result of SELTs 2015 feedback and other feedback provided by students the following changes have been made:

1.More convenient class times for students and different location of tutorials

2.More MyUni available material on the Personal Research Project- kindly provided by Jarrod Johnson of Pulteney Grammar School.

3.More emphasis on the global as well as local nature of research for those who will teach not only in SA but nationally and internationally.

4.Course now revised and updated to appear on line on the University's new portal.

5. Assignment handed in at the end of week four.

6. Continuing emphasis on the varied audiences this course caters for, that is, not only the teacher as reseacher and their personal and professional development but the teacher as teacher of the personal research project which is now a feature of many school systems.

7. Greater care taken to point out the limitations of all research.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator