AGRIC 3500WT - Professional Skills in Agricultural Science III

Waite Campus - Semester 2 - 2020

The Professional Skills III course has two equally-weighted components:1] Communication theory and skills, and 2] Professional Internship. Communication theory and skills is coursework undertaken in the first half of Semester 2, in Year 3. Students learn: how to design training and extension events using action learning processes and adult learning principles; how to design complex communication and evaluation programs; how to resolve conflict and negotiate in the workplace and business. They will also receive training in career planning, applying for jobs and interview technique. The Professional Internship is a period of 12 weeks employment engaged from mid-year of Year 2 until end of Semester 2 of Year 3. Work can be conducted in areas that are related to agricultural science, including research, agribusiness, agricultural production (including farm experience) and related industries such as food processing, veterinary, livestock, wildlife and natural resource management. By completing the internship students will achieve the following outcomes: - Apply knowledge gained in the undergraduate program to a professional working environment - Develop a deeper understanding of work in areas of professional agricultural or animal science practice - Develop a professional approach and attitude to work - Enhance their ability to synthesise information and present it in written reports

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Course Details

Course Code	AGRIC 3500WT
Course	Professional Skills in Agricultural Science III
Coordinating Unit	School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Term	Semester 2
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	Waite Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 5 hours per week for the first 6 weeks of Semester
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	N
Prerequisites	AGRIC 1510WT, AGRIC 1520WT or ANIML SC 1015RW
Assessment	Assignments, major project, job interview, reports, employer assessment

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Ian Nuberg

Course Timetable

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

Course Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1	Design and implement communication plans in agricultural and animal science
2	Communicate effectively and professionally
3	Effectively deal with various media and situations of conflict resolution
4	Understand extension concepts, models and methods
5	Understand the contexts and methods of science communication and facilitate community participation
6	Understand the conditions of professional practice
7	Design training workshops based on adult learning principles and the action learning cycle
8	Synthesize information and present it in written reports
9	Plan their career using job search skills, effective job applications and resumes, and winning interviews
10	Demonstrate career-ready skills, knowledge and personal attributes through internship experience

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)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	4, 5
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1, 7
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	2, 3, 6, 8
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	9, 10
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	6
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	3, 10

Learning Resources

Recommended Resources

The following texts are good background for the Program Planning assignment

From library:
• C. Leeuwis 2004 “Communication for rural innovation: rethinking agricultural extension”
• A.W. van den Ban & H.S. Hawkins 1996. “Agricultural Extension”
• N. G. Roling 1988 “Extension Science: information systems in agricultural development’

Online Learning

MyUni: Teaching materials and course documentation will be posted on the MyUni website (http://myuni.adelaide.edu.au/).
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

Lectures:Â
There will be usually 2 one-hour lectures for the first 5 weeks of the semester.Â Lecture notes will be posted to MyUni a few days in advance of the respective lecture and will not generally be provided to students in hard copy.Â

Tutorials:
There are 5 tutorials which either develop students self-knowledge or discuss the practicalities of undertaking the assignment work

Practicals:
All the practical course work is done as part of "Communication Committees" where students in groups of 3 or 4 work together to develop a suite of communication products. Â These sessions also include group presentations of products.

Certificates:
Students have the option of undertaking accredited First Aid and Agri-Chemical Use courses which if taken together can be used as 1-week of the 12-week internship requirement.

Workload

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

As this course covers both the communication skills and internship components, a great deal of the work is completed before the semester has even begun by way of the intern work.For this reason the conventional coursework component only occupies the first 6 weeks of the semester.

In general the expected workload for a 3-unit course would be on average, 12 hours per week: i.e. 5 hours in class + another 7 hours working on assignments. Each class last for a 5 hour day broken up into lectures, tutorials and practical sessions. All of the practicals are group work sessions where committees of students work together in class time on three group products. Depending on how effective these groups use this class time, the ex-class time can be much less than 7 hours/week. However there are individual assignments that require at least 3 hours/week: Preparation of CV and job application letter (weeks 3 or 4), Internship Reflections (weeks 9-11)

Over weeks 6 & 7 students are only required to turn up for a 20-minute mock job interview. Other times during these weeks students are expected to be working on their committee projects.

In Weeks 9-11, there are optional First Aid and Chemical Certificate courses that can count towards the Internship program. When not attending these courses students are expected to be finalising their Internship Reflections

Learning Activities Summary

The Communication Theory & Skills component of the course content will include the following:

Week
1 LECTURES a] Extension concepts, models and methods. b] Extension program planning
TUTORIAL: Your personal learning style.
PRAC: Preparing intern reports

2 LECTURES Adult learning principles and the action learning cycle.
TUTORIAL: Designing workshops
PRACTICAL: Committee work to design a workshop based on adult learning principles

3 LECTURES a] Job applications & interviews b] Career planning and learning from the internship
TUTORIAL: Developing a program plan
PRACTICAL: Committee work on workshop and program plan assignments

4 LECTURES a] Communicating science b] Conflict resolution and negotiation
TUTORIAL: Conflict resolution video assignment
PRACTICAL: Committee work on conflict resolution video

5 LECTURES a] Exension case studies
TUTORIAL: Program plan progress
PRACTICAL: Committee work on program plan

6 ASSESS: Mock job interviews
PRACTICAL: Committee work on program plan

7ASSESS: Mock job interviews
PRACTICAL: Committee work on program plan

8 ASSESS: Presentation and assessment of conflict resolution videos
ASSESS: Presentation and assessment of program plans
ASSESS: Peer evaluation of committee work

Optional
9 CERTIFICATION: First Aid
10 CERTIFICATION: Chemical Use
11 CERTIFICATION: Chemical Use

The Internship component of the course is completed before the semester begins. Students who have not already completed their intern reflections will do this during Weeks 9-11 of the semester.

Small Group Discovery Experience

Students will form small committees of 3 or 4 people to undertake the production of 3 group products:

1] a professional plan for an 1 or 2 day extension workshop based on action learning principles
2] a 10 minute youtube video illustrating the principles of conflict resolution
3] a a program plan for a 3-4 year extension / communication project

The committees will have formal sessions with an agenda and minutes which is reported and assessed. They will also have a significant amount of class time to work on these products together.

Successful completion of these 3 assignments will require research into both the content of the scenarios and the production processes required for the final output.

Students have the opportunity to practice and demonstrate effective and professional group work while researching specific agricultural content for the products.

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

Description and Assessment	Submission due	Marks	Hurdle	Learning Outcome assessed
Convince Me Video	week 3	20	No	1,3,5,7
Conflict Resolution Video	week 6	10	No	2,3,
Extension Plan Part 1 Part 2 Part 3	week 3 week 5 week 6	25	No	1,3,4,5,8
Job application and interview:	week 5	10	No	2,9
Intern Reports	week 12	35	No	10
TOTAL		100

Assessment Detail

Convince Me video (20%)
Students pick a topic of significance to agricultural science, policy or practice and present either a 6 minute Oral Presentation or a 5 minute video to convince the audience of their view.

Conflict Resolution (10%)
You tube video of how a manager will handle the situation of conflict in the workplace.

Extension Plan (25%)
A professional document that integrates communication theory into practice by providing a plan to implement a major communication and development project.
Part 1 (5%)
Extension plan core framework
Part 2 (10%)
Planning the details
Part 3 (10%)
Extension Workshop

Job application and interview (10%)
You will write an application letter and CV for an actual job that is currently on the market. You will undergo a mock, but formal, interview. Both items assessed by criteria discussed in class.
Application letter and CV (5%)
Job interview 15-20 minutes (5%))

Intern Reports (35%)
The number of reports depends on the number of different periods of work experience. The first report should be submitted as early as possible in semester so that feedback can be given. All reports must be submitted by end of the semester.

Submission

It is a university-wide policy that assignments must be submitted by their deadline. There will be a penalty of 10% of the total mark for each day (or part of a day) that an assignment is late, up to a maximum penalty of 50% of the total mark. Assignments that are submitted after the assignments for the rest of the class have been marked may not be accepted.

Extensions of deadlines may be allowed for reasonable causes. Such situations would include compassionate and medical grounds of the severity that would justify the awarding of a replacement examination. Evidence for the grounds must be provided when an extension is requested. Extensions of deadlines should be negotiated with the course coordinator before the assignment is due. Extensions will not be provided on the grounds of poor time management.

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.
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