Overview
This unit will develop your professional capacity and prepare you to enter your chosen career. You will undertake this unit either by completing a supervised agricultural industry placement or a research project relevant to your degree or major. Students selecting the research project option must have a GPA of 5.0 or higher. You will apply the theoretical and practical knowledge gained in your degree course to an authentic professional work or research environment. During the industry placement, you will complete at least 160 hours of work with an industry mentor or supervisor. Prior to commencement, you will work with your industry supervisor to design a placement program that is beneficial to the organisation and meets the academic requirements of the unit. To undertake a research project, you will work with an academic supervisor on a project that has been approved by the unit coordinator. You are required to find your own placement or project and details of the placement or project must be provided to the coordinator prior to commencing the placement or project.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Students must complete 48 credit points prior to enrolment.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Moodle "Have Your Say"
Some topics appear to have been covered in previous years/units, hence some repetition
The assessments will be revised to eliminate repetitive aspects. The Agriculture rejuvenation program has been undertaken to streamline the entire course.
Feedback from Moodle "Have Your Say"
Excellent support provided by the teaching team.
The teaching and the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Team will continue to provide the same high level of support to all students on work placement.
- Apply acquired practical skills and experience in a professional work or research environment
- Apply and evaluate knowledge and skills in a professional role or a practical research project relevant to your Degree or Major
- Effectively communicate your understanding of a specific aspect of your experience to various audiences within the industry
- Behave professionally and ethically as an agriculturalist
- Demonstrate your ability to work independently and as a member of a team.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Portfolio - 0% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Portfolio - 0% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
a.anastasi@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Preparation for your Agricultural Industry Placement or Research Project
CV preparation and generic workplace skills or research proposal preparation
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Submit CV or research proposal
Email the unit coordinator with the following: Details of placement, including contact information OR Project proposal and supervisor's contact information.
Module/Topic
Industry Placement or Research Project Continuation
If you have not organised a placement or project yet, contact the unit coordinator.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
If you have not organised a placement or project yet, contact the unit coordinator.
Module/Topic
Industry Placement or Research Project Completion
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
You must submit your portfolio within four (4) weeks of completing the placement or project.
Due to COVID-19 impacts at the time of preparing this unit profile, the placement or research project attached to this unit for Term 2 2020 may be impacted and need to be completed at a later date. Further details will be made available on the unit Moodle site in due course.
1 Portfolio
A portfolio must be submitted that includes:
1. Current CV for Industry Placement or a Research Proposal for Research Project
2. Daily Diary
3. Written Report
4. Supervisor's Report
1. Current CV for Industry Placement or Research Proposal for Research Project
Depending on whether you are undertaking an industry placement or a research project you need to do one of the following:
1a. Industry Placement
Upload a current CV into Moodle or email it to the unit coordinator if commencing your industry placement before the Moodle site is available. This should be the CV you may submit to the workplace when organising your industry placement.
1b. Research Proposal
In consultation with your supervisor, prepare a research proposal that should include, project title, brief background to the research question, aims of the project, proposed methods, estimate of required funds and funding source. The proposal should be no more than 2000 words. Upload your proposal to Moodle or email to the unit coordinator if commencing the project before the Moodle site is available.
2. Industry Placement or Research Project Daily Diary
You must keep a diary detailing daily activities and responsibilities.
You should also (i) describe the knowledge gained and the skills learned during the industry placement or research project; (ii) reflect on how the knowledge and skills relate to your program of study and may be useful in your future career and (iii) identify knowledge and skills that would have been useful to have before going on your industry placement or research project.
3. Industry Placement or Research Project Report (report formats different to those detailed here may be acceptable - speak to your unit coordinator if you would like to alter the format of the written report).
You must write a report of approximately 5000 words in one of the following formats, depending on whether you have completed an industry placement or a research project:
3a. Industry Placement Report
If you have undertaken an industry placement, you must write a report detailing the nature of the work and providing a detailed description of the type of activities undertaken.
3b. Research Project Report
If you have undertaken a research project, you must write a report about the research in standard scientific report format.
4. Supervisor’s Report
The workplace or research supervisor is required to complete a short feedback form that includes an assessment of your progress and work ethic during the industry placement or research project. This report must be included in the portfolio. If the supervisor requires confidentiality, the report may be forwarded to the unit coordinator.
Four weeks from completion of Industry Placement or Research Project
Two weeks after submission of portfolio
Pass non Graded (PN): Portfolio submitted on time and including all four elements (CV or research proposal, diary, written report and supervisor's report) of an acceptable standard.
Fail (F): Elements missing from the portfolio or portfolio not submitted on time or not of an acceptable standard.
| General Criteria | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory |
| Title and task | Descriptive title and task given in full. | Title absent or inappropriate. |
| Grammar | Appropriately structured sentences. Well organised paragraphs. | Poorly structured sentences. Paragraphs poorly organised. |
| Spelling | No errors or minor errors only. | Many errors. |
| Presentation | Appropriate for style of writing presented. | Poorly presented. |
| Flow of text | Fluent expression, well organised with no problems or only minor problems. | Text is poorly organised and/or disjointed. |
| Specific Industry Placement Criteria | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory |
| Introduction | Clearly states nature of placement and work undertaken. | Nature of placement and work undertaken is unclear. |
| Content | Adequate detail of type of activities undertaken and knowledge and skills gained. | Inadequate detail of activities. |
| Conclusion | Reiterates major points and finalises the topic. | Absent or very poor attempt. |
| Specific Research Project Criteria | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory |
| Introduction | Clearly introduces the research topic and identifies the aim of the project. | Research topic unclear and aim not clearly identified. |
| Methods | Methods are appropriate for the aim and clearly described. | Methods inappropriate and/or poorly described. |
| Results | Results are presented clearly and accurately. | Results unclear and/or inaccurate. |
| Discussion | Appropriate discussion of results highlighting significant findings and their relation to the literature. | Discussion inappropriate, significant findings not highlighted or related to the literature. |
| Conclusion | Reiterates major points and finalises the topic. | Absent or very poor attempt. |
- Apply acquired practical skills and experience in a professional work or research environment
- Apply and evaluate knowledge and skills in a professional role or a practical research project relevant to your Degree or Major
- Effectively communicate your understanding of a specific aspect of your experience to various audiences within the industry
- Behave professionally and ethically as an agriculturalist
- Demonstrate your ability to work independently and as a member of a team.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
