Assessment task one engages you with volunteering broadly and its enactment in emergency and disaster management. The assessment uses an authentic scenario and is broken into two (2) separate but linked parts.

Part 1) Library search strategy
In Part 1) you will provide a detailed account of the search strategy you use to locate the sources for Part 2.1 (see below), that is, the section of the discussion paper dealing with the concept of community (see Part 2.1 below).

Using the CQUniversity Australia seven (7) step process for searching databases as a framework (the process can be found in the ‘Assessment Resources and Help’ section of the DSMG29006 eReading and the Moodle site under Assessment), you describe the steps taken to search the CQUniversity library catalogue. Part 1) library search strategy is to be presented as a table showing the actions, results and rationale for these actions. You must use the CQUniversity library catalogue for assessment task one. A template, which includes the table, has been provided on the Moodle site under Assessment. You must use the provided table.

Part 2) Discussion paper

Scenario
You have recently been employed as a project officer in a government department and have been tasked by your supervisor to develop two sections of a discussion paper, which will go to an oversight committee. The discussion paper informs the oversight committee about trends in voluntary participation during disaster events and strategies for enhancing voluntary activity. The oversight committee includes emergency and disaster management experts, community members, academics and researchers. To support the discussion paper, the oversight committee has asked that the discussion be framed around a local event, that is, the discussion must use a recent emergency or disaster event (of your choosing) and give examples from that event. The two sections that you have been tasked to write are to populate the trends section of the bigger discussion paper and include:

Part 2.1): a discussion, including a contemporary definition of the concept of community, and
Part 2.2): an analysis of the types of voluntary activity performed by members of the community during a recent emergency or disaster event (of your choice), and its alignment or otherwise to a formal organisation or agency. Part 2.2 will consist of the following:

    a) name and a brief description of the event,
    b) examples of the activity that community members contributed to that particular event, 
    c) identification of which contributions were part of formal volunteer role and which were not,
    d) using the scholarly literature, align the formal and non-formal contributions from part c) with the models identified in the volunteerism literature.

Your two sections combined can be a up to 750 words and must include the following:

1. minimum of four (4) different references
2. minimum of two (2) references for Part 2.1, and two (2) references for Part 2.2
3. the four (4) references must be peer-reviewed sources. You are free to use additional non-peer-reviewed sources.

The assessment criteria for this unit are in the form of a rubric, which is available from the Moodle unit site. Broadly, you will be assessed on:

• Use of the literature
• Knowledge of the concept of community and of emergency and disaster management.
• Knowledge of the different types of voluntary participation
• Communication and presentation

In assessment task two, you will expand on your search of the scholarly literature (commenced in assessment task one) and develop a short, annotated bibliography on a topic of interest (which you choose). To guide your efforts, you will use either an overarching question or a thesis statement, which you will develop. The question or statement will guide you in searching and selecting the articles for your annotated bibliography and the final summary statement. You can choose any topic, and it can be broad, for example, “what does the scholarly literature tell us about the state of volunteering in the Australian emergency and disaster management context” or something narrower, for example, “what strategies could be used to enhance volunteer recruitment efforts in emergency and disaster management organisations”. The question or thesis statement is totally up to you. Your assessment submission will include the following:

1) an overarching question or thesis statement

2) a short, annotated bibliography. The annotated bibliography must contain the following:

• Eight (8) sources
• Five (5) of the sources MUST be peer-reviewed sources, and you must confirm their peer-reviewed nature in the title
• Each source must be related to your topic of interest
• The annotations must conform with the convention for an annotated bibliography (see the eReading list for resources).

3) Based on the eight (8) entries of the annotated bibliography, you will produce a short summary of up to 500 words which draws the eight annotations together to answer your question or respond to your thesis statement. The summary statement must be referenced (using the eight sources from the annotated bibliography).

The assessment criteria for this unit are in the form of a rubric, which is available from the Moodle unit site. Broadly, you will be assessed on:

• Use of the literature
• Knowledge of the different types of voluntary participation
• Application of knowledge and skills related to voluntary participation to emergency and disaster management
• Collaboration between community and emergency and disaster management
• Communication and presentation

In assessment task three, you are back in your project officer role (the one from assessment task one). This time, you have been tasked with a piece of work about the future of volunteering in emergency and disaster management (E&DM) and exploring opportunities for enhancing it. You will present your work at a symposium, which will be attended by executives and leaders from a range of not-for-profit organisations, specialists in volunteering, plus those from the E&DM sector. Your task is below:

Task details
You are asked to explore other organisations (two different organisations) that are actively involved in the volunteer sector or have volunteering as a fundamental part of their organisational fabric. You will be looking for lessons, policies, practices and approaches that can either be directly or, with a little creativity or out-of-the-box thinking, be applied to enhance volunteering in E&DM. One (1) of the two (2) organisations can be aligned in some way to E&DM efforts, for example, the Red Cross, BUT the second organisation must be totally separate from E&DM. You can select any two organisations. Some examples have been provided in the Learning Guide (see Moodle). You may use any of the examples provided or select your own organisations. The presentation has two parts:

Presentation Part 1): for each organisation, your presentation will cover the following:

1. Name of the organisation and its charter (who are they and what do they do)
2. Key demographics (for example, location(s) of operation, number of volunteers)
3. Role volunteering plays within the selected organisation
4. Different functions volunteers perform within the organisation
5. Summary statement about how the organisation is the same or different, from a volunteering perspective to emergency services or disaster management volunteer organisations and approaches.

Presentation Part 2): Based on the analysis of each of the two organisations, you will make a total of three (3) recommendations for enhancing an aspect of volunteering in E&DM. Your recommendations can relate to volunteering broadly (for example, broad policy or practice recommendations) or a particular aspect (for example, a method of recruitment or retention) or a combination of both. Your recommendation must draw on your understanding of the literature and use that literature to support your choice. The recommendations must show how the E&DM can work collaboratively (that is, with) the community or those outside E&DM to enhance volunteering.

Presentation format: MP3 Audio File and PowerPoint Presentation File
The audio component is an MP3 file (either submitted separately or as embedded audio in your PowerPoint presentation), and the written component is a PowerPoint Presentation. The audio presentation will be a maximum of 10 minutes in length.

The assessment criteria for this unit are in the form of a rubric, which is available from the Moodle unit site. Broadly, you will be assessed on:

• Use of the literature
• Knowledge of the concept of community and of emergency and disaster management.
• Application of knowledge and skills related to voluntary participation to emergency and disaster management
• Collaboration between community and emergency and disaster management
• Communication and presentation