Overview
Innovative educational leaders need to identify future professional development needs of their staff. In this unit, you, as an innovative educator, will engage professionally and ethically with the school community in contemporary ways to identify the needs of the community. As well, you will use evidence informed practices and other authoritative data sources to create and conduct professional development opportunities for staff that links to the school and educational community’s needs. You will evaluate the effectiveness of the professional development, using appropriate evaluative methods. You will be able to assess the most effective feedback mechanisms to communicate the outcomes of the professional development back to the school community.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
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 - 2019
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 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
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 Informal conversations with students.
Assessment
Provide an exemplar of the assessment task on the Moodle site.
- Investigate the professional development needs of staff using evidence informed practice that focuses on improving outcomes for students related to disability and inclusive education
- Use ethical practice to create effective, timely and research based professional development using the evidence gathered
- Provide evidence of a professional development session with staff
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the professional development using appropriate evaluative tools and reflective practice
- Use an appropriate feedback framework to communicate the outcomes of the professional development activities to the educational community.
N/A
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Research Assignment - 40% | |||||
| 2 - Presentation - 60% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - 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 | |
| 1 - Research Assignment - 40% | ||||||||
| 2 - Presentation - 60% | ||||||||
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: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
r.shields@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Understanding the context
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Identifying what professional learning looks like
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Evaluating or finding a learning need in your learning community
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Teacher as a researcher
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
What is best practice in Disability and Inclusive Education in Australia?
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Work on Assignment 1
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Using data
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Professional Learning Trends
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The role of the leader in learning/ professional learning communities
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Understanding reflective practice and evaluation of practices
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Community engagement/ community learning
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Communicating outcomes
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Research Assignment
This assessment requires you to research the current professional development needs of your educational setting in regards to disability and inclusive education. This assessment task is to be presented as a written research assignment of no more than 1500 words (excluding references).
In the research assignment, you are to provide:
a.) Background information on the school/ centre/ educational setting, including information around the student cohort that have disabilities and significant learning needs that are supported by the school/ centre/ educational setting.
b.) A needs assessment of the issue/ area that you are going to tackle in the professional development that relates to supporting students with disabilities or inclusive education.
c.) Identification of the needs of the learners (teachers) that are going to take your professional development. What do they currently know? What do they want to know? What do they need to know? What challenges will you need to consider when developing the professional development?
d.) Evidence of best practice in the topic area that you want to do professional development or learning in. What will you need to know before you write the professional development and present it? How are other people tackling the same learning and development?
Week 6 Monday (26 Aug 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Please upload your assignment as a Word document into the unit in Moodle
Week 7 Monday (2 Sept 2019)
You will receive written feedback via Moodle and in your assignment
The task will be assessed according to the following criteria:
1. Academic writing skills. The written piece has clarity, a professional style and tone and is accurate in terms of referencing, spelling, grammar and punctuation.
2. There is an analysis of the needs of the learning cohort, including the use of a needs assessment and a rationale for the professional learning or development that is suggested.
3. Evidence of research on best practice in learning and professional development in the area/ topic that is chosen and for the cohort of learners that are going to do the professional learning/ professional development.
4. Evidence is shown in regards to how to overcome potential barriers to learning for a particular cohort.
- Investigate the professional development needs of staff using evidence informed practice that focuses on improving outcomes for students related to disability and inclusive education
- Use ethical practice to create effective, timely and research based professional development using the evidence gathered
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
2 Presentation
This assessment requires you to use the research you did in your first assignment and create a 2-hour professional development session on the topic chosen in the first assignment related to disability and inclusive education, which you will present to the cohort of learners (teachers) that you researched in your first assignment.
This assessment task is to be presented in several parts:
· A presentation that you will actually conduct as a professional development session. The presentation will need outcomes, slides/ visual element, script, handouts and an evaluation that the staff (learners) will need to fill out at the end of the professional development session.
· There will also be a written communication element where you will gather the evaluations, use them to evaluate your professional development session and then communicate back to the learners about the evaluation and outcomes of the session.
· Lastly there will be a personal reflection of your professional development session. Your presentation and any other material you submit will need to include references and a reference list.
Word Limits
There is no word limit for the presentation, only that the professional development session meet the 2 hour time requirement.
There is also no word limit on the evaluation or the communication back to the staff about the evaluation or outcomes of the session.
The personal reflection has a word limit of 500 words.
What needs to be submitted?
What will need to be submitted will be the script of the presentation, along with handouts, the presentation (powerpoint, prezi etc), a summary of the evaluation and evidence of communication to the staff about the evaluation and outcomes and the personal reflection.
Review/Exam Week Monday (14 Oct 2019) 5:00 pm AEST
Please upload all of your assessment documents into the unit in Moodle.
Exam Week Monday (21 Oct 2019)
You will receive written feedback via Moodle and in your assignment.
The task will be assessed according to the following criteria:
1. Academic writing skills. The written piece has clarity, a professional style and tone and is accurate in terms of referencing, spelling, grammar and punctuation.
2. The presentation meets the time requirement of the session, is evidence of best practice on the topic area, as well as disability and inclusive education, meets the needs of the learners and has clear outcomes for the session.
3. The visuals are appropriate and support the learning.
4. The evaluation is an appropriate measurement tool.
5. The evaluation and outcomes of the presentation are clearly identified and communicated back to the participants.
6. The personal reflection is critical in nature and provides insight and clarification for the betterment of your professional practice.
- Provide evidence of a professional development session with staff
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the professional development using appropriate evaluative tools and reflective practice
- Use an appropriate feedback framework to communicate the outcomes of the professional development activities to the educational community.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
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?
