Assessment (1) Individual submission

Overview

This individual assignment tests your essential research competencies needed to identify a knowledge gap or a problem in your discipline that may warrant research. It primarily assesses your understanding and level of engagement with learning resources at an early stage of the inquiry process. The assignment MUST be your own piece of work. You must not plagiarise, collude or get help from others. All submissions must follow CQU Harvard referencing style.

Assignment 1 consists of three parts:

1. Assessment 1A, 20%: Review Report, due by end of week 4
2. Assessment 1B, 10%: Outline Research Proposal, due by the start of week 6
3. Assessment 1C, 10%: Peer Assessment of Outline Proposals, due by the end of week 6

Note: Assessment 1C will receive a mark of ZERO if not completed by the given deadline to complete the work.

Tasks

Assessment 1A Review Report (20%)

Assessment 1A requires you to prepare a review report of no more than 1500 words using a given template. Your report must be relevant to the unit content and Moodle sources and must only be based upon your learning in this unit. You must follow the following steps in developing your report:

1. Choose an initial research topic using a supplied research topic generation tool.
2. Conduct a literature search to identify one scholarly paper relevant to your chosen topic.
3. Provide a detailed overview of the paper using your own words following the given example in the unit.
4. Provide an explanation of the search process you followed in locating and downloading this paper
5. Demonstrate adequate evidence of the credibility of the paper.
6. Identify two relevant sources/references relevant to the summarised paper (e.g. one source cited by the paper and a second source citing the paper).
7. Build a review summary table and a theme matrix table of the three identified papers
8. Provide your personal reflection of your learning experience in this phase.

Tip: The personal reflection should record your experiences, feelings and reactions during the learning experience in the last four weeks. This may include your commentary on Turnitin similarity percentage, evaluation of the adopted approaches, techniques or tutorial activities that have been helpful or unhelpful. You must also reflect on the consultation process you have had with your lecturer/tutor, peers and/or Moodle sources.

Assessment 1B Outline Research Proposal (10%)

Assessment 1B aims to help you initiate the concept of your research project. The assessment requires you to submit an outline proposal based on the review report. You will develop the outline proposal of your intended research project. The outline proposal must essentially outline the what, why and how of your research project. Your topic must be relevant to your discipline. The outline proposal must include the following components.

• The research topic.
• Research question and objectives (min. 1 RQ and 2 ROs).
• The rationale for the proposed research and its significance.
• A discussion of previous studies on the topic (a minimum of three primary sources, based on the summary tables of Assessment 1A).
• The high-level research design by which the research will be conducted.
• List of references

The outline proposal MUST not exceed 750 words plus references, so each sentence must be concise and relevant. You must remove your name and any identifying information in the submission as it will be blindly reviewed by your peers.

Assessment 1C Peer Assessment (10%)

Assessment 1C aims to reinforce your understanding of research principles by exchanging knowledge with your peers. The assessment requires you to assess three proposals (assessment 1B) submitted by your peers as randomly and anonymously assigned to you. Students will not be given any mark for assessment 1C if they fail to complete the peer assessment by the deadline. You will conduct the assessment based on the assessment criteria and a marking tool will be provided. You are expected to provide a constructive summary of your comments and justify your given mark. To facilitate the undertaking of peer assessments, the Moodle Workshop plugin will be used.

Assessment 1A: Review Report

Assessment will be done according to presentation, accuracy and coverage of the content for each step defined in the description of assessment 1A. In particular, the following assessment aspects will be used to assess submissions:

• The proposed research is relevant to student discipline, logical and concise. (10%)
• The selected articles are properly identified, credible and relevant to the chosen topic. (10%)
• The review is comprehensive, well-structured and concise. (10%)
• The summary and matrix tables include key and useful information to guide the writing. (20%)
• Personal reflection is relevant, critical and well-articulated in response to the assessment task. (20%)
• The report content is substantially based upon the unit resources and lecture notes. (20%)
• Clarity and soundness of language, report format, presentation and referencing. (10%)

Assessment 1B: Outline Proposal (10%)

This part will be assessed based on the following criteria:

1. The research project is reasonable, relevant to student discipline and interesting. (10%)
2. The project need and significance are clear, logical and concise. (10)%
3. The proposal content is based upon the unit resources and lecture notes. (20%)
4. The selected research design is logical and appropriate (20%).
5. Clear alignment between the research topic, question, justification and research design. (10%).
   
6. The discussion is relevant, clear and concise (20%)
7. Overall clarity and soundness of language, report format and referencing. (10%)
   

Assessment 1C: Peer Assessment of Outline Proposals (10%)

You will receive marks for the quality of assessing the outline proposals of your peers. Based on how close your assessment is to "the best assessment" of each criterion of the submission, the system will automatically calculate the score for the quality of your assessments. The best assessment represents a consensus of the majority of assessors. The unit coordinator will moderate the calculated marks for consistency and accuracy. The maximum marks will be allocated as per the following table:

• The percentage of correct answers
• No penalty deduction for wrong answers

Assessment 3 (Group submission)

Overview:

This group assessment requires all on-campus students to enrol in groups to complete a project-based assessment, while distance students must complete the work individually. The project is to work as a team to plan and develop a viable research proposal of high academic standards. Your group must demonstrate effective application of project management competence in planning your research project and completing the project proposal. Your group should prioritise projects initiated in the completed outline proposals and eventually agree upon the group research topic for further adoption in this assessment. The proposal must address a research problem or gap that warrants research in your discipline. The proposal must be substantially based on the learning materials of this unit.

The assessment must be developed via a group of 3-5 students formed by the faculty. Each group member must enrol in their group online by the given deadline. The group must select its group leader and negotiate group rules by completing a group charter template. Your group must meet on a regular basis and keep a record of group minutes of meetings until the end of the term. All group communications must be conducted through Moodle Forums, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Planner and/or CQU student emails. If a group decides to use an external platform, each member must keep a full record of all exchanged communications throughout the term for scrutiny by the faculty. Any dysfunctional member should be given a warning by the group leader and an opportunity to improve. In the case of no improvement, the group members must award a low rating to the dysfunctional member in the final group evaluation.

The assessment consists of three graded deliverables or parts:

Assessment 3A: 5 marks: Oral presentation of the draft research proposals by the beginning of week 11.

Assessment 3B, 30 marks: Final Research Proposal, due by the end of week 12

Assessment 3C, 5 marks: Group Member Performance Evaluation, due by the end of week 13.

Assessment Tasks:

Assessment 3A: Oral presentations and draft detailed proposal (5 marks):

Each group will be required to submit a draft detailed proposal & PowerPoint slides and deliver an oral presentation during week 11. All key sections of the draft detailed proposal must be substantially completed. Groups will deliver a compulsory 15-minutes online oral presentation during the lecture timing in weeks 11 and 12 to present the draft detailed proposals to their lecturer and peers. The presentation should include all key components of the research proposal as detailed in assessment 3B. Every group member must attend the oral presentation session(s) and co-present his/her contributed part of the group work. This task will ultimately polish your understanding of the unit learning outcomes and help you learn from each other and receive constructive feedback and improve your final proposal.

Note: Distance students must record their oral presentations and upload a Youtube link along with the draft proposal in Moodle.

Assessment 3B: Final Detailed Research Proposal (30 marks):

Planning and developing a final detailed research proposal is the most important assessment item in this unit. In developing your detailed proposal, you must adopt the supplied research proposal template which includes sufficient guidelines to complete each section. The proposal content must be relevant to the lecture notes and unit learning sources in Moodle. You should think of your detailed proposal as a document that should be detailed enough so anyone else can use your plan to execute the project within a maximum of six months after the submission of the proposals. This duration must be respected when you prepare your project management plan & documentation accordingly.

Assessment 3C: Group Member Performance Evaluation (5 marks)

Evaluation of group members is the second deliverable of the final assessment which aims to evaluate the process of undertaking the final assessment and ensure that each group member will receive a unique mark reflecting the quality and quantity of their contribution. In week 12, each group member will receive an email from the unit coordinator inviting you to respond to a compulsory survey. You must respond by the given deadline, mentioned in that email. The survey includes five Likert-Scale questions and one open-ended question. The survey aims to evaluate the performance of each group member regarding leadership, attendance of group meetings, timely action, cooperation, quality of contribution, etc. You must self-rate your performance and rate each member of your group against the given criteria.

Important Notes:

• The unit coordinator or a delegated staff member may request groups with suspicious submissions or evaluations to attend an interview with the unit coordinator and provide evidence of the given assessment to their peers such as communications history, minutes of meetings, earlier drafts and the like.
• Distance students are not required to complete part 3C. As such, the part 3C mark will have the same mark percentage achieved in assessment 3B.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Assessment 3A: Group Oral Presentations (5 marks)

Each group member will receive an appropriate mark for this part based on the quality of their presentation, preparation, ability to answer questions and student participation in the session. The group member will receive a Zero mark on this part in the case of any of the following incidents :

1. the group failed to upload the draft detailed proposal in Moodle by the given deadline;
2. the group member failed to present their contributed part of the group work;
3. the group member did not attend the full oral presentation session(s); or
4. the group member failed to demonstrate an appropriate understanding of the group project.

Assessment 3B: Detailed Research Proposal (30 marks)

A detailed rubric will be used for marking this assessment task and will be made available in the Moodle site. This part will be marked simultaneously with Part 3C. If a group member receives 2.5/5 marks or less in the group evaluation in Assessment 3C, this will encounter a further reduction of his/her mark in Assessment 3B to be a maximum of 15 out of 30 marks.

Assessment 3C: Group peer evaluation (5 marks)

Every group member will receive a mark representing the average score received from all his/her group peers that measure the performance, engagement and overall contribution quality of the group member to the group work. In order to receive a mark on this part, You must answer all the five rating questions and provide short feedback of not less than 30 words about the level of contribution, the reliability of contributions and the performance of each group member by answering the sixth question. You must respond to the survey independently and privately. You must be objective and honest in your assessment as you will be penalised by awarding ZERO marks for this part if your assessment is found to lack objectivity.