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BUSN20017 - Effective Business Communications

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The unit aims to develop your skills and abilities to communicate effectively in business environments. The unit recognises employer and graduate needs to improve communication in different contexts. You will be introduced to different communication concepts including, but not limited to, models, competence, culture, media choice, channels and climate. You will also be introduced to the elements of effective communication for participation in business meetings, presentations, interpersonal and group interaction.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the 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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2024

Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Annotated bibliography 23%
2. Presentation 32%
3. On-campus Activity 45%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.21% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 34.66% response rate.

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.

Source: This concern arises from the student evaluations.
Feedback
The quality of the feedback and the timely provision of this feedback.
Recommendation
This issue has been raised at a school level and the unit coordinator will endeavour to follow the guidance provided. The unit coordinator will continue to speak with the teaching team and provide examples of good feedback. All assessment will be scheduled in a manner that maximises the usefulness of the assessment for student learning.
Action Taken
The unit coordinators have followed the recommendations set out in this report. The moderation feedback documentation retained by the primary unit coordinator would suggest that the quality of the feedback provided has improved. Meeting the deadlines is not easy, but thus far the team has met the stated goals.
Source: This is a schoolwide requirement.
Feedback
The teaching and learning activities and resources need to be reviewed for relevancy and recency.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will undertake a review of the teaching and learning activities and resources for Term Three, 2023.
Action Taken
The unit coordinator has improved and updated many of the teaching and learning resources and activities. Maintaining the currency of the unit is an ongoing activity.
Source: Evaluation feedback
Feedback
The inclusion of indigenous and Torres Strait Islander content into the curriculum.
Recommendation
The Unit Coordinator will include a Welcome to Country as a part of the week one orientation content. Further, indigenous and Torres Strait Islander content can be included in the module on Intercultural Communication within the Business Context.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: The data from CQU Success indicates that the students are not engaging in the week one activities prior to the beginning of the term. Also, emails sent to the Unit Coordinator indicates that the students are no using Moodle early in the term.
Feedback
Remove the module on Written Business Communication and change the first week's content to focus on orienting the students more broadly to post-graduate study and the use of Moodle. The current content from Week One will be moved to Week Two.
Recommendation
It is recommended that the Unit Coordinator undertakes, but is not limited to the following new activities in Week One. 1. Include a Welcome to Country message 2. Include a Moodle Treasure Hunt Activity (H5P) to be undertaken during the Week One Workshop. 3. Include an AI Activity in the Workshop-Comparing Definitions of Communication (the students will be asked compare and contrast an AI sourced definition, a personal definition, and the definition used is the unit (this latter definition will be a part of the Treasure Hunt Activity). This activity will lead into the unit and university guidelines around AI. These activities will be integrating into the existing workshop leader led activity that provides an overview of the unit topics and assessments.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Recognize advanced knowledge and skills required in written, oral, and interpersonal communication to address complex business problems
  2. Apply professional business writing and oral communication skills to effectively inform or persuade a target audience
  3. Deliver effective presentations to transmit knowledge, skills and ideas to both specialist and non-specialist audiences and achieve business objectives
  4. Critically analyse communication challenges faced by organisations by applying established theories to develop innovative strategies to address them
  5. Apply autonomous thinking to reflect on good practices in workplace communication in different organizational contexts

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Annotated bibliography • • • •
2 - Presentation • • • •
3 - On-campus Activity • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
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 • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8