Where can I find out more general information about assignments?

Please consult the iLearn webpage for more information about marking criteria for the assessment tasks.  All students are encouraged to post questions about assignments in the general discussion forum. External students can also make use of the general external discussion forum or student-to-student dialogue tool to get in touch with other students (this will be important for the tutorial presentation task).

Handing in your assignments (external students)

Assessments tasks 1, 2 and 4 should be submitted by the due date and time via the Turnitin link on the ENVG262  iLearn webpage.  Assessment task 3 is due 2 weeks after you observe your chosen tutorial topic. Your tutor will keep a record of the presenters and observers for the weekly topics and make a note of when your tutorial report is due.  Please submit your tutorial report through Turnitin no later than 5pm on the day that it is due (Wednesday).

Any assessment item submitted after 5pm on the due day will be considered to be a late submission. The penalty for late submission is 10% of the total mark for each day the assignment is overdue.  Please contact Donna immediately is you are having any issues with submitting your assignment on time or with using Turnitin. Sometimes, students have a good reason for not submitting an assignment on time (such as illness).  In these instances, a note from a medical doctor is required. Contact Donna as soon as possible if you are experiencing any circumstances that are causing disruption to your studies in ENVG262.

Please read over the section 'Policies and Procedures' in this unit guide for more information on Macquarie University's policies on marking assignments, academic honesty and disruption to studies.  It is worth reading over the 'disruption to studies policy' as this replaced the special consideration policy in 2014.  

Detailed notes about the assessment tasks 

1. Choose your mate 

This assignment is connected to your journal exercise (see below).  In the first two weeks of class, you will choose a nonhuman animal 'mate' that can be encountered in our region.  Your first task is to find out more about your mate. This assignment is a starting point for the semester.

Write your report in four parts:

1. Write a short description of your mate and explain how you choose your mate.
2. Briefly state what you already know, and what you would like to know about your mate.
3. Choose one 'scientific' resource and one 'cultural' resource about your mate and briefly explain how this will relate to your own learning about your mate. For example, is your chosen mate a charismatic or companion species? Is your mate a species that is endangered or considered to be a pest, or both?
4. Briefly indicate how you plan to learn more about your mate throughout the course of the semester    

A note on materials and resources:

It is important that you incorporate referenced material in this assignment.  Please make sure that all materials (including material sourced from the internet) are properly referenced at the end of the report. You are required to choose a 'scientific' resource and a 'cultural' resource about your mate.  Scientific resources might include information such as the species name (eg. the species name for Grey-headed flying foxes is Pteropus poliocephalus). Other scientific information could include the species profile of your mate.  Cultural resources can include newspaper articles, stories, songs or myths.  Academic articles published in humanities, social science or science journals are also encouraged.

2. Journal exercise 

To complete the assessment tasks 3 and 5 (essay and take-home exam), you will need to keep a journal of your ENVG262 experience. The purpose of this exercise is to open up to and engage with such ideas as contingency, holistic knowledge and comradeship across species by keeping a journal of your encounters with a chosen ‘mate.’ Within the first two weeks of semester, you must find or choose a ‘mate’ and then throughout the rest of the semester you must write up and reflect upon your experiences briefly in your journal.

What is a journal?

The journal is your personal notes on the research you do in learning about your mate. It can be as multi-media as you choose. The format is up to you: it could be a meticulous set of written notes, it could be scrapbook format, it could be a set of written and sound entries lodged in your computer. Through keeping a journal you will be able to document both your own learning and the changing relationship. This means that you will be learning about a non-human other, and at the same time you will be learning about yourself, and about the learning process, and about how relationships may develop when a person pays attention to a different mate.  

So your tasks are to:

Choose a mate.

Within the first two weeks of semester, you must find or choose a ‘mate’ that can be encountered within our region. The mate will be an animal species or an individual animal. It could be a favourite animal, or you may encounter something odd and decide to take the participant as a mate (campus magpies or rabbits, for example); or perhaps you could choose something you’ve had a long-standing interest in (bats, for example).

Document your encounters.

Throughout the semester you should keep a journal that documents your encounters with the mate, and the development (if any) of a relationship. The research should include face-to-face encounters as much as possible, and should also include engagement with some of the following: scientific articles, art, novels, newspaper and magazine articles, television shows and documentaries, poetry, myths, essays, stories, songs, visits to zoos or botanical gardens or shelters, field trips with scientists who are working with the mate, following the mate and tracking its patterns. You could include some art, photography or poetry; and the writing can range across various genres.

The point is NOT to provide a definitive account of the mate, but to be attentive to relationships, to pay attention both to the mate and to yourself and to your mate’s environment. Two things to consider throughout the semester are: What do you need to know to be able to gain some understanding of your mate? How can you relate your field research with the mate with the readings?

The journal exercise will be discussed in the lectures in the first week of class. Please post questions about this assignment to the general discussion forum in iLearn or contact Donna or your tutor.

3. Journal selection and essay 

Drawing on entries in your journal, unit readings and lectures, write an essay that discusses possibilities for connections and relationships across species.

In your essay you must make reference to relevant entries in your journal, unit readings and other relevant literature. Strong essays (above the pass grade) will identify links your experiences and journal entries and the ideas and issues discussed in lectures and tutorials. The strongest essays will provide a credible and convincing link between the ENVG262 readings and ideas and your learning in other parts of your study program (with supporting references and discussion). Full referencing is required and you must also submit copies of the relevant journal entries with your essay.

4. Tutorial Report (external students)

This task will be completed on the ENVG262 iLearn page using the separate external discussion created exclusively for external students, starting in week 4. There are two parts to this assessment; tutorial presentation and discussion, and an individual tutorial report. Tutorial presentations will run from Week 4 until Week 11. Students will work in small groups to lead and facilitate the discussion for one week. Students who are not presenting are required to post at least two responses each week for the tutorial presentations. This means that you must prepare for and actively participate in all tutorial discussions because you are dependent on your fellow students actively participating for your own tutorial presentations and reports. This will involve communication with your peers in the class using the iLearn external discussion forums and student-to-student dialogue tools.

Part 1: Tutorial Presentations 

In pairs, find an image, video, story, news article, blog, podcast, cartoon (etc) available online that illustrates the ideas in the readings. Post the link (URL, web address) for your choice on the external students’ discussion link (found under each week's topic) and:

• Briefly identify two or three key ideas from the readings;
• Briefly explain why you chose the image/video/story (etc) and how it relates to the ideas in the readings;
• Two or three questions to promote discussion with your colleagues.

Throughout the week you must facilitate discussion amongst your colleagues by responding to the discussion and posing new questions.

Groups will be assigned in Week 2. Please check the external students’ general discussion forum for details and contact Donna or your tutor if you have any questions.

Part 2: Individual Tutorial Report. 

The tutorial report will be written and graded individually. At the conclusion of your tutorial presentation and discussion, write an individual report that addresses the following:

Drawing on the readings and tutorial discussion, discuss the tutorial topic and its relevance to a current social or environmental issue.

The purpose of the report is not to provide an in-depth account of your chosen social or environmental issue. You should focus your effort on:

(1) demonstrating your ability to identify and discuss ideas about and complex issues in human-environment relations

(2) demonstrating your ability to apply key concepts from the unit to ‘real world’ issues.

The individual tutorial report must be submitted via Turnitin 2 weeks after the tutorial ends. For example, if you lead the tutorial in week 4, your individual tutorial report will be due by 5pm on Wednesday of week 6.  If you present in week 5, your report will be due in week 7 after the semester break.

Classes

Study Modes

This unit is available in both internal and external study modes.  This version of the unit guide is for external students.

This unit will run as a lecture series (2 x 1hour lectures weekly), and a tutorial program (1 session weekly). Please note that all students can also listen to or download digital audio recordings of lectures on iLearn through Echo360. Copies of lecture slides will also be made available through iLearn. 

Class Attendance in weekly online tutorials

Participation in external online tutorials is compulsory and will be recorded by your tutor.  External students should treat the regular web-based discussions as equivalent to the tutorial program in every way and develop a routine of listening-reading-participating each week. Each session requires preparation by everybody. You are all expected to do at least the required reading and to participate on the basis of your preparation. Starting from week 2, it is expected that external students will post at least 2 times in the weekly discussion topic.  

There is no required length for individual posts but please ensure that they are thoughtful responses to the readings, lectures, key ideas and the student discussion for that week.  It is expected that all external students have posted their responses to the weekly topic by the end of each week (Sunday).  Every year there are a couple of students who think they can log in once or twice throughout the semester and write their posts all at once.  This is not considered to be the equivalent of participating each week in the online tutorial sessions.  As with the internal tutorial program, regular non-attendance (i.e. an absence of more than 2 weeks without proper documentation), may result in a fail mark for the unit.

In weeks 4-11 students will be leading the online class discussions. Your tutor will assist external students in organising the weekly presentation schedule. We ask that students leading the weekly tutorial discussions post their presentations no later than 5pm Tuesday of that week, so that other students have an opportunity to respond to the presentation.

Required Class Readings

The required readings for ENVG262 are available electronically through the library e-reserve, which can be accessed via the MultiSearch tool on the Library website (type in the unit code). Please let Donna know if you have trouble accessing the required readings. 

Please note that reading is an integral and compulsory part of this unit. The readings will complement and support the lecture program, and will be referred to extensively in tutorials and assessments.

Unit Webpage and Technology Used and Required 

Technology Use

ENVG262 provides all students with significant web-based support using iLearn. The unit website will be maintained regularly, providing you with copies of lecture PowerPoint slides either before, or as soon as possible, after each lecture.

Please make use of the iLearn discussion tools and post questions to ENVG262 students and lecturers.  Access should be possible at the University (Library and Computer Labs) as well as remotely via modem. All students should be able to use Public Library facilities to access the site regularly. If you have difficulty with access, let one of the unit convenors know so we can discuss alternative arrangements.

Please note that essential information will be made available to ALL STUDENTS via the iLearn website for ENVG262, so all students are expected to regularly check the website for notices.