PLEASE REFER TO INFORMATION ON iLEARN FOR FULL DETAILS OF ASSESSMENT TASKS AND MARKING CRITERIA

All assignments in this unit are submitted online through the unit website. 

IEC Assessment Presentation & Submission Guidelines

Please follow these guidelines when you submit each assignment:

• Allow a left and right-hand margin of at least 2cm in all assignments.
• Please type all assignments using 12-point font and 1.5 spacing.
• All assessments must be submitted through turnitin in .doc or .pdf format for submission.
• It is the onus of the student to ensure that all assessments are successfully submitted through turnitin.
• Faculty assignment cover sheets are NOT required for this unit.

Draft Submissions & Turnitin Originality Reports

• Students may use Turnitin’s Originality Report as a learning tool to improve their academic writing if this option is made available in the unit.
• Students are strongly encouraged to upload a draft copy of each assessment to Turnitin at least one week prior to the due date to obtain an Originality Report.
• The Originality Report provides students with a similarity index that may indicate if plagiarism has occurred. Students will be able to make amendments to their drafts prior to their final submission on the due date.
• Generally, one Originality Report is generated every 24 hours up to the due date.

Final Submissions

• Students are responsible for checking that their submission has been successful and has been submitted by the due date and time. 

When preparing your assignments, it is essential that you note that:

• Assignment marks will be deducted if you submit your assignment late (refer to the ‘late assignments’ section below for more details);
• Unless there are exceptional circumstances, no assignment will be accepted after the date that the assignment has been returned to other students. 
• All failing assignments will be double marked when the failure is due to unsatisfactory content.  Failures that are the result of deductions for lateness or loss of marks for referencing, presentation, or plagiarism may not be double-marked;

IEC Academic Honesty Guidelines:  

All assignments should cite and provide full bibliographical details of all material that you have used to inform or support your ideas. At the Institute of Early Childhood, students are required to use the American Psychological Association (APA) referencing procedures. Full details about how to cite and reference correctly can be found in Perrin (2015) and in the IEC Academic Honesty Handbook.

The following guide can be purchased from the Co-op Bookshop. This is a required text: 

Perrin, R. (2015). Pocket guide to APA style (5th ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning

Late Assignments:

A deduction of 5% per day will be made for each day or part day that an assignment is late, weekends counting as two days. 

Extensions:

In extenuating circumstances, students may apply to the unit coordinator for an extension to the assessment due date. Reasons for the extension need to be documented through the Disruption to Studies form accessible through ask.mq.edu.au under "Disruption" and supported (e.g., a Professional Authority Form must be used in the case of illness). 

It is expected that you will commence working on your learning activities at the beginning of semester.  If you have had a brief illness or adverse event, the unit coordinator will request that you submit all work completed prior to the interruption in your study.  If it appears that you have not completed a substantial component of the work, it is unlikely that your extension will be granted.  Demonstration of work completed should be done by sending an email to the unit convenor with a word file of completed work attached or the content of your document pasted into the email.

The Disruption to Studies Notification must be completed by the student and submitted online through www.ask.mq.edu.au. Refer to the Disruptions to Studies procedures: http://studentadmin.mq.edu.au/disruption%20to%20studies.html

Note that:

• All extension requests must be made through ask.mq.edu.au
• Please notify the unit coordinator of your intention to request an extension (via Dialogue in iLearn)
• Extension will only be granted on receipt of the completed form submitted through ask.mq.edu.au, plus documentation.
• Emails are not appropriate means of extension requests.
• It is essential that you plan ahead and organise your study time effectively. Poor time management is not grounds for an extension
• In the case of computer malfunctions, a draft of your assignment may be requested. Please ensure that you print out a draft regularly, so that it is available for submission on request. ( As Learning Activities are completed as discussion forum posts you are advised to draft your responses in a word document first so that you have another copy should you experience computer malfunctions or technical issues with accessing iLearn   
• Extensions are usually not granted on the due date.

University Disruption to Studies Policy

The University recognises that students may experience disruptions that adversely affect their academic performance in assessment activities.  Support Services are provided by the University to assist students through their studies.  Whilst advice and recommendations may be made to a student, it is ultimately the student's responsibility to access these services as appropriate.

The Disruption to Studies Policy applies only to serious and unavoidable disruptions that arise after a study period has commenced.  The full Disruption to Studies Policy can be found at http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html

Serious and Unavoidable Disruption: The University classifies a disruption as serious and unavoidable if it:

• could not have reasonably been anticipated, avoided or guarded against by the student; and
• was beyond the student's control; and
• caused substantial disruption to the student's capacity for effective study and/or completion of required work; and
• occurred during an event critical study period and was at least three (3) consecutive days duration, and / or
• prevented completion of a final examination.

Work Awarded a Fail

All assessments awarded a fail will be double marked, or double checked in the case of multiple choice items. There are no resubmissions in this unit.

Eligibility for a Passing Grade

In order to receive a passing grade in this unit, you must meet the following criteria:

• Receive an adequate total mark for the unit (i.e. your combined marks for the two quizzes, the two learning activities and PeerWise tasks). 
• Have made a serious attempt at passing all pieces of work in order to pass the unit. 
• In order to receive a grade of Pass, your total mark must be at least 50/100.

Note: If you miss one piece of work, you will fail the unit.  It is not the responsibility of unit staff to contact students who have failed to submit assignments or have missed a quiz.  If you have any missing items of assessment, it is your responsibility to make contact with the unit coordinator to determine whether it is possible to complete the unit in 2016.

The final grade a student receives signifies their overall performance in meeting the learning outcomes for the unit. The number assigned to a grade (Standard Numerical Grade or SNG) reflects the extent to which student attainment matches the grade descriptors.

Your raw mark for the unit (i.e., the total of your marks for each assessment item) may not be the same as the SNG which you receive. Results may be scaled to ensure there is a degree of comparability across the university, so that units with the same past performances of their students should achieve similar results. The process of scaling does not change the order of marks among students. A student who receives a higher raw score mark than another will also receive a higher final scaled mark.

IEC Relevant Documents

The information in this Unit Guide must be read in conjunction with the following documents available for download from iLearn:

• IEC Academic Honesty Handbook
• Unit Readings, Assessment Details

IEC Electronic Communication

During semester time, staff may contact students using the following ways:

• Dialogue function on iLearn
• Official MQ Student Email Address

It is the student’s responsibility to check all electronic communication on a regular weekly basis. 

Required Texts: 

White, F. Hayes, B. & Livesey, D. (2016). Developmental Psychology: From infancy to adulthood (4th ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education. 

Additional Required Readings: (available online)

Bagwell, C. L. (2004). Friendships, peer networks, and antisocial behavior. In J. B., Kupersmidt,&  K. Dodge, (Eds). Children's peer relations: From development to intervention. Decade of behavior, (pp. 37-57). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, doi: 10.1037/10653-003

Gazelle, H., & Ladd, G. W.(2002). Interventions for children victimized by peers. In P. A. Schewe,(Ed), Preventing violence in relationships: Interventions across the life span, (pp. 55-78). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, viii, 289 pp.

Grimes, C. L., Klein, T. P., & Putallaz, M. (2004). Parents' relationships with their parents and peers: Influences on children's social development. In J. B., Kupersmidt,&  K. Dodge, (Eds). Children's peer relations: From development to intervention. Decade of behavior, (pp. 141-158). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, doi: 10.1037/10653-003

Recommended:

Crain, W. (2010). Theories of child development: Concepts and applications (6^th ed.). London: Pearson.

Learning and Teaching Methods: 

The main method of delivery of unit content is via weekly tasks in iLearn. The lectures are not presented during class time, but are available from the ECED602 web site under each weekly section.  You must make time to listen to the lectures and take notes.  The lecture schedule in this unit guide provides dates for lectures to be completed to ensure you are prepared for your class.  Internal students must complete 3 lectures before attending your first class and, on average, complete 2-3 lectures in each of the weeks that classes are held.

• Ensure that you are listening to your lectures regularly and completing the associated readings.  The material in this unit is complex and cannot be rushed.  Set yourself weekly times to ensure that you complete your lectures each week.  

This series of recorded lectures, along with accompanying lecture notes and textbook readings, are the core study material.  Seminars, tasks and assessments have been developed specifically to facilitate understanding of the lectures and readings.  See the lecture schedule for more details.

External students will have the opportunity to complete weekly seminar tasks at the voluntary on campus days (Saturday 2 April and 28 May). Much of the seminar material is also presented within the weekly tasks for those unable to attend. 

Withdrawing from this PG Unit

If you are considering withdrawing from this unit, please seek academic advice by writing to pg.educ_iec@mq.edu.au before doing so as this unit may be a co-requisite or prerequisite for units in the following semesters and may impact on your progression through the degree.