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.

When preparing your assignments, it is essential that:

* Students must retain a copy of all assignments before submission, and retain the copy until your final grade for the subject has been received;

* Marks will be deducted if you submit your assessment late (refer to the ‘late assessments’ section below for more details);

* Unless there are exceptional circumstances, no assessment will be accepted after the date that the assessment has been returned to other students.

* If an assessment is considered to be below passing standard, another staff member on the unit will provide a second opinion. No failed assessment may be re-submitted.

Final Submissions

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

* Late submissions due to last minute technical difficulties will incur a lateness penalty.*

Late Assessments:

A deduction of 5% of the total possible mark allocated for that assessment would be made for each day or part day that assessment is late, weekends counting as two days. For example, if an assessment is worth 20 marks and you submit it 2 days late, you will have 2 marks (2 x 5% of 20 marks) subtracted from your awarded mark.

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). Note that:

* Students MUST speak with the unit coordinator prior to submitting their request through https://ask.mq.edu.au

* Extensions will only be granted in 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 malfunction, 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.

* Extensions are usually not granted on the due date.

EC 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. Within the discipline 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 for Early Childhood students:

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

Early Childhood Relevant Documents

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

* EC Academic Honesty Handbook

* Unit Readings, Assessment Information

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.

Early Childhood Unit Expectations 

* In order to be eligible for a passing grade, students must meet the following attendance requirements:

* Internal Students: Participate in at least 80% of all tutorials – punctuality is expected.

* External Students: Participate in on-campus sessions – punctuality is expected.

* Contribute to all online and tutorials tasks

* Students are expected to read weekly readings before attending tutorials

* Students are expected to listen/attend weekly lectures before attending tutorials

* All assessment tasks must be submitted

Teaching Methods

The content of the unit is delivered through a combination of lectures and tutorial tasks. There are two lectures per week and these are timetabled as follows:

Wednesday 1pm and Thursday 9am. All lectures will be recorded and available on iLearn via ECHO360. 

Internal students will have a 2 hour tutorial each week (on either Thursday or Friday). Internal students are expected to have listened to the relevant lecture prior to attending their tutorials each week. Tutorial tasks will require familiarity with the content covered in the lectures in order to fully participate in the tutorials. A tutorial workbook is available on iLearn - all students are expected to bring this with them their tutorial (either as hardcopy or electronic).

External students will complete the tutorial tasks during the on campus days scheduled for 28th and 29th September.

An assessment guide will be available from iLearn in Week 1.  The assessment guide includes specific details of your assessment tasks.

Some lectures have been pre-recorded and will be available from iLearn before Week 1 and you should listen to all the theories lectures before the first tutorial in week two.

Withdrawing from this UG Unit: If you are considering withdrawing from this unit, please seek academic advice by writing to 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.

Lectures are Wednesday (1pm) & Thursday (9am) in Mason Theatre, E7B

Peterson, C. (2015). Looking forward through the lifespan. Developmental psychology: Birth to middle childhood. (Custom edition). Sydney: Pearson. 

Go to: http://www.coop.com.au/textbook/search/macquarie-university/1602/ech216

Note: It is also fine to use the 6th edition of Peterson (2014). Looking forward through the lifespan. Developmental psychology. Sydney: Pearson. Please do not buy another textbook if you already have this version. 

IEC students use Perrin as their guide for APA style, so should have this book for other units.  If you are not an IEC student, you may prefer to use a free online source for APA referencing.  Recommended online sources are:

http://libguides.mq.edu.au/Referencing http://www.apastyle.org/learn/tutorials/basics-­‐tutorial.aspx http://www.apastyle.org/learn/quick-­‐guide-­‐on-­‐references.aspx https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/10/