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.
• 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.

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 supported with documentation such as a doctor’s certificate in the case of illness. Please keep copies of any original documents, as they may be requested in the future as part of the assessment process. Request an extension by contacting the unit coordinator through the Dialogue function on iLearn. Note that:

• 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.
• Depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary to consider withdrawal from a unit and, in this instance, OUA’s ‘Special Circumstances’ processes are then implemented.

OUA Special Circumstances Process:

Special Circumstances refers to late withdrawal from a unit and your request to have your circumstances taken into account for a possible refund of fees and removal of a “fail” result.

Applications for Special Circumstances are to be submitted to Open University Australia directly.

https://www.open.edu.au/public/student-admin-and-support/student-support-services/special-circumstances

OUA will assess the application for a refund of fees and then send it to the University to assess against Macquarie policy in regard to the change of grade, then notify the student. The Unit Convener’s advice regarding the student’s performance in the unit is taken into consideration in the decision-making. If more than one unit is involved, the IEC’s OUA Program Coordinator for the MTeach(Birth to Five Years), will also be consulted.

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.

IEC has adopted the following text for information on APA referencing:

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

Requirements to Pass the Unit

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

• All assessment tasks must be submitted.
• Receive an adequate total mark for the unit (i.e. your combined marks for the three pieces of assessment). In order to receive a grade of Pass, your total mark must be at least 50/100.
• You must receive a minimum of 50% in at least two of the three pieces of

assessment.

Note: If you miss one piece of work, you will fail the unit. 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.

Teaching and Learning Strategy

This unit has been developed to provide a combination of direct experience, experience in communication of child development issues and concepts, and knowledge of current research in child development. Key content is delivered via online lectures and weekly readings. Internal students will explore issues related to each topic during weekly seminars. Information, tasks and discussion questions associated with these seminars will be made available to external students via iLearn each week. External students will have the opportunity to discuss topics further at the two voluntary on campus sessions. 

Lectures and Required Readings

• Lectures will be pre-recorded.  The lecture recordings will be available on the unit website. It is essential that you listen to the lectures before attending the associated seminar.
• There is no textbook for this unit.  Essential weekly readings are listed with lecture sessions in the Unit outline. These readings will be available from e-Reserve in the university library or on the unit website or external websites. Please see the list of other recommended readings as well as the list of websites on the unit website to extend your understanding of unit content. 

​Building a Community of Learners through Social Media

Online interaction is an essential part of the unit and is integral to both the learning environment and assessment process. The aim is to create a community of learners by creating a learning environment that takes advantage of and encourages distributed expertise within the environment. Within this learning community, members each have expertise in different areas and each member is responsible for sharing their expertise with others and for seeking out others whose expertise can further their own understanding and knowledge.

As part of this process, students are encouraged to use/create their own Twitter account. If you do not already have a Twitter account you will need to create one. 

This unit is focused on building your research skills and social media has an important role to play in providing a community within which you can test out your understanding of the literature. Social media can assist you to explore what other academics and professionals think about the ideas and concepts that you formulate as a result of your academic research.