Unit Guide

General Information

Unit convenor and teaching staff	Unit convenor and teaching staff Associate Professor Sheila Degotardi sheila.degotardi@mq.edu.au Contact via Via iLearn dialogue X5B277 by appointment
Prerequisites	Prerequisites (ECEX603 or ECHX603) and (ECEX824 or ECHX824)
Corequisites	Corequisites
Co-badged status	Co-badged status
Unit description	Unit description The recognition of the importance of children's first three years of life has led to an increasing awareness of the specialist nature of infant-toddler educational and care services. This unit covers contemporary perspectives that can inform educational programs that aim to support infant-toddler development and learning. Students will build on prior knowledge about children's learning and development to critically reflect on research-based literature and examine its relevance to infant-toddler early childhood education programs. Students will design and implement an inquiry-based project to deepen their understanding of the applicability of this knowledge to infants and toddlers, their families and educators. All enrolment queries should be directed to Open Universities Australia (OUA): see www.open.edu.au

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.open.edu.au/student-admin-and-support/key-dates/

Learning Outcomes

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

Demonstrate an advanced and critical understanding of the range of philosophical and theoretical approaches that inform infant-toddler services.
Identify the implications of these approaches for specialised infant-toddler services and practitioners.
Design and implement an inquiry project to enhance their theoretical and practical understanding of a chosen approach.
Demonstrate professional responsibility of their own and others’ learning by providing and responding to supportive, informed and reflective feedback.

General Assessment Information

Full assignment instructions

This Unit Guide provides a brief description only of each required assessment piece. Full instructions are provided via an assessment and assignment guide, available on the iLearn site.

Assignment expectations

In order to achieve a passing grade, it is expected that all assignments are completed, and that all assignments demonstrate a serious attempt to address the assignment task.

Presentation and submission Guidelines

Assignments 1, 3 and 5 will be submitted via the identified link on the ECED/ECHX832 iLearn site. The submission is via TURNITIN, which permits online assessment as well as the detection of material copied from other sources. Please ensure that all material is written and referenced according to standard academic conventions.

Assignments 2 and 4 are submitted as per instructions in the Assignment and assessment guide, available on iLearn

Assignments are due before midnight on the specified date.

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO CHECK THAT YOUR SUBMISSION HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL AND TAKE ANY MEASURES TO ENSURE THAT YOUR ASSIGNMENT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE TURNITIN SITE BY THE DUE TIME AND DATE. YOU MUST ALLOW SUFFICIENT TIME FOR YOUR ONLINE SUBMISSION TO BE PROCESSED, AS LATE SUBMISSIONS DUE TO LAST MINUTE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WILL INCUR LATENESS PENALTIES.

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

Students must retain a copy of all assignments before submission, and retain the copy until your final grade for the unit has been received;
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.
Assignments will be assessed with reference to set criteria, and students will receive feedback in terms of their performance against that criteria.
A fail grade may result from deductions for lateness or loss of marks for referencing, presentation, or plagiarism.

For each assignment, the online submission instructions page will ask you to acknowledge that you have complied with the academic honesty declarations as required by Macquarie University and the Faculty of Human Sciences. By submitting your assignment electronically, you are declaring that you have read and agreed to the statements on this declaration.

All written submissions are to be legible and professionally presented. Please follow the guidelines below:

Please type all assignments using 12 point font and 1.5 or double-space the lines.
Allow a right-hand margin of at least 4cm in all assignments. This allows us to attach electronic comments, and you to read your feedback comments easily.
Use APA referencing style to acknowledge your sources and support your ideas with in-text referencing (See IEC referencing guide for more information).
Include a full reference list of all works that are cited within your assignment

Late assignments

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

Extension requests

In extenuating circumstances, students may apply to the unit convener for an extension to the assignment due date. Reasons must be documented through the special consideration form accessible through ask.mq.edu.au and supported (e.g., a doctor’s certificate in the case of illness).

Note that:

Students MUST communicate with the Unit Convener prior to submitting their request through ask.mq.edu.au. Please do this via the dialogue communication tool on the iLearn site.
Extension will only be granted in receipt of the completed form submitted through ask.mq.edu.au, plus documentation.
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.
Extensions are usually not granted on the due date.
Students cannot submit an assignment once assessed work is returned to other students.

Assignment Resubmission

Resubmission of an unsatisfactory assignment is not permitted in this unit.

Referencing your sources

The Institute of Early Childhood requires that students use the APA 6^th edition referencing style in all assignments. As a Masters level unit, correct referencing is expected, and marks will be deducted for pervasive errors. The library has links to APA referencing guides.

Academic honesty and plagiarism

Macquarie University has high standards in regards to the academic honesty of both staff and students. In particular, students are advised to ensure that the work that they submit is solely their own, and that supporting material is clearly and correctly referenced. The University defines plagiarism as follows: “Using the work or ideas of another person, whether intentionally or not, and presenting this as your own without clear acknowledgement of the source of the work or ideas. This includes, but is not limited to, any of the following acts:

a) copying out part(s) of any document or audio-visual material or computer code or website content without indicating their origins b) using or extracting another person's concepts, experimental results, or conclusions c) summarising another person's work without correctly referencing its source d) submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student in an assignment where there was collaborative preparatory work e) use of others (paid or otherwise) to conceive, research or write material submitted for assessment f) submitting the same or substantially the same piece of work for two different tasks (self-plagiarism).” (Glossary; www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html)

Plagiarism is considered a serious offence at IEC and across the University, and carries significant penalties. Students must consult the full university policy on academic honesty, which is available at http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Tasks

Name	Weighting	Due
Reading journal	20%	21st August and 11th September
Project ideas consultation	0%	1st group consultation session
Research Project Proposal	30%	25th September
Project progress report	10%	2nd group consultation session
Project peer feedback	5%	1 day post 2nd consultation
Project final report	35%	20th November