For this assignment you are asked to address a question by reviewing academic literature. Students will select the question in the tutorial in Week 1 and this question will also be the basis for Assignment 2. The literature review will require students  to select 2 academic articles from the provided literature and identify 1 new article dated no earlier than 2010. This article must be identified by using the Macquarie Library databases. Students should also read widely in the academic literature on their chosen topic and demonstrate this in their literature review. Please note, an emphasis must be given on the primary 3 articles.

 Expectations and Preparation of the Assignment

1. The objective of this task is to encourage you to develop skills linking academic research to urban strategic planning.

2. The required deliverables from this assignment are a well-developed research paper (maximum length 1500 words, excluding references)

3. Students are required to select 2 academic articles from the provided literature and 1 new article dated no earlier than 2010 from the University Library databases.  Students should also read widely in the academic literature

Assessment Criteria

The marking criteria include: analysis of research articles, synthesis of research for policy development. Copies of the marking criteria and any other information about this assignment can be found on the unit's iLearn site.

Following a site visit somewhere in Sydney, students will work in small groups to create strategic urban plans.  Following the process of plan creation, each group will give 2 presentations.External students are encouraged to attend this site visit. Where this is not possible as mush information as possible will be made available on iLearn to support this learning experience and to supportnyour undertakings for the assignment. 

Expectations:

Presentation 1: This shows where you are up to at present, and what you have developed in all the practical sessions to week 6. So this will include Mission and vision statements, goals and situational analysis. External students will contribute to this by preparing the presentation materials as pqrt of the group. You are also welcome to come to campus but this is not a requirement.

Presentation 2: This is your final presentation, illustrating your strategic plan as a whole. You want to briefly go over your mission statement and goal (as this may have changed/ clarified) and justification for this and then outline the strategies you intend to implement to realise these goals through an appropriate Implementation and Monitoring Plan. Again, externalmstudents muet contruibute to this group's preparation.

As this is a group assignment, students are marked either "Pass" or "Fail". Groups are expected to work following agreed protocols. It is important to work effectively together and communication is key. The group is not expected to created a comprehensive strategic urban plan but will need to demonstrate all the steps in creating a plan, identifying the issues and planning objectives and strategies - all in a powerpoint presentation.

This is your individual version of your group’s urban strategic plan (USP). You can have if you want to have the same mission statement, goals and strategy formulation table as the group, but the write up must be entirely yours. 

Your urban strategic plan must contain the following major subheadings:

(i)           Mission Statement;

(ii)         Vision Statement;

(iii)        Goals;

(iv)        Situational Analysis;

(v)         Strategy formulation; and

(vi)        Strategy implementation.

 Expectations and Preparation of the Assignment

Again the report you produce must be your own individual work, and will call upon you to link your ideas to the academic literature. It is usual to develop that linkage in the sections on goals, situational analysis, and strategy formulation.

Assessment Criteria

Your urban strategic plan will be assessed on its structure, clarity, consistency, development, and use of the academic literature. Diagrams, tables and maps are often parts of such documents. The marking criteria include: (a) the design and presentation of your paper; (b) the links you have made to the academic literature; and (c) your overall understanding as demonstrated in the written paper.

For this assignment you are required to present your findings from Assignment 1 in a PowerPoint display in the tutorials. The slide presentation is to be 10 to 15 minutes, consisting of no more than 10 slides (excluding references). External students can either record their voices and embed this in the presentation for playing during the tutorial or provide a script and the tutor will read it on their behalf. These presentations are recorded. So, you will be able to hear how it went.

Expectations and Preparation of the Assignment

The objectives of this task is to encourage you to begin to develop skills in presenting your work to a critical audience.

1. students who are presententing are required to upload the 3 main references into the allocated forum (more information to come) no later than the Tuesday (1 week) prior to your presentation. Failure to comply with the required timeframe could result in a loss of marks.

PARTICIPATION MARK

1) Leading a tutorial discussion: You are also required to lead a tutorial discussion. This must be on a different week to your presentation. You will be expected to have read the 3 papers for this week and be able to run the class discussion and formulated at least 3 questions to assist you in leading the roundtable discussion. For external students, you will liaise with the internal students who is schedulednto lead discussions as well. They can ask the questions for you. This has workednvery well in the past.

2) For other weeks where you are not presenting or not leading the discussion, you are asked to read at least one of the papers set by other students and have a question or comment to make in the tutorial discussion. This is a requirement and forms part of your mark for this assessment. External students post their question or comment into the disussion forum set up for this purpose.

Assessment Criteria

The marking criteria for the presentation include: (a) the design and presentation of your PowerPoint presentation; (b) the overall understanding demonstrated in both your PowerPoint presentation and participation in tutorials. Your participation in the tutorials is marked on evidence that you have read the relevant articles and participate in the online discussion; and (c) your ability to prepare questions thatnwill be used to run a class discussion.

The final take home exam will take the form of a set of questions that focus on the lecture content of this unit. The paper will be posted on the website on the last Wednesday in the semester and you will be required to submit your answers by Friday, 27 June. 

Expectations

The expectation is that you will present a well argued and developed answer to each question. These answers will require you to draw both on the lectures themselves and the literature. You must cite the literature in your answers and fully reference that material.

Assessment Criteria

It will important that you display in your answers good structure, clarity, consistency, and development of argument.  You will also be assessed on the appropriate and accurate use of the literature.