Assessment approach

The assessments are delivered as workplace scenarios associated with a professional consultancy service. As a group, we will work towards our business survival in a competitive market, anticipating the ups and downs, and foreseeing the booms and busts. The 'CEO' and 'managing partners' are committed to supporting you, the 'consultants' to achieve individual and collective milestones in the form of assessments.

The course has 3 assessments, which are broadly categorised as A. Marketing or selling yourself: which features your professional profile and how you can contribute to the wider industries and society, B. Consulting: devising and selling original ideas to meet the brief of clients, C. Core business: selling ideas and yourselves to gain resources to meet organisation goals. Each of the assessments are subdivided, which equates to 8 different tasks. This subdivision reflects a real-world approach to delivering project outcomes, which generally includes delivering on incremental milestones with some milestones overlapping across projects. The assignment letter codes indicate the assessments they are linked to as part of a larger assessment. The activities build on each other and incorporate iterative components, so the student ‘consultants’ have opportunities to reflect and revise their approach to the assessments. Training and practice opportunities will be provided through lectures, tutorials, workshops, guest talks, networking and online learning.

You will be allocated to different business groups (tutorials) and expected to attend your regular weekly business group meetings. Note well: It will also be necessary for employees to do some tasks prior to lectures and tutorials that are not assessed but help facilitate a more interactive dynamic.

Submission of Assignments

Please see the schedule dates for submissions. All written assignments, otherwise stipulated, will need to be submitted via turnitin.

Late assignments

All assessments must be submitted by the due date, 10% of the mark allocated for any assignment will be deducted for every 24 h period (or part thereof) that any work is submitted past the nominated deadline.

What if you are sick or circumstances prevent you from submitting an assignment?

1. Communicate:

Let the course convenor know ASAP via email that you will not be able to make the deadline in advance.

2. Disruptions to Studies Notification:

File a Disruptions to Studies Notification via Ask.mq.edu.au. Do it right away, even if you have not yet got all your documentation (documentation needs to be uploaded within 5 days of submitting the Disruptions notification)

3. Documentation:

Make an appointment with the healthcare professional to get the documentation you will need (for a medical condition - a medical certificate PLUS the Professional Authority Form). Ask the healthcare professional to fill in the Professional Authority Form and submit with request for special consideration. Note that the healthcare professional does not have to divulge the details of your condition if you do not want him/her to do so.

Only a medical certificate or a letter with appropriate supporting documents outlining other serious, extenuating circumstances, will be considered when applying for extensions. All applications for special consideration or extension must be sought before the due date unless this is absolutely impossible.

Unit delivery

A capstone unit attempts to consolidate student learning across a diversity of units and programs, with the explicit aim of preparing students for the study-to-work transition. This involves active reflection on prior learning, building and articulating a positive self-understanding, exploring opportunities, clarifying goals, acquiring adequate employability and workplace skills, and building linkages with professional communities and industries. 

The unit has two major objectives underpinning its learning context and design:

1.     to guide students to think about and assess their future career path and the skills required to meet their career aspirations.

2.     to develop core employability attributes with particular emphasis on how to make meaningful contributions to society through formulating and applying ideas stemming from discipline-specific concepts.

Learning context is a Workplace simulation: Welcome to the BIOCap Corporation.

To create a fully immersive educational experience, the biology capstone is delivered entirely within a workplace scenario. So Welcome to the BIO Capstone Corporation (BIOCap Corp.).

The BIOCap Corp. is a think tank formed to address global challenges. The goal of the corporation will be to make valued contribution to society through advocacy and acquiring funding to implement projects to address contemporary global challenges.The corporation includes around 100 newly appointed employees (the enrolled student cohort), the CEO and managing partners (the unit convenors) and, an affiliation with industry contributors. The corporation partners, led by the CEO, provide leadership and support to employees, who are the novice consultants in the company. The consultants will be introduced to and, take initiative to approach, more than a dozen industry representatives throughout the course. These industry representatives are from the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. The industry engagement serves multiple purposes, including industry research, stakeholder engagement, technical and professional skills development, personal career transitions, and so on. Although management is optimistic about the chances of the corporation being successful there is no guarantee. Indeed the market place is very volatile and whether the corporation is successful or not will be up to you. If the corporation does face significant challenges be assured the partners will help with any transitions.

Course structure

The course consists of a two-hour lecture and a two-hour tutorial each week (compulsory). Lecture attendance is mandatory and you are expected to actively participate. The lectures within the workplace scenario are equivalent to workplace workshops, town hall meetings and creative opportunities that a workplace would expect their employees to attend. Note that there are no tutorials in week 1.

Unit completion requirements

To pass this subject you must achieve all of the following:

Unit completion requirements

To pass this subject you must achieve all of the following:

-  Receive a final overall mark of >50%.    

-  Attend the 10 tutorials. Note it is expected that you will attend all tutorials - the tutorials are specifically aligned with the assessments and aid with skill development with some assessments being conducted within the tutorials. The assessments are challenging so attendance should equate to success and note attendance is mandatory for some lectures. NB: Final tutorial is compulsory.

-  Submit all assignments.

Technology

Unit outline, workshop notes and course notes will be distributed via iLearn. http://ilearn.mq.edu.au

iLearn is a web-based computer mediated communication package and can be accessed by most web browsers from inside or outside the University. iLearn and email will be the principle method of communication in  this subject.

You must use iLearn for:

• Regularly checking subject announcement - particularly with regard to the pracs and class readings;
• Downloading course materials;
• Downloading some of the reference material;
• Using the discussion board.

If you are having trouble accessing your online unit due to a disability or health condition, please tell the convener immediately!!!! . Then go to the Student Services Website at http://sss.mq.edu.au/equity/about for information on how to get assistance if the issue cannot be resolved immediately. If you are having problems logging on and you cannot log in after ensuring you have entered your username and password correctly, you should contact Student IT Help, phone (02) 9850 4357 (in Sydney) or 1 800 063 191 (outside Sydney).

Career Resources

Young, S. P. (1984) Careers in the Biological Sciences: Finding Your Niche. In The American Biology Teacher.. 46(1), pp. 12-17+64.

Blickley, J. L. et al. (2013) Graduate Student’s Guide to Necessary Skills for Nonacademic Conservation Careers. In Conservation Biology. 27(1), pp.24-34

Career View publications are available on http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/resources/career_publications/career_view/index.aspx

Career View: Genetics and Molecular Biology

Career View: Marine Biology, Ecology and Biodiversity

Career View: Biotechnology

Career View: Biomedical Science

Graduate Careers Australia http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/CareerPlanningandResources/careerprofiles/index.htm

Myfuture http://myfuture.edu.au/Explore%20Careers.aspx

Astor, B. (2005) What Can You Do with a Major in Biology? New Jersey: Wiley Publishing.

Bernard, T. (2005) Bernard’s Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Jobseeker’s Guide 2005. Queensland: Paddington Academic Press.

Advertisements for a range of positions can be found online or in the print media. For example, the Sydney Morning Herald publishes My Career every Saturday and local newspapers generally have classifieds sections advertising jobs. More high powered or specialized jobs are often advertised in major scientific sources such as Science and Nature.

Public sector positions

The Australian Public Service ‐ jobs within federal government departments and agencies

http://www.apsjobs.gov.au/

NSW Government Jobs ‐ jobs within NSW government departments and agencies

http://www.jobs.nsw.gov.au/

Jobs within other state government departments and agencies

Victoria ‐ http://www.careers.vic.gov.au/

Queensland ‐ http://jobs.qld.gov.au/

Western Australia ‐ http://www.jobs.wa.gov.au/

South Australia ‐ http://www.vacancies.sa.gov.au/asp/public/Home.aspx

Northern Territory ‐ http://notes.nt.gov.au/dcis/RMS.nsf/NTGEmploymentHome?OpenForm

Tasmania ‐ http://www.jobs.tas.gov.au/

Private sector positions

Natural Resource Management Jobs ‐ http://search.emailmedia.com.au/nrmjobs.php

EnviroJobs - http://www.envirojobs.com.au/

SEEK - http://www.seek.com.au/

Job Search Australia ‐ http://jobsearch.gov.au/default.aspx

Lectures

Tutorials

Lecture, Tutorial and Assessment Schedule