Length:

10 A4 Pages (min), excluding creative work & appendices

Format:

•              Introduction

•              Day 1

•              Day 2

•              Day 3

•              Day 4

•              Day 5

•              Conclusion

Learning diaries are used in this course as a means for you to reflect on the overall content of the course, your experiences throughout, and the meaning that the content and experiences have for you and your life at work. It is expected that you will write down up to 2 pages of ‘dot points’ at the end of each day, and integrate these into a coherent learning diary for final submission.  Your reflections on the character and success of your group activities should be included.

Length:

20 A4 pages (max), excluding Appendices

Format:

Project Report.  

The structure will be:

- Introduction

- Change Map

- Change Intervention

- Change Evaluation

- Conclusion

This project will involve individuals planning out and conducting a change intervention, in their personal lives, in their own organisation or in another organisation negotiated with the lecturer.

After you have completed your individual assignments, you are expected to come together as a 3-person group to share, discuss and summarise your joint-insights in a Group Report. During the weekends, you will also be required to present as a 3-person group on the video case material, and participate in larger 9-person combined groups for the ExperienceChange simulation and one additional case study presentation.   Your marks for Group Work and Report will be based on your group work in total, including class participation and the final report.  

Assessment of Individual performance will be based on the Group member contribution statement / Peer Evaluation subject to the final decision of the lecturer.

The Group Report will have the following format:

Length:

20 A4 pages (max)

Format:

Group Report.  

The structure will be:

•       Introduction
•       Group Reflections On Learning Diaries
•       Group Reflections on Action Projects
•       Conclusion

FURTHER INFORMATION: ON LEARNING DIARIES, ACTION PROJECT & GROUP CASE STUDY PRESENTATION AND REFLECTION

LEARNING DIARIES

What Diaries are Expected to Display

A particular focus of the course is on stimulating intellectual intelligence (‘thinking things through’), emotional intelligence (‘awareness and handling of the emotions of yourself and others’), and action intelligence (‘a confidence and ability to act and reflect upon action in situations of complexity, uncertainty and conflict’). It is expected that you will develop your change capabilities or intelligence in each of these areas. In this way, you are expected to show an intelligent and thoughtful grappling with the key issues, arguments and materials presented in the course.

Each Day section should each include the following sub-sections.

•              Key Reflections on the Day’s Lectures and Learnings

Briefly summarise the topics covered and your experience of the lecture, highlighting the points important to you, and any questions you might have. Explain how the material (or certain aspects) apply or might apply in your life (work, study, play, relationships).

•              Key Reflections on Group Activities and Team Development

Briefly summarise the content and process of the exercises and activities, and any outcomes or results. Include reflections on your team dynamics and your team’s progress or lack thereof; detail what happened and explore why things happened or did not happen. Consider your role and contribution to the team’s task and process. Compare this team to other experiences you have had.

•              Key Reflections on Selected Readings

Briefly summarise the content of the readings relating to the days activities. For readings you find significant and important, show how the concepts, views and interpretations they offer relate to the lecture, exercises, team dynamics and experiences in class. Critique the readings: what were their strong and weak points, and why do you think so?

Recommended Length

The Learning Diary can strictly follow the above structure or a more creative approach can be adopted. If the structure is strictly followed, then it is expected that diaries will normally be not be less than 15 pages and not more than 25 pages. Many students find it difficult to communicate all their ideas and experiences within this length.  If this is the case, or simply because you may prefer it, you are encouraged to try to communicate your key learnings in a more creative format. In a sense, this will replace a more traditional conclusion. Students have, in the past, created games, posters, animated powerpoints, videos, artwork and even an opera! If you decide to convey your main message(s) in a more creative way, then it is expected that you will support this with a minimum of 10 pages of description outlining the purpose of the creative work and your key learnings from the 5 days in the format outlined above.

Function and Purpose

As background for this activity, an introduction to the common purposes for which learning diaries are used and a typical learning diary structure is provided in the article at the front of your readings:

Hays, J.M., Reflection, Insight and Empathy: Uncommon Outcomes in Management Education, ANU, Canberra.

 ACTION PROJECT

Unlike pre-programmed assignments, the student will select their own project in consultation with the lecturer. As the topic and detailed approach are deliberately not fixed, students are able, and encouraged, to develop and test out ideas with the lecturer during the two formal course sessions as well as by email. The main criterion for a change project is that the project is of personal interest to the student, and it is of significance for themselves and other people who are important to them.

Past change projects have ranged from major strategic organisational restructures to more restricted personal or interpersonal interventions. They have also ranged from the initiation of the early stages of a change project to the evaluation and improvement of change initiatives that have been going on for some time. The size and scope of the change project is negotiated with the lecturer, taking into consideration the practical issue of what is feasible within the time scale of the course assignments.

Why is this assignment left so open? Firstly, change is like that!  It is not simple, linear and pre-programmed, and is not simply the application of a technique. Secondly, reflective learning that pays attention to the emotions of oneself and others, as well as how to act in practice, requires action, experimentation and reflective evaluation in situations that are real and significant.

The individual projects all have a common reporting structure. The Action Project Report has five sections:

·         Introduction

·         Change Map

·         Change Intervention

·         Change Evaluation

·         Conclusion

The Change Map will involve a mapping out of the case study change project, including what you see to be the ‘Gap’ that was being addressed, the ‘Forcefield’ of promoting and hindering forces, and a ‘Route Map’ that will take one of two forms: either a ‘Proposed Route Map’ for a project that has not begun or is in the initial stages or an ‘Evaluation and Recommendations Route Map for a project that is well established and has hit some roadblocks or requires some improvement.  The latter will include a description and evaluation of the Existing Route, and creation of a Proposed Route. 

In terms of basic structure:

The Change Map must include:

·         Gap Analysis

·         Forcefield Analysis

·         Route Analysis

The Change Intervention must include:

·         Rationale:

·         Why has this change intervention been chosen to address a key change issue identified in the Route Analysis?

·         Planning of the Intervention

·         What was taken into consideration in order to make this an effective change intervention?

·         Conduct of the Intervention:

·         What happened?

The Change Evaluation must include:

·         Evaluation of the Change Mapping. 

What were the main challenges encountered? How well were these addressed? What might you do to improve in future?

·         Evaluation of the Change Intervention. 

What went according to plan? What was unexpected and what impact did this have? What went well? What did not go so well? What might you do to improve in future?

GROUP WORK AND REPORT

The Group Report (Learning Diaries Section) will address the following questions: (i) ‘How did we approach change prior to the unit?’ (ii) ‘What did we take away from this unit? Why?’ (iii) ‘What did I leave behind? Why?’ and (iv) ‘What will we do in future to improve our change skills?’. This group overview will include the group’s overall learnings and observations on their overall ‘journey’ or ‘journeys’ during the unit.

The Group Report (Action Projects Section) will address the following issues: (i) What common issues and challenges were there in the different action projects? (ii) What different insights were raised by experiences in the different projects? (iii) What would the group do differently in the future?

The Appendix: Case Study Presentation and Learnings will include the case study presentation material, and reflections on learnings from the reading and presentation.