Assessment Submission

Both assignments are to be submitted electronically, via the PSY248 iLearn page. Assessments submitted by post or emailed to tutors/lecturers will not be accepted. Submission of both assignments is required to be eligible to pass the unit. Marks and feedback will be released to students via iLearn one week after the due date.

All assessment due dates and times are in Sydney time: Australian Eastern Daylight Time. 

Both assignments are due at 5pm. Please also note that iLearn can lag when large numbers of students are uploading documents at the same time. Submission time for assignments is counted as the time the assessment was received, not the time the uploading began. Because of this, make sure you don't leave your submission to 4:55pm the day it is due! Late penalties (5% per day late) will be applied to assignments that are received after the due time. No late submissions will be accepted more than 7 days from the due date. 

After submission, it is the student's responsibility to check that the assignment has been uploaded successfully. Any technological problems must be identified before the due time, or a late penalty will be applied. If on the off chance that you do experience technological problems when submitting your assignment, make sure you raise a OneHelp ticket (see 'technical support' section below for information) and email a copy of your assignment to the unit convener, Dr Alissa Beath, before the assignment due time, to avoid a late penalty.

Request for Extensions

Ordinarily, no extension of time for submission of written work will be granted since ample time is given. If an extension is required for medical or other extenuating circumstances, students may request this in writing through ask.mq.edu.au with supporting documentary evidence (such as medical certificate, counsellor note, or similar). The staff in the Faculty of Human Sciences Student Services Centre will make all decisions regarding extensions. Course convenors or tutors will not grant extensions.

All requests for extensions must be made prior to the due date for the assignment. If an extension is granted the approval must be attached to the assignment, or emailed directly to the unit convener (Dr Alissa Beath). 

NOTE: during Session 3 the Faculty Student Centre will only grant extensions of up to 7 days. Students who through illness or other circumstances are unable to submit within this time should contact the Faculty Student Centre.

Assessment Overall

In order to be eligible for a passing grade in PSY248, students must submit BOTH assignments, AND sit the final examination.

Collusion and Plagiarism

Academic integrity means you submit only your own work, and make it easy for the reader to work out which parts of your assignment are original and which parts come from named sources.

We value students collaborating together as part of their learning experience. Often students form informal study groups, where they share understanding of unit content, and approaches to the assessments. However, it is important to realize that unless you are doing Group Work for an assignment, all of the work you submit for individual assessment should be completely your own independent work.  Students are encouraged to form study groups, but this must not involve collusion to present group work as the work of the individual.

What is collusion?

This is the unauthorised presentation of group work as your own.  It may involve

• Working with someone to provide one piece of work
• Allowing others to share your assignment answer or copy your work
• Using the assignment answer or work of another student (past or present) with or without their permission. It is collusion even if only small parts of the assignment are used
• Allowing others to edit and write your work
• Editing or writing the work of another student
• Offering to do work for another student or seeking payment for preparing academic work for someone else

How can you avoid collusion?

• Do not share your findings or answers to an assignment
• Do not use another student’s case studies, findings or ideas about an assignment
• Do not ask another student for a copy of their assignment
• Do not share your current or past assignments with another student (whether to “look at the structure” or any other reason).

This unit is being offered in external mode, which means there are no face-to-face lectures nor tutorial/practical classes; all formal teaching and learning activities are to be completed independently via the unit's iLearn site.

Each week, students are required to (a) watch a series of lecture videos (up to 9 hours), (b) complete 1-2 hours of practical exercises (requiring the use of Stata), (c) watch up to 3 hours of tutorial demonstrations, (d) read relevant textbook sections, and (c) prepare for any assessment tasks. 

Lectures 

Lectures will be available to stream or download from the unit's iLearn page via Echo. An outline of the lecture topics is provided on iLearn.

NOTE: lectures are recordings from Session 2, 2019. Because lectures are from a previous Session, IGNORE information about assessment tasks as these are not necessarily accurate for Session 3. Instead, refer to information in the unit outline and iLearn about assessment tasks for Session 3.

All lecture material is examinable (either in exam or assignment formats). 

Practical Exercises and Tutorial Demonstrations 

After watching the lectures, students are required to complete a series of practical exercises (requiring the use of the statistical software Stata) independently, then watch a series of recorded tutorial demonstrations via iLearn (which have interactive elements to enhance students' learning and engagement with the content). Students will be able to ask questions via iLearn discussion forums and online web conferencing sessions (via Zoom).

All tutorial material is examinable (either in exam or assignment formats). 

Resources

Textbook

• Weinberg, S. L. & Abramowitz, S. K. (2016). Statistics using Stata: An Integrative Approach (1st ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press. 

This text combines statistical principles and the use of Stata. This book can be bought via the co-op bookshop on campus, or online as an eBook.

Technology

Students must have access to Stata, a statistical software package, for this unit. Stata can be bought online via https://www.stata-au.com/students and/or accessed online for free via Macquarie's virtual computer laboratory AppStream. See https://wiki.mq.edu.au/display/appstream/About for more information about accessing Stata via AppStream.

Competent use of Stata is assumed at the beginning of this unit. Any students who need to revise Stata should (a) revise PSYC105 statistics content; (b) consult the PSY248 textbook; and (c) visit the Stata YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/statacorp/playlists (the "Back to School playlist" is a good compendium of relevant videos relevant to this unit).

Regular web conferencing sessions will be held online via Zoom. See iLearn for information on the scheduling of these sessions, and find information about Zoom here https://staff.mq.edu.au/teach/learning-technologies-and-spaces/teaching-technologies-and-tools/ilearn/web-conferencing

Technical Support

If you experience technological difficulties with iLearn, AppStream, Zoom, or any other technology, make sure you take a screenshot of any error messages or difficulties that occur, and contact the university's technical support team via OneHelp. Raise requests by calling the IT Service Desk on (02) 9850 HELP (4357), emailing onehelp@mq.edu.au, or visiting the IT HelpDesk located at 17 Wally’s Walk (C5C), Room 244. Track requests directly at onehelp.mq.edu.au. Because iLearn and use of Stata are fundamental to PSY248, it is your responsibility to make sure you can access both throughout, especially when needed for assessment tasks.