Late Assessment Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue.

This late penalty will apply to non-timed sensitive assessment (including essays, reports, posters, portfolios, journals, recordings etc). Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs etc) will only be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application. A Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic.

The teaching program consists of the following:

• Each week a lecture will be pre-recorded and uploaded onto the iLearn page for the unit. These can be found under the weekly tabs on the iLearn page. The lecture provide students with the knowledge base essential for undertaking qualitative research for policy. Students are required to listen to the lecture prior to the seminar for the week (for on-campus students) or for undertaking the weekly task/discussion forum post (for Online-Flexible/OUA students), as we will be applying information covered in the lectures in the seminars/online activities, which aim to develop practical skills in undertaking qualitative social research.

• During Weeks 1-12, the weekly seminars involve undertaking applied tasks designed to develop students qualitative research skills. These include exercises relating to how to design research, develop ethical approaches to research, use of various qualitative research methods, undertaking data analysis, interpretation of different types of qualitative data,and how to write for policy. As this is a skills-based unit, attendance and active participation in the seminars / on-line discussion forums is a minimum expectation.

• For students undertaking the course online (Online-Flexible and OUA students) instructions regarding how to undertake these tasks will be provided to you on a weekly basis and will often involve doing tasks outside class time. The weekly discussion forums are the means by which you will report on and reflect on your weekly activity, including sharing reflections with others. For on-campus students (Internal students) these tasks will mainly be undertaken during the 2-3 hour on-campus seminar. Some weeks will require you to prepare in advance, however you will be notified of this.

• The course is structured around three modules. Weeks 1-5 are devoted to qualitative research design for policy-making. Weeks 6-9 introduce students to qualitative strategies of inquiry and research methods, including analysing policy documents using qualitative analysis techniques. Weeks 10-13 apply these foundations in qualitative research to policy processes, including qualitative data analysis for policy, finding and using existing qualitative data sets, using research to influence policy and research dissemination.

• Students will be required to read a series of set texts on a weekly basis that relate to the topic for that week. Weekly readings are available via the Leganto link on the SOCI8035/ SOCX8035 iLearn site.

• To successfully complete the assessment tasks, students will be required to undertake additional research on their policy area and apply course concepts covered in the lectures and weekly readings.