Deadlines, Extensions and Late Penalties

Assessments are due in weeks 4, 8, and 13. You can apply for an extension to a deadline for an assessment - this is known at Macquarie University as Special Consideration - if you foresee an interruption to your studies at the time Assessment 1: Creative Work – Writing as an Ancient Historian cannot be

of submission of an assessment, you should make an application for an extension or Special Consideration.  

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 (incl 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. Special Consideration outcome may result in a new question or topic. 

Use of Ai or Large Language Models (LLMs) for Assessments in this unit

Assessment 1: Creative Work – Writing as an Ancient Historian cannot be completed by an LLM and using an LLM will not help you complete it.

Assessment 2: Blog focused on strengths and weaknesses of 3-4 specified key academic articles/chapters on (available from the Leganto Reading list). LLMs cannot assess text for “strengths and weaknesses”; whereas humans can. However, instruction will be given on how to use an LLM to extend your study by making summaries of other academic publications on the Leganto Reading List.

Assessment 3: Blog focused on the significance of Ancient History with reference to the Roman Republic, specifically in the 2nd century BCE. You are required to use the Leganto Reading List to complete this assessment and are encouraged to use an LLM to summarise a range of articles from the Leganto Reading list and academic viewpoints.

PLEASE DO NOT use an LLM to simply write your assessment, it cannot do what your human brain does based on the Leganto Reading list. Equally, please do not substitute material from the Leganto Reading list with a Google Search or the Encyclopaedia Britannica – you need to base your University work on material held in the University Library and accessible to you via the Leganto Reading List.

To successfully undertake this unit, you need to use the following resources :-

1)    iLearn page sets out weekly tasks to be undertaken and is linked to all resources below. 

2)    Weekly on-line discussion forums are held in weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 (i.e. there is not a tutorial in the weeks in which you need to submit an assessment 4, 8, and 13).

3)    Lectures – these are recorded and provide you with key information, please watch or listen to them each week before your online forum comments that will discuss this material. 

4)    In conversation – most weeks feature the option of watching a short conversation between the convenor and an expert on the topic you study in that week.

5)    Readings for Online Forums – each week there is a set of readings to be undertaken, please focus on these (rather than doing random Google searches for material!).

6)    Readings for Assessment –  each assessment will have required readings for its completion, you must read these analytically.

7)    Leganto Reading List  - this is a set of readings that facilitates your success in the unit. You cannot read everything but should consult key articles.

8)    Instruction on the use of AI or Large Language Models (LLMs) Instruction will be given on how to use LLMs to make summaries of readings in the Leganto Reading List. This allows you to review a wider range of material than if you were just to focus on your own reading. 

PLEASE NOTE YOUR HUMAN BRAIN IS VERY CLEVER AND ANALYTICAL, LLMS IN CONTRAST ARE NOT. The use of LLMs can only extend your ability to study Ancient History – it cannot replace it.

The following are NOT resources for study on this unit:-

1)    Random Google searches for internet sites – these seldom have the quality or rigour  for university-level work.

2)    The Encyclopaedia Britannica – this is NOT a resource for university-level work in Ancient History.

3)    Use Ai or a Large Language Model (LLM) to create your assessment – it will do at best a Random Internet search; whereas you need to consult the Leganto Reading list – held by the University Library (LLMs do not have access to this material).   

There are three blocks of work that each lead to one of the assessments.

Block 1: Pandemics in Antiquity (weeks 1-4) Over four weeks, you will study how plagues or pandemics were described by authors, such as Thucydides – who survived the plague of Athens. Our focus here is on how ancient authors represent an event. We look at their style, their omissions and also consider what they don’t mention that we would really like to know as historians, or might see as essential for a description of a pandemic. To assess your understanding of how these ancient authors wrote, you will need to write an account of Covid-19 as though you were an ancient author. This block of work develops your understanding of the use and limits of ancient sources or “primary sources”.

Block 2: The History of Disability (weeks 5-8) Having looked at primary sources, we turn our attention to secondary sources or the writings of historians in the 21st century. Our focus will be on the challenge of how to write a history of disability. You will focus each week on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of a number of chapters of books and articles – what is done well and what could be done better? We will look at both physical and mental impairment with reference to work on the Roman emperors Claudius and Caligula. For the assessment, you write a text of a blog setting out for a member of the public the strengths and weakness of the recent work in Ancient History on disability in antiquity, 4 specific readings will be set for this assessment, but you may include further readings from the Leganto Reading list (please do not use Google to search for websites on this topic and please do not use of the Encyclopaedia Britannica). This block of work contributes to your critical thinking.

Block 3: The Relevance of Ancient History in the 21st Century (weeks 9-13) Does Ancient History Matter? As you study the ancient world, you need to have an answer by the end of the session – so that through the rest of your degree, you can explain why it is important to study Ancient History. In this block, we will focus our reading and discussion in tutorials on a single author Appian, who wrote a History of Rome’s Civil Wars in the second century CE – centuries after the events he presents to us. He sought to explain why the Roman Republic failed and ended in civil war leading to a monarchy. By looking at the start of his work, you will encounter the major themes that contributed to the failure of a republic: warfare, slavery, political violence and so on. Like Appian, today, you look back on the Roman Republic or another topic in Ancient History and seek to find its relevance. At the end of this block of work, you create a blog seeking to explain the importance of Ancient History, or why Ancient History matters today in the 21st century. A full reading list is supplied via Leganto that takes you to university level readings held by the University Library (please do not use Google to search for websites on this topic and please do not use the Encyclopaedia Britannica).      

Student evaluations in 2024 praised the introduction of the In Conversations between the convenor and another academic. These have been extended to nearly all weeks of the unit.

Training in the ethical use of Large Language Models (LLM or Ai) has been included in the unit for the first time. Instruction will be given on the effective use of prompts to summarise an academic publication (chapter or journal article).

Assessments have a more focused set of readings as requested by some students in feedback in 2024 and, also to clarify the need to complete assessments with the use of these readings rather than misunderstanding the essential nature of reading material held by the University Library. This is to clarify that the use of an internet search for websites does NOT provide a student with content for assessments at 1000 level.

In 2024, students had access to a license from the University to use Adobe Portfolio to create the third assessment as a published blog. Licenses to Adobe products are no longer available to students. In 2025, students will complete the third assessment as an unpublished blog. The convenor will investigate possibilities for the publication of blogs, but this is no longer a requirement.