To pass this unit you must:

• Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50% overall.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

From 1 July 2022, Students enrolled in Session based units with written assessments will have the following university standard late penalty applied. Please see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/assessments for more information. 

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 7^th day (including weekends). After the 7^th day, a grade of '0' will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical concern. 

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, students need to submit an application for Special Consideration.  The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted 

In this unit, late submissions will accepted only for the Professional Portfolio, with the Standard Late Assessment Submission Penalty applying. 

Workshop Activities

There will be three main workshops associated with the unit:

Workshop 1 (Friday morning Week 1, Location and time will be posted on iLearn): Unit Orientation. This introductory morning workshop will review the unit goals, give students the chance to introduce themselves and their project, and review some basic content on best work practices, health and safety, ethics, professional development, and reflective practice. These are essential tools for making the most of your practical experience during the unit.

Workshop 2 (Friday afternoon Week 1, Location and time will be posted on iLearn): My Degree - Themes, Knowledge and Skills. This afternoon workshop follows on from workshop 1, and will be aimed at reflecting on the skills and knowledge you have gained across your degree, how this might map to potential employers, and what they are looking for. We will look at how to recognise our strengths and make best use of them; as well as identifying areas where we can improve, and make plans on how to develop those areas during the unit.

Workshop 3 (Friday Week 11, Location and time will be posted on iLearn): Presenting. This workshop will focus on two key opportunities where we present ourselves to our colleagues in a professional context: giving a formal presentation and giving a job interview. The workshop will look at techniques for delivering an informative and professional presentation, and will go through the process involved in a typical professional job interview. We will use a combination of delivered content and group exercises, including practice interviews, with a focus on developing confidence and experience in presenting in different situations.

Project

The main component of this unit is a project conducted with an external partner organisation. Projects range from pure research to projects with a more educational or outreach flavour. All projects, however, should give you exposure to a professional working environment, and the opportunity to contribute to a larger effort related to professional physics or astronomy. You will spend nominally 100 hours working with the partner organisation, spread throughout the semester. We suggest you spend one week of the mid-semester break, and 9 Fridays working with the external organisation, however the hours will need to be negotiated with your external supervisor and you may be required to spend additional days during the mid-semester break. Projects should normally start in Week 2, concluding in Week 10, but again there will be some variations in schedule according to particular circumstances. If you miss a day of your placement due to unforseen circumstances, you should plan to make up the hours.

We will do our best to advise all students about their placement and project prior to Week 1. However we regret if due to circumstances beyond our control this is not possible for all students.

Supervisors and Mentors

Students will have a supervisor at the host organisation, who is able to devote some time to supervising the students on the days that they work with the host organisation. At the start of the project, agree on a time when you are most likely to have overlap with your supervisor. If you don't have regular access to your project supervisor, let the unit convenor know as soon as possible so that alternative arrangements can be made. We will also allocate a PHYS3810 academic mentor to liaise with the host organisation, monitor progress and assist in advising students. Students shouldl meet with their University mentor at least three times during the semester to review project documentation, progress against project objectives, and a first draft of your project report.  Some of these meetings will involve the host supervisor and academic mentor (usually around week 2 and week 10), and you are required to make an appointment with your Mentor during week 5 so they can review your project documentation and discuss your project plan with you.

Required Unit Materials

In the event that you are working within the premises of the partner organisation, compliance with standard Work Health and Safety (WHS, sometimes also called Occupational Health & Safety, or OH&S) practice is expected. This includes wearing appropriate clothing and footwear (e.g. covered shoes), and following all workplace rules as defined by the Partner. If you are unsure of these rules, ask your supervisors.

Required Text

Not applicable, but project supervisors may recommend relevant readings.

Record Keeping

Each student must maintain project documentation to a high standard. The documentation needs to be completed for each day of work on the project. Students may be required to hand in their documentation to the Partner supervisor at the end of the unit.

Teaching Strategy

Students spend around 100 hours working within the host organisation. This time should be used effectively in the pursuit of the objectives identified by the partner supervisor and unit learning outcomes. A clear understanding of the project objectives and appropriate planning will facilitate progress towards the project objectives. Students are expected to regularly graph and analyse their results (if appropriate), and keep comprehensive and up-to-date records. The host supervisor and University mentor will review the records to ensure good practice in this respect.

Communications

We will communicate with you via your university email or through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to the Unit Convenors from your university email address. See iLearn for Unit Convenor contact details.

PACE

PACE stands for Participation and Community Engagement. By connecting students with partner organisations, PACE gives Macquarie students the chance to contribute their academic learning, enthusiasm and fresh perspective to the professional workplace. The Physics and Astronomy disciplines have run a PACE unit since 2013. PACE activities have included outreach and science communications, activities at either the Australian Astronomical Observatory or CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, and working at local tech companies like Baraja and Raytheon.

Participation

The unit has two key face-to-face elements: Skills Workshops (3 workshops over 2 days), and External Project (14 days over semester). Active participation is required to succeed in the unit.

Students are expected to work standard work hours on the days they agree to work with the host organisation, and are usually required to be on-site at the host organisation when undertaking the project. The total project duration is 14 days. Typically, students will devote one day a week (nominally Friday) during 2nd semester (Weeks 2 to 10), and one week (5 days) during mid- semester break, working on the project with the partner institution. On some of these days some time may be spent at the University or elsewhere pursuing the objectives of the project with the agreement of the partner supervisor.

The 'workshop' activities provide a context for during the semester on topics including ethics, communication, and career skills (see above).

Professional Portfolio

Students are expected to participate in a variety of professional activities during the semester. This typically includes a mix of attending talks/seminars/colloquia, outreach activities, and self-directed learning over the course of the semester. Students should choose activities according to their interests and to build their profile as an engaged member of their profession. More details will be available on iLearn, and the unit convenor has the final say on what counts for credit and at what level. The portfolio will also include a CV and cover letter prepared for a self-selected job advertisement, plus a series of written reflections on topics such as WHS, ethics and integrity, team work and intellectual property.

To enable students more time to focus on learning, understanding and reflecting on the content of our unit we have revised the assessment structure as follows. There are now only three assessments: an Oral Presentation, a Professional Portfolio, and a Project Report.

We value student feedback to be able to continually improve the way we offer our units. As such we encourage students to provide constructive feedback via student surveys, to the teaching staff directly, or via the FSE Student Experience & Feedback link in the iLearn page.

Student feedback from the previous offering of this unit was very positive overall, with students pleased with the clarity around assessment requirements and the level of support from teaching staff. As such, no change to the delivery of the unit is planned, however we will continue to strive to improve the level of support and the level of student engagement.