Students

PROF4000 – PACE: Advanced Professional Practice and Reflection

2026 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-infrequent, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Simon Guthrie
simon.guthrie@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
30
Prerequisites Prerequisites
60cp at 2000 level or above including PROF3000
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This placement-based capstone unit provides support for students to continue scaffolding their professional skill development during a final extended vocational placement. Students will explore and develop strategies for addressing challenging, ambiguous and complex professional situations. Students will be encouraged to integrate and reflect on workplace and classroom experiences throughout their degree. The unit is designed to support students’ transitions to the next phase of their career, career self-management and ongoing learning journey. This unit is a designated PACE unit and all enquiries regarding enrolment should be made to coopandinternships@mq.edu.au no later than 4 weeks before commencement of the study period. For background on PACE and making the most of placement experiences, visit PACEWISE on iLearn. 

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Critique your experiences and observations of ethical practice.
  • ULO2: Demonstrate communication skills appropriate for diverse professional audiences.
  • ULO3: Critically reflect on strategies for working with diverse teams.
  • ULO4: Develop strategies for action when complexity, ambiguity and/or conflict are encountered in the workplace.

General Assessment Information

Late Assessment Submission Penalty (written assessments)  

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 grade of ‘0’ 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 concern.   

For any late submissions 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. 

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due Groupwork/Individual Short Extension AI Approach
Professional practice: ePortfolio 40% No 08/11/2026 Individual Yes Open AI
Professional practice: Placement learning goals 20% No 09/08/2026 Individual Yes Open AI
Professional practice: Performance and learning evaluation 40% No 11/10/2026 Individual Yes Open AI

Professional practice: ePortfolio

Assessment Type 1: Portfolio
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: 08/11/2026
Weighting: 40%
Groupwork/Individual: Individual
Short extension 3: Yes
AI Approach: Open AI

The purpose of this assessment is for you to demonstrate your ability to communicate your professional growth by curating an online portfolio showcasing the skills and attributes developed during your placement experience.
 
You will identify three areas (skills, attributes, etc.) you have developed while on placement and include artefacts, descriptions and reflections of your development in an ePortfolio.
 
 
Skills in focus: 
 
  • Work readiness
  • Collaboration and communication
  • Critical thinking and problem solving
  • Discipline knowledge
 
Deliverable(s): Individual professional ePortfolio including artefacts and written reflection [max 1500 words]
 
Individual assessment
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Critique your experiences and observations of ethical practice.
  • Demonstrate communication skills appropriate for diverse professional audiences.
  • Develop strategies for action when complexity, ambiguity and/or conflict are encountered in the workplace.

Professional practice: Placement learning goals

Assessment Type 1: Professional task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 3 hours
Due: 09/08/2026
Weighting: 20%
Groupwork/Individual: Individual
Short extension 3: Yes
AI Approach: Open AI

The purpose of this assessment is for you to demonstrate your ability to plan and take ownership of your professional development during your placement.
 
You will develop learning goals for your placement. Learning goals should build on self-awareness and be relevant to the tasks, responsibilities and expected outcomes of the placement.
 
Skills in focus: 
 
  • Work readiness
  • Critical thinking and problem solving
  • Discipline knowledge
 
Deliverable(s): Placement learning plan [max 1000 words]
Individual assessment
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate communication skills appropriate for diverse professional audiences.
  • Critically reflect on strategies for working with diverse teams.

Professional practice: Performance and learning evaluation

Assessment Type 1: Professional task
Indicative Time on Task 2: 3 hours
Due: 11/10/2026
Weighting: 40%
Groupwork/Individual: Individual
Short extension 3: Yes
AI Approach: Open AI

The purpose of this assessment is for you to demonstrate your ability to engage with professional feedback and reflect critically on your workplace performance. 
 
You will collect feedback from your workplace supervisors, who will evaluate your performance on placement using a rubric. You will also reflect on your learning, the evaluation and the feedback process.
 
 
Skills in focus: 
 
  • Work readiness
  • Collaboration and communication
 
Deliverable(s): Performance evaluation and reflection [max 1500 words]
 
Individual assessment.
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Critique your experiences and observations of ethical practice.
  • Demonstrate communication skills appropriate for diverse professional audiences.
  • Critically reflect on strategies for working with diverse teams.
  • Develop strategies for action when complexity, ambiguity and/or conflict are encountered in the workplace.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • Academic Success for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation.

3 An automatic short extension is available for some assessments. Apply through the Service Connect Portal.

Delivery and Resources

See iLEarn for details

Unit Schedule

Wk Seminar dates Assessment dates Module topic
1

Seminar 1 - city campus

Tues, 4 August, 4-7pm

    
2  

Assessment 1- learning plan

Due: 9 August, 11.55pm

  
3    

module 1 

Interdisciplinary and Cross functional teams
4

Seminar 2 - city

Tue, 18 August 

4-7pm

   Module 2 - conflict management
5      
6     Module 3 - Global citizenship
7

Seminar 3 - city

Tues, 8 September

4-7pm 

 CLASS TIME AND LOCATION TBC  
8      
  Mid semester break - 21 Sept - 5 October
9

Seminar 4 - city

Tues, 6 October

4-7pm

Assessment 2

Performance, evaluation & reflection

Due: 11 October

  
10      
11      
12

Seminar 5 - city

Tues, 3 November

4-7pm

Assessment 3

e-portfolio

Due: 8 November

  

 

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit connect.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Academic Success

Academic Success provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via the Service Connect Portal, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit https://students.mq.edu.au/support/technology/service-desk. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2026.03 of the Handbook