Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Career Development Consultant
Serene Lin-Stephens
Contact via serene.lin-stephens@mq.edu.au
Career and Employment Service L5, The Australian Hearing Hub
Unit Convenor
Matthew Bulbert
Contact via matthew.bulbert@mq.edu.au
E8C242
By appointment.
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
39cp at 100 level or above
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
3cp from BIOL301-BIOL375 or BBE305 or BBE306
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
In this capstone unit students consolidate their learning across a diversity of units within their programs of study and prepare themselves for appropriate transition to the next stage of their careers. This involves active reflection on prior learning, building and articulating a positive self-understanding, exploring opportunities, clarifying goals, acquiring adequate employability and workplace skills, and building linkages with professional communities and industries. A major objective in this course is to get students to think about, and help students assess, their future career path and the skills required to meet their career aspirations. A series of guest speakers will talk about their own career paths and offer advice on future study, career and employment options. The course also covers key topics such as communicating science, the publication and review process, research ethics, and career pathways.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
All written assignments are submitted the Friday at 5pm of the week due and submitted through Turnitin via ilearn.
All assessments must be submitted by the due date. 10% of the mark allocated for any assignment will be deducted for every 24 h period (or part thereof) that any work is submitted past the nominated deadline.
1. Communicate:
Let the course convenor know ASAP via email that you will not be able to make the deadline in advance.
2. Disruptions to Studies Notification:
File a Disruptions to Studies Notification via Ask.mq.edu.au. Do it right away, even if you have not yet got all your documentation (documentation needs to be uploaded within 5 days of submitting the Disruptions notification)
3. Documentation:
Make an appointment with the healthcare professional to get the documentation you will need (for a medical condition - a medical certificate PLUS the Professional Authority Form). Ask the healthcare professional to fill in the Professional Authority Form and submit with request for special consideration. Note that the healthcare professional does not have to divulge the details of your condition if you do not want him/her to do so.
Only a medical certificate or a letter with appropriate supporting documents outlining other serious, extenuating circumstances, will be considered when applying for extensions. All applications for special consideration or extension must be sought before the due date unless this is absolutely impossible.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Individual presentation | 5% | No | Week 3 |
Portfolio | 25% | No | Week 5 |
Job Interview | 5% | No | Week 7 |
Selling ideas | 25% | No | Week 7 and Week 9 |
Reseach and Outreach Proposal | 40% | No | Week 10 and 13 |
Due: Week 3
Weighting: 5%
You will be required to create a 3 min presentation on information obtained from an interview with an individual who has a profession of interest. You will need to source your own subject to interview. See ilearn for further details. You will need to produce 2 slides or so to use as visual aide to illustrate your points and it will be presented in class.
Due: Week 5
Weighting: 25%
A tailored portfolio that address all criteria is key to getting an interview.
This task has two components.
Part I - A brief personal career statement (max. 1/2 page, 5%). The first is a reflective piece. We require a personal summary of your career aspirations, your strengths and weaknesses relative to these aspirations and what you identify as important skills/qualifications/pathways to achieve these aspirations.
Part II - Application for a particular job
Job advertisement: Supply a job ad or job description/reference material of work that you are interested in applying for (note will also be the job you will be addressing for your interview):
Cover letter (1 - 1.5 pgs; 10%): This letter addresses your suitability for the job by address the advertisement criteria
Curriculum Vitae (max. 2 page; 10%) tailored for the work description/job application above
Due: Week 7
Weighting: 5%
Attend a 5 min job interview simulation with a panel for a position that you apply for in assignment 2 - i.e. Portfolio 1.
Due: Week 7 and Week 9
Weighting: 25%
A scientist is part innovator and part salesperson. The generation of novel ideas often requires connecting multiple pieces of information via known concepts. Coming up with a new idea though is only part of the challenge. You must then sell your idea to others. The aim of selling an idea is to convince an audience to act on your suggestions whether that be through providing funding or resources or simply agreeing that your idea is a good approach to take. The audience you are trying to sell the idea to, may not be initially sympathetic to the idea, have their own agenda and/or, have deeply engrained preconceived notions that are contrary to your own.
This process of generating new ideas and selling them is not just important for scientists but is in fact a generic skill that is important for all workplaces. In fact, once you have a bachelor degree, the workplace expects you will come up with ideas, voice them without invitation and then ultimately act on them. By doing this you become an active participant within the workplace and not just a spectator; and with it comes respect and arguably greater job satisfaction.
In this task, you will need to come up with an angle to convince an audience of the merit of investing in a research topic. To add to this challenge, you will use video as the medium to do this, and you are asked to sell an idea that is developed for a topic that has little or no past research. This assignment is also delivered unlike other assignments. Its delivery simulates a situation in which the boss sends you to a workshop to acquire skills to tackle a task. This creates a circumstance in which you take on great responsibility within the workplace even though you are a junior i.e. no-one in the workplace has the skills to do the task but you.
A workshop including 2 hours of lectures and a 2 hour hands-on tutorial will provide the skills required and from that point you will be treated as an employee. After the workshop we will have a boardroom meeting in which you must provide your idea, which is then further developed at which point you provide a rationale for the idea with a storyboard for the vlog. Feedback from this submission will be acted on by you to make the video.
Requirements:
- Attendance at the workshop (compulsory and attendance will be taken - failure to attend the whole workshop may result in penalties)
- Boardroom activity (compulsory, in class activity)
- A literature supported rationale (10%)
- Script with directions (e.g. storyboard) (5%)
- Video (10%)
Due: Week 10 and 13
Weighting: 40%
You will work in a group to create a solution to a major biological issue present in society today note some activities are delivered as a group and others as an individual.
Includes:
- Boardroom activity (compulsory): outline of plan for the task, planned timeline, allocation of tasks.
- Presubmission presentation (group task): during tutorial you will be asked as a group to present a 10 min pre-submission pitch according to guidelines (10%). (Half of the 10% mark will be peer-assessed)
- Grant proposal (individual): task is to write a short grant proposal explaining how you will tackle your issue and why your solution should be funded. (20%).
- Outreach (group): provide a brief for an outreach extension for the project (10%)
- Reflection (compulsory): A page reflection of group work with a clear outline of contributions of all group members; what worked well and what did not and how could that be improved.
The course consists of a two-hour lecture and a two-hour tutorial each week (compulsory). Although lecture attendance is not mandatory you are expected to attend lectures to get the full learning experience and in a number of cases the attendance is required in order to complete a task satisfactorily. I expect attendance at the lectures. If you are in a workplace you are unable to schedule other things over meetings as they are a requirement of the work. Lectures in this course are equivalent to workplace meetings and in some cases are workshop components. In addition a number of guest lecturers will be involved. Professional courtesy is an important attribute for any employee so why not practice now! Note that there are no tutorials in week 1.
BIO391 is a capstone unit in which students consolidate their learning across a diversity of units within their programs of study and prepare themselves for appropriate transition to the next stage of their careers. This involves active reflection on prior learning, building and articulating a positive self-understanding, exploring opportunities, clarifying goals, acquiring adequate employability and workplace skills, and building linkages with professional communities and industries.
A major objective in this course is to get you to think about, and help you assess, your future career path and the skills you will need to develop to meet your career aspirations. The second major objective is to have you apply what you have learned during your studies in a deeper way, preparing you to tackle biological problems through workplace-derived scenarios.
To pass this subject you must achieve all of the following:
Unit completion requirements
To pass this subject you must achieve all of the following:
- Receive a final overall mark of >50%.
- Attend a minimum of 8 out of 12 tutorials. Note it is expected that you will attend all tutorials. Core skills are acquired during the tutorials that will provide the basis for tackling the challenging assignments so attendance should equate to success and note attendance is mandatory for some lectures.
- Submit all assignments.
Unit outline, workshop notes and course notes will be distributed via iLearn. http://ilearn.mq.edu.au
iLearn is a web-based computer mediated communication package and can be accessed by most web browsers from inside or outside the University. iLearn and email will be the principle method of communication in this subject.
If you are having trouble accessing your online unit due to a disability or health condition, please tell the convener immediately!!!! . Then go to the Student Services Website at http://sss.mq.edu.au/equity/about for information on how to get assistance if the issue cannot be resolved immediately. If you are having problems logging on and you cannot log in after ensuring you have entered your username and password correctly, you should contact Student IT Help, phone (02) 9850 4357 (in Sydney) or 1 800 063 191 (outside Sydney).
Young, S. P. (1984) Careers in the Biological Sciences: Finding Your Niche. In The American Biology Teacher.. 46(1), pp. 12-17+64.
Blickley, J. L. et al. (2013) Graduate Student’s Guide to Necessary Skills for Nonacademic Conservation Careers. In Conservation Biology. 27(1), pp.24-34
Career View publications are available on http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/resources/career_publications/career_view/index.aspx
Career View: Genetics and Molecular Biology
Career View: Marine Biology, Ecology and Biodiversity
Career View: Biotechnology
Career View: Biomedical Science
Graduate Careers Australia http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/CareerPlanningandResources/careerprofiles/index.htm
Myfuture http://myfuture.edu.au/Explore%20Careers.aspx
Astor, B. (2005) What Can You Do with a Major in Biology? New Jersey: Wiley Publishing.
Bernard, T. (2005) Bernard’s Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Jobseeker’s Guide 2005. Queensland: Paddington Academic Press.
Advertisements for a range of positions can be found online or in the print media. For example, the Sydney Morning Herald publishes My Career every Saturday and local newspapers generally have classifieds sections advertising jobs. More high powered or specialized jobs are often advertised in major scientific sources such as Science and Nature.
Public sector positions
The Australian Public Service ‐ jobs within federal government departments and agencies
NSW Government Jobs ‐ jobs within NSW government departments and agencies
Jobs within other state government departments and agencies
Victoria ‐ http://www.careers.vic.gov.au/
Queensland ‐ http://jobs.qld.gov.au/
Western Australia ‐ http://www.jobs.wa.gov.au/
South Australia ‐ http://www.vacancies.sa.gov.au/asp/public/Home.aspx
Northern Territory ‐ http://notes.nt.gov.au/dcis/RMS.nsf/NTGEmploymentHome?OpenForm
Tasmania ‐ http://www.jobs.tas.gov.au/
Private sector positions
Natural Resource Management Jobs ‐ http://search.emailmedia.com.au/nrmjobs.php
EnviroJobs - http://www.envirojobs.com.au/
SEEK - http://www.seek.com.au/
Job Search Australia ‐ http://jobsearch.gov.au/default.aspx
Week | Week Start | Theme | Lecture material | Tutorial (Day) | Assessment (Day) |
1 | 31-Jul | Introduction to the course and you | Course intro / Knowing who you are | No tutorial | |
2 | 7-Aug | The sum of all your parts = money in the bank | Job search strategies / Networking | T1: Presentation skills / Cover letter / CV exercise | |
3 | 13-Aug | Future pathways | STEM Careers Day | T2: Interview presentations | A1: Interview presentation |
4 | 21-Aug | Presentations to order | Interview skills / Medicine | T3: Interview practice | |
5 | 28-Aug | Selling ideas | Sound bytes workshop | T4: Sound bytes workshop (cont) | A2.1: Portfolio |
6 | 4-Sep | Team environment | Guest Lecturer/ Professional Australia / Working in a team | T5: Boardroom 1 / Team work / Problem solving | |
7 | 11-Sep | Selling yourself | Job interviews | T6: Job interviews | A2.2: Job interviews / A3.1: Storyboard and rationale |
Uni Break | 18-Sep to 1-Oct | ||||
8 | 2-Oct | Selling ideas | Grants and grant writing | T7: Boardroom 2 / Modelling data from hypotheses or expectations | |
9 | 9-Oct | Engaging community | Outreach / Science communication / Guest lecturer / Guest lecturer | T8: Grant writing exercises | A3.2: Vlog |
10 | 16-Oct | Ethics | Ethical considerations in the workplace / Guest lecturer | T9: Pre-submission pitch | A4.1: Pre-submission pitch |
11 | 23-Oct | The start to a new beginning | Extension: training/professional development | T10: Grant writing exercises / Designing an outreach activity | |
12 | 30-Oct | T11: vlogFest and wrap-up | |||
13 | 6-Nov | Open session | A4.2: Research/ethics proposal | ||
Externals schedule | Date | Tutorial (Ext) | Assessment (Ext) |
1 | 20-Aug | T1, T2, T3 |
A1: On campus session 1 A2.1: Week 5 A2.2: On campus session 2 A3.1: Week 8 A4: On campus session 4 A5: Week 13 Note well the tutorial and assignment schedule for externals should be treated as preliminary until confirmed directly with the convener. It is likely they will change due to issues associated with scheduling. |
2 | 23-Sep | T4, T5, T6 | |
3 | 24-Sep | T7, T8, T9 | |
4 | 21-Oct | T10, T11 | |
Lecture (2 h) Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00 E7B 100
Internals
Tutorial (2 h) Wednesday 14:00 - 16:00 F5A 428
16:00 - 18:00 F5A 428
Thursday 10:00 - 12:00 F5A 428
14:00 - 16:00 F5A 428
Externals
On campus session 1: 20th August E8A 120
On campus session 2: 23-24th September E8A 120
On campus session 3: 21st October E8A 120
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy_2016.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Complaint Management Procedure for Students and Members of the Public http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/complaint_management/procedure.html
Disruption to Studies Policy (in effect until Dec 4th, 2017): http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html
Special Consideration Policy (in effect from Dec 4th, 2017): https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policies/special-consideration
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
Results shown in iLearn, 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 ask.mq.edu.au.
Plagarism
The university has strict guidelines regarding plagiarism please see the policy above. Any student deemed to have plagarised will need to address the discipline committee. If the student is deemed to have a case to answer for, at minimum, the student will have marks deducted at worse students run the risk of expulsion from the university. Please avoid the temptation. Plagarism is a career killer and not only influences your own reputation but that of the institution and/or workplace that you represent. Avoid lending your work to anyone and do not copy and paste sections into your assignment with the aim of just rewording.
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/.
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.
Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.
This graduate capability is supported by: