Unit rationale, description and aim
Professional practice is an integral aspect of the transition from learner to practitioner. It provides students with the opportunity to apply their knowledge, understanding and skills in a work and/or organisational context. This unit delivers a 'capstone' experience for students by providing a professional placement in a high performance sport organisation. Students engage in a work environment to provide experiential contexts for the development and application of their learnings. The aim of the unit is to develop in students professional/workplace skills and networks to meet the goals of the professional or industry body. The experience also enhances the reciprocal flow of knowledge and its application between the University and the workplace or community setting in which the student is placed. The unit is designed to create a safe experience in peer review because of the importance of maintaining standards of professional and ethical practice in the workplace.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Apply specialised knowledge and skills from academ...
Learning Outcome 01
Display appropriate standards of social responsibi...
Learning Outcome 02
Critically reflect on practice and evaluate areas ...
Learning Outcome 03
Collaborate effectively in the multidisciplinary e...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Student activities will focus on:
- engaging in experiences of professional service or workplace practice
- clearly articulating responsibilities and mutual expectations of the student, academic supervisor, and workplace or placement supervisor
- engaging in structured activities and delivering specified outcomes, as developed and agreed upon by the student, academic supervisor, and workplace or placement supervisor
- integrating, where applicable, the knowledge and skills gained through academic study to the practice setting
- being informed about their personal responsibilities for occupational health and safety during placement in a professional/work setting
- contributing in a socially responsible and ethical manner to the goals of the organisation and its stakeholders in which they are placed
Assessment strategy and rationale
In order to best enable students to achieve unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes, standards-based assessment is utilised, consistent with University assessment requirements a Standards-based assessment is utilised. The assessment strategy is scaffolded to allow for progressive development of knowledge and skills from applied high performance sport settings. A range of assessment strategies have been purposefully designed for the assessment of learning outcomes reflecting the principles of authentic assessment design and include:
- An Ungraded Hurdle Task for this unit has been designed to provide that minimum standards are satisfied for the benefit of the student, host organisation and Australian Catholic University.
- Assessment Task 1: allows students to reflect on the application of evidence-based practices in their area of interest.
- Assessment Task 2: requires students to further demonstrate their knowledge and application in an area of interest that has been identified in their Industry Internship.
- Assessment Task 3 is a Case Conference presentation and Viva Voce that will allow the students to design a short presentation about their Industry Internship placement and verbally answer questions raised about aspects of the placement.
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, pass the hurdle task, and obtain a minimum mark of 50% in graded units.
Overview of assessments
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, pass the hurdle task, and obtain a minimum mark of 50% in graded units.
Hurdle Task (Ungraded Hurdle) Completion o...
Hurdle Task (Ungraded Hurdle)
Completion of ACU-specific and discipline-specific requirements for professional practice.
*Ungraded
Hurdle
Assessment 1 Critical Reflection and Log B...
Assessment 1
Critical Reflection and Log Book:
Allows for ongoing appraisal of the work and experiences students have on their internship. This helps them to identify aspects of their professional practice which they determine require improvement, and plan development activities to address this.
Supervisor's Report
Enables the industry supervisor to provide feedback to the student at the midway point and the completion of the internship.
40%
Assessment 2 Demonstrate and communicate knowle...
Assessment 2
Demonstrate and communicate knowledge of High Performance Sport
This assessment requires students to demonstrate their application of specialist knowledge and understanding by submitting an example of the type of tasks completed during the placement.
Furthermore, you are required to outline the evidence based practices to support (or refute) the work completed during the placement. You may also discuss how the information was utilised by the organisation and how it contributed to improving performance.
20%
Assessment 3 Case Conference Presentation and V...
Assessment 3
Case Conference Presentation and Viva
Students present a case conference from their industry experience and reflect upon their knowledge, skills and attributes.
40%
*This hurdle task must be completed prior to the commencement of your internship.
EXSC657 requires students to meet pre-placement requirements by the compliance due date specified within InPlace. The Faculty of Health Sciences require students to meet pre-placement compliance as set out in the ACU Work Integrated Learning site to ensure that students hold the essential checks, immunisations, and training for placement eligibility. All students must meet mandatory State or Territory legal and industry policy requirements prior to being allocated a placement. Failure to meet these pre-placement requirements means students are ineligible for professional experience placement allocation.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
ACU Online:
The learning and teaching strategies that comprise this unit of work-integrated learning recognise and utilise contributions from both academic and practice settings. These include active learning, case-based learning, individual and group activities, web-based learning, and reflective/critical thinking activities. This range of strategies will provide students with appropriate access to required knowledge and understanding of unit content, and experiences to apply this as well as develop practical skills relevant to the high performance sport industry. This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge and skills essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.