Unit rationale, description and aim
Engagement with community provides the opportunity for health professionals to work closely and collaboratively with groups of people towards a community prioritised goal. Within the food and nutrition context, this often translates to programs that improve food and nutrition literacy of community members, address a food system priority, or address a policy gap. Through an immersive experience, students will gain experience in working alongside community leaders and members on a priority that impacts the food and nutrition status of the members of the community. They will be provided opportunity to actively participate addressing this priority. Students can opt, and will be supported, to undertake this experience in either a local, interstate, or overseas location, where possible. This unit aims to provide students with an opportunity to develop and/or enhance adjacent skills in culturally safe practice, empathy, flexibility, adaptability, working in a team, collaboration, leadership, and social responsibility while creatively and realistically addressing a real food and nutrition priority.
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.
Critically examine the principles of community eng...
Learning Outcome 01
Demonstrate advanced cultural safety in practice, ...
Learning Outcome 02
Reflect and report on the factors that impact of t...
Learning Outcome 03
Reflect on the personal journey throughout the pla...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
This unit includes topics related to the development and demonstration of professional dietetic practice and competence according to the Accreditation Standards of Dietitians Australia. These are described under the heading ‘Building professional dietetic practice’ in each unit outline and build on topics delivered synchronously and progressively throughout the degree. Those in bold reflect ‘new’ topics addressed in this unit. Students will have opportunities for collecting evidence of competence in these, and in other areas (italics).
Building professional dietetic practice:
- reflection and evaluation of practice, peer support and assessment
- acknowledges, reflects and understands own values, beliefs, attitudes, biases and assumptions privilege and power, at the individual and systems level, and their influence on practice
- culturally safe and responsive practice (requiring emotional, spiritual, and cultural intelligence)
This unit requires the completion of 15 days of community engagement placement. Content delivery is arranged as required to support these placements and the underpinning theoretical components. This content includes:
- principles of community engagement and reflectiveness;
- application of principles and practices for addressing food and nutrition priorities sustainably.
- cultural intelligence, especially when working with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, Culturally and linguistically diverse and other diverse groups, in diverse areas e.g. locally and internationally
- professionalism in work contexts
- food and nutrition priorities of placement location
Both professional practice and performance will be directed by the university and the appointed placement supervisor at the host organisation, through a pre-defined and monitored set of criteria which encompass:
- completion of defined project or project element/s
- professional practices/attributes to be demonstrated whilst undertaking the experience
- ability to seek, respond to and provide feedback from community and supervisors
- overall student performance throughout the placement
Assessment strategy and rationale
In this unit, three assessment tasks are sequenced to progressively support students learning in alignment with the learning and teaching strategy. A range of assessment strategies are used in ways that support the developmental sequence of the learning and teaching strategy. The first assessment task involves a written assessment task submitted prior to commencement of placement, with feedback provided during the placement. In this task students will examine the food and nutrition priorities of the community of their placement and engage the community in addressing these priorities. The second assessment task involves students collecting evidence of how the placement experience has helped them and will continue to help them realise their personal and professional potential, and especially to enhance their cultural safety in practice. The final assessment is a supervisor assessment of performance during the practice placement and will be completed formatively mid-way through the placement and summatively at the end of placement. There is one ungraded hurdle requirement for this unit for all students, 15 days of placement. For those students undertaking placement overseas, there will be additional hurdle requirements that will relate to safe travel to that country.
Overview of assessments
To pass the unit, students must demonstrate that they have achieved each learning outcome, passed any graded or ungraded hurdle tasks and obtained a total mark of 50% in the unit as the minimum standard.
Completing 100% of placement hours is a requirement to pass this unit. Students are required to submit a medical certificate or statutory declaration for any professional experience placement hours missed. An interim grade of “IP” will be made if 100% attendance at the professional experience placement is not achieved.
Assessment 1 Written assessment task Enables s...
Assessment 1
Written assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate critical evaluation of national or international food and nutrition priorities and the role of community development in addressing these priorities.
40%
Assessment 2 Multimedia assessment task Enables...
Assessment 2
Multimedia assessment task
Enables students to demonstrate their ability to reflect on their placement and how it may shape their personal and professional development.
40%
Assessment 3 Supervisor's report of practice pla...
Assessment 3
Supervisor's report of practice placement
20%
Ungraded hurdle Completion of 15 days of placeme...
Ungraded hurdle
Completion of 15 days of placement.
*Ungraded
Hurdle
*If a student has not successfully completed the placement ungraded hurdle, additional placement time (up to one third of total placement time) may be offered to allow demonstration of an appropriate level of competency.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
The unit content will be delivered intensively over 4 weeks. The theory component will be delivered over a 1-week period followed by the practical component.
In keeping with the sequence of learning outcomes in this unit, the learning and teaching strategy adopted comprises three key phases that are designed to provide students with a developmental learning experience. These phases relate to understanding and practice of community engagement as a vehicle to understand and address food and nutrition priorities. The unit therefore begins with approaches designed to assist students actively participate in preparation for a community engagement placement, which will differ according to the location of placement i.e. onshore or offshore. The unit then proceeds first to the case study and then to the experiential component, 15 days of community placement. Overall, the approaches used in this unit have a constructively aligned developmental sequence designed to progressively, and logically, support students learning in ways that maximise the perceived (and actual) relevance and value of each stage. As an overarching strategy, this is expected to engender high levels of engagement, efficiency, and effectiveness in students’ study behaviours, and to maximise their learning achievements. This strategy and approaches will allow students to meet the aim, learning outcomes and graduate attributes of the unit. Learning and teaching approaches will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner. Students will be expected to take responsibility for their learning and to participate actively in learning activities.