Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

PYB000 is a foundation unit for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Psychology) degree. This unit provides an introduction to the nature, scope, and application of psychological knowledge in diverse professional contexts, and considers the social, cultural and ethical, and multidisciplinary frameworks that shape psychological practice. This unit aims to develop your skills as an active and reflective learner, by explicitly linking the academic and generic skills you will develop throughout the course, with their application to psychological practice.

Aims

This unit aims to provide you with an introduction to the practice of psychology in diverse contexts, and an understanding of social, cultural, legal, and ethical factors that influence psychological practice. In addition, the unit aims to provide the foundation for your professional and academic development, by explicitly highlighting links between your formal studies in psychology and psychological practice, developing foundation literacy and communication skills, and highlighting their relevance to your personal, career, and academic learning goals.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of the unit, you will able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of how psychological knowledge, skills, and values can be applied in a variety of occupational and community settings;



2. Demonstrate an understanding of key cultural, legal, and ethical factors that influence psychological practice;



3. Recognise the role of collaborative professional practice in enhancing psychological well-being;



4. Demonstrate technological and academic literacy skills that enhance communication and information retrieval in the discipline context of psychology;



5. Demonstrate an ability to work and achieve scholarly goals within a collaborative group environment and to reflect on this process.

Content

This unit will provide an introduction to the practice of psychology (broadly defined), including the scientist-practitioner model, professional, ethical, cultural and consumer issues; and the application of psychological knowledge in diverse contexts. In addition, the unit will address foundation literacy and communication skills, and their relevance to your personal, career, and academic development.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Formal lectures, guest speakers, tutorials, and study groups will be used. The lecture program will introduce you to the nature and breadth of psychological practice, professional and ethical frameworks and societal and cultural influences on psychological practice. Tutorials will focus on developing your skills as active and collaborative learners, and your competencies in information literacy and communication.

Assessment

In this unit we use both summative and formative assessment. The summative assessment tasks contribute to your total marks for this unit and provide you with experience to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and attributes you are developing through the unit. This unit uses a mix of summative assessment to allow you to apply what you are learning in a number of different ways. Formative assessment provides you with opportunities to explore the unit content and to practice applying new skills but does not count towards your final grade. Examples of formative assessment include tutorial workshops, discussions, and other practice activities.The teaching staff aim to provide you with feedback to help you improve your understanding of material and to further develop relevant skills. You will receive feedback through a variety of ways in this unit. Across the semester, feedback will be provided by the teaching staff during class activities, discussions, and by request during consultation times. Feedback will also be provided as part of the marking of summative assessment (see Assessment 1, 2, and 3 below).

Assessment name: Multimedia Presentation
Description: Working in groups of 4-5 students, you will research an area of psychological practice and prepare a multi-media/poster presentation on your topic. You will present your work to your tutorial group in a min-conference format (10 mins per group), supported by a one page summary of your individual contribution.
Weight: 40% (20% group presentation, 20% individual summary)
Relates to objectives: 1, 2 & 4
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Group with Individual Component
Due date: Mid-Semester

Assessment name: Student Portfolio
Description: The Student Portfolio provides a forum for you to document and reflect upon your learning throughout your course. For this assessment, you will be required to complete three academic entries in your Student Portfolio, addressing key graduate attributes developed in the unit.
Relates to objectives: 1, 2, 4 & 5
Weight: 30%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Progressively

Assessment name: Tutorial Workbook
Description: During the semester, there will be a number of workshop style tutorials. In these classes, you will explore key cultural, legal, and ethical issues related to this unit through a mix of case studies, problem solving tasks, and discussions. Your will be required to select your responses to three of these workshop classes and submit them as a workbook collection.
Relates to objectives: 1-5
Weight: 30%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 13

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

There is not set text for this unit.

Risk assessment statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 13-Sep-2012