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

Conflict, whether explicit or hidden, underlies all decisions, such that development of conflict management and negotiation skills is essential for those tasked with shaping the built environment. Conflicts will inevitably arise in professional, interpersonal and community settings, requiring considered and ethical action. Planners and others working in built environment professions are able to be more effective in their professional practice when they understand how conflict ¿works¿ and can participate innegotiation of mutually beneficial resolutions. . Learning to think about conflict in a rational manner, and practicing these skills through role plays, in tandem with analyses of the intricacies of ¿real world¿ development conflicts, provides preparation for future professional practice.

Aims

The unit will:

1. aid in your understanding of the nature of conflict in built environment settings;
   
2. facilitate growth and refinement of your analytic and communication skills to increase your ability to effectively manage conflict; and
   
3. foster development of reflective capacity wherein conflict may be viewed as an inevitable and sometimes valuable part of practice for planners and others in built environment professions.

Objectives

On completion of this unit you will have:

1. developed knowledge of theories, strategies, and methodologies involved in effective negotiation and conflict resolution;
   
2. demonstrated growth in development of your skills as a negotiator and communicator, particularly as they relate to reasoned analysis, empathic understanding and appropriate use of assertive behaviour;
   
3. demonstrated a sound understanding of ethics and conflict values, along with an ability to understand and critically assess your role as a built environment professional in dispute resolution processes; and
   
4. demonstrated an ability to critically assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of traditional and alternative dispute resolution approaches in particular conflict situations and to craft appropriate solutions.

Content

Major topics to be covered include the fundamentals, history and frameworks of negotiation and conflict resolution, with particular emphasis on practical applications of negotiation and conflict resolution techniques as they apply to urban and regional planning.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Weekly unit meetings, conducted in a studio format, will incorporate brief traditional lectures, small group discussions, workshop-style seminars, and interactive negotiation exercises in a combined three hour block. It is anticipated that you will undertake prescribed readings as directed in advance of these meetings, such that you will be prepared to engage in discussions with your colleagues and teaching staff regarding theories, strategies, and methodologies involved in effective negotiation and conflict resolution. Lectures will aid in bridging theory with practice, presenting analyses of built environment conflicts framed by unit readings. Guest lectures will supplement those delivered by teaching staff, providing additional context and applications of theory to "real world" conflicts. You'll participate in interactive learning with your peers through negotiation exercises towards resolution of simulated conflicts, providing adfditional opportunities to hone your developing skills. While the exercises undertaken during the sessions will not be graded, you will be assessed on submission of reflective journals drafted in response to unit activities, including these negotiations. You'll also find, as have prior students, that sincere participation in resolution of simulated conflicts makes the theories you'll be reading about far more relevant, and that doing so will aid in your understanding of conflicts and development of your skills in dealing with such. Your understanding of the skills developed in the tutorials, along with the knowledge gained from the lectures and recommended readings, is essential to successful completion of the graded assessments as described below. Finally, teaching and learning in the unit come full circle, as you'll be tasked with working in small groups to analyse contemporary built environment conflicts, and sharing your insights with your peers in a seminar format.

Assessment

Assessment for this unit involves both independent and collaborative work efforts. Your participation in tutorial exercises is essential to the success of this unit for both yourself and your colleagues, particularly as the first piece of assessment requires that students reflect on such participation.You will receive both formative and summative feedback on assessments. Formative feedback will occur in the form of face-to-face dialogues and electronic exchanges amongst and between students and teaching staff.

Assessment name: Reflective Journal
Description: Negotiation & Conflict Resolution Journal
Throughout the semester you will draft and post (in an online forum) weekly reflections in response to questions posted by teaching staff. Questions will address ideas raised in the prescribed readings, "real world" cases discussed in unit lectures and small groups, and skills developed through tutorial exercises. Your efforts in writing these reflections, while valid in their own right, constitute preliminary work towards other assessments. Your weekly postings (11 total, each ~250 words, weeks to be addressed on the unit Blackboard site) will be assessed only on a credit/no credit basis, with no credit allowed for late postings or for postings devoid of substantive content. You will only receive marks for ten out of the eleven postings, allowing you to decide to skip one week without penalty.
While your responses should be your own work, you are encouraged to reference the unit texts and other materials as well as to discuss the questions with your colleagues throughout the semester to help foster group learning.
Submission: Throughout semester (exact dates to be negotiated in Week 1) via Unit Blackboard Site
Relates to objectives: 1. develop knowledge of theories, strategies, and methodologies involved in effective negotiation and conflict resolution;
2. demonstrate growth in development of your skills as a negotiator and communicator, particularly as they relate to reasoned analysis, empathic understanding and appropriate use of assertive behaviour; and
3. demonstrate a sound understanding of ethics and conflict values, along with an ability to understand and critically assess your role as a built environment professional in dispute resolution processes.
Weight: 10%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Throughtout Sem

Assessment name: Self-assessment
Description: Self Assessment of Learning Gains
At two points during the semester, midway through (Week 7) and at the end (Week 15), you'll draft longer (~750 words) statements assessing your own learning gains for the unit to date. These documents should incorporate a synthesis of your weekly reflections, but are not intended to be a simple replication of such. More information on this assessment is available in the project brief and CRA, both of which can be found on the unit Blackboard site.
Submission: Week 7, Week 15 (exact dates to be negotiated in Week 1) via SafeAssign
Relates to objectives: 1. develop knowledge of theories, strategies, and methodologies involved in effective negotiation and conflict resolution;
2. demonstrate growth in development of your skills as a negotiator and communicator, particularly as they relate to reasoned analysis, empathic understanding and appropriate use of assertive behaviour;
3. demonstrate a sound understanding of ethics and conflict values, along with an ability to understand and critically assess your role as a built environment professional in dispute resolution processes; and
4. demonstrate an ability to critically assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of traditional and alternative dispute resolution approaches in particular conflict situations and to craft appropriate solutions.
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 7, 15

Assessment name: Case Study
Description: Built Environment Conflict Case Study
For this assessment you'll form teams of 4-5 members, and jointly, with advice from teaching staff, select, from a list of options, a specific, current planning dispute involving a development application filed with a local council which has gone on to the Planning & Environment Court for description and analysis drawing upon case documents and unit readings. Based on your analyses and learning gains from the unit, you'll then propose creative solutions which go beyond the resolution achieved to date by the actual stakeholders and decision-makers. Your collaborative work will result in a report summarising your work, along with a short presentation to be given in an open forum for built environment professionals to be scheduled during the examination period. Each team member will also be tasked with undertaking self and peer assessments (available only to the unit coordinator) of contributions to the group effort. Whilst the overall assessment is worth 50% of your unit result, the components of the assessment will be weighted as follows relative to your unit result: report - 35%, presentation, 10%, project self and peer assessment 5%. More information on this assessment is available in the project brief and CRA, both of which can be found on the unit Blackboard site.
Relates to objectives: 1. develop knowledge of theories, strategies, and methodologies involved in effective negotiation and conflict resolution;
2. demonstrate growth in development of your skills as a negotiator and communicator, particularly as they relate to reasoned analysis, empathic understanding and appropriate use of assertive behaviour;
3. demonstrate a sound understanding of ethics and conflict values, along with an ability to understand and critically assess your role as a built environment professional in dispute resolution processes; and
4. demonstrate an ability to critically assess the appropriateness and effectiveness of traditional and alternative dispute resolution approaches in particular conflict situations and to craft appropriate solutions.
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Group
Due date: End of Semester

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 are two prescribed texts for the unit - in accordance with QUT policies, copies of these texts will be available on reserve at the QUT Gardens Point Library (V-Block):

Fells, R. 2010. Effective negotiation: From research to results. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

O'Hart, A. 2010. The community litigants handbook: Using planning law to protect the environment. Brisbane: Environmental Defenders Office.

Additional readings will be available on the unit Blackboard site.

Risk assessment statement

The unit may include an option for you to participate in a field trip of a supervised nature. A risk assessment for this trip has identified only low impact risks. You will be provided with relevant safety guidelines prior to any field trip. You will be required to obey all safety guidelines and directions of teaching staff while on field trips.

Additional Costs
There are no additional costs, other than those listed under Resource Materials above, 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: 19-Oct-2012