TEXTBOOK: Baden Eunson, W. Communicating for the 21st Century. Sydney: Wiley & Sons
Either hard copy or e-book is acceptable. Please also purchase the istudy guide.

The textbook is available to purchase from: Unibooks, Encompass.

JOURNAL ARTICLE: Hillier S, Grimmer-Somers K, Merlin T, Middleton P, Salisbury J, Tooher R, Weston A. FORM: An Australian method for formulating and grading recommendations in evidence-based clinical guidelines. BMC Medical Research Methodology 2011;11:23

DOCUMENT: NHMRC: FORM Formulating recommendations in evidence-based clinical practice guidelines

The journal article and NHMRC FORM document will be available on MyUni

All learning resources will be provided through My Uni, as will all other course materials such as the course profile, notes for lectures, lecture recordings (where audio-visual equipment is available), tutorial activities, discussion board, quizzes, and assignment information and submission (where appropriate).

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine http://www.cebm.net/ 

BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine Resources http://group.bmj.com/products/evidence-centre/evidence-based-medicine-resources/ebm-resources 

Healthinsite Australian Government Health Information website http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/ 

NHMRC Guidelines portal http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines 

COMPUTER LABORATORIES AND OTHER COMPUTING SERVICES

University information on computer laboratories and other computing services is available at: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/its/student_services/comp_lab.html 

The Health Sciences computer laboratory, S118, is situated on the first floor of the Medical School South Building. Twenty-four hour access to computers is provided at the Barr Smith Library.

Communication for Health Sciences makes lecture notes and other teaching aids available electronically to students, through MyUni.

MYUNI

MyUni is the primary entry point to online learning at Adelaide University. MyUni provides students and staff with access to course materials, discussion forums, announcements, online and many other features to help manage your study or teaching. You can connect to MyUni on or off campus from an internet connected computer using a Web browser. The URL is: www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au/ 

Login to this resource using your Username and Password. Once logged on to MyUni, you will find the information displayed is customised to present only details relevant to you and the online content for courses that you are studying.

For enquiries about online education services, what’s available and access, contact the Online Education Helpdesk:

Phone: (08) 8303 3335

E-mail: myuni.help@adelaide.edu.au 

The Helpdesk is available for extended hours during the week or through voicemail.

In Communication for Health Sciences, you will use MyUni for a number of purposes:-

Accessing announcements about changes in scheduling, course information etc.

Accessing lecture notes both in pdf format and, if recording is possible in the allocated lecture theatre, in audio file format.

Accessing online learning activities including self and peer-assessment tasks, discussion boards, blog posts, wikis

Accessing online resources

Online; self-assessment of communicative competence and ICT literacy (specifically in the use of ICT tools for communication and research); online discussion; production of an online blog and peer assessment of other students’ work.

Intensive week: Communication workshops consisting of short lectures and associated practical activities; Health focus activities including short lectures, discussion and opportunity for individual and group work; Health information activities including short lectures, practicals and opportunity for individual and group work.

Areas must provide a breakdown of the required time commitment for this course. 40 hours of face-to-face contact during the intensive week (5 x 8 hours/day) + 40 hours of online learning activities + 6-7 hours of reading & assessment preparation per week (spread over the month prior to and the month following the intensive week, and the intensive week).

Participation 10%
Student participation will be assessed through a combination of completion of online learning activities (the communication skills audit and health focus poll and contribution to online discussions) and active involvement in all aspects of the week long intensive including formative self and peer assessment tasks built into the learning activities.
 
Health communication report (15%)
You will analyse a variety of communication artefacts (available in the relevant MyUni module) to identify what, if any, strategy was used to communicate about the health topic to the public. Your report (of no more than 400 words) will include a situation analysis (placing the issue in context, identifying stakeholder positions, and factors likely to influence the issue), an outline of the communication objectives, and a summary of the communication strategy adopted including the messages, channels and tools used in the communication strategy. Finally you will write a media release of no more than 100 words which could be used as part of the strategy.

Interview skills assessment (15%)
You will work in groups of three to devise short interview schedules (maximum 2-3 questions per student) to question experts and stakeholders regarding the health focus topic under investigation. Following a presentation and panel discussion from the experts and stakeholders, groups will have the opportunity to individually interview their selected expert or stakeholder and the interview will be videotaped for later evaluation (after the panel members have left). The groups will use self- and peer-assessment to critique their interview technique and general communication skills and also to evaluate their success in obtaining useful information. Marks will be awarded individually based on tutor assessment.

Group assessment (30%)
You will form into mock guideline development groups of 6-8 students each. You will use a nationally and internationally recognised methodology and process (the NHMRC FORM process) to work systematically through the available evidence regarding the health focus area in order to make a single evidence-based recommendation for practice and/or policy. The FORM process (used by Australian clinical practice guideline development groups producing NHMRC endorsed national evidence-based clinical practice guidelines) will enable groups to consider the evidence and the practical implications of the recommendation they make, as well as integrating the information they have gathered from discussion with experts, stakeholders, patients, consumers and others. Groups will be assessed both on the outcome of the activity (i.e. the evidence-based recommendation they devise) and the process including documentation of the steps taken to reach their conclusions (presentation and synthesis of the evidence-base, assessment of clinical or policy relevance, applicability to the local health care setting and generalisability of the evidence to the population in question). Your group will also devise a dissemination plan for your recommendation. You will need to identify the audience and appropriate mediums for getting your messages across (written, video, interactive etc.) and provide a rationale for your choices.

Health information product (30%)
The aim of this task will be to assess your ability to communicate complex health information in a way that is both comprehensible and engaging for members of the public. This task will allow you to demonstrate your mastery of the health focus information you have gathered, your ability to formulate information for the public that is both evidence-informed and accessible and to show your creativity in the development of material in any format in which you judge you have competence. It will provide a showcase for demonstrating your understanding of what is important in communication about health sciences. An assessment rubric will be used to clearly delineate the criteria for comparison of information products which may be written, audiovisual, slideshows, or using other social media. You will be required to justify your choice of media. A Health in Focus website will be created for this course (by the course coordinator) and you will have the chance to include your information product on the website so it can be shared with other students and the wider public.

Assignments are submitted electronically, unless otherwise advised.

The appropriate cover page must be attached to each assignment. This page indicates the course, the assignment title, your name and number, and tutor’s name and contains a signed statement that the named student is responsible for the work contained in the assignment.

These cover pages are available through MyUni.

If submitting an assignment in hardcopy you must also sign and date the designated class sheet (for this course and this assignment) which will be sited at the front office of the Discipline of Public Health, 178 North Tce (level 7). Do not enclose the assignment in a plastic sheet.

Assignments must be submitted by the specified time on the due date.

You should retain a printed copy of the assignment submitted.

No assignment will be accepted by mail or fax without prior written agreement from the course coordinator.

Feedback will be provided on the marked assignments.
It is not possible to resubmit, redeem or substitute work once assignments have been submitted

Extensions
All extensions for assignments must be requested, at the latest, by the last working day before the due date of submission.

Extensions will generally be granted only on medical or genuine compassionate grounds.

Late requests for extension will neither be accepted nor acknowledged.

Only the course coordinator, Dr Rebecca Tooher, may grant extensions.

Documentary supporting evidence such as a medical certificate or a police report (in the case of lost computers, car & household theft etc) will be required when requesting an extension.

Lateness
Marks will be deducted when assignments for which no extension has been granted are handed in late. The procedure is as follows:

All assignments, including those handed in late, will be assessed on their merits. In the case of late assignments, marks will then be deducted from the mark awarded, at the rate of 5 percentage points of the total possible per day. This policy will apply to assignments submitted after the period of automatic extension described above.
eg. If an assignment which is 2 days late is awarded 65% on its merits, the mark will then be reduced by 10 (5 marks per day for 2 days) to 55%. If that same assignment is 4 days late its mark will be reduced by 20 (5 marks per day for 4 days) to 45% etc.

The Discipline reserves the right to refuse to accept an assignment that is more than 7 days late.

Assignments submitted after the due date may not be graded in time to be returned on the listed return dates.

Students submitting examinable written work who request (and receive) an extension that takes them beyond the examination period are advised that there is no guarantee that their grades will be processed in time to meet usual University deadlines.