EDUC 7055 - Research Communication

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2015

This course focuses on developing the student's written and spoken English skills with regard to research genres in their specific disciplines.

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Course Details

Course Code	EDUC 7055
Course	Research Communication
Coordinating Unit	School of Education
Term	Semester 1
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week, 1 x 1.5 hour seminar per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Assessment	Reflective blog postings and essay (30%), portfolio of research writing tasks (50%), grammar and self editing tasks (20%)

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Dr Michelle Picard

Course Coordinator: Richard Warner

Phone: 08 8313 6038

Email: richard.warner@adelaide.edu.au

Lecturer: Dr Julia Miller

Phone: 08 8313 4721

Email: julia.miller@adelaide.edu.au

Campus: North Terrace

Office hours for course: Tuesdays 9 am - 12 pm

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

1. Communicate verbally as appropriate in a variety of research contexts.

2. Communicate in writing as appropriate in a variety of research contexts.

3. Apply argument structure and appropriate academic critique in a variety of spoken and written genres.

4. Communicate in accordance with the conventions of their discipline, using appropriate grammatical structures and vocabulary.

5. Produce appropriate ethics documentation that demonstrates an awareness of ethical and social issues in the Australian research environment.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Knowledge and understanding of the content and techniques of a chosen discipline at advanced levels that are internationally recognised.	1,2,3,5
The ability to locate, analyse, evaluate and synthesise information from a wide variety of sources in a planned and timely manner.	1,3,4
An ability to apply effective, creative and innovative solutions, both independently and cooperatively, to current and future problems.	1,2,5
Skills of a high order in interpersonal understanding, teamwork and communication.	1,2,4,5
A proficiency in the appropriate use of contemporary technologies.	5
A commitment to continuous learning and the capacity to maintain intellectual curiosity throughout life.	3
A commitment to the highest standards of professional endeavour and the ability to take a leadership role in the community.	3,4,5
An awareness of ethical, social and cultural issues within a global context and their importance in the exercise of professional skills and responsibilities.	5

Learning Resources

Required Resources

There is no textbook for this course. Rather, students will be required to read selected literature and notes on key communication issues covered in the course and disciplinary texts as appropriate.

Recommended Resources

Additional course-related material is available through MyUni.

Online Learning

Additional course-related material is available through MyUni.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course is built around a series of lectures/workshops covering the fundamental research communication issues. These are complemented by seminars providing practice in written and spoken communication contexts. Related assignments are designed to consolidate the learning of key principles and development of communication skills.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

1 x ½ hour lecture per week (x12) = 18 hours

1 x 1 ½ hour seminar per week (x12) = 18 hours

1x 4 hour reading per week (x12) = 48 hours

4+x Graded editing tasks = 12 hours

1 x Discipline-specific corpus and reflection (x1) = 20 hours

4 x Research documents for different audiences = 40 hours

Total = 156

Learning Activities Summary

Week 1: 3 March Diagnostic Exercise only lecture, no seminar this week.
Assessment of reading, writing and citation. Induction into course and assessment requirements.

Homework for next week: Bring along a disciplinary/ topic focussed research article for note-taking.

Week 2: 10 March Reading and note-taking for researchers
Lecture: Reading and Notetaking for researchers
Seminar: Exercise on citation, taking notes from a disciplinary research article
Homework: Take a set of referenced notes on an additional research article and bring article and notes to class

Week 3: 17 March Taking a critical approach to the Scholarship in the Field
Lecture: Taking a critical approach to the scholarship of the field
Seminar: Abstracts as a research genre, identifying 'critical information' from notes
Homework: Write a summary/abstract for the article you took notes on for homework

Week 4: 24 March Reviewing literature
Lecture: Reviewing literature
Seminar: Unpacking introductions to research proposals and research articles
Homework: Develop a mind-map or table on 5+ articles on a topic.

Week 5: 31st of March Appropriate Citation and avoiding plagiarism
Lecture: Appropriate Citation and avoiding plagiarism
Seminar: Responding to Turnitin.com feedback on abstracts, learning about acceptable intertextuality
Work on speaking practice reading disciplinary texts aloud and summarising their content verbally in a coherent fashion.

Week 6: 7 April Presenting a seminar in your discipline
Lecture: Presenting a seminar in your discipline
Seminar: Effective Powerpoint design
Homework: Design Powerpoint introductory 5 slides maximum for an article or your project using the University templates.

Week 7: 28 April Research Genres
Lecture: Research Genres
Seminar: Detailed exploration of research genres: popular media article, ethics proposal, review article, and research article
Homework: Prepare research article introduction and popular media article on the same topic.

Week 8: 5 May Research Proposals
Lecture: Research Proposals
Seminar: Pronunication for researchers
Homework: Study Sound scripting of presentation scripts.

Week 9: 12 May Language for Researchers
Lecture: Language for researchers
Seminar: Corpora and concordancing & developing a language learning log.
Homework: Develop your own corpus of readings and study for the grammar test

Week 10: 19 May Readability in Research Documents
Lecture: Readability in research documents
Seminar: Grammar exercises & complete one grammar test
Homework: Study for grammar tests x 2

Week 11: 26 May Editing and Self-editing
Lecture: Editing and self-editing
Seminar: Listening for researchers
Homework: Complete a portfolio of 3 to 5 listening activities, study for self-editing test

Week 12: 2 June Being supervised/ interacting with other researchers
Lecture: Being supervised
Seminar: Research posters
Homework: Prepare for presentations of posters or Powerpoint introductions (5 minute presentations)

Week 13: 9 June Presenting seminars or posters (both lessons)
Seminar: Discussion of reflective essay task

Specific Course Requirements

Note that attendance at seminars is compulsory.

Small Group Discovery Experience

Small group work is part of every seminar. Each student conducts research into their disciplinary language conventions - thus the course also has a distinctive 'discovery' component.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

1. Discipline-specific language tool log and reflection

Task description: Creation of a language tool log, weekly reflections and discussions on vocabulary, and other skills development and a 1000 word reflective essay on language use in your discipline
Type of assessment: Formative & Summative)
Dates of submission: Blogs: Week 2 onwards, Reflective essay handed in Week 13
Percentage of grade: 30%
Objectives: 1,3,4,5

2. Graded editing tasks

Task description: Discipline-specific editing tasks
Type of assessment: Formative & Summative)
Including tasks on tense, articles, voice, sentence structure/ word form, readability and self-editing
Dates of submission: Weeks 8-13
Percentage of grade: 20%
Objectives: 2,3,4,5

3. Research communication portfolio

Task description: Written/ oral tasks for different different research contexts
E.g. abstract, media article, poster, powerpoint, seminar notes, ethics document.
Dates of submission: Weeks 3-13 (Completed in week 12)
Percentage of grade: 50%
Objectives: 1,2,3,4,5

Assessment Detail

No information currently available.

Submission

No information currently available.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

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Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator