Subject Outline

1 Subject details

1.1   Student participation requirements

The JCU Learning, Teaching and Assessment Procedures (2.1.2d) indicates a typical student workload for a three (3) credit point subject requires a 130 hour work load of study related activities, including attendance, assessment and self-directed study over the duration of the subject with equivalency across all attendance modes.

Note that attendance at specified classes will be a mandatory requirement for satisfactory completion of some subjects (Learning, Teaching and Assessment Procedures, 3.1.8e) and that additional hours may be required per week for those students in need of English language, numeracy or other learning support.

For information regarding class registration, visit the Class Registration Schedule.

Learning and teaching activities may be recorded for this subject.  Personal information in the form. of images and audio may be collected by JCU during the recording.  This personal information may appear as part of the recording which is accessible to students and staff in this subject on LearnJCU.

1.3   Subject description

Developing Academic Skills allows you to develop the learning, thinking, critical reading and writing and time management skills that are required for rigorous study in a university context. The subject aims to  facilitate the process of orientation and transition into academic teaching and learning cultures in a range of disciplines. You will develop learning skills relevant to the contemporary university environment to maximise learning from future lectures, tutorials and online subject materials. You will learn to plan and develop responses to a range of assessment tasks, and develop skills to prepare a range of written and oral tasks required in a university environment. Through actively engaging in planning, monitoring and evaluating your own learning, you will develop your confidence in your own ability to be successful in higher education studies. There will be a strong emphasis on the importance of independent learning for successful university studies.

1.4   Subject learning outcomes and course learning outcomes

On successful completion of this subject, you will be able to:

•      Locate, identify, analyse, evaluate, and synthesise information, claims and evidence from a range of texts and sources for specific academic purposes

•      Communicate information, ideas, arguments and solutions in a clear and logical way using appropriate academic and referencing conventions

•      Demonstrate the ability to be a self-directed and independent learner through application of knowledge and academic skills

•      Demonstrate autonomy, judgment, accountability and responsibility to complete a range of higher education activities within broad but established parameters

These outcomes will contribute to your overall achievement of course learning outcomes.

1.5   Student feedback on subject and teaching

Students are at the heart of JCU and as part of our commitment to improving the quality of our subjects and teaching, we regularly seek feedback on the JCU student experience.

YourJCU Surveys are available to all students throughLearnJCU. You will receive an email invitation when the survey opens.

In response to previous student feedback and other data, the following enhancements to this subject have been made:

• Substantial review of subject to align with comparable first-year degree subjects.

• Weekly learning sequences adjusted to cater to new content.

• Broadening of focus area to a general problem area within a discipline.

• Review of assessment 1 – Research Proposal to include a topic proposal of a problem within a discipline, review of assessment instructions, and question and answer prompts provided within the revised formatting template.

• Review of Assessment 3 with adjustments to the number of sources (6 recent peer- reviewed journal articles) required for Essay Plan and reduced word count for the Annotated Bibliography.

• Review of Assessment 4 with adjustments to word count (1,200 – 1,500 words).

• Assessment marking criteria for assessments 1, 3, and 4 have been updated to align with changes and to also link the task clearly to marking objectives.

• Review and revision of all interactive templates supporting assessment preparation.

• Removal of face-to-face or recorded lectures – these have been replaced with weekly learning sequences, scaffolding a range of activities to prepare students for each assessment.