SCB300 Professional Practice

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

This unit provides you with the opportunity to further develop your professional capabilities and technical skills by undertaking the equivalent of 15 - 30 day full time paid or unpaid work placement. This unit, is typically undertaken in the penultimate or final year of your course, requiring you to undertake a self-sourced work placement, internship or engage in ongoing professional work experience to consolidate your course-based learning. 

In this unit you will have the opportunity to refine your reflective and communicative skills, formulating effective statements of your experience suitable for inclusion in job applications. Assessments in this unit require you to critically analyse, report and reflect upon your professional practice experience and to prepare a professional development plan to help guide your career.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Create a industry placement plan by identifying your knowledge and skill development goals and strategies for achieving these goals.
2. Explain how your work placement experience and responsibilities relate to your studies and contributed to the organisation where you were placed.
3. Critically reflect on your work placement experience and what you learned about the job role, yourself and your capabilities.
4. Communicate professionally using advanced written communication and reflective writing skills to report on your workplace experiences and learning.

Content

Learning Approaches

This is an experiential unit, which provides you with the opportunity to explore first-hand what it is like to work in your chosen industry. Below outlines provides an overview of the three components of this unit and the types of activities you will need to complete.

A. Pre-placement planning

You are required to:

1. Find your own placement/Internship opportunity.You are encouraged to explore the QUT UniHub and the Job and Careers page of the Faculty of Science Student Information Canvas site.
   
   
2. ALL placement opportunities - whether paid or unpaid - MUST be pre-approved by the Science WIL team at science.wil@qut.edu.au.
   
   
3. Depending on the nature of the the industry you may be required to sign a Non-disclosure agreement.
   
   
4. Register your placement in InPlace (see the Faculty of Science Student Information Canvas site).
   
   
5. Complete the FoS pre-placement WIL modules and pass the quiz.

B. Undertake your placement

1. Complete and document the number of placement days required for your course either 15 days (112.5 hours) or 30 days (225 hours) (see the Faculty of Science Student Information Canvas site for information on the number of days required for your course). 

C. Complete your assessment tasks

1. Complete and submit your assessment tasks associated with this unit.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Assessment involves an emphasis on constructive and progressive feedback using a criterion referencing approach. Formative feedback will be offered by your work place supervisor whilst on work placement and by academic staff during the semester at key times to assist you in the development of your assessment tasks. Your performance in the unit will be assessed through three items of assessment to be completed during the semester and submitted at the specified times in the semester. The assessment items will contribute to your overall summative grade for the unit.

Assessment

Overview

You will be required to undertake three assessment tasks in this unit, which provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to meet the unit learning outcomes. The first task requires you to create a plan for your work placement or Internship. The second assessment task requires you to maintain a reflective journal/log of your workplace experiences. The final assessment involves synthesising your experiences in industry into a final report. This report will include an evaluation from your workplace supervisor as well as a Certificate of Time Worked.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Professional Practice Quiz and Plan

For this assessment there are three items that must be included in a portfolio: 

Item 1:

You are required to complete and pass a quiz to assess your readiness for placement by assessing your comprehension and ability to apply professional standards. The quiz will be based on the four FoS pre-placement WIL modules. You will submit evidence of passing the quiz.

Item 2:

You will also need to submit evidence of registration of your work experience in InPlace.

Item 3:

You are required to develop a work placement plan, which will detail your goals for the placement, the strategies you will use to ensure you meet these goals.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions. 

Assessment: Work Placement Journal

During your placement you are required to maintain a reflective journal to record your workplace experiences and reflections using an established reflection model.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions. 

Assessment: Final Placement Report

You are required to write a final report on your work placement experience. As part of this assessment you need to provide evidence of:

1. completing of the number of experiential days required for your course (see the Faculty of Science Student Information Canvas site for information on the number of days required for your course) via a Final Work Log,
2. a completed Certificate of Time Worked (CTW)
3. an employer report.

All three documents must be submitted with your final report via Canvas. Your CTW must be signed by your employer or host organisation supervisor. Failure to submit these documents will result in your final grade for the semester being withheld.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions. 

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Requirements to Study

Requirements

All students will be required to complete the following modules prior to going on placement:

• Rights and Responsibilities
• Health and Safety
• Intellectual Property and Confidentiality
• Access, Discrimination, Harassment and Modern Slavery
• Disclosure
• Insurance and other Financial Considerations.

Blue Card requirement

If you are undertaking placement in an environment that will involve working with children, you will be required to obtain a Blue Card and will not be permitted to start your placement until the Blue Card has been obtained. To obtain a Blue Card you must complete an online form and undergo a criminal history check so you can be approved to work with children under the age of 18 in Queensland. 

You should apply for a Blue Card as early as possible, allowing at least 28 days for a Blue Card to be issued. For more information visit the HiQ page, which provides details on how to obtain a Blue Card.

If you are undertaking placement in another state other than Queensland, you should seek advice about equivalent requirements in other states.

Costs

Typically, there will be no expenses associated with undertaking an industry placement or Internship other than potently transportation costs to the employers' workplace. If you elect to undertake an internship or placement outside of the city where you live, you will be expected to pay for any travel, food or accommodation expenses associated with the work placement or Internship.

Equity WIL Bursaries

The Equity WIL Bursaries are available to assist students struggling financially meet the extra costs of undertaking work-integrated learning (WIL) and/or where they are required to relocate from their normal place of residence.

To be considered you need to make an appointment with a Welfare Officer.

Resources

Resource Materials

Other

As part of this unit you will have access to the following learning modules in Canvas:

• Rights and Responsibilities
• Health and Safety
• Intellectual Property and Confidentiality
• Access, Discrimination, Harassment and Modern Slavery
• Disclosure
• Insurance and other Financial Considerations

Risk Assessment Statement

If you undertake a work placement, you must register your placement via InPlace and complete the QUT placement agreement, ensure your placement is approved through InPlace, respect confidentiality and be aware of any intellectual property requirements of the workplace, comply with workplace health and safety requirements and ensure you meet all pre-conditions for your work placement and complete and retain the checklist for 'managing your rights, responsibilities and safety on placement'. For further information please refer the Work Integrated Learning web page to the Faculty of Science Student Information Canvas site.