This authentic, practice-based assessment provides students with work integrated learning opportunities by way of real life engagements with external client groups. Students collaborate in groups to identify a (discipline or course specific) issue that would benefit from stakeholder engagement in the planning, implementation and evaluation of specific goals or outcomes. In the case of COMU7013, this assessment was developed as part of the Masters for Communication for Social Change program and is both underpinned by, and aimed at developing, methods of participatory development communication. Students are encouraged to work with community groups/external clients whose concerns and issues are aligned with their own, thus providing personalised learning opportunities. Students are assessed on the quality of their stakeholder engagement and their ability to produce reports and outcomes that meet the needs and communicative modes of their clients and that adhere to the conventions of the discipline or vocational setting. Students are assessed on two components, a group oral presentation and a written report submitted via turnitin, the latter of which is marked individually. Students also have to allocate a peer mark to all group members (moderated by staff if necessary).
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 10-20
- CLASS LEVEL
- Post-graduate
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Medium security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- High time
- GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
- In-depth knowledge in the field(s) studied, Effective communication skills
- CONDITIONS
- Work-related, Group, Peer-assessed, Sequence
- FEATURES
- Authentic, Problem based
- TAGS
- client liaising, community engagement, media production
Advantages
Directly enhances student employability by fostering professional networking opportunities and a resulting output that can be added to students' professional portfolios.
Well suited to industry facing courses, as well as upper level undergraduate and post-graduate courses where students would benefit most from work-integrated learning opportunities.
Challenges
This can be a time intensive assessment to administer – be sure to appropriately scale this task according to the time requirements of the course.
How it supports academic integrity
The assessment is based on unique, first-hand field work (which requires ongoing contact with external clients – making a very difficult task to outsource or plagiarise.
Associate Professor Elske van de Fliert
e.vandefliert@uq.edu.au
Associate Professor Elske van de Fliert is the Director of the Centre for Communication and Social Change. She also convenes the Communication for Social Change plan of the Master of Communication program. She obtained a PhD in Communication & Innovation in 1993 from Wageningen University, The Netherlands. She joined the UQ School of Journalism and Communication (now School of Communication and Arts) in July 2006. Prior to this, Elske worked for two decades in research, development and teaching positions in Indonesia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, with work also across China, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines and Kyrgyzstan.
Elske’s research interests include participatory development communication, facilitation of transdisciplinary research for sustainable development, and impact assessment of social change processes. Over the years at UQ, she has been conducting research projects in Indonesia, Timor Leste, Philippines and Mongolia. She has published widely on a range of topics related to participatory research and communication in sustainable rural development. Find out more