This is the first in a series of two courses for engineering and computing graduate students that focus on developing professional and communication skills for the 21st century workplace. Industry bodies and employers of engineering and computing graduates consistently rank communication skills as one of the most important selection criteria when hiring.

This course aims to heighten students’ awareness of professional practice, and to develop new interpersonal and communication skills, leading to students becoming more competent professionals in their field.
Based on Engineers Australia and Australian Computer Society professional competencies, students will develop and practice fundamental skills required by industry to better equip them for the workforce.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Communicate effectively in written and spoken English to transfer complex knowledge and ideas to technical and non-technical audiences.
2. Identify and use appropriate sources of information when developing professional documents.
3. Maintain and develop appropriate, effective and professional forms of documentation.
4. Demonstrate effective team membership skills and contribute collaboratively within diverse team environments.
5. Articulate and reflect on the industry expectations of competence and conduct in engineering and computing professions.

Research-Led Teaching

This course allows students to develop preliminary research skills (such as academic integrity, appropriate referencing and using sources) and professional skills using a research based analytical framework. The course introduces students to scholarly research and case studies that exemplify professional practice, and demonstrates ways in which

evidence-based strategies can be developed to improve independent research and professional skills in line with industry requirements.

Recommended Resources

Whether you are on campus or studying remotely, there are a variety of online platforms you will use to participate in your study program. These could include videos for lectures and other instruction, two-way video conferencing for interactive learning, email and other messaging tools for communication, interactive web apps for formative and collaborative activities, print and/or photo/scan for handwritten work and drawings, and home-based assessment.

ANU outlines recommended student system requirements to ensure you are able to participate fully in your learning. Other information is also available about the various Learning Platforms you may use.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Introduction to ENGN6250/ COMP6250	lecture and in-class exercise
2	Writing effectively	lecture and in-class exercise
3	Being a systems thinker	lecture and in-class exercise
4	Mapping the ecosystem	lecture and in-class exercise
5	Being ethical in research	lecture and in-class exercise
6	Being responsible in innovation	lecture and in-class exercise
7	Toolkit	lecture
8	Presenting effectively	lecture and in-class exercise
9	Being an effective team member/leader	lecture and in-class exercise
10	Having a deep conversation	lecture and in-class exercise
11	Dealing with conflict	lecture and in-class exercise
12	Marketing yourself effectively	lecture and in-class exercise

Tutorial Registration

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Learning Outcomes
Career Episode Pieces	40 %	1,2,3,5
Case Study- Group Project | Report	20 %	1,2,3,4,5
Case Study- Group Project | Presentation	10 %	1,2,4,5
Toolkit	20 %	1,2,3,4,5
Tutorial contribution	10 %	1,4,5

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Special Assessment Consideration Guideline and General Information 
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Wattle’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Assessment Task 1

Career Episode Pieces

In this assignment you will work individually on a career episode of your own in order to test course content on a personal and very familiar project. The assessment

provides you with a way of evaluating your skills and competencies throughout the semester on a project that you have been involved in as a professional. The

assignment provides you with an opportunity to develop reflexivity about your own practices and learning, and to develop succinct reflective writing capability. Such a

skill is particularly important for job readiness, including in formulating effective job applications, and for writing Career Episodes in CDR (Competency Demonstration

Report) which is currently part of Engineers Australia accreditation process. The career episode is used as a familiar case study to answer the question provided in each

week’s tutorial . You are required to write reflective style answer (~700 words) to the week’s questions covering subjects dealt with on the course . This assignment helps

you to improve your skills in writing, including refining, structuring and presenting your position and argument.

For this assignment you need to submit 4 pieces of writing (each 10% of final mark). Students select one of the questions specified for each career episode piece and

write about it.

For career episode piece #1, you may choose between answering three questions: (1) how did engineering standard and guidelines (in the country where the episode

happened) influence your decisions and actions? (2) what are the social and environmental systems in your technical project? or (3) who are the key stakeholders

involved in the episode? You can include other supporting materials as the appendix

For career episode piece #2, you may choose between answering three questions: (1)What are the ethical challenges associated with the research and your

work? (2)How do you see your practice and thinking within the context of responsible innovation? You can include other supporting materials as the appendix

For career episode piece #3, you may choose between answering three questions: (1)How does team structure and process affect your team performance?

Explain the complexities involved. (2)How a deep conversation (including taking more participatory approaches) could transform the episode? And, in what ways? (3)

How using conflict resolution methods could transform the episode? And, in what ways?. You can include other supporting materials as the appendix

For career episode piece #4, you need to answer the following question:

How would you use skills gained from this course in your job role, to be a responsible professional? • Reflect on your episode, and write about what it takes to be a

responsible professional. Also, refect about whether your description of a responsible professional is limited to a specific context (i.e. do you believe there is a

difference between being a responsible professional, for example, in China and Australia)

Assessment Task 2

Case Study- Group Project | Report

This assignment is designed to allow you to test your professional skills on a particular case study. You will receive a group mark for this assignment upon demonstration of equal contribution of all members to the group project. For this task, each group will submit: 1) a report and a group presentation.

In a group of 3 or 4, you will work on a case study to practice your professional skills throughout the semester. It is important that work on a project that aligns with your interests and experience. So, if you care about the subject that you are going to collaborate on, let us know so we assign you to a specific project. Your group will look at different aspects of a case study and produce a report, and a presentation.

Assessment Task 3

Case Study- Group Project | Presentation

Each group presents a 10-minute presentation that responds to team project work. Sometimes the audio or video in Zoom becomes choppy or distorted. To ensure the presentation session: Students to submit 1 copy per project team to case-study project presentation link to your tutor: • 1 x PPT/PDF version of your presentation. Your tutor will check the docs and liaise with the team representative if there is any need for follow up regarding the doc submissions before your tutorial session. Also remember not to start other bandwidth-intensive activities just before, or during presentation session as much as possible.

Assessment Task 4

Toolkit

Use your skills in the group and discuss how you can develop two tools (or more) that other engineers can use to be more responsible in their thinking and practice. The tool potentially enables the user to think critically and holistically about the technical systems they are involved in as an engineer. It could be a game, framework, guideline, team-based activity, qualitative/quantitative technique, etc. For inspiration, you might look at three tools that Microsoft has recently developed and released for responsible innovation in May 2020. The tools provides practitioners with a set of practices for anticipating and addressing the potential negative.

Once you've created your tools, it's time to develop a landing page to tie it all together, and host your creations. The landing page will make it easier for others to use your tools and learn about responsible thinking and practice from your team’s perspective. More instruction on this task will be provided in the tutorial session. On the course Wattle site you can also find a document with few examples for toolkit portfolio.

Assessment Task 5

Tutorial contribution

The tutorial mark is not based on your attendance, but on how well you contribute to the tutorials. In this course, tutorial contributes to course assessment, and counts as 10% of the whole course mark. A mix of preparation (reading and answering set questions), amount of participation and insightfulness of comments and questions is a common basis for awarding participation marks.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Late submission permitted. Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Access and inclusion for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills and Learning Centre supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling Centre promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents undergraduate and ANU College students
• PARSA supports and represents postgraduate and research students