Overview
In this unit, you will investigate a learning and teaching phenomenon of professional or personal relevance through the identification of a research problem. You will then undertake the process required for developing a formal research proposal, that being development of a research question, literature review, designing an appropriate method and examining ethical requirements. You will practice your presentation skills in a mock-conference established to provide you with peer review. Using Ernst Boyer’s four-part Scholarship of Learning and Teaching model as a guide, this Unit will broaden your understanding of what constitutes knowledge, evidence, practice and scholarship in learning and teaching.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 3 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student
While the conference style presentation is a great idea, it does not suit all students.
Make it clearer in the assessment instructions that the conference is either live, or submit as a presentation.
- Critically analyse information from multiple sources
- Present key ideas in both oral and written formats
- Approach problems with a solutions-oriented mindset
- Defend propositions with scholarly literature
- Respond to human ethics requirements
- Understand approaches to dissemination of scholarly inquiry.
N/A
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 0% | ||||||
| 2 - Presentation - 0% | ||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 0% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||||
| 4 - Research | ||||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||||
| 8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.fleming@cqu.edu.au
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1 Presentation
For this task, you will be giving a brief live presentation to your peers via Zoom, on a problem you have identified within your learning and teaching. Use the powerpoint template in Moodle that provides a structure for you to follow. Feel free to adopt and adapt, but refer to the criteria sheet that outlines the assessment criteria for this task. Your presentation will:
- outline your SoLT research problem and proposed research questions
- provide your rationale for this area of enquiry (including references to scholarly literature to substantiate your arguments)
- share initial ideas about the methodological design for your proposed study
- mention your ontological and epistemological philosophies.
The content of this presentation should form the basis of Assessment 2, your research proposal. Peer and instructor feedback from this presentation will help you further refine your ideas.
The presentations will be conducted during a Zoom session at the beginning of Week 5. The presentation should be 5 minutes in length, plus 2 minutes for questions at the end. This is not a lot of time, so you are to be succinct. It is also your preliminary thoughts so there is time to refine for the next assessment task. You are expected stay for a minimum of watching 2 other presentations, and provide your peers with feedback on their presentations.
Please upload the assessment criteria sheet as a record of you having completed task 1.
If you are unable to do a live presentation, you will need to submit a pre-recorded presentation. Please advise your lecturer if you plan to submit a recording.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI): Within this assessment the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents can be used to generate ideas and general structures as well as content editing, critique and review. Please reference its use as appropriate.
Week 5 Thursday (11 Dec 2025) 10:00 am AEST
Conference style live presentations held on this day. If you can't make this day, you can submit a pre-recorded presentation. Discuss with your lecturer.
Week 6 Friday (19 Dec 2025)
Feedback will be uploaded to the Moodle site.
Content and synthesis: The presentation summarises the student’s SoLT research problem, aim and question/s and provides the qualitative methodological approach to the investigation.
Philosophy: The presentation outlines the underpinning ontological and epistemological beliefs, and this aligns with the interpretive framework selected for the study.
Scholarship: The presentation offers student's insights into their understanding of SoLT and draws on scholarly literature that supports their arguments. Appropriate references are used and presented in a consistent style (APA 7th or Harvard).
Communication and presentation: The presentation materials are free from grammatical and spelling errors. The presenter speaks fluently and clearly, adopting an appropriate pace. The language used is accessible to those outside the discipline. The presentation does not exceed the maximum time limit (5 minutes).
- Critically analyse information from multiple sources
- Present key ideas in both oral and written formats
- Approach problems with a solutions-oriented mindset
- Defend propositions with scholarly literature
- Respond to human ethics requirements
- Understand approaches to dissemination of scholarly inquiry.
2 Written Assessment
In this task, you will write a formal written research proposal explaining and justifying your planned SoLT project. A research proposal is a detailed written outline of planned research that allows you, the researcher, to clarify and organise your thoughts on your research. This proposal should draw heavily on your initial presentation (Assessment 1) and show evidence that you have incorporated peer and lecturer feedback from your presentation. There is no template for this task so ensure you refer to the criteria sheet that outlines the assessment criteria. The research proposal should:
- Demonstrate the need for the research. This rationale should be supported by a short review of relevant literature establishing what is already known and identifying gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed.
- Specify the study’s aims and guiding research questions. The research questions should relate to the gaps in knowledge your study will address and guide your methodological approaches.
- Discuss your underpinning SoLT philosophy.
- Describe and justify your research design. The research proposal must provide a detailed description of and rationale for the study’s design, demonstrating that it is an appropriate way to investigate your research question/s. You must also show evidence that you have considered and addressed all potential ethical challenges that might arise within the research, as well as the scope and limitations of your approach.
- Outline your study’s anticipated timeline and milestones. These should be feasible and achievable.
The research proposal should be approximately 2,500 words and presented as a scholarly piece of work, written in third-person. The document should be structured using headings. Content should be synthesised, creating a strong argument for the need for the proposed research and the planned study design. Review the examples in Moodle.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI): Within this assessment the use of Microsoft Copilot, Chat GPT or other Gen AI agents can be used to generate ideas and general structures as well as content editing, critique and review. Please reference its use as appropriate.
Week 8 Thursday (15 Jan 2026) 4:45 pm AEST
Upload document into Moodle.
Week 10 Thursday (29 Jan 2026)
Feedback will be uploaded to the Moodle site.
Research proposal structure: The document conforms to the conventions of a research proposal (e.g., use of headings, third person voice, appropriate vocabulary). It contains the necessary components (i.e., scope and limitations, methodological approach, research timeline)). Writing should be concise and avoid repetition.
Research problem and questions: The proposal contains a strong argument for the need for the proposed research, with clear aims and researchable research questions.
Use of research literature: The proposal draws effectively on research literature to justify the need for the proposed research, identify what is already known, and explain why chosen methodologies and methods are appropriate. All academic references are cited using APA 7th or Harvard and a full reference list included.
Appropriate Research Design: The proposed research design is feasible, well justified, and aligns with the research problem and questions and validation techniques clear. Philosophical beliefs are discussed. Ethical considerations have been addressed within the study’s design.
Evidence of Research Planning: The included research timeline is feasible and achievable.
- Critically analyse information from multiple sources
- Present key ideas in both oral and written formats
3 Written Assessment
For this task, you must submit a completed low-risk ethical clearance application for the proposed project including Participant Information Sheets, Consent Forms and any other relevant attachments (e.g., draft survey, interview questions, etc).
The authentic forms are available from both within Topic 9 (ethical considerations) as well as the folder under assessment 3. If you work for an institution other than CQUniversity, you may use your own application forms.
This final deliverable should be approximately 2,000 words in length. You will draw substantially on work already done as part of your research proposal.
Week 11 Friday (6 Feb 2026) 4:45 pm AEST
Assessment is to be submitted online, in Moodle.
Week 12 Friday (13 Feb 2026)
Written feedback will be provided via the criteria sheet, submitted into the Moodle site.
For this task, formative feedback is not provided. Instead, you will receive an indication of whether you have met the criteria through the 'met' and 'not met' criteria below (see the criteria sheet that clearly outlines the process). To pass this task, you need to achieve 50% or more of meeting the 'met' criteria. If there are gaps in the application, these will be specified.
- Layperson description
- Aims and significance
- Data collection methods
- Methodology
- Justification of the research design
- Risk
- Recruitment of participants
- Consent
- Information protection
- Dissemination of results
- References
- Participant information sheet
- Consent form
- Other relevant information (only if relevant to your specific project)
- Survey questions
- Focus group/interview questions
- Critically analyse information from multiple sources
- Present key ideas in both oral and written formats
- Approach problems with a solutions-oriented mindset
- Defend propositions with scholarly literature
- Respond to human ethics requirements
- Understand approaches to dissemination of scholarly inquiry.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
