CQUniversity Unit Profile.

For this assessment task, which will be conducted via Zoom, you will be required to complete a viva (an oral assessment in the form of a dynamic interview) based on a paediatric clinical scenario.

At the start of your viva, you will be provided with basic written case information about a child who is presenting with communication needs, as well as other social/psychosocial issues. Throughout this viva, you will be asked questions about the case and decision-making by your examiner. You will be required to respond to these questions and justify your decision-making. 

Each section of your viva is timed, but not all sections are assessed. A brief outline is provided below with additional details provided on Moodle.

Section 1A (Not assessed). Review referral information and develop an assessment plan.
Section 1B (Assessed). You will be asked questions regarding your assessment planning.
Section 2A (Not assessed). Review and interpret assessment results.
Section 2B (Assessed). You will be asked questions regarding your interpretation of the assessment results and diagnosis/description of the child's needs.
Section 3A (Not assessed). Review diagnosis and service delivery information and plan intervention.
Section 3B (Assessed). You will be asked questions regarding your plan for speech pathology intervention in relation to the diagnosis and service delivery setting.
Section 4A (Not assessed). Ethical practice and decision making, and professional conduct
Section 4B (Assessed).  You will be asked questions regarding the ethical issues presented in the case and your decision making.

During the viva, you must independently demonstrate your skills, knowledge, and competence in the areas of paediatric clinical practice across Speech Pathology Australia’s Professional Standards. This viva requires you to independently integrate information, problem-solve in real-time, identify and explain ethical issues, and to make decisions regarding assessment and intervention and the overall management of an individual, with reference to the ICF and within the ethical guidelines of the speech pathology profession. You must also demonstrate your use of effective thinking, and reasoning and to provide clear and appropriate rationales for decisions. Your oral viva will be video-recorded for assessment purposes.

As the viva will be conducted via Zoom, it is your responsibility to ensure you have a stable internet connection and a functioning device with adequate audio and video capabilities. Your webcam must remain on with your face visible throughout the entire viva, and virtual backgrounds must be turned off. Please ensure that your physical environment is free from audio and visual distractions. If this is not possible in your private residence, students are required to book a room at their closest CQU campus through the library booking system https://cqu.libcal.com/spaces. Students are also expected to dress in professional attire (e.g., the speech pathology clinic uniform).
Your scheduled time allocation and secure Zoom link will be provided, via Moodle, at least four weeks prior to the viva occurring. Your viva promptly commences at the time listed on Moodle. Please ensure that you have logged into the Zoom session at least 5 minutes prior to your scheduled time.
If you experience technical issues on the day, contact TASAC and email the unit coordinator to advise of your actions. The unit coordinator cannot provide any technical assistance prior to, or during the vivas.

Level of GenAI use allowed:

Level 3: You may use GenAI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify and AI-generated content that you use.

As this assessment involves a viva the 72-hour grace period does not apply.

You will be assessed using criteria informed by Speech Pathology Australia's Professional Standards. To pass this task, you need to demonstrate "Approaching Proficiency" level of competence in paediatric clinical practice. Therefore, you need to achieve the requisite number of “Yes” marks in each section of the rubric. A mark below the requisite number of “Yes” marks indicates that you have not met the required level for that area of competency, which equates to a fail grade on the assessment task.

Each criterion on the rubric is graded as follows:

“Yes” - "Approaching Proficiency"

"No” – Not "Approaching Proficiency"

There are four sections in the rubric, each with a minimum required mark. Full details of the requirements for each section and requisite marks are outlined on Moodle. 

There are four marking criteria that will be used to assess your performance in Assessment 1.

• The first criterion focuses on your ability to identify and justify speech pathology needs and describe and justify an appropriate assessment plan.
• The second criterion focuses on your ability to effectively interpret and integrate assessment results, make an appropriate diagnosis or description of the individual's needs, and describe gaps in the information and make predictions about the expected impacts of the communication needs over time and factors supporting positive outcomes.
• The third criterion focuses on your ability to describe and justify an appropriate intervention plan.
• The fourth criterion focuses on your ability to identify and justify ethical issues present in the case, decision making, and your professional conduct throughout the viva.

Note:

Since this is a pass/fail assessment task, it does not qualify for a supplementary assessment. However, if you do not meet the pass criteria for the viva task, you will be provided with one opportunity to re-sit the entire oral examination assessment. The re-sit will be of an equivalent format and use the same assessment criteria as the original assessment task but you will be given a different case. If you do not meet the pass criteria for the re-sit, you will receive a fail grade on the assessment task.

Late arrivals:

Please note that per section 5.52-5.53 in the Higher Education Assessment Policy, late penalties do not apply to this assessment task. If you do not attend or complete this assessment task at the specified date/time, you will receive a mark of zero. In the event that you are unable to attend or complete the assessment task for reasons outlined in the Higher Education Assessment Policy, you must submit an extension request through Moodle. 

You should aim to check Zoom settings before the scheduled time, and log in at least 5 minutes prior to your assessment commencement time. In the extraordinary circumstance that you are late, you will be permitted late entry to your assessment up to 10 minutes after the assessment commencement time. If you are denied access to the assessment due to lateness (i.e., arriving beyond the permitted late entry period), you should make an online application for a deferred assessment (which may or may not be granted in line with CQU policy). If your application for deferred assessment is denied, you will receive a fail grade.

For this assessment task, you will be required to complete an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) based on an adult clinical scenario. The OSCE includes 7 stations in total, 5 of which will be assessed. Of the 5 stations that are assessed, 2 will include working with a simulated individual with speech pathology needs- the "individual". This assessment task requires you to complete the OSCE in the role of a speech pathology clinician, and also to act in the role of individual for one of your peers, or an actor playing the client. You will be assessed on your participation and reflection on your role as a simulated individual. Each station of your OSCE is timed. A brief outline is provided below with additional details provided on Moodle.

Outline of OSCE

Station 1 (Not assessed). Review case history, assessment, and diagnosis results.

Station 2 (Assessed). Report on the assessment results to the individual and respond appropriately to their questions.

Station 3 (Not assessed). Plan speech pathology intervention.

Station 4 (Assessed). Report on the intervention plan to the assessor and respond appropriately to their questions.

Station 5 (Assessed). Implementation of speech pathology intervention with the individual.

Station 6 (Assessed). Identification and discussion of ethical issues in the case.

Station 7 (Assessed). Reflective practice and lifelong learning.

During the OSCE, you are required to independently demonstrate your skills, knowledge, and competence in adult clinical practice. You must integrate information, problem-solve in real time, and make informed decisions about intervention and overall client management, with reference to the ICF and in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the speech pathology profession. You must be able to respond appropriately, in real time, to the individual. You are also expected to demonstrate effective thinking, reasoning, and reflective skills, and to provide clear, appropriate rationales for your decisions that are grounded in evidence-based practice.

Parts of your OSCE will be video-recorded for assessment purposes.

Level of GenAI use allowed:

Level 3: You may use GenAI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify and AI-generated content that you use.

As this assessment involves a Viva the 72-hour grace period does not apply.

This is a penultimate assessment task of CB87 course which requires you to demonstrate "Approaching Proficiency" in adult clinical practice.  To demonstrate Approaching Proficiency competency across adult clinical practice, you will be assessed against Speech Pathology Australia’s Professional Standards. It is recommended that you review these documents closely as part of your preparation for this assessment task. You will be assessed using criteria informed by Speech Pathology Australia's Professional Standards.

You will need to achieve the requisite number of “Yes” marks in each section of the rubric, this is outlined on the task description on Moodle. A mark below the requisite number of “Yes” marks indicates that you have not met the required level for that area of competency, which equates to a fail grade on the assessment task.
•    Yes = “Approaching Proficiency”
•    No = not “Approaching Proficiency”

There are 5 marking criteria that will be used to assess your performance in this assessment:
1.    The first criterion focuses on your ability to accurately interpret and explain speech pathology information in a manner that is appropriate for the individual's communication needs. 
2.    The second criterion focuses on your ability to effectively identify, describe and justify intervention that is relevant to the individual's needs.
3.    The third criterion focuses on your ability to implement appropriate speech pathology intervention and respond to the individual’s need/questions and response to the intervention.
4.    The fourth criterion focuses on your ability to identify and justify ethical issues present in the case as well as demonstrate professional conduct throughout the OSCE.
5.    The fifth criterion assesses your ability to reflect on your own role and contribute meaningfully to the learning of your student colleagues.

Please see the CB87 Academic Integrity handout: https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=3805644,
located on the Speech Pathology Course Wide Moodle page for information on paraphrasing, source quality, and artificial
intelligence use across units in the speech pathology course.

Note:

Since this is a pass/fail assessment task, it does not qualify for a supplementary assessment. However, if you do not meet the pass criteria for the OSCE task, you will be provided with one opportunity to re-sit the entire OSCE task. The re-sit will be of an equivalent format and use the same assessment criteria as the original assessment task but you will be given a different case. If you do not meet the pass criteria for the re-sit, you will receive a fail grade on the assessment task.

Late arrivals:

Please note that per section 5.52-5.53 in the Higher Education Assessment Policy, late penalties do not apply to this assessment task. If you do not attend or complete this assessment task at the specified date/time, you will receive a mark of zero. In the event that you are unable to attend or complete the assessment task for reasons outlined in the Higher Education Assessment Policy, you must submit an extension request through Moodle. 

You should aim to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to the assessment commencement time. In the extraordinary circumstance that you are late, you will be permitted late entry to your assessment of up to 10 minutes after the assessment commencement time. The period of lateness will be deducted from your overall assessment time. If you are denied access to the assessment due to lateness (i.e., arriving beyond the permitted late entry period), you should make an online application for a deferred assessment (which may or may not be granted in line with CQU policy). If your application for deferred assessment is denied, you will receive a fail grade for your assessment item and you may be eligible for a supplementary assessment in line with CQU policy.