Unstructured tutorial participation (10%): The mark awarded will reflect the extent to which the student attended and made a positive contribution to tutorials, including answering questions, and participating in discussions. Student contributions will be assessed by reference to the usual considerations – materiality, accuracy, clarity, originality, provision of authority. Of course, expectations will reflect the informal, spontaneous context. The mark will also reflect less tangible considerations. Students should respect other students, encourage their contributions, and be tolerant of different views. Towards the end of the semester students will be invited to complete a self-assessment sheet; that is, you will be asked to indicate what mark you feel you deserve for class participation and to provide reasons why such a mark is justified. Tutors won’t be bound by this but will take it into account.

[Optional] Tutorial presentation (20%): Tutorial presentations will begin in week 3 (Monday, 23 August 2021). Students have the option of making an assessable presentation during a tutorial, worth 20%. The presentation should relate to, and assist student understanding of, the Unit syllabus, and should be scheduled for an appropriate week. Students taking this option will reduce the value of their final exam to 70%. They will sit the same final exam as other students. 

Tutorial presentations should run for 10 to 15 minutes, after which the presenter will respond to questions and comments from the class. A presentation may be viva voce (ie, a conventional talk with or without slides) or by pre-recorded video.

Both options are available to students in face-to-face tutorials and the on-line tutorials. In either case the student must be present and available to respond to questions and comments from the class afterwards.  

Student presentations will be assessed by reference to the usual considerations – materiality, accuracy, clarity, originality, provision of authority. More specifically, the mark will reflect the effectiveness of the presentation, including matters such as the pace of delivery, the clarity of the material on the slides/video (if any), and how well the presenter handles the questions and discussion. In the case of a video, high production values will not necessarily be rewarded – not more than the extent to which it contributes to the effective delivery of relevant content. Common problems in student presentations include: (a) packing far too much material onto slides; presenting the audience with a choice between reading and listening; (b) the presenter reading from a script rather than providing a more natural delivery and (c) presenters racing through material too fast without giving due consideration to the audience’s ability to follow it. Students may be penalised for going over time. Students should keep time themselves, but tutors will endeavour to assist in this regard.

Optional tutorial presentation proposal (0%): Students wishing to take the option of the tutorial presentation should put together a proposal of no more than 500 words (it may be far shorter) for approval by their tutor. This should be sent to the tutor at least two weeks prior to the relevant tutorial week.

Final exam (take-home extended release) (70% or 90%): This will be an on-line exam during the final exam period (22 November – 4 December 2021). Students will have 48 hours to complete the exam. The exam will primarily be made up of problem questions. There may be a discussion component relating to the issues raised by problems. We are giving you 48 hours for the exam to provide you with the opportunity for greater reflection and crafting of your answers, however, it should not take two days of work. The exam is not intended to be much more challenging than a regular sit-down 2-hour exam. Note the general assessment guidelines. The mark assigned will reflect the usual considerations – materiality, accuracy, clarity, originality, provision of authority. You should provide references for your statements of law or where you are using someone else’s work. However, as in a regular sit-down 2-hour exam, you need not strictly comply with AGLC4. It is an exam, not an assignment. Just provide sufficient information for us to identify the source (a) If you refer to cases from the readings, the case name alone will suffice. Otherwise, eg, case name and date or court (b) For secondary sources, eg, surname or name of commission, and title of book, article or report. The exam has a word limit of 2500 words including citations, but not including a bibliography. A bibliography is not required, but students may wish to include one so as to shorten references in the text of their answers.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A student must make a genuine attempt at all assessment tasks set out in this Unit of Study in order to obtain a Pass mark and grade (or above); otherwise an Absent Fail grade will be recorded as the student’s result for this Unit of Study.