Assignment 1: Critical Analysis

In this assignment, you are required to reflect on your experiences in projects, programs, work environments, or personal life to identify a significant challenge or problem situation you have encountered. Your task is to critically analyze this situation, exploring it from various perspectives to understand the influence and impact of underlying assumptions, claims, and mental models. This exercise aims to enhance your critical thinking, reflective practice, and analytical skills, which are crucial in both professional and personal settings.

Assignment 2a: Team Project - Presentation

The purpose of this project is to assist State Governments and local authorities in Australia, involved in development of plans and strategies for koala conservation, by demonstrating use of systems thinking approaches. Usually species conservation doesn’t take a systems thinking approach, as it is focussed on tackling one species rather than tackling the (eco)system of threatening processes for this and other species. This project aims to provide new insights to identify:

• common and competing goals and values
• critical issues and potential leverage points that could guide decision-making processes and actions

The project should contribute to the Capitals Coalitionby drawing on their frameworks to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interconnectedness of natural, social, and human capital in the context of koala conservation. 

Assignment 2b: Team Project - Presentation

An absolute maximum 10-minute video presentation summarizing the key findings of the report (Assignment 2a). Your presentation should clearly convey what systems thinking is and how it can be applied to the issue of koala conservation, identifying common and competing goals, system interactions, and capital implications. It should encourage the use of systems thinking by organisations involved in koala conservation to assist them in developing recommendations for balanced and sustainable strategies.

The contribution and participation of all team members must be clearly indicated within the presentation.  As part of this assessment you will be required, individually and as a team, to respond to questions during the Week 6 Live Session.

Assignment 3: Reflexive Learning Report

This assignment requires you to write a reflexive report on your learning experiences throughout this course and achievement of the Unit Learning Outcomes, integrating the concept of triple loop learning. Triple loop learning encourages you to not only reflect on what you have learned and how your assumptions and contexts have influenced this learning but also to critically question and transform these underlying assumptions and beliefs for deeper personal and professional growth.

Assignment 4: Learning Activity Portfolio

You will be asked to undertake a number of activities as you go through the material for each week in order to reinforce and deepen your learning.  Some of these will have marks allocated to them. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION RELATED TO ASSESSMENT

Text-matching software for Assignment Submission:
As part of the assessment process, text matching software such as Turnitin may be used to identify plagiarism and/or be used for providing feedback.

Confidential Peer Evaluation:
As part of the group contribution assessment process, collaborative & self-peer evaluation tools (e.g. SparkPlus, CATME, etc.) may be used, either on a confidential or non-confidential basis, to understand contributions and interactions amongst group members. Marks may be adjusted for an individual team member, following on from the peer evaluation process.

Reliability of Canvas Marks:
Canvas will be used in this unit and while key assessments may be submitted via Canvas, it cannot be used to determine/ predict a student’s final marks in this unit. Not all assessment results may be visible to students and group/team marks can change for each individual team member based on the peer-evaluations conducted at the end of the semester.

Recycling Assignments Not Allowed:
Recycling involves submitting (or resubmitting) your own work that has already been assessed without the permission of the lecturer of this unit, and for which you have already been given feedback. Recycling is a form of academic dishonesty and will be handled in line with the coursework policy.

Mark Moderation:
There may be statistically defensible moderation when combining the marks from each component to ensure consistency of marking between markers, and alignment of final grades with unit outcomes.

Use of Generative AI:

At the University of Sydney, the use of generative AI for learning is permitted, however, use in assessments is prohibited unless explicitly allowed by your unit coordinator.

Your coordinator will let you know at the beginning of semester whether use of generative AI tools are permitted in their unit for assessment purposes. This means, if your unit coordinator has not addressed use of generative AI, you are not permitted to do so for the purposes of assessment.