Course Coordinator:Daniel Eaton (deaton@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Strengths based counselling sees people as having capabilities and resources within themselves and their social systems. It builds on client strengths to help them resolve concerns, heal and achieve desired changes. The course will be both knowledge-based and experiential, enabling you to promote change through respectful, educational, therapeutic and operational processes in addition to practices that encourage and empower others.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – One hour-long engagement including formative quizzes, podcasts/webinars, screen casts, interviews, simulations, videos and recorded discussions | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus tutorial- 2 hours to encourage the application of skills and knowledge introduced in the online learning materials for the week, via class activities (Week 11 tutorial via zoom to demonstrate telehealth principles) | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
| Information session – Online learning activity facilitated by the tutor | 1hr | Refer to Format | Once Only |
200 Level (Developing)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Analyse, apply and evaluate the use of a strength-based approach to counselling from a client and counsellor perspective. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
| 2 | Identify and articulate the history and principles of strength-based collaborative counselling. | Knowledgeable |
| 3 | Critically reflect on your own values and beliefs in relation to the counselling process using a strengths-based approach. | Empowered |
| 4 | Demonstrate and apply your understanding of the ethical responsibilities and professional requirements underpinning the use of a strengths-based approach. | Ethical |
| 5 | Demonstrate and utilise a solution-focused approach to build on progress, change, health and wellbeing for the clients that counsellors serve. | Empowered |
| 6 | Demonstrate effective communication through written reports and oral presentations, complying with accepted APA 7th ed. guidelines. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
COU180 or SCS180 or SCS280
Not applicable
SCS265
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Timely and detailed feedback is provided for each assessment. Feedback is provided both within text and general comments to build scholarly skills. Students are able to seek feedback through face-to-face discussion with the course coordinator. Tutorials will include extended discussion and review of the assessment task requirements and scope.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Activity Participation | Individual | 10% | Course duration |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | In Class |
| All | 2 | Oral and Written Piece | Individual | 25% | 20 slides, each for 20 seconds |
Week 4 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Case Study | Individual | 30% | 1500 words |
Week 7 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 4 | Essay | Individual | 35% | 2000 words |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Participation | |||||||
| Goal: | Students will actively participate for a minimum of 80% of their on-campus tutorials. Failure to meet the minimum participation requirements will result in failure for this task. |
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| Product: | Activity Participation | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Tutor to record participation each week, via the LMS |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | |||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Pecha Kucha | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | Demonstrate comprehension of the historical underpinnings of the strength based approaches, the ethical and professional requirements for effective delivery, and how their own beliefs and values influence their adoption of a chosen strength based approach. |
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| Product: | Oral and Written Piece | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Recorded and Narrated slide show. Template of narration, image references, and source references. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Case Study | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | Demonstrate awareness of essential competencies of a chosen strength based approach. Critically reflect of own essential counselling competencies, and best practice techniques to develop competencies to minimum expected standards. |
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| Product: | Case Study | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Written assignment, to APA 7th ed. standards. Written within the Cadmus platform, and submitted online, via plagiarism checkers. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 4:Critical Reflective Essay | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | Students will critically reflect on their counselling skills practice during tutorials using an accepted experiential learning model (e.g., Kolb’s Learning Cycle). Reflection must address the experience of strength-based practice from both the client and counsellor perspectives. Students will identify: Two strengths demonstrated in their counselling practice Two areas requiring further development A plan for improvement informed by relevant academic literature This task supports the development of self-awareness, professional competence, and evidence-based practice in counselling. |
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| Product: | Essay | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | This is a Critical Reflective Essay, written to accepted essay structure (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, references), and APA 7th ed. formatting and referencing conventions. Assessment is prepared within the Cadmus platform, and submitted online via plagiarism checkers. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Required | Peter De Jong,Insoo Kim Berg | 2013 | Interviewing for Solutions | 4th | Wadsworth Publishing Company |
| Required | John J. Murphy,Jacqueline A. Sparks | 2018 | Strengths-Based Therapy | n/a | Routledge |
Not applicable
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
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