Course Coordinator:Trudi Flynn (tflynn@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.
This graduate level course aims to introduce the student to contemporary issues that impact the older Australian person. The effect of aging on the physical and mental wellbeing will also be explored, ethics, and the evidence based interventions when working with older Australians will be practiced.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – weekly 1 hour online asynchronous learning activities to introduce weekly learning objectives to the students. Activities can include recorded lectures, videos, interactive activities, and online discussions. | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Weekly 2 hour on campus tutorial designed to consolidate weekly learning objectives, and practice relevant skills / prepare for upcoming assessments. | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
| Information session – online learning activity facilitated by the tutor | 1hr | Refer to Format | Once Only |
300 Level (Graduate)
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 | Comprehend contemporary social issues impacting the older Australian | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Understand the impact of aging on Australians, physically and mentally | Knowledgeable |
| 3 | Have an appreciation of the unique ethical considerations when working with older Australians | Ethical |
| 4 | Apply known issues and problems of aging in Australia, to the Indigenous context | Empowered |
| 5 | Demonstrate competency in applying evidence based interventions for common issues and complaints of older Australians with the end-goal of improved mental health and wellbeing. | Empowered |
| 6 | Demonstrate developed academic integrity and research skills for life long learning. | Sustainability-focussed |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
COU180 and COU176
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Students will be asked to provide their essay plan, with found references, for the tutors to provide early feedback.
| 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% | minimum 16 hours |
Refer to Format | In Class |
| All | 2 | Essay | Individual | 30% | 1500 words |
Week 6 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Artefact - Professional, and Written Piece | Individual | 30% | 15 minutes and 1000 words |
Week 9 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 4 | Artefact - Professional | Group | 30% | 12-minute in-class group presentation of the program pitch; plus 5 minutes of question time. Preparation and submission of an associated one page visual intervention plan, in the format of a poster. |
Week 12 | In Class |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Participation | |||||||
| Goal: | Students will participate for a minimum of 80% of their on-campus tutorials. Failure to meet the minimum participation requirements will result in a failed grade for this task. |
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| Product: | Activity Participation | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Tutor to record participation each week, in LMS |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Essay: The Social Construction of Aging | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To describe and evaluate the social construction of aging, drawing on key recommended readings and an independent literature search (e.g., How aging is constructed within Australian society and by professional practices?) |
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| Product: | Essay | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Students are to consult both required and extended journal articles on aging, to develop an argument regarding the social construction of aging in Australia. Students will then plan their essay to demonstrate their central thesis, emphasising persuasive expression. The essay is to be prepared within Cadmus, and submitted online, through plagiarism detection software. |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Role Play/Critique | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | Students are to demonstrate a conversation with an older Australian using life review questions. Students also review their life review interview, and write a brief critically reflective essay on their counselling skills when working with older Australians. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Professional, and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
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| Format: | Students will record, via zoom, their life review conversation with consent, and including trauma informed principles. This recording is saved and downloaded as an MP4 file, for submission online Secondly, students watch their recording and provide critical reflection of skills using Kolb's reflective cycle to shape their argument. This is prepared within Cadmus, and submitted online, via plagiarism checkers. |
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| Generic Skills: | Collaboration, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 4:Therapeutic Program Proposal: Industry Simulation | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To design and propose a group-based counselling intervention program for older Australians, suitable for implementation in a community based aged care or primary care setting. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Professional | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Format: | Students will work in groups of four to design a group-based counselling intervention program for older Australians, suitable for implementation in a community-based aged care or primary care setting. Each group will present their proposed intervention as a live in class pitch In addition, groups will create a one-page visual intervention plan in a form of a poster. This poster will be displayed during the group pitch and submitted as a stand-alone professional artefact. It must be clear, well-organised, and sufficiently detailed to be understood independently by an audience who has not attended the presentation. As part of the online submission, group members will be required to submit an individual project contribution statement using a provided template. This assessment mirrors real-world professional practice and is designed to prepare students for developing service proposals - an activity commonly undertaken by counsellors when introducing new service possibilities across contexts such as aged care, community mental health, palliative care, and dementia support. |
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| Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Information literacy |
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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 | Edited by Maree Bernoth,Denise Winkler | 2022 | Healthy Ageing and Aged Care | 2 | Oxford University Press |
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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