Course Outline
NUT409 Dietetic Research, Evaluation and Collaborative Practice
Course Coordinator:Alyse Davies (adavies@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Nutrition and Dietetics
2027Trimester 1
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
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 usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
In this Work Integrated Learning course you will develop skills in research, evaluation, and quality management to support evidence-based dietetic practice. You will gain practical experience applying research methods and evaluation processes within real-world settings, while working collaboratively with peers and supervisors. The course emphasises ethical practice alongside effective communication with people from diverse cultural, socioeconomic, organisational, and professional backgrounds, and influencing food systems to improve nutrition outcomes.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Placement – This placement will contribute toward the total 100 days of professional placement required to meet the Dietitians Australia National Competency and Accreditation Standards for Dietetic Education. An information session will be scheduled in the first 3 weeks of trimester where you will be provided formative feedback on professional competencies from the artefacts and tasks uploaded using the e-portfolio. | 300hrs | Refer to Format | Once Only |
Course Topics
- Applied research skills relevant to dietetic practice in a work integrated learning environment
What level is this course?
400 Level (Graduate)
What is the unit value of this course?
24 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * Dietitians Australia | |
| 1 | Apply research methods and evaluation processes to support evidence-based dietetic practice and quality improvement. | Creative and critical thinker |
3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3, 3.1.4, 3.1.5, 3.1 |
| 2 | Influence food systems and contribute to strategies that improve nutrition outcomes through evidence-based and collaborative approaches. | Engaged |
2.3.1, 2.3.2, 2.3.3, 2.3 |
| 3 | Collaborate effectively with peers, supervisors, and stakeholders, demonstrating clear and respectful communication across diverse cultural, socioeconomic, organisational, and professional contexts. | Collaboration |
4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1, 4.2 |
| 4 | Demonstrate practice within ethical, legal and professional boundaries and compliance with the student placement code of conduct. | Ethical |
1.1.1, 1.1.4, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.3.2, 1.2 |
| 5 | Assemble an e-portfolio that demonstrates competency as a graduate entry-level dietetic practitioner through alignment with the Dietitians Australia National Competency Standards. | Creative and critical thinker |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
* Competencies by Professional Body
| CODE | COMPETENCY |
| Dietitians Australia | |
| 1.1.1 | Demonstrates safe practice: Operates within the individual’s and the profession’s scope of practice, seeks assistance and refers to other services as necessary |
| 1.1.4 | Demonstrates safe practice: Demonstrates professional conduct and accepts responsibility for own actions |
| 1.2.1 | Demonstrates ethical and legal practice: Exercises professional duty of care in accordance with relevant codes of conduct, ethical requirements, and other accepted protocols |
| 1.2.2 | Demonstrates ethical and legal practice: Demonstrates integrity, honesty and fairness |
| 1.2.3 | Demonstrates ethical and legal practice: Prepares, stores and transmits accurate and timely documentation according to accepted standards |
| 1.3.2 | Demonstrates leadership: Develops and maintains a credible professional role by commitment to excellence of practice |
| 1 | Professional Practice |
| 1.2 | Professional Practice: Demonstrates ethical and legal practice |
| 2.3.1 | Influences food systems to improve the nutritional status of client: Applies an approach to practice that recognises the multi-factorial and interconnected determinants influencing nutrition and health |
| 2.3.2 | Influences food systems to improve the nutritional status of client: Uses food legislation, regulations and standards to develop, implement and evaluate food systems and sustainability to maintain food safety |
| 2.3.3 | Influences food systems to improve the nutritional status of client: Applies a socio-ecological approach to the development of strategies to improve nutrition and health |
| 2 | Expert Practice |
| 2.3 | Expert Practice: Influences food systems to improve the nutritional status of client |
| 3.1.1 | Conducts research, evaluation, and quality management processes: Identifies and selects appropriate research, evaluation and quality-management methods to advance the practice of dietetics |
| 3.1.2 | Conducts research, evaluation, and quality management processes: Applies ethical processes to research, evaluation, and quality management |
| 3.1.3 | Conducts research, evaluation, and quality management processes: Collects, analyses and interprets qualitative and quantitative research, evaluation, and quality management data |
| 3.1.4 | Conducts research, evaluation, and quality management processes: Accurately documents and disseminates research, evaluation, and quality-management findings |
| 3.1.5 | Conducts research, evaluation, and quality management processes: Translates the implications of research findings for dietetic practice, advocacy and key stakeholders |
| 3 | Research Practice |
| 3.1 | Research Practice: Conducts research, evaluation, and quality management processes |
| 4.1.1 | Communicates appropriately with people from various cultural, socioeconomic, organisational and professional backgrounds: Demonstrates empathy and establishes trust and rapport to build effective partnerships with clients, other professionals, key stakeholders and partners |
| 4.1.2 | Communicates appropriately with people from various cultural, socioeconomic, organisational and professional backgrounds: Uses a range of communication methods to communicate clearly and concisely to a range of audiences, adapting or co-creating communication messages for specific audiences where appropriate |
| 4.1.3 | Communicates appropriately with people from various cultural, socioeconomic, organisational and professional backgrounds: Engages in culturally appropriate, safe and sensitive communication that facilitates trust and the building of respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples |
| 4.1.4 | Communicates appropriately with people from various cultural, socioeconomic, organisational and professional backgrounds: Translates technical information into practical messaging that can be easily understood and used by clients, other professionals, key stakeholders, partners, and members of the public |
| 4 | Collaborative Practice |
| 4.1 | Collaborative Practice: Communicates appropriately with people from various cultural, socioeconomic, organisational and professional backgrounds |
| 4.2 | Collaborative Practice: Builds capacity of and collaborates with others to improve nutrition and health outcomes |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
Completion of 288 units and enrolled in SC406
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
It is assumed that students will have basic knowledge of scientific research methods and statistical analysis, and foundation knowledge in nutrients, food science and nutrition assessment.
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Limited Grading (PNP)
Details of early feedback on progress
Formative feedback on progression towards meeting project competencies will be provided by the project supervisor in collaboration with the course coordination throughout the project placement.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Placement performance | Individual | You will engage in project placements of a duration designated by the NUT409 Course Coordinator and SC406 Bachelor of Dietetics (Honours) Program Coordinator that contributes to a minimum of 100 days of professional placement in total to meet the Dietitians Australia National Competency and Accreditation Standards for Dietetic Education.Placement dates may vary for each student dependent on placement allocations. |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | To be Negotiated |
| All | 1a | Portfolio | Individual and Group | As guided by the placement supervisor. |
Refer to Format | Online Submission |
| All | 1b | Oral | Individual | Each interview will be conducted on one of the final days of each of your NUT 409 project placements. |
Refer to Format | In Class |
| All | 2 | Code of Conduct | Individual | Trimester of enrolment |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | To be Negotiated |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Professional competencies | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | You will demonstrate professional competencies as a dietitian that are relevant to conducting nutrition and dietetics quality improvement or research projects. These are based on the Dietitians Australia National Competency Standards for dietitians. To do this you will undertake supervised activities on placement. |
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| Product: | Placement performance | ||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will work on projects under the supervision of appropriately qualified dietitian. The Placement Academic Supervisor will notify you of the projects you will undertake and workplace location. The specific competencies assessed will relate to the type of projects you will undertake. These are based on the Dietitians Australia (DA) National Competency Standards. Demonstration of meeting competency will be assessed by the UniSC Placement Academic Supervisor and the Course Coordinator and will be determined based on feedback from the Project Placement (Workplace) Supervisors. This assessment task is part of Dietetics Portfolio where you will collate various purposefully selected tasks to provide comprehensive information about your progress in developing and attaining DA competencies for dietetic practice. You will continue to add to your Portfolio throughout the final year of your program, providing a basis for collective decision-making on your progress and stimulating your own learning. You will receive feedback on your progression of your competencies. This will contribute to your final competency assessment for the Bachelor of Dietetics (Honours). |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Organisation |
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| All - Assessment Task 1a:Project artefacts, self reflection and dissemination | |||||||
| Goal: | You will produce project plans, artefacts and self reflections of your experiences as guided by your supervisor and course coordinator, and dissemination your outcomes to relevant stakeholders. The purpose is to contribute to evidence towards the final assessment of your professional competencies. The e-portfolio will enable you to provide evidence to demonstrate that you have met the Dietitian Australia Professional Competency Standards as a graduate entry level dietetic practitioner at the completion of your degree. |
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| Product: | Portfolio | ||||||
| Format: | You will contribute to the learning e-portfolio during NUT409 placement, and upload placement artefacts, self-reflections, and relevant supervisor feedback forms This assessment task is part of Dietetics Portfolio where you will collate various purposefully selected tasks to provide comprehensive information about your progress in developing and attaining Dietitians Australia (DA) competencies for dietetic practice. Assessment task be completed throughout the placement and submitted the week after completion of the placement. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Collaboration, Organisation, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 1b:Placement interview | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The purpose is to contribute evidence demonstrating your development towards the assessment of your professional competencies (Task 1). |
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| Product: | Oral | |||||||||||||||
| Format: | A structured interview will be held with yourself, the Course Coordinator and a project supervisor. You will be asked to answer questions which align with the relevant DA competencies and draws on the evidence from this placement. The interview will be conducted on one of the final days of your placement. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Student code of conduct | ||||||||||
| Goal: | This task enables you to become familiar with and demonstrate the requisite professional behaviours captured in the Code of Conduct for your discipline and work environment |
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| Product: | Code of Conduct | |||||||||
| Format: | You are required to complete a research placement of a duration designated by the NUT409 Course Coordinator and SC406 Bachelor of Dietetics (Honours) Program Coordinator that contributes to a minimum of 100 days of professional placement in total to meet the Dietitians Australia National Competency and Accreditation Standards for Dietetic Education. To be eligible to pass this course, you are required to complete this placement satisfactorily according to assessment criteria. The Placement Academic Supervisor and Course Coordinator, in collaboration with your Project Placement Supervisor, will evaluate your performance. If you fail to meet the Student Code of Conduct, you may fail the course and can be withdrawn from the workplace immediately, as per the UniSC Workplace and Industry Placement - Procedures. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving |
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Assessment to competency mapping
| Programme Delivery Mode | Assessment Type | Title | Competency | Teaching Methods |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Competency Standards for Dietitians in Australia (2021) | ||||
| All delivery modes | Code of Conduct | Student code of conduct | 3.1.1 | Practiced, Assessed |
| 3.1.2 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 3.1.3 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 3.1.4 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 3.1.5 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 4.1.2 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 4.3.1 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 4.3.2 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 4.3.3 | Practiced | |||
| Placement performance | Professional competencies | 3.1.1 | Practiced, Assessed | |
| 3.1.2 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 3.1.3 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 3.1.4 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 3.1.5 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| 4.1.3 | Practiced, Assessed | |||
| Portfolio | Project artefacts, self reflection and dissemination | 3.1.1 | Practiced | |
Directed study hours
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.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
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.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Recommended | Pranee Liamputtong | 0 | Research Methods and Evidence-Based Practice | 4th Edition | n/a |
| Recommended | John W. Creswell,J. David Creswell | 0 | Research Design | 5th edition | n/a |
Specific requirements
You will be required to participate research activities that develop your skills in applied research. This placement will allow you to demonstrate the relevant National Competency Standards for Dietitians in Australia. You will be assigned a research supervisor who will supervise and coordinate these activities.
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
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.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
This course will be graded as Pass in a Limited Grade Course (PU) or Fail in a Limited Grade Course (UF) as per clause 5.1.1.3 and 5.1.1.4 of the Grades and Grade Point Average (GPA) - Academic Policy.
In a course eligible to use Limited Grades, all assessment items in that course are marked on a Pass/Fail basis and all assessment tasks are required to be passed for a student to successfully complete the course. Supplementary assessment is not available in courses using Limited Grades.
This course contributes to the minimum of 100 days of professional placement in total to meet the Dietitians Australia National Competency and Accreditation Standards for Dietetic Education. You must meet the requirement of the number of standard work days (6-8 hours/ day) as per the placement allocation.
Assessment: Submission penalties
You must contact your Course Coordinator and provide the required documentation if you require an extension or alternate assessment.
Refer to the Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs – Procedures.
SafeUniSC
UniSC is committed to a culture of respect and providing a safe and supportive environment for all members of our community. For immediate assistance on campus contact SafeUniSC by phone: 07 5430 1168 or using the SafeZone app. For general enquires contact the SafeUniSC team by phone 07 5456 3864 or email safe@usc.edu.au.
The SafeUniSC Specialist Service is a Student Wellbeing service that provides free and confidential support to students who may have experienced or observed behaviour that could cause fear, offence or trauma. To contact the service call 07 5430 1226 or email studentwellbeing@usc.edu.au.
Study help
For help with course-specific advice, for example what information to include in your assessment, you should first contact your tutor, then your course coordinator, if needed.
If you require additional assistance, the Learning Advisers are trained professionals who are ready to help you develop a wide range of academic skills. Visit the Learning Advisers web page for more information, or contact Student Central for further assistance: +61 7 5430 2890 or studentcentral@usc.edu.au.
Wellbeing Services
Student Wellbeing provide free and confidential counselling on a wide range of personal, academic, social and psychological matters, to foster positive mental health and wellbeing for your academic success.
To book a confidential appointment go to Student Hub, email studentwellbeing@usc.edu.au or call 07 5430 1226.
AccessAbility Services
Ability Advisers ensure equal access to all aspects of university life. If your studies are affected by a disability, learning disorder mental health issue, injury or illness, or you are a primary carer for someone with a disability or who is considered frail and aged, AccessAbility Services can provide access to appropriate reasonable adjustments and practical advice about the support and facilities available to you throughout the University.
To book a confidential appointment go to Student Hub, email AccessAbility@usc.edu.au or call 07 5430 2890.
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
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.
General Enquiries
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In person:
- UniSC Sunshine Coast - Student Central, Ground Floor, Building C, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs
- UniSC Moreton Bay - Service Centre, Ground Floor, Foundation Building, Gympie Road, Petrie
- UniSC SouthBank - Student Central, Building A4 (SW1), 52 Merivale Street, South Brisbane
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- Tel:+61 7 5430 2890
- Email:studentcentral@usc.edu.au