Course Outline
NUT412 Professional Practice and Leadership in Dietetics
Course Coordinator:Heather Bischoff (hbischof@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Nutrition and Dietetics
2027Trimester 3
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 unisc.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 prepare for dietetic practice in a range of settings, with a particular focus on primary health care. You will work with clients in the UniSC Nutrition and Dietetic Clinic or an equivalent setting, gaining practical experience that supports professional readiness. The course develops skills in communication, business planning, management, and mentoring, while exploring strategies for ethical and legal practice. Focus is placed on adaptability and professional responsibility to equip you for leadership and effective management within diverse professional contexts.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Placement – 120 hours consisting of pre-placement workshops, and full-time placement days as per the placement roster. Academic staff allocate WIL placement. | 120hrs | Refer to Format | Once Only |
Course Topics
This is a work integrated learning ( professional placement ) course.
What level is this course?
400 Level (Graduate)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 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 organisational, business, and management skills to support effective nutrition and dietetic practice | Empowered |
1.4.1, 4.2.4 |
| 2 | Collaborate effectively with peers, supervisors, and stakeholders, demonstrating clear and respectful communication across diverse cultural, socioeconomic, organisational, and professional contexts. |
Engaged Collaboration |
1.3.1, 1.3.3, 4.3.2 |
| 3 | Demonstrate safe, effective and culturally responsive professional practice in a nutrition and dietetic workplace setting | Engaged |
1.1.1, 1.1.3, 1.1.4 |
| 4 | Uphold ethical and professional standards in accordance with the dietetic student placement code of conduct. | Ethical |
1.1.4, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.2 |
* Competencies by Professional Body
| CODE | COMPETENCY |
| Dietitians Australia | |
| 1.4.1 | Demonstrates management: Applies organisational, business and management skills in the practice of nutrition and dietetics |
| 1.3.1 | Demonstrates leadership: Uses negotiation and conflict-resolution skills when required |
| 1.3.3 | Demonstrates leadership: Seeks, responds to and provides effective feedback |
| 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 |
| 1.1.3 | Demonstrates safe practice: Consistently demonstrates reflective practice in collaboration with supervisors, peers and mentors |
| 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 |
| 1.3.2 | Demonstrates leadership: Develops and maintains a credible professional role by commitment to excellence of practice |
| 4.2.4 | Builds capacity of and collaborates with others to improve nutrition and health outcomes: Applies the principles of marketing to promote healthy eating and influence dietary change |
| 4.3.2 | Collaborates within and across teams effectively: Participates in collaborative decision-making, shared responsibility, and shared vision within teams at an individual, organisational and systems level |
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 Program SC406
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
Not applicable
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Limited Grading (PNP)
Details of early feedback on progress
Formative Feedback will be provided by the Course Coordinator on the progression of professional competencies, from artefacts and tasks uploaded and completed in the e-portfolio and through collaboration with the Placement Workplace Supervisor.
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 complete the pre-placement workshops and professional placement of a duration designated by the NUT412 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 between students. |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online ePortfolio Submission |
| All | 1a | Portfolio | Individual | Artefacts, teamwork and collaboration activities and self-reflections are required to be uploaded at different times throughout the placement as evidence of progression towards final competence. |
Refer to Format | Online ePortfolio Submission |
| All | 2 | Code of Conduct | Individual | You are required to complete a professional placement of a duration designated by the NUT412 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. |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | To be Negotiated |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Placement professional competencies | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The purpose of this task is for you to develop and demonstrate professional competencies as a dietitian. You will undertake preparation for professional placement as part of pre-placement workshops and for work in a primary care setting. Some of these activities will take place at the UniSC clinics and some maybe in locations off campus. |
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| Product: | Placement performance | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will be assessed on your progression with professional competencies at the end of the placement by the Course Coordinator and Placement Academic Supervisor. These are based on the Dietitians Australia National Competency Standards. You will receive feedback on your progression of competency development during placement. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 1a:Dietetics portfolio of professional competency | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | The purpose is to contribute evidence towards the final assessment of your professional competencies (Task 1). You will receive feedback on progression of your competencies during placement. The artefacts and reflections will demonstrate contribution towards the Dietitians Australia National Competency Standards. |
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| Product: | Portfolio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will complete the learning e-portfolio during placement and upload artefacts, teamwork and collaboration activities and self-reflections. These will align with the DA competencies relevant to the placement setting. 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: | 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 code of conduct for your discipline and work within its guidelines during a work integrated learning experience. |
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| Product: | Code of Conduct | |||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||
| Format: | To be eligible to pass, you are required to complete this placement satisfactorily according to assessment criteria and meet the duration of days as specified by the course coordinator. The placement supervisor and course coordinator 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 research activity immediately, as per the UniSC Workplace and Industry Placement - Procedures. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Organisation |
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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 | 1.1.1 | Assessed |
| 1.1.4 | Assessed | |||
| 1.2.1 | Assessed | |||
| 1.2.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.2 | Assessed | |||
| Placement performance | Placement professional competencies | 1.1.1 | Assessed | |
| 1.1.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.1.3 | Assessed | |||
| 1.1.4 | Assessed | |||
| 1.2.1 | Assessed | |||
| 1.2.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.1 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.3 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.4 | Assessed | |||
| 4.3.2 | Assessed | |||
| Portfolio | Dietetics portfolio of professional competency | 1.1.1 | Assessed | |
| 1.1.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.1.3 | Assessed | |||
| 1.1.4 | Assessed | |||
| 1.2.1 | Assessed | |||
| 1.2.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.1 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.2 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.3 | Assessed | |||
| 1.3.4 | Assessed | |||
| 4.3.2 | Assessed | |||
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
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 |
| Recommended | Donald F. Kuratko | 0 | Entrepreneurship | 12th | Cengage Learning |
Specific requirements
Students are expected to familiarise themselves with the timing and length of WIL courses in the program and plan for these accordingly. Students are required to comply with all mandatory requirements to be eligible for WIL placements. Prior to the trimester commencing students will be required to complete online placement preparation modules and an on campus workshop. The dates for these activities will be communicated to students the year prior to placement commencing.
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.
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
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: