murdoch university urriculum ommission review report 2016

Murdoch University Curriculum Commission Review Report 2016

Compiled by Romy Lawson Paul Comiskey

Nic Rahilly Alasdair MacDonald Frances Asha Katrina Pruntel

With Thanks to the MUCC Review Task & Finish Group

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Table of Contents CUTL – Centre for University Teaching and Learning .................................................................................. 4

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 5

Background ........................................................................................................................................................ 6

Current Climate ................................................................................................................................................. 6

MUCC Review .................................................................................................................................................... 7

Terms of Reference ....................................................................................................................................... 8

Timeline: ........................................................................................................................................................ 8

Methodology ................................................................................................................................................. 8

Analysis .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

Findings .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

Transition - Principle and Practice ........................................................................................................... 9

Research - Principle and Practice ............................................................................................................ 11

Breadth – Principles and Practice ............................................................................................................ 13

Capstones, Work Integrated Learning & Specialist Offerings ................................................................. 15

Open Survey Responses .......................................................................................................................... 16

Desktop Audit .......................................................................................................................................... 17

Summary Findings ................................................................................................................................... 17

Lessons Learnt ......................................................................................................................................... 18

Recommendations & Implementation Strategy ...................................................................................... 19

Consultation& Communication ............................................................................................................... 20

Evaluation Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 20

Appendix I: Focus Group Breakdown .............................................................................................................. 21

Appendix II: Staff Response Breakdowns ........................................................................................................ 22

Appendix III: Student Response Breakdown ................................................................................................... 23

Appendix IV: MUCC Survey Results – Transition Principles & Practice ........................................................... 24

Appendix V: MUCC Survey Results – Research Skills Principles & Practice ..................................................... 31

Appendix VI - MUCC Survey Results – Breadth Principles & Practice ............................................................. 39

Appendix VII: Desktop Audit of MUCC Related Policies & Regulations .......................................................... 47

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Table of Tables Table 1: Academic Council Exemptions from MUCC (2013-16) ........................................................................ 6

Table 2: Summary of MUCC Review Findings .................................................................................................. 17

Table 3: MUCC Review Recommended Actions for Implementation ............................................................. 19

Table 4: Focus Group Breakdown by School/Unit; Role and Elements Addressed ......................................... 21

Table 5: Staff Response Breakdown by Role and School/Unit ........................................................................ 22

Table 6: Staff Response Breakdown by Length of Time at Murdoch University and School/Unit .................. 22

Table 7: Student Response Breakdown by Mode of Learning ........................................................................ 23

Table 8: Student Response Breakdown by Student Origin .............................................................................. 23

Table 9: Descriptive Statistics for Staff on transition skills and units - principle and practice ........................ 24

Table 10: Paired Samples Correlations for Staff on transition skills and units - principle and practice .......... 24

Table 11: Paired Samples Test for Staff on transition skills and units - principle and practice ....................... 25

Table 12: Staff Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by School........................... 25

Table 13: Staff Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by Length of Time at

Murdoch University ......................................................................................................................................... 26

Table 14: Descriptive Statistics for Students on transition skills and units - principle and practice ............... 26

Table 15: Paired Samples Correlations for Students on transition skills and units - principle and practice ... 27

Table 16: Paired Samples Test for Students on transition skills and units - principle and practice ................ 27

Table 17: Student Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by Mode of Learning ... 27

Table 18: Student Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by Student Origin......... 28

Table 19: Student Satisfaction Rating for Transition Units (2015-16) ............................................................. 28

Table 20: Descriptive Statistics for Staff on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice ...................... 31

Table 21: Paired Samples Correlations for Staff on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice .......... 31

Table 22: Paired Samples Test for Staff on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice ....................... 32

Table 23: Staff Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by School ............................ 32

Table 24: Staff Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by Length of Time at Murdoch

University ......................................................................................................................................................... 33

Table 25: Descriptive Statistics for Students on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice ............... 33

Table 26: Paired Samples Correlations for Students on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice ... 34

Table 27: Paired Samples Test for Students on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice ................ 34

Table 28: Student Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by Mode of Learning ..... 35

Table 29: Student Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by Student Origin .......... 35

Table 30: Student Satisfaction Rating for Research Skills Units (2015-16) ..................................................... 35

Table 31: Descriptive Statistics for Staff on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units -

principle and practice ...................................................................................................................................... 39

Table 32: Paired Samples Correlations for Staff on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units

- principle and practice .................................................................................................................................... 40

Table 33: Paired Samples Test for Staff on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units -


Table 34: Staff Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by School .............................. 40

Table 35: Staff Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by Length of Time at Murdoch

University ......................................................................................................................................................... 41

Table 36: Descriptive Statistics for Students on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units -


Table 37: Paired Samples Correlations for Students on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth

Units - principle and practice........................................................................................................................... 42

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Table 38: Paired Samples Test Statistics for Students on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth

Units - principle and practice........................................................................................................................... 43

Table 39: Student Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by Mode of Study ........... 43

Table 40: Student Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by Student Origin ............ 43

Table 41: Student Satisfaction Rating for Breadth Units (2015-16) ................................................................ 44

Table of Figures Figure 1: Staff Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question .............................................. 9

Figure 2: Student Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question ...................................... 10

Figure 3: Staff Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question ............................................. 11

Figure 4: Student Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question ........................................ 12

Figure 5: Staff Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question ............................................... 13

Figure 6: Student Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question .......................................... 14

Figure 7: Staff Responses to Capstone, Work Integrated Learning and Specialist Survey Questions ............ 15

Figure 8: Student Responses to Capstone, Work Integrated Learning and Specialist Survey Questions ....... 15

Acronyms

MUCC - Murdoch University Curriculum Commission

WIL – Work Integrated Learning

ACAC – Academic Courses and Admissions Committee

TNE – Transnational Education

DVCE – Deputy Vice Chancellor Education

EIT – Engineering and Information Technology

VLS – Veterinary and Life Sciences

ADLT – Associate Dean Learning and Teaching

ADCA – Associate Dean Courses and Admissions

VC – Vice Chancellor

SEG – Senior Executive Group

SLG – Senior Leadership Group

ARO – Academic Registrar’s Office

CUTL – Centre for University Teaching and Learning

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Executive Summary The Murdoch University Curriculum Commission White Paper proposed thirteen recommendations that were endorsed for implementation in 2013. A variety of issues have arisen since the MUCC implementation, including recruitment, retention and teaching quality figures for the university; student satisfaction with some of the transition, research skills and breadth units; and multiple exemption requests to Academic Council. A review was therefore instigated and the following is a collation of the findings followed by a set of recommendations for future practice. The Review consisted of conducting focus groups (41) across all the main stakeholders of the university; whole of university surveys for staff (120 responses) and students (127 responses); select interviews with some key personnel involved in the process; and a desktop audit of the current policies and regulations governing the MUCC recommendations. The main findings from this review show that many of the MUCC Principles are seen to have merit; these include the principles to develop students’ employability; the principle of making sure all students have a transition to university that introduces them to degree specific skills; and the principle that all students should develop research skills relevant for their discipline. The implementation of many of these principles has been varied with those that have been successful being able to deliver the skills units in context, showing relevance to their students. Degrees catering for a wide range of disciplines have struggled to design units that can provide relevance to students. In conducting this review and making recommendations it is therefore important that where practice is working we support continuation but where practice is not effective we allow for a degree of flexibility. A summary of the lessons learnt from the review includes:

Compulsory Transition, Research Skills and Breadth Units are not working for all courses: – Opportunities for double majors have been restricted and combined degrees are now

five years in length which is not competitive with the current market; – Opportunities to undertake WIL units are restricted due to room in the curriculum;

Staff and students identified the need for more real world, industry connections, career ready learning, and work place experiences to enhance employability after graduation;

Implementation of the principles was rushed and did not provide the support for high quality curriculum design and failed to take into account the diverse needs of different disciplines.

Policies are often restrictive which has led to reinforcing the exemption culture which was already evident due to multiple, complex policies.

Ownership of degree programs has been limited with Academic Council taking the role of making discretionary judgements rather than Academic Chairs.

Communication needs to be improved to make sure future principles and practices are both understood and valued by all.

In light of this review a set of recommendations are being proposed for taking the Murdoch Curriculum into the future, with the view of designing a curriculum that is contemporary, appealing, intelligible and preparing our students to be career ready. These include:

Expanding discretionary judgement for Academic Chairs – Approved Academic Council, November 2016

Allowing transition and research experiences to be embedded into majors Undertaking a Course Structure Review to accommodate double majors and combined degrees Developing new coursework regulations and revised Curriculum Policy for effect from 2018 Developing Course Review Procedures including provision for Course Portfolio Health Checks Implement a Career Learning Spine: Murdoch University has a unique capacity to offer

curriculum to compliment/ augment chosen degree programs. This will be utilised by revising the breadth spine as a Career Learning Spine to support career readiness on graduation

Review of Assessment and Feedback Principles, Practice and Policy These recommendations will be delivered in a two phase approach starting from 2018, using the Course Review Cycle as a means to stagger implementation across the university.

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Background The Murdoch University Curriculum Commission (MUCC) was established in 2012 to review and make recommendations on courses, degrees and degree structures as part of an overall strategy to position Murdoch as a competitive and sustainable research university in a global setting. As a result of this commission a set of thirteen recommendations (principles) were endorsed by the university (MUCC White Paper, 2013). These new degrees were implemented in Perth in 2014 with roll out occurring for TNE in 2017.

Current Climate Since the implementation of the MUCC Principles, Academic Council has had regular requests for waivers from the policies that govern the curriculum (MUCC Review, Academic Council Paper, September 2016). A summary of these exemptions follows: Table 1: Academic Council Exemptions from MUCC (2013-16)

Principle Course/ Major Date Exemption Breadth Units

B Ed June 2013 To substitute the Breadth in Practice unit with a Professional Internship unit

Early Childhood To waive the requirement for Breadth units in year 2 and year 3 Bachelor of Engineering

To waive the breadth in practice unit in the final year of the degree To substitute the Breadth in Practice unit with ENG3268 Engineering Finance, Management, Ethics and Law

LLB To waive the requirements regarding three Breadth units (year 1 to year 3) for graduate entry with 24 points of Advanced Standing

BSc

To waive the requirements to have a minimum of 3 x 300 level units in the major for the:

Biological Sciences Biomedical Science Biotechnology Marine Science Engineering Technology

BSc Nov 2013 To waive the requirement for a Year 3 Breadth in Practice unit for students completing a double major in Sport & Health Science and Movement Science in the Bachelor of Science and to substitute the Breadth in Practice unit with a practicum unit

BSc/Bachelor of Clinical Chiropractic

April 2014

To waive the requirement for a Breadth in Practice unit in the third year of the five year Chiropractic Science major

Breadth & Research Skills

BSc plus Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

Sept 2014 To waive the requirements for year 2 and year 3 Breadth and Research Skills units in the integrated level 7 Veterinary Biology major

Breadth B Nursing Nov 2014 To waive the requirement for Breadth units in year 2 and year 3 LLB and combined degrees

June 2015 To amend from 6 to 3 credit points to the Murdoch University requirement for “a further 6 credit points from an approved University-Wide Breadth unit list comprised of units from 100 to 300 level”

BSc To amend from 6 to 3 credit points to the Murdoch University requirement for “a further 6 credit points from an approved University-Wide Breadth unit list comprised of units from 100 to 300 level”

BSc To substitute the Year 3 Breadth unit with the proposed new unit ICT3xx IT Professional Practice Project

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Breadth & Research Skills

B Ed Aug 2016 To exempt from Clause 2.10.1 of the ‘Coursework Regulations’ regarding the Part II requirements of the course leading to the Bachelor of Education Degree for the Early Childhood and Primary Teaching Major (B1319) to not include a 300 level Research Unit or Breadth Units to the value of 6 Credit Points

Breadth ALL Aug 2016 To waive of Clause 2.10.1 of the ‘Coursework Regulations’ to enable students to replace one 3 credit point Part II University-wide Breadth Unit with a work placement unit, consistent with the Work Integrated Learning Policy

A review was originally proposed to take place in 2017 to review the implementation of the MUCC White Paper recommendations but given the intensity of exemption requests; the students satisfaction rating for many transition, research skills and breadth units; staff dissatisfaction; and issues with recruitment and retention it was decided to review the MUCC principles, practice, policies and processes in August 2016.

MUCC Review The MUCC Review was convened with the aim to re-examine the principles, practices, policies and processes around MUCC, identifying areas for amendment and further development. This review focused on how we are delivering the Murdoch curriculum. In order to facilitate this review a MUCC Review Task & Finish Group was established with key stakeholder from Murdoch University. This group was responsible for steering the process, examining the findings and collating a set of recommendations. In addition they acted as contacts for their schools/teams by reporting back on progress; bringing the school view to the Task & Finish Group meetings; identifying suitable participants for focus groups; promoting the online survey; and providing MUCC relevant documents.

The task and finish group included:

Professor Romy Lawson, DVCE (Chair) Mr Paul Comiskey, Associate Director, Curriculum & Academic Policy (Deputy Chair) Ms Nic Rahilly, DVCE EA (Administrative Coordinator) Mr Braden Hill, Manager, Kulbardi Aboriginal Centre Mr Mike Bryant, Associate Director, Centre for University Teaching & Learning Mr Phil Payne, Director, External Engagement Ms Jenny Crawford, TNE Manager Ms Brodie Skalko, Student Representative (Guild) – Education Vice President Dr Jim Trotter, ADLT (School of Arts Representative)

Dr Simon Minaee, Lecturer (School of Business & Governance Representative) Dr Lisa Cary, ADLT (School of Education Representative) Dr Duncan Farrow, ADCA (School of EIT Representative) Mr Stanley Innes, Lecturer (School of Health Professions Representative) Ms Sonia Walker, ADLT (School of Law Representative) Dr Helen Davis, Senior Lecturer (School of Psychology & Exercise Science Representative) Associate Professor Mike Calver, ADLT (School of VLS Representative)

Terms of Reference

The Terms of Reference for the Task and Finish Group were: To conduct a review of MUCC, considering the 13 principles recommended by the MUCC, the

practice to date, and the supporting policies and processes. To identify elements of MUCC (principles, practice, policy and process) that need increasing,

reducing, eliminating or creating (see Table 2) To produce a report for the senior leadership containing recommendations for amendments to

MUCC (principles, practice and policy) which indicates Phase 1 recommendations (for immediate action) and Phase 2 recommendations (for action over 12 -18 months)

Timeline: Sept: Task & Finish Group to convene Sept - Oct: Focus Groups; Staff and Student Survey Development and Administration Oct: Desktop review of supporting documentation Nov: Analysis of data; Finalise report with recommendations Dec - Jan: Present report to VC; SEG; SLG and Academic Council

Methodology Methodology for the review consisted of four elements which involved:

Focus groups (facilitated by an external consultant): 41 focus groups were conducted with students; academics and leaders from each faculty including TNE locations, key committees and university units (See Table 4 for full breakdown) ;

Interviews with key stakeholders who have taken responsibility for the MUCC concept and implementation (including the University Secretariat & President Academic Council);

Whole of institution surveys for: o Staff - with a focus on principles, practices and policies (120 responses – See Tables 5

& 6) o Students – with a focus on principles and practices (127 responses – See Tables 7 & 8);

Desktop audit of policies relating to the MUCC White Paper recommendations and implementation.

Analysis Quantitative data from the staff and student surveys was analysed using Paired T Tests with SPSS (full descriptive statistics and result tables can been seen in Appendices IV (Tables 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16), V (Tables 20,21,22, 25, 26, 27) and VI (Tables 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38)).

In order to assure reliability in identifying issues and making recommendations from the qualitative data, computer-aided textual analysis was used to allow for systematic, comprehensive and exhaustive analysis. The Leximancer program is a data-mining tool that was used to analyse the content of collections the focus group responses and the open survey questions visually displaying the extracted information by means of a conceptual map that provides a bird’s eye view of the material, representing the main concepts and how they are related. This map allows users to perform a directed search of the documents in order to explore instances of the concepts or their interrelations, as a means of using this information to explore interesting conceptual features.

Findings The major findings are reported in the main report with additional data available through the appendices. The survey responses are reported for both staff and students with a commentary around the breakdown of staff responses by schools (with significant numbers of responses) and by length of time at Murdoch University. The student responses were reported with commentary in relation to breakdowns of internal versus external mode of learning and international versus domestic students.

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The Review Task & Finish Group recognise the limitations of the methodology and have checked findings by triangulating data using survey responses; focus groups responses and student satisfaction ratings to try and provide the fullest overview possible.

Transition - Principle and Practice Transition was examined from two perspectives in the surveys, firstly whether respondents agreed with the general principle of supporting students to transition into university, and secondly whether in practice instigating compulsory units was effective.

Staff The staff responses show that there is strong support for supporting student transition into university, however the support for a compulsory unit is not as strong (see Figure 1). A Paired T tests showed statistical evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for this pair of questions for staff (see Tables 9, 10, 11).

Figure 1: Staff Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question

School Breakdown The responses by school indicate that some schools feel more strongly about compulsory units than others with those schools who cater for a more focussed degree program, for example business, law and education seeing more value in a transition unit than those schools who cater for a wide range of students, for example, arts, EIT and VLS (see Table 12).

Time at Murdoch University The response from those staff who were newer to Murdoch University show less support for the compulsory units than those who had been at the institution for over five years (see Table 13).

Students The students do not provide as strong support for the principle of supporting transition as the staff but the principle is still favoured by the majority. The question of whether there should be a compulsory transition unit however is not as well supported with a many students selecting disagree/strongly disagree in response (see Figure 2). A Paired T tests showed statistical evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for this pair of questions for students (see Tables 14, 15, 16).

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree

Neither agree nor disagree

Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should have acompulsory transition unit for allundergraduate degrees?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should includetransition skills in all undergraduatedegrees?

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Figure 2: Student Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question

Student Breakdown The breakdown of students suggests that external students and international students are more in favour of the compulsory transition units than the internal or domestic students (See Tables 17 & 18).

Focus Group Responses Analysis of the focus groups for academics, students and leaders found that:

• The overall principle of supporting student transition was supported; • The compulsory nature was questioned as a one size fits all approach means less flexibility for

students particularly high performing; • Responses focused on skills development, with reference to these skills being taught out of

context for the more generic degrees (Arts and Science); • Students reported that the units catered for the lowest common denominator, whilst

academics reported that many students still struggled to achieve in the transition units.

Student Satisfaction Ratings The student satisfaction ratings show that students are giving quite neutral scores to the transition units. Exceptions are the Business School unit that has had some more positive student ratings over the four semesters that data has been collected; this unit has been designed in the context of the degree and is strongly aligned to the accompanying first semester units of the course (See Table 19).

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Do you agree with the principlethat Murdoch University:should have a compulsorytransition unit for allundergraduate degrees?

Do you agree with the principlethat Murdoch University:should include transition skillsin all undergraduate degrees?

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Research - Principle and Practice Again this MUCC recommendation was examined from two perspectives in the surveys, firstly whether respondents agreed with the general principle of supporting students to develop research skills, and secondly whether in practice instigating compulsory units was effective.

Staff Figure 3 is quite telling, showing that the surveyed staff strongly agreed that research skills should be developed in all undergraduate students but strongly disagreed that this should require two compulsory units in second and third year. A Paired T tests showed statistical evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for this pair of questions for staff (see Tables 20, 21, 22).

Figure 3: Staff Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question

School Breakdown This pattern of agreeing with the principle but not the practice was fairly consistent across all the schools that had significant responses (see Table 23).

Time at Murdoch University When the time at the university was considered those who had been at the institutions for less time showed more agreement with the compulsory units than those who had been at the university over five years (See Table 24).

Students The students show a similar, if not more pronounced, pattern to the staff, showing support for the principle of research skills but opposition to the compulsory units. A Paired T tests showed statistical evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for this pair of questions for students (see Tables 25, 26, 27).

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units – one at each second and third year level?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should requireall undergraduate students todevelop research skills?

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Figure 4: Student Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question

Student Breakdown The breakdown of types of students does not reveal much additional information with similar patterns evident for all (See Tables 28 & 29).


• The principle of research skills was supported but should be embedded in majors not stand alone units;

• Research Skills were seen as important skills for our students; • These skills need to have discipline relevance.

The question of relevance to the disciplines was further examined in the survey when staff and students were asked how they define research skills for their area. This question was also asked in the focus groups where students often reported basic information literacy skills (library searches, writing literature reviews). When the discussion moved to what academics and students would like to gain in terms of research skills – what it would mean to be research proficient in their discipline - the following were consistently offered:

Ability to identify issues and problems; Ability to ask relevant questions; Ability to explore answers to questions through both traditional and creative, innovative

research methods; Ability to critically analyse data to answer questions; Ability to communicate questions and answers to a range of audiences using a variety of

techniques.

Student Satisfaction Ratings The student satisfaction ratings are varied for the research skill units with those that cater for a single discipline area (Business, Education, Psychology, ICT) tending (but not consistently) to gain good ratings from students but the units that have been designed to cater across a wide range of majors (Arts, Science) consistently getting poor ratings (See Table 30).

0 10 20 30 40

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units – one at each second and third year level?

Do you agree with the principlethat Murdoch University:should require allundergraduate students todevelop research skills?

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Breadth – Principles and Practice The Breadth Units created the strongest reactions in both the focus groups and survey responses. The focus groups invariably asked what was breadth supposed to be – there was a clear lack of understanding of a common vision for these units. This meant that both the principle and practice were questioned for this MUCC recommendation.

Staff The level of agreement with the Breadth principle showed a lower level than the Research Skills and Transition principles. It is evident by the staff student responses that the three compulsory units were not favoured (See Figure 5). A Paired T tests showed statistical evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for this pair of questions for staff (see Tables 31, 32, 33).

Figure 5: Staff Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question

School Breakdown None of the schools showed favour towards the Breadth principle (see Table 34).

Time at Murdoch The staff who had been at Murdoch University for longer than five years also showed more favour for the inclusion of the Breadth principle in the curriculum (see Table 35).

Students The student data was similar to the staff in response to the compulsory breadth units but there were a few more responses in favour of the principle of being provided with the opportunity to have choice in degree programs (See Figure 6). A Paired T tests showed statistical evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores for this pair of questions for students (see Tables 36, 37, 38).

0 10 20 30 40 50

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should requireevery undergraduate student tocomplete three compulsory breadthunits - one in each year of study?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should requireall undergraduate students toundertake units that providebreadth to their degree?

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Figure 6: Student Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question

Student Breakdown The stronger response to having opportunities for breadth in the curriculum was seen from the internal mode of learning students (see Tables 39 & 40).


• The requirement for stand-alone units in each year was not seen as delivering the best value to students (comments commonly related to lack of understanding of what the rationale for the units were which relates to the definition issues reported earlier);

• Fitting breadth into double majors was seen as problematic/unclear; • Students reported not valuing breadth was one of the most common comments.

Student Satisfaction Ratings As can be seen from the student satisfaction data, only one of the first year breadth units is consistently well received (Business) with Education having positive results when offered. The Science based unit scores particularly weakly. In the second and third year units a few of the stand-alone offerings are well received but a number of these breadth offerings have poor ratings (see Table 41).

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should requireevery undergraduate student tocomplete three compulsory breadthunits - one in each year of study?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should requireall undergraduate students toundertake units that providebreadth to their degree?

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Capstones, Work Integrated Learning & Specialist Offerings The questions relating to the inclusion of capstone experiences, work integrated learning and making degrees more specialised at each year level were explored collectively (See Figures 7 and 8). The data suggested support for all of these recommendations with qualitative data suggesting that more opportunities, particularly in work integrated learning, would be valued by the students.

Staff

Figure 7: Staff Responses to Capstone, Work Integrated Learning and Specialist Survey Questions

Students

Figure 8: Student Responses to Capstone, Work Integrated Learning and Specialist Survey Questions

0 10 20 30 40 50

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should designdegrees that conclude with acapstone experience to preparestudents for life beyond graduation?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should designdegrees that include work integratedlearning?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should designdegrees that become morespecialised at each year level?

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

Strongly agree

Agree

Somewhat agree


Somewhat disagree

Disagree

Strongly disagree Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should designdegrees that conclude with acapstone experience to preparestudents for life beyondgraduation?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should designdegrees that include workintegrated learning?

Do you agree with the principle thatMurdoch University: should designdegrees that become morespecialised at each year level?

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Open Survey Responses The following responses were provided to the open questions at the end of the survey:

Staff

Reflect on your experience implementing the MUCC principles into the Murdoch Curriculum. What has worked well in practice i.e. led to good curriculum practice?

- The focus on Research Skills was seen as a positive; - Issues were identified in the BSc specifically within environmental sciences – these issues

referred to the generic approach to compulsory units; - Positive comments were evident for the Capstone Units

Reflect on your experience implementing these principles into the Murdoch Curriculum. What hasn't worked well in practice i.e. led to undesirable curriculum practice?

- Generally implementation of MUCC was seen as poor (too quick); - Comments regarding fitting in requirement of the degree when breadth, transition and

research units take space; - Poor communication; - Inconsistent application of policy was seen as an issue; - Comments that one size fits all does not work.

Reflect on your experience implementing these principles into the Murdoch Curriculum. What do you think could be done better to improve curriculum practice?

- Breadth could be achieved through introductory units or minors rather than stand-alone units; - Better communication to students around how core units, majors and courses fit together to

achieve learning outcomes; - Embed research skills in other units.

Do you have any additional thoughts or comments relating to MUCC, its implementation or ideas for future practice?

- Strong theme of poor implementation and lack of adequate resourcing; - Asking for staff feedback was seen as a positive and comments that the coal face needs to be

listened to in any changes to the course structures; - Importance of industry and changes to the workforce in considering change to the curriculum.

Students

Reflect on your experience of these principles into the Murdoch Curriculum. What do you think could be done better to improve your learning experience?

- More practical units in the Sciences; - External work experience opportunities; - Practical assignments with real world context; - Online learning needs to be engaging not just a plain lecture; - Embedded research skills in other units.

Reflect on your experience of these principles in your course. What hasn't worked well in enhancing your learning experience?

- Too many research and breadth units; - Lack of real-world skills in research units (lack of context); - Breadth is a “waste of time”; - Transition units waste of time, skills are taught in other units anyway.

Do you have any additional thoughts or comments relating to MUCC, its implementation or ideas for future practice?

- Greater communication with the student body when making changes;

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- Less breadth and more degree specific units; - Exchange and/ or work experience type opportunities; - Ensure the needs of part-time students are considered.

Desktop Audit The overview of the desktop to review current policies and related documentation to the MUCC White Paper Recommendations can be seen in Appendix VII. The table shows the complexity of the current policy system and it is of interest to show that there are numerous times when the policies are contradictory. Comments from academics and leaders in focus groups and the survey voiced that they often found policy to be more restrictive than enabling in practice.

Summary Findings The table below summaries the findings in relation to the MUCC principles, practice, policy and processes.

Table 2: Summary of MUCC Review Findings

Principle Practice Policy Type of degree

- General degrees with majors to specialise e.g. BA; BSc.

- Opportunities to complete any double majors e.g. Maths & IT – within 3 years

- Opportunities for combined degrees e.g. BSc & BEd

- Opportunities for minors - Nested PG degrees

General Degree Names Somewhat ambivalent except where named degrees might be more meaningful for employers. More of an issue for the students than the staff. Double Majors, combined degrees, minors, nested PG AGREE

Degree Names Double Majors, combined degrees, minors, nested PG Issues from the compulsory unit requirements that took space in the three years lengthening/ restricting combined degrees and double majors

Compulsory transition unit and online module on Academic Integrity - introducing all students to degree specific skills necessary for success Students who enter Murdoch with advanced standing up to and including 24 points will be required to complete the requisite transition unit in their degree unless they can demonstrate that they have achieved the transition unit’s learning outcomes.

Transition AGREE There was strong support for some way of identifying the needs of transitioning students and tailoring their support. Academic Integrity Module AGREE

Compulsory Units Transition unit worked better in smaller faculties (eg education) than the larger Science and Arts Faculties where it was less effective because of trying to be all things to all people. Issues around the range in preparedness to study of new entrants to Murdoch given the various pathways. Academic Integrity MAP seemed to be spectacularly ineffective – many not knowing about it – few academics having

Academic Integrity There is a loophole allowing students to not be picked up for non-completion of MAP until the end of their studies

18 | P a g e

looked at it themselves – students not remembering whether they had done it – no apparent (timely) sanctions for non-compliance.

Compulsory UG research skills units at 2nd and 3rd year level. That every undergraduate major be designed to promote increasing levels of depth and sophistication in student research skills.

Research Skills Either supported or ambivalent in principle. Possibly some disconnect about what constitutes research and what skills students need it. AGREE

Compulsory Units There seemed to been a strong view that faculties would prefer to show where they introduced research skills within their courses rather than lose space to the compulsory units

Compulsory sequence of inter-disciplinary breadth studies to the value of nine points in total, commencing with a degree-based unit at 1st year, a university-wide breath unit at 2nd year, and an applied breadth unit at 3rd year.

Breadth While mostly agreeing that at least some breath is valuable this was possibly the most contentious – unclear definition of breath added to issues

Compulsory Units Breadth Units were the least adhered to and most unpopular MUCC recommendation.

Low Compliance/ multiple exemptions

Integrated and sequential majors, including:

work-integrated learning experience (not compulsory); and,

capstone experience.

Capstone AGREE Work Integrated Learning AGREE

Capstones and Work Integrated Learning Currently dependent on the discipline and reliant on space in the curriculum

Lessons Learnt The following summarise the main lessons learnt from the MUCC White Paper Recommendations and

implementation:

Stand-alone units (transition, research skills and breadth)are most effective when they can be designed for a discipline specific cohort, making them relevant for the students;

Staff and students identified the need for more real world, industry connections, career ready learning, and work place experiences to enhance employability after graduation;

Implementation cannot be rushed and needs the support for high quality curriculum design and failed to take into account the diverse needs of different disciplines and locations;

Policies need to be enabling not restrictive; More ownership of degree programs needs to sit with Academic Chairs; Communication needs to be improved to make sure future principles and practices are both

understood and valued by all.

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Recommendations & Implementation Strategy The MUCC Review Task and Finish Group have produced a set of recommendations for the university to consider for action. The review found that many of the principles of the original MUCC work remain to hold value for the university and that the main areas for further development stem from the implementation and policy around these principles. Recommendations therefore are to address issues that have been identified. These are presented under two phases (see Table 3):

Phase 1 – to identify principle, practice, policy and process amendments that have a negative impact on current curriculum delivery that can be implemented in the first half of 2017.

Phase 2 – to identify developments to MUCC that will be implemented in a staged, supported approach with courses over 2017-2018.

It should be noted that recommendations are to provide flexibility in course delivery. Phase 2 will see further development of recommendations for endorsement by the relevant governance committees. Full consideration will be given to TNE roll out in the further development of recommendations.

Implementation of these recommendations will be in a phased approach as courses undergo course review (beginning Q3, 2017 with all courses initially undergoing review over a 3 year period) with timings determined in conjunction with Schools.

Table 3: MUCC Review Recommended Actions for Implementation

PHASE 1 TIMING IMPLEMENTATION ONGOING PROCESS

STATUS

Named Degrees November 2016 for roll out 2018

MUCC Review Task & Finish - Academic Council Paper Submitted

Approval by ACAC Complete

Academic Chair Discretion

November 2016

MUCC Review Task & Finish - Academic Council Paper Submitted

In conjunction with Student Registry

Complete

Amend MUCC White Paper in relation to:

Compulsory Transition Unit

Compulsory Research Skills Unit

(See Motions ii & iii)

January 2017 for roll out 2018

Option to run stand-alone units or embedded transition and research skill development MUCC Review Task & Finish - Academic Council Paper submitted with request to recommend Coursework Regulation Amendments

Approval by ACAC

Proposed January 2017

PHASE 2 TIMING IMPLEMENTATION ONGOING PROCESS

STATUS

New Coursework Regulations 2018

March 2017 Establish Education Policy Group to work with Curriculum Team/ Curriculum @ Murdoch Team to rewrite regulations

To be implemented when courses undertake approval/ review (5 year cycle)

Underway

Course Structure Review & Recommendation (to allow for ease of double majors and combined degrees – working with the Career Learning Spine Development Team)

March 2017 MUCC Review Task & Finish Sub-group established


Underway

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Calista Business Rules June 2017 Curriculum @ Murdoch Team to rewrite regulations


Commence Q1 2017

Course Approval & Review Process

March 2017 for roll out Q3 2017

Establish Education Policy Group to work with Curriculum Team/ Curriculum @ Murdoch Team/ University Secretary to review policy and process

Approval by ACAC Underway

Course Portfolio Health Check/ Review

Ongoing from 2017

Unit and course analytic tool in development in conjunction with OSQA and Deans

School ownership with Approval by ACAC as part of the 5 year course review process

Underway

Career Learning Spine (working in conjunction with the Course Structure Team)

Pilot May 2017 1st Year roll out 2018 2nd Year roll out 2019 3rd Year roll out 2020

Workshop with key stakeholders held December 2016 to be reconvened 2017 finalise format

Approval by ACAC Underway

Academic Integrity Module & Policy

June 2017 Learner Support – CUTL & Library

Approval by ACAC Commence Q1 2017

Assessment & Feedback Principles, Practice & Policy

June 2017 Establish Task & Finish Group with Key Stakeholders

Approval by ACAC As part of approval/ review (5 year cycle)

Commence Q1 2017

Murdoch Online Review & Recommendations

May 2017 Establish Digital Media Development Team Business Case

Approval by MOOG Underway

Consultation& Communication To date the MUCC Review has consulted with over 500 stakeholders. These include students and staff from all schools and TNE campuses through focus groups and surveys; interviews with key individuals; and main committees (ACAC, Academic Council) and central units (ARO, CUTL, Library, Guild, Kulbardi). The MUCC Review Report and Recommendations have also been made available for comment from the Murdoch University Community during January 2017.

As each of the recommendations are developed for implementation this consultation will continue through utilising task and finish groups with representatives from all key stakeholders, workshops, school visits, open forums, and documents available for comment. In order to make sure the Murdoch University is kept informed on progress in regards to the recommended actions a webpage will be established that provides up to date information and allows a space for feedback.

Evaluation Strategy An Evaluation Strategy will be developed to monitor the effectiveness of the recommendations. This strategy will occur on multiple levels, from single through to the university’s entire curriculum implementation. It will include baseline data at both the institution (student success; retention; student satisfaction; recruitment; employment and postgraduate outcomes; staff and leadership feedback) and national level as a benchmark for evaluating future implementations, as well as constructing new mechanisms to continually monitor the Murdoch Curriculum Offerings and their impact.

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Appendix I: Focus Group Breakdown Table 4: Focus Group Breakdown by School/Unit; Role and Elements Addressed

School/ Unit Role Principle Practice Policy Process Arts Academics x x x

Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x Business and Governance Academics x x x x

Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x Education Academics x x x

Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x Engineering and Information Technology

Academics x x x Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x Health Professions Academics x x x

Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x Law Academics x x x

Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x Psychology & Exercise Sciences

Academics x x x Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x VLS Academics x x x

Students x x

Leaders/ Administrators x x x x Dubai Academics x

Students x Leaders/ Administrators x x

Singapore Academics x Students x Leaders/ Administrators x x

All Schools Transition UC x x x Breadth UC x x x Research UC x x x Capstone UC x x x ADLT x x x x Deans x x x x

ARO Directors/ Managers x x x x University Secretary’s Office

AC, ACAC secretaries x x x x

Academic Policy Coordinators

APCs x x x x

Library; CUTL; Kulbardi; Student Advisers

Learner Support Staff x x x

Central Committees ACAC; Academic Council x x x

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Appendix II: Staff Response Breakdowns

Table 5: Staff Response Breakdown by Role and School/Unit

Academic – Teaching Scholar

Academic Clinical/ Professional Practice Scholar

Academic – Research and Teaching Role

Academic Research Intensive

Professional Staff

TOTAL

Central Unit, for Example ARO 0% 0

66.67% 2

0% 0

0% 0

51.43% 18

20

Professional Services 0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

31.43% 11

11

School of Arts 17.65% 3

0% 0

3.57% 2

0% 0

2.86% 1

6

School of Business and Governance

23.53% 4

33.33% 1

1.79% 1

0% 0

0% 0

6

School of Education 11.76% 2

0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

2.86% 1

3

School of Engineering and Information Technology

35.29% 6

0% 0

62.50% 35

0% 0

2.86% 1

42

School of Law 5.88% 1

0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

1

School of Psychology and Exercise Science

0% 0

0% 0

1.79% 1

0% 0

0% 0

1

School of Veterinary and Life Sciences

5.88% 1

0% 0

28.57% 16

0% 0

2.86% 1

18

Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs

0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

100% 1

0% 0

1

Vice Chancellery 0% 0

0% 0

1.79% 1

0% 0

5.71% 2

3

TOTAL 17 3 56 1 35 112

Table 6: Staff Response Breakdown by Length of Time at Murdoch University and School/Unit

Less than 5 Years

5 - 10 Years 11 - 20 Years Greater than 20 years

TOTAL

School of Arts 8.33% 3

6.25% 2

0% 0

4.17% 1

6


5.56% 2

6.25% 2

7.14% 2

0% 0

6

School of Education 0% 0

6.25% 2

3.57% 1

0% 0

3


41.67% 15

18.75% 6

35.71% 10

45.83% 11

42

School of Health Professions 11.11% 4

3.13% 1

10.71% 3

0% 0

8

School of Law 0% 0

3.13% 1

0% 0

0% 0

1

School of Psychology and Exercise Science

0% 0

3.13% 1

0% 0

0% 0

1


2.78% 1

15.63% 5

17.86% 5

29.17% 7

18

Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs

2.78% 1

0% 0

0% 0

0% 0

1

Professional Services 5.56% 2

12.50% 4

10.71% 3

8.33% 2

11

Vice Chancellery 5.56% 2

0% 0

0% 0

4.17% 1

3

Central Unit, for Example ARO 16.67% 6

25.00% 8

14.29% 4

8.33% 2

20

TOTAL 36 32 28 24 120

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Appendix III: Student Response Breakdown

Table 7: Student Response Breakdown by Mode of Learning

Predominantly internally 77.95%

99

Predominantly externally 22.05%

28

Total 127

Table 8: Student Response Breakdown by Student Origin

Domestic 94.49%

120

International 5.51%

7

Total 127

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Appendix IV: MUCC Survey Results – Transition Principles & Practice

Staff To examine if there is a statistical difference in the Murdoch Staff mean score ratings between the questions relating to the principle of transition skills and practice of a compulsory Transition unit. That is testing that there is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores to the questions “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should include transition skills in all undergraduate degrees?” and “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?”. Table 9: Descriptive Statistics for Staff on transition skills and units - principle and practice

Statistic Std. Error Should include transition skills in all undergraduate degrees?

Mean 5.4381 .16404 95% Confidence Interval for Mean

Lower Bound 5.1128 Upper Bound 5.7634

Median 6.0000 Variance 2.825 Std. Deviation 1.68091

Should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?




The Mean Scores are calculated according to a response scale of “Strongly Disagree” = 1 to “Strongly Agree” = 7 We can already note that the 95% Confidence intervals for the mean scores of the questions do not overlap and that we can reject the hypothesis that there is not a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the two questions. There is a statistically significant difference in the mean scores to the question of the principle of transition skills and the practice of a compulsory transition unit. We can also observe that the Mean Score for the question relating to the principle of Transition Skills has the higher Mean Score. A paired T test can also confirm this.

Table 10: Paired Samples Correlations for Staff on transition skills and units - principle and practice

N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Should include transition skills in all

undergraduate degrees? & Should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?

105 .596 .000

The paired T test shows that there is a statistically significant positive correlation of moderate strength between the two questions.

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Table 11: Paired Samples Test for Staff on transition skills and units - principle and practice

Paired Differences

t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean

Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean

95% Confidence Interval of the Difference

Lower Upper Pair 1 Should include

transition skills in all undergraduate degrees? - Should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?

.94286 1.73110 .16894 .60785 1.27787 5.581 104 .000

The paired t test confirms that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. With a p- value < 0.05, there is a statistically significant difference in the question Mean scores. On average the principle of the transition skills was rated 0.94 higher than the question of a compulsory transition unit.

Table 12: Staff Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by School

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Table 13: Staff Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by Length of Time at Murdoch University

Less than 5 years

Over 5 years

Students To examine if there is a statistical difference in the Murdoch students mean score ratings between the questions relating to the principle of transition skills and practice of a compulsory Transition unit. That is testing that there is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores to the questions “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should include transition skills in all undergraduate degrees?” and “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?” Table 14: Descriptive Statistics for Students on transition skills and units - principle and practice

Statistic Std. Error Should include transition skills in all undergraduate degrees?




Should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?




The Mean Scores are calculated according to a response scale of “Strongly Disagree” = 1 to “Strongly Agree” = 7 The 95% Confidence intervals for the mean scores of the questions do overlap; we cannot reject the hypothesis that the difference between the mean scores of the two questions is equal to zero. We can observe that the Mean Score for the question relating to the principle of Transition Skills is the more positive of the two questions, that students were more in favour of the principle than the practice, but based on the confidence intervals it is not statistically different to the mean score regarding a compulsory transition unit. A further paired T test is used to examine if there is a statistical difference between the average responses of the two questions, which is not shown on the confidence intervals.

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Table 15: Paired Samples Correlations for Students on transition skills and units - principle and practice

N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Should include transition skills in all

undergraduate degrees? & Should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?

114 .752 .000

The paired T test shows that there is a strong statistically significant positive correlation between the two questions.

Table 16: Paired Samples Test for Students on transition skills and units - principle and practice

The paired t test confirms that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. With a p- value < 0.05, there is a statistically significant average difference between the mean scores to the question of the principle of transition units and the practice of a compulsory transition unit. On average the principle of the transition skills was rated 0.67 higher than the question of a compulsory transition unit; this difference is somewhat smaller than the difference in the Staff responses and may not have much of a practical significance.

Table 17: Student Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by Mode of Learning

Internal

External

Paired Differences

t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Std.

Deviation

Std. Error Mean

95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference Lower Upper

Pair 1

Should include transition skills in all undergraduate degrees? - Should have a compulsory transition unit for all undergraduate degrees?

.66667 1.47346 .13800 .39326 .94007 4.831 113 .000

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Table 18: Student Responses to Transition Principle and Practice Survey Question by Student Origin

Domestic

International

Table 19: Student Satisfaction Rating for Transition Units (2015-16)

Transition Units, Semester 1, 2015

Unit Title No. Response Rate Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BAR100 Academic Learning Skills

167 43% 4.8 4.72 4.85 4.8 4.61 4.77 5.04 4.39

BBS100 Academic Skills for Business

48 32% 4.98 5.21 5.21 4.81 4.85 4.83 5.5 5.04

BED100 Ideas in Education

70 38% 4.72 4.71 4.68 4.84 4.87 4.74 5.1 4.81

BEN100 Transitioning into Engineering

12 19% 5 4.83 3.36 4.92 4.92 5.08 4.67 4.75

BJU100 Australian Legal System

46 37% 5.02 4.8 4.16 4.93 4.91 4.73 4.67 4.8

BNR100 Transition to Nursing Studies

65 55% 4.64 4.48 4.44 4.66 4.35 4.48 4.51 4.08

BSC100 Building Blocks for Science Students

229 36% 4.32 4.7 4.83 4.59 4.52 4.27 4.7 4.28

Overall 637 38% 4.64 4.73 4.73 4.73 4.62 4.57 4.87 4.45

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Unit Title No. Response Rate Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8


93 35% 5.12 5.03 5.15 4.9 4.73 4.75 5.24 4.94


37 39% 5.22 5.27 5.22 5.05 4.89 5.03 5.49 5

BED100 Ideas in Education

43 38% 5.05 5.05 5.19 5.16 5 5 5.28 5.14


12 41% 4.5 5.08 4.25 5.33 4.75 4.75 4.75 4.67


33 46% 4.61 4.66 4 4.61 4.5 4.58 4.29 4.32


65 51% 4.88 4.78 4.7 4.86 4.87 4.84 4.83 4.69


92 32% 4.88 4.93 4.97 4.85 4.77 4.89 4.99 4.75

Overall 375 38% 4.96 4.96 4.92 4.92 4.79 4.84 5.04 4.82


Unit No. Resp.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Rate


189 38% 4.78 4.68 4.75 4.7 4.32 4.55 4.95 4.4


60 41% 5.23 5.31 5.07 4.92 5.03 5 5.22 5.02

BED100 Ideas in Education 83 37% 4.9 4.87 4.96 4.99 4.78 4.6 5.06 4.88


15 20% 5.13 4.73 4.46 4.87 4.93 4.6 4.67 4.8


60 38% 4.97 5.15 4.43 5.17 4.83 4.75 4.58 4.83


73 40% 4.88 4.85 4.42 4.68 4.57 4.76 4.7 4.69


251 31% 4.24 4.62 4.75 4.65 4.5 4.35 4.68 4.23

Overall 731 35% 4.68 4.79 4.74 4.77 4.57 4.57 4.83 4.52

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Unit No. Resp.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Rate


92 29% 5.05 4.86 4.91 4.99 4.67 4.64 5.11 4.77

BBS100 Academic Skills For Business

39 34% 5.5 5.28 5.42 5.13 5.22 5.13 5.46 5.18

BED100 Ideas in Education 45 28% 5 4.93 5 5.02 4.91 4.71 5.16 4.98


8 27% 5 4.57 4 4.71 5.38 4.71 4.75 5.12


20 24% 5 5 5.21 5.17 5.11 4.58 4.79 4.95


65 39% 5.3 5.23 4.62 5 5.05 5.06 4.98 4.95

Overall 269 31% 5.16 5.03 4.94 5.02 4.93 4.82 5.1 4.93

Questions included in this report: Q1 It was clear what I was expected to learn in this unit.

Q2 The assessment tasks were appropriate to the learning objectives.

Q3 The feedback on my marked work was useful for my learning in this unit.

Q4 The assessment tasks tested my understanding of the subject area, rather than just memory.

Q5 Activities in this unit helped me achieve the learning objectives.

Q6 The unit resources were useful for my learning in this unit.

Q7 I was satisfied with the level of support from staff in this unit.

Q8 Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this unit.

Mean scores are calculated according to student responses on the scale 'Strongly Disagree'=1 to 'Strongly Agree'=6. Missing and 'unable to judge' responses are not included in the mean score calculations.

To maintain student confidentiality, reports are not produced where there are less than 5 responses. These results are included in the Murdoch University average.

Green: Means scores more than 0.5 above the Murdoch University mean or above 5.5. Scores above 5.5 generally indicate 90-100% of respondents are satisfied. Red: Means scores below 4.25. This generally indicates that at least 25-30 percent of students responding are dissatisfied. Yellow: Response rates of less than 30% are highlighted in yellow. To maintain student confidentiality, reports are not produced where there are less than 5 responses.

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Appendix V: MUCC Survey Results – Research Skills Principles & Practice

Staff To examine if there is a statistical difference in the Murdoch University Staff mean score ratings between the questions relating to the principle of research skills and practice of compulsory research units. That is testing that there is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the questions “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require all undergraduate students to develop research skills?” and “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?”. Table 20: Descriptive Statistics for Staff on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice

Statistic Std. Error Should require all undergraduate students to develop research skills?




Should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?




The Mean Scores are calculated according to a response scale of “Strongly Disagree” = 1 to “Strongly Agree” = 7 We can already note that the 95% Confidence intervals for the mean scores of the questions do not overlap and that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. There is a statistically significant average difference between the responses to the question of the principle of research skills and the practice of compulsory research units.

We can also observe that the Mean Score for the question relating to the principle of Research Skills has a more positive mean score than that of the question on compulsory research units. The Mean Score regarding the principle of having compulsory Research Units has a confidence interval for the Mean Score below 4, which indicates a majority negative response to the question. Whereas the principle of developing research skills had a lower bound on its confidence interval above 5, showing an average positive response.

A paired T test can also confirm the statistically significant difference in the mean scores for the two questions.

Table 21: Paired Samples Correlations for Staff on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice

N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Should require all undergraduate students to develop

research skills? & Should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?

106 .325 .001

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The paired T test shows that there is a statistically significant positive correlation of a weak strength between the two questions. Table 22: Paired Samples Test for Staff on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice

Paired Differences


Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean


Lower Upper Pair 1

Should require all undergraduate students to develop research skills? - Should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?

2.18868 2.07990 .20202 1.78812 2.58924 10.834 105 .000

The paired t test confirms that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. With a p- value < 0.05, there is a statistically significant average difference between the mean scores to the question of the principle of research skills and the practice of two compulsory research units.

On average the principle of the research skills was rated 2 points higher than the question of the principle of two compulsory research units.

Table 23: Staff Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by School

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Table 24: Staff Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by Length of Time at Murdoch University

Less than 5 Years

Over 5 Years

Students To examine if there is a statistical difference in the Murdoch University students mean score ratings between the questions relating to the principle of research skills and practice of compulsory research units. That is testing that there is no statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the questions “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require all undergraduate students to develop research skills?” and “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?”.

Table 25: Descriptive Statistics for Students on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice

Statistic Std. Error Should require all undergraduate students to develop research skills?




Should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?




The Mean Scores are calculated according to a response scale of “Strongly Disagree” = 1 to “Strongly Agree” = 7

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We can already note that the 95% Confidence intervals for the mean scores of the questions do not overlap and that we can reject the hypothesis that the difference between the mean scores of the two questions is equal to zero. There is a statistically significant average difference between the responses to the question of the principle of research skills and the practice of compulsory research units.

We can also observe that the Mean Score for the question relating to the principle of Research Skills has a more positive mean score than that of the question on compulsory research units. The Mean Score regarding the principle of having compulsory Research Units has a confidence interval for the Mean Score below 4, which indicates a majority negative response to the question. Whereas the principle of developing research skills had a lower bound on its confidence interval above 4, showing an average positive response. This is very similar to the staff responses to the research skills and questions.

A paired T test can also confirm the statistically significant difference in the mean scores for the two questions.

Table 26: Paired Samples Correlations for Students on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice

N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Should require all undergraduate students

to develop research skills? & Should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?

111 .574 .000

The paired T test shows that there is a statistically significant positive correlation of a moderate strength between the two questions. Table 27: Paired Samples Test for Students on Research Skills and Units - principle and practice

The paired t test confirms that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. With a p- value < 0.05, there is a statistically significant average difference between the mean scores to the question of research skills and the practice of two compulsory research units.

On average the principle of the research skills was rated 1.6 points higher than the question of the principle of two compulsory research units. This echoes the staff response, although students have a lower mean score regarding the principle of research skills.

Paired Differences


Std. Deviatio

n Std. Error

Mean



Pair 1

Should require all undergraduate students to develop research skills? - Should require every undergraduate student to complete two compulsory research units - one at each second and third year level?

1.61261 1.84967 .17556 1.26469 1.96054 9.185 110 .000

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Table 28: Student Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by Mode of Learning

Internal

External

Table 29: Student Responses to Research Principle and Practice Survey Question by Student Origin

Domestic

International

Student Satisfaction Ratings Table 30: Student Satisfaction Rating for Research Skills Units (2015-16)

Research Unit Comparison Report, Semester 1, 2015

Unit Title N. Resp. rate

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BAR200 Developing Research Skills and Methods

88 40% 3.34 3.44 4.11 3.9 3.49 3.71 3.84 3.05

BBS200 Business Research: An Integrated Approach

26 25% 4.4 4.68 4.72 4.56 4.38 4.48 5.04 4.27

BEN200 Scientific Method in Engineering

17 30% 3.06 4.12 3.75 4.07 4.56 3.5 4.53 3.65

BSC200 Research in the Physical and Life Sciences

103 36% 3.46 4.18 4.24 4.36 3.98 3.72 4.38 3.62

BSC201 Psychology: Measurement, Design and Analysis

37 40% 4.62 4.7 5.05 4.89 4.65 4.72 4.75 4.57

BSC203 Introduction to ICT Research Methods

24 34% 5.08 5.42 5.3 4.88 5 4.86 5.58 4.92

Overall 295 36% 3.76 4.17 4.4 4.34 4.07 3.99 4.43 3.74

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Research Unit Comparison Report, Semester 2, 2015


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8


84 35% 3.88 4.23 4.75 4.49 4.05 3.94 4.45 3.89

BBS200 Business Research: An Integrated Approach

45 41% 5.58 5.53 5.49 5.51 5.55 5.62 5.78 5.58

BED200 Assessment and Action Research

61 28% 4.83 4.61 5.43 5.1 4.82 4.95 5.38 5

BJU200 Researching Legal Remedies

15 25% 4.73 4.07 4.33 4.6 4.47 4.8 5.13 5

BRD201 Food Matters 42 31% 4.62 4.9 4.78 4.9 4.4 4.8 4.78 4.64

BRD202 Drugs in Society 115 30% 4.54 4.56 4.46 4.69 4.62 4.63 4.82 4.61

BRD203 Carbon and Climate: A Wicked Problem

32 44% 4.61 4.87 4.31 5.13 4.77 4.52 4.71 4.65

BRD204 Australian and Asian Transformations

19 32% 5.05 5.21 4.84 5.05 5.05 5.21 5.11 4.95

BRD205 Crime Through the Ages

34 35% 4.24 3.7 3.5 3.62 3.94 3.82 4.39 3.75

BRD206 Transitions to Post Carbon Society

12 30% 4.25 4.33 4 4.25 4.27 4.33 4.42 3.58

BRD207 Dealing with Difference

39 41% 3.67 4.26 4.39 4.82 4.08 4.26 4.18 3.92

BRD211 Swan River 26 31% 2.81 3.23 3 3.31 2.96 3 2.77 2.46

Overall 524 33% 4.41 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.46 4.51 4.73 4.42

Research Unit Comparison Report, Second Year Units, Semester 1, 2016


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8


90 41% 4.62 4.79 4.89 4.79 4.38 4.16 4.91 4.27

BBS200 Understanding Business Research: An Introductory Approach

46 34% 4.87 5.09 5.09 5.02 4.93 5 5.33 5

BEN200 Scientific Method in Engineering

31 35% 3.35 3.68 3.45 4.23 3.84 3.48 4.06 3.23

BSC200 Research in the Physical and Life Sciences

114 38% 4.18 4.76 4.62 4.63 4.56 4.18 4.8 4.34

Overall 281 38% 4.34 4.7 4.65 4.7 4.48 4.23 4.83 4.3

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Research Unit Comparison Report, Third Year Units, Semester 1, 2016


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BAR300

Advanced Research in the Arts

57 34% 3.88 4.2 4.6 4.27 3.81 3.93 4.96 3.81

BBS300 Empirical Research Methods for Business

24 50% 1.96 2.14 2.28 2.05 2.17 2.3 2.18 1.77

BBS301 Applying Mixed Methods Research to Business

9 23% 3.22 3.67 3.33 4.11 3.33 3.78 4.22 3.22

BED300

Schooling and Society - Research Skills

50 35% 5.24 5.24 5.08 5.24 5.16 5.08 5.27 5.3

BEN300

Innovation and Ethics in Engineering

19 41% 4.74 4.84 4 5 4.95 5.11 4.89 4.84

BJU300 Legal Theory and Research 26 30% 3.77 4.38 3.39 3.96 4 4.12 4.27 3.69

BSC301 Applied Research Skills in ICT

13 32% 4.92 5.23 5.5 5.25 5 4.75 5.42 5.17

BSC302 Advanced Quantitative Research Methods

11 50% 4.82 5.18 5.3 5.4 4.91 4.8 5.45 5.09

BSC304 Innovation and Ethics in Science

6 25% 4.17 5 4.83 5 5 4.17 4.83 4.5

BSC306 Research and Evidence Based Practice

5 22% 5.4 5 5.6 5.4 4.8 5.25 5 5

Overall 220 34% 4.17 4.44 4.39 4.45 4.22 4.26 4.67 4.18

Research Unit Comparison Report, Second Year, Semester 2, 2016

Unit Title N. Resprate

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BAR200

Developing Research Skills and Methods

79 31% 4.26 4.48 4.31 4.41 4.14 4.04 4.32 3.87

BBS200

Understanding Business Research: An Introductory Approach

22 25% 4.68 4.82 4.82 4.86 4.73 4.86 5 4.86

BED200

Assessment and Action Research

34 21% 5.15 5.24 5.33 5.35 5.18 4.82 5.24 5.33

BJU200 Researching Legal Remedies 66 40% 2.88 3.4 3.36 3.64 3.1 3.27 3.33 2.58

Overall 201 30% 4 4.29 4.24 4.37 4.06 4.02 4.23 3.81

Research Unit Comparison Report, Third Year, Semester 2, 2016


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BAR300 Advanced Research in the Arts

29 28% 4.21 4.43 4.32 4.7 4.18 4.1 4.66 4.04

BBS301 Applying Mixed Methods Research to Business

13 24% 4.69 5.23 4.69 5.08 4.69 4.62 4.92 4.85

BSC300 Advanced Research Methods in Science

91 37% 2.78 3.13 2.55 3.27 2.91 2.96 2.69 2.18

BSC302 Advanced Quantitative Research Methods

25 25% 4.79 4.33 4.48 4.5 4.29 4.75 4.88 4.67

Overall 158 31% 3.51 3.72 3.41 3.87 3.51 3.59 3.58 3.12

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Questions included in this report: Q1 It was clear what I was expected to learn in this unit. Q2 The assessment tasks were appropriate to the learning objectives.

Q3 The feedback on my marked work was useful for my learning in this unit. Q4 The assessment tasks tested my understanding of the subject area, rather than just memory.

Q5 Activities in this unit helped me achieve the learning objectives. Q6 The unit resources were useful for my learning in this unit. Q7 I was satisfied with the level of support from staff in this unit. Q8 Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this unit.

Mean scores are calculated according to student responses on the scale 'Strongly Disagree'=1 to 'Strongly Agree'=6. Missing and 'unable to judge' responses are not included in the mean score calculations.


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Appendix VI - MUCC Survey Results – Breadth Principles & Practice

Staff To examine if there is a statistical difference in the Murdoch University Students mean score ratings between the questions relating to the principle of breadth units and practice of compulsory breadth units. That is testing that there is not a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the questions “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require all undergraduate students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree?” and “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?” Table 31: Descriptive Statistics for Staff on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units - principle and practice

The Mean Scores are calculated according to a response scale of “Strongly Disagree” = 1 to “Strongly Agree” = 7

We can already note that the 95% Confidence intervals for the mean scores of the questions do not overlap and that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. There is a statistically significant average difference between the mean scores of the questions of the principle of breadth units and the practice of compulsory breadth units.

We can also observe that the Mean Score for the question relating to the principle of breadth unit has a mean score and confidence interval not much higher than 4 suggesting that the average response was rather neutral. The Mean Score regarding the principle of having compulsory Research Units has a confidence interval for the Mean Score below 3, which indicates a majority strong negative response to the question.

Statistic Std. Error Should require all undergraduate students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree?




Should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?




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Table 32: Paired Samples Correlations for Staff on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units - principle and practice

N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Should require all undergraduate

students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree? & Should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?

106 .530 .000

The paired T test shows that there is a statistically significant positive correlation of a moderate strength between the two questions. Table 33: Paired Samples Test for Staff on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units - principle and practice

Paired Differences


Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean


Lower Upper Pair 1

Should require all undergraduate students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree? - Should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?

1.79245 1.80854 .17566 1.44415 2.14076 10.204 105 .000

The paired t test confirms that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. With a p- value < 0.05, there is a statistically significant average difference between the mean scores to the question of the principle of Breadth units and the practice of three compulsory breadth units.

On average the mean score for principle of the breadth units was rated 1.8 points higher than the question of the principle of two compulsory research units.

Table 34: Staff Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by School

School of Arts


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Table 35: Staff Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by Length of Time at Murdoch University

Less than 5 Years

Over 5 Years

Students To examine if there is a statistical difference in the Murdoch University Students mean score ratings between the questions relating to the principle of breadth units and practice of compulsory breadth units. That is testing that there is not a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the questions “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require all undergraduate students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree?” and “Do you agree with the principle that Murdoch University: should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?”.

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Table 36: Descriptive Statistics for Students on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units - principle and practice

Statistic Std. Error Should require all undergraduate students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree?




Should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?




The Mean Scores are calculated according to a response scale of “Strongly Disagree” = 1 to “Strongly Agree” = 7 We can already note that the 95% Confidence intervals for the mean scores of the questions do not overlap and that we can reject the hypothesis that the difference between the mean scores of the two questions is equal to zero. There is a statistically significant average difference between the responses to the question of the principle of breadth units and the practice of compulsory breadth units.

We can also observe that the Mean Score for the question relating to the principle of breadth unit has a mean score and confidence interval slightly lower than 4 suggesting that the average response was rather neutral to somewhat negative. The Mean Score regarding the principle of having compulsory breadth units has a confidence interval for the Mean Score of 3 and below, which indicates a majority strong negative response to the question. Table 37: Paired Samples Correlations for Students on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units - principle and practice

N Correlation Sig. Pair 1 Should require all undergraduate

students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree? & Should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?

111 .736 .000

The paired T test shows that there is a strong statistically significant positive correlation between the two questions.

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Table 38: Paired Samples Test Statistics for Students on Breadth Units in principle and Compulsory Breadth Units - principle and practice

The paired t test confirms that we can reject the hypothesis that there is no difference between the mean scores of the two questions. With a p- value < 0.05, there is a statistically significant average difference between the mean scores to the question of the principle of Breadth units and the practice of three compulsory breadth units.

On average the mean score for principle of the breadth units was rated almost 1 point higher than the question of the principle of two compulsory research units. This again echoes the sentiments from the staff responses, although not as strongly, as the mean score for the principle of breadth units is lower for students than it is for staff.

Table 39: Student Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by Mode of Study

Internal

External

Table 40: Student Responses to Breadth Principle and Practice Survey Question by Student Origin

Domestic

Paired Differences


Std. Deviation

Std. Error Mean



Pair 1

Should require all undergraduate students to undertake units that provide breadth to their degree? - Should require every undergraduate student to complete three compulsory breadth units - one in each year of study?

.92793

1.39292 .13221 .66592 1.18994 7.019 110 .000

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International

Focus Group Responses Table 41: Student Satisfaction Rating for Breadth Units (2015-16)

Breadth Units, First Year, Semester 1, 2015

Title No. Resp. Rate

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BAR150 Ideas and Identity 114 32% 4.53 4.89 4.81 4.92 4.47 4.71 4.94 4.7

BBS150 Transforming Business 57 33% 4.68 5.28 5.19 5.23 5.2 5.3 5.32 5.16

BEN150 Design Concepts in Engin.

30 29% 4.5 4.86 3.71 4.7 4.47 4.5 4.31 4.3

BJU150 Law in Context 39 27% 4.85 4.85 4.21 4.67 4.82 4.69 4.85 4.77

BSC150 What is Science? 157 30% 3.47 3.93 3.7 3.84 4.01 3.92 4.12 3.46

Overall 397 30% 4.16 4.56 4.32 4.5 4.43 4.47 4.62 4.25

Breadth Units, First Year, Semester 2, 2015


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8


BBS150 Transforming Business 43 35% 4.77 4.93 5 5.07 4.67 4.77 5.19 4.91

BED150 Understanding Teacher’s Work

72 30% 5.04 5.07 4.78 5.19 5.04 4.97 5.04 5.14


Overall 409 33% 4.29 4.52 4.37 4.57 4.45 4.48 4.58 4.29

Breadth Units, Second Year, Semester 1, 2015


Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BRD208 iHuman 11 30% 3.36 4.64 4.82 4.73 4.64 4.73 4.91 4.36

BRD209 Creativity and Innovation

37 32% 4.11 4.14 4.38 4.47 4.65 4.39 5 4.09

BRD210 World of Sport 21 24% 3.62 4.65 4.05 4.05 4.05 4.14 3.67 3.86

BRD251 Wellbeing 30 34% 3.9 4.2 4.34 4.23 4.17 4.43 4.3 4.2

Overall 99 30% 3.86 4.32 4.35 4.34 4.37 4.39 4.49 4.1

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Breadth Units, Second Year, Semester 2, 2015

Unit No. Resp. Rate

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

BRD201 Food Matters 42 31% 4.62 4.9 4.78 4.9 4.4 4.8 4.78 4.64

BRD202 Drugs in Society 115 30% 4.54 4.56 4.46 4.69 4.62 4.63 4.82 4.61

BRD203 Carbon and Climate: A Wicked Problem

32 44% 4.61 4.87 4.31 5.13 4.77 4.52 4.71 4.65

BRD204 Australian and Asian Transformation

19 32% 5.05 5.21 4.84 5.05 5.05 5.21 5.11 4.95

BRD 205 Crime Through the Ages

34 35% 4.24 3.7 3.5 3.62 3.94 3.82 4.39 3.75

BRD 206 Transitions to Post Carbon Society

12 30% 4.25 4.33 4 4.25 4.27 4.33 4.42 3.58

BRD 207 Dealing with Difference

39 41% 3.67 4.26 4.39 4.82 4.08 4.26 4.18 3.92

BRD 211 Swan River 26 31% 2.81 3.23 3 3.31 2.96 3 2.77 2.46

Overall 319 33% 4.3 4.43 4.27 4.56 4.35 4.4 4.51 4.25

Breadth Units, First, Second and Third Year, Semester 1, 2016

Unit No.

Resp. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Rate

BAR150 Ideas and Identity 133 32% 4.39 4.84 4.86 5.03 4.64 4.89 5 4.69

BBS150 Transforming Business 50 29% 5 5.18 5 5.02 4.88 5.12 5.27 5.04

BEN150 Design Concepts in Engineering

19 21% 5.11 4.89 4.29 5 4.95 4.78 5.21 5

BJU150 Law in Context 35 31% 4.74 4.63 4.48 4.23 4.63 4.71 4.31 4.49


CRM100 Introduction to Criminology

87 31% 4.99 5.06 4.78 4.94 4.72 5.2 5.22 5.11

IND101 Indonesian 1 16 47% 5.81 5.69 5.33 5.31 5.69 5.5 5.44 5.94

JPN101 Japanese 1 23 22% 4.77 5.04 4.52 4.55 4.78 4.65 4.36 4.61

PRO107 Introduction to Public Relations

15 25% 5.47 5.53 5.6 5.47 4.47 5.36 5.4 5.53

AIS204 Indigenous Australia and the Nation

38 35% 5.18 5.21 4.82 5.18 5.11 5.35 5.16 5.29

BRD205 Crime Through the Ages 39 39% 3 3.33 3.03 3.49 2.77 3.28 3.59 3

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BRD209 Creativity and Innovation 80 38% 3.39 3.97 3.5 4.08 4.04 3.81 3.85 3.63

BRD251 Wellbeing 62 28% 4.2 4.43 4.55 4.56 4.43 4.42 4.64 4.18

LLB301 Internships (WIL) 3 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Overall 791 31% 4.24 4.54 4.42 5.54 4.44 4.58 4.64 4.38

Breadth Units, First and Second Year, Semester 2, 2016

Unit No.

Resp. Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8

Rate


BBS150 Transforming Business 40 25% 4.95 4.95 5.08 5.08 4.67 5.03 5.16 4.97

BED150 Understanding Teacher's Work

73 30% 5.11 5.31 5 5.24 5.07 5.01 5.17 5

BNR150 Health and Human Behaviour

148 32% 4.51 4.34 4.18 4.51 4.27 4.57 4.51 4.2


Overall 489 26% 4.53 4.65 4.54 4.76 4.56 4.6 4.73 4.43

Questions included in this report: Q1 It was clear what I was expected to learn in this unit.

Q2 The assessment tasks were appropriate to the learning objectives.

Q3 The feedback on my marked work was useful for my learning in this unit.

Q4 The assessment tasks tested my understanding of the subject area, rather than just memory.

Q5 Activities in this unit helped me achieve the learning objectives.

Q6 The unit resources were useful for my learning in this unit.

Q7 I was satisfied with the level of support from staff in this unit.

Q8 Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this unit.

Mean scores are calculated according to student responses on the scale 'Strongly Disagree'=1 to 'Strongly Agree'=6.

Missing and 'unable to judge' responses are not included in the mean score calculations.


Green: Means scores more than 0.5 above the Murdoch University mean or above 5.5. Scores above 5.5 generally indicate 90-100% of respondents are satisfied. Red: Means scores below 4.25. This generally indicates that at least 25-30 percent of students responding are dissatisfied. Yellow: Response rates of less than 30% are highlighted in yellow. To maintain student confidentiality, reports are not produced where there are less than 5 responses.

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Appendix VII: Desktop Audit of MUCC Related Policies & Regulations Recommendation number

Recommendation Reference document name

Reference location

Nature of reference in relation to recommendation

1 That Murdoch University offers seven undergraduate degrees: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Engineering, Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Nursing.

Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014

Schedule A2 Supportive

2 That Murdoch University has a degree structure that permits students to combine a Bachelor of Arts, Business or Science with a Bachelor of Education, Engineering, Laws or Nursing.


Definitions Supportive

Schedule A2 Supportive

3 That each of the seven undergraduate degrees has a Standing Committee that enables the University to have shared and collegial processes for the development and review of curriculum in the undergraduate degrees.

No reference found

4 That Part I of every undergraduate degree at Murdoch has a compulsory transition unit that introduces students to the degree-specific skills that are necessary for success at university.



1.41B Supportive

2.3A Supportive

2.7A Supportive

2.8.1 Supportive

2.15A Supportive

Units Policy 36.1, 36.2 Contradictory

Small Group and Interactive Learning and Teaching Policy

3 Supportive

Small Group and Interactive Learning and Teaching Procedure

Implementation 3

Supportive

Timetabling Policy 6.2 Supportive

Award of Bachelor Degrees with Distinction or High Distinction

4 Contradictory

Normally this will be completed in the first semester of study Coursework Regulations 2.7, 2.7A Supportive

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2016 & 2014 2.8.1 Supportive

Students who enter Murdoch with advanced standing up to and including 24 points will be required to complete the requisite transition unit in their degree unless they can demonstrate that they have achieved the transition unit’s learning outcomes.

Advanced Standing Policy

Silent

5 That all new coursework students at Murdoch be required to complete an online module on Academic Integrity during their first semester/trimester of study, as a condition of being able to continue in their degree in the following semester/trimester. (NB this is Murdoch Academic Passport [MAP])



1.12A Supportive

Assessment Guideline 2014

2.6 Supportive

6 That every undergraduate major at Murdoch be designed to promote increasing levels of depth and sophistication in student research skills.

No reference found

The promotion of research skills acquisition will be demonstrated in curriculum content, pedagogy and assessment tasks

No reference found

The promotion of research skills will also be supported by the inclusion of compulsory research skills units at 2nd and 3rd year level, designed for groups of cognate majors or for single degrees



2 Supportive

Units policy 36 Silent

These units will complement and reinforce the skills acquired in the course of a major.

No reference found

7 That a major is defined as an integrated and sequential course of study that:


Definitions Alternative definition

2 Supportive

Dictionary of terms Definitions Alternative definition

Introduces students to a discipline and its key themes, theories, concepts and boundaries

No reference found

Introduces students to research strategies and methods that are appropriate to the discipline

No reference found

Features progression of learning, such that the major becomes more specialised and exclusive at each year level

No reference found

May include a work-integrated learning experience and, postgraduate coursework

Work Integrated Learning Policy

1.1 Supportive

Work Integrated Learning Procedure

1.1 Supportive

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Concurrent Studies Policy

4.1 Supportive

Concludes with a capstone experience that pulls together disciplinary learning and/or prepares students for the next step, whether that is to employment, Honours study or postgraduate coursework.


4.1.5 Supportive


5.1.5, 5.2.1 Supportive

8 That all bachelor degrees incorporate a sequence of inter-disciplinary breadth studies to the value of nine points in total



2.3A Supportive

Units Policy 36 Silent


1 Supportive


2 Supportive


commencing with a degree-based unit at 1st year Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014

2.7B Supportive

a university-wide breath unit at 2nd year Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014

2.10.1 Supportive

and an applied breadth unit at 3rd year Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014

2.10.1 Supportive

9 The standardisation of unit values in coursework degrees at Murdoch at 3 credit points.



Units Policy 9 Contradictory


1.1.5, 1.1.6 Supportive


2.A.3, 2.A.4 Supportive

Independent Study Contracts Policy

5 Contradictory

10 All Bachelor degrees are expected to conform to the degree structure as described in this White Paper.


2 Supportive

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Where accreditation requirements prevent full compliance it is expected that the principal degree elements of transition units, research skills units and breadth units are included to the greatest extent possible without compromising accreditation

No reference found

11 That all Honours programs should include coursework components that are designed to deepen the theoretical, cognitive and technical skills of students in support of their thesis projects.


Definitions Silent

Honours Policy 2 Supportive

Honours Procedure 2 Supportive

All Honours programs should therefore include a unit on research design in which students design and develop their thesis proposal


3.2 Contradictory

Honours Policy 2.1 Supportive

12 That all undergraduate majors be able to demonstrate a clear progression of study opportunities beyond the bachelor degree (AQF Level 7).

No reference found

These opportunities should include higher degree research study via the Honours or Masters (Research) degree pathway as well as professionally-oriented postgraduate qualifications.

No reference found

13 That all Schools review their postgraduate coursework offerings with a view to developing new qualifications in proven and emerging areas of demand.

School Regulations Silent

Key MUCC Terms

Foundational Unit (NB NOT Foundation Units) Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014

Definitions Supports

Units policy Not identified

Dictionary of terms Silent


Transition Unit Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014




Breadth Unit Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014


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Capstone Unit Coursework Regulations 2016 & 2014





Research Unit Units policy Not identified


Coursework Regulations 2016

Definitions Silent

murdoch university urriculum ommission review report 2016

Documents