Unit Approval Template InstructionsMarch 2014

Please complete the Unit Approval Template electronically. Send it to approvers by email. Proposers and approvers should ‘sign’ by typing their name at the appropriate place in the document, or by inserting their electronic signature.

When all approvals have been signed off, please email the document to your Coursework Coordinator.

The Coursework Coordinator is responsible for collecting the unit proposals and emailing them to the Director of Academic Services for consideration by a unit panel of the Learning and Teaching Committee.

The process for approval of units is detailed in the Unit Approval Procedures. This is available on the University website at

http://www.divinity.edu.au/documents/unit-approval-procedures/

1. Unit code and titleReplace Unit code and title with actual unit code and title. Check TAMS to make sure the code is not already in use for an existing unit as the code for each unit must be unique across the University. Your Registrar or Coursework Coordinator will be able to help you with this.

Replace College with College Code [ALC, CBC, CTC, SACOTC, Sentir, STC, UFT, WHT, YTU]

Refer to the Unit Coding Policy for details on how to assemble codes for new units. This is available on the University website at

http://www.divinity.edu.au/documents/unit-coding-policy/

2. New / Revised unitDelete the one which is inapplicable, so this line says either New Unit or Revised Unit. If the unit is revised, provide a brief description of the change for the benefit of the panel.

3. Proposed byThe name of the faculty member who is proposing the unit (described below as ‘the proposer’).

4. Unit value A standard unit is 15 points; other values should be used only in exceptional circumstances.

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5. Level Specify the levels at which the unit is available. Levels are:

Diploma DipTheol, AdvDipTheolUndergraduate BTheol, BMin (specify levels 1, 2 or 3)Postgraduate Foundational GradCerts, GradDips, MDiv, MTS, MA(Theol)Postgraduate Elective All postgraduate awards in which coursework units are permittedPostgraduate Capstone Masters courses only

6. DisciplineEvery unit must have a single ‘home discipline’ chosen from this table.

Field AHumanities

Field BBiblical Studies

Field CChristian Thought and History

Field DTheology: Mission and Ministry

AL - Biblical Languages BA - Old Testament CH - Church History DA - Mission and MinistryAH - History BN - New Testament CT - Systematic Theology DC - Canon LawAL - Languages ancient and modern

BS - Biblical Studies DU - Ecumenical StudiesDE - Education Studies

AP - Philosophy DL - LiturgyAR - Religious Studies DM - Missiology

DT - Moral TheologyDP - Pastoral Theology and Ministry StudiesDR - Religious EducationDS - SpiritualityDS - Spiritual Direction (PG only)

7. Crosslisted to other disciplinesSome units are ‘crosslisted’ to other disciplines. If this is the case, please provide a separate unit code for the crosslisted version of the unit.

8. Courses in which this unit is taughtList all courses for which this will be an eligible unit. Please provide separate Unit Approval Templates for undergraduate and postgraduate versions of a unit.

9. ContentWrite one to two paragraphs describing the unit. This section should be aimed at the student.

10. Learning outcomesList the knowledge and skills the students will be expected to have gained by the end of the unit. Learning outcomes must be measurable goals which should be tested by the assessment for the unit. Use action words such as:

analyse, articulate, assess, characterise, compare, complete a project..., contrast, demonstrate, evaluate, exhibit, identify, interpret, manifest, show, write a paper...

Please also refer to the 'Bloom’s Taxonomy' at the end of this document for a discussion of outcomes at different levels.

Where a class is taught at more than one level, the higher level should comprise additional and more intense learning outcomes.

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11. Graduate AttributesIn the rightmost column, insert the numbers of the learning outcomes which align with the University’s graduate attributes. The learning outcomes for the unit should address at least one of the University’s graduate attributes. They do not have to address them all. If you believe that a particular learning outcome contributes to more than one graduate attribute, feel free to insert it two or three times.

Example: Biblical Studies 101

Graduate Attributes Specify Learning Outcomes which contribute towards attainment of this Graduate Attribute

1 LEARNGraduates are equipped for critical study, especially of Christian texts and traditions

1, 2, 3

2 ARTICULATEGraduates articulate theological insight and reflection

3 COMMUNICATEGraduates communicate informed views through structured argument

3, 4

4 ENGAGEGraduates engage with diverse views, contexts and traditions

3, 5

5 SERVEGraduates are prepared for the service of others

12. AssessmentBriefly describe all assessment tasks for the unit, including word counts for each item (e.g. 1 x 3000 word research essay). Provide a weighting for each item (e.g. 50%) ensuring that the total adds up to 100%.

Since assessment tasks must test the learning outcomes for the unit, please provide the numbers of the learning outcomes assessed by each task. If there is only one assessment task, it should assess all learning outcomes.

The normal total word count for a standard 15 point unit at each level is as follows:Diploma 3,000 to 4,000 wordsUndergraduate first year 4,000 words

second year 4,000-5,000 wordsthird year 5,000-6,000 words

Postgraduate 6,000 words

Each hour of examination time counts as 1,000 words.Each 15 minutes of oral examination counts as 1,000 words.

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If this unit is to be assessed by means other than written work, please provide a justification explaining how the assessment may be marked by two examiners and providing an equivalent word length for any non-written item.

13. Delivery modePlease write one of: Face-to-face, Online, Mixed, Distance, Other.

If the choice is Mixed or Other, please describe how the unit will be delivered.

A Face-to-face unit includes units where some resources are provided online or assessments are to be submitted online.

A unit which is taught in both face-to-face and wholly online mode should have separate unit approvals, because the assessment tasks, delivery mode, timing, teaching methods, lecturer and bibliography may be different.

14. TimingIf the unit is semester-based, taught weekly in the standard semester and examined in the examination period, then the total duration of unit is normally 16 weeks, comprising 12 weeks of teaching plus two weeks of mid-semester break plus one study week plus one examination week, or however long students have to complete their last assignments.

If the unit is not semester-based (for example, an Intensive), then the total duration of the unit (including any pre-reading periods, and time elapsed between the final class and the submission of the final assessment task), total duration of teaching, and the pattern of hours are required.

15. WorkloadFor 15-point face-to-face units, it is expected that:

a) Undergraduate students undertake 36 hours of engagement with teacher and / or class and 72 hours of personal study;

b) Postgraduate students undertake 36 hours of engagement with teacher and / or class and 108 hours of personal study;

Online units should achieve total hours and ratios of teacher and class engagement and personal study similar to face-to-face units.

16. Teaching methodsFor standard delivery, write Lectures, seminars, tutorials, or other activities you will provide. For online delivery, describe the interactions and student experiences. Describe in more detail any non-standard teaching methods.

17. Prerequisites, Corequisites, Prohibited CombinationsPrerequisites: Please specify units or areas of study which must be completed before this unit is undertaken.

Corequisites: Please specify any other units which students must complete in order to receive credit for this unit.

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Prohibited Combinations: Please specify any units within your College with substantially similar content which cannot be credited in the same course as this unit.

18. LecturerName the lecturer who will be taking and examining the class. If the lecturer has not been accredited by the University's Academic Board in the discipline and level of the unit, please also complete and submit a Lecturer Accreditation form.

If the unit is offered online, describe the lecturer’s previous experience teaching online units. If the lecturer is teaching online for the first time, describe the support the College will provide to that lecturer.

19. Recommended readingProvide a bibliography of 8 - 14 works. Mark with asterisks those texts which students should purchase.

Please format the list as for a bibliography according to Turabian http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html

20. Library Impact StatementCheck available texts and other resources against the unit’s Recommended Reading, and identify resources which may need to be made available by the appropriate library.

The library impact statement may be signed off by the librarian, the unit’s lecturer or other appropriate College member.

21. ApprovalsAll approvals must be complete before the unit can be presented to the Learning and Teaching Committee.

For new units, two reviewers in addition to the proposer are required. At least one of these reviewers must be external to the offering College.

For revised units, one reviewer in addition to the proposer is required. This reviewer may be internal to your College.

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UNIVERSITY OF DIVINITY

GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES

1. LEARNGraduates are equipped for critical study, especially of Christian texts and traditions

2. ARTICULATEGraduates articulate theological insight and reflection

3. COMMUNICATEGraduates communicate informed views through structured argument

4. ENGAGEGraduates engage with diverse views, contexts and traditions

5. SERVEGraduates are prepared for the service of others

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMESFor course learning outcomes please consult the 'Our Courses' section of the University website and select the appropriate course:

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Summary of Bloom's taxonomy

In the 1950s, educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom developed a hierarchical classification of behaviour important in learning—from the simple cognitive behaviour of recall and fact recognition to more complex behaviour, involving increasing mental abstraction.

Bloom also classified the types of questions used by educators in assessing students by verb form. The type of action required by the verbs used in an assessment question indicate the cognitive demands being placed on students.

Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state

Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate

Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write

Analysis: analyse, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test

Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write

Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate

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SOLO taxonomyIn the 1980s educational psychologists Kevin Collis and John Biggs designed SOLO, which stands for the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome. SOLO taxonomy is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess students’ work in terms of its quality not of how many bits of this and of that they got right.

At first, learners may pick up only one or few aspects of the task (unistructural), then from several but unrelated aspects (multistructural), they progress in learning how to integrate them into a whole (relational), and finally, develop ability to generalise that whole to as yet untaught applications (extended abstract). The diagram lists verbs typical of each such level.

SOLO can be used not only in assessment, but in designing the curriculum in terms of the learning outcomes intended, which is helpful in implementing constructive alignment.

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Learning outcomes and assessmentA useful way of conceptualising the relationship between learning outcomes and the selection of appropriate assessment tasks is represented in the diagram of the “task-oriented question construction wheel” (St Edward’s University, 2004), based on Bloom’s original taxonomy. Use this wheel to identify assessment tasks which align with learning outcomes at different levels of cognition.

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