Course Title: Develop and apply industry knowledge
Part B: Course Detail
Teaching Period: Term1 2015
Course Code: EMPL5392C
Course Title: Develop and apply industry knowledge
School: 650T Vocational Business Education
Campus: City Campus
Program: C6102 - Advanced Diploma of Business (Public Relations)
Course Contact : Sally Parrott
Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 5175
Course Contact Email:sally.parrott@rmit.edu.au
Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff
Alain Grossbard
Tel: 99255522
Nominal Hours: 15
Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.
Pre-requisites and Co-requisites
None
Course Description
This unit describes the performance outcomes, skills and knowledge required to research, analyse and apply knowledge of the various components of the public relations industry, including legal and ethical constraints and strategic communications management planning.
National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria
National Element Code & Title: |
CUFGEN01A Develop and apply industry knowledge |
Element: |
4. Update industry knowledge
|
Performance Criteria: |
4.1 Continually apply informal and/or formal research to update general knowledge of the industry |
Element: |
1. Seek information on the structure and operation of the industry |
Performance Criteria: |
1.1 Correctly identify and access sources of information on the industry |
Element: |
2. Seek information on industry employment obligations and opportunities |
Performance Criteria: |
2.1 Obtain information to assist effective work performance within the industry, including information on: ; career opportunities and career paths within the industry; the roles, responsibilities and employment rights of contracted freelance workers within the industry; the roles, responsibilities and inter-r elationships of individual personnel in an industry environment; unions and employer bodies; professional associations; industrial relations issues - awards and enterprise bargaining agreements, non award areas; cultural issues |
Element: |
3. Seek information on new technology
|
Performance Criteria: |
3.1 Obtain information to assist effective work performance within the industry, including information ; advances in any type of equipment or technology used within the industry; likely effects of new technology on current work practices and the structure of the organisation and industry, and the community; ways of upgrading skills to include the use of new technology; sources of technical advice and support |
Learning Outcomes
This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to access, increase and update knowledge of the film, television, radio and multimedia industry, including the role of different industry sectors, and the impacts of changing technology. This knowledge underpins effective performance in all sectors.
Details of Learning Activities
A range of learning activities are planned for this course to support the work placement opportunity that each student needs to do. The self-paced activities will be delivered through various technology platforms and include interviews and interactive sessions, problem solving activities and opportunities to practise your skills in a real workplace environment.
Teaching Schedule
| Week | Ciommencing | Topics | Assessment |
| 1 | 9 February | Course Induction • Course delivery and assessment details • Course support documents – any text books or readings • Online learning environment – go through Blackboard shell • Grading – remind them of codes and no marks (codes at end of doc) • Plagiarism – must have signed cover sheets on all assessments • Appeals – take them through this process and where it is on website • Extensions – take them through process (details on website.) • Feedback – when they can contact you and expect a response. • Submission requirements – how all work must be uploaded and how • Resubmission policy – one resubmission, marked to a pass allowed • Where to get support - Student study support details • Student responsibilities – must check emails and bb shells weekly |
Hand out assessment overview in week 1. What students are going to do and when. |
| 2 | 16 February | Introduction - understanding the PR practitioner’s role and responsibilities | Information to inform course content and delivery |
| 3 | 23 February | PR trends and developments | |
| 4 | 2 March | Understanding the Creative Brief | |
| 5 | 9 March | Writing for different mediums | |
| 6 | 16 March | Portfolio work | |
| 7 | 23 March | Internship - Non- teaching week | |
| 8 | 30 March | Internship - Non- teaching week | |
| Semester break 2 – 8 April (inclusive) |
|||
| 9 | 13 April | Resume writing | |
| 10 | 20 April | Portfolio work | |
| 11 | 27 April | Internship - Non- teaching week | |
| 12 | 4 May | Portfolio work | |
| 13 | 11 May | Portfolio in | Assessment 1 |
| 14 | 18 May | Interviews | Assessment 2 |
| 15 | 25 May | Interviews Return final assessment and schedule any resubmission for next week |
Assessment 2 |
| 16 | 1 June | No classes - resubmissions only | Reschedule resits/submission |
Learning Resources
Prescribed Texts
References
Other Resources
Nil
Overview of Assessment
Students must demonstrate an understanding of all elements of a particular competency to be deemed competent. Assessment methods have been designed to measure achievement of each competency in a flexible manner over a range of assessment tasks.
Assessment will incorporate a variety of methods including assignments, journals, presentation and written or test. Students are advised that they are likely to be asked to personally demonstrate their assessment work to their teacher to ensure that the relevant competency standards are being met.
Assessment Tasks
Students are required to complete 2 tasks. All tasks must successfully be completed to be deemed competent in this unit.
Task 1 Written Portfolio
The students is to select a real world client for whom they will fulfil an internship brief. You will need to choose a client who is happy to work with you and who has a communications objective they need fulfilled. For example you might choose:
- A local café/bar that has just opened and needs to increase awareness
- A public relations consultancy who needs to inform its public
- A fashion brand that is launching a new range and needs to inform its public
- A sole operator such as a public relations company who is trying to gain interest from a new market
- A retail store that needs to increase its image and sales
- A public relations department in a large public or private sector
Due Week 13
Students are to:
• Work with the chosen client to complete the supplied brief in suitable depth paying particular attention to the client’s core objective, target market and key message
• Develop two potential Single Minded Proposition’s (SMP) for the client and a short description of suggested corresponding creative directions
• Choose a SMP/creative approach and work up the following communication pieces:
1 x Press Release (no longer than one page)
1 x Online Copy of 600 words to appear on the client’s website
1 x Print Ad (any size) if possible
1 x DM Piece (letter to customers, email copy, DM flier, online communications); and
Any other communication pieces.
PLEASE NOTE that all communications pieces must carry the same key message, single minded proposition and creative angle and should include a call to action. Your work must follow the basic principles of persuasive writing, be free of spelling and grammar errors.
Task 2 – Individual Persuasive Presentation (Due in class Week 13/14)
Students are to choose a topic of interest and prepare and present a five minute persuasive speech on what was covered in the internship. The discussion will be assessed on a combination of:
• completion of set number of hours completed for the internship
• produce a completed evaluation form about the quality of internship work written by the employer
• content, ability to employ persuasive techniques along with presentation style including visual aids, structure, pace and pitch, poise and eye contact with the interviewee.
Submission Requirements for all assessments:
Assessment tasks need to be submitted via Blackboard. A hard copy may be required as well but where possible all assessments must also be submitted electronically
Vocational Education and Training (VET) is based on current industry needs and the focus on preparing you for the workplace. Because VET courses are informed by practical application of knowledge and skills, they are based on a system known as ‘competency based training’ (CBT). So when you are assessed in VET it is about whether you are competent to do the job, as well as having a firm grasp on the knowledge and skills required to do that job, as opposed to traditional curriculum based education settings that are often based on knowledge retention. You need to demonstrate you are competent in all of the elements of competency you are studying – which means you will need to pass every assignment as each one addresses a different element.
The Marking Guide is designed to show you what knowledge and skills you need to demonstrate in each assessment.
The Level of Performance Grading Sheet will tell you how well you are performing (tracking at a P, C, D or HD level).
After achieving competency we then grade your performance in the unit; this gives you the opportunity to have the level of your performance formally recognized against industry standards and employability skills. Performance will be graded on the Level of Performance Grading Sheet (Template to use is at the end of this document)
You will receive one of the following grades:
CHD Competent with High Distinction
CDI Competent with Distinction
CC Competent with Credit
CAG Competency Achieved – Graded
Principles of Assessment/Rules of Evidence
Principles of assessment are required to ensure quality outcomes. Assessments should be fair, flexible, valid and reliable as follows:
a) Fairness: Fairness requires consideration of the individual candidate’s needs and characteristics, and any reasonable adjustments that need to be applied to take account of them. It requires clear communication between the assessor and the candidate to ensure that the candidate is fully informed about, understands, and is able to participate in, the assessment process, and agrees that the process is appropriate. It also includes an opportunity for the person being assessed to challenge the result of the assessment and to be reassessed if necessary.
b) Flexible: To be flexible, assessment should reflect the candidate’s needs; provide for recognition of competencies no matter how, where or when they have been acquired; draw on a range of methods appropriate to the context, competency and the candidate; and, support continuous competency development.
c) Validity: There are five major types of validity: face, content, criterion (i.e. predictive and concurrent), construct and consequential. In general, validity is concerned with the appropriateness of the inferences, use and consequences that result from the assessment. In simple terms, it is concerned with the extent to which an assessment decision about a candidate (e.g. competent/not yet competent, a grade and/or a mark), based on the evidence of performance by the candidate, is justified. It requires determining conditions that weaken the truthfulness of the decision, exploring alternative explanations for good or poor performance, and feeding them back into the assessment process to reduce errors when making inferences about competence.
Unlike reliability, validity is not simply a property of the assessment tool. As such, an assessment tool designed for a particular purpose and target group may not necessarily lead to valid interpretations of performance and assessment decisions if the tool was used for a different purpose and/or target group
d) Reliability: There are five types of reliability: internal consistency; parallel forms; split-half; inter-rater; and, intra-rater. In general, reliability is an estimate of how accurate or precise the task is as a measurement instrument. Reliability is concerned with how much error is included in the evidence.
Rules of Evidence are closely related to the principles of assessment and provide guidance on the collection of evidence to ensure that it is valid, sufficient, authentic and current as follows:
a) Validity: see Principles of assessment.
b) Sufficiency: Sufficiency relates to the quality and quantity of evidence assessed. It requires collection of enough appropriate evidence to ensure that all aspects of competency have been satisfied and that competency can be demonstrated repeatedly. Supplementary sources of evidence may be necessary. The specific evidence requirements of each unit of competency provide advice on sufficiency.
c) Authenticity: To accept evidence as authentic, an assessor must be assured that the evidence presented for assessment is the candidate’s own work.
d) Currency: Currency relates to the age of the evidence presented by candidates to demonstrate that they are still competent. Competency requires demonstration of current performance, so the evidence must be from either the present or the very recent past.
Additional Resources
For more information about how to design assessments go to:
National Skills Standards Council (NSSC) – Formerly NQC
http://www.nssc.natese.gov.au/nqc_archive/nqc_publications
For more information about the principles of assessment go to:
ASQA
http://www.asqa.gov.au/
The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) is the national regulator for Australia’s vocational education and training sector.
ASQA regulates courses and training providers to ensure nationally approved quality standards are met.
The standards include quality requirements for training and assessment and can be found at the following website:
http://www.asqa.gov.au/about-asqa/national-vet-regulation/vet-quality-framework.html
(NOTE: The Users’ Guide explains the standards and gives suggestions – these documents can also be found on the Blackboard BTS LT site)
National Register (for all Training Package information)
http://training.gov.au/
Assessment Matrix
You must demonstrate that you have all the required skills/knowledge/elements in this unit of competency you are studying. You will receive feedback on each assessment task that will inform you about your progress and how well you are performing.
Other Information
Nil
Course Overview: Access Course Overview