SCIENCE 7020 - Communicating Science

North Terrace Campus - Winter - 2020

Overview of science communication in the 21st century; Science writing: structuring articles and reports, writing effectively for both specialist and non-specialist audiences; Use of oral presentations and displays to communicate science; Use of emerging online social media in science communication.

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Course Details

Course Code	SCIENCE 7020
Course	Communicating Science
Coordinating Unit	Sciences General
Term	Winter
Level	Postgraduate Coursework
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 5 hours per day
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Incompatible	SCIENCE 3200
Assessment	Assignment, 2 presentations & weekly blog posts

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Associate Professor Natalie Williamson

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .

Course Learning Outcomes

1	an awareness and understanding of the background, fundamentals and theory of traditional and emerging media and how these relate to the communication of science.
2	the ability to produce reports and written communications suitable for government and policymakers, newspaper articles and online publication.
3	oral communication skills from speeches to soundbites.
4	online communication skills using social media
5	radio, print and television media management skills.
6	the ability to build and maintain a network of contacts.
7	an appreciation of the scope and diversity of science communication.
8	development of responsible, ethical and respectful attitudes as the field undergoes disruptive change fuelled by rapid technology advancement.
9	analyse several points of view on a potentially controversial scientific issue and integrate them into a commentary that considers a number of aspects of the topic without bias.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1-5
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	1-7
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	1-9
Intercultural and ethical competency adept at operating in other cultures comfortable with different nationalities and social contexts able to determine and contribute to desirable social outcomes demonstrated by study abroad or with an understanding of indigenous knowledges	8,9
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	1,8

Learning Resources

Required Resources

The Little Penguin Handbook (3rd Australasian Edition) (Lester Faigley: Longman; 2014)

Recommended Resources

Sharing Knowledge: A Guide to Effective Science Communication (Julian Cribb, Tjempaka Sari Hartomo: CSIRO Publishing; 2002) (Link to e-book from Barr Smith Library available on MyUni)

Writing for Science (3rd ed; Heather Silyn-Roberts: Pearson, 2012) (Available from the Barr Smith Library)

Writing Scientific Research Articles: Strategy and Steps (Margaret Cargill, Patrick O’Connor: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009) (Available from the Barr Smith Library)

Other required/recommended texts will be based on OER (open education resource) principles and will be available for free download online.

Other reading material as provided by lecturers and/or made available on MyUni.

Online Learning

It is important that all students maintain active communication channels with the course coordinator and course teaching staff throughout the course. The primary communication channels from staff to students are email and MyUni for course-related announcements, teaching material and additional resources.

The University's online learning management system, MyUni (https://myuni.adelaide.edu.au), will be used to provide students with a variety of learning resources, including (but not limited to) the following:

* Lecture notes
* Assessment information
* Marking rubrics
* Links to other websites that may assist learning, or provide further information

All learning resources will be provided electronically, and no printed copies will be supplied.

MyUni will also be used on a regular basis to post announcements about assessment deadlines and other information related to the course and to send students emails to their University-provided student email account.

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course consists of 1 x 3 hour morning “lecture” block and 1 x 3 hour afternoon “workshop” block (or equivalent) for most days of the course. The workshops will serve to reinforce the topics covered in lectures. Some free afternoons have been built into the course structure to allow students time to assimilate knowledge and prepare for summative assessment tasks.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

Learning activity	Contact time	Non-contact time
Lectures	3-hour lecture block per day	2 hours preparation per lecture block (includes preparation for workshops)
Workshops	3 hours per day (or equivalent)
Blog posts	-	Approximately 1 hour per day
Writing assignment	-	Approximately 10 hours spread over the duration of the course
Presentations	-	Approximately 10 hours spread over the duration of the course
Total hours per week	Up to 6 contact hours per day	Up to 5 non-contact hours (on average) per day

Learning Activities Summary

Lecture content:

•   Background, fundamentals and theory of traditional media
•   Background, fundamentals and theory of emerging media
•   Writing skills

o Construction, use of appropriate language, editing

o Writing styles – formal and informal

•   Oral communication skills – approaches, techniques, advice
•   Online communication and emerging online social media – use in communicating science, approaches to using these techniques
•   Radio, print and television media – different approaches for communicating science through different media, advice on how to manage aspects of these media outlets

Several guest workshops will be run by visiting experts in one or more facets of the course objectives to support the lecture material.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Due to the current COVID-19 situation modified arrangements have been made to assessments to facilitate remote learning and teaching.
Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Blog Posts	Summative	Week 4	50%	1, 4, 7, 9
Oral Presentation	Summative	Date to be advised	20%	1, 3, 5, 7
Writing Assignment	Summative	Approx. end of July	30%	1, 2, 7, 9

Assessment Detail

Blog post assignments (50% of the overall course grade)
Students will be required to produce 9 blog posts (approximately 1000 words each) every second or third day during the course, analysing, evaluating and exploring a scientific issue or controversy from more than one perspective. The blog posts may incorporate video and/or other media content and will allow students to develop and demonstrate their understanding of online media as a communication tool. Students will receive regular online formative feedback for these blog posts, enabling them to chart their progress and improvement as the course progresses. At the end of the course, each student’s collection of blog posts will be marked summatively as one body of work.

Oral presentations (20% of the overall course grade)
Students will be required to make an oral presentation for the course at a later date (to be determined) This will enable students to put into practice the communication skills they have been developing as well as demonstrate proficiency in the various technology and media available in presenting a topic to a live audience.

Writing assignment (30% of the overall course grade)
The writing assignment (word count approx 2000) will enable students to demonstrate their understanding of and ability to communicate science through the written word in the form of a text article. Students will be provided with a list of topics (based on more complex scientific issues) from which to choose. Students will be expected to explore a number of viewpoints in the assignment. The writing assignment will be due approximately two weeks after the second oral presentation.

Submission

Extensions for Assessment Tasks
Extensions of deadlines for assessment tasks may be allowed for reasonable causes. Such situations would include compassionate and medical grounds of the severity that would justify the awarding of a supplementary examination. Evidence for the grounds must be provided when an extension is requested. Students are required to apply for an extension to the Course Coordinator before the assessment task is due. Extensions will not be provided on the grounds of poor prioritising of time. The assessment extension application form can be obtained from:

Late submission of assessments
If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through .

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.

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Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator

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