Integrated Eye Care and Ocular Therapeutics (10296.1)

Required texts

Bowling, B. (2015). Kanski's clinical ophthalmology: a systematic approach. Saunders Ltd.(8th edition).  The 9th edition of this textbook has also been released - this is also suitable.

Bruce, A. S., & Loughnan, M. S. (2011). Anterior eye disease and therapeutics AZ. Elsevier Australia.

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Contract cheating 
Contract cheating (academic outsourcing / ghost-writing) is a form of academic misconduct in which students submit written or creative work which has been drafted or produced by someone else and claim authorship for it.  It includes (but is not limited to) using a third party, offering their services for commercial or other benefits, to complete (either partially or fully) an assignment or other assessment items on behalf of the student.  

You are at risk of contract cheating if you ask someone to:

• Complete an assignment for you
• Substantially edit your assignment
• Do your university work for you, with or without compensation
• Check test or quiz answers
• Sit a test or quiz for you
• Provide someone with your UC login details

You may also be at risk of contract cheating if you provide information to people or organisations outside UC, such as:

• Assignment questions and briefs
• Lecture notes
• Marking rubrics and marking guides

UC considers contract cheating serious misconduct which may attract suspension or exclusion from the university.  Furthermore, we, as your education provider, have mandatory reporting responsibilities under National Law.  We are required to notify the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) if we believe that a registered health practitioner (including those with student registration) has behaved in a way that constitutes notifiable conduct including signature departure from accepted professional standards.  Contract cheating may also result in UC submitting a mandatory notification to AHPRA.

You can learn more about contract cheating in the Academic Integrity Module - which is a compulsory module that provides information about a range of issues including plagiarism and contract cheating. UC provides a range of services to support student learning - further information regarding Study Skills, Studiosity and Medical & Counselling services are available on your unit's Canvas site.

Special assessment requirements

Coursework and Assessments

In order to pass and successfully complete 10296 Integrated Eye Care and Ocular Therapeutics, students must:

• Achieve a mark of at least 50% in the final examination; and
• Achieve a final aggregate (overall) mark of 50% or higher

If an answer provided by a student in an assessment is likely to cause patient harm or is inappropriate, the student may have marks deducted, to no less than a zero grade for the entire assessment item. 

Reasonable Adjustment Plan (RAP)

If you have a RAP that you wish to apply to your learning activities and assessments, it is your responsibility to communicate with your Unit Convener in writing at least 7 days before your in-class assessment is due. Please attach your RAP with your request.

Supplementary assessment

For students who are in their final semester of their degree, e.g. finishing this unit would result in completion of the Bachelor of Vision Science, AND the student has obtain an aggregate mark greater than 50% for the unit, but failed the final exam (with a grade of 45-49.9%), students will be given an opportunity to attempt an additional piece of assessment for the corresponding failed assessment and must complete this supplementary assessment successfully (mark 50% or greater) in order to pass this unit. The content of the additional assessment will be comparable to the failed assessment and may take the form of written or oral assessment. It will be held following the Semester 1 examination period and students should expect to have their grade withheld (WH) until the additional assessment has been completed. If the student passes the additional assessment (50% or better), they shall recieve the minimum required mark required to receive a pass grade in that unit (e.g. 50/100).

Deferred in-class assessments

In the event a student misses an assessment due to an extenuating and evidenced circumstance, the student must contact the Unit Convener and request a deferred exam/assessment/quiz within three (3) days of the scheduled assessment. The request must be made in writing (by email) with an 'Assignment Extension' form (available on CANVAS). Student must provide documentary evidence (e.g. medical certificate; leave certificates will not be accepted) or other relevant documents as requested by the Unit Convener before sitting the deferred assessment. Failure to do so will result in a zero grade being awarded for that assessment item. Students are not permitted to defer a deferred intra-semester exam, quiz or assessment. Any student unable to undertake the deferred assessment will be failed for the assessment task.

In the event a student is unable to attend their scheduled examination and the reason meets the criteria for acceptable grounds for extenuating circumstances, the student should submit a 'Request for Deferred Examination Application' form with original documentary evidence to the Timetabling and Examinations Office. This must be lodged within three (3) days of the scheduled examination. Students are not usually permitted to defer a deferred final exam. Any student who does not undertake their deferred exam will receive a mark of zero for the exam. Where students are able to provide evidence of exceptional circumstances that led to them being unable to sit their deferred final exam, they may apply for a late withdrawal from the unit using the 'Enrolment Amendment' form.

Students are only permitted one extension per assignment and one deferral per examination/assessment (on the grounds of illness or other unavoidable and verifiable personal circumstances) unless otherwise approved. Students must make themselves available for deferred intra-semester exams and quizzes, which will be scheduled by the Unit Convener; the Unit Convenor will inform the student of the date of the deferred intra-semester assessment either through email or through the Canvas site.

Deferred final exams are centrally administered by the Timetabling and Examinations Office.

Students must apply academic integrity in their learning and research activities at UC. This includes submitting authentic and original work for assessments and properly acknowledging any sources used.

Academic integrity involves the ethical, honest and responsible use, creation and sharing of information. It is critical to the quality of higher education. Our academic integrity values are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility and courage.

UC students have to complete the Academic Integrity Module annually to learn about academic integrity and to understand the consequences of academic integrity breaches (or academic misconduct).

UC uses various strategies and systems, including detection software, to identify potential breaches of academic integrity. Suspected breaches may be investigated, and action can be taken when misconduct is found to have occurred.

Information is provided in the Academic Integrity Policy, Academic Integrity Procedure, and University of Canberra (Student Conduct) Rules 2023. For further advice, visit Study Skills.

Participation requirements

This unit contains participatory elements which are vital to the Optometry Board of Australia entry-level competencies for optometrists (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cxo.12216).

Except in the case of extenuating circumstances, 100% attendance is expected at all lectures, case-based seminars, all practicals and laboratories. Please note that not all learning material covered in lectures, e.g. worked examples of problems or discussion in small groups, will be captured by the lecture recording software. Students are expected to attend for the entire time scheduled for practicals and laboratories. It is expected that students unable to fulfil these participation requirements will inform the Unit Convener as soon as practical, by telephone or email. Failure to adhere to these requirements may result in failure of the associated assessment piece. For inability to attend a scheduled laboratory session, an 'Absence from Laboratory' form (available on UCLearn Canvas) with supporting documentation should be submitted to the Unit Convener; students may be required to attend an additional laboratory session to complete the required tasks. Consideration will be given for illness; evidence such as a medical certificate will be required. The final decision will be at the discretion of the Unit Convener.

Contact details for the Unit Convenor and the Faculty of Health Administration Office are given in Section 1.

Students are required to cooperate in laboratory classes, workshops or tutorials where students may be asked to practice optometry skills on each other, so each student is the patient and practitioner in turn and in approximately equal duration. By both conducting the clinical procedures and participating in the tests, you will gain an insight and empathy into the issues associated with testing visual function, both from the point of view of both an optometrist and patient. During classes you will be required to demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively as part of a team, negotiate, and resolve conflict. Any action or omission that affects patient safety or is deemed disrespectful to your patients, fellow students or the teaching staff can result in failure of a patient assessment task regardless of the aggregate mark for the assessment.

Required IT skills

The use of UCLearn Canvas, library searching skills, and word and data processing (Microsoft Office Suite) skills are necessary for this unit.

This unit may also involve online meetings in real time using the Virtual Room in your UCLearn teaching site (subject to lockdown). The Virtual Room allows you to communicate in real time with your lecturer and other students. To participate verbally, rather than just typing, you will need a microphone. For best audio quality we recommend a microphone and speaker headset. For more information and to test your computer, go to the Virtual Room in your UCLearn site and 'Join Course Room'. This will trigger a tutorial to help familiarise you with the functionality of the virtual room.

In-unit costs

Students may wish to print electronically provided material for their own study. There are no additional in-unit costs. 

Work placement, internships or practicums

Simulation and virtual WIL - laboratory sessions + clinical scenarios.

Additional information

Pursuant to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009, optometry practitioners (registered optometrists) and education providers have an obligation to report 'notifiable conduct', to the Optometry Board of Australia in order to prevent the public being placed at risk of harm.

Education providers are also required, under s.143 of the National Law, to make mandatory notifications in relation to students, if the provider reasonable believes:

1. a student enrolled with the provider has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking clinical training, may place the public at substantial risk of harm; or
2. a student for whom the provider has arranged clinical training has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking the clinical training, may place the public at substantial risk of harm.

Practitioners are required to make a mandatory notification in relation to a student if the practitioner reasonably believes that a student has an impairment that, in the course of the student undertaking clinical training, may place the public at substantial risk of harm.

All concerns raised within the Discipline of Optometry or by clinical preceptors will be reviewed by the Head of Discipline and the Unit Convener before any reporting action is taken.

These professional obligations are taken seriously by staff and the University. Students should be aware of their obligations under student registration.

For further information, please refer to: https://www.optometryboard.gov.au/policies-codes-guidelines/guidelines-for-mandatory-notifications.aspx

• Semester 1, 2023, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (212208)
• Semester 1, 2022, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (206787)
• Semester 1, 2021, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (200503)
• Semester 1, 2020, On-campus, UC - Canberra, Bruce (197370)