Integrated Eye Care and Ocular Therapeutics (10296.2)

Required texts

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, artificial intelligence, 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 (including artificial intelligence) 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
• Use someone's work as your own

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 can result in UC submitting a mandatory notification to AHPRA.

You can learn more about contract cheating in the Academic Integrity Module, 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.

Artificial intelligence services must not be used by students in assessments or assessment preparation.

Special assessment requirements

Coursework and Assessments

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

•    Attempt all assessment items;
•    Achieve a minimum grade of at least 50% for the final examination; and
•    Achieve a final aggregate mark of 50% or higher.

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

Students are required to cooperate in laboratory classes, workshops or remediation sessions where students may be asked to practice optometry skills on each other, with each student as 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. 

This course aims to develop your professional and communication skills in preparation for your journey towards being a health professional. During classes and placements, 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 the safety of your patient or peers 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. Virtual classes have additional requirements where you will further develop communication skills in the virtual environment. While in a virtual environment, students are required to present themselves and communicate with peers, staff and invited speakers in a professional way. Hence, the default for all virtual classes is for all student web cameras to be turned on during virtual classes. Instructors may require students to interact either verbally, through polls or the shared chat function. Students who do not participate in this way can be marked as absent for the class. Students who need guidance on expected behaviors and participation may consult with the Unit Convenor and/or Study Skills. Instructors may request that cameras are turned off under certain circumstances.

Additional Assessment

Eligibility for second attempt at a hurdle assessment: Students who do not demonstrate competency in a hurdle assessment will be offered a second (and final) opportunity (as per Assessment Procedures), only if it is possible for the student to achieve an aggregate overall unit mark of 50% or above by passing the hurdle.

How mark is affected: The mark that can be achieved on the second attempt of a hurdle assessment is a maximum 50%. If a student successfully demonstrates competency on the second attempt this 50% mark will replace the mark of the first hurdle assessment attempt. If the student does not demonstrate competency in the second attempt of the hurdle assessment a Fail grade (NX) will be applied, regardless of the overall aggregate unit mark.

Timing of repeats of a hurdle assessment: If the hurdle assessment is a final practical or theory examination, the second attempt of the hurdle will be held during the deferred examination period. If the hurdle assessment is a deferred final practical or theory examination, the second attempt of the deferred hurdle will be held in the week immediately after the deferred exam period.

Supplementary assessment

This unit is not the last unit of a degree, so supplementary examination rules do not apply.

However, if a student is eligible for a supplementary assessment, the following will apply. According to the University's Assessment Procedures, supplementary assessment will only be offered to students who satisfy the following eligibility criteria: A student has been allocated a final mark in the unit of at least 45% and less than 50% inclusive, and/or are within 5% of satisfying a hurdle assessment; AND The unit undertaken in the final teaching period is the last and only unit required to meet all academic course requirements to enable conferral of a degree.

Deferred Exams and Assessments

In the event a student misses an intra-semester 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. Students must provide documentary evidence (e.g. medical certificate) 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 will be informed of the date of the deferred assessment via the student's University email and the deferred assessment may take place within three (3) days of the email being sent by the Unit Convenor and/or representative. Students are not permitted to defer a deferred intra-semester exam, quiz or assessment. Any student unable to undertake the deferred intra-semester exam will be failed for the assessment task and will result in a zero grade being awarded for that assessment item.

In the event a student is unable to attend their scheduled final 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 (through the Student Centre). This must be lodged within three (3) days of the scheduled examination. Deferred Examination Applications lodged after the due submission date may be considered only if circumstances made it impossible for the application to be lodged before, or immediately after the original examination (e.g. ongoing serious illness exists). Students are not usually permitted to defer a deferred final examination. Any student who does not undertake their deferred final examination will received a mark of zero for the examination. Where students are able to provide evidence of exceptional circumstances that led to them being unable to sit their deferred final examination, they may apply for a late withdrawal from the unit using the 'Enrolment Amendment' form.

If a student is feeling unwell or hold a current medical certificate on the day of any scheduled examination, they should not attempt the examination as once the examination paper has been opened, the student is unable to defer the examination, and no consideration will be given for illness when the examination is marked.

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 and informed to the student through the Canvas site or student email. It is the student's responsibility to ascertain the correct timetable for their examinations and quizzes. Deferred final examations 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.

Inclusion and engagement

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 or email at least 7 days before your in-class assessment is due. Please attach your RAP with your request.

Participation requirements

This unit contains participatory elements which are vital to the Optometry Board of Australia entry-level competencies for optometrists (https://www.optometry.org.au/wp-content/uploads/Professional_support/Guidelines/Final_Entry-level-Competency-Standard-for-Optometry-2022.pdf).

Except in the case of extenuating circumstances, 100% attendance is expected at all lectures, case-based seminars, tutorials 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 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 an 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 Administration Office are given in Section 1.

As mentioned above, students are required to cooperate in classes, acting as patient and practitioner when practicing optometry skills on each other. 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. 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

None

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

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