Ocular Pharmacology (10409.1)

Required texts

Clinical Ocular Pharmacology, 5th Edition or later
Jimmy Bartlett and Siraat Jannus
Butterworth-Heinemann
ISBN: 9780750675765

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

Practical Coursework and Assessments

In order to pass 10409 Ocular Pharmacology, students must:

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

If an answer provided by a student is likely to cause patient harm, contradictory in nature or is inappropriate to the question, the student may have marks deducted, to not 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 studies, 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.

Academic integrity

Students have a responsibility to uphold University standards on ethical scholarship. Good scholarship involves building on the work of others and use of others' work must be acknowledged with proper attribution made. Cheating, plagiarism, and falsification of data are dishonest practices that contravene academic values. Refer to the University's Student Charter for more information.

To enhance understanding of academic integrity, all students are expected to complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) at least once during their course of study. You can access this module within UCLearn (Canvas) through the 'Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism' link in the Study Help site.

Use of Text-Matching Software

The University of Canberra uses text-matching software to help students and staff reduce plagiarism and improve understanding of academic integrity. The software matches submitted text in student assignments against material from various sources: the internet, published books and journals, and previously submitted student texts.

Deferred Exams and 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. Student 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 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.

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. 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 exam. Any student who does not undertake their deferred exam will received 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 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 exams are centrally administered by the Timetabling and Examinations Office.

Learner engagement

Students are required to cooperate in laboratory classes and tutorials. Where students may be asked to practice optometry or clinical skills on each other, each student is expected to participate equitably as patients and practitioners; the amount of participation in these roles should be decided by students so that no student has a lesser or greater contribution than the others within the group. By both conducting the clinical procedures, participating in the tests, and experiencing the different types of eye drops used within an eye examination, you will gain an insight and empathy into the issues associated with testing visual function and effects of eye drops, both from the point of view of 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.

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, and 100% participation is expected in all 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. Students who are late by more than 15 minutes without an adequate documented reason will be regarded as absent; students who leave before the end, unless all assigned work has been completed to the satisfaction of the lecturer or tutor, will be regarded as absent from the session. 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 must 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. 

Under the current COVID-19 conditions, the use of face masks is compulsory in clinical areas where you will be working in close proximity to others. This requirement is a directive of the University of Canberra and students will be required to provide their own masks. If the student does not have a mask, they will not be permitted to enter and participate in the laboratory session. As this information may change, please review CANVAS announcements regularly.

If a student is unable to hand in a laboratory assignment due to illness or extenuating circumstances, he or she must apply to the unit convenor for an assignment extension within 3 days after the scheduled laboratory session. Late submission of the laboratory assignment (without an approved extension) will result in a penalty of 5% reduced marks from the total available per calendar day late. A laboratory assignment submitted over 7 days late will not be accepted.

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

Required IT skills

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

In-unit costs

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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