Unit rationale, description and aim
Graduates of programs in Ignatian Spiritual Direction need to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in this discipline in this discipline and be able to reflect critically on the ways in which their personal development impacts upon their professional roles. This unit enables postgraduate students to fulfil the capstone requirements related to their award and is intended to be taken in the student’s final year. It directs, supports and encourages the integration of student learning by means of participation in an integrative seminar and completion of a dissertation in an area of interest that draws on the student’s prior learning and directs it towards an integrative treatment of a chosen topic. Students present their ideas to their peers and members of faculty and receive feedback within the seminar process. This unit enables students to engage in an extended piece of research writing. The aim of this unit is to provide students with the opportunity to consolidate and integrate their learning throughout their course, and to develop their skills in planning, implementing, and disseminating research in the area of Spiritual Direction.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Articulate points of synthesis and integration bet...
Learning Outcome 01
Generate questions and insights in relation to a c...
Learning Outcome 02
Plan, execute and complete a major integrative pro...
Learning Outcome 03
Content
The area of investigation is to be devised by the student. The project must:
- Be on a topic relating to some aspect/s of spiritual direction;
- Demonstrate awareness of the issues related to creative and effective communication of theological ideas;
- Demonstrate management and evaluation of academic research;
- Include a 1 hour (equivalent to 4000 words) presentation during the semester, highlighting the integration of learning throughout the course;
- Include an extended piece of research and writing (equivalent to 12,000 words, which can incorporate text from the presentation) using appropriate academic conventions.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment strategy of this unit has been designed to allow students to showcase their comprehensive and integrated learnings over the course of their studies in spiritual direction.
All assessment tasks are designed for students to show their achievement of each learning outcome and graduate attribute. They require students to demonstrate the nexus between their learning, dispositions, and spiritual direction, and the evidence on which this demonstration is based.
The project will be assessed by an academic other than the supervisor.
Overview of assessments
Presentation on the chosen project: (1 hour, inc...
Presentation on the chosen project: (1 hour, including 10 minutes of class discussion (equiv. 4000 words). This task is designed to provide students with the opportunity to share and discuss their research with their peers and to receive feedback in a supportive environment. Material from the presentation will be integrated into Assessment Task 2.
30%
Research project (12,000-words). This task is de...
Research project (12,000-words). This task is designed to provide students with the opportunity to synthesise their learning, to evaluate their research in terms of its strengths and limitations, and to engage in a critical discussion of its implications. The weighting of this task is necessary to enable students to engage in an extended piece of writing. The project will be assessed by an academic other than the supervisor.
70%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit involves 150 hours of focused learning, which reflects the standard volume of learning for a unit in a university qualification of this Australian Qualifications Framework type.
The unit is normally offered in scheduled online mode, a way that blends the use of online delivery of learning materials and activities that can be undertaken synchronously and asynchronously. This means that students can undertake some learning activities on their own at times that do not depend on the availability of others, and other learning activities that are undertaken interactively with other students and teaching staff at the same time. Using scheduled online delivery means that students do not have to be at the same place as each other, but can interact remotely.
In order to benefit from this mode of learning, students need to be independently motivated. Units offered in the course normally follow a cycle: students complete preparatory activities before meeting together; in webinars, students work collaboratively with each other and the lecturer to clarify, extend and apply what they have learned; and after each collaborative session, students reflect critically on their personal experience and observations in light of materials covered in the unit. As the cycle is repeated, students bring new understandings to bear on further issues and ideas, so that each cycle of learning deepens the one before. Students co-construct a supportive and encouraging learning community through their active participation in classes as well as through offline engagement, such as through discussion boards.