Unit Approval Template Instructions
March 2014
Please complete the Unit Approval Template electronically. Send it to approvers by email. Proposers and approvers should ‘sign’ by typing their name at the appropriate place in the document, or by inserting their electronic signature.
When all approvals have been signed off, please email the document to your Coursework Coordinator.
The Coursework Coordinator is responsible for collecting the unit proposals and emailing them to the Director of Academic Services for consideration by a unit panel of the Learning and Teaching Committee.
The process for approval of units is detailed in the Unit Approval Procedures. This is available on the University website at
http://www.divinity.edu.au/documents/unit-approval-procedures/
1. Unit code and title
Replace Unit code and title with actual unit code and title. Check TAMS to make sure the code is not already in use for an existing unit as the code for each unit must be unique across the University. Your Registrar or Coursework Coordinator will be able to help you with this.
Replace College with College Code [ALC, CBC, CTC, SACOTC, Sentir, STC, UFT, WHT, YTU]
Refer to the Unit Coding Policy for details on how to assemble codes for new units. This is available on the University website at
http://www.divinity.edu.au/documents/unit-coding-policy/
2. New / Revised unit
Delete the one which is inapplicable, so this line says either New Unit or Revised Unit. If the unit is revised, provide a brief description of the change for the benefit of the panel.
3. Proposed by
The name of the faculty member who is proposing the unit (described below as ‘the proposer’).
4. Unit value
A standard unit is 15 points; other values should be used only in exceptional circumstances.
5. Level
Specify the levels at which the unit is available. Levels are:
Diploma DipTheol, AdvDipTheol
Undergraduate BTheol, BMin (specify levels 1, 2 or 3)
Postgraduate Foundational GradCerts, GradDips, MDiv, MTS, MA(Theol)
Postgraduate Elective All postgraduate awards in which coursework units are permitted
Postgraduate Capstone Masters courses only
6. Discipline
Every unit must have a single ‘home discipline’ chosen from this table.
Field AHumanities / Field B
Biblical Studies / Field C
Christian Thought and History / Field D
Theology: Mission and Ministry
AL - Biblical Languages / BA - Old Testament / CH - Church History / DA - Mission and Ministry
AH - History / BN - New Testament / CT - Systematic Theology / DC - Canon Law
AL - Languages ancient and modern / BS - Biblical Studies / DU - Ecumenical Studies
DE - Education Studies
AP - Philosophy / DL - Liturgy
AR - Religious Studies / DM - Missiology
DT - Moral Theology
DP - Pastoral Theology and Ministry Studies
DR - Religious Education
DS - Spirituality
DS - Spiritual Direction (PG only)
7. Crosslisted to other disciplines
Some units are ‘crosslisted’ to other disciplines. If this is the case, please provide a separate unit code for the crosslisted version of the unit.
8. Courses in which this unit is taught
List all courses for which this will be an eligible unit. Please provide separate Unit Approval Templates for undergraduate and postgraduate versions of a unit.
9. Content
Write one to two paragraphs describing the unit. This section should be aimed at the student.
10. Learning outcomes
List the knowledge and skills the students will be expected to have gained by the end of the unit. Learning outcomes must be measurable goals which should be tested by the assessment for the unit. Use action words such as:
analyse, articulate, assess, characterise, compare, complete a project..., contrast, demonstrate, evaluate, exhibit, identify, interpret, manifest, show, write a paper...
Please also refer to the 'Bloom’s Taxonomy' at the end of this document for a discussion of outcomes at different levels.
Where a class is taught at more than one level, the higher level should comprise additional and more intense learning outcomes.
11. Graduate Attributes
In the rightmost column, insert the numbers of the learning outcomes which align with the University’s graduate attributes. The learning outcomes for the unit should address at least one of the University’s graduate attributes. They do not have to address them all. If you believe that a particular learning outcome contributes to more than one graduate attribute, feel free to insert it two or three times.
Example: Biblical Studies 101
Graduate Attributes / Specify Learning Outcomes which contribute towards attainment of this Graduate Attribute /1 / LEARN
Graduates are equipped for critical study, especially of Christian texts and traditions / 1, 2, 3
2 / ARTICULATE
Graduates articulate theological insight and reflection
3 / COMMUNICATE
Graduates communicate informed views through structured argument / 3, 4
4 / ENGAGE
Graduates engage with diverse views, contexts and traditions / 3, 5
5 / SERVE
Graduates are prepared for the service of others
12. Assessment
Briefly describe all assessment tasks for the unit, including word counts for each item (e.g. 1 x 3000 word research essay). Provide a weighting for each item (e.g. 50%) ensuring that the total adds up to 100%.
Since assessment tasks must test the learning outcomes for the unit, please provide the numbers of the learning outcomes assessed by each task. If there is only one assessment task, it should assess all learning outcomes.
The normal total word count for a standard 15 point unit at each level is as follows:
Diploma 3,000 to 4,000 words
Undergraduate first year 4,000 words
second year 4,000-5,000 words
third year 5,000-6,000 words
Postgraduate 6,000 words
Each hour of examination time counts as 1,000 words.
Each 15 minutes of oral examination counts as 1,000 words.
If this unit is to be assessed by means other than written work, please provide a justification explaining how the assessment may be marked by two examiners and providing an equivalent word length for any non-written item.
13. Delivery mode
Please write one of: Face-to-face, Online, Mixed, Distance, Other.
If the choice is Mixed or Other, please describe how the unit will be delivered.
A Face-to-face unit includes units where some resources are provided online or assessments are to be submitted online.
A unit which is taught in both face-to-face and wholly online mode should have separate unit approvals, because the assessment tasks, delivery mode, timing, teaching methods, lecturer and bibliography may be different.
14. Timing
If the unit is semester-based, taught weekly in the standard semester and examined in the examination period, then the total duration of unit is normally 16 weeks, comprising 12 weeks of teaching plus two weeks of mid-semester break plus one study week plus one examination week, or however long students have to complete their last assignments.
If the unit is not semester-based (for example, an Intensive), then the total duration of the unit (including any pre-reading periods, and time elapsed between the final class and the submission of the final assessment task), total duration of teaching, and the pattern of hours are required.
15. Workload
For 15-point face-to-face units, it is expected that:
a) Undergraduate students undertake 36 hours of engagement with teacher and / or class and 72 hours of personal study;
b) Postgraduate students undertake 36 hours of engagement with teacher and / or class and 108 hours of personal study;
Online units should achieve total hours and ratios of teacher and class engagement and personal study similar to face-to-face units.
16. Teaching methods
For standard delivery, write Lectures, seminars, tutorials, or other activities you will provide. For online delivery, describe the interactions and student experiences.
Describe in more detail any non-standard teaching methods.
17. Prerequisites, Corequisites, Prohibited Combinations
Prerequisites: Please specify units or areas of study which must be completed before this unit is undertaken.
Corequisites: Please specify any other units which students must complete in order to receive credit for this unit.
Prohibited Combinations: Please specify any units within your College with substantially similar content which cannot be credited in the same course as this unit.
18. Lecturer
Name the lecturer who will be taking and examining the class. If the lecturer has not been accredited by the University's Academic Board in the discipline and level of the unit, please also complete and submit a Lecturer Accreditation form.
If the unit is offered online, describe the lecturer’s previous experience teaching online units. If the lecturer is teaching online for the first time, describe the support the College will provide to that lecturer.
19. Recommended reading
Provide a bibliography of 8 - 14 works. Mark with asterisks those texts which students should purchase.
Please format the list as for a bibliography according to Turabian http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html
20. Library Impact Statement
Check available texts and other resources against the unit’s Recommended Reading, and identify resources which may need to be made available by the appropriate library.
The library impact statement may be signed off by the librarian, the unit’s lecturer or other appropriate College member.
21. Approvals
All approvals must be complete before the unit can be presented to the Learning and Teaching Committee.
For new units, two reviewers in addition to the proposer are required. At least one of these reviewers must be external to the offering College.
For revised units, one reviewer in addition to the proposer is required. This reviewer may be internal to your College.
UNIVERSITY OF DIVINITY
GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
1. LEARN
Graduates are equipped for critical study, especially of Christian texts and traditions
2. ARTICULATE
Graduates articulate theological insight and reflection
3. COMMUNICATE
Graduates communicate informed views through structured argument
4. ENGAGE
Graduates engage with diverse views, contexts and traditions
5. SERVE
Graduates are prepared for the service of others
COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES
For course learning outcomes please consult the 'Our Courses' section of the University website and select the appropriate course:
Summary of Bloom's taxonomy
In the 1950s, educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom developed a hierarchical classification of behaviour important in learning—from the simple cognitive behaviour of recall and fact recognition to more complex behaviour, involving increasing mental abstraction.
Bloom also classified the types of questions used by educators in assessing students by verb form. The type of action required by the verbs used in an assessment question indicate the cognitive demands being placed on students.
Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state
Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate, recognize, report, restate, review, select, translate
Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate, practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, write
Analysis: analyse, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate, discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, test
Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, write
Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose compare, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value, evaluate
SOLO taxonomy
In the 1980s educational psychologists Kevin Collis and John Biggs designed SOLO, which stands for the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome. SOLO taxonomy is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess students’ work in terms of its quality not of how many bits of this and of that they got right.
At first, learners may pick up only one or few aspects of the task (unistructural), then from several but unrelated aspects (multistructural), they progress in learning how to integrate them into a whole (relational), and finally, develop ability to generalise that whole to as yet untaught applications (extended abstract). The diagram lists verbs typical of each such level.
SOLO can be used not only in assessment, but in designing the curriculum in terms of the learning outcomes intended, which is helpful in implementing constructive alignment.
Learning outcomes and assessment
A useful way of conceptualising the relationship between learning outcomes and the selection of appropriate assessment tasks is represented in the diagram of the “task-oriented question construction wheel” (St Edward’s University, 2004), based on Bloom’s original taxonomy. Use this wheel to identify assessment tasks which align with learning outcomes at different levels of cognition.
Unit Approval Template Completion Guide 2014 Page 1 of 9