EDLE680: Foundations of Educational Leadership
EDLE 680: Guidelines for undertaking Assignment 1
Rationale
Australian universities are offering post graduate student courses in improving academic writing, some of which are compulsory. The purpose of this resource is to assist you in writing a quality Assignment 1. It does this by clarifying what is specifically required in Assignment 1. Second, it explains how to structure a logical academic argument. Lastly, it provides information about using accurate academic English.
Assignments concern the generation of a defensible written argument supported by logic and evidence. They use a different style or genre of language from that of day to day conversation. The assignment is not a blog entry. It demands formality. Assignment writing is NOT common speech, written down. Reflection is needed to select appropriate/ precise words and clear sentences to write logically with evidence. Blog writing lacks these criteria. Blogs adopt colloquial, chatty English. To summarise, assignments aim to demonstrate a written product presenting a clear, logical argument supported with evidence. The following is advice for you to consider when undertaking Assignment 1.
There are five themes which structure this advice:
- Do what the assignment specifies
- Planning, reading and writing for a Master’s assignment involves substantial time.
- Adopting accurate logical academic writing is important
- Demonstrating quality academic writing
- Barriers to accurate academic writing
1. Do what the assignment specifies.
Do not “massage” the meaning of the assignment to suit yourself. If you do not address the assignment agenda, the highest grading is 10/50. See Rubric.
The following is the Assignment 1 topic: You are to explore in depth one perspective in educational leadership addressed in EDLE 680. You do this by critically reading an appropriate book of substance. The assignment invites you to explain and justify how your insights generated from your critical reading, enhance your understanding of leadership. (2750 words). This is not a book review.
Some suggestions of books of substance are in Appendix A.
The assignment asks that one book of substance be interrogated in depth. Articles are not a book. There is no need to engage with other sources other than the book. If you are in doubt about the appropriateness of the book of substance, email the Lecturer in Charge for advice. The following URL explains the process to electronically borrow books from the ACU library:
http://library.acu.edu.au/about_the_library/borrowing/postal_service_-_fully_online_students
You may identify possible books of substance by using Google Scholar or ACU library. See Appendix C for instructions.
The book selected has to address one of the following perspectives. These are foundational perspectives.
- Management and leadership
- Feminism and leadership
- Critical leadership
- Indigenous leadership
- Vision
- Values
- Leadership Behaviours (Kouzes & Posner)
- Transformational leadership
- Credibility
- Living Systems
- Authentic leadership
- Emotional Intelligence
- Servant leadership
(The perspective on visible learning/leadership or leading pedagogy/learning or student centred leading is the focus of the unit: Leading Educational Change. In addition, Ethical Leadership is addressed in EDLE 681. Spiritual Leadership is addressed in EDLE632. They are not addressed in EDLE 680. So do not choose books focussing on these perspectives.)
2. Planning, reading and writing for a Master’s assignment involves substantial time.
ACU regulations determine that students should anticipate undertaking 150 hours of study for studying a master’s unit. Responsibilities include accessing readings, searching library data bases for additional scholarship, reflecting on how theory informs personal experiences, providing personal online contributions, completing requested activities, and attending to preparing and submitting assignments.
You are only able to demonstrate sophisticated appreciations of complex concepts and their communication expected in written assignments by using substantial time in critical reading and thinking.
This time requirement for Assignment 1 implies that you develop a timetable over 5-6 weeks, allocating a minimum 10 hrs per week to writing assignments. Extensions for assignments may be authorised if accompanied by the appropriate documentation. Official forms are available for this process.
3. Adopting accurate logical academic writing is important.
Producing a quality, logical, evidenced based and grammatically accurate assignment is a primary goal of EDLE 680. Evidence of this is embedded in the assessment rubric.
The first task in writing an assignment is to generate a defensible structure for the assignment. This occurs by seriously reading the book and generating your understanding of critical leadership or servant leadership or vision or credibility or living systems. Remember, this is not a book review. The aim is for you to demonstrate your understanding of a leadership perspective. As a result, background information about your life or school context is limited because the emphasis is your understanding of a leadership perspective.
Structure
Your introduction must clearly state:
- the purpose of the assignment
- your response/thesis
- your structure (presented as three propositions)
A quality introduction clearly and concisely states the purpose of the assignment, then you state your summarised response (thesis) concerning that purpose. Your understanding becomes the basis for a conceptual structure that scaffolds the assignment.
The structure presented in the introduction aims to guarantee the assignment agenda is being concisely addressed in the body of the text, by writing a logical narrative supported with evidence. The structure is the framework, scaffolding the body of the narrative. The structure uses appropriate themes or headings/ subheadings to signpost each of the three propositions or arguments adopted to address the question. There are multiple paragraphs under each heading. When writing a paragraph under a specific heading, regularly ask yourself whether your paragraph directly assists in addressing the assignment agenda. If not, delete. Do not deviate from the assignment purpose by engaging in personal chatter.