The course assessment is designed to help you progress easily from the required readings in the study units through to the assignments and examination. You will be required to apply the information and techniques learned during the course when doing the assignments. The assignments must be submitted to your tutor for formal assessment in accordance with the deadlines stated in the Assignment File. The non-assessed self-test questions are not part of your formal assessment, but these should be done before progressing to the assignments.
Assignment File
Assignment details for this course are contained in your Assignment File, which is available on the OLE. The nature of these assignments is described in the 'Assignments' section below. You are required to complete your assignments and submit them via the OLE in accordance with the cut-off dates provided in the Assignment File.
Presentation Schedule
The Presentation Schedule is available on the Online Learning Environment (OLE). In this schedule, you will see the proposed time-table for studying the course materials.
Assignments
There are assignments altogether. You are advised to study the unit(s), including the activities and self-tests (and their answers) before attempting to solve the problems or answer the questions in the assignments. More specific instructions will be found in the Assignment File.
You are required to finish all five assignments for tutors to grade. Only the best four grades obtained on your assignments count for the continuous assessment portion of the course. Fifty per cent (50%) of your final grade will depend on your assignments.
How to do your assignments
For each assignment, please read through the question, and the instructions accompanying the question in the Assignment File. Please read the question carefully and make sure you understand what is required before attempting it.
Once you have completed each assignment, you must submit it via the OLE on or before the deadline. However, if you cannot finish your assignment on time, you must contact your tutor before the deadline to discuss the possibility of an extension. Your tutor may grant you an extension of up to seven days. If more time is needed, you must obtain approval from the Course Coordinator or the Dean of the School of Arts and Social Sciences. No marks will be awarded for any late assignments without prior approval being obtained (unless the Course Coordinator or the Dean so approves).
You must be careful when you are using other references in the research for your assignments. Plagiarism is copying someone else's work or ideas without indicating the original source of the material. HKMU takes a very serious view of plagiarism and any student who commits plagiarism will be penalized. This applies just as much to using work of other students as it does to authors of books. However, you may include parenthetical references to the works you cite e.g. (Roberg, Crank & Kuykendall 1999, 88). So, you could include a section at the end of your assignment called 'References' where the full name, title, date and place of the publication appear. A way to cite a reference is:
Roberg, R R, Crank, J and Kuykendall, J (1999) Police and Society, Roxbury, USA: Roxbury Publishing.
This citation technique is a normal and necessary part of science or social science. It is good training to learn to acknowledge your sources of information as you do your assignments. This citation system is part of intellectual honesty and is most important in scientific literature. And, if you look at it another way, the fact that you say (write) something and someone else supports what you wrote (the work [person] you cited) adds power to what you have said.
Tutors and assignments
Your assignments will be marked and commented on by your tutor, who will keep an eye on your progress and assist you if you encounter problems during the course. Marked assignments will be returned to you as soon as possible.
It is a good practice to keep a copy of each assignment submitted for marking, so that you can always refer the queries to the tutor. Hence, please contact your tutor should the following arise:
- You do not understand any part of the study units or the assigned readings.
- You have any difficulty with self-tests.
- You have a question or problem with the assignments, or with your tutor's comments or grading on an assignment.
Apart from self-study, tutorials will also be organized to assist you in your learning process. Details of the dates, time and location of the tutorials as well as the name and phone number of you tutor will be sent to you in due course.
It is strongly recommended that you attend all these tutorials which will provide considerable assistance in your study of this course. Moreover, you will have the chance to meet fellow students and with other distance learners who are studying at HKMU.
Final examination and grading
The final examination for this course will be of three hours duration and count for 50% of the total course grade. You should use the time between finishing the last unit and the examination to review the entire course. But, at the university level, it is wise to study in a planned, periodic way well before the final exam. Mature and hard-working students in the distance mode of education may need to be flexible in both study habits and times. You might find it useful to review your self-tests, assignments and your tutor's comments on them before sitting for the examination. You will be advised of examination arrangements after you send in your examination registration card.
The final examination covers information from all parts of the course and will be in a form you have already experienced in self-tests and assignments. Do not worry that the examination will contain tricky questions. That would not be consistent with the clear, open approach HKMU takes to helping its learners succeed in their studies.
The table below tells you once again how the marks are allocated to the continuous assessment items (assignments) and to your final examination. In order to pass this course, you must pass both the tutor-marked assignments component and the examination.
Assessment type | Marks |
Five assignments — the best four counting The five required assignments will include case studies and essay writing | 12.5% each * 4 = 50% |
Examination The three-hour examination will comprise five essay-type questions. | 50% |
Total | 100% |
You must obtain a score of 40% in the continuous assessment component and a score of 40% on the final examination to pass the course; that is, you must pass both assessment components. The overall passing mark is 40% or greater. |