Complete thesis - Murdoch University

Level 5 (ages 17-19) metaknowledge about communication in communities of practice• roles and communities of practice: stakeholders within the discipline• academic literacy: the use of the core means of demonstrating oral and writtenliteracy in the disciplines (including mathematics or modelling/programming languages)• the creation of clear text using the language of the discipline• logic, both first order and modal logics, the structure of defensible argument• temporal structures: managing time (work, leisure and study as an individual andgroup member)Level 6 (ages 19-20) metaknowledge about academic contexts and activities• interactions, disciplines structures and process; the advantages and disadvantagesof group work in disciplines and in practice; group dynamics and interactions;planning and managing learning in groups; conflict resolution• assessment and evaluation of group work; projects and in-depth short term studies;the role of groups in completing projects• academic literacy reflected in reports and extended essays demonstrating withindiscipline use of accurate expression following instruction in the tools and techniquesLevel 7 (ages 20-23) metaknowledge about theory and trends• the role of theory in specific disciplines; the role of methods in disciplines; therelationship between theory, methods and practice; the use and role of theory andmethods in practice; the illustration of theory and method through practice• disciplinary issues and trends: the nature and role of change in disciplines; historicaloutline of disciplinary developments, turning points and pressure points• advanced tools and techniques: identification and enumeration of past and currenttools and techniques; illustrative evaluations of past tools and techniques inrelation to current tools and techniques; the discipline specific role of computerbased technologies; appropriate and inappropriate uses of technology.Therefore the learning environment should define a level of competency that can be appliedand understood within a specific discipline. However, the study by Watson et al (2002) citedin Chapter 2 has shown a gap between the practice of determining competence levels andthe educational rationale underpinning it. In a study of how levels of units were determined158