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Assignment Types?
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 4:10 pm
by beagle.kate
Hi All,
I just had a question about the types if assignment given in a 'Diploma of Children's Services'. I have done a semester of Uni before and was wondering if the assignments are similar to Uni assignments (i.e essays with tons of supportive research, answering questions from Frameworks etc) or whether they are more practical; such as making an appropriate toy, writing a story, doing a review of a child's behavior etc?
Any examples of questions or responses will help me out. I have read some posts on the topic by people needing help and the questions seem a bit in depth and boring, like Uni questions were. I guess I was hoping for something different from that lol as Uni bored me.
Thanks 
Re: Assignment Types?
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 4:53 pm
by fchaudari76
Well from the assignments I have done and seen they seem to vary from unit to unit.... some questions are what I call "mickey mouse questions" and I cannot even believe we have to answer such simple things while others do require more in depth answers with more research
As I am doing my Diploma as an existing worker I think my assignments are a tad more interesting (or perhaps not) as I actually base a lot of it off actually observations of the children I teach and actual scenarios rather than having to answer my questions off a given senario.... if that makes sense.
It is hard to judge some of the assignments as some are very oddly and confusingly worded making them seem more complicated than they actually are, I do wish TAFE would use more student-friendly wording rather than technical complicated jargon they seem to enjoy using! Another thing is they give no indication on how much or how little to write ... in school and Uni we always were given word limits etc so you had some idea of the detail required, TAFE seems not to do this... again my support person said just keep it simple and if you can put something in bullet points do it.
I RPLed most of my Diploma so am unsure of the practicality side of assignments, I was asked about most of the things verbally and a lot just came down to common sense stuff to be honest!
As for boring well.... sometimes the assignments seem boring but once you get into them they are pretty interesting... well some are anyway!
some just make u want to bang your head against a wall !!!
Re: Assignment Types?
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:25 pm
by beagle.kate
Hi fefe76,
Thanks for your quick reply. I understand what you mean about being given observations instead of using your own. I get to do a prac placement every Friday, so hopefully I too will get some great experience from observing the kids in real life.
I did have a question about your post though: what is RPL? I've seen people use it and the term RPLed a lot on these boards.
Thanks again.
Re: Assignment Types?
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2011 11:50 pm
by fchaudari76
RPL = recognition of prior learning
eg if u did go to uni and u have studied any units about education/child development etc you may be able to use that knowledge and credits to complete some of your Cert III/Diploma units.
I have a Diploma of Montessori Ed and I was able to RPL my entire Cert III and 14 of my Diploma units !!
very helpful since there is no cost of units done this way so I have pretty much done my DIploma for just $120!
Re: Assignment Types?
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:03 am
by beagle.kate
Darn!
That means no RPLing my units. That's ok then, I guess I'll slog it out from the beginning. We were recently given 4 textbooks, a folder, a studet diary and a song book ---> looks like I have a lot of reading ahead of me lol.
Thanks for all your support guys. 
Re: Assignment Types?
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:46 am
by fchaudari76
May I ask what textbooks you have been given?
The Diploma is not that hard, a lot of info u need to answer things can be easily found by simple google searches! and I am sure your books will no doubt help as well
make the most of the prac placements as the best knowledge is gained by real life experiences