The Electronic Course Profile (ECP) contains administrative details, aims, objectives, learning resources, activities, assessment tasks and policies.

If you are new to course coordination at UQ, the following resources can help you get started.

Creating a course profile

Each course offered at UQ has a course profile on the Electronic Course Profile System (ECPS), which provides a course overview and description of the learning objectives, weekly learning activities and assessment items.

The course profile is important for several reasons:

  1. Curriculum planning. Course objectives, learning activities, assessment and graduate attributes of the course are all specified in the course profile. The course profile needs to be studied by course coordinators, lecturers and tutors to understand the course they are teaching.
  2. Course resource planning and information. The ECP is the single source of truth for UQ, course coordinators and students. All other communications and information need to align with the ECP.
  3. Course promotion. Students use ECPs to determine which courses they will enrol in.
  4. Administration. The course profile specifies the course coordinators and lecturers, contact information and timetabling, as well as specific learning activities and resources, which are relied on by students. Automatic SECaT generation systems depend on accurate information to generate course and teacher evaluations.
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Accessing your course profile

If you are a course coordinator, your course profile can be accessed and edited by logging into the Electronic Course Profile System (ECPS).

Course profiles are developed and delivered before the beginning of each teaching semester and must be made available to students and other stakeholders according to the school's publication deadline. Your school Academic Administrator usually sends out an email informing course coordinators of this deadline.

If the course has been offered before, most of the content in the course profile will be copied automatically from the previous version. If the course is new, learning objectives and some assessment information will exist in the course proposal. It is the responsibility of the course coordinator to check through the course profile before publication and make sure this information is correct, including making any necessary changes to learning activities, assessment and so forth.

This can be done through the ECPS as follows:

  1. Once logged in, you will be presented with a Welcome page with useful information and links to online help topics to get you started.
  2. The 'I'm a Designer' link in the top left corner will take you to a list of active course profiles for which you have Designer (edit) access. You can request Designer access to profiles not already on your list by contacting the ECPS Unit Administrators in your school.
  3. Once you have updated a profile, it can then be submitted for review so it can be made available for publication by your school's Unit Administrators.

All areas other than the assessment portion of the course profile can be amended at any time throughout the semester to reflect changes in activities or other information that comes to hand. All published course profiles are accessible from mySI-net, Learn.UQ (Blackboard) and the Programs and Courses website.

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Making your course profile available to students

Ask your school's ECPS Unit Administrators what is the procedure for making the course profile available to students. As a general rule, it is up to the course coordinator to make necessary changes to the course profile and then submit the course profile for review by the relevant Major Convenor and school Academic Administrator. Once the course profile has been reviewed, it is then made available for publication by the school Academic Administrator.

Course coordinators generally receive an email alert from the school Academic Administrator when course profiles must be updated and submitted. It is preferable that course profiles are submitted in a timely manner so that they can be reviewed and made available to students as soon as possible before the teaching semester.The PPL 3.10.03 Course profile policy states that the profile must be published via the ECPS no later than a week prior to the course's first scheduled learning activity.

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Structuring your course profile

Course information

Adding/changing lecturers in the course profile

It is important that this is done using the search options to find the staff member’s name, as registered in the HR system. This is because the electronic SECaT (teaching evaluation) is automatically generated via this system. Accurate staff lists need to be in place by the course profile closing date to ensure teaching evaluations are provided.

For instructions on how to add a staff member, see ECPS Help: Course Staff - Technical Help. Your school's Unit Administrators can also help.

Course coordinators

The course coordinators listed in course profiles are sourced from SI-net data. If the list of course coordinators in a profile is not up-to-date, contact your school so that they can update SI-net. SI-net updates the ECPS every morning, so changes made to SI-net will be reflected in the ECPS the following day. Include your name as both the course coordinator and lecturer to ensure you receive a SECaT.

Guest lecturers

Consult with your School Manager if you would like to include a guest lecture as part of your course. These can be unpaid or paid. Paid lecturers are dependent on the school's budget allocations – there is sometimes a budget provision for one or more paid guest lecturers in the course. Unpaid lecturers can include industry guests with an expertise on a particular subject, who are happy to offer their services at no charge.

Aims, objectives and graduate attributes

Ensure learning objectives and graduate attributes align with the aims of the course. Consider consultation with other course coordinators to refine learning objectives at a program level.

UQ Courses and Programs has links to both undergraduate and postgraduate programs and majors, containing course lists that provide a comprehensive list of subjects and their course codes. By clicking on a relevant course code, you can access the published course profile for that course.

Academics need to look at other courses being offered in their discipline, school and faculty, in order to align their course with the rest of the curriculum. It's also helpful to know what subjects are offered within a teaching program especially prerequisite courses in order to answer possible student questions.

Your school administration staff, program/major/minor convenors and relevant course coordinators can provide further information on courses in your teaching program.

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Learning resources

Create a learning resources list

Once you have decided on the course resources you wish to use, you can upload the list to the course profile by logging into the Electronic Course Profile System (ECPS) and making the necessary changes as a Designer.

Course resources are listed in individual course profiles under 'Section 3 Learning Resources'. Once confirmed, required and recommended resources listed here will be provided to the Library and the bookshop so that the resources can be made available to students in sufficient quantities. To give the Library and bookshop sufficient time, confirmation of resources is required much earlier than the publication of the profile. Confirmation must be provided by course profile Designers no later than eight weeks prior to the course's first scheduled learning activity.

You can also generate a course resource list via Learning resources, Reading lists and Textbooks. Students can access this list via direct links in the course profile, the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site, and the Library website.

 

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    Library resources

    The Library offers services for teaching staff.

    Liaison librarians

    Liaison librarians are your primary contact with the Library. Librarians work with staff and students to deliver information services in support of teaching, learning, research and practice at UQ. To find your liaison librarian, consult the Library website or ask your school's administration staff.

    Course reading/resource lists and information

    The Library can access your published course profile and create a reading and resource list based on the learning resources you have listed. Students then have direct access to their reading lists via the Library website (by typing in the course code) or via the course Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site under 'Library links' (this is particularly useful).

    Course coordinators can organise this by emailing Library Learning Resources at learningresources@library.uq.edu.au or by contacting their subject liaison librarian.

    At least eight weeks' notice is required to have reading lists and textbooks ready at the start of the semester.

    Referencing style guides

    Referencing style guides are available from the Library website. You can inform your students of these resources and can embed a link to them in your course via the Learn.UQ (Blackboard) site.

    Copyright advice

    The Library can provide expert advice on copyright inquiries concerning:

    • teaching, learning, research, publication and open access
    • training and seminars for researchers and staff.
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    Teaching and learning activities

    Create a list of learning activities

    A list of learning activities can be organised by date and week and should include study breaks and public holidays. Please include all associated learning activities, laboratory practicals, workshops, lecture series and any other activities you expect your students to complete.

    This section will also include the following:

    Recording of lectures

    Please be aware that teaching at UQ may be recorded for the benefit of student learning. Tell students that if they would prefer not to be captured either by voice or image, they should let you know before the class begins so you can accommodate their request. For further information, see PPL 3.20.06 Recording of Teaching at UQ.

    Other teaching and learning activity information

    You should also include all other learning activity information that you deem essential for your students to know before the commencement of the course.

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    Assessment

    Students refer to the Assessment section of the ECP frequently, so it is important to include all appropriate information. The ECP is the single source of truth, so assessment detail in other spaces should be reflected in your ECP. This includes a note about COVID-19 impacts.

    The Assessment section includes an assessment summary, the course grading breakdown which includes a link to PPL 3.10.02 Assessment Procedures and example criteria for each of the grades, advice on late submission/extensions and other assessment information which may include supplementary assessment and hurdles.

    Assessment detail

    This section provides further information about each assessment task.

    Please check in with your school administration staff, Head of School, Chief Examiner or School Director of Teaching and Learning if you require any assistance.

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    Policies and guidelines

    This section contains the details of and links to the most relevant policies and course guidelines. For further details on University Policies please visit my.UQ and the Policy and Procedures Library.

    This section should also contain associated information concerning your course and any other school or faculty policies that relate to the completion of the course.

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    Learning summary

    This section demonstrates the relationship between the learning objectives for this course and the broader graduate attributes developed, the learning activities used to develop each objective and the assessment task used to assess each objective.

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     Ready to Teach Week

    Twice a year, ITaLI puts together a program of online and in-person activities designed to help you prepare course materials for the upcoming semester.

    Need help?

    ITaLI offers personalised support services across various areas including creating or editing Electronic Course Profiles (ECPs).