PENYERAHAN DAN PENILAIAN TUGASAN ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION AND ASSESSMENT _______________________________________________________________________ _ OUMH1103 LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN DISTANCE

LEARNERS MAY 2012 _______________________________________________________________________ _

ARAHAN KEPADA PELAJAR / INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS 1. Tugasan ini mengandungi SATU (1) soalan sahaja yang disediakan dalam bahasa modul bercetak kursus ini. / This assignment contains only ONE (1) question that is set in the language of the printed module for the course. 2. Jawab dalam Bahasa Melayu atau Bahasa Inggeris. / Answer in Malay or English.

3. Muat turunkan templat tugasan versi bahasa yang berkenaan daripada MyVLE untuk penyediaan dan penyerahan tugasan anda. Tugasan anda hendaklah ditaip dengan menggunakan saiz fon 12 Times New Roman dan langkau baris 1.5. / Download the language version of the assignment template concerned from the MyVLE for preparation and submission of your assignment. Your assignment should be typed using 12 point Times New Roman font and 1.5 line spacing. 4. Tugasan anda hendaklah antara 2500 hingga 3000 patah perkataan tidak termasuk rujukan. Bilangan perkataan hendaklah ditunjukkan di hujung tugasan anda. Jangan menyalin soalan dan arahan tugasan dalam jawapan anda. / Your assignment should be between 2500 to 3000 words excluding references. The number of words should be shown at the end of your assignment. Do not copy the assignment question and instructions to your answer. 5. Anda dikehendaki menghantar tugasan SECARA ON-LINE melalui MyVLE. Sila rujuk kepada portal untuk arahan mengenai prosedur menghantar tugasan anda secara on-line. Anda dinasihatkan menyimpan senaskah tugasan yang diserahkan untuk rujukan sendiri. / You must submit your assignment ON-LINE via the MyVLE. Refer to the portal for instructions on the procedures to submit your assignment on-line. You are advised to keep a copy of your submitted assignment for personal reference. 6. Anda hanya boleh menghantar tugasan SEKALI sahaja dalam SATU fail. / You can submit your assignment ONCE only in a SINGLE file.

7.

Tugasan anda hendaklah diserahkan antara 27hb Jun hingga 9hb Julai 2012 (ONLINE) Serahan selepas 9hb Julai 2012 TIDAK akan diterima. / Your assignment must be submitted between 27th June 2012 until 9th July 2012. Submission after 9th July 2012 will NOT be accepted.

8. Tugasan hendaklah disiapkan secara individu. Anda dilarang meniru tugasan orang lain. Anda
juga dilarang sama sekali memplagiat kerja orang lain sebagai kerja sendiri. / Your assignment should

be prepared individually. You should not copy another persons assignment. You should also not plagiarise another persons work as your own.

SOALAN TUGASAN /ASSIGNMENT QUESTION 1. You are required to find information on important soft skills for university students. 2. For this assignment, you are only allowed to find information from reliable sourcescredible websites, journals and newspaper articles. Below are examples of sources that you can utilise for your report: Title of Journal Writers Title of Journal Article Date of publication Title of newspaper article Writer Source Date of publication Title of newspaper article Writer Source Date of publication Title of web article Writer Source Date of publication Journal of Language and Communication Bernd Schulz The Importance of Soft skills: Education Beyond June 2008 A need to review the system Chelsea L. Y. Ng & Priya Kulasagaran The Star April 1, 2012 Super charge your studies, think critically Raymond Lee The Star April 1, 2012 Importance of Soft Skills Development in Education Vishan Jain School of Educators website February 22, 2009

3. Find a few more articles and books and make notes from these sources. 4. Based on the notes made, prepare an academic report of approximately 20002500 words on the following: a) Soft skills that are important for university students. b) Reasons why some university students are not equipped with the soft skills listed in (a). c) Suggestions on ways to equip university students with the appropriate soft skills to ensure their success at the university and at the workplace.

*An academic report resembles an academic essay. However, an academic report is divided accordingly using appropriate headings and subheadings. 5. Your academic report should have the following sections: Preliminaries - Table of Content (containing the main content and page number) Main Content Introduction o The introduction should contain background information on the topic. You should provide information on the following: i) What soft skills are; ii) Examples of soft skills that are important for university students; iii) Why they are important for university students. The introduction must contain a statement of purpose or a thesis statement. This statement would provide the reader the general idea of what would be discussed in the body of your report. For example, you can start with, This report will discuss

Body of Academic Report o In the body of your report you should provide clear explanation on at least THREE (3) soft skills that are important for university students. o You should also provide the reasons why some university students are not well equipped with the soft skills that you have chosen. (These reasons will be dependent on the soft skills that you have selected. You can analyze the education system in Malaysia, for example) Appropriate deliberations and examples are necessary to make your points clear. It is essential that you substantiate your points with experts opinions and survey findings.

Suggestions o Provide logical suggestions for future graduates, government bodies and educational institutions to ensure that university students are equipped with the soft skills that you have listed.

Reference List Write proper in-text citations when including external sources in writing. o Students are required to paraphrase or to summarise information from external sources and not only lifting word-by-word from any external sources. o A reference list should be prepared to acknowledge all sources utilised in writing. o The reference list should utilise the APA citation style (as shown in Topic 5 of OUMH1103 module).

GUIDELINES FOR ANSWERING TASK 1. To know more on how to write a good essay type of assignment, read Topic 5 of the module. 2. To answer this task, you need to search for information. a) Information on soft skills that are important university students can be found on the Internet through search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo). Read Topics 7, 8 and 9 of your OUMH1103 module to learn more about Information Retrieval Skills. b) To retrieve more information on the topic, read Topics 7, 8 and 9 of your OUMH1103 module to learn about Information Retrieval Skills. c) Select only scholarly articles/ books/ websites that are relevant to the assignment topic. The resources of information obtained and used in your writing must be listed in the Reference section.

Assignment Guidelines (Content and Scoring)

NO 1 ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Introduction INDEX WEIGHT 1 MISSING ITEM 0 No introduction. POOR 1 Introduction has inadequate development and does not contain a clear statement of purpose or contains faulty thesis. Body paragraphs are not well-developed and contain many illogical and irrelevant ideas. Essay demonstrates very little understanding of the issue. 2.5 No suggestion. Suggestions given are generally inappropriate. Writing is generally incoherent due to ineffective utilisation of cohesive devices. AVERAGE 2 Introduction has adequate development but statement of purpose/ thesis statement was not clear. Body paragraphs are not adequately developed but contain some logical and relevant ideas. Essay demonstrates some understanding of the issue. GOOD 3 Introduction has adequate development and contains clear thesis. EXCELLENT 4 Introduction is welldeveloped and contains clear thesis. MARKS (MAX) 4

Body paragraphs: Findings (Three important soft skills and Reasons why university students are not well equipped with the soft skills listed) Suggestions

2.5

No body paragraph.

Body paragraphs contain adequately developed, logical and relevant ideas. Essay demonstrates indepth understanding of the issue. Most suggestions given are appropriate. Most writing flows due to effective use of cohesive devices

Body paragraphs contain welldeveloped, logical and relevant ideas. Essay clearly demonstrates indepth understanding of the issue. All suggestions given are logical, appropriate and workable. Writing has a good flow due to effective use of cohesive devices.

10

Suggestions given are reasonably acceptable with some being inappropriate. Writing is partly coherent but some parts are incoherent due to ineffective utilisation of cohesive devices.

10

Coherence

1.5

No coherence.

Unclear and illogical connections in most parts of writing. 5 References 1.5 No reference. Writing is not cited and referenced OR Inappropriate style of referencing/ citing external sources. Limited range of structures utilised and many are wrongly constructed. Essay has serious flaw mistakes in grammar and mechanics that seriously affect readers understanding. TOTAL POINTS 10

Unclear and illogical connections in some parts of writing. References and citations contain a number of errors.

Clear and logical connection between parts of writing. Most writing is properly cited and referenced.

There is clear and logical connection between parts of writing. Writing is properly cited and referenced. 6

Language

Not structured and full of mistakes.

Sentences are moderately varied but some are wrongly constructed. Essay may have some mistakes in grammar and mechanics that sometimes affect readers understanding.

Most sentences are varied and are skillfully constructed. Essay may have a few mistakes in grammar and mechanics but these mistakes do not affect readers understanding.

Sentences are varied and are skillfully constructed. Writing is free from flaws in grammar and mechanics.

TOTAL

40

PENILAIAN / EVALUATION Tugasan ini akan menyumbangkan 40% markah kepada kursus tersebut dan akan dinilai berdasarkan kepada Rubrik. / This assignment accounts for 40% of the marks for the course mentioned and shall be assessed based on the Rubrics. Anda akan dimaklumkan tentang markah tugasan ini sebelum Peperiksaan Akhir Semester bermula / You would be informed of the assignment mark before the Final Semester Examination commences. PLAGIARISME: POTONGAN MARKAH / PLAGIARISM: MARKS DEDUCTION Amaran: Tugasan yang diserahkan secara automatik akan disemak untuk persamaan. Jika plagiarisme dikesan, markah akan dipotong seperti berikut: / Warning: The submitted assignment will automatically undergo a similarity check. If plagiarism is detected, marks would be deducted as follows:

Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan antara 10 - 30 % : potongan 20% daripada jumlah markah yang diperoleh. Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan antara 31 - 50 % : potongan 40% daripada jumlah markah yang diperoleh. Tugasan dengan pertindihan kandungan lebih daripada 50%: Markah sifar akan diberikan. Assignments with 10 - 30 % overlap with others: 20% deduction from the total marks scored. Assignments with 31 - 50 % overlap with others: 40% deduction from the total marks scored. Assignments with more than 50% overlap with others: Zero mark would be given.

MUKA SURAT TAMAT / END OF PAGE

Appendix 1: Title Page

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND LANGUAGES

OUMH1103 LEARNING SKILLS FOR OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNERS

ASSIGNMENT TITLE

Name Matric number NRIC Telephone number E-mail address

Tutors name: Learning Centre:

MAY 2012 Semester