Unit Outline

A cornerstone to the profession of human movement is an understanding of how people move. The ability to understand and explain how people learn motor skills is at the core of successful physical activity program design. An understanding of the main themes of skill acquisition provides the human movement professional with the tools to teach and correct movement. Knowing how people learn a motor skill allows the human movement professional to solve movement problems. The knowledge gained in this unit provides foundational understanding needed in units in pedagogy and exercise prescription.

This unit will consist of five online learning modules covering the broad motor learning concepts of Learning, Processing, Memory, Practice and Feedback. Each learning module contains lecture videos, readings, and webquests meant for you to engage with at your own pace. Webquests are linked to the discussion boards to allow you to communicate your progress with your classmates. These tasks are not assessed in this unit, but are meant to help you unpack the material so you can better understand how you might apply these concepts to your own career pathways.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1	Identify relevant variables of motor learning to apply knowledge to professional areas
2	Understand the difference between performance improvements and motor learning, and become familiar with how these are tested, measured and presented
3	Discuss the cognitive skill learning characteristics of motor control and functional skill development by analysing their measurement in research and application to practice
4	Identify key attributes of learning proposed by leading researchers in the field, and discuss hypotheses that attempt to explain how and why motor learning occurs; and
5	Discover theory to practice techniques from the literature that can be directly applied to professional areas to benefit student/client motor learning.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Pre-requisite	ESP160 or EDU104

Alterations as a result of student feedback

In response to student feedback, the 2024 offering of ESP233 has altered the assessment tasks to place a greater emphasis on the practical application of motor learning principles towards a student's chosen field.

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Early engagement reflection essay	Week 4	25 %	LO1, LO2, LO3, LO5
Assessment Task 2:	Annotated Bibliography	Week 8	25 %	LO3, LO4, LO5
Assessment Task 3:	Professional annual plan and review	Week 13	50 %	LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4, LO5

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Early engagement reflection essay

Task Description:

Students will conduct an interview with a professional in their career choice (e.g., sports coach, HPE teacher, physical therapist, occupational therapist, exercise physiologist, strength and conditioning consultant) to discuss how they apply motor learning principles. Following the interview, students will write a reflective essay that discusses how the insights gained from the interview influence their understanding of motor learning and shape their career aspirations. Students will be guided to engage with the theoretical concepts of Practice and Feedback learning modules to create their interview questions Students will submit audio recording of the interview and the reflection essay. Completion of this Assessment Task relates to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) 2.2, 7.4

Task Length:

750 words

Due Date:

Week 4

Weight:

25 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Identifies how professionals use motor learning variables in their practice	LO1
2	Connects theoretical knowledge to practical application	LO2, LO5
3	Reflection on the interview by making connections to personal experience	LO3
4	Provides an informed plan for moving forward	LO5

Assessment Task 2: Annotated Bibliography

Task Description:

Building on from AT1, students will choose a motor learning area of interest to investigate. To become more informed about this topic students will select a current motor learning journal article to read from their professional career choice. Students will then create an annotated bibliography on this article that contains: (a) a correctly formatted reference, (b) a summary paragraph detailing key points that connect the motor learning principle(s) to the profession, and (c) a critical paragraph specifically demonstrating how this journal article will inform your plans for incorporating this new knowledge into your future practice. This bridging AT will help to provide an evidence-based argument for your final AT in this unit. This AT underpins each of the learning modules by helping students strategically review and apply the seminal literature provided in the unit. Students will submit a PDF version of the chosen article and the annotated bibliography. Completion of this Assessment Task relates to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) 2.2

Task Length:

750 words

Due Date:

Week 8

Weight:

25 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Properly formatted reference from your professional field	LO3
2	Summary of article is linked to a revelant motor learning theory	LO4
3	Summary of article is linked to a seminal study described in the learning modules	LO4
4	Critically analyses the study demonstrating links to professional practice use	LO5

Assessment Task 3: Professional annual plan and review

Task Description:

During this unit, you have engaged with learning modules on five motor learning areas of interest, participated in four interactive workshops that demonstrated a variety of strategies for assessing motor learning, interviewed a professional from your career pathway, and engaged with the empirical motor learning literature relevant to your field. In this AT you will bring each of these unit experiences together to create a professional annual plan and review. This project will culminate in a comprehensive report OR video presentation that details the scope of your plan and review. For the plan portion, describe how you will utilise motor learning principles (e.g., learning, processing, memory, practice and/or feedback) to teach your clients/students/athletes more effectively. For the review portion, describe how you will test, measure, evaluate and assess your clients/students/athletes to determine their performance improvements and actual learning.

Students will submit either a comprehensive report OR a video presentation on their project through MyLO. More detailed instructions on this project will be revealed after the mid-semester break.

This comprehensive AT incorporates all elements of the unit including the first two ATs, the MyLO learning modules, and the interactive workshops to cover all five intended learning outcomes.

Completion of this Assessment Task relates to Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) 1.2, 2.1, 3.2

Task Length:

Lab Report = 2500 words (excluding reference page) OR Lab Presentation = 10 minutes

Due Date:

Week 13

Weight:

50 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Utilise motor learning theory/principle(s) based on AT1 and AT2 to guide professional plan	LO1, LO2, LO4
2	Plan provides practical examples to facilitate motor learning and performance improvements	LO5
3	Integration of professional assessment to evaluate client/student motor learning and performance improvements	LO2
4	Describe successful cognitive skill learning characteristics and functional skill development strategies particular to your profession	LO3
5	Quality of writing/presentation skills to deliver a scholarly report	LO4

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Review of results and appeals

You are entitled to ask for a review of the marking and grading of your assessment task if there is an irregularity in the marking standards or an error in the process for determining the outcome of an assessment. Details on how to request a review of a mark for an assignment are outlined in the Review and Appeal of Academic Decisions Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

Seminal journal articles are provided in MyLO