Course Title: Adolescent development

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Adolescent development

Credit Points: 12.00

Course Coordinator: David Armstrong

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 9728

Course Coordinator Email: David.armstrong@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Bundoora

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

This course will equip you with current knowledge about adolescent development and helps you to apply this understanding to professional practice and school systems. Emphasis is given to delivering a sound understanding of how developmental processes in adolescence enable learning for typically developing students and how this might differ for students with a disability, trauma, mental health condition or other factor impacting success in school. Learning about relationships, identity-formation, and cognitive growth are focussed upon as examples of important developmental processes in adolescence. You will develop an in-depth understanding of the value of adopting a developmentally informed approach in their professional practice. 

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following program learning outcomes: 

PLO1 Apply educational professional practice in diverse contexts while actively contributing to a more sustainable world and engaging with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and globally inclusive perspectives. 

PLO2 Create learning environments that articulate a broad and holistic understanding of the needs of learners and society based on evidence-informed practices and theoretical perspectives. 

PLO4 Apply professional knowledge, self-awareness, judgment and research skills to develop agile education solutions and make evidence-based decisions for application in specific teaching environments.

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:  

		Graduate APST
1	Evaluate and apply key developmental pathways, pertinent to learning, for typically developing adolescents.	1.1, 1.2, 1.6, 4.1.
2	Explain the impact of an adolescent's a-typical development in their learning and wellbeing.	1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 4.1
3	Describe how disability, adverse early childhood experiences, trauma, and other forms of disadvantage can hinder development necessary for learning and wellbeing.	1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 4.3
4	Create and design strategies which teachers can employ to support progress by adolescents in key developmental pathways underpinning success in school.	1.1, 1.2, 3.6, 4.3, 4.4. 6.4
5	Analyse and apply insights from research literature on adolescent psychology relevant to professional practice.	3.6, 6.2, 6.4

Overview of Learning Activities

You will be actively engaged in a range of learning activities such as workshops, tutorials, seminars, project work, class discussion, individual and group activities. Teaching and learning may be face to face, online, or a combination of both.

Overview of Learning Resources

Key readings will be provided, electronic versions will be available through the RMIT library portal. 

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The Library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the Library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal. 

Overview of Assessment

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes (CLO) and on your development against the program learning outcomes. The assessment is also mapped against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST).

Assessment Tasks

	Title	Weighting	CLOs	APSTs
AT 1	Research review and synthesis	50%	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 3.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 6.2, 6.4
AT 2	Design an information guide.	50%	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, 3.6, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 6.2, 6.4

Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks. 

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more. 

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.