Sample Assignments

The Global Network Assignment

This article is related to the global network of a business unit. For doing the assignment, one has to compile a research report and  a reflection paper.

The Global Network Assignment was given in RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate an understanding of emergent technologies among students and how these technologies can be used effectively to assist businesses, organisations or service providers. Students are required to identify articles or other sources on the given topic using a variety of search facilities. Also, they should be able to synthesis information about the technology itself with examples of its actual and potential uses. One is required to reflect on the processes involved and the problems he/she faced in carrying out the global business network assignment.

.

Details of task 1:Technology Exploration Blog & Reflection

Individual  assignment:  Blog entries via Blackboard, written reflective piece

 Length:  2,000 words (which comprises of five 300-word blog entries and a 500-word reflective piece)

  Assessment  weight:  50% (blog entries = 40%, reflection = 10%)

 

Over a period of 5 weeks you are to monitor the web-based literature (i.e. technology reports) and prepare five 300-word blog entries via Blackboard. At the conclusion of the blog entries, you are to produce a 500-word written reflective journal piece.

 

Each blog entry should contain:

• The content source i.e. URL (this will not be included in the word count)
• A brief description of the technology.
• How it can be used to assist an organisation or industry
• Any foreseeable shortcomings of the technology i.e. privacy, ethical, technical… 
• With respect to the reflective piece, you will need to reflect on the following things:
• Your experiences in finding the resource material i.e. did your resources come from reputable and authoritative source?
• Any problems you encountered whilst completing the blog entries.
• Your learning as a result of completing the assessment i.e. a greater understanding around the technology itself? A greater understating of how technology can be used to support businesses, organisations or service providers.

Details of  task 2: Research Report

The Research Report should be a detailed academic or business paper that explores in detail one issue of interest that has emerged from the content of the course.

Length: 2,500 - 3,000 words

Assessment weight:  50%

If you are working, this task may allow you to explore an emerging issue within your work environment, for example, ‘mobilising’ your corporate website. The topic must be able to be evaluated in some depth. It may build upon area of interest identified in the other assessment tasks, but must be analyzed in more detail. Simply repeating what other students have completed in their first task, will obviously lead to a fail. You must outline your topic on the form provided and submit it by the date on the course schedule. The research can be presented in either an academic or business report. The best approach to this task is to read about potential topics early and to start talking with academic staff early. Staff will not ‘give you a topic’, but are more than happy to guide your thinking and topic development. 

The Research Report requires you to:

• Pose and try to answer critical questions.
• Research the topic well and base your presentation on recent information.
• Document it appropriately in terms of citation and report writing style.
• Pay attention to critical appraisal of issues discussed and factual content presented.
• Critically evaluate the issue or problem that you are addressing. This is NOT a descriptive essay, but rather one based on evaluation and investigation.