Completing and sending your assignments: Instructions and Plagiarism policy

Instructions for completing and submitting TMAs for B205B course at AOU.

Please read these instructions carefully and contact your tutor if you require any further clarification.

When you have completed your TMA, you must fill in the assignment form (PT3 form), taking care to fill all sections correctly. A soft copy of your TMA with the PT3 form filled must be uploaded to the university Moodle within the indicated cut-off date, via the turn-it-in upload link.

You might be asked to submit a hard copy of your TMA to your tutor as well. Use standard A4 size paper for submitting the hard copy. Your name, personal identifier, course title and code and assignment number must appear at the top of each sheet. The hard & soft copies must be identical.

If you feel that you are unable to meet the cut-off date of the TMA because of unusual circumstances, please contact your tutor as soon as possible to discuss a possible extension to the cut-off date. Late submissions require approval from the branch course coordinator and might be subject to grade deductions as per applicable AOU policy. All assignments are treated in strict confidence.

According to the Arab Open University By-laws, “The following acts represent cases of cheating and plagiarism:

• Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without proper academic acknowledgement and documentation.
• Verbatim copying of material from the Internet, including tables and graphics.
• Copying other students’ notes or reports.
• Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.
• Utilization of, or proceeding to utilize, contraband materials or devices in examinations.”

The following is the standard plagiarism penalty applied across branches as per Article 11 of the university by-laws:

1)  Awarding of zero for a TMA wherein more than 20% of the content is plagiarized.

2)  Documentation of warning in student record.

3)  Failure in the course to dismissal from the University.

All University programs are required to apply penalties that are consistent with the University bylaws.

Copying from single or multiple sources, this is where the student uses one or more of the following as the basis for the whole, or a good part, of the assignment:

1. Published or unpublished books, articles or reports
2. The Internet
3. The media (e.g.TV programs, radio programs or newspaper articles)
4. An essay from an essay bank
5. A piece of work previously submitted by another student
6. Copying from a text which is about to be submitted for the same assignment

The TMA is weighted 20% of the overall B205B course grade. It is marked out of 100 marks.

The TMA assesses your understanding of the core concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship covered in blocks 03 and 04 of B205B. It tackles different dimensions of the concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation.

You are advised to use the AOU e-library to locate additional relevant resources, which can support your analysis and argument.

1- Your knowledge and understanding of the basic course concepts covered in blocks 03 and 04, in relation to innovation and entrepreneurship (dimensions of context in innovation, cultural perspectives e.g. national and regional differences, digital entrepreneurship, environmentally sustainable businesses, and entrepreneurial marketing).

2- Your ability to search for, identify, and use relevant information related to the TMA questions.

3- Your ability to use relevant academic/course concepts in your analysis and your ability to relate theory to practice.

4- Your ability to communicate ideas clearly, and to follow good academic practice in citing sources of information properly.

Advances in the development of information and communication technologies is transforming business practices and creating opportunities for new types of entrepreneurial activities.

• Explain digital technologies
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) are two examples of digital technologies. Chose a business function like HR and explain the impact the two technologies is making on this business function (1000 words, 50 marks)

Chose an organization you are familiar with, study its culture, then make assessment on how organizational culture can influence innovation capabilities and competitiveness (you can use an organizations such as: Apple, Google, McDonald’s, Samsung,….) 1000 words, 50 marks

• PT3 Form: failure to complete the PT3 form correctly, (deduct up to 5% marks).
• TMA Presentation and Structure, and word count: untidy presentation, work way below or above the word count i.e. 15% more or less than the word counts, not displaying of word count (deduct up to 5% marks).
• Referencing and in-text citation: poor referencing/poor or lack of bibliographical list, and or poor in-text citation without plagiarism, (deduct up to 10% marks).

In tackling the different questions, you are required to draw upon concepts learned in B205B, blocks 03, 04, & 05, in order to analyze what is asked.

Please remember that for each question you need to provide a clear theoretical discussion/foundation, and then explain how those concepts are related to the selected enterprise You must use your own words to discuss the concepts, as you understand them. Do not copy material from the books since it will have a negative impact on your grade, and very importantly do not get consumed in a purely theoretical analysis without assessing how these concepts are applied in the case.