ACOM / Resources / Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to the most commonly asked questions about studying at ACOM.

Starting to Study

ID cards are provided free of charge at the request of the student. Requests should be made by completing the Student Card Request Form that will require a high-resolution head and shoulders photograph. Please note that as ACOM is a distance education provider, students are not eligible for transport concession.

The original document must be sighted by a qualified person who testifies on the document’s copy that it is an accurate copy of the original. See this link for more details.

If you have your documents ready, you will have the opportunity to upload your documents throughout the online Application process. However, if you are still collecting documents, you will be able to submit them separately by emailing them to admissions@acom.edu.au. To apply for a new course, use this link.

If you have completed accredited units of study at the same level as your ACOM study, and it covers similar content and outcomes to an ACOM unit, you may be eligible for previous credit. You should discuss this with your Student Engagement Manager, and can apply for the credit at this link

ACOM aims to create and maintain a learning experience that is inclusive of the needs of all students and which optimises their participation, retention and success through accessible and equitable learning, teaching and assessment practice. For more information, or to request support for a disability through the application of reasonable adjustments to your course (Enabling Plans), see this link.

Facilitations and Course Attendance

A Facilitated Event is a real-time gathering (online, hybrid or in person) designed to help students apply the content that they are learning within a peer setting. They allow students to process, question, extend and apply the unit to their life and/or ministry contexts. 

Certain Facilitated Events are compulsory because attendance (either online or in person) is essential for either content delivery, practical in-class experience, or where accreditation requirements mandate attendance. Units with compulsory attendance at Facilitated Events are clearly marked at the time of registration. 

Where attendance at a Facilitated Event is not required, students may choose to indicate whether they plan to attend or not at the time of registration. Unit assessment options may be different on the basis of event attendance.  

It is a requirement for Counselling accreditation that students must attend 80% of all Counselling Theory and Practice classes as well as Counselling Practicum classes.  These will not be recorded.  


Where other facilitations are said to be required, this is because key elements of the unit are either delivered or in-class assessments are undertaken that require real-time attendance.  It may be possible for students to request recordings of some sessions with permission of the lecturer and other students present. For the few non-Counselling units allowed in Counselling awards (eg a Pastoral Theology unit), such attendance is helpful but not normally mandatory. In the case of P7105 Issues and Ethics, attendance will be required.

As a general rule, no. Facilitated Events are designed as interactive student experiences that help the students to question, process and apply course content. They are normally not content-focused lectures. As the Facilitation discussion is often focused on the specific context of the attending students, it would be less helpful for non-attending students to watch those discussions. Furthermore, attending students can feel more freedom to speak honestly if they know their discussions are not being recorded.

We strongly encourage students to attend all sessions of a Facilitated Event. This promotes optimal learning, peer interaction and healthy content application. If unavoidable issues arise, students can miss up to one-third of the event without having to complete the unit Integrated Learning Portfolios assessment. If the student does not attend at least two-thirds of the Facilitated Event, all ILPs must be completed.

Yes. If you change from attending to non-attending (after the enrolment deadline), or simply do not turn up, you will then complete the Integrated Learning Portfolio (ILP) instead of the Facilitation assignment and have to pay a $50 change of unit enrolment fee. 

If you change from non-attending to attending, you will then do the Facilitation assignment instead. If this change happens after the census date, you may attend the Facilitated Event, but will still have to complete the ILP. For either change, please use the standard Unit Changes Form. There is no fee for changing to attending.

Questions about tasks required for units of study

Whenever you use the words or ideas of someone else in an assignment you must provide an appropriate reference to it. ACOM provides two guides that clearly explain the principles of referencing and provide multiple helpful examples of various scenarios. Counselling students should use the APA Guide, and non-counselling students should use the Turabian Guide. These guides can be located in your student online portal (Moodle). Where a particular scenario is not listed in the example section, simply apply the general referencing principles to that scenario and ensure that what you write is accurate, consistent and clear.

Where a unit is designed to include Integrated Learning Portfolios (ILP), these assessments must be completed by students who enrol in a unit but do not attend a Facilitated Event. If a Facilitated Event is not offered that trimester, all enrolled students must complete the ILP assessment. Units that require compulsory attendance, such as Spiritual Formation, Professional Supervision, Practicums, Preaching and Counselling (in Counselling courses only), will not have ILPs. Although Counselling students will not have ILPs in their Counselling units, for non-Counselling units they must either attend the Facilitation or complete the ILP.

In general, no. Your learning cohort should provide you a Facilitated Event to enable you to complete the Facilitation assessment instead. If you have not had a Facilitated Event through your learning cohort then please contact your Student Engagement Manager who will assist you in transferring to the Integrated Learning Portfolio assessment.

In P (Pastoral Theology) and M (Mission) units students are expected to participate in some form of Student Vocational Placement to ensure that learning is applied in an appropriate setting. Students taking units in these disciplines must complete the relevant forms in Moodle to confirm that these placements are undertaken.

The student is responsible to organise their own vocational placements within their contexts. Guidelines are provided to you on Moodle.

If you would like your unit marker to check that your assignment is on the right track, please message them to discuss the submission of a draft and ensure that you send the draft no later than a week before the assignment is due. Markers will generally return draft feedback within 48 hours, but the earlier you submit a draft the more time you will have to implement any feedback. Note that markers will not give detailed feedback on grammar, spelling etc., but will comment on the general approach and direction. Drafts will not be given grade estimates.

To apply for an extension, please check your eligibility by reading our  Extension Policy in Section 9.4 of the ACOM Student Handbook. If you might be eligible, apply here. Please note that markers and Student Engagement Managers are not permitted to offer extensions.

Enrolling in units

Well before the start of trimester, all current students will be emailed an invitation to enrol in their next unit. Students have until four weeks before the start of trimester to enrol. After this, a late enrolment can be allowed, but a fee of $50 may be payable. You can enrol using this link, or go to Moodle, forms, unit registration form. 

Your Student Engagement Manager will provide you with a Course Plan and suggested study pathway. As a general rule, students complete units that are introductory, compulsory for your course, and those that have suitable Facilitated Events. To see what units are available for any trimester, use this link. Our website also lists the unit requirements for all courses. Finally, you may always email your Student Engagement Manager for suggestions.

You will need to make sure that you have selected the correct level of course (Diploma, Bachelor or graduate), your course, and whether you are looking for a research unit (independent guided study or research project or essay), counselling unit or BTM (Bible, Theology and Ministry) unit. If you do that correctly, your unit should come up. If the unit you would like to complete still does not appear, scroll down to “Other unit”, select “Yes” to “Request a different unit”, then write in the details of what you want in the fields there.

You normally will get access to your unit on Moodle on the weekend of the start of trimester. If on the first day of Trimester you do not have access yet, and you enrolled on time, please contact your Student Engagement Manager.

Your student number is your Moodle username. If you cannot find that, check your study acceptance letter, or email your Student Engagement Manager.

Other questions

Under Commonwealth Government guidelines, Youth Allowance (age 17-24) and Austudy (25 years and above) are available for eligible fulltime students who are working towards accredited awards. Abstudy is available to eligible full-time students with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait backgrounds. “Full-time” is defined by the Government to mean 75% or more of their course’s full time study load. In practice this means a student must be studying 6 units annually. Enquiries about eligibility and applications for Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy should be directed to Centrelink. For more information, see the ACOM Student Handbook Sect. 8.1.

Unfortunately, ACOM students are not eligible for free Office software. However, they are able to utilise their free web-based Office option. 

ACOM’s key stakeholders are the Churches of Christ and the Christian and Missionary Alliance of Australia. We also have strong partnerships with Vineyard and Full Gospel Australia, and have a wide cross-denominational student and staff body.

Yes! All courses have a set maximum period of time of study, listed in the Courses section of our website and the ACOM Student Handbook. In exceptional circumstances, students may apply for a one-year leave of absence, and should contact their Student Engagement Manager for help there. However, if you would like a trimester or even a year off study, within those limits, you may simply not enrol in a unit for that study period. Permission is not required to skip a trimester.

Yes. You are responsible for selecting which units you enrol for each trimester, and you may select the number that you choose. One unit per trimester is considered Part-Time, and two to three units per trimester is considered Full-time.

The ACOM website has a page that lists all trimester dates. For Facilitation dates, please look up the particular unit you are interested in here

For any other questions, feel free to contact us , your Student Engagement Manager or any of our staff. Note that for each unit you are enrolled into, on the front page of the unit at the very bottom left is the name of your unit marker and Academic Coordinator. You can message any of these faculty by clicking their names.