Overview
The emergency and disaster management industries have highlighted the importance of contemporary practice being grounded in current research and evidence. You will be encouraged to question why and how research can inform best practice, analyse research critically, and identify how to transform information into applicable policies and procedures. You will focus on using research and evidence to guide best practice, and this approach will inform content delivery and assessment. As a student in this unit, you will learn how to make quick and effective decisions using available research and evidence, which in turn will inform decision making processes which are grounded in evidence-based practice.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2018
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
- Locate appropriate peer-reviewed and industry-based research and evidence relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Interpret contemporary research literature relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Critique current research literature, including why and how this knowledge informs best practice
- Apply contemporary research relevant to the different phases in an emergency or disaster management situation
- Communicate future directions and strategies to enhance the body of knowledge
NIL
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||||
2 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||||
3 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
1 - Knowledge | |||||
2 - Communication | |||||
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
4 - Research | |||||
5 - Self-management | |||||
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
7 - Leadership | |||||
8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures |
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||
2 - Written Assessment - 20% | ||||||||
3 - Written Assessment - 50% |
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
h.keendyer@cqu.edu.au
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Assessment Task One - Engaging with Research Due: Week 5 Friday (6 Apr 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
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Assessment Task 2 - Developing Research Questions Due: Week 8 Friday (4 May 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
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Assessment Task 3 - Communicating Research Due: Week 12 Friday (1 June 2018) 12:00 pm AEST
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1 Written Assessment
Task Description
Through this task you will begin the process of engaging with peer-reviewed literature in an area that interests you (preferably within the bounds of Emergency and Disaster Management).
This assessment task is based upon your engagement with the unit work and the posts you and your fellow classmates make to the learning forums. At the beginning of this assessment task, you will need to include your response to the formative forum post in week 2: What are your burning interests?
Your response will include three sections:-
a. Your forum response from week 2: What are your burning interests?
b. Your search methodology for identifying three peer-reviewed research articles; and
c. Your brief (200-250 words per article) overview of each of your three articles including why it is was chosen, it's significance to your burning interest, and the key findings.
Your response may be up to 1500 words including all three sections.
Week 5 Friday (6 Apr 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 6 Monday (16 Apr 2018)
The assessment criteria for this course is in the form of a rubric, which is available from the Moodle unit site.
You will be assessed on:
- Application of knowledge and skills relative to accessing peer-reviewed sources through University resources;
- Interpretation of peer-reviewed research, and understanding of how this links to your identified area of interest;
- Communication and presentation.
- Locate appropriate peer-reviewed and industry-based research and evidence relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Interpret contemporary research literature relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Knowledge
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
2 Written Assessment
Task Description
Through this task you will explore the 'gaps' in literature, or areas requiring further research, in your burning area of interest. Please refer to the 'Unit Support - Getting Started and Assessment Help' sections of the Moodle site for suggestions and additional guidance.
Drawing on the three articles you selected for Assessment Task One:
You will summarise the key gaps/areas for further research in the area you have selected. This should not be a repetition of the limitations or future directions the article/s may identify - rather, this summary should represent a cohesive consideration of all three articles, and what these articles tell you about future research options. If you desire, you may include additional articles which support/guide your comments, but this is not a requirement for grading.
Your response will therefore include a discussion of:-
a. your area of interest (this can be copied from your forum post from week two, or modified slightly if you have developed this since the first assessment);
b. a discussion on the 'gaps' in literature which could be further explored; and
c. formulation of at least one research question, using the guiding principles from the unit to date.
The assessment tasks will be up to approx 700 words in total and importantly your response must be supported by appropriate literature. The articles you used for Assessment 1 at a minimum should be included.
Week 8 Friday (4 May 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10 Monday (14 May 2018)
The assessment criteria for this unit is in the form of a rubric, which is available from the Moodle unit site.
You will be assessed on:-
- Understanding of gaps/areas for further research in existing literature
- The ability to concisely communicate information
- Development of a meaningful research question/s using principles explored in the unit.
- Locate appropriate peer-reviewed and industry-based research and evidence relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Interpret contemporary research literature relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Critique current research literature, including why and how this knowledge informs best practice
- Apply contemporary research relevant to the different phases in an emergency or disaster management situation
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
3 Written Assessment
Task Description
This assessment asks you to select and critically evaluate two types of scientific communication relevant to one of the four states of disaster or emergency management - prevention/mitigation, preparedness; response or recovery. Through this process, you will consider the area of interest for the research teams you have chosen, their communication of their research question/s, methodologies and findings. You will critically evaluate the approaches used, and consider the following questions:-
a. Justify the articles you have chosen for your assessment - how do you know they are scientific literature? Draw upon content from the unit to justify your selection.
b. What is the area of interest for the researcher/s? (not limited to the article - can source extra information).
c. Compare and contrast the methodologies used by the researchers.
d. Which audience/s are each communication beneficial for? Provide a brief explanation.
e. What are some of the strengths and limitations of each communication approach? What might the most suitable audiences be for each communication approach?
f. Provide a suggestion for an alternative methodology that the authors could consider for each communication. What could the author/s have done differently? What could a different methodology approach add?
The assessment tasks will be between 1500-2000 words in total.
Draw upon the work of Coolican (page 24) and focus on the 'variables' and 'design' components of the decision areas in a research project. You could use these headings to inform your response.
Week 12 Friday (1 June 2018) 12:00 pm AEST
Exam Week Monday (11 June 2018)
The assessment criteria for this unit is in the form of a rubric, which is available from the Moodle course site.
You will be assessed on:
- Knowledge of the research process
- Skills in interpreting and communicating research findings
- Application of knowledge and skills in the research design and implementation process
- Communication and presentation of knowledge and skills
- Interpret contemporary research literature relevant to emergency and disaster management
- Critique current research literature, including why and how this knowledge informs best practice
- Communicate future directions and strategies to enhance the body of knowledge
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.