Overview
In recent years the Australian news media has contained some consistent themes – and so we are all well aware of the clash between development projects and environmental concerns. How is the peace kept? How do development and the environment co-exist? You will explore the nexus of international agreements, government policy and corporate governance principles with respect to environmental policy. You will explore the rationale that links more specialist units of study at CQUniversity – Environmental Management Systems, Environment Impact Analysis and units teaching practical environment quality measurement skills. Your major assessment will assess a recent Australian environment issue asking you to determine what can be learnt about the theory and application of development and environmental policy to that incident.
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 - 2019
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 Undergraduate 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 Student feedback.
Student feedback suggest lectures should be added to to learning activities.
Informed by the tertiary education literature, EVST19008 learning activities are designed to scaffold self-learning from a multi-media collection of resources/readings. The unit coordinator will examine with colleagues the request to add (old style) lectures.
- Explain the concepts that underpin development and environmental policy
- Analyse the peak processes organisations need to put in place to gain an environmental consciousness and abide by Government environmental management policy and legislation
- Assess the extent to which the application of environmental policy could have ameliorated a recent Australian environmental issue.
N/A
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||
| 5 - Team Work | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | |||
| 11 - 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 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
Environmental Management; Processes and Practices for Australia
- Edition: 2nd (2011)
- Authors: Thomas, I., Murfitt, P.
- Federation Press
- Sydney Sydney , NSW , Australia
- ISBN: 978-1-86287-816-7
- Binding: Paperback
Additional Textbook Information
Copies can be purchased at the CQUni Bookshop here: http://bookshop.cqu.edu.au (search on the Unit code)
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
m.hewson@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 11 Mar 2019Module/Topic
Welcome to the Anthropocene.
Chapter
Chapter 1 Environmental management - an Introduction
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 18 Mar 2019Module/Topic
Environmental policy – an international context.
Chapter
Chapter 2 International Context for Environmental Management and Policy
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 25 Mar 2019Module/Topic
Environmental policy – a government context.
Chapter
Chapter 3 Public directions for environmental management
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 01 Apr 2019Module/Topic
Environmental policy and management – the corporate response.
Chapter
Chapter 4 Private Directions for Environmental Management: Corporate Environmental management
Events and Submissions/Topic
Forum 1 due wk4 Wed.
Week 5
Begin Date: 08 Apr 2019Module/Topic
Frameworks for environmental policy and management.
Chapter
Chapter 5 Broad Frameworks for Environmental Management
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 1 due wk5 Wed (week 3 and 4 material).
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 15 Apr 2019Module/Topic
Vacation Week
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 22 Apr 2019Module/Topic
Toolkit: risk and life-cycle analysis.
Chapter
Chapter 6 Risk and life-cycle analysis
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 29 Apr 2019Module/Topic
Toolkit: environmental impact assessment (EIA).
Chapter
Chapter 7 Tools for Environmental Assessment - EIA
Events and Submissions/Topic
Forum 2 due wk7 Wed.
Week 8
Begin Date: 06 May 2019Module/Topic
Toolkit: environmental management systems (EMS).
Chapter
Chapter 8 Tools for Environmental Assessment - EMS
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 2 due wk8 Wed (Week 6 material – text and papers).
Week 9
Begin Date: 13 May 2019Module/Topic
Toolkit: environmental auditing.
Chapter
Chapter 9 Environmental Auditing
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 20 May 2019Module/Topic
Toolkit: environmental reporting.
Chapter
Chapter 10 Environmental Reporting
Events and Submissions/Topic
Forum 3 due wk10 Wed.
Week 11
Begin Date: 27 May 2019Module/Topic
Organisational change for environmental management - a case study.
Chapter
Chapter 11 Organisational change for environmental management
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 3 due wk11 Wed (week 8, 9, 10 material).
Week 12
Begin Date: 03 Jun 2019Module/Topic
The future of development and environmental policy.
Chapter
Chapter 12 Directions in environmental management
Events and Submissions/Topic
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 10 Jun 2019Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 17 Jun 2019Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Three separate written forum entries will each constitutes ten marks - three forums makeup 30 marks and therefore 30% of your unit assessment overall.
The idea behind the forums is peer learning. The forums start with your submission of a short opinion of between 250 and 350 words submitted about 1 week before the assessment deadline. Your opinion is drawn from the learning material. The three questions are:
- Forum 1 – “The Australian economy and environment are not linked”.
- Forum 2 – “The term Cleaner Production just means companies have to recycle waste”.
- Forum 3 – “The best time to engage the public in an EIA is after all the environmental issues have been identified”.
The forum then requires a second actions from you by the due date: to make a short, respectful and reflective reply to two of your colleague's posts.
Forums are due at 11 pm on Wednesdays: #1 Week 4; #2 Week 7; #3 Week 10
Feedback will be provided within 10 working days of each of the three forum deadlines.
The Moodle site for EVST19008 contains a document detailing the marking criteria for the three forum assessments – in general, the marking accounts for:
- a structured and engagingly written opinion drawing on unit materials;
- within the word limits - between 250 and 350 words;
- learned opinion on more than one related concept;
- grammar and spelling;
- submission of the original post five days before the deadline; and
- commentary on other student posts before the deadline.
- Explain the concepts that underpin development and environmental policy
- Analyse the peak processes organisations need to put in place to gain an environmental consciousness and abide by Government environmental management policy and legislation
- Assess the extent to which the application of environmental policy could have ameliorated a recent Australian environmental issue.
- Communication
2 Online Quiz(zes)
The three assessable quizzes consist of multiple choice or true/false type questions. The questions for the assessable quizzes are selected from the prescribed text as follows:
- Quiz 1 - Chapters 3 and 4;
- Quiz 2 - Chapter 6; and
- Quiz 3 - Chapters 8, 9 and 10.
You have only 1 attempt at each quiz so review your answers before you submit the quiz. The quizzes are essentially "open book" – so take your time and consider each question carefully. All quiz questions are from prominent sections of the textbook.
3
Other
Quizzes are due at 11 pm on Wednesdays: #1 Week 5; #2 Week 8; #3 Week 11
The quiz will be marked online as it is submitted.
These quizzes are marked based on your knowledge of the work performed in the previous weeks identified.
- Explain the concepts that underpin development and environmental policy
- Analyse the peak processes organisations need to put in place to gain an environmental consciousness and abide by Government environmental management policy and legislation
- Assess the extent to which the application of environmental policy could have ameliorated a recent Australian environmental issue.
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
3 Written Assessment
The term paper assessment applies the course learning to a specific, historical Australian environmental issue. You will select one of the topics indicated below, and write a term paper which:
- introduces and describes the environmental event;
- describes the environmental policy and environmental management failure from the scientific literature, government and authoritative organisation references;
- discusses your assessment of the environment management mitigation and policy setting lessons to take forward, informed by the course learning activities; and
- therefore, answers two key questions: (1) what environmental policy/process lessons are evident; and (2) how could the “precautionary principle” have been applied to the issue?
Select one of these Environment policy issues:
- Historical mine site rehabilitation – a case study such at Mount Morgan Queensland.
- The mining and use of asbestos based building materials in Australia.
- Coal seam gas mining affecting aquifers in Australia.
- Australian Government use of firefighting foam and the impact on surface and groundwater.
- Australian aquaculture – a case study such as QLD and Great Barrier Reef nutrients.
- You may self-select a topic – written approval from the lecturer is required.
Review/Exam Week Wednesday (12 June 2019) 11:00 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (21 June 2019)
Final paper feedback will be provided within 10 days of term paper submission.
Your paper will be marked based on a criteria sheet available from the EVST1908 Moodle site – in summary the criteria are:
- the degree to which the paper is based on scholarly source material;
- paper structure, correct referencing and the degree to which it engages readers;
- content addresses environmental policy improvement following environmental failure addressing unit content.
- content addresses precautionary principle perspectives.
- Explain the concepts that underpin development and environmental policy
- Analyse the peak processes organisations need to put in place to gain an environmental consciousness and abide by Government environmental management policy and legislation
- Assess the extent to which the application of environmental policy could have ameliorated a recent Australian environmental issue.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Ethical practice
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.
What can you do to act with integrity?
