Overview
This unit surveys the major patterns of Australian landscapes and the processes which have produced them. Topics include the geology, climates, landforms, soils and ecology of Australia.
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 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 Feedback and self assessment
Some students would like the number of weekly quizzes to be reduced.
The 12 weekly quizzes will be reduced to 5 quizzes over the term. Each quiz will cover the study of each main module of the unit.
Feedback from Self assessment
Some students would like more materials on how to develop their essay writing skills.
The unit will be updated with some materials about general reading and research skills.
- explain fundamental processes responsible for the development of Australian climates, landforms, soils and biogeography
- describe major patterns of climates, landforms, soils and biogeography in Australia.
Important skills objectives include the development of abilities to:
- find particular information when required that is contained in your online material, textbook or other study resources
- demonstrate information literacy skills concerning the use of the CQU Library online catalogue and the development of search strategies for research paper topics
- research and analyse information relating to the physical geography of Australia
- write annotated bibliographies and research papers.
In a broader educational context, it is worth noting that the design of this unit is intended to assist students to develop independent life-long learning skills, and in particular the ability to successfully cope with online learning environments, such as is presented in this unit.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | ||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| 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 - 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 | |
| 1 - Practical and Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 30% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
The Australian Physical Environment
Edition: 1st (2008)
Authors: Bridgman, H., Dragovitch, D., Dodson, J.
Oxford University Press Australia
South Melbourne South Melbourne , VIC , Australia
ISBN: 13-978-0-19-554109-0
Binding: Other
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Microsoft Word
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.wu@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Structure of the Earth and Plate Tectonics
Chapter
Ch.1: Australia in the Physical World
Ch.2: The Earth in Space and Time
Ch.8: The Development of the Landscape (only pp. 163-171)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Note: All 5 quizzes are available from the first day of the term; but each quiz is due in different weeks. Please mark each of the due dates in your calendar.
Module/Topic
Geological Evolution of Australia
Chapter
Ch.14: The Internal Processes of McKnight and Hess’s Physical Geography (available on the unit’s Moodle site).
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Global Climatic Processes
Chapter
Ch.3: The Global Energy System
Ch.4: Atmospheric Circulation
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Australian Climates
Chapter
Ch.5: Hydrologic Systems and Atmospheric Processes
Ch.6: Ocean Atmosphere Interactions
Ch.7: Climatic Environments
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Geomorphology: Principles & Patterns
Chapter
Ch.8: The Development of the Landscape (pp. 171-187)
Ch.9: Landscapes, Sediments and Soil Development (pp. 188-197)
Ch.10: Water in the Landscape (pp.215-241)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Geomorphology: Regional Patterns
Chapter
Ch.11: Aeolian Landforms
Ch.12: Coastal Landforms
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 1 cut off
Module/Topic
Soil Forming Processes
Chapter
Ch.9: 'Soils' section (pp. 198-214)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Soil Classification & Regional Patterns
Chapter
Brodie et al. 2016, ‘Groundwater—lifeblood of the continent.’ (available on the unit's Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
quiz 2 cut off
Module/Topic
Ecosystems
Chapter
Ch.13: Historical Biogeography
Events and Submissions/Topic
quiz 3 cut off
Module/Topic
Biomes
Chapter
Ch.14: Ecological Biogeography
Events and Submissions/Topic
quiz 4 cut off
Module/Topic
Australian Flora
Chapter
Ch.15: Communities and Ecosystems
Carnahan 1977, ‘Vegetation’ (available on the unit’s Moodle site)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Australian Fauna
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
quiz 5 cut-off
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Practical and Written Assessment
This assignment relates directly to Assessment item 2 and you should read the details of that assessment task as you commence your work on this first assignment.
[As a secondary objective, this assignment should help you make an early start on identifying sources which may be helpful to you for your second assignment—the term research paper].
The primary objectives of this assignment (Assessment item 1) are to help you to learn how to develop a search strategy to obtain sources for term papers and similar assignments, and to write an annotated bibliography of sources identified by such a search strategy. These are essential skills in the development of information literacy.
The assignment is also intended to help you to learn how to write good research papers, an important skill in the overall objectives of this unit.
Detailed instructions, requirements and resources for completing the assessment are provided on the unit's Moodle site.
Following the instructions and using the resources, write a paper that outlines and reports on the outcome of a search strategy designed to obtain resources that would be useful for your term paper assignment (Assignment 2). The paper will also include an annotated bibliography of some of the sources that you have identified by using your search strategy. These sources should be ones that might be useful to you in writing your term paper (Assignment 2) about the physical geography of some selected region in Australia (see information regarding Assignment 2 provided on the course Moodle site).
Week 7 Friday (27 Apr 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Online submission
Week 9 Friday (11 May 2018)
Assessments will be marked and returned in two weeks after the due date or as soon as practicable
Your work will be assessed using the criteria sheet that will be provided in the unit's Moodle site.
- describe major patterns of climates, landforms, soils and biogeography in Australia.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
Write a term research paper about the physical geography of a choosing region in Australia. In the paper, you need to describe and interpret the processes of the five elements of the physical geography of the study region:
- geology
- climate
- landforms
- soils
- biogeography
Detailed instructions, requirements and resources for completing the assessment are provided in the unit's Moodle site. These include guides for a term research paper and a ‘model paper’ illustrating the style for the term papers in general.
Review/Exam Week Wednesday (6 June 2018) 5:00 pm AEST
The assessment will be marked and returned through the Moodle site.
This assessment piece will be marked based on the criteria sheet provided in the unit's Moodle site.
- explain fundamental processes responsible for the development of Australian climates, landforms, soils and biogeography
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Online Quiz(zes)
As a replacement for an end-of-term comprehensive final examination, a series of 5 online quizzes have been prepared as part of the assessment items for this unit.
Each quiz consists of 10 multiple-choice questions; and for each question, you need to select the best response.
More details on the quizzes and how to complete them are presented in the ‘Introduction to quizzes' page on the unit's Moodle site.
5
Other
By 11.45pm on Sunday of the week.
The online quizzes will be marked automatically following submission
Each quiz question has just one best response. The question will be marked 'correct' if you chose the right answer. Scores are based on the number of correct answer only. There are no marks deducted for incorrect responses.
- explain fundamental processes responsible for the development of Australian climates, landforms, soils and biogeography
- describe major patterns of climates, landforms, soils and biogeography in Australia.
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- 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?
