Assessment 1 will see all students contribute towards a Human Factors Research Database on the Moodle site which can then be used by all students as they complete their assessments 2 and 3.

You will be required to post four (4) contributions of a research journal articles you have found, one for each of the following four topic discussion groups which are headed:-

1.    The Discipline of Human Factors / Ergonomics (do your post by week 3)

2.    Physical Ergonomics (do your post by week 5);

3.    Cognitive Ergonomics (do your post by week 7);

4.    Organisational or Environmental Ergonomics (do your post by week 11).

Your post should briefly inform the other students about the journal article, what the research was about and what the findings were.

You should keep your post to around 150 words and you should not cite a journal article which someone else has already done. You should post the correct reference for the article so that other students can find it, should they wish to read it in full. This exercise is intended to give all students a brief overview of some of the research being conducted in the Human Factors/Ergonomics area across these four areas and serve as a good starting point for the other assessments you will do.

You are then also required to post four (4) replies (one for each topic discussion group) to other students' journal article posts. You are required to talk about your view of the research article or notes of interest.

The end result is that you will have made eight (8) contributions, two posts in each of the four discussion group areas listed above, being four (4) journal article posts and four (4) reply posts. Your contributions MUST pertain to the subject matter and ADD to the human factors area under discussion. Your posts must be completed as per the time frame above.

The key assessment criteria used will be

1.    Your genuine participation and research ability demonstrated by your 4 journal article posts (10%); and

2.    Your contribution to the students' body of knowledge in the area of Human Factors and Ergonomics demonstrated by your 4 replies to other students within the Moodle learning environment (10%).

A detailed marking rubric will be provided via the Moodle site during term.

An important step in the overall Human Factors and Ergonomics discipline is the ability to identify work tasks which might result in Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD) risks. This assessment is about developing your understanding of the principles of the assessment of these types of activities using human factors assessment tools.

You are required to choose a two-handed lift manual task activity that might result in a Musculoskeletal Disorder (MSD) being performed in your workplace or another environment, and which is suitable for analysis by (1) NIOSH Lifting Equation and then (2) either the Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) or the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) tool. A total of two tools will, therefore, be used one of which must be NIOSH. The other tool must be either RULA or REBA.

You are then required to prepare a written report which:-

1. Describes the context of the workplace or other setting and the role of the person involved;
2. Describes the actual task and physical movement being assessed;
3. Describes the MSD hazard or issues and potential effects which pose a problem;
4. Assesses the MSD risk score using two human factors or ergonomics tools being (1) (NIOSH and (2) REBA or RULA (whichever is most appropriate to the task being assessed i.e. full body or upper body; and
5. Recommends changes based on the assessment findings for MSD human factors improvements to the task and workplace or other environment.

Your report must consider the appropriateness of the fit between the end user (human) and the design of the equipment and task being performed and contain at least five (5) peer-reviewed journal articles to support your writing (i.e.use the journal articles from the Assessment 1 Physical Ergonomics research repository and elsewhere) .

Your assessment task will be assessed against the following criteria:

1. Identifies context of workplace and/or setting and person involved (10%);
2. Describes the actual task and physical movement being assessed (10%);
3. Describes the MSD hazard or issues and potential effects which pose a problem (20%);
4. Assesses the MSD risk score using two human factors or ergonomics tools being (1)  (NIOSH and (2) REBA or RULA (whichever is most appropriate to the task being assessed i.e. full body or upper body (25%);
5. Recommends changes based on the assessment findings for MSD human factors improvements to the task or workplace (25%);
6. Presentation, grammar, five journal articles and correct Harvard style referencing (10%)

A detailed assessment rubric will be supplied via the Moodle site during term.

Your task is to write a report which is an evaluation of an item of equipment or technology with regard to COGNITIVE ERGONOMICS. You are required to conduct an ergonomic evaluation of your chosen item of equipment using a Cognitive Task Analysis and prepare a formal report. The focus of the report will be on both problem identification and solution recommendations including:-

1. How the equipment design/introduction does or does not match the cognitive characteristics of the users and you must include a discussion on the information processing model;

2. How the equipment design/introduction of technology does or does not match organisational psychological system considerations i.e. mental workloads, fatigue management, teamwork, job-fit concepts and safety issues;

3. Other identified problems (i.e. human error) identified from a cognitive task analysis and any other further issues for consideration; and

4. Design recommendations (solutions to problems) for improving the match between the cognitive characteristics of the users and the design of the equipment.

Your report should include at least ten (10) peer-reviewed journal articles to support your writing and analysis (i.e.use the journal articles from the Assessment 1 Cognitive Ergonomics research repository and elsewhere). Your report should also cover the context in which the equipment is placed within the organisation.

Assessment is based on how well the report matches and addresses the assessment criteria and will be marked as follows:

1. How the equipment design/introduction does or does not match the cognitive characteristics of the users; and answers must include a discussion on the information processing model (25%);

2. How the equipment design/introduction of technology does or does not match organisational psychological system considerations i.e. mental workloads, fatigue management, teamwork, job-fit concepts and safety issues (20%);

3. Other problems (i.e. human error) identified from the task analysis or any other issues for consideration (20%);

4. Design recommendations (solutions to problems) for improving the match between the cognitive characteristics of the users and the design of the equipment (25%); and

5. Correct use of grammar, spelling and Harvard style referencing (10%).

A detailed marking rubric will be provided via the Moodle site during the term.