AGRI13001 - Social Licence to Operate

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit introduces the principles and practices relevant to the social licence to operate in the agricultural industry. You will explore how agricultural industries are dealing with the increase in global food and fibre demand while facing social and political scrutiny to cease or alter certain practices. In this unit you will examine how the agricultural industry can respond to these pressures to maintain their social licence to operate. You will use case studies to consider a range of current and emerging social licence challenges in agriculture such as animal husbandry practices, water use and contamination, environmental stewardship and the use of agri-chemicals. You will gain an understanding of the levels of the social licence to operate and the tools to measure this. You will also learn how to develop a plan for an agricultural business which will allow them to maintain their social licence to operate in a changing world.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Completion of at least 48 credit points.

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2025

Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Bundaberg
Emerald
Online
Rockhampton

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Group Discussion 40%
2. Essay 30%
3. Presentation 30%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 25.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 23.53% response rate.

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.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback
One student found the research requirements of Assessment 1 to be too burdensome.
Recommendation
Students should be reminded that the extent of research and the length of response required for this assessment is commensurate with the relative weighting of the assessment. Clear word count guidelines should be reiterated. For the most part, students adhere to expectations for this assessment and respond to questions/statements accordingly but a general reminder will be helpful.
Action Taken
This was conveyed in various communications, including the first workshop in Week 1.
Source: SUTE and Assessment 3, Part 2, Written Assessment component.
Feedback
Students appreciated the inclusion of a guest facilitator of the third workshop.
Recommendation
While guest speaker inclusion is reflected heavily in the unit's podcast series, it appears that the inclusion of a guest as a facilitator of class activities was well-received, Future offerings should seek to include two or three guest speakers in the tutorial sessions.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflections; workshop attendance
Feedback
Return to weekly tutorial delivery mode rather than workshops.
Recommendation
Workshops were originally designed to increase the student attendance in class. However replacing tutorials with four workshops, each held on Saturday and each running for four hours, did not improve the level of attendance. Furthermore, this mode of delivery made the attendance of guest speakers a challenge. In the event of IT difficulties, which occurred on two occasions during these workshops, there were no technical staff on hand to resolve issues. Therefore, a return to weekly tutorials presents less complexity, and will allow any guest speakers to attend during more reasonable times.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student assessment, certification of grades meeting.
Feedback
Adjustments to assessments are needed to better reflect the requirements of a third year unit.
Recommendation
The marking rubric of Assessment 1 should be adjusted to increase the relative weighting of the evidence based and communication criteria, with a reduction in the relative weighting of the 'adherence to assigned position' weighting. The composition of Assessment 3 should also be adjusted from a written assessment and presentation to presentation only. The weighting of these assessments should also be adjusted to reflect the relative volume of work required (Assessment 1 from 30% to 40%, Assessment 3 from 40% to 30%)
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Debate the social implications of contentious agricultural practices
  2. Explain the principles of a social licence to operate
  3. Evaluate the social obligations of individuals and businesses in the agricultural supply chain
  4. Apply the concepts and principles of a social licence to operate to a business case in agriculture
  5. Develop a plan for an agricultural business to maintain their social licence to operate.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Group Discussion •
2 - Essay • •
3 - Presentation • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
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 • • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10