Unit Synopsis
In this unit, your study will focus on the role of the genome in adaptive change in living organisms, particularly animals. This will help you bring together recent advances in our understanding of the genome and the impact of these on the traditional areas of zoology, particularly those involving evolutionary processes. This unit will provide you with a link between molecular biology and other areas of biology including genetics, evolution, taxonomy, embryology and behaviour. In the latter part of the unit, you will focus on various aspects of human evolution.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisites Any one of the following:
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 3 - 2026
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
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.
Assessment Tasks
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
Term 3 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 19.23% 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 evaluations
The students commented that the material was broken down into succinct topics and that the unit was very well organised and interesting.
Excellent feedback was received on the unit's reorganisation. Improvement and communication practices will continue in the following years.
Improvements to the lecture material were continued. More lectures were rerecorded to account for advances in genetics.
Source: Student evaluations
The students recommended adding more learning material activities to better prepare students for the final quiz.
The suggested activities are incorporated into lectures, but will be expanded and upgraded in the future.
The final quiz was replaced with an oral exam. Feedback on the oral exam was received from all students in person after the exam.
Source: Student evaluations
Students commented that they appreciated updated lectures, which help to keep the content current and applicable to current advances in genetics.
The unit will continue to present new and exciting developments in the area of genetics and review the most interesting and controversial manuscripts published in recent years, such as the side effects of probiotics and the genomic effects of artificial sweeteners, which were presented last year.
By T3 2026, all remaining lectures and materials will be updated to reflect the latest developments, primarily driven by the use of AI in genetics. This will complete the remodelling and modernisation of the unit, which began in 2025.
Source: Student evaluations
Students asked for an explanation of the final quiz structure.
The video on the final quiz was available last year in the Assessment block. The video was additionally posted on the forum a few days before the exam to remind the students of this information. The video footage presented an overview of the quiz structure and strategy for achieving the best marks. In the video, the lecturer opened one quiz attempt and took the students through random sample questions, then continued to "mock-mark" previous years' quiz attempts, with student names removed, to demonstrate where marks could be lost and how to use the time available strategically. The overall cohort mark in this quiz was 87.2%, indicating that the students were more than well-prepared. However, efforts will be made to emphasise the availability of these resources on the Moodle page and further expand this information.
Videos on Oral Exam and Oral Presentation are available on Moodle.
Source: Student evaluations
Students emphasised that they enjoyed open communication with the unit coordinator and feedback provided on the essay writing.
The feedback and communication will continue in future unit offerings.
Open communication channels with the unit coordinator system were continued, with the unit coordinator available to students during working hours, Monday to Friday. New levels of communication were reached during Oral Presentation and Oral Exam, which all started with getting to know the student, their interests, plans for future work in the area, feedback and relaxed conversation until the student felt ready to start. At the end of the exam, all students reflected that this relaxed introduction helped with removing stress and anxiety. Time was allocated to account for this stage of both oral assessments.
Source: Evaluations
Students would like to have the assessment videos and marking rubric available at the start of the term to clarify expectations.
I agree with the comment. Since this was the first year of oral presentations and exams, the rubric and video were not available at the very start of the semester. However, the process of booking the oral assessments, optimising time requirements, and teasing out the details of the marking process required several versions of the document and feedback from other lecturers and students. The entire process was described in detail in the Welcome video, and separate, more detailed videos and rubrics were posted promptly.
In Progress
Source: Evaluations
Students commend the lecture videos but requested summaries for note-taking.
PowerPoint files are being reviewed; however, studying only PowerPoint slides is not enough for units at this level of complexity. Note-taking of the complex material may require watching the video multiple times or pausing to rethink the note structure.
In Progress
Source: Evaluations
Students would like to explore the option of an on-campus written exam.
Unfortunately, that option is not available. It is understandable that students feel more comfortable taking a written assessment rather than an oral one. However, in a workplace as a scientist, written communication is limited to emails and reports, and the main means of communication remains in oral presentations, discussions, and on-the-spot troubleshooting. Oral assessments target the development of those highly neglected skills.
In Progress
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.