DSMG20002 - Disaster Risk Reduction

General Information

Unit Synopsis

According to the United Nations (UNISDR), there is no such thing as a 'natural' disaster, only natural hazards. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is a contemporary approach that aims to reduce the damage caused by natural hazards in disaster situations. DRR applies an ethic of prevention and combines the principles of disaster management, disaster preparedness, disaster mitigation and sustainable development. In this unit, you will learn how to reduce disaster risk through sustainable planning, building community partnerships, reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience, with a particular emphasis on risks that impact upon public health.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Co-requisite DSMG20004 Building Adaptive Capacity

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 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

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 Postgraduate 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. Written Assessment 30%
2. Written Assessment 40%
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 2 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 75.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 66.67% 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: Unit Evaluation
Feedback
Students would appreciate greater clarification of the assessment.
Recommendation
Students will be offered online engagement sessions, in addition to the support offered in the discussion forums, to further clarify the assessment for 2021.
Action Taken
With the offering of more tutorials, students were provided with greater clarification on the assessment.
Source: Unit Evaluation
Feedback
Return rates for assessment marking could be improved
Recommendation
The feedback for the marking of one assessment item was returned late by a few days due to the ill health of the Unit Coordinator. As it wasn’t possible to make arrangements to replace the Unit Coordinator, all students were informed of the delay in return for this one item and no student was disadvantaged by the late return of the assessment marking.
Action Taken
The return rate for all assessment was as per the university policy.
Source: Unit Evaluation
Feedback
One student identified how one learning resource was difficult to locate on the Moodle site.
Recommendation
All students were informed of the location of this one learning resource. With the change of the Moodle sites to the tile format in 2021 all learning resources should be easier to locate.
Action Taken
Students were taken through how to use the Moodle site at the start of the term and this was reinforced during the term with individual students, and shared with others as deemed necessary.
Source: Unit Evaluation
Feedback
Tutorials by experts in the field were not offered this year.
Recommendation
Students routinely appreciate the input of disaster management specialists into this unit. Due to the influence of COVID 19 it wasn’t possible to offer this extra service in 2020. These practice-based forums will be reintroduced in 2021.
Action Taken
Tutorials were offered by external experts in the field of emergency and disaster management this year, and recordings made available to students unable to attend.
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Clarification and assistance was provided to everyone through the forums regularly. The information provided assisted in making the subject easier to follow and complete the required work.
Recommendation
We'll continue to support and encourage students throughout the term through online interaction in tutorials and discussion forums.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
The Moodle site could be made easier to navigate.
Recommendation
As the new tile system was only introduced for the first time this year it was predicted that some students may find it difficult to navigate. Every effort will be put into modifying the Moodle site and supporting the students through the most efficient use of the site.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Greater alignment between the assessment and subject matter.
Recommendation
With the next iteration of the unit the teaching materials will be expanded upon and more case studies introduced to clarify the alignment of the teaching materials with the assessment tasks.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Apply the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to disaster risks at a community level.
  2. Conduct a disaster risk assessment within a community in partnership with relevant professional agencies, businesses and/or community groups.
  3. Design appropriate disaster risk reduction strategies for a community.
  4. Facilitate collaborative and evidence-based decision making regarding disaster preparedness and hazard mitigation.
  5. Advocate for investment in disaster risk reduction to enhance resilience.

Not applicable.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Written Assessment • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • •
3 - Presentation • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Knowledge • • • • •
2 - Communication • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • •
4 - Research • • • •
5 - Self-management • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • •
7 - Leadership • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8