DSMG29003 - Building Adaptive Capacity in Communities

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will explore adaptive capacity building within communities and community resilience from a partnerships perspective. You will come to understand policy levers, available tools, programs and information that support adaptation. You will also develop skills to help facilitate partnerships and networks across government, non-government and community agencies to build community resilience. A key part of this unit involves understanding how these processes influence community change.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

The co-requisite for the unit is DSMG28001 Foundations of Emergency and Disaster Management.


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
Online

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

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
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%).

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 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 31.03% 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: Teaching reflection. Student results and assessments.
Feedback
For assessments 2 and 3 students are required to select a discipline-relevant case study of a community resilience or adaptive capacity initiative from the materials in eReadings or from their own research. Two students did not find an appropriate case study for assessment 2.
Recommendation
For assessments 2 and 3 provide a choice of 4 case studies relevant to students' discipline. Allow students to choose an alternative case study, with Unit Coordinator approval.
Action Taken
Relevant case studies were provided, and students were offered the choice to select their own case study, which could be pre-approved by the unit coordinator.
Source: Teaching reflection.
Feedback
Assessment 3 was due in exam/review week, giving limited time to mark assessments, especially with extensions.
Recommendation
Change assessment 3 to be due in week 12 (a week earlier than in 2023).
Action Taken
This change was implemented and there were very few requests for extensions.
Source: Teaching reflection.
Feedback
Assessment 2 was due in week 8 which is very late for feedback.
Recommendation
Change assessment to be due in week 7.
Action Taken
This change was implemented and there were very few requests for extensions.
Source: Teaching reflection. Student results and assessments.
Feedback
Students would benefit from watching other students' Assessment 2 presentations.
Recommendation
Have one session where all students present over Zoom or require students to watch at least one presentation. Incorporate a form of peer marking in the assessment.
Action Taken
Instead of implementing this suggestion, students chose a time to present live to the unit coordinator. Peer marking and incorporating questions into the marks will be considered for 2025.
Source: Teaching reflection.
Feedback
Assessment 1 was discussion board postings. Students had to contribute at least two posts in each module. While this encouraged interaction with unit materials, there was limited interaction between students as some posted very early and some posted very late.
Recommendation
Open and close the discussion board during the set weeks of the module.
Action Taken
There was more interaction this year, with those who posted earlier benefitting from peer interaction. However, some students still posted later in the module and provided superficial answers.
Source: Teaching reflection Student assessment
Feedback
Some students were confused about the case studies for Assessments 2 and 3.
Recommendation
Provide the same case studies for Assessment 2 and 3 so that students can build on understanding concepts with the same contextual material.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Teaching Reflection Student evaluation Student assessment
Feedback
Assessment 1: Group Discussion was valued by some students as it helped them understand unit content and key concepts.
Recommendation
Reiterate to students that the discussion board can help them further understand unit material. Reduce the number of compulsory topics to facilitate more in-depth discussion.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Teaching Reflection Discussion with colleagues
Feedback
Assessing the Assessment 1: Group Discussion was labour intensive.
Recommendation
Integrate marking within the Moodle site for discussion board.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Teaching reflection Student assessment
Feedback
Assessment 2: Presentation provides a good opportunity to check students' understanding and knowledge through questions.
Recommendation
Add a marking criterion for response to questions.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Teaching Reflection Student evaluation
Feedback
The Moodle layout and organisation . This may be because other DSMG units use Moodle Book.
Recommendation
Consider changing to a Moodle Book as per other DSMG units.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Teaching Reflection Student evaluation
Feedback
Students would like more video resources.
Recommendation
Integrate more video resources to replace or complement reading materials.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.