Unit Synopsis
In Modern Environmental Issues you will learn how scientific methods and knowledge inform issues of environmental concern. You will learn about different environments and their interaction with human populations, resources and pollution, disturbance, atmospheric composition and air pollution, fossil fuels and renewable sources of energy, conservation and environmental management. You will begin to apply basic scientific knowledge and quantitative data to researching and discussing environmental issues and 'wicked' problems.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
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 - 2026
Term 2 - 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
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online discussion forum | 20% |
| 2. Presentation | 30% |
| 3. Online Test | 50% |
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 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 27.27% 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
Some of the lectures need to be updated.
The unit coordinator will update some of the recorded lectures.
Most lectures were refreshed this year.
Source: Student feedback
The fortnightly questions are unclear in some cases and could be more Australian focussed.
The fortnightly questions will be reviewed for clarity. The global nature of questions related to environmental issues will be maintained. Students focus on local issues in their Video of a Local Environmental Issue assessment.
Additional detail was added to the fortnightly questions and they were directed towards Australia when international environmental issues were not the topic.
Source: Student feedback
Students appreciate the real world focus and informative nature of the learning materials.
The overall structure and content focus of the unit materials will be maintained.
This real world structure and acknowledgement of wicked problems was maintained. Students are always encouraged to voice their viewpoint and to back it up with quantitative data.
Source: Unit Coordinator
Invented citations in fortnightly assessable questions and the end of term on line quiz are a growing issue
All scientific literature citations need to be accompanied by a clickable DOI link to ensure invented citations are minimized. Students will need to indicate the page and paragraph the cited item originates from.
In Progress
Source: Student
Content and assessments felt excessive for a first year unit and required significantly more time commitments than second and third year units.
The content of the unit does not exceed the standards for first year units (12.5 hours/wk). Lectures are 3 hours, fortnightly assessment is 3-4 hours, and readings are ~3 hours.
In Progress
Source: Student
Each assessment criteria was clear and precise, the lecturer was easy to get a hold of and quick to respond to all questions and provide further clarification when needed, and the assessment results were returned in a timely manner.
The assessment criteria will continue to updated and modified to help students improve their research and communication skills, to help them incorporate GenAI into their workflow, and to deepen their knowledge of environmental issues and their impact on society and nature.
In Progress
Source: Student
Proof check moodle before term commencement, particularly assessment items, due dates and ability to post to ECHO360.
Remove ECHO360 links from individual weekly tiles so that all video lecture material is available through the Virtual Classes tile. Tick the "allow text" box on the Assessment 2 to allow students to submit assessment to ECHO360 through Moodle. Check and recheck dates against the Unit Profile. Reduce due dates to three places on each Moodle page (UP, Assessment Tile summary, and each assessment item).
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the underpinning science of environmental issues
- Discuss possible solutions to environmental issues
- Communicate the scientific basis of environmental issues to general audiences
- Discuss the ecological and scientific principles relevant to understanding natural and human impacts on the environment
- Synthesise information from scientific literature relating to modern environmental issues.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online discussion forum | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Presentation | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Online Test | • | • | • | ||
| 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 | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |