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ENVR11012 - Applications of Environmental Science

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit describes the science behind environmental problems caused by human activities. Students will develop practical skills in the laboratory and the field that relate to environmental assessment. Students will integrate science knowledge and practical techniques to propose solutions to environmental problems. Topics covered are: energy and biomass flow in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; water resources and pollution; land degradation; the soil environment; formation and degradation; evolution of agricultural systems.

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).

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Residential School Compulsory Residential School
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Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2019

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 2 - 2019

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 10%
2. Presentation 10%
3. Practical and Written Assessment 30%
4. Examination 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%).

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 - 2018 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 3.1 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 44.44% 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: Formal unit student evaluations, informal student feedback.
Feedback
Aspects of unit receiving complimentary evaluation included unit content (topics, comprehensive lectures, residential school), assessment tasks and style (assessable questions, technical report) and the delivery (support features of the unit, weekly summaries and tutorials, lecturer attention and response, the practical and applied approaches).
Recommendation
These aspects will be maintained and refined where possible.
Action Taken
These were maintained and improved where possible.
Source: Formal unit student evaluations, informal student feedback (including a straw poll).
Feedback
Some students viewed the writing day as unnecessary and preferred a shorter residential school.
Recommendation
Since this was a new modification and removal was not the majority student view, this feature requires continued monitoring and further consideration.
Action Taken
This feature of the residential school was retained since the unit was offered as a first year unit.
Source: Formal unit student evaluations, self-reflection
Feedback
An infrequent criticism that residential school instructions could be made clearer.
Recommendation
These instructions will be reviewed with a view to make them clearer and more supportive to provide more knowledge and comfort prior to attendance at residential school.
Action Taken
These instructions were reviewed, clarified and simplified, and extended where necessary to provide as much support as possible, especially before students attended the residential school.
Source: Online unit evaluation.
Feedback
Students commended particularly the engaging, applied, and comprehensively detailed content of the unit learning resources with special mention of the lectures; the applied and authentic residential school; and the support, feedback, and rapid response of the lecturer in assisting students. A clear majority of evaluation respondents agreed with positive statements regarding Moodle site navigation, and resources, assessment and feedback supporting learning,
Recommendation
Practices supporting these aspects will be maintained and strengthened where possible.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Unsolicited student emails.
Feedback
A couple of students expressed appreciation in unsolicited personal emails for the learning undertaken, unit content depth and detail, depth and scope modelled and required for assessment, the feedback, the lecturer support, and for personal changes in their approach to environmental issues, and problem-solving generally.
Recommendation
Practices supporting these aspects will be maintained and strengthened where possible.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Unsolicited student comments in person (students not returning to CQU).
Feedback
Two students sought me out in person to thank me for the detailed unit content and the structure of the unit, the authentic assessment, and my attentiveness to student needs; suggesting the unit was one of the most challenging yet one of the best they had undertaken.
Recommendation
Practices supporting these aspects will be maintained and strengthened where possible.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Online unit evaluation.
Feedback
A few students commented lectures were too long and, like the unit as a whole, suffered from too much content.
Recommendation
8 of the 14 lectures were approximately one hour in duration while one other was longer, and i will look to deliver each of these in two portions in the future. The remaining 6 were less than 50 minutes duration, and are unlikely to be shortened. Content will be reviewed but unlikely to be decreased since lectures comprised only 12 hours and 6.4 mins (and no new material in Week 12), notably less than the standard 20 hours of lecture (2 x 50 minute lectures/week) for a 6 cp unit. i will make it clearer on the Moodle site each module of unit content presents typical forms of material for learning (e.g., recorded lectures, PowerPoint slides) and supplementary presentation of the material purely to support learning (if needed) and/or for interest only.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Online unit evaluation.
Feedback
A few students expressed their dislike of the residential school structure, content and tasks.
Recommendation
Students will be reminded more often to consult the unit profile and various Moodle resources (task pages, report guide, field and lab guides, YouTube videos, data interpretation guide) and lab data discussion, all pointed at real world environmental issues and skills.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Online unit evaluation (and self-reflection).
Feedback
Some students commented the fortnightly assessable questions forums required too much work (and perhaps for too few marks).
Recommendation
I will review this assessment task for its value and comparative workload.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Apply knowledge of scientific content to describe the basis of environmental science problems.
  2. Perform practical environmental field and laboratory assessments and report the results.
  3. Demonstrate research communication skills relevant to environmental issues.
  4. Analyse environmental problems and propose strategies to address the problems.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Group Discussion
2 - Presentation
3 - Practical and Written Assessment
4 - Examination
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
5 - Team Work
6 - Information Technology 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
1 - Group Discussion
3 - Practical and Written Assessment
4 - Examination
2 - Presentation