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Unit Synopsis
Ancient & Medieval Civilisations: An Introduction provides an overview of world history to 1400CE. It examines the first civilisations and rise of empires to 500CE and new patterns of civilisation between 500 and 1400CE. Areas of study include the Ancient Middle East, Egypt, India, China, Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, Byzantium, Africa, Japan, Korea, Meso-America and Europe to the Late Middle Ages. Students will be introduced to the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of each civilisation and the historical interactions between them. As an introductory level offering, the unit also introduces students to a preliminary understanding of the problems of historical evidence and emphasises both discipline-specific and generic skills. Students will require computer and internet access to complete some assessment for this unit. Together with the optional sequel, The Modern World Emerges: An Historical Overview, Ancient and Medieval Civilisations provides a firm foundation for more specialised history studies offered at CQU.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| 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 - 2019
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Term 1 - 2021 Profile
Term 1 - 2022 Profile
Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Term 1 - 2025 Profile
Term 1 - 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. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 2. Practical and Written Assessment | 40% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 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%).
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.
No previous feedback available
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 Unit Teacher Evaluations
Clarify expectations for assessment tasks
Revise the assessment descriptions, criteria and marking rubrics to clarify expectations for students.
Assessment descriptions, criteria and marking rubrics have been fully revised in collaboration with UC for the other history units offered at CQU.
Source: Student Unit Teacher Evaluations
Revise and streamline learning resources
Revise and update learning resources to reflect the current state of the field in ancient and world history. Furthermore, clarify expectations regarding what are considered essential reading materials for weekly discussions as against supplementary learning resources that are included as aids for assessment tasks.
Content and learning materials revised to align with recent developments in the field, especially those that appear in Queensland secondary curriculum.
Source: Student Unit Teacher Evaluations, Informal Student Feedback and Teaching Staff Evaluation
Co-designed assessment and conference
Refine the co-designed oral presentation assessment task that is delivered as part of a student led conference. The inaugural 'dawn of humanity' conference hosted at the Rockhampton North campus and featuring hybrid modes of delivery was well received by students, staff and community members. This assessment and corresponding conference will be planned with the benefit of experience from 2024. Furthermore, students who formed the organising committee from the 2024 cohort have committed to helping the 2025 organising committee with the conference planning.
This co-designed assessment was a success once again and has now led to developing micro-credential offerings for history teacher PD in collaboration with Rockhampton Catholic Education.
Source: Student feedback comment
Inclusive seminars were conducive to free and open exploration of challenging content
Sustain this approach of delivering inclusive and dialogical seminars
In Progress
Source: Student feedback comment
Inconsistent presentation of assessment information
Overhaul all assessment information to ensure consistency across all points of communication
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world civilisations and their interactions from pre-history to 1400CE (AD1400).
- demonstrate an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these civilisations and an acceptance of others' informed opinions.
- demonstrate an understanding of the key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems.
- demonstrate the following skills: i. the ability to explain the significance of historical events and processes relevant to the period; ii. the ability to critique historical interpretations and their applications to contemporary global issues; iii. the ability to understand and use the principle that ethical action and social responsibility are inherent in the study of history and its interpretations; iv. the ability to locate, retrieve, organise, analyse and synthesise historical evidence from both primary and secondary sources; v. the ability to develop and communicate cogent historical argument and knowledge in written and oral forms, employment the required referencing methods where necessary; vi. the ability to be self-directed and self-disciplined, and to show initiative.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | ||
| 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 | • | • | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||