HLTH12032 - Community Assets and Needs Assessment

General Information

Unit Synopsis

At a global level, there are rising demands for health and social care, limited resources and increasing inequalities in health. Community health assets and needs assessments have a vital part to play, enabling practitioners, managers and policymakers to identify those in greatest need; the physical, economic, social and cultural assets available within the community; and to ensure that health care resources are used to maximise health improvement. For health promotion practitioners, the ability to conduct a community health assessment is a core skill. You will be introduced to the different types of community assets and needs assessments that can be undertaken with local communities. You will examine the history and role of community assets and needs assessments and review a range of methods that can be used to implement and evaluate assets and needs assessments in local communities. You will have the opportunity to complete a community profile and also undertake a community assets and needs assessment.

Details

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

48-credit unit pre-requisite

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 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. Presentation 25%
2. Group Work 40%
3. Report 35%

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 16.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 26.92% 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 evaluation. Discussion with Head of Course.
Feedback
Learning requirements are not clear and the volume of material and assessment is overwhelming for some students, particularly those with learning challenges.
Recommendation
Change the learning outcomes to be clearer. Provide fewer readings and some key optional readings. Refresh lectures to be shorter with key learning points. Refresh data collection and analysis modules.
Action Taken
Content was rationalised, reduced and refreshed.
Source: Student assessment. Discussion with Head of Course.
Feedback
Some students rely heavily on exemplars for Assessment 1 and 2.
Recommendation
Provide suggested headings and a clear outline of what is expected in each of these sections. Be clearer about plagiarism and academic integrity.
Action Taken
Clear expectations around Academic Integrity, particularly with respect to the use of generative Artificial Intelligence were provided. Explicit templates were provided for assessment tasks, which were supported by tutorials.
Source: Student evaluation. Teaching reflection. Discussion with Head of Course.
Feedback
First year students do not have sufficient skills, knowledge and experience to undertake the unit (particularly in research and teamwork).
Recommendation
Change to a 48-credit unit pre-requisite, to ensure that first year students cannot undertake the unit.
Action Taken
48 credit unit prerequisite was added.
Source: Student feedback. Teaching reflection.
Feedback
Some team members did not engage with Assessment 2 Part II A Team Project Plan/Team Charter or with data collection and analysis.
Recommendation
Change rubric so that there is the option to fail if students do not participate in team meetings or contribute to the group assessment. Instead of group submission, change to individual submission. Provide a clearer schedule and timing of what teams need to do in terms of a community assets and needs assessment.
Action Taken
Assessment was redesigned to make team participation necessary to complete the team charter and evaluation of teamwork.
Source: Teaching reflection. Discussion with Head of Course.
Feedback
Student numbers could be increased through promotion to other disciplines.
Recommendation
Discuss the Public Health Minor with heads of relevant courses.
Action Taken
Discussions are ongoing.
Source: Teaching reflection. Student evaluation.
Feedback
The discussion board was useful for students but there are too many. Furthermore, some students do not post in a timely manner.
Recommendation
Decrease the number of compulsory discussion board topics. Close discussion board one week after the end of the related module to promote timely and useful discussion.
Action Taken
Compulsory Discussion Board topics are no longer assessed.
Source: Teaching reflection. Student feedback
Feedback
The weighting of assessments does not reflect the amount of work undertaken.
Recommendation
Change Assessment 1: Community Profile to be shorter and worth 25% (from 30%). Change Assessment 2: Part I: Community Assets and Needs Assessment Individual Report to 35% (from 30%).
Action Taken
Weighting of assessment tasks were changed as recommended.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Some students found the Moodle tiles and modular design difficult when planning their study.
Recommendation
Improve Moodle design, making greater use of headings and provide students with the opportunity to mark activities as "done". Scaffold the "modular" design of the unit in early tutorials so that students are clear about learning to work at their own pace. Reduce the number of Discussion forums.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student feedback and personal reflection
Feedback
Marking criteria are not clear enough to guide students.
Recommendation
Revise marking criteria.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Feedback
Some students found the volume of content to be excessive, particularly with respect to the number of assessment tasks.
Recommendation
In 2024, the volume of content was reduced despite not being flagged as an issue in previous years. A redesign of Assessment task 2 tasks may address the issue of "volume".
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Teaching team evaluation and student feedback.
Feedback
Assessment task 2 presented problems around teamwork.
Recommendation
Redesign Assessment task 2 to be less complex.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: UC feedback
Feedback
Students from non-public health disciplines have difficulty using the community based lens for this unit.
Recommendation
Scaffold the "community lens" in the first module so students are clear about how this applies in assets and needs assessments.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: UC feedback
Feedback
Some students found teamwork challenging
Recommendation
Provide an improved introduction to working in teams early in the term and make the expectations for team engagement explicit.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: UC feedback
Feedback
Some students had the expectation that they would be given immediate on-on-one coaching.
Recommendation
Make expectations for communication with the lecturer explicit from the start of term, including CQU's expected turnaround times and the need for all course-related communication to be via the Discussion Forums.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Argue the importance of community assets and needs assessment as the foundation of effective health promotion.
  2. Examine how determinants of health are incorporated into community assets and needs assessments.
  3. Determine how various health promotion theories and frameworks influence different sources of information in community assets and needs assessments.
  4. Apply culturally appropriate methods and models to assess the assets and needs of a community and facilitate knowledge transfer and advocacy
  5. Implement different collaborative methods for the analysis and prioritisation of information obtained through community assets and needs assessments.
  6. Explain how ethical considerations are applied in a community assets and needs assessment context

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Presentation • •
2 - Group Work • • • • • •
3 - Report • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
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 • • • •
10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures •
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