Unit Synopsis
On successful completion of this unit, you will have a sound understanding of the fundamentals of microbiology. You will be able to explain the principles by which microbes are classified, the relationship between form and function, the mechanisms by which genetic change occurs and the dynamics of growth and multiplication. Mixed mode and Rockhampton students must attend a compulsory residential school or on-campus laboratory classes in order to achieve the learning outcomes.
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 |
Corequisite: BIOL11099 Living Systems or BIOL 11100 Functional Biology or SCIE11022 Introductory Science or BIOH11005 Introductory Anatomy and Physiology or BMSC11001 Human Body Systems 1 or BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory or BMSC11007 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 1 or BMSC11010 Human Anatomy and Physiology 1. 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 |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
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. In-class Test(s) | 20% |
| 3. Laboratory/Practical | 0% |
| 4. 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 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 68.18% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 21.7% 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: SUTE
Students found the residential school useful to their learning.
The residential schools will continue in their current format.
The residential schools continued in their current format.
Source: Personal student feedback.
Internal students would prefer weekly labs to residential schools.
Internal weekly laboratory session will be investigated for feasibility.
At this point weekly internal labs were not feasible, but we will continue to look into it.
Source: SUTE
Public health / environmental health students stated that some of the content was not relevant to them.
There will be consultation with Public Health staff regarding the relevance of the content.
Consultation with Public Health staff is ongoing regarding the relevance of the unit for those students.
Source: Teaching staff
One group of students displayed very unprofessional behaviour during residential school and were disrespectful to staff.
The practical competencies will be amended to include professional behaviour criteria, and a statement will be added to the laboratory induction that students may be asked to leave if displaying unprofessional conduct.
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Students loved the residential school.
The residential schools will continue in their current format.
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Rockhampton students would prefer weekly labs to residential school.
At present internal labs are not possible due to the lack of suitable laboratory space. This will be re-evaluated once laboratory renovations are complete.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Explain the principles by which microbes are classified, using traditional and molecular approaches
- Describe the relationship between form and function in the major groups of microbes
- Describe the mechanisms by which genetic exchange occurs in bacteria, fungi and viruses
- Explain the dynamics of growth and multiplication of the major types of microbes, and the methods by which these can be investigated in the laboratory
- Demonstrate basic practical microbiological procedures and professional behaviours in the laboratory in a safe and efficient manner
- Interpret the results of laboratory experiments in the context of the underlying microbiological principles.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||||
| 2 - In-class Test(s) | • | |||||
| 3 - Laboratory/Practical | • | • | ||||
| 4 - Online Test | • | • | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | |||
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |