MEDI13001 - Science and Instrumentation 3

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will expand on your prior study of x-ray equipment and imaging processes of specialised imaging technologies. The primary focus of the unit is on the technical fundamentals (both theoretical and practical) of Computed Tomography to enable safe and effective scan technique. You will examine in detail the equipment operation of computed tomography and its processes such as data acquisition, processing, reconstruction and display. You will further explore dose and image optimisation strategies and quality assurance testing, including image artefacts. You will also be introduced to the physical and operational principles of advanced and/or newly emerging medical imaging modalities such as angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, positron emission tomography CT, EOS and spectral CT.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisites

MEDI12001 Radiation Science; and

MEDI12002 Science & Instrumentation 1, and

MEDI12005 Science and Instrumentation 2, and

MEDI12007 Quality Processes for Dose and Image Optimisation

 

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
Mackay

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. Laboratory/Practical 0%
2. In-class Test(s) 20%
3. In-class Test(s) 50%
4. In-class Test(s) 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%).

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 88.89% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 34.62% 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: Teaching team feedback
Feedback
Addition of theory of new and emerging imaging modalities will enhance relevance of content to advancements in new technologies.
Recommendation
Review the current unit weekly schedule and content to allow space to introduce new technology content.
Action Taken
New content was added to the unit introducing students to the new and emerging technology of Spectral photon-counting CT scanning. This unit content addition keeps students up-to-date with the technological advancements in medical imaging.
Source: Unit coordinator and student feedback
Feedback
The Week 5 Online Quiz encourages early student engagement with the unit material.
Recommendation
Maintain the application of the online quiz early in the term to motivate students to engage with unit content and to provide them with timely assessment feedback.
Action Taken
The Week 5 Online Quiz was maintained as the initial assessment of the unit. The early timing of this assessment encourages students to engage with the unit content from Week 1.
Source: Unit coordinator and teaching team feedback
Feedback
The greater proportion of higher grade results may be attributed to the assessments all being online open-book tests.
Recommendation
Replace one of the online tests with an in-class closed book test to better assess factual recall of the unit content.
Action Taken
The final test was changed from an online test to a supervised in-class test to better reflect the knowledge gained from unit content. This modification of assessment strategy has demonstrated a greater distribution of students' grades.
Source: Teaching team reflection
Feedback
The Practical CT Equipment Use assessment encourages a high level of attendance at CT lab activities and ensures application of the CT theoretical knowledge obtained through weekly content.
Recommendation
Maintain the inclusion of the CT Practical Equipment Use assessment to encourage student engagement and application of CT skills with the CT equipment on-campus.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit Coordinator & Team reflection
Feedback
The Weeks 5 & 9 online tests assess the science and instrumentation of CT scanning, and the final supervised in-class test in Week 13 assesses this same content to a lesser extent with a focus on the 7 other imaging modalities covered in the latter part of the term. As CT is a vital component of the course accreditation Professional Capabilities requirements, the CT theoretical knowledge would be better assessed by changing the Week 9 test to a supervised in-class test to reflect the factual CT knowledge required by graduates in meeting accreditation standards.
Recommendation
Investigate the modification of the unit assessment strategy by changing the Week 9 Online Quiz to a supervised in-class test to best assess students' CT knowledge, and change the final assessment from an in-class test to an online quiz to assess the knowledge of the 7 additional imaging modalities that include new and emerging technologies.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Discuss processes such as data acquisition, processing, image reconstruction, reformatting, display, quality assurance testing and artefacts in computed tomography.
  2. Operate computed tomography equipment, with consideration to patient dose, image quality and equipment conservation.
  3. Apply underlying knowledge to manipulate multi-planar and three-dimensional (3D) data sets in computed tomography.
  4. Discuss the design, operational features and clinical safety considerations of computed tomography (CT).
  5. Discuss the design, operational features and clinical safety considerations of advanced medical imaging modalities such as angiography, magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound imaging, nuclear medicine imaging, positron emission tomography CT (PETCT), EOS and spectral CT.

This unit maps to the following components of the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia's Professional Capabilities for Medical Radiation Practice (2020 version): 

  • Domain 1A
    • capability 3, enabling components a & f
  • Domain 5
    • capability 1, enabling components a-d & f
    • capability 2, enabling component e
    • capability 3, enabling component a-c
    • capability 4, enabling component a & c

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Laboratory/Practical • •
2 - In-class Test(s) • •
3 - In-class Test(s) • • •
4 - In-class Test(s) •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Communication • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • • •
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