PBHL13001 - Public Health and Environmental Sustainability

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The World Health Organisation has identified the link between anthropogenic environmental change and public health as an issue of significant concern and has engaged in a workplan with priorities to advocate and raise awareness, strengthen partnerships, enhance scientific evidence and strengthen health systems. This unit aims to develop your understanding of factors within the anthropogenic and natural environments that impact upon health outcomes, including environmentally transmitted diseases, climate change and sustainable development. Content will include an exploration of zoonotic diseases, vector borne conditions, emerging epidemiologic trends, community resilience and capacity building. You will discover the value of participation through an exploration of community resilience and capacity building. Prevention will be emphasised as you learn about the aetiologies, risk factors, epidemiological trends and underlying environmental factors relating to a range of diseases of public health importance. The theme of partnership will be developed as you examine the issue of environmental sustainability and emerging environmental health issues while learning the importance of working with traditional and contemporary custodians of natural environments, collaborating with government and non-government agencies in creating healthy environmental policy.

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

96 credit points

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

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

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 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 55.56% 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
Feedback
One student provided criticism relating to the age of the videos and complained that the lectures did not contain all of the material assessed in the quizzes, particularly relating to the topic of waste.
Recommendation
Lectures do not contain all of the material covered in the unit. Waste was covered extensively in the prescribed textbook readings and other material is supported by prescribed journal articles. New lectures were recorded for this offering and were released in stages throughout the term. In future, the need to complete all learning materials and activities should be made clear.
Action Taken
The need to complete all learning materials was reinforced at the start of term and at intervals throughout Term 1.
Source: SUTE
Feedback
One student was unhappy with the flexible structure of the unit and the requirement for independent learning.
Recommendation
This is a third year unit, designed to develop skills in independent learning; as a result there is significantly less scaffolding than units designed for first and second years. This should be made clearer to students in future offerings.
Action Taken
The need for independent learning was emphasised. Additional tutorials were provided for some students to provide some guidance in their independent reading.
Source: SUTE Evaluation
Feedback
Some video resources could be improved.
Recommendation
Record new lectures for Module 3.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE feedback. Personal reflection.
Feedback
Some students do not believe they are likely to use the skills and knowledge gained in this unit.
Recommendation
Provide clearer examples of how students planning to work in Health Promotion and Public Health Nutrition will use the skills and knowledge gained in this unit in their careers.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.