PERM20001 - Introduction to Permaculture: Ethics & Principles

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Permaculture provides a framework for sustainable alternatives to current systems of human habitation and settlement including socio-cultural, agricultural, food production and building systems.This unit will introduce you to permaculture by considering the historical development of the permaculture movement, its underlying ethics, principles, concepts, and domains and outline the need for and relevance of permaculture in the current cultural milieu. The unit will also explore some of the major challenges presented by current economic, political and institutional structures, along with underlying cultural myths and rituals supporting such systems.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level Not Applicable
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
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 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 1 - 2024

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 Postgraduate 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 50%
2. Written Assessment 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%).

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 - 2017 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.8 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 77.78% 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 feedback
Feedback
Power Points for Collaborate sessions
Recommendation
Pdf versions of the Power Points from the collaborate sessions will be uploaded each week to the Moodle site.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback and self-reflection
Feedback
Assessment of Group Presentation Assignment
Recommendation
Students need to upload their presentations individually through the Moodle site on the week of their presentation to facilitate marking and return of feedback to students prior to second assessment.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback and self-reflection
Feedback
Early availability of course materials through Moodle site
Recommendation
Material from Moodle site will be made consistently available at least two weeks in advance in subsequent offerings of the course.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback and self-reflection
Feedback
Library guide
Recommendation
A library guide to help guide student research should be developed prior to the next delivery of the course.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback.
Feedback
Incredibly positive feedback was received on the unit content, structure, materials, guest lectures, collaborative sessions and the knowledge, enthusiasm, leadership and facilitation of the coordinator. The student feedback achieved a response rate of 78% and an overall satisfaction rating for the unit of 4.8 out of 5. Students identified the unit as eye opening, life-changing, inspirational and empowering.
Recommendation
The structure of the unit, combining a range of online materials with collaborative tutorial sessions and guest lectures is pedagogically sound, resulting in a transformative, empowering and inspirational learning experience for students. This structure should continue for this unit and other units in the field seeking similar student outcomes.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback.
Feedback
Assessment return and feedback were noted as items that could use some improvement as although detailed written feedback was provided to students in a timely manner on completion of the assessment items, and feedback was received immediately following presentations in the sessions, this still meant they didn't receive detailed written feedback until later in the term.
Recommendation
A formative or 'hurdle' assessment item should be introduced early in the unit to ensure students are clear on requirements of academic communication and receive some feedback on their academic writing early on.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback.
Feedback
The four units of the Graduate Certificate are well integrated and designed to work together, with the learning and assessments building on each other to provide key evidence and research for the final capstone project.
Recommendation
To help students visualise the connections between the four units of the Graduate Certificate, a brief one-pager should be included in the orientation documents for this unit explaining the connections between this and subsequent units.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Critique the historical and theoretical development of permaculture in the context of agricultural development and the social and environmental justice movements.
  2. Articulate the ethics and principles of permaculture.
  3. Evaluate the permaculture principles and how they align with permaculture ethics and apply within the domains.
  4. Formulate a personal permaculture plan referencing the permaculture movement, ethics, principles and domains.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Presentation
2 - Written Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Knowledge
2 - Communication
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills
4 - Research
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Presentation
2 - Written Assessment