Unit Synopsis
This unit is designed to help students become self-directed, active and confident learners. It introduces them to a range of theories and concepts to facilitate the development of practical skills and positive attitudes necessary for success in university. There will be opportunities for critical self-reflection on key aspects of student life, including: individual learning preferences and study habits; time management and goal-setting; individual study and career paths; note-taking and assessment strategies. Students will practise critical thinking, and apply information literacy skills to their research. They will learn to negotiate the procedures and systems used at CQUniversity, and practise communication skills in a range of contexts.
Details
| Level | Non-award |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | Not Applicable |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| 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 - 2026
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 Non-award 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. Online Quiz(zes) | 20% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 40% |
| 4. Online Quiz(zes) | 10% |
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 93.98% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 25.28% 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: Unit Coordinators
Accessibility of Moodle site.
Review Moodle content to address areas that can be modified to enhance student accessibility.
The Moodle site had changes made to improve accessibility with screen reading making content more accessible.
Source: Students and Teaching Staff
Need to update the news articles in Module 9 of Learning Portfolio B.
Revise Module 9 of Learning Portfolio B to include more current news articles for students to evaluate.
Article was updated and this article was moderated during Term 1, 2025.
Source: Unit Evaluations
Drafting advice for portfolios.
Create more explicit guidelines for drafting portfolios via a short video.
A video was developed to outline PSU's position on the use of GenAI, accompanied by a second video that demonstrates how to develop responses for the learning portfolios.
Source: Unit Evaluations
Recognition of consistent feedback and support
Continue to provide regular contact and personalised feedback to students to support their learning.
In Progress
Source: Unit Evaluations
Real-world examples to enhance task relevance
Update curriculum to include additional real-world examples for increased relevance and engagement.
In Progress
Source: Teaching Staff and Head of Course
Approaches to support ethical Generative AI engagement
Implement strategies to help students use Generative AI responsibly and ethically.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Develop strong study habits and effective learning strategies to become a confident and self-directed learner
- Apply critical thinking skills in a range of contexts, with a particular focus on critical self-reflection
- Set and manage goals for individual study and career paths
- Find and evaluate relevant, scholarly research
- Negotiate procedures and systems used at university
- Develop communication skills appropriate for higher education
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Self Management | • | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Communication | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Information Literacy | • | |||||
| 4 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | ||||
| 6 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | ||
| 7 - Cross-Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical Practice | • | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | |