SUST11001 - The Changing World and Sustainability

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The world continues to change rapidly in ways that affect well-being, social and economic development and the natural environment. In this unit, you will explore the causes, patterns, trends and localised impacts of major global changes, including population growth, migration, urbanisation, globalisation, socio-economic inequality and environmental change. You will investigate linkages between these changes and sustainability and adapt your thinking to new contexts in a changing world.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 1
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 - 2021

Term 1 - 2022 Profile
Online
Rockhampton
Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Medan
Online
Rockhampton
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Online
Rockhampton

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. Online discussion forum 15%
2. Portfolio 45%
3. Written Assessment 40%

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 60.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 27.78% 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 (Q5)
Feedback
Assessment --there were too many projects in the portfolio assessment.
Recommendation
Students were asked to produce 3 projects for the portfolio assessment. It is recommended to reduce projects from 3 to 2.
Action Taken
The adjustment was made.
Source: Unit evaluation data
Feedback
Learning material
Recommendation
It is recommended to set clear expectations for each of the weekly topics and align them with attributes of the course.
Action Taken
The learning materials, especially the weekly lecture notes, were refreshed, and the necessary expectations were incorporated.
Source: Student feedback (Q5) and unit evaluation data
Feedback
Assessment feedback
Recommendation
It is recommended to redesign the assessment rubrics and discuss them in class.
Action Taken
The assessment rubrics were redesigned and implemented.
Source: Staff feedback
Feedback
A staff post-5-year course review workshop has suggested enhancing the content and perspectives of First Nations Peoples in the unit.
Recommendation
The learning material will be updated to enrich the content and perspectives of First Nations Peoples.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Student feedback and staff feedback
Feedback
The learning material should be applicable and valuable for the learning of various disciplines in the BA.
Recommendation
The learning material will be refreshed and updated to enhance multidisciplinary applicability.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Describe the causes and impacts of major global changes
  2. Collect, analyse, evaluate and present information on major global changes and their impacts
  3. Discuss the linkages between the global changes and the goals of global sustainability
  4. Debate issues around adopting a more sustainable approach to human practices.

N/A

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Online discussion forum
2 - Portfolio
3 - Written Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication
2 - Problem Solving
3 - Critical Thinking
4 - Information Literacy
5 - Team Work
7 - Cross Cultural Competence
9 - Social Innovation
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
1 - Online discussion forum
2 - Portfolio
3 - Written Assessment