Overview
In this unit, your study will focus on the role of the genome in adaptive change in living organisms, particularly animals. This will help you bring together recent advances in our understanding of the genome and the impact of these on the traditional areas of zoology, particularly those involving evolutionary processes. This unit will provide you with a link between molecular biology and other areas of biology including genetics, evolution, taxonomy, embryology and behaviour. In the latter part of the unit, you will focus on various aspects of human evolution.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisites Any one of the following: BIOH11005 Introductory Anatomy and Physiology BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory BMSC11002 Human Body Systems 2 BMSC11008 Medical Anatomy and Physiology 2 BMSC11011 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2
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).
Offerings For Term 3 - 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).
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.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
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.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
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.
Feedback from SUTE Unit Comment Report
Future pathway information was useful for student's career planning.
Make a video about the career pathways related to genetics/genomics.
Feedback from SUTE Unit Comment Report
The Practical Bioinformatics presentation was a well received addition to this unit.
Create a video covering the laboratory side of genomics.
Feedback from SUTE Unit Comment Report
More content/examples are required to explain how this unit relates to students studying agriculture.
Prepare material covering genomics applications in the veterinarian and agricultural sciences.
- Use correct terminology to describe genetics, genomes and evolution
- Discuss the concepts of heritability, mutation, development, Mendelian genetics, extranuclear and multi-allelic inheritance, the Hardy-Weinberg Law and related topics in quantitative genetics
- Explain the mechanisms of change in the genome including the concepts of genetic disorders adaptation and speciation
- Discuss behavioral and population genetics, socio-biology and ethics.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 2 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | ||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 50% | ||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
All information needed to complete this unit with the highest grade is provided on the Moodle page. Most of the lectures follow the structure and content of the Concepts of Genetics, by William S. Klug, Michael Cummings, Charlotte A. Spencer, Michael A. Palladino and Darrell Killian.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing styles below:
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
d.stanley@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to cells, organelles and genetics
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Mutation, DNA repair and transposition
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Mendelian genetics
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Non-Mendelian genetics
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Chromosome mapping, sequencing methodologies
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Extranuclear inheritance
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Microbiota, metagenomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, metatranscriptomics
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Genetics of behaviour; population and sociobiology
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Genes meet social science - ethics and genetics
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Evolutionary and conservation genetics
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Genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics
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Current research in genetics
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1 Written Assessment
Write an essay on the future role of artificial intelligence in genetics.
AI is making a big entrance into all aspects of our lives, and it will have a major impact on genetic research, including medical, veterinary, environmental, agricultural, plant, and all other areas of genetic research and application. Start by summarising areas of genetics and the current use of AI, and add your views on how AI can be used to improve them. Make sure you discuss both sides of the issue, including benefits and possible drawbacks. You can review the general use of AI in all major genetics research and application areas, or pick only one narrow area of your choice. Lectures in multi-omics and bioinformatics will give you many ideas, and a separate video discussing this assessment will be prepared as a guideline. The AI topic does not allow or justify the use of AI in writing this essay!
Try to choose an innovative and informative title. The first part of the essay is an Abstract (~200-500 words) where you will summarise the purpose of your essay. Make sure you do not overly rely on online references, although it may be tempting. Cover the topic with peer-reviewed published scientific literature. You have complete freedom in choosing the direction of your essay.
Recommended word length is 2000-3000 words, excluding references.
You will be given an opportunity to email a draft to the unit coordinator for feedback before you submit it. No marks will be given at the feedback stage, but you will get advice on improving your work.
Multiple videos on how to prepare this assignment are available on Moodle. The videos cover every aspect of essay writing, such as what to cover, the structure, referencing, and getting the most out of MS Word in terms of formatting and revisions. Additional support provided during assignment writing is also outlined on Moodle. Zoom sessions can be booked with the unit coordinator to discuss the assignment topic and get additional writing feedback.
As per previous student Moodle feedback, the due date is set later in the term; however, it is advised that you aim to submit this assignment earlier if possible. You will get your marks within approximately two weeks from submission, whenever you choose to submit.
Week 10 Monday (20 Jan 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Submit the essay before due date.
Exam Week Monday (10 Feb 2025)
We will aim to return the marked assessment to students in 2 weeks.
Details of assessment criteria will be provided in week 4 tutorial on Moodle. The criteria will include:
- Quality of the literature discussed (40%)
- Complexity of the content (20%)
- Presentation (20%)
- Clarity of expression (10%)
- Referencing (10%)
Additional details on each assessment criterion and the rubric are available on Moodle.
- Use correct terminology to describe genetics, genomes and evolution
- Discuss the concepts of heritability, mutation, development, Mendelian genetics, extranuclear and multi-allelic inheritance, the Hardy-Weinberg Law and related topics in quantitative genetics
- Explain the mechanisms of change in the genome including the concepts of genetic disorders adaptation and speciation
- Discuss behavioral and population genetics, socio-biology and ethics.
2 Online Quiz(zes)
Your second assessment is a 50 questions online multiple-choice quiz.
The questions in the quiz are randomly chosen from the weekly quizzes. You will have ONE practice attempt on each weekly quiz.
An additional practice quiz will be provided one week before the online quiz assessment opens. This practice quiz will have the same 50 mock questions for all students and is intended to prepare you for the quiz timing and structure.
Online Quiz Key Information:
- You will have ONE attempt
- You will have 60 minutes to finish the quiz. This is a bit over 1 minute per question.
- This quiz will be open for one day ONLY. The quiz will be open all day, 03/02/2025 (Monday, Week 12), from 12:05 AM until 11:55 PM.
- You must finish the quiz before the closing time, or all of your entries will be lost when the quiz closes.
- In the absence of an approved extension (through Moodle, with documentary evidence), there will be no late submissions for this assessment.
More information on quizzes will be in the Moodle welcome video.
1
Other
Week 12 Monday (3 Feb 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
The quiz will be open all day on Monday of week 12
The results will be immediately visible to students.
Each correct question will score one mark.
- Use correct terminology to describe genetics, genomes and evolution
3 Online Quiz(zes)
The final assessment will be conducted online as a Moodle Quiz.
A detailed video description of the quiz will be provided on Moodle.
The Assessment 3 Final Quiz will be open all day Monday 10/02/2025. You will have one attempt and 2 hours to complete the quiz.
The quiz structure is divided into 3 sections:
- Section A: The aim of the first section is to assess your understanding of terminology. Your answers here should be short and to the point.
- Section B has two genetic problems. These can be provided in the form or pedigrees, genomes or a problem that requires critical thinking to provide a solution to a particular genetic issue, like diagnosing a genetic disease for example.
- Section C contains two mini essays where you will be discussing some of the current burning issues in genetics. The essays should be around 500 words in length.
A video with more details on each section will be available on the Assessment tile in Moodle.
Important information:
- Copying and pasting is not allowed
- Moodle can detect everything copy-pasted in this quiz, including making hyperlinks visible to the unit coordinator.
- Additionally, your quiz will be placed through TURNITIN, and scores will be taken into account when marking.
Excessively relying on online plagiarism will result in Academic Misconduct action. - There is a clear distinction between the online Multiple Choice Quiz (Assessment 2) and The Final Quiz (Assessment 3), even though they are both given in the form of online quizzes. The Multiple Choice Quiz (Assessment 2) is more terminology-focused and in the form of multiple-choice questions. The Final Quiz will contain genetic problems, pedigrees, and mini-essay questions, which are more complex and require thorough preparation.
- Please note that studying from PowerPoint slides alone is unlikely to get you through the final quiz. PowerPoint slides are a simplified guide through the lecture and cannot cover the complexity of complex genetic concepts described in detail in video lectures.
1
Other
Exam Week Monday (10 Feb 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
The final quiz will be open all day Monday 10/02/2025
Marks will be available at Certification of Grades
You are expected to demonstrate a solid knowledge of genetics covered in lectures.
Your answers will be marked on correctness and completeness of answers, however, in section B focused on problem solving, even if your answer is not correct (like solving a pedigree) your logical thinking and approach to problem solving will be awarded some marks.
The detailed walk through quiz video is available on the Assessment tile in Moodle. The video takes you through the mock quiz to present the structure and examples of how different answers are marked for each section of the quiz. This video also aims to help you organise your timing for each section and strategies for achieving maximum marks on the quiz.
- Use correct terminology to describe genetics, genomes and evolution
- Discuss the concepts of heritability, mutation, development, Mendelian genetics, extranuclear and multi-allelic inheritance, the Hardy-Weinberg Law and related topics in quantitative genetics
- Explain the mechanisms of change in the genome including the concepts of genetic disorders adaptation and speciation
- Discuss behavioral and population genetics, socio-biology and ethics.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
