In Progress
Please note that this Unit Profile is still in progress. The content below is subject to change.Overview
In this unit, you will learn the role of geotechnical investigations in the design process, and soil mechanics including description of physical properties, soil classification, bearing capacity, permeability, compressibility, shear strength, slope stability, flow of water, and foundations and footings including investigations into basic principles of subsurface rock and soil materials and their ability to support structures.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
BLAR11049 Built Environment Communication and Skills Or COMM11003 Professional and Technical Communication (before 2012 term 1)
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 2 - 2025
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 Student Unit Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)- T2- 2024
It is a good idea to attempt the weekly questions to expand everyone's knowledge through weekly tutorials. Simultaneously, weekly tutorial videos and the assessment tips were extremely helpful in passing this unit.
Similar teaching method will be adopted for next and future deliveries.
Feedback from Student Unit Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)- T2- 2024
Students are satisfied with the sufficient learning materials given with the unit learning. However, they have requested a summarised glossary type document to cover all symbols and abbreviations in each topic.
A document covering all symbols and abbreviations will be given to students from next delivery.
Feedback from The unit coordinator and lecturer
It is better to continue facilitating formative online quizzes with the aid of the textbook publisher.
The lecturer will continuously liaise with the textbook publisher and try facilitating formative online quizzes with the aid of them.
Feedback from Unsolicited student email to appreciate the lecturer
Students find that the unit context is difficult due to engineering and mathematics exposure. However, they find the lecturer's assessment tips and tutorial recordings have been beneficial for the unit's success.
The learning context will be discussed with the Built environment discipline team and the course reference committee to confirm the relevance of the unit learning to the roles of building professionals. The lecturer will adopt the same strategy to enhance students' learning.
Feedback from Student Unit Teaching Evaluation (SUTE)- T2-2024 (Section 3 score)
Some students question the unit relevance to their qualification/ degree.
The unit is recommended by the course accredited professional bodies; hence, this concern will be raised at Built Environment regular meetings and then discussed with the professional bodies for strategies to address.
- Apply soil and rock mechanics principles in building design and construction.
- Interpret the influences of geological processes and natural environments on geotechnical design.
- Explain the use and limitations of geotechnical design in built environment projects.
- Perform basic geotechnical calculations including soil phase relationships, strength, stability, stress, compressibility, permeability and bearing capacity.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||
| 4 - Written Assessment - 35% | ||||
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 | ||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 25% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 10% | ||||||||||
| 4 - Written Assessment - 35% | ||||||||||