Overview
Dawn of Humanity: An Introduction to World History provides an overview of world history to c.1500 CE. In this unit you will examine early human societies from around the world and the rise of empires in this broad period. Areas of study include ancient Egypt, India, China, Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, Japan, and Meso-America. Students will be introduced to the political, economic, social and cultural aspects of these societies and the historical interactions between them. You will gain a preliminary understanding of historical methods and how to interpret and analyse historical evidence. You will develop both discipline-specific and generic skills. You will require a computer and internet access to complete some assessment for this unit. Together with the optional sequel, The Modern World Emerges: An Historical Overview, Dawn of Humanity: An Introduction to World History provides you with a firm foundation for more specialised history studies offered at CQU.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this 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).
Offerings For Term 1 - 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 Teacher Evaluations
Clarify expectations for assessment tasks
Revise the assessment descriptions, criteria and marking rubrics to clarify expectations for students.
Feedback from Student Unit Teacher Evaluations
Revise and streamline learning resources
Revise and update learning resources to reflect the current state of the field in ancient and world history. Furthermore, clarify expectations regarding what are considered essential reading materials for weekly discussions as against supplementary learning resources that are included as aids for assessment tasks.
Feedback from Student Unit Teacher Evaluations, Informal Student Feedback and Teaching Staff Evaluation
Co-designed assessment and conference
Refine the co-designed oral presentation assessment task that is delivered as part of a student led conference. The inaugural 'dawn of humanity' conference hosted at the Rockhampton North campus and featuring hybrid modes of delivery was well received by students, staff and community members. This assessment and corresponding conference will be planned with the benefit of experience from 2024. Furthermore, students who formed the organising committee from the 2024 cohort have committed to helping the 2025 organising committee with the conference planning.
- demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500CE (AD1500).
- critically apply an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these cultures and an acceptance of others' informed opinions.
- recognise key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems.
- develop essential skills for historians including the ability to locate and analyse historical evidence and the ability to communicate findings in an academic manner.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Essay - 35% | ||||
| 2 - Essay - 40% | ||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 25% | ||||
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 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||
| 11 - 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 | 11 | |
| 1 - Essay - 35% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Essay - 40% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 25% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Turabian
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
j.collins2@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 10 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Studying World History
Chapter
Study Guide 1 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 2
Begin Date: 17 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Origins to Egypt
Chapter
Study Guide 2 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 3
Begin Date: 24 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic Kingdoms
Chapter
Study Guide 3 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 4
Begin Date: 31 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Periclean Athens
Chapter
Study Guide 4 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Source review Due: Week 4 Wednesday (2 Apr 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 5
Begin Date: 07 Apr 2025Module/Topic
The Roman Republic
Chapter
Study Guide 5 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 14 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 21 Apr 2025Module/Topic
The Roman Empire
Chapter
Study Guide 6 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 7
Begin Date: 28 Apr 2025Module/Topic
The Byzantine Empire
Chapter
Study Guide 7 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 8
Begin Date: 05 May 2025Module/Topic
The Islamic World
Chapter
Study Guide 8 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Essay Due: Week 8 Wednesday (7 May 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
Week 9
Begin Date: 12 May 2025Module/Topic
Ancient India
Chapter
Study Guide 9 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 10
Begin Date: 19 May 2025Module/Topic
Ancient China
Chapter
Study Guide 10 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 11
Begin Date: 26 May 2025Module/Topic
Early Japan, Korea and Vietnam
Chapter
Study Guide 11 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Week 12
Begin Date: 02 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Aztecs and the Americas
Chapter
Study Guide 12 (found on Moodle)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details on Moodle site
Oral presentation Due: Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 09 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 16 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Essay
Students are required to produce a source review document that demonstrates critical engagement with a total of 5 scholarly sources chosen from a selection of learning materials available on the Moodle site in the assessment tile for this task. Each source requires 5 annotations, with the format of the document detailed in the supplementary material for this assessment task on the Moodle site. The purpose of this assessment task is to provide the research foundation for the essay.
The total word count for the source review document is 1750 words (+ or - 10%). This total is comprised of approximately 350 words of reflection per scholarly source.
This assessment task is worth 35% of the total grade.
Further details on this assessment are included in the Moodle site and guidelines for how to approach the task will be discussed at length in seminar 1 as well as in learning resources made available on the Moodle site in the assessment tile for this task.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is acceptable in the following ways only:
• Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.
• Gen AI can be used for content editing.
• Gen AI content generation for you to critique and review.
Week 4 Wednesday (2 Apr 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
Upload into Moodle as .doc or .docx. Ensure you run a Turnitin plagiarism check.
Vacation Week Wednesday (16 Apr 2025)
Source reviews will be returned within two weeks from the date they are submitted
- demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500CE (AD1500).
- critically apply an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these cultures and an acceptance of others' informed opinions.
- recognise key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems.
- develop essential skills for historians including the ability to locate and analyse historical evidence and the ability to communicate findings in an academic manner.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Essay
The questions for the essay are available on the HIST11037 Moodle site. You are required to choose ONE question and write an essay in response of 2000 words (a variation of 10% is acceptable in the word count).
Students are expected to follow the essay-writing and Turabian referencing guides provided in Moodle, in addition to the format and style of the sample essay. 2 weeks of essay workshops in weeks 6 and 7 are designated for class discussion whereby the research material furnished by the annotated bibliography is considered alongside essay writing techniques so as to inform the preparation of the essay.
This essay will be graded on the CREW principle (Content, Research, and Essay Writing) which is elaborated in detail on the Moodle site in the assessment tile for this task.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is acceptable in the following ways only:
• Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.
• Gen AI can be used for content editing.
• Gen AI content generation for you to critique and review.
Week 8 Wednesday (7 May 2025) 11:59 pm AEST
Upload into Moodle as .doc or .docx. Ensure you run a Turnitin plagiarism check.
Week 10 Wednesday (21 May 2025)
Essays will be marked and returned within two weeks of the date they are submitted to the Moodle site.
Content:
- demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500CE (AD1500).
- critically apply an unprejudiced understanding of the differing worldviews of these cultures and an acceptance of others' informed opinions.
- recognise key historical problems of the period and be able to present evidence-backed solutions to these problems.
- develop essential skills for historians including the ability to locate and analyse historical evidence and the ability to communicate findings in an academic manner.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Online Quiz(zes)
Students are required to deliver an oral presentation of no more than 5 minutes responding to ONE of the questions included in a list available in the assessment tile on the Moodle site for this unit. The presentations may be delivered synchronously or asynchronously as part of the "Dawn of Humanity" annual conference to be held during week 12.
15% of the grade is determined by the quality of the presentation assessed according to the following criteria:
1. Clarity - how clearly have the ideas that inform the argument articulated in the presentation been expressed?
2. Coherence - the presentation should entail at least 3 key points that relate to a key thesis, which is to be developed iteratively over the course of the presentation. This assessment criteria evaluates the extent to which the thesis and the 3 key points are logically consistent and coherent.
3. Concision - has the presentation articulated a coherent thesis, constituted by at least 3 key points, using precise language and in an engaging manner with brevity.
The remaining 10% of the grade is to be awarded to students on the basis of their participation in the "Dawn of Humanities" conference. Participation is assessed by the unit coordinator based on a range of activities associated with conference organising and peer review during the conference.
The total 25% grade will be assessed during the conference week and released to students by 5pm AEST Friday 13 June 2025.
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is acceptable in the following ways only:
• Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.
• Gen AI can be used for content editing.
• Gen AI content generation for you to critique and review.
1
Other
Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Presentations are due during the conference which will take place in week 12. The conference schedule is to be determined by the cohort prior to week 11.
Review/Exam Week Friday (13 June 2025)
Students will receive their grade by the end of week 13
1. Clarity - how clearly have the ideas that inform the argument articulated in the presentation been expressed?
2. Coherence - the presentation should entail at least 3 key points that relate to a key thesis, which is to be developed iteratively over the course of the presentation. This assessment criteria evaluates the extent to which the thesis and the 3 key points are logically consistent and coherent.
3. Concision - has the presentation articulated a coherent thesis, constituted by at least 3 key points, using precise language and in an engaging manner with brevity.
4. Participation in conference organising activities and in peer review process during the conference.
- demonstrate a broad knowledge of the political, economic, social and cultural history of major world empires and societies and their interactions from pre-history to 1500CE (AD1500).
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Ethical practice
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?
