CQUniversity Unit Profile.

As aspiring diagnostic medical sonographers, students are expected to demonstrate competence in performing abdominal ultrasound examinations with precision, professionalism, and within clinically appropriate timeframes. This assessment is designed to evaluate the technical and professional skills necessary to competently perform sonographic examinations of the renal system as well as the entire abdomen. Both components of the assessment will be conducted in a clinical simulation setting within the sonography laboratories, utilising a standardised patient model. A standardised patient refers to a student who has been formally briefed and prepared to act in the role of a patient, allowing for a realistic and controlled assessment environment.  

Each module will have a mock assessment: 

• Module 1- Renal- Tuesday 28th July 2026
• Module 2- Epigastrium- Thursday 20th August 2026
• Module 3- Biliary- Tuesday 15th September 2026
• Module 4- Full Abdomen- Thursday 24th September 2026

Mock Assessments

Mock assessments are designed to evaluate your developing skills at key points during the term, providing valuable feedback to support your ongoing learning and improvement. These assessments offer an opportunity to reflect on your performance and make targeted adjustments ahead of the final assessment. You will be required to complete sonographic examinations within designated timeframes, aligned with the relevant imaging protocols. This includes meeting expectations across the professional (pre-scan, in-scan, and post-scan conduct), technical (image acquisition and technique), and clinical (knowledge and decision-making) domains, as outlined in the unit lab manual and reinforced through practical labs, lectures, demonstrations, and tutorials. Mock assessments are formative in nature and are intended to provide experiential learning. They do not contribute to your final unit grade. The associated ARC tools used during these sessions are not moderated and should be used as personal learning aids to guide your progress. 

The purpose of Assessment 1 is to assess your competency in performing a complete abdominal ultrasound examination. You will be assessed on the professional, technical and clinical components of the examination. During the assessment, your assessor will observe you performing the full abdominal scan and will assess your performance against the standards outlined in the Assessment of Readiness for Clinical (ARC) tool. This assessment will initially be marked live, and moderation will follow. Video recordings of your performance will be used for this purpose. Please carefully review the assessment information and ARC tools posted on the unit Moodle site. Provisional results will be released once moderation is finalised after the second attempt. 

No AI- The assessment is completed entirely without AI assistance in a controlled environment, ensuring that students rely solely on their existing knowledge, understanding, and skills. You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment.

This is a PASS/FAIL assessment item.

To PASS this assessment, the professional, technical and clinical components must be graded as a pass against the marking criteria framework -  refer to the ARC tool for specifications.

The professional 'critical' skills are the bolded items in the ARC tool and must be completed in order to pass. 

The technical and clinical skills are separated into critical and non- critical skills. Critical skills must be demonstrated consistently throughout the assessment to pass. There is no limit of non critical errors that may be made and still pass this assessment, however if any of those errors result in a critical error due to severity, then they will count instead as a critical error.

Two attempts at this assessment will be offered. Students must pass at least one of these attempts to achieve an overall pass for this unit.

Additional information

Your grade (PASS/FAIL) will be allocated following consensus moderation. Please be aware that all practical skills assessments (including mocks) will be video recorded. Recordings of the mock assessments will be released to students for reflection and learning purposes, however assessment videos of attempt 1 and 2  will not be released to students. Videos may be viewed by CQU sonography staff and tutors for the purposes of marking and moderation of assessments. It also may be required to be viewed by other CQU staff in the event of a student requesting a Review of Grade or Appeal of Grade. 

The purpose of this assessment is to prepare you for the professionalism and documentation responsibilities you will have on clinical placement, as well as to develop self-reflection skills by setting weekly goals and following-up on your progress. When working clinically, patients and physicians rely on quick, efficient, and complete documentation to issue treatment. Failure to complete paperwork correctly in the clinical environment may have dire consequences to patient management.

This assessment will require you to complete tasks as follows:

PART A - Induction

• Workplace Health and Safety Induction - quiz completed
• Consent and Confidentiality Form - signed
• Compulsory tutorial - attended.

Uploaded documentation is in pdf format. Please ensure your first name, surname, student number, and name of document you are uploading is used in that order in the title of the document, separated by either underscores or single spaces. Any other order variation or information is incorrect so please take note of this.

eg: Naz_Clifford_10123456_lab_agreement.pdf OR Naz Clifford 10123456 lab agreement.pdf

To simulate real clinical environments where correct documentation is of critical importance, non-completed or incorrectly completed paperwork will be returned to students with ONE opportunity provided to correct the error. As this is a pass/fail assessment item, repeated errors may result in a fail of the assessment item.

The compulsory tutorial covers requirements for the Professional Behaviour Assessment (Assessment 4), as well as important induction and term information. It is compulsory that all students attend on MONDAY 13th July 2026 10:30 AM AEST.

PART B – Reflection

Reflective practice is a vital component of medical sonography, involving the critical analysis of clinical experiences to inform and improve future practice. By encouraging self-awareness and ongoing evaluation of strengths, challenges, and biases, reflective practice supports the development of clinical skills, decision-making, and professional growth. In a field characterised by evolving technology, techniques, and patient needs, it also fosters lifelong learning and adaptability, enabling sonographers to continually enhance the quality of care they provide.

From this, you are required to complete weekly self-reflection based on your performance in the sonography labs this term.

The purpose of this assessment is to prepare you for professional attendance and documentation responsibilities on clinical placement, as well as to develop self-reflection skills by setting weekly goals and following up on progress.

The correct completion and upload of documentation in Parts A and B:
• Demonstrates understanding of the lab processes, procedures and Codes of Conduct
• Ensures that you agree to take part in scanning procedures with due regard for volunteer consent processes
• Ensures you understand safety procedures and requirements when in the sonography labs.
• Ensures that you attend scanning labs as scheduled
• Allows you to collect tutor and peer feedback on your skills in ultrasound scanning, image optimisation, and documentation, patient care, communication, and ergonomic performance
• Helps you to respond to feedback with your own reflections and objectives for practice and improvement

No AI- The assessment is completed entirely without AI assistance in a controlled environment, ensuring that students rely solely on their existing knowledge, understanding, and skills. You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment.

To pass this assessment item you must:
• Complete all paperwork accurately and on time
• Save and upload in the format specified
• Engage in weekly self-reflection
• Submit by the due date and time specified

Documentation in the clinical environment must be correctly issued, otherwise there can be dire consequences for the patient and legal ramifications for the sonographer. Hence, in the lab, non-completed or incorrectly completed paperwork will be returned to students to correct and re upload. As sonographers, it is important for you to both understand and comply with requirements regarding paperwork and documentation.

This is a pass/fail assessment task in a pass/fail unit - a fail grade for any component of a pass/fail assessment task will result in a fail grade for the assessment task, and subsequently the entire unit.

Additionally, in a non-graded pass/fail unit, all assessment items must be correctly and accurately submitted by the due date, as there is no opportunity to apply a five percent penalty, due to the pass/fail nature of each assessment task.

Referencing Style: Vancouver
Submission: Online
Submission Instructions: Via Feedback Fruits on Moodle 
Learning Outcomes Assessed:
• Critically reflect and improve upon own professional practice and sonographic psychomotor skills utilising constructive feedback.

There are two (2) separate online quizzes to complete for this unit. These will assess:

Your understanding of sonographic anatomy
Your ability to identify normal variants and discriminate these from pathological processes
Your knowledge of sonographic techniques and protocols

The purpose of these quizzes is to ensure adequate review of anatomy and their sonographic appearances sufficient preparation of protocol and procedures is undertaken prior to sonographic labs.

Once available, quizzes are open for 24 hours.

• Quiz 1 is in week 5 and covers the bladder, prostate, right/left kidneys (renal system), pancreas and aorta.
• Quiz 2 is in week 10 and covers liver, biliary system, spleen and professional components.
• You are allowed ONE attempt at each quiz, so please ensure you are prepared beforehand.
• The time limit for the quiz is 20 mins and there are 20 multiple choice questions.
• These assessment tasks must be completed on or before the due dates.
• No late submissions are permitted after each quiz has closed, so please ensure adequate time for completion, with additional time for computer mishaps. If you have computer/quiz access difficulties, you need to contact TaSAC as soon as possible for assistance. Take a screenshot of the issue. After you have contacted TaSAC, please contact the unit coordinator for assistance if you cannot complete the quiz in the allocated time before the end of the quiz.
• In the event you are unable to complete the quiz in the allocated time and have suitable medical/supporting documentation, you can apply for an extension through the Assessment Extension system on Moodle before the end of the quiz to be granted an extension to the quiz time without academic penalty.
• In the absence of an approved extension, there will be no opportunity to complete a quiz after it has closed.

AI Planning- AI may be used for pre-task activities such as brainstorming, outlining and initial research. This level focuses on the effective use of AI for planning, synthesis, and ideation, but assessments should emphasise the ability to develop and refine these ideas independently. You may use AI for planning, idea development, and research. Your final submission should show how you have developed and refined these ideas.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment.

Answers will be either correct or incorrect and tabulated by the unit's online Moodle system.

Once started, the quiz cannot be paused, stopped or re-started. Once the time limit is reached any open questions will be automatically submitted. Once you have completed the test, it cannot be retaken.

Students must achieve a cumulative pass rate of 60% across the two quizzes to pass this assessment. (Please note that if one of the quizzes is not completed, a maximum cumulative score of only 50% can be achieved).

This assessment is to be undertaken as an individual, and is not approved as group work. Colluding with other students on non-group work tasks is considered academic misconduct, and will be reported to the Academic Integrity Unit.

This is a pass/fail assessment task in a pass/fail unit. A fail grade for any component of a pass/fail assessment task will result in a fail grade for the assessment task, and subsequently the entire unit.

In a case that an accumulative score of 60% is not achieved in the two quizzes, a third quiz will be made available to students. This quiz will assess content from all weeks of the unit and the result can considered for the overall minimum 60% required to pass the assessment item.

Professionalism and professional behaviour are critical parts of any medically aligned profession, and encompass the manner in which we treat our colleagues, patients, and the professional settings and equipment provided to us. The purpose of this assessment is to ensure that students from the Medical Sonography course are well-equipped to embody the high standards of professionalism that are expected from CQUniversity students while on their upcoming clinical placements, and as graduate sonographers in their future careers. Developing your professionalism during this unit will prepare you for the next environment in which you will be expected to maintain professional behaviour whenever in your uniform and representing the university, placement site, and yourself.

This assessment will require you to treat each of your lab sessions as a scheduled "work shift" and to exhibit professional attitudes to ensure you are prepared to enter the work force with the skills required to provide safe and professional patient care. As such, this assessment is based on assessment of student application and attendance during labs throughout the term. You must comply with uniform standards in all lab sessions. 

Expected behaviour and its relevance to the clinical environment is listed in the Professional Behaviour Assessment Document. Additionally, please familiarise yourself with the CODE OF CONDUCT in the Lab Manual as well as the ASA CODE OF CONDUCT and the CQU CODE OF CONDUCT so that you have a clear understanding of the rationale for, and importance of this assessment. All of these documents are posted on Moodle (under Assessment 5 documentation) for your information. Professionalism extends to colleagues, staff, patients, environment, and equipment.

This assessment is marked against the Professional Behaviour Assessment (PBA) description and incorporates a process of warnings and feedback on expected behaviour of students when in the lab environment. This will commence in week 3 of the term, and apply to activities within the lab. A warning is known as a Lapse in Professionalism (LiP). Up to three LiPs can be received within the unit without adverse consequence. A fourth LiP however will result in the assessment being graded as a fail.

In the event that a LiP point is accrued, written documentation of the reason will be completed by the on-site lecturer or the unit coordinator, and provided to you as feedback. You will have the opportunity to seek further clarification from unit coordinator.

If unprofessional attitude or behaviour is reported by fellow classmates and not witnessed by a staff member, an unofficial warning with formative feedback will be provided in writing detailing the allegation, and your response will be documented.

There is a COMPULSORY professional behaviour Zoom session on MONDAY 13th July 2026 10:30 am AEST.

No AI- The assessment is completed entirely without AI assistance in a controlled environment, ensuring that students rely solely on their existing knowledge, understanding, and skills. You must not use AI at any point during the assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge.

The 72-hour grace period does not apply to this assessment.

No Assessment Criteria