Overview
This unit will teach you how to create dynamic, database-driven web applications using leading open-source technologies: the Apache web server, the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system, and the WordPress content management system.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite: DGTL11006 Coding Fundamentals OR MMST11002 Web Design
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 - 2026
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 Students' assessment
There is a concern that some assessment submissions may have included AI-generated work.
The unit will be revised to allow students to use AI responsibly, consistent with the guidance already provided in the prerequisite unit DGTL11006.
- install and configure the Apache web server, the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system and the WordPress content management system
- build and maintain web sites with the WordPress content management system
- understand fundamental programming principles and write PHP scripts
- understand fundamental database concepts and build databases with MySQL
- access and manipulate the contents of a database using the Structured Query Language (SQL)
- use Apache, PHP and MySQL together to create dynamic, database-driven web applications
Not applicable
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 40% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 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 - Practical Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 40% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
A Study Guide will be provided through the unit website.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (free browser plug-in)
- Google Chrome
- Microsoft Word
- Mozilla Firefox
- WordPress
- XAMPP (includes Apache, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP and phpMyAdmin)
- Plain text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (MacOS)
- Visual Studio Code with Live Preview code extension (free software)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
r.johnluan@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 09 Mar 2026Module/Topic
1. Getting started with XAMPP
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 16 Mar 2026Module/Topic
2. Introduction to WordPress
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 23 Mar 2026Module/Topic
3. Using WordPress
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 30 Mar 2026Module/Topic
4. PHP basics
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 06 Apr 2026Module/Topic
5. PHP statements
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 13 Apr 2026Module/Topic
6. Predefined PHP variables and code
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 20 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 27 Apr 2026Module/Topic
7. Handling forms
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 04 May 2026Module/Topic
8. Database fundamentals
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 11 May 2026Module/Topic
9. Structured Query Language (SQL)
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 18 May 2026Module/Topic
10. Using PHP with MariaDB/MySQL
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 25 May 2026Module/Topic
11. Search interfaces
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 01 Jun 2026Module/Topic
12. Review
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 08 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation/Exam Week
Begin Date: 15 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
REQUIRED RESOURCES
You must have access to the following resources for this unit.
UNIT WEBSITE
The unit website provides essential resources for the unit such as a Study Guide and an online discussion forum. It can be accessed at https://moodle.cqu.edu.au
STUDY GUIDE
The online Study Guide will direct you to all of the essential readings and activities for each module of the unit. The Study Guide is available in Adobe Portable Document format (PDF) from the unit website.
DISCUSSION FORUM
An online discussion forum will be provided through the unit website for discussing matters that relate to the unit. The discussion forum is the primary means of support for off-campus students who want assistance with tutorial activities and assignments. If you seek help with the assignments through the discussion forum, do not post fragments of your code there because that could encourage plagiarism.
XAMPP
XAMPP is a free software package containing four of the tools that you need for this unit: Apache, MariaDB/MySQL, PHP and phpMyAdmin. Instructions for downloading and installing XAMPP are provided in Study Guide chapter 1.
WORDPRESS
WordPress is a free blogging platform and content management system that you need for this unit. Instructions for downloading and installing WordPress are provided in Study Guide chapter 2.
TEXT EDITOR
You will need a plain text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit for composing PHP, HTML and CSS files. Notepad is distributed with the Microsoft Windows operating system. TextEdit is distributed with the macOS operating system. If you are familiar with Visual Studio Code from the prerequisite unit, you might prefer to edit your files with it rather than Notepad or TextEdit. Visual Studio Code provides special features such as PHP syntax checking, syntax highlighting and line numbering. This free software can be downloaded from the Visual Studio Code website (https://code.visualstudio.com/download).
WEB BROWSERS
You will need a recent version of Google Chrome (https://www.google.com/chrome) and Mozilla Firefox (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox) to explore the Web and test the pages that you create. Off-campus students are encouraged to install the latest versions of these browsers. On-campus students may use whichever versions are installed in their local computer lab.
ADOBE ACROBAT READER
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is a free program that lets you view, navigate and print PDF documents like the MMST12009 Study Guide. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe website (https://www.adobe.com).
1 Practical Assessment
This assignment requires you to create a WordPress website that satisfies some supplied requirements. Please refer to the unit website for the assignment details.
Within this assessment, the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) is as follows:
No Gen AI Use Permitted (Level 1)
You must not use AI at any point during this assessment. You must demonstrate your core skills and knowledge. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding the use of AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity.
Week 4 Friday (3 Apr 2026) 9:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Please refer to the unit website for the detailed assessment criteria.
- install and configure the Apache web server, the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system and the WordPress content management system
- build and maintain web sites with the WordPress content management system
- understand fundamental database concepts and build databases with MySQL
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Practical Assessment
This assignment requires you to create an HTML form page and a PHP results page that function together to solve a supplied scripting problem. The web pages must be implemented using PHP, HTML and CSS code. Please refer to the unit website for the assignment details.
Within this assessment, the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) is as follows:
Extensive Gen AI Use with Critical Direction (Level 4)
You may use AI extensively throughout your work, as specifically directed. Focus on directing AI to achieve your goals while demonstrating critical thinking. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity. Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions.
Week 8 Friday (8 May 2026) 9:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Please refer to the unit website for the detailed assessment criteria.
- install and configure the Apache web server, the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system and the WordPress content management system
- understand fundamental programming principles and write PHP scripts
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Practical Assessment
This assignment requires you to create a MariaDB/MySQL database, a PHP search page and a PHP results page that function together to solve a supplied scripting problem. The web pages must be implemented using PHP, HTML and CSS code. Please refer to the unit website for the assignment details.
Within this assessment, the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) is as follows:
Extensive Gen AI Use with Critical Direction (Level 4)
You may use AI extensively throughout your work, as specifically directed. Focus on directing AI to achieve your goals while demonstrating critical thinking. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity. Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions.
Week 12 Friday (5 June 2026) 9:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Please refer to the unit website for the detailed assessment criteria.
- install and configure the Apache web server, the PHP scripting language, the MySQL database system and the WordPress content management system
- understand fundamental programming principles and write PHP scripts
- understand fundamental database concepts and build databases with MySQL
- access and manipulate the contents of a database using the Structured Query Language (SQL)
- use Apache, PHP and MySQL together to create dynamic, database-driven web applications
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural 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?
