BIOL12107 - Genomes, Genetics & Evolution

General Information

Unit Synopsis

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

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 2
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Online

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).

Assessment Overview

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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Written Assessment 30%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 20%
3. Online Quiz(zes) 50%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 3 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 88.89% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 26.47% response rate.

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.

Source: Feedback
Feedback
A number of students expressed gratitude for the support, for example, "Dana was fantastic. I could not survive a unit like this without her explanations, drawings and enthusiasm. "
Recommendation
Continue to provide all levels of support to students that use offered one on one meeting options to help with assignments or understanding difficult-to-grasp concepts.
Action Taken
The recommended action is implemented.
Source: Feedback
Feedback
Additional support was offered to students with disability and working full-time. This included meetings outside of working hours and helping with meeting deadlines. This is also reflected in feedback "Dana is by far the best lecturer I have had whilst at CQU. Her flexibility and understanding of my position as a student in full time work allowed me to be comfortable and confident in my assessment and growth throughout the subject."
Recommendation
Continue to offer help to the most vulnerable students and encourage them continually to feel free to ask for that help.
Action Taken
The recommended action is implemented.
Source: Feedback
Feedback
"Students would benefit from a residential school, learning from Dana face to face and applying knowledge in the lab."
Recommendation
Residential schools are not possible and this type of feedback started when I introduced videos about labwork and bioinformatics. This shows that the videos achieved intended interest among the students, with one more of them sating they consider career in bioinformatics. I will continue to encourage them to learn more about practical work without the need for residential school
Action Taken
The recommended action is implemented. We have added hands-on bioinformatics lectures.
Source: Feedback
Feedback
One student left feedback pointing at some ppt slides that were not covered in lecture. This refers to material removed from the lecture based on number of students feedback.
Recommendation
The PowerPoint will be updated to match the video.
Action Taken
The recommended action is implemented. Several weekly lectures were re-recorded to add more up-to-date information.
Source: SUTE Unit Comment Report
Feedback
Future pathway information was useful for student's career planning.
Recommendation
Make a video about the career pathways related to genetics/genomics.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Unit Comment Report
Feedback
The Practical Bioinformatics presentation was a well received addition to this unit.
Recommendation
Create a video covering the laboratory side of genomics.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE Unit Comment Report
Feedback
More content/examples are required to explain how this unit relates to students studying agriculture.
Recommendation
Prepare material covering genomics applications in the veterinarian and agricultural sciences.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Use correct terminology to describe genetics, genomes and evolution
  2. Discuss the concepts of heritability, mutation, development, Mendelian genetics, extranuclear and multi-allelic inheritance, the Hardy-Weinberg Law and related topics in quantitative genetics
  3. Explain the mechanisms of change in the genome including the concepts of genetic disorders adaptation and speciation
  4. 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 • • • •
2 - Online Quiz(zes) •
3 - Online Quiz(zes) • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4
1 - Communication • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • •
4 - Information Literacy • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence •
8 - Ethical practice •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10