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Unit Synopsis
This unit will develop your knowledge on the properties of building materials. You will also examine testing (both destructive and non-destructive) of timber, concrete, and metals in relation to: Timber - grading, strength tests, durability and protection of timber products; Concrete - tests on aggregates, fresh and hardened concrete properties, durability studies and test methods, and concrete protection; and Metal - ferrous and non-ferrous metal and its alloys, corrosion of metals and protection, and strength properties tests. This unit also develops your understanding of: Protection from corrosion and destruction; Identifying the suitable grade material for the site conditions; and Relevant Australian and international Standards. You will be provided with an introduction to: the development and application of materials from industry by-products and re-cycling of materials and life-cycle analysis of materials.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the 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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from 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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 30% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 40% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 71.43% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 16.28% 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: Students
The MS Team provided quick access to the lecturer and allowed students to discuss matters together.
The MS Team will continue to be actively used. Many students are increasingly using MS Teams at work, which has become a transferable skill in teaching.
MS teams was continued to be used across the unit.
Source: Student
Teams could be utilised for the whole course and links through to Moodle as required
Moodle must remain the core system, but the team is increasingly used in support functions and engagement improvement.
MS teams was continued to be used across the unit.
Source: Student
The quality of the pre-recorded lectures could be improved.
Lectures are to be reviewed and renewed. They do not simply read from textbooks but expand on the core issues and ideas.
The lecture videos were improved, and more examples were provided for students.
Source: Student
Thanks to the lecturer for their help and feedback, which ensured that the tutorials were an essential source of information and understanding.
All students have direct, quick access to the lecturer via the MS Team, and they remain the focus of the unit.
MS teams was continued to be used across the unit and the recordings are provided to the students.
Source: Student Feedback
Students noted that some of the reading material is UK-based, which creates challenges given the differences in terminology, and practices compared to the Australian context.
Future offerings should prioritise the inclusion of Australian-based reading materials to ensure alignment with local standards, terminology, and industry practices.
In Progress
Source: Student Feedback
Students indicated that the criteria for the research assessments were not clear, making it difficult to determine exactly what content was required to meet the expectations and successfully pass.
Assessment criteria should be reviewed and refined to provide clearer guidance on expectations. Additional examples and explanatory notes should be considered to help students better understand the required content and standards for successful completion.
In Progress
Source: Student Feedback
The unit is well-structured, and the content is clearly organised on Moodle. Learning resources are easy to access, logically sequenced, and support students in navigating the unit effectively, which enhances the overall learning experience.
The organisation of unit content on Moodle and the clarity of learning resources should be maintained. Future offerings should continue to ensure that materials are structured to support easy access and effective engagement with the content.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Explain building materials, including the types, manufacturing process, properties, usage in construction and the life cycle analysis.
- Apply the Australian and international standards relevant to building materials.
- Conduct a literature review to answer specific questions related to building materials.
- Report on building materials through effective written communication.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||