BLAR14019 - Built Environment Research Plan

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will work and learn autonomously, demonstrate professional capabilities expected of a graduating industry practitioner, formulate and adhere to a research plan, communicate progress, and prepare interim reports and presentations. You will define and scope a research topic by applying detailed technical knowledge and industry based methodologies, assessing safety and risk factors, preparing a feasible plan and drafting an implementation schedule. The unit will give you an opportunity to develop your personal and interpersonal skills and use effectively different modes of communication. Note: Prior to the commencement of term and before an enrolment can be accepted, you must confirm with the unit coordinator that you have identified a suitable research interest and an academic supervisor is available. Students who have successfully completed BLCN14036 or BLSV14012 should not enrol in this unit.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 4
Credit Points 12
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.25
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite Condition: Successfully completed 126 units of credits in the Building Surveying (Honours) or Construction Management (Honours) course.

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 - 2026

Term 1 - 2026 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 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Presentation and Written Assessment 30%
2. Written Assessment 30%
3. Presentation and 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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

To view Past Exams,
please login
Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 66.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 24% 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: Student Unit Comments Report- Term 1- 2024
Feedback
Students found that the lecturer has extensive knowledge to be teaching for this unit. They find visual resources used by the lecturer have been effective and helpful with working through the content.
Recommendation
Same lecturer is recommended for the next delivery. If that lecturer is unavailable, it is recommended to use a lecturer with similar capacity with broader industry and research experience. It is recommended to adopt the similar learning and teaching strategy for the next unit delivery with more visuals and examples to describe the concepts, situations and scenarios for improved clarity.
Action Taken
The recommended teaching strategy was adopted with the same lecturer. The lecturer received similar positive feedback both in written and verbally.
Source: Student Unit Comments Report- Term 1- 2024
Feedback
It would be beneficial if some of the research skills are taught at an earlier point in the degree. It has added a layer of difficulty to learn the skills and undertake such significant assignments in the same period. However, the current unit offering has given a positive experience.
Recommendation
Built Environment team needs to review and analyse the ways of embedding research skills and knowledge in other units of BE courses. It is recommended that the Built Environment team come up with an action plan to achieve the target within a feasible time such as within three years.
Action Taken
The matter was discussed, and the Built Environment team is to come up with an action plan soon. Some units, such as BLAR13042, have already been covering research components before students take BLAR14019.
Source: Student Unit Teaching Evaluation Unit Comments Report- T1- 2025
Feedback
The freedom to choose a research topic is greatly useful when individual students have a specific interest they want to research.
Recommendation
The freedom to choose a research topic on their own will continue, along with the prescribed research topics given by the lecturer. This will enable some students to research their own research problem, and other students who cannot come up with their own problem can select a topic from the prescribed list.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student Unit Teaching Evaluation Unit Comments Report- T1- 2025
Feedback
it is very intense to fully take in all of the course content and complete the assessments in such a short period of time.
Recommendation
This unit serves as the foundation for BLAR14020 - Built Environment Research, so students are prepared to undertake an actual research project through the unit's (BLAR14019) content and assessments. There are three assessments in the unit's assessment structure, of which assessment one is a one-page research proposal. So, assessment one has proportionally reduced the workload. However, the teaching team will review the content and assessment structure in future deliveries and consider further ways to reduce the workload.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Formulate and operate a research plan.
  2. Apply detailed technical knowledge and industry based methodologies, assess safety and risk factors, and prepare a feasible plan and implementation schedule.
  3. Discover and use information sources and technology to collect, analyse and interpret data, notes and references.
  4. Practice personal and interpersonal skills.
  5. Use effectively different modes of communication.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •
3 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
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 • • • • •
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
1 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • • •
3 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • • • •