Unit Synopsis
In this unit you will build upon the foundational knowledge gained in microbiology and apply it in a clinical context. You will explore the role of commensal flora in maintaining health and the role of bacterial, fungal, viral, protozoal and helminthic pathogens in disease and learn about their detection, identification, treatment and management. You will also consider new and emerging technologies and you will also explore the concept of 'One Health' while considering emerging diseases, pandemics and zoonoses as well as the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisite: MBIO19012 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 |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Group Work | 40% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 10% |
| 3. Laboratory/Practical | 0% |
| 4. Online Test | 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%).
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.
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 Evaluation.
Some students had difficulty in unpacking requirements for the clinical case studies.
Consider reviewing tutorial content to ensure clarity and provide consistent exemplars of clinical case studies.
Tutorial content was extensively revised, and assessment components were incorporated to provide additional support. Consistent exemplars were embedded within lecture materials to strengthen the development of clinical diagnostic methods and enable their application to clinical case studies during tutorials.
Source: Staff Reflection
Limited turnaround time between receiving feedback on Assessment 1 and the submission deadline for Assessment 2.
Consider increasing the time between the submission of Assessment 1 and Assessment 2 to allow adequate reflection on feedback and its application to subsequent work.
On further review of the nature of these two assessment tasks they were removed. New assessment tasks provided a timely scaffolded approach receiving feedback on assessment to support subsequent work that was found to be highly successful given the later quality of student work submitted.
Source: Student verbal feedback Combined teaching team reflection
Residential School laboratory manual and teaching activities needed better organisation and alignment to the Pathway-to-Medicine career trajectory
Redesign of the residential school activities to ensure appropriate alignment for the CM17 specific cohort. Consider an introductory video to support residential school expectations.
In Progress
Source: Student verbal feedback Combined teaching team reflection
Tutorial structure - working well and supporting student engagement, attendance and comprehension.
Keep the tutorial structure and associated assessment strategies.
In Progress
Source: Combined teaching team reflection
We experienced some challenges within the teaching team around communication that caused confusion for students.
Ensure that all teaching team have prepared for tutorial classes in advance of attending class. Ensure all correct teaching materials are available to entire team prior to delivery time and peer review processes undertaken.
In Progress
Source: Student verbal feedback
Some students were disengaged during tutorial discussions while others demonstrated an over-reliance on the use of AI to prepare for tutorials.
Enhance tutorial engagement by incorporating interactive, case-based learning activities and reinforcing expectations regarding the appropriate use of AI as a learning support tool.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Discuss the clinical significance, laboratory detection, treatment and management of commensal flora, pathogens and opportunistic pathogens of each of the human body systems
- Appraise the use of standard and emerging techniques for detecting and identifying bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites causing human disease
- Evaluate the use of antimicrobial chemotherapeutic agents and vaccines in the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites
- Discuss the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites
- Compare and contrast emerging infectious diseases, including definitions, factors leading to disease emergence, monitoring and intervention strategies.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of how artificial intelligence technologies are impacting clinical diagnostic microbiology and healthcare.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Group Work | • | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Laboratory/Practical | • | • | ||||
| 4 - Online Test | • | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • | ||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |