DSMG28001 - Foundations of Emergency and Disaster Management

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This is a foundational unit that introduces the fundamental concepts and frameworks that underpin the effective management of emergencies and disasters. You will gain a basic understanding of the nature of hazards and disasters and will Introduce the key stakeholders involved with emergency and disaster management, explore the historic and contemporary principles, policies, and legal frameworks guiding the field of practice. The unit will explore local and global concepts of emergency and disaster management and the models, systems and processes required to effectively mitigate, prepare, respond and recover from various disasters.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Students enrolled in the CM40 Bachelor of Paramedic Science/Graduate Certificate in Emergency and Disaster Management must have completed a minimum of 48 credit points.

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 2 - 2025

Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

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 Postgraduate 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. Presentation 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%

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 1 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.64% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 13.75% 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: Discussions with students, discipline area staff.
Feedback
To support students in other emergency and disaster management units, introduce the CQU seven-step search strategy into DSMG28001 to assist with academic literacy and assessment writing.
Recommendation
The assessment instructions will include the CQU seven-step search strategy to assist student learning.
Action Taken
Both assessments incorporate the CQUniversity seven-step search strategy. For Assessment 1, it is included as part of the background, and Assessment 2 then requires a description of it as part of the submission.
Source: Feedback from students, discussions with discipline area staff
Feedback
The unit's contextual examples focus on types of issues which do not always give a complete view of the Australian disaster management administrative situation, especially arrangements and policies made by the states and territories.
Recommendation
Beginning in T3 2023, the unit material will be adjusted to include a more in-depth discussion of the disaster management policy and arrangements at the state and territory level.
Action Taken
Adjustments were made to the learning books in Moodle, adding content on some of the policy arrangements in place at state and territory level. Additional context on this will be added when module case studies are adjusted.
Source: Discussion with students
Feedback
Ongoing technological difficulties connected to on-campus classes run over video conference, leading to disruptions and difficulty engaging with tutorials.
Recommendation
Tutorials will be re-designed for T3 2024 to eliminate the need for synchronous video conference-enabled classes. Melbourne and Sydney will have separate tutorials, and each location will have its own facilitator who works only with that class.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Discussion with students, observations by unit co-ordinator and other staff
Feedback
Spacing and progression of content impacts on learning experience, particularly material and concepts that are needed for assessments.
Recommendation
Additional adjustments will be made to the online learning materials for T3 2024: the current offering constitutes a partially-flipped classroom model, with some background material recapped or discussed at tutorial sessions. This will be adjusted to create a fully flipped classroom model where students have access to the entire unit, consolidating the content into division by module rather than week. This will allow students to complete the content in a manner that suits their own situation.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Evaluate the characteristics of natural and human-caused hazards and vulnerabilities particular to global, regional and national emergency and disaster contexts
  2. Explain the principles of Emergency and Disaster Management using the prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (PPRR) model
  3. Analyse how environmental, political and social vulnerability differs from traditional approaches to disasters and emergency management
  4. Locate appropriate peer-reviewed and grey literature relevant to emergency and disaster management
  5. Conduct a social vulnerability analysis relevant to the emergency and disaster management context
  6. Identify limitations and opportunities that promote or restrict strategies for addressing vulnerability in the context of the United Nations' Sendai framework and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Presentation • • • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • • • • • •
2 - Communication • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • •
4 - Research • • • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8