ENVR11011 - Modern Environmental Issues

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In Modern Environmental Issues you will learn how scientific methods and knowledge inform issues of environmental concern. You will learn about different environments and their interaction with human populations, resources and pollution, disturbance, atmospheric composition and air pollution, fossil fuels and renewable sources of energy, conservation and environmental management. You will begin to apply basic scientific knowledge and quantitative data to researching and discussing environmental issues and 'wicked' problems.

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 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 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 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. Online discussion forum 20%
2. Presentation 30%
3. 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%).

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 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 27.27% 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 feedback
Feedback
Some of the lectures need to be updated.
Recommendation
The unit coordinator will update some of the recorded lectures.
Action Taken
Most lectures were refreshed this year.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
The fortnightly questions are unclear in some cases and could be more Australian focussed.
Recommendation
The fortnightly questions will be reviewed for clarity. The global nature of questions related to environmental issues will be maintained. Students focus on local issues in their Video of a Local Environmental Issue assessment.
Action Taken
Additional detail was added to the fortnightly questions and they were directed towards Australia when international environmental issues were not the topic.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students appreciate the real world focus and informative nature of the learning materials.
Recommendation
The overall structure and content focus of the unit materials will be maintained.
Action Taken
This real world structure and acknowledgement of wicked problems was maintained. Students are always encouraged to voice their viewpoint and to back it up with quantitative data.
Source: Unit Coordinator
Feedback
Invented citations in fortnightly assessable questions and the end of term on line quiz are a growing issue
Recommendation
All scientific literature citations need to be accompanied by a clickable DOI link to ensure invented citations are minimized. Students will need to indicate the page and paragraph the cited item originates from.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student
Feedback
Content and assessments felt excessive for a first year unit and required significantly more time commitments than second and third year units.
Recommendation
The content of the unit does not exceed the standards for first year units (12.5 hours/wk). Lectures are 3 hours, fortnightly assessment is 3-4 hours, and readings are ~3 hours.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student
Feedback
Each assessment criteria was clear and precise, the lecturer was easy to get a hold of and quick to respond to all questions and provide further clarification when needed, and the assessment results were returned in a timely manner.
Recommendation
The assessment criteria will continue to updated and modified to help students improve their research and communication skills, to help them incorporate GenAI into their workflow, and to deepen their knowledge of environmental issues and their impact on society and nature.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student
Feedback
Proof check moodle before term commencement, particularly assessment items, due dates and ability to post to ECHO360.
Recommendation
Remove ECHO360 links from individual weekly tiles so that all video lecture material is available through the Virtual Classes tile. Tick the "allow text" box on the Assessment 2 to allow students to submit assessment to ECHO360 through Moodle. Check and recheck dates against the Unit Profile. Reduce due dates to three places on each Moodle page (UP, Assessment Tile summary, and each assessment item).
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Describe the underpinning science of environmental issues
  2. Discuss possible solutions to environmental issues
  3. Communicate the scientific basis of environmental issues to general audiences
  4. Discuss the ecological and scientific principles relevant to understanding natural and human impacts on the environment
  5. Synthesise information from scientific literature relating to modern environmental issues.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Online discussion forum • • •
2 - Presentation • • • •
3 - Online Test • • •
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 •
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