Unit Synopsis
This unit builds upon the basic microbiological concepts learned in first year and applies them to an environmental context. In this unit you will learn about the various microbial groups and develop a sound understanding of their relevance and importance in both natural and industrial environments. This unit has a very applied and practical focus, covering both field and laboratory microbiological methods. You will learn and apply practical skills which also include employability skills in the area of microbiology.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisite: BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory 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 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
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. Presentation and Written Assessment | 20% |
| 2. Practical and Written Assessment | 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%).
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 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 71.43% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 30.43% 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: SUTE comments
The residential school was invaluable and very helpful.
The residential school will continue in its current format.
The residential school was kept in its current format.
Source: SUTE comments
Students appreciated the shorter pre-recorded lectures.
The new, shorter lectures will be continued.
The shorter, topic-focused lectures were continued.
Source: SUTE comments
Students found the residential school to be very relevant to the unit and their learning
The residential school will continue in its current format.
In Progress
Source: SUTE comments
Some agriculture students felt this unit was not very relevant to their degree
This was the first year that agriculture students enroled in this unit. I will look into probably adding modules specifically for agriculture students to make the unit more relevant to them.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the relationships between form and function, genetics, and growth dynamics in the major microbial groups
- Explain the fundamental principles of environmental microbiology
- Discuss the role of microbial interactions with the environment and other organisms, including industrial applications
- Discuss sampling, processing and analysis methods with respect to environmental microorganisms
- Practice and demonstrate selected microbiological procedures in the laboratory in a safe and efficient manner
- Interpret the results of laboratory experiments both individually and in groups.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Online Test | • | • | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | |||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Online Test | • | • | |||||||||