MEDI12008 - Foundations of Radiation Science

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit will provide you with the foundational science knowledge needed for future study of the safe and effective use of x-ray imaging equipment and production of diagnostic radiography images. You will learn the theoretical concepts of radiation production and control, radiation interactions in matter, and basics of digital radiographic image recording and processing. This learning will be underpinned by a study of core physics concepts. You will learn how and why to limit radiation exposure through the study of radiation bioeffects and best practices in radiation protection.

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 Enrolment in CB77

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 3 - 2024

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

This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see assessment details from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.

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 - 2024 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 55.56% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 16.67% 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: Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback
None of the students attended the bi-weekly clarification drop-in sessions throughout the term.
Recommendation
Cease offering the bi-weekly clarification drop-in sessions in subsequent iterations of the unit.
Action Taken
Bi-weekly clarification drop-in sessions were no longer offered this term based as per recommendation.
Source: Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback
Students will benefit from lecture content containing real-world and/or clinical scenarios that are relevant and applicable to the Chiropractic professional context.
Recommendation
Review lecture content and incorporate real-world and/or clinical scenarios that are relevant and applicable to the Chiropractic professional context.
Action Taken
Videos explaining and linking physics concepts to the medical imaging and/or chiropractic context were added as complementary resources for the existing lecture videos for the unit.
Source: Unit Coordinator reflection Informal student feedback
Feedback
Some students perceive the Radiation Production and Imaging Report as an ineffective assessment tool leading to diminished motivation for students to invest time and effort into the assessment.
Recommendation
Review the appropriateness of the existing Radiation Production and Imaging report as an assessment tool and consider alternative methods, such as online tests, to improve the overall efficiency of the assessment process.
Action Taken
The Radiation Production and Imaging report was reviewed and alternate assessment methods were considered. Based on the information, the Radiation Production and Imaging Report was maintained as the assessment tool as it was identified as an effective tool in supporting students to make logical connections between the key physics concepts and their applications in a clinical context. The assessment questions were refined to better align with the learning and assessment outcomes.
Source: PASS team PASS student leaders Unit Coordinator reflection
Feedback
The Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS), typically available for Year 1 units at CQU, were introduced for the first time in this second-year unit. Despite consistent reminders, none of the students showed any interest or participated in the Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS).
Recommendation
Reassess the option to offer Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) in future iterations of the unit given the lack of interest and participation by students.
Action Taken
The Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) team were unable to successfully recruit a PASS leader for the unit due to a lack of interest from prospective candidates. This has resulted in PASS no longer being offered in the current and future iterations of the unit.
Source: PASS student leaders Unit Coordinator reflection Informal student feedback
Feedback
Some students preferred the weekly tutorials to focus on content covered during that week instead of a retrospective coverage in the subsequent week.
Recommendation
Invest in the option to offer weekly tutorials in the same week of content coverage instead of retrospective coverage the following week to support and promote a more effective learning experience for the students.
Action Taken
Instead of retrospective coverage, the weekly tutorials were offered in the same week as content coverage in the current delivery of the unit.
Source: PASS student leaders Unit Coordinator reflection Informal student feedback
Feedback
Many students perceived the study skills content covered in the initial tutorial not particularly relevant or beneficial to their learning needs as second year students.
Recommendation
Remove the content on study skills from the initial tutorial content and focus this first tutorial on the week 1 unit content to provide a more meaningful learning experience for the students.
Action Taken
The content for study skills were moved to the Introduction section of the unit and Week 1 solely focused on the core concepts covered in that week.
Source: Informal student feedback Unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
Students found the use of illustrations in tutorial discussions valuable in understanding complex concepts.
Recommendation
Maintain current use of illustrations and investigate expanding the use of illustrations in tutorials when covering complex concepts.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
Students will be able to better connect theoretical concepts with clinical applications if the virtual labs include more images and less numerical data.
Recommendation
Investigate the utility of increasing the number of images and reducing the amount of numerical data in the virtual labs to support student learning.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
The Radiation Production and Imaging Report marks are skewed toward higher grades, likely due to the current rubric not clearly distinguishing between performance levels.
Recommendation
Review and modify the rubric to provide clearer criteria for each grade level, enabling better differentiation of student performance.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.