Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will be introduced to the principles of ultrasound physics and instrumentation. Ultrasound safety, quality assurance and recognition of artifacts will also be covered. The knowledge and skills learnt from this unit are integral to all concurrent and subsequent sonography and echocardiography units and forms the foundation from which you will build your image acquisition, recognition and assessment skills. You will apply your knowledge and skills of physics principles in the laboratory setting using ultrasound equipment.
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 |
Prerequisite MEDI11002 Physics for Health Sciences Co requisite MEDS12003 Superficial Structures in Ultrasound or ECHO12006 Cardiac Science
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 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 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. Online Quiz(zes) | 40% |
| 2. Laboratory/Practical | 0% |
| 3. Online Test | 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%).
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 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 20.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 24.32% 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 Teacher Evaluations
Students reported issues with the time limit and certain question types not functioning as expected on specific electronic devices in the redesigned Assessment 1.
Reconsider number of questions from a timing perspective. Limit question sub-parts and drag and drop style questions as these may be unreliable on some electronic devices, such as tablets, further exacerbating the time limit concerns.
The number of questions in Assessment 1 was decreased significantly. Additionally, the specific type of questions ("drag and drop") were amended to make them easier to navigate.
Source: SUTE Teacher Evaluations
Students found the Kahoot interactive platform used during tutorials to be effective for both engagement and retaining knowledge.
The Kahoot tutorials should continue next year, with an increase in interactive content during tutorials.
Kahoot tutorials were continued, but were limited by the number of tutorial participants as the coordinator was using the free version. Online polling systems were attempted in the Zoom tutorials, but they were not as successful due to lack of interaction.
Source: MEDS12001 Q&A forum
Practice questions and quizzes in a similar format to the assessments would be useful.
Consider developing more practice quizzes and questions in the same format as the online assessments.
Practice questions were reviewed in more detail through the tutorials. A variety of question styles were provided to better prepare the students.
Source: SUTE Feedback
Assessment 1 (mid-term quiz) was not allocated adequate time based on the number of questions. Additionally, the question format was difficult to maneuver on some devices.
Review assessment timing and the use of ‘drag and drop’ questions to reduce student stress and improve quiz accessibility across devices.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback
Lab manual 3 has too many tasks for the two-hour session, and this causes students to feel rushed. Clearer passing criteria are also needed given the absence of a marking rubric.
Lab manual 3 has already been amended in previous offerings to include less tasks. Tasks cannot be moved to lab 2 as the concepts are not delivered at that time in the learning journey. However, increasing the lab session time or providing additional lab time elsewhere can be reviewed to alleviate student stress. Additionally, create a marking rubric to provide students with specific requirements regarding achieving a passing grade.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback
The Moodle site was difficult to navigate in the table format as tasks could not be "checked off". This also made it difficult to determine if content had been released on time and if all links were working appropriately.
Investigate options to improve Moodle layout and navigation.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Feedback
Tutorials should review lecture content at the beginning, then review questions using Kahoot.
Consider splitting tutorial time between content review and a Kahoot session to keep students engaged.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Apply the physical principles of diagnostic ultrasound to practical problems
- Evaluate the components and performance of diagnostic ultrasound equipment
- Apply knowledge of ultrasound physics and practical skills to acquire optimal ultrasound images, with due regard of safe practices
- Discuss the principles of ultrasound techniques, Doppler ultrasound and its application in medical ultrasound including safety issues
- Interpret the causes of, and apply problem solving skills to reduce, sources of artifacts on an ultrasound image.
The learning outcomes for this unit relate to the requirements of general sonography courses under the Australasian Sonography Accreditation Registry (ASAR), Standards for the Accreditation of Sonographer Courses (SASC):
Foundation Units of Competence 1-5
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Laboratory/Practical | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Online Test | • | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |