Unit Synopsis
This advanced level unit introduces you to the practices and principles of Human Factors and examines the ways that humans function in complex socio-technical environments and organisational safety systems. This unit discusses the core principles of physical, cognitive, organisational and environmental ergonomics and provides the foundational knowledge required for the discipline of Human Factors. You will learn and apply knowledge in the area of anthropometric variation of the human body to end-user design enhancements as well as discussing concepts of job design in relation to psychological considerations including mental workloads, fatigue management, teamwork and job-fit concepts.
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 |
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 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 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. Group Discussion | 20% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 40% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 40% |
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 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 30.77% 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 Feedback
Students reported struggling with the content of this unit this term due to the short time frame to learn complex theories and practical tools.
It is recommended to review the content of this unit before the next offering. This will also need to take into consideration the new cohort of international students undertaking the unit as an elective.
The unit content was changed for the 2025 offering to consider the international students now enrolling in the unit. Several assessment items were made less onerous in relation to the practical application of human factors tools.
Source: Unsolicited Student Feedback
International students reported struggling with the very practical assessment tools in this unit.
It is recommended to review the need for the practical human factors tools used for two of the three assessment tasks in this unit.
The use of Human Factors tools was reviewed and changed in order to make it more inclusive for international students to be able to understand and use several human factors tools in real world applications.
Source: SUTE Feeback
Students felt that the unit was well put together.
It is recommended to keep the format of the way the unit is delivered. However, this may change if the practical assessment tasks are changed as there may be less focus on teaching these tools.
The format of the delivery of the unit was kept the same but the practical assessment tasks were changed and made less onerous for students to complete.
Source: SUTE Data
Sessions were run during work hours and one student reported that they were unable to attend due to work commitments which made them feel a little isolated.
Most of the students work so it is difficult to cater for all students when timetabling is done. It is recommended to keep recording the lectures so that students who cannot attend in person can view the lectures in their out of work hours.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Data
It was reported that the prescribed readings for each week could be linked to make it easier to access them.
All prescribed readings are provided in the eReadling List. However, some readings are part of the prescribed textbook and the relevant chapters are to be found via accessing the textbook. It is recommended to check with the library if the prescribed chapters can be isolated from the textbook for easier access across the weeks of term.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Data
Students reported they loved the unit and wanted a four-year Human Factors degree.
It is pleasing to see that students enjoyed the unit. It is recommended to keep the unit as students clearly love the Human Factors content and the domain as a whole.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Demonstrate an advanced level knowledge of Human Factors principles and practices across the domains of physical, cognitive, environmental and organisational ergonomics in complex systems
- Apply knowledge of Human Factors to analyse the appropriateness of fit between end user design in relation to equipment and tasks
- Evaluate the contribution of cognitive ergonomics in the assessment of equipment design and the introduction of new technology in complex systems
- Discuss how the concepts of organisational job design relate to psychological considerations including mental workloads, fatigue management, team work and job-fit concepts in systems theory and its relationship to safety
- Critique contemporary theories of human performance in complex systems.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Group Discussion | • | • | |||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Research | • | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Self-management | • | • | • | • | • |
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | |||
| 7 - Leadership | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |
| 1 - Group Discussion | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||