Course Coordinator:Livio Regano (LRegano@usc.edu.au) School:School of Science, Technology and Engineering
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course provides you with a practical introduction and overview of meteorology and climate. The nature of the physical processes responsible for changes in daily weather will be discussed, including links between oceans, atmosphere and land. You will gain a better understanding of the nightly television weather charts and reports, and an improved understanding of important issues including climate change and the impacts of severe weather. The course will focus on Australian and regional Queensland conditions.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Asynchronous learning materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus workshop | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Laboratory 1 – on-campus computer lab | 2hrs | Week 1 | 12 times |
Meteorology; climate change; global warming; greenhouse gases; marine and coastal weather and forecasts; severe weather; rainfall, floods and droughts, waves, currents and surf; weather forecasts.
200 Level (Developing)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Recognise, understand and explain key concepts in weather and climate, and the links to Earth System Science | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Identify and collect weather/climate data from different sources including the Internet | Empowered |
| 3 | Critically assess sources and types of weather/climate data and trends | Creative and critical thinker |
| 4 | Understand, describe and present weather/climate data and information to a non-professional audience | Empowered |
| 5 | Evaluate climate data in relation to possible impacts on the Earth and on humanity | Sustainability-focussed |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Computer and internet literate; access to television and internet; access to, and use of, MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Several of the tutorials include group tasks that are reviewed to provide formative feedback to the students.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1a | Written Piece | Individual | 10% | Word document length as advised in canvas |
Week 8 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 1b | Quiz/zes | Individual | 10% | 40 minutes |
Week 8 | Online Test (Quiz) |
| All | 2 | Oral | Group | 30% | ~20 min group presentation |
Week 11 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 50% | 2 hours |
Exam Period | Exam Venue |
| All - Assessment Task 1a:Group forecasting exercise | |||||||
| Goal: | Create a team product which integrates everything taught so far in the course. |
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| Product: | Written Piece | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Written weather forecast for Southeast Queensland (including rationale), undertaken during Week 8 Lab. Group Word document submitted online at end of class. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 1b:Mid-term Quiz | |||||||
| Goal: | Review understanding of course material to date, identify weak areas which need work. |
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| Product: | Quiz/zes | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Online multi-choice quiz |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Weather/climate project presentation | |||||||
| Goal: | A 20-minute literature-sourced group presentation about some aspect(s) of weather/climate, and how it relates to a chosen topic of interest. |
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| Product: | Oral | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | Oral group presentation to class, including questions, with slides and references submitted to Canvas. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Organisation, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Final Examination | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | To consolidate and demonstrate your understanding of the key concepts, theories and practices in weather and climate science covered in this course. |
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| Product: | Examination - Centrally Scheduled | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | Two-hour online examination held during formal end-of-trimester examination period, consisting of a mixture of higher order multi-choice and short answer questions. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Problem solving, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
| Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
| Recommended | Edward Aguado,James E. Burt | 2014 | Understanding Weather and Climate | 7th Ed | Prentice Hall |
| Recommended | C. Donald Ahrens,Robert Henson | 2015 | Meteorology Today | 11th Ed | Cengage Learning |
| Recommended | Keith Colls,Dick Whitaker,Richard Whitaker | 2012 | The Australian Weather Book | 3nd Ed. (or older editions) | Reed New Holland |
| Recommended | Andrew P. Sturman,Nigel J. Tapper | 2006 | The Weather and Climate of Australia and New Zealand | 2nd Ed. (or older edition) | Oxford University Press, USA |
Links to relevant web pages including the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) will be provided also during tutorials. Students expected to view daily weather forecasts (TV, newspaper or internet).
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying: The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4% The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
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