Course Coordinator:Kate Kirby (KKirby@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
This course explores the relationship between humans and nature by examining the interactions between natural, social, and political processes across time. The course takes a chronological and thematic approach with a concentration on the Australian environment and explores how history can contribute to understanding current environmental issues.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Learning materials – Online learning materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 13 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus tutorial/workshop - 2 hours | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
Online | |||
Learning materials – Online learning materials | 1hr | Week 1 | 13 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Online weekly tutorial | 2hrs | Week 2 | 10 times |
This course approaches environmental history from an Australian perspective. It touches on topics including but not limited to the following:
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 | Explain and evaluate central themes and concepts in environmental history. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
2 | Identify contemporary debates within environmental history literature and apply historical argumentation and professional historical analysis. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker Engaged Information literacy |
3 | Analyse historical data to inform current environmental issues and policies. |
Creative and critical thinker Empowered Problem solving Information literacy |
4 | Critically analyse topics in Australian environmental history and communicate effectively in both written and oral formats. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker Engaged Sustainability-focussed Communication |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
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Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Timely and detailed feedback is provided for each assessment. Feedback is provided both within text and general comments to build scholarly skills. Students are able to seek feedback through face-to-face discussion with the course coordinator. Tutorials will include extended discussion and review of the assessment task requirements and scope.
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 | 1 | Quiz/zes | Individual | 20% | 4 x short online quizzes in Weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8. |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Test (Quiz) |
All | 2 | Oral and Written Piece | Individual | 35% | 10 minutes |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Essay | Individual | 45% | 2250 words |
Week 13 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All - Assessment Task 1:Quizzes | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate knowledge of central themes and concepts in environmental history, including an understanding of contemporary debates in the scholarly literature. |
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Product: | Quiz/zes | |||||||||||||||
Format: | Submit: Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8. Four fortnightly online quizzes beginning in Week 2. Students will complete four (4) short online quizzes throughout semester, in week 2, 4, 6, and 8. Each quiz will be worth five (5) marks and will predominantly contain short answer questions and some multiple-choice questions on Australian environmental history. Quiz content will be drawn from online learning, tutorial discussions, and set readings from the previous fortnight. Students may refer to learning materials and the set readings while undertaking the quizzes. Each quiz will be active for two weeks only; students can complete each quiz at any point during the two-week period it is active. Quiz responses must demonstrate academic integrity, using appropriate academic language and formatting. All primary and secondary sources must be referenced. The referencing style used should be either Harvard, APA, or Chicago 17A. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 2:Pre-recorded Case Study Presentation | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate knowledge of environmental history themes and concepts and advancing research skills connected to a specific Australian case study, communicated as an oral presentation. |
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Product: | Oral and Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Submit: Friday Week 8. Students will develop and record a 10 minute Pre-recorded Presentation on an Australian environmental history case study. Students will be provided with a list of possible case studies to select from. The Pre-recorded Presentation should follow a logical structure to share research discoveries and ideas on the selected Australian environmental history case study. This is an opportunity for students to: explain environmental history themes and concepts related to the case study; explain their research process and challenges; share historical data and primary sources consulted and detail relevant historical information; demonstrate engagement with relevant scholarly secondary sources and understanding of related contemporary debates; and outline related historical, cultural, political, and social drivers. The Pre-recorded Presentation must demonstrate academic integrity, using appropriate academic language and formatting. It should be engaging and professional in tone, well-illustrated, and referenced (images, quotes and ideas from other sources should be referenced on the slides with a reference list provided in the PPT and script). The referencing style used should be Harvard, APA, or Chicago 17A. Students are required to submit: the pre-recorded presentation MP4 file; a referenced Microsoft PowerPoint; and a referenced written script. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Analytical Essay | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate critical analysis of concepts and advancing research skills connected to a specific Australian environmental history topic, communicated as an analytical essay. |
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Product: | Essay | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Submit: Friday Week 13. Students will produce a 2250 word essay on a key Australian environmental history topic. Students will be provided with a list of possible research topics to select from. In responding to the chosen topic, the essay should: combine knowledge of course concepts/themes with in-depth research on the selected environmental history topic (drawing on historical data, primary sources, and suitable scholarly secondary sources); engage with relevant contemporary debates within environmental history literature; and apply historical argumentation and analysis in critically analysing the topic. The Essay must demonstrate academic integrity, using appropriate academic language and formatting. All primary sources must be referenced and (if using images in essay) labelled. Secondary sources must be scholarly in nature with direct quotes, indirect (paraphrased) quotes/ideas, and any historical information located during research for this essay referenced. A Reference List must be provided but will not be included in the Essay word count. The referencing style used should be Harvard, APA, or Chicago 17A. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
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.
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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
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
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For help with course-specific advice, for example what information to include in your assessment, you should first contact your tutor, then your course coordinator, if needed.
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