Course Coordinator:Florin Oprescu (foprescu@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Sport and Exercise Science
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 usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
In this course you will learn about the role of health professionals in promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour at a population level. You will be introduced to recommended physical activity guidelines across the lifespan, and explore diverse priority populations at risk of insufficient physical activity. You will become familiar with public health and sport science approaches to physical activity and sedentary behaviour, including methods of assessment, identifying factors of influence, evaluating strategies, and translating research into policy and practice.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Learning materials – Online materials | 2hrs | Week 1 | 13 times |
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus tutorial | 2hrs | Week 1 | 13 times |
• Defining and measuring physical activity and sedentary behaviour at the population level.
• Physical activity and sedentary behaviour patterns in diverse and priority populations, and across the lifespan.
• Factors influencing and determinants of physical activity and sedentary behaviour.
• Physical activity guidelines, recommendations, policies, and agencies.
• Evidence-based health promotion strategies to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour.
• Populations at risk of insufficient physical activity or sedentary behaviour.
100 Level (Introductory)
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 | Describe the role of health and exercise scientists in the broad structure and success of the Australian health system. | Knowledgeable |
2 | Explain the roles of sedentary behaviour and physical activity in the aetiology, prevention, and management of chronic conditions, mental health, and disability. | Knowledgeable |
3 | Explore the roles of public policies and agencies in promoting physical activity and reducing sedentary behaviour. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
4 | Develop evidence-based health promotion strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviour in diverse priority communities. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
5 | Identify and assess populations at risk of insufficient physical activity. |
Knowledgeable Empowered |
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). |
Students will work on formative tasks toward Tasks 1 and 3 in class time and receive formative feedback on these during class. Students will be provided with practice MCQs and/or short answer questions to work through formatively for the mid-semester exam.
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 | Oral and Written Piece | Group | 25% | 15 minutes presentation, 15 PowerPoint slides |
Week 5 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check and in class |
All | 2 | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | Individual | 35% | 90 minutes |
Week 8 | Online Submission |
All | 3 | Artefact - Professional | Individual | 40% | 1600 words |
Week 13 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All - Assessment Task 1:Monitoring and measuring physical activity | |||||||||||||
Goal: | To develop skills in identifying and assessing populations at risk of insufficient physical activity. |
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Product: | Oral and Written Piece | ||||||||||||
Format: | In groups of 4 or 5, student will collect and analyse data about physical activity in a specified population, and present their findings in a 15 min oral presentation with Powerpoint slides. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
All - Assessment Task 2:Mid-Semester Examination | |||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate understanding of core knowledge related to course content. |
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Product: | Examination - not Centrally Scheduled | ||||||
Format: | Multiple choice questions. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Health promotion project portfolio | ||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To demonstrate knowledge and skills in developing health promotion strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviours at a population level in a specified population group at risk of insufficient physical activity. |
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Product: | Artefact - Professional | |||||||||||||||
Format: | Written assignment. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | 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.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Recommended | Harold Kohl III, Tinker Murray, Deborah Salvo | 2020 | Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health | 2nd | Human Kinetics |
Recommended | Bouchard, C, Blair, S.N. & Haskell, W.L | 2012 | Physical Activity and Health | 2nd | Human Kinetics |
Recommended | Dishman, R., Heath, G. & Lee | 2013 | Physical Activity Epidemiology | 2nd | Human Kinetics |
Not applicable
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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