The purpose of the quality assurance stage is to:
- Provide adequate information for the Learning and Teaching Committee and Academic Board to accredit course and units for the provision of high quality and pedagogically sound learning experiences for students.
- Articulate clear links between assessment, learning outcomes, learning activities that students are required to undertake in order to develop the Course Outcomes, CDU’s Graduate Attributes and meet the AQF Learning Outcome Descriptor for the specific qualification level.
- Record and approve unit administrative items for publication and national reporting.
Unit Administration / Unit Code / Use current unit code – OR -
This will either be a current unit code for reaccreditation of a unit or a new unit code, typically applied for during stage 1 R&P
Past unit codes are not reinstated in a manner that may affect past students, all unit codes must be confirmed by the AR team prior to accreditation.
Unit Title / The Unit Title should be concise and descriptive. It should meaningfully and fairly represent the learning outcomes of the Unit. It should be readily understandable, particularly for students choosing their programme of study and employers reviewing transcripts.
Terms such as “Introduction to…”, “Foundations of…” or “Beginning…” will normally be restricted to 100 level Units: terms such as “Advanced…” will normally be restricted to 300 or 500 level Units.
The length should be 2-5 words. The maximum length shall be 70 characters (including spaces).
Abbreviations, acronyms and the ampersand (&) will not normally be used, and punctuation will be kept to the minimum necessary for grammatical correctness.
Owning School/Faculty / Name of the school and faculty that this unit will be reported under – this is the school that will ultimately responsible for accreditation and maintaining the quality of the unit.
Credit Points / Credit Points (CP) are a mechanism for determining the student HE study load estimated to meet required learning outcomes. Unit study loads are measured by CP, as are total study loads for courses.
- 80CP = 1 EFTSL or a maximum full time study load over two semesters.
- HE coursework Units are normally 10CP.
- WIL or research units may be 10, 20, 30 or 40 CP.
Level / Level indicates whether it is a 100, 200, 300 etc unit.
Refer to the Unit and Course Policy
Field of Education (FOE) Code and Description / Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) Field of Education (FOE) Code.
The Australian Bureau of Statistic publishes the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED) Field of Education (FOE) Code and defines it as:
as the subject matter of an educational activity. Fields of education are related to each other through the similarity of subject matter, through the broad purpose for which the education is undertaken, and through the theoretical content which underpins the subject matter.
Field of Education is measured operationally in terms of the following criteria:
- theoretical content;
- purpose of learning;
- objects of interest;
- methods and techniques; and
- tools and equipment.
Note that the FOE for each unit sets the fees payable by students and the government funding received by CDU.
Refer to the ASCED FOE table to find the Field of Education and description. To go to the ASCED website.
Unit Accreditation Type / New units are any unit that is uniquely new.
Redeveloped units are current units that are being redeveloped in a manner that a new unit code is required.
Currently accredited units being revitalised in a manner that does not require a new code
Language of Instruction / All CDU HE units must be delivered in English unless specifically accredited and reported otherwise.
Unit Offering Details / Unit Offering / Unit offerings are published on the 1st of October for all semester and study periods for the following year. Timetables are then published before enrolments open in early December.
The timing of unit accreditation (QA) approval is so that this information can be captured and entered in time for the annual unit offering review managed through Area 52 eQUIP.
The study plan for each course that the unit forms part of needs to be considered.
Teaching Period / CDU has 4 semesters and 4 study periods which can be utilised for higher education, each with a specific start, end and census date.
These dates can be found on the CDU staff page under ‘Important Dates and Events’ – ‘Semester Dates’
Location / Indicate the unit offering location. It can be either EXT (external) or at a specified location or a combination of both.
More rows can be added if there are multiple location offerings in the first year.
Learning Method / Online Reliant (OLR) – learning material is provided on-line through Learnline. Students must access this material to complete the requirements of the unit. Students should log into Learnline on the first day of the teaching period
Online Supported (OLS) - supplementary material is available on-line through Learnline. Students are encouraged to access this material, however this is not essential to complete the requirements of the unit
Print based Materials (PB) - print-based study material is mailed to students from External Student Support.
Intensive / Intensive (ITV) units are units where the unit is delivered fully or partially in an intensive mode. The intensive can either be compulsory or optional.
If a unit is delivered by intensive mode information to students regarding the intensive should be included in the unit description.
Examples
- Field trip dates for 2014 are Thursday 19th June - Sunday 29th June. The field intensive begins at the Alice Springs campus and ends in Darwin on the evening of the last day.
- This unit includes the completion of the Healthy Under 5 kid's package and has a 1 week mandatory skills intensive.
- This unit is predominately delivered on-line, students are required to attend the 1 day intensive on campus during the semester.
- Students studying in external mode must attend residential activity at the Casuarina Campus during the mid-semester break. More information about residentials can be found at
Teaching Responsibility / Unit Coordinator / The Unit Coordinator is required to be a member of the relevant School as either a permanent staff member or employed on a full-time, long-term contract.
Shared Teaching / Units are owned by one school, but teaching can be shared across schools or across faculties.
Note: Shared teaching responsibility is also included in VCAG reports to show teaching load performance against schools.
If shared teaching occurs, advise on the percentages between schools.
Please ensure that the shared responsibilities add to 100%.
New / Redeveloped /
Accredited Unit Details / New Unit Relationship Details / New units are any unit that is uniquely new, it may or may not have a relationship to a current unit.
Replaced unit
Is the introduction of this unit replacing a current?
Final Year
Indicate the year that the replaced unit will be last offered ; i.e. 2015 would indicate that unit would be discontinued as at 31/12/2015 and would not exist in 2016. (If the replaced unit is not being discontinued further information may be required to justify the existence of both units)
Equivalent Units
A unit is equivalent when the content, learning outcomes, volume of learning and learning and assessment approaches are comparable;
This means that a student would be entitled to credit (in another course) for the new unit if they had successfully completed the old unit. The student would not be permitted to enroll and complete the new unit.
Precluded Units
A replaced unit will be deemed to preclude a new unit when:
- The new unit is not deemed equivalent, however, the old unit is being replaced by another within the requirements for the course;
- A student enrolling in a new course would NOT be entitled to credit transfer of the new unit;
Redeveloped Unit Relationship Details / Redeveloped units are current units that are being redeveloped in a manner that a new unit code is required. Essentially these are new units however this section captures the relationship to the current unit.
Replaced unit
Is the introduction of this unit replacing a current?
Final Year
Indicate the year that the replaced unit will be last offered ; i.e. 2015 would indicate that unit would be discontinued as at 31/12/2015 and would not exist in 2016. (If the replaced unit is not being discontinued further information may be required to justify the existence of both units)
Equivalent Units
A unit is equivalent when the content, learning outcomes, volume of learning and learning and assessment approaches are comparable;
This means that a student would be entitled to credit (in another course) for the new unit if they had successfully completed the old unit. The student would not be permitted to enroll and complete the new unit.
Precluded Units
A replaced unit will be deemed to preclude a new unit when:
- The new unit is not deemed equivalent, however, the old unit is being replaced by another within the requirements for the course;
- A student enrolling in a new course would NOT be entitled to credit transfer of the new unit;
Reaccredited Unit Details / This section refers to currently accredited units being revitalised in a manner that does not require a new code, i.e. a student that completed the unit previously has the equivalent learning to a student who will complete the unit in the future.
Indicate the year that the current version of the unit will be offered.
Cross institutional credit transfer arrangements / List units from other HE providers where there is documented comparability and equivalence of learning outcomes, volume of learning, content and learning and assessment approaches have been considered.
This indicates that where a student has successfully completed ABC and X university they are entitled to receive credit at CDU for the unit being accredited.
Considerations - ensure that students will still meet course learning outcomes, graduate attributes, and if relevant meet professional requirements based on the learning undertake at the other provider.
Academic Unit Details / Assumed knowledge / Students enrolling into certain units are assumed to have particular knowledge. This knowledge may comprise of discrete or broad, formal or informal concepts and/or skills. Students who do not have the assumed knowledge will not be prevented from enrolling in the unit, but may experience difficulties and achieve suboptimal results.
Pre-requisite / Pre-requisite Unit means one or more accredited units of study that must be successfully completed before enrolment into the specified unit is allowed.
Progression through the recommended study plan, unit offerings, assessment items and grade release dates need to be considered when applying a pre-requisite to any unit.
Note: a pre-requisite is applied to a unit independently, not to a unit within a specific course, please ensure that any pre-requisites applied are achievable by all students required to undertake this unit as part of their qualification.
Repeatable / Students are not permitted to enroll in a unit that they have successfully completed (including Advanced Standing) unless the unit is accredited as repeatable.
Indicate yes if the unit is either an Repeatable unit or an Extended unit
Repeatable Unit – a unit into which a student may enrol and successfully complete more than once and have counted towards their Award Course. Repeatable units have broadly defined Learning Outcomes providing for a range of learning activities.
Extended Unit – a coherent unit of study that has been accredited to be delivered over a defined sequence of more than one unit offering. The credit points for each unit offering will count towards the degree and, once all the unit offerings have been completed, towards the student’s GPA. Final grading occurs at the end of the last semester, and the final grade is applied to each of the constituent unit offerings, which in the interim utilise the NE grade.
Note: A student cannot enroll in more than one repeatable unit marked in any one teaching period (e.g. semester).
Over-ride Unit Title required / This facility is used for units that are offered with a generic title and allows the school to offer different topics each semester.
The school should advise the Team Leader Accreditation and Registration of the proposed titles prior to unit offering confirmation for the following year (eQUIP).
Work integrated learning, experience, practicum or placement / Information regarding work integrated learning and experience including placements and practicums may in some cases need to be reported to the federal government and may affect student fees and funding.
The following questions are designed to determine to the unit is required to be reported as ‘Work Experience in Industry’ (WEI) in line with the Higher Education Support Act (HESA). Whether a student can be charged for a WEI unit depends on the level of support provided to the student.
HESA defines WEI unitsas those which comprise totally of work:
- that is done as a part of, or in connection with, a course of study undertaken with a provider; and
- the purpose of which is to obtain work experience relevant to the course of study; and
- in respect of which student learning and performance is not directed by the provider.
Includes teaching / HESA defines WEI unitsas those which comprise totally of work:
- that is done as a part of, or in connection with, a course of study undertaken with a provider; and
- the purpose of which is to obtain work experience relevant to the course of study; and
- in respect of which student learning and performance is not directed by the provider.
Directed by CDU staff / As defined by HESA - Learning and performance is not directed by the provider unless all of the following are performed by staff of the provider or by persons engaged by the provider:
- ongoing and regular input and contact with students;
- oversight and direction of work occurring during its performance, not just the progress of a student’s work;
- definition and management of the implementation of educational content and objectives of the unit;
- definition and management of assessment of student learning and performance during the placement; and
- definition and management of the standard of learning and performance to be achieved by the student during the placement
Supported by CDU staff / AS defined by HESA - A provider may charge a student contribution amount or tuition fee for WEI units if the student receives support for learning and performance from the provider or persons engaged by the provider.
- A student is receiving support for learning and performance if all of the following are performed by staff of the provider or persons engaged by the provider:
- interaction between the supervisor and the student, which may include site visits;
- organisation of student placements;
- ongoing monitoring of student work and progress; and
- assessment of student learning and performance during the placement
Course Relationship / Course information is required so that any changes to existing accredited awards can be considered.
Indicate the main course that this unit has been developed for. Also indicate any other courses that the unit may form part of the course structure as either a core or specialist elective. This is particularly important for new/redeveloped units that replace existing units.
Note: When developing a new unit or redeveloping an existing unit schools need to consider the impact on other qualifications.
IT Requirements / Identify if this unit requires any additional software requirements that would not normally be found on computers accessed by CDU students. Please include any software that only runs on a specific operating system.
Unit Description / Unit descriptions are published to the web providing an overview of the unit for students.
Calibrated Unit / Indicate if this unit will is a capstone unit and will be validated as part of the Innovative Research University’s Calibrate project.
SECTION B – LEARNING AND TEACHING AND CURRICULUM
Unit Learning Outcomes / List the specific unit learning outcomes as they will appear in the unit outline and published on the web.Unit learning outcomes are a clear set of around 4-6 statements (limited to maximum of eight) that inform the development of teaching strategies, learning activities/tasks and assessment. They should convey to students the level of understanding, specific skills, knowledge and capabilities they are expected to gain by successfully completing the unit. Please include the course learning outcomes that the unit outcomes contribute to.
Unit level learning should also convey to students the level of understanding, specific skills, knowledge and capabilities they are expected to gain by successfully completing the unit. These outcomes are more specific than course level learning outcomes and breaks student learning into chunks, which when added together make up the more complex course learning outcomes.
Before writing learning outcomes consider the following questions:
- What do you want your students to be able to do or know when they have finished this unit?
- What new skills knowledge or attitudes would you like your students be able to show?
- How will you know that students have achieved your learning outcomes?
- What activities will you need to engage students in the learning process?