Course Title: Human Factors in Aviation

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Human Factors in Aviation

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
AERO2379	City Campus	Undergraduate	115H Aerospace, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2006, Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2010, Sem 2 2011, Sem 1 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 1 2015, Sem 1 2016
AERO2379	City Campus	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2017, Sem 1 2018, Sem 1 2019
AERO2500	Singapore Inst of Management	Undergraduate	115H Aerospace, Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering	Face-to-Face	Offsh1 15, Offsh1 16
AERO2500	Singapore Inst of Management	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	Offsh1 18, Offsh1 19
AERO2547	Voc Training Ctre of Hong Kong	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	Offsh2 17

Flexible Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
AERO2547	Voc Training Ctre of Hong Kong	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	OFFSe12018 (VA2), OFFSe12018 (All)
AERO2547	Voc Training Ctre of Hong Kong	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	OFFJan2019 (VA2), OFFJan2019 (All)

Course Coordinator: Dr Richard Yeun

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 4276

Course Coordinator Email: richard.yeun@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 57.03.31

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

Humans are an integral part to the safety of aviation. "Human Factors" is a contributing factor in almost all aircraft accidents, and is reported to be the major causal factor in three out of every four. It is therefore crucial to gain an understanding of what Human Factors are, and how aviation operations can be managed effectively, with due recognition of the impact of Human Factors, so as to create a safe operating environment.

This course is provides an introduction to the principles and application of Human Factors. Human Factors is a diverse discipline in aviation safety management that is fast being recognised as one of the most important risk areas that can contribute positively and negatively to an organisation’s success in the industry. The course introduces you to human factors, the psychological and physiological factors that influence human performance, human error, ergonomics, and various strategies to manage human factors associated with all aspects of the aviation industry. This course will enable you to identify, assess, and develop strategies to manage the impact human factors have on the safety of aviation operations. Learning is achieved through lectures, in-class discussion, real world case-studies, and assessment.    

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs):

1 Needs, Context and Systems
- Identify, interpret and analyse stakeholder needs, establish priorities and the goals, constraints and uncertainties of the system (social, cultural, legislative, environmental, business etc.), using systems thinking, while recognising ethical implications of professional practice.

2 Problem Solving and Design
- Demonstrating information skills and research methods.

3 Coordination and Communication
- Communicate and coordinate proficiently by listening, speaking, reading and writing English for professional practice, working as an effective member or leader of diverse teams.       

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs):

On completion of this course you should be able to:
1. Identify key human factors issues associated with different aviation activities and organisations, and how human-related issues contribute to safety performance.
2. Identify and analyse the causes of different types of human error.
3. Identify and analyse human factors within accidents and incidents.
4. Apply strategies to manage human factors within the workplace environment with a few to improving safety and performance.

Overview of Learning Activities

You will learn in this course through in-class lectures and classroom discussion, directed reading, and assessment tasks. The learning process is reinforced through problem-oriented learning using case studies. You will develop communication, presentation, teamwork, project management and research skills through assessment activities.
 

Overview of Learning Resources

All course-related resources will be provided on the “myRMIT Studies” / Blackboard website. These will include course notes, and other learning materials generated by the lecturer(s), references, and approved links to useful material on external web-sites. The intent is to support flexible and student-directed learning as much as possible. Whilst the primary teaching method is through face-to-face lectures, where possible, all course materials (inclusive of weekly lecture slides, lecture recordings (when available), case studies, tutorials, assignments, related readings and some assessment items) will be made available to students via the course myRMIT Studies / Blackboard website. There are no prescribed texts for this subject due to its broad and multi-disciplinary nature. Links to online articles, e-Reserve or eBooks will be provided via the course myRMIT Studies / Blackboard website.

Overview of Assessment

X This course has no hurdle requirements.
☐ All hurdle requirements for this course are indicated clearly in the assessment regime that follows, against the relevant assessment task(s) and all have been approved by the College Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor (Learning & Teaching).

Assessment tasks

Early Assessment Task: Quiz
Weighting 30%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1-3.  This quiz is intended to reinforce basic theoretical principles in the definition, identification, and understanding of human factors.

Assessment Task 2: Team Assignment
Weighting 30%
This assessment task supports CLOs 2-4. The team assignment requires students to identify and analyse the human factors associated with a series of accidents, incidents and new technologies. The students are to explore potential strategies for reducing the impact identified factors have on safety, document, and present their report to their peers.

Assessment Task 3: Exam
Weighting 40%
This assessment task supports CLOs 1-4. The exam provides questions that test the recall and understanding of basic theoretical concepts, provides questions and case-studies to test comprehension through application of knowledge and skills