Course Title: Environmental Processes and Change

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Environmental Processes and Change

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

ENVI1211

City Campus

Undergraduate

365H Global, Urban and Social Studies

Face-to-Face

 Sem 2 2016,
Sem 2 2017,
Sem 2 2018,
Sem 2 2019,
Sem 2 2020,
Sem 1 2021,
Sem 1 2022,
Sem 1 2023,
Sem 1 2024

Course Coordinator: Dr Ascelin Gordon

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 9930

Course Coordinator Email: ascelin.gordon@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 8, Level 11

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None


Course Description

This course examines interactions that occur between people and their environments. You will assess how physical and human processes combine to affect environmental change, and adopt a focus-topic approach to examine several critical environmental concepts. You will investigate current examples of global environmental change to analyse how biophysical systems operate and how they are impacted upon by human activities. The collective investigation of global and regional examples will provide you with an integrated framework for advancing your understanding of broader environmental concepts, including sustainability, sustainable development, resilience and biodiversity. 


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Program Learning Outcomes 

In this course you will develop the following program learning outcomes:

  • Apply a body of theoretical and practical knowledge of principles and practices in natural resource management, sustainability, globalisation and environmental management to professional practice or further study. 
  • Critically analyse, synthesise and reflect on knowledge related to the social implications of environmental concerns and challenges both in Australia and globally
  • Apply logical, critical and creative thinking to effectively solve a range of problems associated with environmental management and associated policies and programs.
 


Course Learning Outcomes 


Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

  1. Debate selected environmental issues in a professional manner using appropriate scientific arguments and relevant data 
  2. Define selected physical environmental processes in terms of their major formative agents. 
  3. Examine the environmental challenges evident in selected physical processes and systems. 
  4. Discuss the integrated nature of physical and biological systems in the context of environmental change. 
  5. Critically reflect on the consequences of human impacts on biophysical systems and vice versa. 
       


Overview of Learning Activities

The course consists of lectures and practical classes/workshops. The lectures are designed to support you to build knowledge on current environmental debates and will run throughout the semester. Some lectures will be supported by practical classes that will introduce data analysis concepts and skills that are relevant to those working in the field of environmental management. Later in the semester, the practical classes will be replaced by workshops, designed to introduce students to professional and academic writing and presentation. Within these interactive sessions you will be required to analyse and critically interpret both data and scholarly works, and you will be expected to participate in peer reviews of your draft assessment work. 


Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems and RMIT library resources. 

These resources may include book chapters, journal articles, media articles, lecture notes, bibliographies for supplementary reading, video, and links to external websites. You will have the opportunity to contribute to class resources by sharing your own research findings and sources with your peers. 


Overview of Assessment

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes and on your development against the program capabilities.  

Assessment Tasks

  1. Examining Environmental Policy (40%) (Linked to CLO 1 and 5)
  2. Collaborative Case Study Analysis and Communication Task  (30%) (Linked to CLO 2, 3 and 4)
  3. Individual Case Study Analysis and Communication Task (30%) (Linked to CLO 2, 3 and 4) 

Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks.

If you have a long term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program manager or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more.

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.