Course Title: Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term2 2011

Course Code: EASC5042C

Course Title: Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

School: 155T Vocational Health and Sciences

Campus: City Campus

Program: C5282 - Diploma of Laboratory Technology (Biotechnology)

Course Contact: Dinah van Ruyven

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 4287

Course Contact Email: dinah.vanruyven@rmit.edu.au


Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Kirsten Balding
kirsten.balding@rmit.edu.au
Office: 51.4.01

Nominal Hours: 40

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

there are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this course


 

Course Description

This competency covers the outcomes required to effectively analyse the workplace in relation to environmentally sustainable work practices and to implement improvements and monitor their effectiveness. This unit is based on the sustainability guideline standard GCSSUS02A Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices. 


National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:

MSAENV472A Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

Element:

1. Investigate current practices in relation to resource usage.

Performance Criteria:

1.1

Identify environmental regulations applying to the enterprise.

1.2

Assess procedures for assessing compliance with environmental regulations.

1.3

Collect information on environmental and resource efficiency systems and procedures, and provide to the work group where appropriate.

1.4

Measure and record current resource usage by members of the work group.

1.5

Analyse and record current purchasing strategies.

1.6

Analyse current work processes to access information and data and assist in identifying areas for improvement.

Element:

2. Set targets for improvements.

Performance Criteria:

2.1

Seek input from stakeholders, key personnel and specialist.

2.2

Access external sources of information and data as required.

2.3

Evaluate alternative solutions to workplace environmental issues.

2.4

Set efficiency targets.

Element:

3. Implement performance improvement strategies.

Performance Criteria:

3.1

Source techniques/tools to assist in achieving targets.

3.2

Apply continuous improvement strategies to own work area of responsibility and communicate ideas and possible solutions to the work group and management.

3.3

Integrate environmental and resource efficiency improvement plans for own work group with other operational activities and implement them.

3.4

Seek suggestions and ideas about environmental and resource efficiency management from stakeholders and act upon them where appropriate.

3.5

Implement costing strategies to fully value environmental assets.

Element:

4. Monitor performance

Performance Criteria:

4.1

Document outcomes and communicate reports on targets to key personnel and stakeholders.

4.2

Evaluate strategies.

4.3

Set new targets and investigate and apply new tools and strategies.

4.4

Promote successful strategies and reward participants where possible.


Learning Outcomes



Details of Learning Activities

online activities including watching videos and multimedia resources


Teaching Schedule

2011 Class schedule: Sustainability (EASC5042C/ MSAENV472A)

 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices

 

 

Session 1

Week of (mon) 15-Aug

Introduction to Sustainability
What is sustainability and why should I care?

Ecological footprint

Assessment Task 1. Ecological footprint (collect data into a spreadsheet)

  

Session 2

Week of (mon) 22-Aug

Still need convincing the world is moving into an era of resource limitation? Population growth…

Assessment Task Watch a youtube vid at home  2. Quiz – why is it important to become more sustainable?

  

Week of (mon) 29-Aug - Mid Semester exam week (there is no exam for this course) 

  

Session 3

Week of (mon) 5-Sep

 (Ecofootprint data excercise)

Managing waste better. EPA victoria. Case study: Our school’s Lab waste

Assessment Task 3. Spreadsheet activity – cost of waste & EPA Victoria

Assessment Task 5. Project (briefing session)

 

Session 4

Week of (mon) 12-Sep

Evaluating web resources
with Anita Woollard @ Library

1. Don’t believe everything you hear… Greenwash

2. Product Lifecycle

Assessment Task Worksheet

 

Week of (mon) 19-Sep - Mid semester Break 

  

Session 5

Week of (mon) 26-Sep

Triple Bottom Line (TBL) accounting and reporting

(the consumption simplified)

  

 Session 6

Week of (mon) 3-Oct

Becoming more sustainable – what can you do?

Case studies: Environmental Resource Efficiency Plans (EREP)

Assessment Task 4. EREP Worksheet

 

Session 7

Week of (mon) 10-Oct

Where do we want to be?
...Making changes happen
(project management 101)

Changes that are happening now (biomimicry, green buildings, green chemistry)

Assessment Task 5. Project: In class group presentations session 1

 

Session 8

Week of (mon) 17-Oct

Where are we now? What has path & biotech done to become more sustainable

 

Assessment Task 5.Project: In class group presentations session 2

 

Session 9

Week of (mon) 24-Oct

 (Revision week, no class this week except for catch up assessments)

Assessment catch ups (if special consideration has been granted)

 

Session 10

Week of (mon) 8-Nov

Alternative assessment


Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts


References


Other Resources

Resources are given in the Blackboard for this course. Access it through MyRMIT.

It is important that you check blackboard **at least** weekly.


Overview of Assessment

Assessments for this course typically consist of:
• Class activities
• Assignments
• Presentations
• Exams


Assessment Tasks

To pass the course you need to achieve:
Competentcompletionof ALL the assessment tasks BY the relevant due date.

**Reports will not be accepted more than one week after the due date.**

 

Note that many of the assessments are done in class time, so it will be important to attend these classes.

 

**It is the student’s responsibility to catch up any missed assessments**

Details about each assessment will be given when the assignment/assessment is handed out & posted on Blackboard.

Refer to the teaching schedule above for when each assessment task is done (some are done entirely in class, for others a briefing is given and a due date communicated via blackboard and at the briefing class).


Task 1. Ecological footprint
Satisfactory completion by the due date is required

Task 2. Quiz – why is it important to become more sustainable?
Satisfactory completion by the due date is required

Task3. Spreadsheet activity – cost of waste & EPA Victoria
Satisfactory completion by the due date is required

Task4. EREP Worksheet
Satisfactory completion by the due date is required

Task 5. Group Project (plan, implement, monitor & evaluate – includes data collection and group talk)
Satisfactory completion by the due date is required

Total: 100 %  (competent/not yet competent) This course does not have graded assessment.

IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT THE ASSESSMENTS – PLEASE READ!
This course is assessed using competency based assessment principles. As such, no numeric grades are given for assessments. ALL assessments must however, be done to a satisfactory (“competent”) standard, which means being complete and done well. The assessment tasks must be submitted by the due date. In some cases, work may be accepted up to 1 week after the due date,but you need to negotiate this with the teacher BEFORE the due date. Assessments will not be graded if it is submitted more than 7 days after the due date, unless special consideration is granted.

Students that submit work that is assessed to be “not yet competent” will have the opportunity to resubmit their work by a negotiated due date. If the work is still not competent on the 2nd submission, the student will not be able to pass the course. Please discuss your assessment task with the teacher before submission to avoid this situation. Resubmissions must be submitted by the new due date to be graded, unless special consideration is granted. 
 

If you miss a class that has an assessment task you need to catch up the assessment task as soon as possible. In this case, you will need to email the completed task to the teacher within 1 week of the date of the class, unless a medical certificate is submitted. It is the student’s responsibility to catch up on the task and negotiate a due date with the teacher. Information can be found in the weekly folder about what to do for the task. Note that the teacher may not be available to help you outside of class time.

Assessments submitted by email

Some assessments can be submitted by email to the teacher. It is the student’s responsibilty to ensure that the teacher has received the emailed assignment by the due date. If the teacher does not acknowledge they have received your assignment within 24 hours you should contact the teacher and check if your email got through. Emails you have sent can be verified by allowing the teacher to see the copy of the email in your ’sent’ mailbox. Make sure that you keep a copy of the sent message in your email ’sent’ mailbox in case you need to verify it was sent before the due date. If you can not verify that the email was sent by keeping the copy of the sent message, it will be assumed that the email was not sent in the case that the teacher did not receive the assessment task. In this case you would get NYC for your assesment task.

 

All assessment tasks must be completed competently to pass the course.

 

80% attendance is required to pass the course

 

 

 


Assessment Matrix

Other Information

Nominal Hours:

Class activities
(including worksheets, quizzes, spreadsheet activities, research activities) =    9 x  2 = 18 hours

Groupwork (project)                                                                                               = 6 hours

Self directed study (off campus) - reading, research, etc                                           = 16 hours

 

Total: 40 hours

 

Course Overview: Access Course Overview