Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit you must achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50%.

Please note that regular participation and engagement with lecture and practical activities is highly recommended, since it will be difficult to pass the unit without obtaining marks from assessments based on these activities. 

Engagement and participation

We strongly encourage all students to actively participate in all learning activities. Regular engagement is crucial for your success in this unit, as these activities provide opportunities to deepen your understanding of the material, collaborate with peers, and receive valuable feedback from instructors, to assist in completing the unit assessments.

Regular engagement in laboratory classes is particularly important, as many experiments run across a number of weeks and multiple missed classes can make it difficult to develop fundamental skills and obtain sensible results. Please be aware that due to the specific culturing requirements of the microorganisms used, it is generally not possible to offer make-up activities for sessions missed.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day your lab report is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. The submission time for all uploaded assessments is 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period will be provided to students who experience a technical concern. 

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration. For example, if the assignment is worth 8 marks (of the entire unit) and your submission is late by 19 hours (or 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds), 0.4 marks (5% of 8 marks) will be deducted. If your submission is late by 24 hours (or 47 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds), 0.8 marks (10% of 8 marks) will be deducted, and so on.

Assessments where Late Submissions will be accepted

• Great Debate – NO, unless Special Consideration is Granted
• Lab Report – YES, Standard Late Penalty applies
• Final exam - NO, unless Special Consideration is Granted

1.        Assessment Release

Great Debate: To be released no later than 7^th August.

Practical Report: To be released no later than 20^th August.

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through https://connect.mq.edu.au.

Week 1 Classes

Classes begin in week 1 – the link for online activities is available on iLearn.

Online safety and skills workshop takes place on Monday week 1 – please join zoom at 2pm sharp.

Lectures begin MONDAY week 1.

There are no lab-based practicals in week 1.  Please make sure you have your own lab coat prior to week 2 when practical laboratory classes commence.

Methods of Communication

We will communicate with you via your university email and through announcements on iLearn. Queries to the convenor can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to the unit convenor via the contact email on iLearn.

Lectures

The expectation is that you will engage with lecture material and carry out the additional readings and/or viewing of associated material which is provided with certain lectures.

Participation in lectures during the scheduled time is highly recommended. Many lectures are delivered by academic and industry experts who are giving up their time to talk with you. These session will give you an opportunity to ask questions and participation is highly encouraged.

Looking over lecture slides is not a suitable substitute to participation. Students tend to perform poorly if they do not engage with lectures throughout the term and this will also impact your ability to prepare for and understand material in practical sessions.

Practicals and workshops

Both the lab-based practical classes and online workshop are designed to develop molecular laboratory skills, safety practices and critical and analytical thought. In order to be able to work safely and effectively in the practical classes, please make sure to read through laboratory notes prior to each practical session commencing, to familiarise yourself with planned work and ensure you are aware of biosafety considerations for the coming class.

Self-Study

The unit expectation is that you will spend time outside formal instruction reviewing notes taken in class, reading assigned materials (textbook sections and other referenced papers or articles) and exploring other sources of information on molecular biotechnology.

Required and Recommended Texts and Materials

You will be expected to bring a lab coat, closed shoes and lab notebook to each practical and to regularly refer to practical manual notes in class (either hardcopy or electronic). Laboratory Practical notes, outlining planned activities for laboratory sessions will be available on iLearn for download prior to the session, to enable you to prepare for the scheduled classes.  

We value student feedback to be able to continually improve the way we offer our units. As such we encourage students to provide constructive feedback via student surveys, to the teaching staff directly, or via the FSE Student Experience & Feedback link in the iLearn page.

Student feedback from the previous offering of this unit was very positive overall, with students pleased with the clarity around assessment requirements and the level of support from teaching staff. As such, no change to the delivery of the unit is planned, however we will continue to strive to improve the level of support and the level of student engagement.