ENV BIOL 3124 - Frontiers in Marine Biology III

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2020

The main aim of this course is to provide an understanding of a wide range of relevant issues facing contemporary marine biology at local and global scales. The course will encourage students to read about the latest controversies and advances in theory and will promote critical thinking through issues of conflicting and uncertain knowledge. This course is about contemporary frontiers in marine biology which will be presented by researchers that are actively pushing these boundaries. Each researcher will provide several research examples relating to their particular frontier (via a lecture and reading material) that will form the basis of discussion after the lecture. The researchers will also present a tutorial related to key writing and presentation skills relevant to the course's four main assessments.

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Course Details

Course Code	ENV BIOL 3124
Course	Frontiers in Marine Biology III
Coordinating Unit	School of Biological Sciences
Term	Semester 1
Level	Undergraduate
Location/s	North Terrace Campus
Units	3
Contact	Up to 4 hours per week
Available for Study Abroad and Exchange	Y
Assumed Knowledge	Completion of Level I and II of BSc (Marine Biology)
Restrictions	Available to BSc (Marine Biology) students only
Assessment	Written assignments, research proposal and seminar

Course Staff

Course Coordinator: Professor Bronwyn Gillanders

Course Timetable

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

Course Learning Outcomes

1	identify and describe a number of topical issues related to marine biology
2	synthesize and critically evaluate a wide range of marine literature
3	explain the scientific method as it relates to different areas of marine biology
4	synthesise and evaluate information from readings to write a review paper
5	identify gaps in knowledge from readings, explain innovative ideas and design future research projects through a research proposal
6	communicate effectively through written and oral work

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:

University Graduate Attribute	Course Learning Outcome(s)
Deep discipline knowledge informed and infused by cutting edge research, scaffolded throughout their program of studies acquired from personal interaction with research active educators, from year 1 accredited or validated against national or international standards (for relevant programs)	1-6
Critical thinking and problem solving steeped in research methods and rigor based on empirical evidence and the scientific approach to knowledge development demonstrated through appropriate and relevant assessment	1,2,4,5,6
Teamwork and communication skills developed from, with, and via the SGDE honed through assessment and practice throughout the program of studies encouraged and valued in all aspects of learning	4,5,6
Career and leadership readiness technology savvy professional and, where relevant, fully accredited forward thinking and well informed tested and validated by work based experiences	3
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence a capacity for self-reflection and a willingness to engage in self-appraisal open to objective and constructive feedback from supervisors and peers able to negotiate difficult social situations, defuse conflict and engage positively in purposeful debate	4-6

Learning Resources

Required Resources

There is no required text book however there are a number of readings and resources provided via My Uni

Online Learning

Teaching materials and course documentation will be posted on the MyUni website. Grades and feedback will also be provided via MyUni.
Learning & Teaching Activities

Learning & Teaching Modes

The course consists of a two-hour lecture and one-hour tutorial per week for 10 weeks of the semester (10 ‘guest’ lectures/tutorials and 1 ‘overview’ lecture/tutorial). In the remaining two weeks student seminars are held. Students are expected to read any materials provided by guest lecturers and contribute to post-lecture discussion. Additional reading will also be required to complete the assessment tasks, namely the review paper, research proposal and science communication task.

Workload

The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.

A student enrolled in a 3 unit course, such as this, should expect to spend, on average 12 hours per week on the studies required. This includes both the formal contact time required to the course (e.g., lectures and tutorials), as well as non-contact time (e.g., reading, revision and preparing assessments).

Learning Activities Summary

Specific lecture topics and lecturers vary from year to year. The course is designed around a series of lectures and tutorials given by a different research-focussed guest lecturer each week. The lectures are designed to expose students to a wide variety of topics in marine biology, with an emphasis on topical, ground-breaking, frontier science. The students are not examined on the content provided in the lectures, but rather they use them to develop their own ideas for each self-directed written assignment. The tutorial topics are broadly based around the key assessments (e.g. review paper, research proposal, science communication task and seminar), and are intended to assist students in developing written and oral science communication skills.

The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
Assessment must maintain academic standards.

Assessment Summary

Frontiers in Marine Biology has five components of assessment: a research proposal and seminar, a 'mini' review paper and a science communication task, and lecture summaries (which will be assessed through the submission of a short 100 word summary of each lecture theme). To ensure that you are exposed to as wide a variety of marine topics as possible the three key assessment components (research proposal, review paper and science communication task) should cover different aspects of Marine Biology. For example, if your essay is on marine plants please ensure that your research proposal and science communciation task focus on a different aspect of marine biology. Your seminar will be based around your research proposal.

Assessment task	Type of assessment	Hurdle (Yes/No)	Percentage of total assessment	Learning outcomes
Lecture summaries	Formative	No	10%	1,6
Mini review paper	Formative Summative	No	25%	1,2,4,6
Science communication	Formative Summative	No	15%	4,6
Research proposal	Summative	No	35%	1,3,5,6
Seminar	Summative	No	15%	1,6

Assessment Detail

Lecture summaries: 10% of total course marks (‘100 word’ lecture summaries)
Participation in lectures will build the student knowledge base in regards to many areas of research in marine biology and provide a source of ideas for the review paper, media release and research proposal. Students are required to submit a 100 word summary of each lecture (weeks 2 to 11). Summaries are submitted online after each lecture and each summary is worth 1% (10% overall). Late submissions receive 0%, unless there are extenuating circumstances which prevented the student submitting on time.

Review paper: 25% of total course marks (~ 2000 words)
The aim of this assessment is to broaden student knowledge in an area of marine biology that interests them and gain an understanding of the paper writing process. Students will also gain vital skills in synthesising and evaluating information from the primary scientific literature (e.g. journal articles). The assessment is submitted online.

Science communication: 15% of total course marks (~ 500 words)
The aim of this assessment is to build science communication skills and show understanding of scientific concepts. Students are required to convert a technically/scientifically complex journal article into a short, attention grabbing piece similar to a blog or Conversation article. The assessment is submitted online.

Research proposal: 35% of total course marks (~8-10 pages)
This assessment is the most important and challenging aspect of the course – it aims to take students a step further than the other assessments as they will not only need to review and synthesise the primary literature, but propose a research idea and go beyond what has already been done. The assessment is submitted online.

Seminar: 15 % of total course marks (10 min talk + questions)
The aim of this exercise is to extend students’ oral presentation skills, as well as their ability to listen and formulate questions. The seminar will be based on the research proposal.

Submission

All written work will be submitted online via MyUni.

It is essential that your written reports be your own original work. Marks will be deducted, or no marks awarded, where there is evidence of plagiarism.

If an extension is not applied for, or not granted then a penalty for late submission will apply. A penalty of 10% of the value of the assignment for each calendar day that the assignment is late (i.e. weekends count as 2 days), up to a maximum of 50% of the available marks will be applied. This means that an assignment that is 5 days late or more without an approved extension can only receive a maximum of 50% of the marks available for that assignment.

Course Grading

Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
Grade	Mark	Description
FNS		Fail No Submission
F	1-49	Fail
P	50-64	Pass
C	65-74	Credit
D	75-84	Distinction
HD	85-100	High Distinction
CN		Continuing
NFE		No Formal Examination
RP		Result Pending

Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

Student Feedback

The University places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.

SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
Student Support
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
Fraud Awareness

Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student’s disciplinary procedures.

The University of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The University of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.

Authorised by:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Academic)
Maintained by:	Course Outlines Administrator