CIVL3010: Engineering and Society (2013 - Semester 1)
| Unit: | CIVL3010: Engineering and Society (6 CP) |
| Mode: | Normal-Day |
| On Offer: | Yes |
| Level: | Senior |
| Faculty/School: | Civil Engineering |
| Unit Coordinator/s: |
Dr Elzein, Abbas
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| Session options: | Semester 1 |
| Versions for this Unit: |
| Campus: | Camperdown/Darlington |
| Pre-Requisites: | None. |
| Brief Handbook Description: | Engineering graduates apply their technical skills in a wide variety of legal, institutional, and environmental settings, acting as agents and managers of technology-driven social change. Engineering decision-making and problem-solving are made more complex by technical, economic, environmental, social and ethical constraints. In particular, environmental sustainability has given rise to a new framework of engineering analysis that is now an essential part of the work of engineers. The goals of this unit are to introduce students to major problems of environmental deterioration, especially air quality, climate change and energy, and to concepts of sustainability and ethics, and show the role of civil engineers in addressing these issues; to develop the students skills at quantifying the impact of engineering decisions within the broader economic, environmental and socio-cultural contexts; to develop communication skills through participation in group discussions, oral presentations, and written report writing. Lectures, group discussions, case problems and projects are all used in teaching and learning in this unit of study. At the end of the unit, students will be able to: a. identify and analyse important ecological, social and ethical issues deriving from technology-driven change, including new paradigms of environmental sustainability, especially in relation to short and long-range air pollution and energy. b. write environmental impact statements for engineering projects and identify and analyse the impacts of infrastructure projects on the social and natural environments. c. use design and analysis tools such as the Life-Cycle Analysis and the BASIX system to develop better engineering design solutions. d. understand the influence of organizational, ethical and legal factors on engineering practice. The secondary objectives of the UoS are: a. to improve students team-work ability. b. to improve students communication skills, through verbal and written media. c. to improve students skills in research and use of library resources. The syllabus comprises role(s) of civil engineers, historical development of profession, air pollution, climate change, energy; definitions and practice of sustainability; BASIX design system; environmental impact statements; life-cycle analyses; theories of ethical behavior and public interest disclosures. |
| Assumed Knowledge: | ENGG1803. |
| Timetable: | CIVL3010 Timetable | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Time Commitment: |
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| T&L Activities: | Project Laboratory: Group work on 3 projects: environmental impact assessment, green design with Basix and life-cycle analysis. The students are placed in groups by the instructors. Work is assessed through reports and presentations. Students work on the projects during the laboratory time and in their own time. Independent Study: Readings and weekly study, following lectures and preceding mid-term and final exam. |
Attributes listed here represent the key course goals (see Course Map tab) designated for this unit. The list below describes how these attributes are developed through practice in the unit. See Learning Outcomes and Assessment tabs for details of how these attributes are assessed.
| Attribute Development Method | Attribute Developed |
| (1) Ability in designing sustainable housing developments. (2) Ability to analyse impacts of engineering decisions, especially in relation to short and long-range air pollution and energy. (3) Ability to write environmental impact statements for engineering projects, including the ability to identify and analyse the impacts of infrastructure projects on the social and natural environments. (4) Ability to develop sustainable design and use of design and analysis tools such as the Life-Cycle Analysis and the BASIX system. | Design (Level 2) |
| (1) An appreciation of the various form of information within the engineering discipline including technical books and reports, research articles, customer requirements, company standards and an appreciation of the main legal definitions. (2) An ability to identify, utilise and locate appropriate information resources including literature, electronic media and through personal interaction with both technical and non-technical audiences. (3) An ability to gather, manage, integrate and critique information attained from various sources in order ascertain the relevant information. | Information Seeking (Level 3) |
| (1) An ability to communicate effectively, clearly and concisely ideas, concepts and solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences. (2) An understanding of the various forms of communication including, listening, oral, written electronic, graphical and mathematical and an appreciation of the appropriate forms to use given the context and audience. | Communication (Level 3) |
| (1) An appreciation of the significance and scope of ethical standards in engineering practice and the responsibility that an engineer espouses within both national and international guidelines. (2) An appreciation of the roles and dimensions of an engineer, and an ability to function effectively as either a team leader or member, within multi-disciplinary and multicultural teams. (3) An appreciation of engineering sustainability and the impact of engineering decisions within the broader economic, environmental and socio-cultural context. | Professional Conduct (Level 3) |
For explanation of attributes and levels see Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table.
Learning outcomes are the key abilities and knowledge that will be assessed in this unit. They are listed according to the course goal supported by each. See Assessment Tab for details how each outcome is assessed.
Design (Level 2)
1. Ability to identify, critically assess and mitigate the environmental impacts of engineering developments.
2. Better ability in designing more sustainable engineering solutions through the BASIX system and life-cycle analysis.
Communication (Level 3)
3. Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing, on technical topics, with peers and non peers. Ability to speak in public.
Professional Conduct (Level 3)
4. Able to describe major environmental problems of local air pollution, climate change and the role civil engineers play in generating, preventing and resolving these problems.
5. Improved decision-making abilities, through greater social awareness and their strengthened capabilities in ethical, moral and social reasoning.
| Assessment Methods: |
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| Assessment Description: |
Report: Workshop Reports and Presentations. (1) Reports submitted individually before workshops. (2) Group reports submitted after workshops. (3) Group presentations during the workshops. Mid-Sem Exam: Covers environmental degradation and sustainability. Project: Project work will be assessed as follows: 10-minute progress oral presentation (week 5): 5%; 20-minute final oral presentation (weeks 12 and 13): 10%; 2000-word final written report (week 12): 10%. Final Exam: A final 1-hour exam will address some of the learning outcomes detailed in the description of lectures below. It will consist of two types of questions: a. a multiple-choice set of questions (30% to 40%) and b. problem-solving and case-analysis questions of a discursive and/or numeric nature (60% to 70%). Assignment: BASIX design workshop report. The students have to write a report describing how they have met the BASIX requirements for a development they have been given and presenting the cost and rationale for their choices. |
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| Grading: |
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| Faculty Policies & Procedures: | Academic Honesty in Coursework. All students must submit a cover sheet for all assessment work that declares that the work is original and not plagiarised from the work of others. Coursework assessment and examination policy. The faculty policy is to use standards based assessment for units where grades are returned and criteria based assessment for Pass/Fail only units. Norm referenced assessment will only be used in exceptional circumstances and its use will need to be justified to the Undergraduate Studies Committee. Special consideration for illness or misadventure may be considered when an assessment component is severely affected. This policy gives the details of the information that is required to be submitted along with the appropriate procedures and forms. Special Arrangements for Examination and Assessment. In exceptional circumstances alternate arrangements for exams or assessment can be made. However concessions for outside work arrangements, holidays and travel, sporting and entertainment events will not normally be given. Student Appeals against Academic Decisions. Students have the right to appeal any academic decision made by a school or the faculty. The appeal must follow the appropriate procedure so that a fair hearing is obtained. Note that policies regarding assessment submission, penalties and assessment feedback depend upon the individual unit of study. Details of these policies, where applicable, will be found above with other assessment details in this unit outline. All university policies can be found at http://sydney.edu.au/policy Various request forms for the Faculty of Engineering and IT can be found at http://sydney.edu.au/engineering/forms/ |
| Prescribed Text/s: |
Note: Students are expected to have a personal copy of all books listed.
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Note that the "Weeks" referred to in this Schedule are those of the official university semester calendar https://web.timetable.usyd.edu.au/calendar.jsp
| Week | Description |
| Week 1 | Lecture: Introduction to UoS. Short-Range Air Pollution I. |
| Lecture/Tutorial: Engineering and Society Perspectives | |
| Week 2 | Lecture: Short-Range Air Pollution II. |
| Lecture/Tutorial: Environmental Impact Assessment | |
| Week 3 | Lecture: Short-Range Air Pollution III. |
| Lecture: Green Design | |
| Week 4 | Lecture: Long-Range Air Pollution and Climate Change I. |
| Lecture/Tutorial: Green Design with BASIX | |
| Week 5 | Lecture: Long-Range Air Pollution and Climate Change II. |
| Lab: Green Design with BASIX | |
| Week 6 | Other: Quiz 1 |
| Lab: Green Design with BASIX | |
| Assessment Due: Quiz | |
| Week 7 | Lecture: Energy I |
| Lab: Environmental Impact Assessment | |
| Week 8 | Lecture: Energy II. |
| Lab: Environmental Impact Assessment | |
| Week 9 | Lecture: Energy III. |
| Lecture: Life-Cycle Analysis | |
| Week 10 | Other: Quiz 2 |
| Tutorial: Life-Cycle Analysis | |
| Assessment Due: Quiz | |
| Week 11 | Lab: Engineering Ethics |
| Lecture: Engineering Ethics Case Problems | |
| Assessment Due: Project | |
| Week 12 | Environmental Impact Project Presentations. |
| Week 13 | Environmental Impact Project Presentations. |
Course Relations
The following is a list of courses which have added this Unit to their structure.
Course Goals
This unit contributes to the achievement of the following course goals:
| Attribute | Practiced | Assessed |
| Design (Level 2) | Yes | 34.5% |
| Information Seeking (Level 3) | Yes | 0% |
| Communication (Level 3) | Yes | 10% |
| Professional Conduct (Level 3) | Yes | 55.5% |
These goals are selected from Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table which defines overall goals for courses where this unit is primarily offered. See Engineering & IT Graduate Outcomes Table for details of the attributes and levels to be developed in the course as a whole. Percentage figures alongside each course goal provide a rough indication of their relative weighting in assessment for this unit. Note that not all goals are necessarily part of assessment. Some may be more about practice activity. See Learning outcomes for details of what is assessed in relation to each goal and Assessment for details of how the outcome is assessed. See Attributes for details of practice provided for each goal.
