Design environmental surveys
Student Assessment Guide (SAG)
This subject is assessed directly from the following unit;
Unit Code
MSL975011A
Unit Title
Design & supervise complex environmental field surveys
Successful completion of MSL975011A requires the following pre-requisite unit;
MSL974007A
Undertake environmental field based monitoring
Design environmental surveys
SAG
Subject purpose
This unit of competency covers the ability to design and supervise complex field surveys for
a wide range of environmental systems. This unit covers confirming survey requirements,
designing and organising field surveys to achieve their purpose and supervising the field
survey according to a defined plan.
Assessment
Assessment for this subject will consist of five (5) assignments based on key aspects of
designing and supervising complex environmental surveys including;
•
Legislation, regulation, standards, codes of practice and enterprise procedures
•
Field survey activities
•
Defining survey requirements and activities
•
Supervising field activities
•
Documenting & reporting data
There is substantial assignment and practical work required for this unit.
Assessment Task
Weighting
Analysis of survey methods
15%
Survey purpose assessment
15%
Environmental quality benchmarks
15%
Data analysis
15%
Survey report
15%
Analytical results spreadsheet
25%
TOTAL
100%
Subject content
This subject deals with a wide variety of topics including the following aspects;
•
Standards, codes, procedures and/or enterprise requirements
•
Field survey activities
•
Clients and stakeholders
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•
The purpose or objective of the field survey
•
Drivers and constraints
•
Hazards and safety procedures and control measures
•
Administrative requirements and approvals
•
Field survey resources
•
Field instruments and equipment
•
Field procedures
•
Typical problems
•
Workplace health and safety (WHS) and environmental management
requirements
Grading
The assessment for this unit/ module is recorded as a Class Mark. All assessment events
used to determine your result will be locally set and locally marked.
Your results will be reported as DISTINCTION, CREDIT, PASS (AC) or FAIL (NYC). To receive a
particular grade you must get at least the mark shown below:
Grade
Class mark
DISTINCTION
>=83
CREDIT
>=70
PASS (ACHIEVED COMPETENCY)
>=50
FAIL (NOT YET COMPETENT)
<50
Delivery strategy
This subject is assessed directly against the unit’s performance criteria.
Unit
MSL975011A
Elements
Performance
Criteria
Subject
Weighting
Unit
Weighting
All
All
100
100
NOTE: The subject weighting MUST add up to 100 for the subject, but the Unit Weighting MAY NOT add up to
100 as each unit is weighted differently in each subject it is used in. Refer to cffet.net/env/assessment for
further explanation.
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Design environmental surveys
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What you will need
To complete this subject successfully you will need;
•
The course notes
•
A USB flash or thumb drive.
•
Access to a computer with internet, email and general office programs
•
Administrator rights to download and install Google Earth (free version)
•
General computer skills
Where to get help
Contact your teacher [www.cffet.net/env/contacts] if you run into any trouble this unit. You
would be surprised how flexible we are at accommodating your needs, but communication
is key. If you don’t let us know you are having trouble, we may have trouble trying to help
you.
Resources and references
References
Note that you are not required to purchase, download or read these references (unless
specifically directed to by your teacher). Some of these resources might be available from
your teacher or library for free.
Bates, G. (2010). Environmental Law in Australia. Australia: LexisNexis-Butterworths.
Bratram, J. E. (1996). Water Quality Monitoring - A Practical Guide to the Design and
Implementation of Freshwater Quality Studies and Monitoring Programmes. New
York?: UNEP/WHO.
Burden, F. E. (2002). Environmental Monitoring Handbook. McGraw-Hill Professional.
DSEWPC. (2010, October 27). Australia's Biodiversity Conservation Strategy. Retrieved May
27, 2013, from environment.gov.au:
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/strategy/states-territories.html
Ferrier, R. C. (2010). Handbook of Catchment Management. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Grammeno, Gaby (Ed). (2009). Planning Occupational Health and Safety, 8th Ed. Melbourne:
McPherson's Printing Group.
Jorgensen, S. E. (2005). Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem
Health. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
Manahan, S. (2000). Environmental Chemistry. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers.
Manly, B. (2009). Statistics for environmental science and management. Boca Raton: Taylor
& Francis Group.
Newton, A. (2007). Forest Ecology and Conservation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schuenemeyer, J. E. (2011). Statistics for Earth and Environmental Scientists. New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons.
StandardsAustralia. (2004). AS/NZS ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management Systems:
Requirements with guidance for use. Australia: Standards Australia.
Sutherland, W. (2006). Ecological Census Techniques. 2nd Ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
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University Press.
U.S.GeologicalSurvey. (Variously dated). National field manual for the collection of water
quality data: U.S. Geological Survey Techniques of Water Resources Investigation,
book 9, chaps. A1-A9. available online at http://pubs.water.usgs.gov/twri9A.
vanLoon, G. W. (2011). Environmental Chemistry: a global perspective. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011. (n.d.).
Workplace Health and Safety Regulation 2011. (n.d.).
Resources
•
Fauna and flora survey tools can be found here (for NSW)
•
Water, air and other Australian Standards can be found here (TAFE Login
required)
•
Soil survey information can be found here
•
TAFE Referencing and plagiarism information can be found here
•
Information related to water quality monitoring is found here
Assessment Submission
Students are to submit all assessments by the due date to the subject teacher by email using
the following filename format;
firstname-surname-assessmentname-duedate
Visit cffet.net/env/assessment for more information on submitting assessments, file names
and available file extensions that you can use.
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