Course Coordinator: Dr Adriana Milazzo

Phone: +61 8 8313 0199
Email: adriana.milazzo@adelaide.edu.au

 

1	Analyse the public health impact of existing, emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases within Australia and globally
2	Demonstrate an understanding of the interaction between agent, host and environment and the factors impacting the ability to control infectious diseases
3	Demonstrate knowledge of methods and principles of infectious disease surveillance and capacity to evaluate surveillance systems
4	Apply epidemiological principles and methods to the investigation, management and control of infectious diseases
5	Interpret, analyse and synthesise infectious disease data using epidemiological methods

On-line textbook: Sonja A. Rasmussen and Richard A. Goodman (Editors),The CDC Field Epidemiology Manual, 2018.

All resources, including links to journal articles and reading lists, will be disseminated via MyUni.

On-line learning
Students who are unable to attend in person may enrol on-line with the expectation that students submit workshops activities on-line.

Computers
General information about University computer laboratories is available at
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/technology/your-tools/academic/student-computer-suite 

MyUni
As an enrolled student, you will have access to the University’s on-line teaching facilities. This is an implementation of the Canvas system called MyUni. MyUni is accessible from the University of Adelaide’s home-page: www.adelaide.edu.au

You will need your student login name and a password.

If you do not have access, then either you are not enrolled or the administrators of MyUni do not know of your enrolment. Please call Ask Adelaide on 8313 5208 (University extension 35208) or the IT help desk on 8313 3000 (University extension 33000) for assistance with MyUni difficulties. 

Course materials will be placed on MyUni. Note also that Announcements about a course are often made on the relevant page of the MyUni site for the course. For example, notifications of a change in lecture venue, updates on availability of course material etc. will be made on the MyUni site.

Email
We assume that students access  e-mail and that their address is the University of Adelaide student address that was assigned on  enrolment. This is of the form: firstname.lastname@student.adelaide.edu.au A notice to a student by e-mail is considered to have been received and read by the student unless there is a transmission error and the postmaster bounces the message back to us. As discussed above, the Announcements page of the MyUni site for this course will also display relevant notices from time to time, so it is essential that students check their student e-mail and to log on to MyUni
regularly.

This course will introduce students to the concepts and principles of infectious diseases within a population health framework. The core material including lecture and workshop activities is delievered in a 3-hour weekly workshop aimed at collaborative and experiential learning in order to develop students’ capacity to synthesise relevant information and ideas. The workshops will include presentations from guest speakers.

In general, we recommend that students spend 3 hours of independent study for every contact hour. This includes reading the set text, wider reading, preparing answers to workshop questions, and making progress with assignments. 

Topics include:

Infectious disease transmisison and characteristics
Epidemiological triad
Social determinants
Surveillance
Infectious disease modelling
Outbreaks
Study design
Control measures
Emerging issues
Health communicaton

N/A

Assessment task	Task type	Weighting	Course learning outcomes being addressed
Quizzes	Summative	10%	1-5
Participation	Summative	10%	1-5
Surveillance system	Summative	20%	3-5
Feedback from coordinator prior to receiving next clue to ensure groups are correctly following steps in the investigation	Formative	0%	1-5
Outbreak investigation - Group assignment	Summative	20%	1-5
Health report	Summative	40%	1-5

Students are expected to actively participate in workshops.

On-line quizzes (10%): Quizzes will aid students in monitoring their understanding of key concepts and principles for the topic areas.

Participation (10%): Participation with peers in workshops and on-line activities. Students will be given workshop activities to complete on-line or in class.

Outbreak investigation group assignment (20%): Students will participate in an infectious disease outbreak investigation and will contribute to a range of activities including hypothesis generating questions, and analysis of data. Students will be provided with important information and clues in order to solve the outbreak – students will receive real time feedback from the course coordinator prior to receiving next clue to ensure that they are correctly following the steps in the investigation – this is formative assessment.

Surveillance system (20%): Describe the surveillance system of a notifiable disease (1,000-1,200 words).

Health report (40%): Prepare a report – the task is to reconsider existing control measures or strategies for an emerging disease (2,000-2,200 words).

The quizzes will be completed online via MyUni. Assignments will be submitted and marked on-line through MyUni. The outbreak investigation will be conducted on-line but in the face to face workshop with scaffolding of clues from the course coordinator.

Extensions
All extensions for assignments must be requested, at the latest, by the last working day before the due date of submission. Extensions will generally be granted only on medical or genuine compassionate grounds. Supporting documentation must be provided at the time a student requests an extension. Without documentation, extensions will not be granted. Late requests for extension will neither be accepted nor acknowledged.

Only the Course Co-ordinator(s) may grant extensions.

Supporting documentation will be required when requesting an extension. Examples of documents that are acceptable include: a medical certificate that specifies dates of incapacity, a police report (in the case of lost computers, car & household theft etc.), a letter from a Student Counsellor, Education and Welfare Officer (EWO) or Disability Liaison Officer that provides an assessment of compassionate circumstances, or a letter from an independent external counsellor or appropriate professional able to verify the student’s situation. The length of any extension granted will take into account the period and severity of any incapacity or impact on the student. Extensions of more than 10 days will not be granted except in exceptional circumstances.

Late submission
Marks will be deducted when assignments for which no extension has been granted are handed in late.

All assignments, including those handed in late, will be assessed on their merits. In the case of late assignments where no extension has been granted, 5 percentage points of the total marks possible per day will be deducted. If an assignment that is 2 days late is awarded 65% on its merits, the mark will then be reduced by 10% (5% per day for 2 days) to 55%. If that same assignment is 4 days late, the mark will be reduced by 20% (5% per day for 4 days) to 45%, and so on.

The School of Public Health reserves the right to refuse to accept an assignment that is more than 7 days late.

Assignments submitted after the due date may not be graded in time to be returned on the listed return dates.

Students submitting examinable written work who request (and receive) an extension that takes them beyond the examination period are advised that there is no guarantee that their grades will be processed in time to meet usual University deadlines.

Resubmission
If a student is dissatisfied with an assessment grade they should follow the Student Grievance Resolution Process <https://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/grievance/process/>. Students who are not satisfied with a particular assessment result should raise their concerns with Course Co-ordinator(s) in the first instance. This must be done within 10 business days of the date of notification of the result. Resubmission of any assignment is subject to the agreement of the Course Co-ordinator(s) and will only be permitted for the most compelling of reasons.