Unit organisation

• Objectives
• Phases
• Study resources
• Getting started

Managing Northern Landscapes is structured around a problem that you will be asked to work on during the course of the semester. Specifically, your task will be to prepare Scoping Dpocument to underpin the future devlopment of a feasible environmental management plan, for a pastoral property being managed for multiple use.

At the beginning of the unit you will be presented with a project brief. In response, you will be required to undertake independent research, participate in online tutorials and complete assessment items. Expert tutors, all of whom are researchers in some aspect of land management in northern Australia, will participate in each phase of the unit. Use this opportunity to 'pick the brains' of these eminent researchers adn land managers. They will provide feed-back on your final submissions in an Expert Forum at the conclusion of the semester.

Objectives

Successful completion of this unit should enable you to:

• understand the complexity of issues surrounding the use of northern landscapes
  
• identify the need(s) for management of northern rangelands
  
• inderstand the concept of multiple land use
  
• select appropriate scale of management, including property, landscape, region or continent
  
• apply conventional processes of developing an environmental management plan.

Understand the perspectives of the different groups of people in the landscape:

• identify stakeholders

• appreciate the range of stakeholder perspectives on land management

• describe the origin, priorities and values of one stakeholder group in detail

• identify your perspective on land management, and place it the context of other stakeholders

• delineate points of conflict and common ground between stakeholder perspectives.

Understand the elements in the landscape and the values placed on those elements as resources:

• define and identify resources and their distribution in the landscape

• define and identify modifying processes in the landscape

• select appropriate tools and information to measure resources and predict changes in those resources.

Integrate understandings of land people and issues into a feasible plan of action for management:

• identify priority management actions by drawing on understandings of resources, threats and stakeholders

• evaluate the effectiveness of management options

• recommend and justify a feasible plan of action.

Phases

This is a 13 week unit, divided into four phases:

• initiation to the problem at hand

• exploration of the problem

• research about the problem and solution

• presentation of your recommended solutions.

Initiation

You will use the Classroom to discuss the implications of the project brief, making sure that you are clear about what your task actually is, identifying related issues and planning how you will go about achieving your goals.

Exploration

Use the Classroom to explore how the field trip will help resolve issues raised in the previous phase, and what preparation you need to undertake to best use the opportunities that will be available on the field trip.

Research

You further develop and enact your individual action plan and timeline towards the final assessment. You will need to undertake further research, explore software tools, or make direct contact with experts available in the Classroom, or elsewhere. Expert Tutorials are valuable opportunities. Use the Coffee Shop to informally discuss your ideas among your peers, and the Journal to record your reflections on the process of developing your scoping document and to send drafts to the lecturer.

Presentation - Expert Forum

At the end of the semester you will submit your scoping documents. To conclude the unit these will be considered as a group by a forum of researchers who have been involved in presenting and developing the unit, along with other invited natural resource management practicioners. Students, lecturers and experts will meet with you in online for a live discussion of the strengths and areas for improvement in the documents you have submitted as a whole. As a conclusion to the unit, you are then asked to create a final reflective and evaluative journal entry.

Study resources

A readings collection is posted to you at the beginning of semester. There is no set text for this unit.

While working on this unit you will need to participate in the following:

• Online discussion forums
• Other interactive resources
• Field trip

Online discussion forums

The Coffee Shop is an informal discussion forum for you to share your concerns and informally discuss your ideas with other students. As soon as you can, go to the coffee shop and tell us something about yourself.

The Classroom is where the tutorials take place and where the unit organising will be done. You will have the opportunity to meet researchers and other land management professionals here, while taking part in their 'Expert Tutorials.'

The Journal is where you will reflect on your learning and progress towards your goals, and communicate privately with the lecturer.

Contact me (your lecturer) if you have trouble accessing these facilities.

Return to 'Study Resources'

Other interactive resources

The Managing Northern Landscapes website includes a Glossary and References discussion boards. A number of items have been posted to both these forums in previous years, and we hope that you will add to these during this semester. As you explore libraries and the web you are sure to uncover interesting and useful resources that are not yet in the database. Please share these with the group by adding them to the References and Glossary.

Return to 'Study Resources'

Field trip

The field trip to the Victoria River District will be held from Sunday 10th to Friday 15th August. The trip will

• Provide the opportunity to meet people living, working and researching in the landscape

• Introduce you to their concerns and priorities

• Introduce you to the landscape itself

• Introduce you to the land uses and management issues in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory

• Foster collaboration within the class

You will need to do some preparation to get the most out of this experience. This will be discussed in the Classroom and will occupy much of the first two weeks of the semester.

Getting started

To start work on this unit you should

• Read the project brief, and be clear about what is expected of you

• Make sure you can access the 3 discussion boards (Classroom, Coffee Shop and Journal) and 2 data bases (Glossary and References)

• Explore the Expert Tutor profiles to find out what expertise will be available to you during semester, and on which dates you can take advantage of this

• Familiarise yourself with the other Resources available on this unit website

• Start developing your work plan for the semester, using the study planner provided

• Introduce yourself, via the Coffee Shop, by providing an introductory message.