AGRIBUS 3064 - Water Security & Governance UG
North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2022
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General Course Information
Course Details
Course Code AGRIBUS 3064 Course Water Security & Governance UG Coordinating Unit Centre for Global Food & Resources Term Semester 1 Level Undergraduate Location/s North Terrace Campus Units 3 Contact Taught as an intensive Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y Assessment Assignment, group work, engagement Course Staff
Course Coordinator: Dr Alec Zuo
Role: Course coordinator and Lecturer Location: 6.20, Nexus10 (10 Pulteney Street) Email: alec.zuo@adelaide.edu.au Course Timetable
The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .
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Learning Outcomes
Course Learning Outcomes
On the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:- Describe the historical context of water governance in Australia and other contexts and identify the critical points of institutional change.
- List important policy or program options for managing water scarcity and compare their effectiveness in different situations.
- Explain the multi-jurisdictional governance of water and analyse reasons as to why this approach is adopted.
- Critically discuss the drivers of water scarcity and explain the usefulness of economic instruments such as trade, pricing and allocation.
- Identify appropriate assessment tools such as non-market valuation techniques, frameworks for interrelated stakeholder consultation, and water resource planning to case studies.
- Identify the possible future outcomes of water governance decisions taken today, and explain the merits/costs of these decisions.
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) Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth
Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.
2,3,4,6 Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving
Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.
5 Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills
Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.
1,3,6 Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness
Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.
6 Attribute 5: Intercultural and ethical competency
Graduates are responsible and effective global citizens whose personal values and practices are consistent with their roles as responsible members of society.
4,5 Attribute 8: Self-awareness and emotional intelligence
Graduates are self-aware and reflective; they are flexible and resilient and have the capacity to accept and give constructive feedback; they act with integrity and take responsibility for their actions.
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Learning Resources
Required Resources
There are no specified learning resources required for the course. A lecture outline and recommended reading in preparation for each seminar will be made available, together with a list of additional readings for those wishing to explore issues further. However, there are a number of additional recommended resources that students might like to examine either in preparation for the course discussions or as part of their wider examination of water governance in AustraliaRecommended Resources
The following are excellent (but not required) text examples.
Dinar, A. and Schwabe, K. (2015), A Handbook of Water Economics, Edward Elgar Press, Northampton MA. (ebook can be downloaded from university's library website http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/)
Griffin, R. (2016), Water Resource Economics, 2nd Edition, MIT Press, Cambridge MA. (hardcopy can be found in the univesrity library)
Young, R., & Loomis, John B. (2014). Determining the Economic Value of Water Concepts and Methods (2nd ed.). Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. (ebook can be downloaded from university's library website http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/)
Legislation and planning:
- The Water Act (C’wth: 2007)
- The National Water Initiative
- The Murray–Darling Basin Agreement
- Commonwealth Environmental Watering Plans
- The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources (DAWR)
- The Murray–Darling Basin Authority (MDBA)
- The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office (CEWO)
- The National Water Commission (archived)
- The Victorian Environmental Water Holder (VEWH)
- New South Wales Office of Water (DPI-Water)
- Council of Australian Governments (CoAG)
- Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AJARE)
- Ecological Economics (Ecol Econ)
- The American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE)
- Water Resources Research (WRR)
- Water Resources Management (WRM)
- Agricultural Water Management (AWM)
All case studies will be made available on the course website or via links to relevant external sites. All cases will be freely available. -
Learning & Teaching Activities
Learning & Teaching Modes
Weekly sessions will be delivered by one of the lecturers, but all lecturers will participate in the course delivery at critical stages (e.g. the debate). The course coordinator will provide a central point of contact for students.
The delivery will be a blended approach using 1.5 hour lectures, course discussion of readings to provide for flipped learning outcomes, and class activities (e.g. game-playing, case studies, debate etc.) for learning development beyond the lecture mode. Students will be required to demonstrate their capacity to locate information, absorb its detail, consider the implications of that information in the context of interest and demonstrate that in the provision of solutions or suggestions for policy/program arrangements. Useful links and tips will be provided in the course materials, and interaction will assist all students to learn from one another.
A role-playing game will be the culmination of the learning mode toward the end of the course where students will be asked to separate into seven teams representing different stakeholders in a fictitious basin setting. Each team has set objectives and must negotiate under the supervision of a coordinating authority (the Ministerial Council) in an attempt to reach consensus. All teams have set instructions and notes to assist them play their role, and assessment is based on preparation, engagement, and eventual negotiation outcomesWorkload
The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
There is no expected pre-requisite knowledge or course-work for this course. During the course, consistent with the nature of real-world water governance requirements, students will be encouraged to develop a multi-disciplinary perspective and approach to tackling problems posed in the course through group-work and in-class exercises.
As such:
Core information will be provided to students ahead of course commencement and basic principles will be outlined and developed in the lecture component of the course. Seminar sessions will be used to more deeply develop and apply these core concepts through the use of flipped discussion, problem solving activities and interactive student engagement. In-class activities will form the basis for much of the interaction, where real-world issues will be discussed and solutions developed by the group on the basis of their learning to date. Students will be assessed on their participation in these activities.
At the conclusion of the course, students will take on a Basin management role as part of a role-playing game that explores water management issues and the realities of negotiation and strategy. Depending on numbers, students may undertake the role individually or as a group member. Students will be expected to read and understand their respective role ahead of that session, and come prepared to defend their assigned position with argument. Engagement with the role, innovative thinking, and eventual negotiation outcomes will form the basis for their final assessment.Learning Activities Summary
The structure and seminar topics for each session is set out below. At the commencement of the course a more detailed structure would be made available to the student group. Note that as an intensive course it is expected that the course delivery will be broken into two six-hour sessions per week (e.g. Tuesdays and Thursdays) over a total of three weeks to accumulate the required 36 contact hours. Format for those sessions would be two 1.5-hour lectures followed with two 1.5-hour practical seminars for flipped discussion, case study analysis, debate and small-group work. Additional work outside of contact hours for course reading and planning by students would also be taken into account.
Session Lecture Topic Key seminar activitites 1 Introduction to global water security issues Get to know your classmates and interests 2 Future water supply and demand, and water conflicts 3 Supply and demand solutions to water issues I 4 Supply and demand solutions to water issues II 5 Values of water resources I 6 Values of water resources II Student paper presentations 7 Property rights and allocation mechanisms I 8 Property rights and allocation mechanisms II 9 The Murray-Darling Basin water reform case: Australia leading the world 10 Basin Planning and reform options: buyback versus efficiency Student paper presentations 11 The Great Water Game 12 Review, key messages and course summary -
Assessment
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
Task Group/Individual Session Deadline Weighting Learning Outcome Attendance and Participation Individual NA 10% 1-6 Problem solving essays Individual Sessions 6 and 10 30% 1,4,5,6 The Great Water Game Group Session 11 20% 4-6 Short-answer essays (3 of 6 choices) Individual Session 13 40% 1-6 Total 100% Assessment Detail
There will be four (4) assessment requirements in the course, as follows:
Attendance and participation in seminars (10%):
For students enrolled for face-to-face classes, they are expected to attend 10 of the 12 seminars and actively participate in discussion. They should be familiar with the materials, and show that they have read the assigned minimum reading for each seminar session such that they can ask informed questions and contribute in an informed way. This is key assessment of flipped learning outcomes from the course; that is, we will use this to gauge the students’ development of course knowledge, critical thinking and application of knowledge to issues. Early discussion will be guided by the lecturers, but this development will be reinforced by the case-study assessments.
For offshore/insterstate students, they are expected to watch the lecture recordings of each session and actively participate in group discussion with peers. They are also encouraged to interact with lecturers through emails and appointments via zoom if feasible.
Problem solving essays (30%):
In each of Week 1 and Week 2, students will be provided with a piece of reading and a set of questions. They are required to answer the questions in short-essay formats. Each week accounts for 15%. Detailed instructions will be made available in due course.
The Great Water Debate (20%):
Each student will be assigned into one of seven (7) groups; each one a specific representative organisation of interests in the fictitious Finn River Basin (FRB). It will be each group's responsibility to:
Carefully read the instructions and understand your position/objectives in the game;
Agree upon and identify one representative that will talk for the group at the common table;
Meet prior to the game and set your agenda, agreed tactics, bargaining chips etc.
A total time of 3 hours approximately will be allocated on the second teaching day of Week 3 to reach an agreement, as per the game instructions. How well each group and its individual members perform in their game roles will (in-part) determine the final assessment grade for this component.
HOWEVER, the main objective here is one of learning and practical experience so please do not stress about the group nature of this assignment, or individual parts. The idea is to get into the roles assigned, enjoy the experience, have fun, and learn something valuable about yourselves and water governance in practice.
Short-answer essay responses (40%):
As a final exam assessment, students will be provided with eight questions to which they will be required to submit four short-answer essay responses. For example, students may be asked to list the critical requirements for effective water governance and site an example where they are used in the world context. They may then be required to also critically appraise reasons as to why the system in question succeeded/failed over time.
The proposed assessment is summarised in the table above, together with due dates, learning outcomes etc.Submission
Assignments must be submitted in Softcopy through Turnitin on MyUni
All assignments must be presented professionally with clear headings, appropriate referencing and using one and a half spacing.
Extensions will only be granted if requests are received in writing to the course coordinator at least 24 hours before the final due date unless they are requested on medical or compassionate grounds and are supported by appropriate documents.
Please contact the course coordinator, preferably by email, at any time to make an appointment for assistance or guidance in relation to course work, assignments or any concerns that may arise. Assignments will normally be returned two weeks after they have been submittedCourse 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 .
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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.
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Student Support
- Academic Integrity for Students
- Academic Support with Maths
- Academic Support with writing and study skills
- Careers Services
- Library Services for Students
- LinkedIn Learning
- Student Life Counselling Support - Personal counselling for issues affecting study
- Students with a Disability - Alternative academic arrangements
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Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
- Academic Credit Arrangements Policy
- Academic Integrity Policy
- Academic Progress by Coursework Students Policy
- Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy
- Copyright Compliance Policy
- Coursework Academic Programs Policy
- Intellectual Property Policy
- IT Acceptable Use and Security Policy
- Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy
- Reasonable Adjustments to Learning, Teaching & Assessment for Students with a Disability Policy
- Student Experience of Learning and Teaching Policy
- Student Grievance Resolution Process
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Fraud Awareness
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