University of Melbourne

This course serves as an introduction to data modelling and databases from a technical and data management perspective. Database design from conceptual design through to physical implementation is covered. This includes Entity Relationship modeling, normalisation, de-normalisation, SQL, transactions, relational algebra and query optimisation. Other topics in data management and DBMS technology may also be included. A web-based database application is developed to explore the skills learned in this subject.

Youth is a period in which adult identities are shaped and through this society’s institutions and cultural beliefs are either reproduced or remade. For this reason young people and their attitudes and actions fascinate and create anxiety for broader society. The sociological study of youth is also the study of broader continuity and change. This subject introduces major classical and contemporary sociological approaches as they apply to the study of youth. It locates young people's experience in a context of social change, investigating the ways in which employment, education, family, gender, social class, youth culture and geographic location shape the meaning of youth in different ways in the early 21st Century than they did in the century past. It explores the new ways in which young people approach learning, work and relationships and examines the impact of the digital revolution, globalization, and the coming ‘Asian Century’ on young lives. On completion of this subject, students deepen their knowledge of the major sociological approaches to youth, including the study of transitions to adulthood, youth cultures and generational change.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the major traditions and key contributions in social theory in the context of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The strengths and limitations of various classical sociological perspectives are discussed and the direct contemporary relevance to social research are explored. Students are required to read the original writings of social theorists including, but not limited to, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Georg Simmel with the ultimate goal of developing their analytical skills and intellectual understanding of the classical theoretical debates in an informed and rigorous manner.

This course provides a solid foundation in human and animal reproductive biology and its applications. Students search the primary scientific literature; explore the principles and processes of reproductive biology; understand the structure and function of male and female reproductive systems; understand neuroendocrine and endocrine control systems and their role in the regulation of reproductive processes; understand some common reproductive disorders and diseases and assisted reproductive techniques; and be aware of implications of reproduction in a community and global context.

This course provides an introduction to Australian foreign policy, exploring its domestic and global contexts. It examines Australia's most important bilateral, regional, and multilateral relations in both historical and contemporary terms. It explores key themes including Australia's national identity, interests, security and prosperity, the Australia-US alliance, Australia's engagement with international organizations such as the UN, WTO, and G20, Australia's role as a regional power in the South Pacific, and Australia's increasing engagement with Asia. The course also investigates key foreign policy issues on the contemporary Australian agenda including global climate change negotiations, human rights, overseas aid and asylum-seekers, trade and economic globalization, transnational terrorism and arms control. Students who complete this subject become equipped to articulate and debate the conceptual, analytical, and normative dimensions of Australian foreign policy.

This course explores the ways music can be used to promote physical health and healthy behaviors for a range of people, including musicians. Topics covered include music for expression, relaxation, anxiety reduction, and communication. Students engage in experiential activities underpinned by theoretical knowledge. They also contribute to weekly web-based discussion that furthers understanding of topics covered in the course.

This course explores the sociological study of culture, exploring topics such as art, sport, food, religion, music, social media, and cultural memory. Students examine how culture can reproduce, organize, and challenge particular social values and structures. The course also traces the rise of cultural sociology in the late 20th century, a time when sociologists became increasingly interested in popular culture and everyday life and cultural critics began to consider the sociological context of literature, art, and film. Using these innovative studies as a framework, each week students analyze an aspect of contemporary culture and consider its sociological importance. They gain an understanding of the cultural dimensions of social life and the key theories and methods used to critically analyze cultural experience.

What is the mind? What does it mean for the mind to malfunction? And how should it be treated when this occurs? “Minds and Madness” provides an historical over-view of responses to these questions by patients, medical practitioners, and society as a whole. Once considered the seat of the soul, the human mind has been captured by science, reduced to a brain, “a hard-wired” neural network. Metaphysical explanations of madness (theological and magical) have been superseded by scientific theories (neurological and material), thus reshaping our understanding and experience of madness. Therapies have transformed accordingly. In exploring these important issues, the course visits the spaces and places of “Minds and Madness,” including: the ship of fools, Bedlam, the asylum, the psychiatrist's couch and GPs rooms, the battlefield, the operating theatre, and the padded cell. It introduces students to a cast of thousands, including: the fool (from King Lear and elsewhere), Burton, Descartes, Locke, Pinel, Kraepelin, Cotton, Freud, Laing, Engel and Spitzer. It analyzes and critiques changing conceptions of mental diagnoses. It delves into the new world of our contemporary neurosciences. Finally, it explores how historians have made sense of this story.