| Effective Term: | 2026/20 |
| Institute / School : | Institute of Innovation, Science & Sustainability |
| Unit Title: | AI Governance and Assurance |
| Unit ID: | ITECH2119 |
| Credit Points: | 15.00 |
| Prerequisite(s): | Nil |
| Co-requisite(s): | Nil |
| Exclusion(s): | Nil |
| ASCED: | 020301 |
| Other Change: | |
| Brief description of the Unit |
In ITECH2119, students learn how to evaluate AI systems against the ethical principles, legal obligations, and governance frameworks that define responsible practice. The unit covers the established and emerging AI regulatory environment and frameworks, both within Australia and internationally. Students apply these frameworks to audit systems for bias and compliance gaps, produce structured risk assessments, and investigate documented incidents, to understand how governance failures occur and what could have prevented them. The unit is accessible to students across disciplines, including Information Technology, Business, Engineering, and Science, and is designed to be valuable whether students go on to build AI systems, manage them, regulate them, or work alongside them. |
| Grade Scheme: | Graded (HD, D, C, P, MF, F, XF) |
| Work Experience Indicator: |
| No work experience |
| Placement Component: | |
| Supplementary Assessment:Yes |
| Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment |
| Course Level: |
| Level of Unit in Course | AQF Level(s) of Course | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | Introductory | | | | | | | | Intermediate | | |  | | | | | Advanced | | | | | | |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
| Knowledge: |
| K1. | Identify the core ethical values and principles that underpin responsible AI, such as privacy, transparency, and data sovereignty, as expressed in major international frameworks, Australian government principles, and professional ICT codes of ethics. |
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| K2. | Describe the legal and regulatory obligations that apply to AI systems in Australia, including privacy law and emerging AI-specific regulation. |
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| K3. | Explain how organisations structure governance, quality management, and assurance processes to oversee AI systems across their lifecycle. |
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| K4. | Describe common ways AI systems can produce harmful, unfair, or unreliable outcomes, including technical, social, and operational failure modes. |
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| Skills: |
| S1. | Apply a risk management framework to classify AI systems by risk level and identify categories of harm in a described deployment scenario. |
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| S2. | Apply ethical and legal criteria to determine whether an AI system or organisational practice meets responsible AI standards. |
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| Application of knowledge and skills: |
| A1. | Apply frameworks to explain an AI incident and identify mitigations |
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| Unit Content: |
Topics may include: 1. AI in society: Impact, risk, and the importance of governance 2. Ethical frameworks for AI 3. Australian legal, social, and cultural constraints, including Indigenous considerations 4. International AI regulation 5. Risk classification 6. AI management systems: ISO/IEC 42001 and the NIST AI Risk Management Framework 7. Bias and fairness in AI 8. Transparency and explainability 9. Organisational governance of AI 10. Assurance and quality management for AI systems 11. Responsible AI in practice 12. AI incident analysis |
| Graduate Attributes: |
| Federation University recognises that students require key transferable employability skills to prepare them for their future workplace and society. FEDTASKS (Transferable Attributes Skills and Knowledge) provide a targeted focus on five key transferable Attributes, Skills, and Knowledge that are be embedded within curriculum, developed gradually towards successful measures and interlinked with cross-discipline and Co-operative Learning opportunities. One or more FEDTASK, transferable Attributes, Skills or Knowledge must be evident in the specified learning outcomes and assessment for each FedUni Unit, and all must be directly assessed in each Course.
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| FED TASK and descriptor | Development and acquisition of FEDTASKS in the Unit | | Level | FEDTASK 1
Interpersonal | Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate, inter-act and work with others both individually and in groups. Students will be required to display skills in-person and/or online in: • Using effective verbal and non-verbal communication • Listening for meaning and influencing via active listening • Showing empathy for others • Negotiating and demonstrating conflict resolution skills • Working respectfully in cross-cultural and diverse teams. | | FEDTASK 2
Leadership | Students will demonstrate the ability to apply professional skills and behaviours in leading others. Students will be required to display skills in: • Creating a collegial environment • Showing self -awareness and the ability to self-reflect • Inspiring and convincing others • Making informed decisions • Displaying initiative | | FEDTASK 3
Critical Thinking and Creativity | Students will demonstrate an ability to work in complexity and ambiguity using the imagination to create new ideas. Students will be required to display skills in: • Reflecting critically • Evaluating ideas, concepts and information • Considering alternative perspectives to refine ideas • Challenging conventional thinking to clarify concepts • Forming creative solutions in problem solving. | Level 2 - Student demonstrates some independence within provided guidelines | FEDTASK 4
Digital Literacy | Students will demonstrate the ability to work fluently across a range of tools, platforms and applications to achieve a range of tasks. Students will be required to display skills in: • Finding, evaluating, managing, curating, organising and sharing digital information • Collating, managing, accessing and using digital data securely • Receiving and responding to messages in a range of digital media • Contributing actively to digital teams and working groups • Participating in and benefiting from digital learning opportunities. | Level 2 - Student demonstrates some independence within provided guidelines | FEDTASK 5
Sustainable and Ethical Mindset | Students will demonstrate the ability to consider and assess the consequences and impact of ideas and actions in enacting ethical and sustainable decisions. Students will be required to display skills in: • Making informed judgments that consider the impact of devising solutions in global economic environmental and societal contexts • Committing to social responsibility as a professional and a citizen • Evaluating ethical, socially responsible and/or sustainable challenges and generating and articulating responses • Embracing lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning to be open to diverse others • Implementing required actions to foster sustainability in their professional and personal life. | Level 2 - Student demonstrates some independence within provided guidelines |
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| | Learning Outcomes Assessed | Assessment Tasks | Assessment Type | Weighting | Professional Standards |
| 1. |
K1, K2, K3, K4, S1, S2 |
Complete weekly laboratory activities |
Laboratory tasks |
10-20% |
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| 2. |
K3, K4, S1, S2 |
Analyse and/or propose an unethical and legally non-compliant AI system. |
Design brief/analysis and presentation |
30-50% |
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| 3. |
K2, S1, S2, A1 |
Select an incident from an AI incident database, and investigate it through the lens of the governance and ethical frameworks studied in the unit. Prepare an executive presentation explaining the errors and proposed preventative measures. |
Incident analysis and presentation |
30-50% |
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