From: A balancing act: a window into online student engagement experiences
Access | ● Open access admission policy ● Flexible progression routes ● Student chooses credit load to align to lifeload |
Strategic approach to transition | ● Pre-entry: Online socialisation courses, welcome emails and phone calls ● On-entry: On campus and/or online orientation: including introduction to their programme, socialisation with staff and students, campus tour, overview of university support services, etc. ● New student mentor |
Support | ● Programme team support- Check-in emails and phone calls to identify at-risk students, programme support hub on VLE ● Module tutor support- synchronous online seminars (evenings and weekends), asynchronous discussion forums, email and phone support ● Institutional supports-library, student services, careers |
Skills development | ● Online training on the use of the VLE, online classrooms, online library resources ● Study skills instruction embedded in year one modules ● Additional study skills online seminars throughout the year |
Learning design | ● Modules designed for online delivery, following the ABC and Quality Matters approaches (Quality Matters, 2019; Young & Perović, 2018) ● Interactive learning resources, multimedia which are informed by usability and accessibility standards ● Teacher presence established through welcome video, photo, approach to facilitation ● Synchronous and asynchronous interaction |
Assessment | ● Programmatic approach to assessment and feedback, aligned to learning outcomes and learning resources ● Consist approach to presentation of detailed assignment briefs ● Three-week turnaround on assignment feedback using consistent, detailed feedback forms ● Variety of assessment approaches ● Group work to facilitate sense of belonging |