1. Online tuition support:
Can it move the dial on retention
and success?
Chris Veraa – Director, Student Experience
CQUniversity

2. CQUniversity
A snapshot
Place People Performance

3. Our Studiosity journey
2017
Writing feedback: 3,001 submissions, 88,485 minutes
Connect Live: 726 sessions, 14,213 minutes
68% of capacity used
2018
Writing feedback: 4,756 submissions, 142,800 minutes
Connect Live: 796 sessions, 16,984 minutes
89% of capacity used
2019 (June YTD)
Writing feedback: 4,192 submissions, 124,485 minutes
Connect Live: 423 sessions, 9,128 minutes
76% of capacity used (forecast 53%)

4. Does using Studiosity…
• … have a positive impact on student retention?
• … improve students’ chance of academic success?
And…
• … does students’ self-reflection on their Studiosity experience match
up to their retention and success outcomes?

5. Disclaimer
• This is not a research paper
• This is desktop analysis of system-generated reporting (and the data
has its shortcomings)
• Doesn’t consider additional factors integral to success/retention
• However, results do suggest that further academic research into this
desktop analysis is warranted

6. Let’s look at retention…

7. Term 1 2017:
3,966New student commencements

8. T1 ’17 commencers still enrolled 12 months later:
2,287(57.67 per cent)

9. Term 1 2017:
434New students using Studiosity in first term of study

10. T1 ’17 Studiosity users still enrolled by Term 2 census:
410(94.47 per cent)

11. T1 ’17 Studiosity users still enrolled one year later:
333(76.73 per cent)

12. 19.06%Better retention for students using Studiosity in first term

13. Term 1 2018:
4,388New student commencements

14. T1 ’18 commencers still enrolled 12 months later:
2,864(65.27 per cent)

15. Term 1 2018:
450New students using Studiosity in first term of study

16. T1 ’18 Studiosity users still enrolled by Term 2 census:
406(90.22 per cent)

17. T1 ’18 Studiosity users still enrolled one year later:
356(79.11 per cent)

18. 13.84%Better retention for students using Studiosity in first term

19. How about success?

20. Two measures:
• Rate of unit failure:
– Studiosity vs non-Studiosity
• Likelihood of being placed on academic probation:
– Studiosity vs non-Studiosity

21. Term 1 2017:
3,966New student commencements

22. T1 ’17 commencers failing ≥1 unit:
1,201(30.28 per cent)

23. T1 ’17 commencers placed on academic probation:
1,219(30.74 per cent)

24. Term 1 2017:
434New students using Studiosity in first term of study

25. T1 ’17 Studiosity users failing ≥1 unit:
35(8.06 per cent)

26. T1 ’17 Studiosity users placed on academic probation:
53(12.21 per cent)

27. Success
22.22%Less unit failure among Studiosity users compared to the cohort

28. Progression
18.53%Reduced likelihood of academic probation for commencing students
using Studiosity

29. Term 1 2018:
4,388New student commencements

30. T1 ’18 commencers failing ≥1 unit:
1,232(28.08 per cent)

31. T1 ’18 commencers placed on academic probation:
1,252(28.53 per cent)

32. Term 1 2018:
450New students using Studiosity in first term of study

33. T1 ’18 Studiosity users failing ≥1 unit:
31(6.89 per cent)

34. T1 ’18 commencers placed on academic probation:
56(12.44 per cent)

35. 21.19%Less unit failure among Studiosity users compared to the cohort

36. 16.09%Reduced likelihood of academic probation for commencing students
using Studiosity

37. How does success correlate to retention?

38. T1 ’17 commencing students who …
• Used Studiosity in their first term
• Recorded no unit failures
• Were not placed on academic probation
265 (61.06%) were still enrolled in Term 2 2017
207 (47.07%) were still enrolled in Term 1 2018
(9.97% lower than the cohort!)

39. T1 ’18 commencing students who …
• Used Studiosity in their first term
• Recorded no unit failures
• Were not placed on academic probation
206 (45.7%) were still enrolled in Term 2 2018
186 (41.33%) were still enrolled in Term 1 2019
(23.94% lower than the cohort!)

40. Student feedback: does it tell the same story?

41. Essay feedback, March 2018:
“This is an amazing service to be able to access.
I am a distance, part time student and no real
peers as such so this provides so much help and
support.”

42. “Other” feedback, March 2018:
“Thank you so much. I have never had such great feedback
on how to improve my academic writing!
It's great to see where I am going wrong especially with
grammar and language issues.
This will be so beneficial for my assessments this year.”

43. Essay feedback, March 2018:
“As a first year student returning to uni after many years of
study, this service is a life changer.
Thank you very much, will definitely continue to use for
future assessment.”

44. “Other” feedback, April 2018:
“Thank you so much for getting back to me in time to be
able to take on your advice/feedback and improve my
assignment.
Lots of very valid points were made and I am feeling much
more confident that it should receive a decent grade.”

45. Essay feedback, April 2018:
“Studiosity is my backrest of comfort during my crazy
journey as a university student.”

46. Essay feedback, May 2018:
“This was my fourth assignment and the first time I used
Studiosity for feedback.
My previous marks had been 77-83% on similar
assessments.
This morning my mark came back at 97%! I'm so thrilled
you were able to help me fine tune my writing.”

47. Essay feedback, July 2018:
“First in my family to attend University.
I have absolutely nobody to help with feedback so this
service has been a godsend for me.”

48. Where we can improve (according to students):
Essay feedback:
• Referencing guidance
• Timeliness of response
Connect Live:
• Poor feedback on a minority of tutors
• Some technical issues e.g. connectivity

49. What can we deduce?
Not accounting for other factors, CQU Studiosity users (on average):
• Have a 16.45% higher rate of retention than the cohort
• Experience 21.7% less unit failure than the cohort
• Are 17.31% less likely to be placed on academic probation than the
cohort
More analysis is required to understand the link between platform
usage, success and retention…

50. What do we do with these findings?
• Keep using Studiosity!
• Encourage academics to promote Studiosity usage from Term 1
• Promote Studiosity usage to students in early stages of academic
probation
• Use findings as basis for more rigorous academic research

51. Thank you
c.veraa@cqu.edu.au
@chrisveraa