This document discusses strategies for online and distance learning at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). It notes that USQ has over 20,000 students taking courses online or through distance education. It outlines USQ's virtual learning environment called StudyDesk, support structures for students and staff, and efforts to ensure a consistent high quality student experience across online and on-campus courses. It also discusses challenges such as varying digital literacy levels and providing access for students without reliable internet. USQ is experimenting with new technologies and open educational resources to improve the flexibility and accessibility of online education.
HMCS Max Bernays Pre-Deployment Brief (May 2024).pptx
No person is an island in TEL, even if you live on an island
1. No man person is an island in
technology enhanced learning,
even if you live on an island
Associate Professor Michael Sankey
Director, Learning Environments and Media
Vice President, Australasian Council on Online Distance and eLearning
2. Enrolled students USQ
• All students 28,100+
• On-campus 7,600
• External/online 20,500 (73%)
• International 6,000 (1,100 ONC)
All USQ students access their information online
Campuses in Toowoomba, Springfield, Ipswich,
Stanthorpe and Sydney
Most Students and Staff know what they’re getting
themselves in for when they come to USQ
3. Some current strategies
• Every course has an online presence
• Every student has a named person to contact
• Minimum standards for all courses
• Threshold expectations – a common wireframe
• Learning Innovation Enhancement teams
• Significant media enhancement available
• Strong focus on the Student Learning Journey
(SLJ) and personal learning environment (PLE)
• Increased emphasis on enabling staff
4. The context – our VLE
USQ StudyDesk
Student facing
USQ StaffDesk
Staff training and
playground
USQ OpenDesk
OERs and
Community
based courses
Repository
Equella – LOR and other collections
ePortfolio
USQ Website (Sitecore) and Portal (Drupal)
5. For Staff
For Student
Aligned support and training
Context PedagogyTraining
Major challenge is the digital literacy of students and staff
17. Accessing the Student Voice
Professor Geoff Scott in his report Accessing
the Student Voice (2005) concluded that ‘it is
the whole experience that matters to students.
Students are not concerned about whether or
not a particular interaction is academic or
administrative, but they are concerned about the
quality of the interaction. In this context, the quality
of interactions in the pre-enrolment phase is just as
important as the quality of face-to-face and/or virtual
interactions in academic study or in completing study
(including graduation ceremony and membership of
the Alumni Network)’.
18. Discernible periods in SLJ
Student Learning Journey
Decision to
enrol
Application &
offer
Enrol
The early
weeks
Experience of first
semester
Continuing
study
Unforseen
events
Completing
study
Graduation
Alumni
The SLJ is a series of interactions between students
& the Uni. Identified 9 student groups with some
150 individual points of interaction.
19. SLJ Online Services
ENGAGE
•Enquiry Management (RightNow)
•Future Student Website
•Application
•Information in 8 languages
•Open Day & Info Evening Programs
•Residential College Applications
•Careers Resources
•Scholarships & Application Forms
•Disability Resources
•Student Representation
•Web Campaign pages
•New International website
•New program Guide
•Chat for enquiries
ENROL
•Admission/Offer/Accept/Defer/
Decline
•Course re/Enrol (add, swap, drop, edit)
•View exemptions processing
•Create/Amend Study Plan
•View Class Enrolment
•Enter/Update Personal details
•Enter/Update/Request Support –Disability
•Fee Inv’s, calculator & payments
•Student ID Cards
•Student Loans
•Program Enrol (Cancel, Reinstate, Leave
of Absence)
ORIENT & TRANSITION
•Orientation on Moodle
•Access to StudyDesk
•Access to UConnect
•UConnect Announc’s & Alerts
•UMail activation and passwords
•Oncampus timetable
•Personal SRO details
•Student Services Videos
•Tutorial Registration
•Res College Invoicing & Pmts
•Fee Acc. Enquiries & CAS Forms
•Student Guild Website
•Current students website
•Online Forums – Clubs & Societies
LEARNING SUPPORT
•AWARE Program
•ALS Online Resources (TLC)
•Enquiry Management (RightNow)
•Counselling Resources
•Careers Counselling
•Employment, WIL, Mentoring
•Intern. Stud. Assistance Line
•Digital Learning @USQ site
•Wimba workshops in maths
•Counselling & Health Promotion
•Academic Intervention Form
•Personal Counselling
•Learning Centre web page update
•TLC in other languages
•Student Services CO Engagement
PROGRESS
•Check Study Package Status
•View & Print Unofficial Transcripts
•Exam Timetables
•View & Update Exam Centres
•Results
•USQ Handbook
•Policy Library
•View & Update Statistical Data
•Scholarships & Loans
•Disability Support
•Employer Speed-Networking
•The Honk (Student Guild)
•CRM Retention Intervention
GRADUATE
•Academic Dress ordering
•Ceremony Registration
•Graduate Employment Resources
•CareerHub Jobs Database
•Graduation Ceremony Videos
•Online Payment for Graduations &
replacement Testamurs
ALUMNI
• Send/Update Profile form
• Alpha list of Alumni Profiles
• Chapter listings
• Chapter tool-kit
• New Chapter EOI form
• e-Newsletter
• Alumnus of the Year Awards
• Personal, Professions and
bus.dev. opportunity listings
•CareerHub Mentoring
20. Some key things
• Student relationship officers (SROs)
• Academic learning support
• Peer assisted learning
• USQ Retention strategy
• Communities of Practice
• Graduate skills and capabilities
• ePortfolios
• Closing the loop on student feedback
• Alumni
30. But what about those with no
or limited internet access?
• No or restricted internet
• Limited access to computer labs
• Limited
movement
• Competition
from other
programs
• Frequent
lock-downs
31. One solution
• 2 technologies (Server & Personal device)
• Technologies loaded with USQ StudyDesk
• Provides access to a selection of courses and
programs designed to work without internet
32.
33. Current Programs
• Developing between 10-20 new courses
a semester
• Tertiary Prep and Indigenous Higher
Education Pathways Programs
• Diploma of Arts, Science and Business Admin
• Nearly 1000 enrolments over 3 years in these
programs
• In Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania
(kind of – NSW, ACT)
• 66% completed courses
• Difficult to track in longer term
35. Facilitating consistency
• Consistency is not sameness
• But if you want to make your materials
flexible there first needs to be a level of
consistency
• Students want to be able to go from
one course to the next and know where
to find stuff
42. Experimenting with new tools
• Selected types of social media
• Google tools - Voice Thread - Aurasma
• Using LTI
• Open access library’s
• We see tools like Zoom with no java plugin
really taking off – far less expensive that
some of the alternatives
• Greater use of repositories to minimize the
duplication of resources
• Makerspaces
43. Quality maintenance
• Over the years there have been some
great quality monitoring tools developed
• ACODE Benchmarks for TEL
• eLearning maturity model (EMM)
• Quality Matters
• CAUDIT, CADAD, CAUL Benchmarks
• ECAR Survey
• Student evaluations – Health checks
• Analytics
• Closing the loop strategies
44. Communities of practice
You are not alone
• ACODE, etc., an institutional perspective
• Celebrating L&T locally: QPEN
• Communities of practice 20-20-20
• Conferences such as Moodlemoot
• LinkedIn – Research Gate
• COL – EDUCASE – Open Journals
• Availing yourself of the latest open
resources
47. • 1 Year or Less
– Bring Your Own Device
– Flipped Classroom
– Learning Analytics
– Online Learning
• 2 to 3 Years
– Adaptive Learning Technologies
– Location Intelligence
– Makerspaces
– Wearable Technology
• 4 to 5 Years
– Affective Computing
– Augmented Reality
– Machine Learning
– Networked Objects
48. Meeting the competition head on
As HE providers discover how to use VLEs more
effectively they are aggressively expanding their
L&T offerings into the online space
• New digital literacies/fluency
• Leading edge use of Social Media
• Informed Student support
• Embracing learning communities
• Practicing what we preach
49. New digital literacies/fluency
for L&T
• Many students are not DL
• Many staff are not DL
• But we do most things online
• Adaptive technologies
• Consistency, not sameness
50. Leading edge use of Social Media
in L&T
• The LMS is not a walled garden
• e.g. Augmented reality
• Syndication is key – using LTI
• Leading also means using
• Thoughts and ideas, not marketing
51. Informed Student support
for L&T
• Analytics
• Triaged online help
• The human voice
• Personal learning environments
• Authentic assessment
52. Embracing learning communities
• We are communal beings
• Home grown (e.g. Digital lit CoP)
• Discipline-based (e.g. Tech in Art)
• National: ACODE, CADAD, etc.
• International: Open-Ed practice…
53. Practicing what we preach
• The L&T department will need to be:
• Be leaders in these areas
• Provide mentorship
• Flip the learning
• Be thought catalyzers
54. Being L&T thought leaders
• It’s not about creating better ‘packages’
• It’s about facilitating better L&T options
and opportunities
• Being thought leaders and thought
catalysers of great L&T ideas
55. You are not alone
• You are part of a global learning
community
• Others are very willing to help
• None-of-us can do it on our own
• ‘No man is an Island, entire of itself,
every man is a piece of the
continent, a part of the main’
• John Donne (1624) ‘Devotions upon Emergent Occasions’
Editor's Notes
We are continually trying to improve our proactive support. We send a variety of timely communications to specific student cohorts to support and guide them on through the different stages of their student learning journey. As part of our retention management plan we monitor and communicate with students who are new to USQ year on a regular basis.
The types of information we communicate to students include orientation programs, enrolment health check, learning centre academic support, exam preparation, effective study techniques and end of semester results. Proactively communicating with our students can eliminate the stress and confusion that students can sometimes feel during their first semester.
Student Support contacts students who are enrolled in courses and have not accessed their study desk within the first few weeks of the commencement of semester. This ensures students know how and where to access their course content and view vital information posted by their course leaders.
We strive to work with other departments on pilot projects to further ensure the success of our students. Some of the most recent examples of this include working with the Faculty of Engineering and Surveying on projects such as contacting students who do not participate in submission of assignments and for those who do not to sit their final exams. Further information will be available at a later date once the review process has taken place.