Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Project (HEPPP)

Supporting Diversity through Collaborative Online Learning

Project Objectives:

1. To leverage the Moodle learning Management System to provide an inclusive and engaging learning experience for first year students, particularly those studying in the distance mode .
   
2. To provide an active and collaborative learning experience that will benefit and support first-in-family learners in higher education.
   
3. To reduce attrition rates  in the first year through  stronger engagement within the online learning environment and improved learning success.
   
4. To provide opportunity for academic staff to review and enhance the learning and collaborative features of targeted programs by integrating new learning designs, resources and applied technologies in ways that are meaningful, relevant and supportive of the students they teach.
   
5. To provide opportunity for academic staff to reflect on their own teaching and learning pedagogy and how online interactivity can be purposefully incorporated into this.
   
6. To establish an online best practice resource that all academic staff can access to improve the learning and collaborative features of their Moodle courses.
   

Project Rationale:

CQUniversity has a diverse student cohort including a high proportion of students from low SES backgrounds (28% in 2011, based on the DEEWR interim indicator). In addition, the majority of students at the university undertake their studies in the distance mode and this group has the highest rate of attrition in the first year (based on 2009 CQUni data).

The University recognises there are specific issues around the transition of new students into higher education and has identified areas for improvement in relation to student success and reducing attrition rates as part of the self-evaluation process leading to the 2010 AUQA audit.  The audit report (AUQA 2011) notes that “the University has yet to realise the implications of technology in fostering active learners who are engaged through curriculum, learning design and assessment.” This project aims to address this issue, with a specific focus on the development of a more inclusive and engaging online learning experience within first year courses.

The enhancements to online learning will have particular benefits for low SES students, as they may have less support through their family and friends than students from high SES background, who will often have parents and friends who have direct experience of higher education, providing such students with wider support networks and encouraging them to succeed. Additionally, student studying by distance education lack the face-to-face support of their peers, which makes online collaborative learning particularly important for this group. The project aims to provide more effective learning support to enable students from a diverse range of backgrounds to engage in positive learning experiences that motivate them to continue and to succeed in higher education.

While recognising the opportunities for student-centred learning, it is acknowledged that there are challenges in the online learning environment particularly in relation to building authentic teacher-learner relationships and in catering for the different needs of diverse learners. Furthermore in the contemporary educational context it is important to have a learning and teaching framework that addresses the prior knowledge and experiences of learners and provide explicit connections between their experiences and the course content to maximise learning outcomes and increase student engagement.

The project intends to build on the success of online learning ‘champions’ at the University, and to make the most of the talents of our teaching scholars, who have selected to focus their scholarship on aspects of learning and teaching – this project will provide a major focus for members of this group, by learning from best practice across the sector. The development of a web based resource to accompany this project means there are long term benefits that will reach a wider range of academic staff.

Project Timeline:

• Phase 1: August 2011 to November 2011. Workshops with sector experts and specialists. Capacity building of CQUniversity academic staff and educational developers. Project teams start working on course materials.
• Phase 2:  November 2011 to January 2012. Preparation of online course materials and activities in advance of term 1 2012. March 2012 to May 2012. Delivery of online courses
• Phase 3:  June 2012 to August 2012: evaluation of outcomes.  Project team champions best practice online course design and delivery throughout CQUniversity