Improving student engagement: findings from the study to support online students in a pre-university teritary enabling program

The increasing number of external students enrolling at Charles Darwin University has led to the university focussing on improving the student experience and investing in new technologies to better support st11dents studying online. Many students attempting higher education studies for the first time come from non-traditional backgrounds and lack some of the skills and confidence to participate successfully at university. As more than 60% of our students study exclusively online, poor e-learning skills can hamper their ability to fully engage in the learning experience.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the findings of a pilot program utilising three innovative e-learning tools which were developed to encourage a greater sense of connectedness between students, staff and the learning materials. Academic staff implemented the use of video clips (to help students understand their units and assessment tasks more dearly) and synchronous online tutorials (to encourage students to participate in virtual tutorials). They also refined their use of discussion groups to facilitate interactive engagement with learning materials.