Conversations
Student Engagement SIG: Student Panel
Recently the Student Engagement SIG were lucky enough to have a group of students participate in a panel. Their brief was to openly and honestly discuss what engages them within USQ online courses, as well as what disengages them.
Having the opportunity to talk directly to students is always a gift and this group was particularly articulate and aware of their own learning needs within the online space. There are a number of key themes that came through:
- Students are just as invested in making online learning work as we are.
- We should not underestimate the importance of students’ transition into university and thus having program specific orientation, as well as orientation to the technologies used.
- The challenge is to find balance: Trialling new technologies and using discipline specific tools, whilst also having consistency in usage.
- Most essential is making sure the tools/links work.
Katrina Cutcliffe (SIG Co-ordinator)
But let’s hear from the students:
“Aesthetics aren’t important, but counter-aesthetics are.”
“O Week is perceived as a time to calibrate student expectations.”
“Tech support should be “discipline lead, because then students will see that it is relevant.”
“There are a lot of tools … I almost think the breadth of the online tools is overwhelming.”
“Tech Support should be “all in one course … a separate course … where we can search for what we need.”
StudyDesk consistency: “I think there needs to be some consistency… you want StudyDesk to be a safe place to come to… yet academics should have some freedom to drive improvement.”
“It needs to be purposeful.”
“I’m really liking the highlight to see where I’m up to.”
“The wonders of the progress bar” … “when we finish something, if we can just tick it, we get a dopamine rush.”
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