Abstracts
Academic Learning Support in Cyberspace: A study of Non-Traditional and Traditional Distance Students, Their Lecturers and Academic Learning Support
Monday 4 May 2009, 1430 - 1500
Presenter: Teresa De Fazio
Open Universities Australia, VIC
Presenter Biography
Dr. Teresa De Fazio has been working on a number of research projects focussing on student progress and retentionat OUA. Her PhD thesis investigated the concept of a ‘learning collective’ as a way of conceiving the learning and teaching community that is distinctive to the online distance learning environment.
Abstract
Over the past two decades, there has been a move towards mass higher education (Scott 1995; DEST 2002; James, Baldwin et al. 2004; Pascarella and Terenzini 2005) in universities resulting in an increase in the enrolment of ‘non-traditional’ students: often part-time, without a strong academic background, and from a language background other than English. In this same period, there has also been an information and technology revolution which has had a profound impact on approaches to teaching and learning in higher education.
The study was located at the intersection of these two forces. It focused on non-traditional and traditional students, enrolled in an off-campus course, who received online academic learning support (ALS) as part of curriculum delivery. The research was informed by the understanding that ALS, which has had an important role in developing students’ academic literacies, faces new challenges in an online environment. This paper reports on the teaching and learning experiences of non-traditional and traditional students and their teachers in an off-campus course by examining their online conversations.
The research approach was based on an action research model (Lewin 1952) and data both qualitative and quantitative. The study found that the non-traditional students often felt ill-equipped for academic studies. These students looked to the curriculum and conversations with their online lecturers to facilitate understanding and their acquisition of the required literacies, however, this was unrealistic given the heavy teaching loads of their mainstream lecturers who also had little expertise in area of developing academic literacies. By contrast, contextualised academic support interventions provided an effective response to the non-traditional students’ learning needs. As a result of the research, a series of multi-layered models that suggest how ALS might be embedded within the delivery of online programs was produced.
