THE CONTINUUM OF ONLINE LEARNING MODELS AND GOOD PRACTICE

CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY

Name of contact
Colleen Shaw
Barbara Lawrence

Position of Contact (i.e. student, teacher designer, librarian etc)
Director of the Learning Materials Centre
Director of Student Services

Contact Details
Phone: 02 6933 2686 or 02 6933 2111

URL
www.csu.edu.au 

Online Courses Offered
There are three levels of online subjects:

1. Online Supported subject; where each subject has a communication vehicle, subject information, timetables, links to resources and assessment requirements. Every subject offered at Charles Sturt has this level of online interaction. More than 2500 subjects are available online each year.

2. Enhanced; where there may be a study guide plus URL links to other websites. Progressively more and more subjects are now being enhanced.

3. Fully online; There are currently about 40 of these.

Student Services Provided/Accessed

Prospective Student

Course Information/ Advice
Course information is on the website. It includes Overview, How to Apply, Fees and Charges and Contacts for each course. Help is given via telephone and e-mail.

Enrolling Student

Enrolment Process
Web based forms are available to applicants, but applications are still essentially paper based. Major changes are planned for 2003.

Payment of Fees
There are various methods for the payment of fees: bank, postal, face-to-face and the post office.

Enrolled Student

Orientation to Online Learning
Orientation to studying at Charles Sturt University, including online, is given on the website and in the Distance Education Manual. The orientation is technological information (i.e. how to connect, what software to obtain as well as contacting the help desk).

There is a fully online subject called Skills for Learning Online, which is part of the Study Link 2001 program. This includes online study, the CSU website, searching the Web, electronic referencing, chatrooms and forms of computer mediated communication. This subject does attract a small fee but this is waived for disadvantaged students.

There is a dedicated Learning Skills Officer that is available to assist online learners in the area of orientation and the development of online learning skills.

Induction and Orientation to Specific Course
This is done through the specific subject website. These sites have various levels of enhancement and may only contain the course outline, timetable, assessment information and contact names. In some cases there may be study guides and other introductory information given.

Sessions are held in metropolitan areas for distance education students to orientate them to university study.

Communication Links (chat rooms, bulletin boards etc.) that are/or could be used for student services
There are six general forums for students to use to communicate with support officers and other students. One is the Student Services Forum. The other is the Distance Education Forum. Both of these deal with general issues and questions (eg time management, how to lodge assignments) although Student Services also deals with accommodation, fees and loans, travel arrangements and general leisure type questions and comments. 

The Learning Materials Centre staff monitor all subject forums in order to answer administrative queries and pass on information to the counsellors or other appropriate staff. 

Students can have the forum listings e-mailed directly to their home e-mail addresses.

The university is trailing chatrooms with synchronistic interaction.

Administrative Services (changing courses, results, late fees etc.)
Each student has a Personal Space on the website which has their personal details, subjects, timetables, assignments, results and fees owing. They can also update their address on this page.

Academic Support (study skills, time management, information literacy, numeracy, peer support)
Study Link 2001 offers a number of courses in Distance Mode, which may include an online component. These courses include: Transition to Tertiary Study (i.e. time management, reading and note-taking, writing and preparing for exams.); Academic Skills Development; Stepping into Statistics; Mathematics for Agriculture; Introductory Chemistry, Physics, and Statistics for the Social Sciences. These courses incur a small fee, which is waived for disadvantaged students.

There is a program called VITAL which offers self-administered quizzes on basic mathematics and literacy. Help can be attained via e-mail or telephone.

The Distance Education Manual, which is also online, gives some basic information regarding essay writing, using the library, succeeding in exams and building a support network.

Support is provided through the two general forums. For information on the Distance Education Forum and the Student Services Forum see above. Students discuss issues such as time management and motivation. Counsellors and other staff can contribute to the discussion.

Help is available via the telephone and e-mail.

There is a trial peer mentoring system operating where senior students are trained and work in the evenings under supervision to contact new distance education students. Each peer mentor has about 15 students in their group. This service is designed to reach out to students, maintaining support, and acting as a a guide for general orientation type of issues and questions. 

There is one peer mentoring system operating from the campus and one by e-mail where the Senior Program Co-ordinator acts as the supervisor of distance education students who are also the mentors to other distance education students.

The peer mentor helps new students to access the resources of the university, encourage them to use the forums. Sub-forums can be set up that are peer mentoring based.

Mentors are paid and they get a certificate indicating they have generic workplace competencies: mentoring skills, communication skills, customer service skills, facilitation and web navigation skills.

On one campus there is a Supplementary Instruction program where senior students coach newer students and facilitate reflection on learning. This is working well and the university hopes to merge the SI program and the Peer Mentoring system.

Counselling (personal)
Most of the counselling is done face-to-face or over the telephone. There is some e-mail counselling but not a lot.

Career Counselling 
The Study Link 2001 program has a Career Management course which is offered in Distance Mode and includes: assessing skills and abilities, interests and strengths; strategies to assess the job market; preparing CVs and job interview skills. This subject does attract a small fee that is waived for disadvantaged students.

Career counsellors are available via telephone and e-mail.

Academic Resources (library, data bases, websites, bookshop etc.) 
The student union has a website and sells second hand books over the web.

The library has an extensive service including; photocopying, sending out books, electronic databases and links to other resources.

There is a free Students Information Literacy module called WebEzy that includes using and searching electronic databases, accessing the library from home and understanding the search vocabulary. 

IT support and help line
There is a help line and e-mail assistance for technological assistance.

Graduating Students

Resume Development
There is information on resume writing and selection criteria on the website and links to helpful sites.

The Study Skills Link 2001 course, Career Management, includes work on CV’s and Interview Tips. The Career Counsellors will assist with the writing of CV’s, applications or relating the course taken with selection criteria through fax or e-mail.

Any Other Information

Comments
The issue of cost for distance education will rise as online teaching and learning continues to grow. Telephone link ups are expensive in remote Australia.