About Open Universities Australia

1. Enhancing online learning: Promoting student engagement through partnership with local librariesDr Cathy Stone, Director, Student SuccessOpen Universities Australia

2. About Open Universities Australia • Offers open entry, online higher education • Over 250,000 students across Australia since 1993 • Owned by 7 Australian universities (Curtin, Griffith, Macquarie, Monash, RMIT, Swinburne, UniSA) • Offers over 1700 units and 180 qualifications from 13 leading Australian Universities • Qualifications awarded by the university or tertiary institution • Qualification is identical to that awarded to an on-campus student

3. Students by state VIC, NSW, QLD dominate, but all states and territories represented

4. How and what do our students study? • FEE-Help • Commonwealth scheme which allows deferred payment of fees. • Over 70% of OUA students use FEE-HELP • Wide range of units and courses: • Arts & humanities • Business • Education • Health • Information Technology (IT) • Law & justice • Science & engineering • Most common study pattern • Students enrol in individual undergraduate units and can track towards a full qualification.

5. Open 2 Study • Open 2 Study – 49 four week courses offered online and free to all • Non-accredited, for interest, ‘tasters’ for online study • Science, arts, business, finance • For anyone interested in learning for the sake of learning • Also for those wanting practice in online study • Certificates awarded to students who complete the course • Assessed by online quizzes • http://www.open2study.com/

8. Our studentsare a very diverse bunch!

9. OUA students “non-traditional” • Relatively few come straight from school to study with OUA • Mostly mature-age (>21), in paid employment and/or caring for children • Around half of OUA students are first in family to come to university OUA students have multiple responsibilities, often with little prior educational experience, combined with lack of time, money or both….

10. Importance of support Support is a condition that promotes student retention. Research points to several types of support that promote retention, in particular academic and social support. (Tinto, 2009)

11. Helping our students succeed – online support • Online Orientation • Academic support • Personal counselling • Career guidance • Student Success Hub – outreach and study coaching • Disability Support

12. Importance of student engagement Student Engagement is closely linked with student satisfaction & success (Australasian Survey of Student Engagement; ACER, 2008, 2009, 2010) Student engagement in educationally purposeful activities is positively related to academic outcomes. (Kuh et al., 2008)

13. Online Student Engagement Challenges • How do we engage with students in a meaningful way when we never see them face-to-face? • How do we help students engage with each other when they never come together as a group? • How do we engage them with a learning community when they may be studying across two or more institutions?

14. ‘OUA Connect’ Pilot - 2012 • Promoted 4 local libraries in NSW (Wyong & Shellharbour) as places where OUA students could: • Find out about the library resources which can assist them with their studies and how to access them • network with other OUA students • OUA delivered a training session and provided information about OUA, its study patterns and support services, to library staff • Libraries ran weekly drop in sessions for OUA (and other online students) in their local communities

15. ‘OUA Connect’ Pilot - 2012 • Sessions focussed on informing student about what their local library can offer in terms of resources (journal databases, computer and internet access, quite place to study) • Provided opportunity for discussion amongst students • Library staff ableto inform students of OUA support services (academic and personal) if students need assistance – flyers provided for this purpose • Evaluated the program based on student attendance and satisfaction

16. How did the pilot operate? • OUA advertised and promoted the sessions to all enrolled OUA students whose postcodes fell within the Wyong and Shellharbour regions • Information sent by email to each student individually at start of study period, with reminders during the study period • Libraries also did their own publicity through local papers, posters in libraries etc • Students attending were asked to complete evaluation sheet at end of each session • Survey sent to all students who attended at end of Study Period

17. Emails

18. Facebook posts

19. Twitter feeds

20. Evaluation from SP3 • 20 individual students attended at least ONE session

21. Evaluation from SP3

22. Evaluation from SP3

23. Evaluation from SP3 – Post SP 3 Survey Results

24. Evaluation from SP3 – Post SP 3 Survey Results

25. Evaluation from SP3 – Post SP 3 Survey Results

26. Outcomes • Approximately 5% of the total student cohort living within the library regions attended at least one session (20 students out of 400) • Weekly evaluations positive • Evening sessions better attended than day sessions • Attendance diminished over the study period, particularly where only a day session was offered • Results from end of pilot study period very positive

27. Progress through 2013 • Expanded partnerships across other libraries in NSW and into Victoria

28. Progress through 2013 • Libraries have offered a range of services for online students • One-off “Welcome to your library” sessions proving to be best attended, followed by open invitation to visit and make appointment with library staff as required • Promotion of existing services/programs to online students • OUA has provided information/resources pack and training, with staff visiting libraries to participate in sessions where possible

29. Website

30. INCITE magazine Nov 2013: Digital Libraries

31. Results through 2013

32. Results through 2013

33. Successes so far • Small, but regular attendance of students at sessions each study period • Students finding library information sessions the most helpful • Libraries enjoy assisting local students showcasing available resources for their online studies • Students like to know there is frontline assistance for their studies in their communities

34. Challenges we face • Atttendance patchy (free service) • Managing student expectations around academic support • Some sessions are structured, some unstructured • Not all libraries collect feedback data at sessions • Student feedback mostly providedby word of mouth • Some students want to connect with others and disappointed if low attendance

35. Where to in 2014? Program continues to expand across NSW and Victoria as well as expressions of interest from Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania for later this year. We will promote to our students whatever resources/services each library is willing to offer! • Via website: www.open.edu.au/libraryconnect • And by targeted communication to students within the postcode regions of participating libraries.

36. Where to in 2014

37. Off to a good start… • New library to the program – Gordon, NSW – hosted a ‘Welcome to your Local Library’ session for online students • Did own community publicity (posters etc) as well as publicised by OUA • 18 people at first session, with contact from 3 others not able to attend. • Showed OUA slides, discussed library resources and other ways to assist students • Library tour • Q&A session – sharing information on who is studying what • At least two study groups were formed, one has booked a meeting room for a future catch-up • 8 signed up as new library members “I had to ask  the last couple of people to leave so I could lock up our meeting room, they were happily swapping tips and contact details” (Alan, Gordon Library, NSW)

38. Questions & Discussion