The First Year Experience - Lisa Curran - RMIT University

Davida Smith & Lisa Curran - College of Business, RMIT
The First Year Experience
Enhancing the first year experience of students, across transnational
delivery locations, through the application of Quality MattersTM standards,
redesigning Blackboard and enhancing the digital tools.

Introduction
• Research in “The First Year Experience” revealed that students consider leaving for many
complex reasons which are often inter-related.
• The responsibility for student engagement and retention does not reside, solely, with first
year students.
• There are many factors that influence a positive and successful first year experience, the
effects of online technologies, whilst being ubiquitous, still remain unclear. There is a risk
of students becoming disengaged from their university communities due to the growth in
online learning.
Source: Kift, S., Nelson, K., & Clarke, J. (2010). Transition pedagogy: A third generation approach to FYE - A case study of policy and practice for the
higher education sector. The International Journal of the First Year in Higher Education, 1(1), 1-n/a. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/intjfyhe.v1i1.13
2

Background
3
• Quality assurance is a critical issue for the delivery of
all courses delivered by the College of Business.
• The common core of the Bachelor of Business is
studied by approximately 22,000 students, onshore
and offshore, on-campus and off-campus, across 5
distinctly different locations to RMIT and RMIT
partnered institutions.

Blackboard Quality Standards (BQS) Project
4
• Primary outcome:
“To have robust blended core courses that meet student
expectations, and offer consistency, ease of use and aid in
quality teaching”
• Key performance measures:
– Student Satisfaction and Experience (student survey);
– Course Quality and Alignment (peer review);
– Teaching Quality (aligned to RMIT’s Strategic Plan) (student
survey).

Blackboard Quality Standards - Project Phases
5
Phase 1: S2 2015
Melbourne: Common
core courses, Bachelor
of Business
Phase 2: S1 2016
Melbourne,
Singapore, Indonesia
& China: Common
core courses Bachelor
of Business
Phase 3: S2 2016
Melbourne &
Singapore:
Undergraduate
courses (major
sequences)

Quality MattersTM Program
• Quality Matters as an organisation represents “broad inter-institutional collaboration and
a shared understanding of online course quality” (Quality Matters, 2016).
• Quality Matters program:
– Established from an impressive research supported approach to assuring quality and continuous
improvement in the online environment.
– Ongoing independent research, since 2003, has been the key to informing the developmental process
of the QM standards.
• The QM program tools appealed to the BQS team and included;
– a set of standards for designing online and blended learning components of a course;
– a peer review process for applying these standards;
– related professional development for teaching staff.
6

Quality Matters Rubric
7
• 8 General Standards and 43 Specific Review Standards:
– Course overview and introduction
– Learning objectives
– Assessment and measurement
– Instructional materials
– Course activities and learner interaction
– Course technology
– Learner support
– Accessibility and usability
• Unique to the rubric is the concept of alignment, which occurs
when the critical course components work together to ensure
students achieve desired course learning outcomes.
Source: Quality Matters, (2016). Quality Matters. Retrieved 24 August, 2016,
from https://www.qualitymatters.org/

BQS Customisation of QM tools
8
• 8 standards merged into 4 and contextualised for CoB
• BQS template to ensure consistency across all
Blackboard course sites.
• BQS checklists, complete with criteria that explain the
application of the standards and the relationship
among them in regards to the concept of alignment.
• Professional development tailored to staff needs and
the implementation of the checklists.

BQS Template
9
• BQS template is based on best practice in course
structure and organisation.
• Designed with student success in mind with the aim
of creating a consistent learning experience.
• Template addresses a number of the criteria in the
BQS checklists, which means teaching staff do not
need to worry about providing this information.
Note: The BQS project does not expect all courses to
look like a packaged course, it is expected that no two
courses will be exactly the same.

Blackboard navigation structure – 8 x common core courses
10
Before implementation
of BQS template

BQS Template
11
Start here module &
welcome
announcement set the
scene from week 0
Support services and
resources provided in
template to provide
consistency

BQS benefits to students & staff
12
• The assurance that the course has been designed to provide
a positive learning experience;
– A more user friendly interface;
– A College of Business consistent student experience;
– A greater opportunity for student success.
• The free-text feedback from students participated in the
BQS student survey strongly supports this claim:
– “Compared to my home school (applied sciences) this blackboard
is extremely well utilised and easy to use. Breaking the side bar
links into logical sections makes navigation that little bit easier.”
– “Overall my experience with the blackboard system was great,
compared to the other layout for my other subjects.”

Breadth of impact
• Students in Singapore and Melbourne have provided positive feedback which has informed the
design and redesign of the BQS template, checklists and staff professional development.
• BQS project has grown from supporting 8 staff and 8 courses to 37 staff and 60+ courses on- and
offshore.
• Phase 3 will see all undergraduate courses take part in the BQS project by the end of 2017.
• BQS template and tools encourage staff to focus on course content and devise innovative and
creative ways to present that content to their students.
• Positive word of mouth has seen a number of post-graduate course coordinators requesting
support from the BQS project.
13

Staff feedback
14
“There is definitely an increased awareness of online Teaching
and Learning tools and there is an enthusiasm among teaching
staff to increasingly use these tools to provide the best
learning environment for our students.”
"Coordinators and lecturers commented that the new layout
helped them to plan and deliver course content and coordinate
student learning activities much better than they had done so
previously.”
“Overall, the BQS appears to have minimised many queries
which led to most of the remaining queries related to the less
than ideal design of Blackboard itself such as inadequate
group management tools to handle large core classes”.

Professional Development
• Building staff capacity and the adoption of the standards by academic staff was a key
factor in the success of the BQS project.
• Academic staff worked collaboratively with academic development staff during the
implementation of BQS.
• Support provided aided in ensuring the impact on the student experience and outcomes,
along with enhanced knowledge and skills in the application and use of educational
technologies; Blackboard and digital tools.
15

BQS process
• Academic staff provided with a review of their previous semester’s Blackboard site, with
recommendations on how to meet the standards.
• BQS template applied to upcoming semester’s Blackboard site.
• Existing content, activities and assessment tasks were uploaded into the new structure.
• Course coordinators identified enhancements and worked with an educational developer
to implement changes.
16

Course enhancements
• Integration of online publisher content and
formative assessment tasks;
• Setup of online groups and individual e-
assessment tasks;
• Marking undertaken online, including online
feedback;
• Online rubrics used;
• Video – including a course welcome;
introduction to staff; tutorial workings; Open
Educational Resources (OER); weekly
updates/summaries; interactive (video &
quiz);
17
• Live Twitter feed – linked to weekly topics;
• Google form to collate weekly feedback on
what students are finding difficult, which is
then addressed in the weekly video
announcement;
• The integration of student response system
during lectures;
• Weekly online formative assessment tasks,
providing immediate feedback and links to
resources for further development;
• Captioning videos.

BQS website
18
• Due to demand and limited physical
resources a project website was developed
to support the implementation of the BQS
template, checklists and professional
development.
– http://bqs-rmit.weebly.com/

Conclusion
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• Online technologies can ensure a positive first year experience for students. However, the focus needs to
concentrate on:
– the task or problem
– how students will engage with resources outside of class time
– how interaction between students and staff will occur.
• Technology is the enabler for solving the problem, rather than the means to an end.
• The BQS tools have been designed to aid staff in the design of online course content and student
engagement whilst assisting them in devising engaging, innovative and creative ways to present that
content.
• The BQS project has fostered important dialogue within the College as to:
– what constitutes quality in the delivery of online and blended education
– how best to support teaching staff in the design of quality online and blended education
– Importance of consistency across course design

The First Year Experience - Lisa Curran - RMIT University

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The First Year Experience - Lisa Curran - RMIT University