This module was designed to help students make the transition from school to university. It provides new students with guidance on many of the new process they will need to adopt such as organising their time, using Blackboard and submitting assessments.Â
It is sent out to new students in the pre-arrival communications prior to orientation to raise students awareness of what will be expected of them at university and to promote student support services.
It was made using:
H5P
Powerpoint
Figma
Many of the undergraduate students arriving at The Hotel School and Southern Cross University find the transition to tertiary level studies challenging and are unaware of the expectations of studying after school.
Many students find time management and organisational skills challenging and need support to 'find their feet' in a new educational setting.
The challenge therefore, was how to equip students with some survival tools before their first day so that they were not 'pushed into the deep end'.
The solution was to create a module which students could engage with before arrival. This presents a character they can engage with and a 'guide on the side'.
New students are empowered to make decisions about the content they need and so reflects Adaptive Learning Design. They also encounter multiple means of representation in the form of visuals, text and videos.
Interactive elements such as multiple choice, click and drag and clickable objects are also employed to promote active learning and engagement.
This slide gives the students the opportunity to create their own learning pathway through the module. There are a number of slides which allow students to click on the topics that are most relevant to them so that input can be delivered in a tailored, personalised way.
All the videos that these choices lead the students to are no longer than a few minutes long in order to cater to cognitive load. They often show interviews with other SCU students so that the new arrivers can see the relevance of the material.
This interactive quiz provides textual feedback in the form of praise or recommendations for action. Feedback is an essential element of the learning process and I include some form of textual feedback after interactive elements. This may be to show the consequence of choices, prompt correction or reflection. It may be implemented immediately or be delayed until after a variety of learner choices such as within a branching scenario. In this case the intention is to build the student's confidence that they already have many transferable skills before they start their university course.