Historically the Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) unit experienced a poor success rate despite a reasonable student satisfaction rate. Many good students were lost because they were not able to pass those foundational units, which were prerequisites for the remainder of the course. Despite a strong commitment to first-year students prior to 2019, previous lecturers in A&P were not able to find the key to increasing motivation, engagement and success, with unit pass rates as low as 55%. Our A&P Curriculum Development Team began its journey of curriculum reform and development in 2019. Since that time, the Team has fostered extraordinary collaboration with staff throughout the University on the flipped classroom pedagogy to guide and enhance student engagement, empowering them to learn.
Prior to 2022, we implemented evidence-based practice including laboratory and tutorial revision modules, online lecture recordings and other changes that saw increases in student satisfaction and some improvements in success rates. The introduction of the new immersive Southern Cross Model opened more doors and opportunities to engage students in short video lessons followed by interactive H5P activities that reinforced key concepts and kept students switched on to the learning. These changes, along with ‘Lily’s dinosaurs’, offered students a layer of support and clarity, and built student confidence so that they could be successful. Additional changes consistent with the Southern Cross Model further increased student satisfaction to 92.6% (n=423 responses) and student success to 84% (n=785 enrolment) by Term 2, 2023.
(*Please note, due to technical difficulties with the audio only part of this presentation recording was able to be made available)