Preprint
Piloting the Southern Cross Model: Implications of Immersive Scheduling for Student Achievement and Feedback
SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol.Series Paper No.5
Southern Cross University Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Research Paper Series, Elsevier
07/07/2022
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Abstract
Universities typically deliver courses in semesters or trimesters, with full-time students enrolling in three or four subjects or units during an enrolment period. In response to sustained problems with student retention and success, in 2021 a public Australian university piloted a new curriculum delivery model. The Southern Cross Model (SCM) is a variation on ‘immersive scheduling’, in which full-time students take up to two units at a time over a six-week teaching term. This research presents findings from the pilot year of the SCM, with the aim of exploring the model’s impact on academic success and student satisfaction. Student grades (N = 10,268) and unit feedback survey responses (N = 3,161) were collected from a suite of non-award pathways, sub-bachelor and Bachelor units offered in the traditional trimester delivery model in pre-pandemic 2019, and compared with results from the immersive scheduling model in 2021. Inferential statistical tests indicate that success rates improved in the immersive model for all cohorts studied with the exception of international students, and that high levels of satisfaction with units and teaching were maintained. This paper contributes to a growing evidence base that can inform higher education providers considering transitioning to immersive scheduling to enhance student engagement and achievement in a complex post-pandemic environment.
Details
- Title
- Piloting the Southern Cross Model: Implications of Immersive Scheduling for Student Achievement and Feedback
- Creators
- Elizabeth Goode - Southern Cross UniversityThomas Roche - Southern Cross UniversityErica Wilson - Southern Cross UniversityJohn McKenzie - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- SSRN Electronic Journal, Vol.Series Paper No.5
- Series
- Southern Cross University Scholarship of Learning and Teaching Research Paper Series
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Identifiers
- 991013119012802368
- Academic Unit
- Office of the PVC (Academic Innovation); Faculty of Business, Law and Arts; Office of the PVC (Academic Quality)
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Preprint
- Local Fields
- Original Research - SoLT