10/01
Embedded Academic Language and Learning support via
an e-learning tool
Name of Principal Applicant
Ruth Warwick
School of Academic Language and Learning Charles
Darwin University
Contact email address: Ruth.Warwick@cdu.edu.au
Project/Activity description
Project aim: The aim of the proposed study is to establish the process issues and
potential benefits of embedding Academic Language and Learning (ALL) support into
an existing nursing unit for external students. This will be delivered via the ‘Wimba’
virtual learning environment on the “Blackboard” e-learning platform. In particular,
the study will assess the effects of the embedded ALL program on student outcomes
(academic performance and attrition/retention) in relation to those of a comparison
group of external nursing students who undertake the e-learning nursing unit
without the embedded ALL support. Charles Darwin University student demographic
Charles Darwin University (CDU), located in the Northern Territory has a unique
student demographic profile. More than 60% of its enrolled students are external
and living throughout Australia. These include a large proportion of students from
non-traditional low-socio-economic back grounds; Indigenous students in remote
areas; first generation students; mature aged students who may not have had formal
education for some years; and LOTE domestic students who have not achieved
adequate academic language competency. Meeting the academic language and
learning (ALL) support needs of this increasingly heterogeneous student population
presents many challenges due to their varying academic backgrounds, life
experiences, as well as their geographical remoteness. The School of Academic
Language and Learning has recently been trialling a variety of different pedagogical
strategies (including virtual classrooms) to better engage and more effectively
support this diverse student population. One of these strategies has been to trial the
use of the Wimba e-learning virtual learning environment. This was enabled by CDU
having established a working agreement with the developers of the Blackboard elearning platform and Wimba’s suite of online collaborative tools including a virtual
learning/classroom environment which we propose using in this study.
At present most CDU external students have access to learning materials online and
liaise with their lecturer via email; however this has a number of limitations including
time delays for responses to queries and the ability to learn from other students.
Anecdotal feedback from external students highlights the need for increased
interaction between students and lecturers. Wimba offers an innovative means of
meeting this need by enabling synchronous online collaboration whereby students
can exchange ideas with each other and the lecturer and in turn feel part of a
community of learners progressing toward common goals.
Embedded ALL on-campus and on-line
Since 2009, internal students at CDU have had access to on-campus embedded ALL
support workshops in a few selected units. Lecturers of units with an academic
component relinquish up to 5 hours of their tutorial time as they recognise the value
of this academic support to their students. The embedded program is customised to
each particular unit and incorporates the students’ upcoming assignment tasks in
the workshop material to ensure their subject relevance.
At the same time that these embedded workshops were instigated in units delivered
on campus, they were also delivered on-line via a Wimba class-room to the external
students within these units. Early student surveys, of both the on-campus students
and the on-line students indicated appreciation of the ALL support; however, the
external group expressed particularly strong appreciation for the academic language
and learning support and the real-time contact it afforded them.
Pilot project of embedded ALL support on-line
This pilot project will build on this experience to deliver the embedded ALL support
as an integral component of a first year nursing unit. The aim is to assess the
effectiveness of this intervention in terms of the retention and success of external
students who participate in the Wimba sessions. Health and the Health Professions
(NUR 111) is usually the first unit students in this course undertake. Traditionally,
about two-thirds of these students are external. Many of them are working full-time
as enrolled nurses. A large percentage of these are mature aged students who have
not studied formally for some years, and who may not have reached a high level of
secondary education at the time they left school.
The study will be carried out throughout Semester 1, 2010.The enrolment for
Semester 1, 2010 is not yet finalised, but is currently 250 students. Approximately
two-thirds of these, i.e. 190 students are external. Attendance at ALL support
workshops is not compulsory, so the number is expected to be smaller than 160.
Indeed, the number is too large to be effective in a workshop, so the material will be
repeated twice, and students will have the choice of two different time slots, thus
reducing the size of each class. This will constitute the first population for our study.
These students will attend 5 one-hour ALL support workshops in essay writing skills
in a Wimba class-room during the first 5 weeks of semester. The study will gather
both qualitative and quantitative data from this group.
The outcomes from this cohort will be compared to the outcomes of the 2011 cohort
in the same unit. Neither internal nor external students in the 2011 cohort will be
offered embedded support, but directed to self-paced ALL support on the School of
Academic Language and Learning website.
Expected outcomes
It is anticipated that the group which participates in the ALL support via Wimba will
be more likely to attain higher assignment marks and unit grades and improved
retention in comparison to the control group which will not be offered Wimba
support classes, but directed to on-line self-directed modules offering ALL support
learning.