While the internet has given rise to online learning, Deakin University has gone one step further, allowing students to start courses on any day of the University year.
Available from January 2016, students will no longer be bound by a calendar, now learning at their own pace using online courses.
Professor Beverley Oliver, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) said Start Anytime demonstrates how Deakin is improving the student experience by driving the digital frontier.
“Courses at Deakin are traditionally studied in defined trimesters and follow a weekly calendar, Professor Oliver said.
“Start Anytime enables students in the MBA and Master of Business Analytics to start studying when they want to and complete the assessments at their own pace with support and feedback from teaching staff as well as a community of peers.”
Professor Oliver said Start Anytime builds on Deakin’s high-quality student learning experience by offering even more flexibility when studying in the cloud – focussing on assessment, feedback and evidence of learning.
“We aim to help people learn in ways that match our lifestyles,” Professor Oliver said.
“Digital disruption is happening – we use streaming services such as Netflix to watch, even ‘binge watch’, our favourite shows.
“We believe that we can offer excellent learning experiences using the same idea: students should be able to complete assessments – ‘binge learn’ – when they feel ready, and not have to wait several weeks until trimester ticks over.
“Students want flexibility and Start Anytime is one way Deakin can offer on-demand, resource-rich study and innovate using digital disruption for a better student experience.
“We are starting this mode in selected units in two prestigious postgraduate courses in January, and we expect to broaden this approach in due course.”
