Developing a recipe for course completion: Support through positive pedagogy

Access to education through learning management systems (LMS) increases course options available to students. However, the gap between enrolments and course completion is a concern.
Through this project we seek to identify the ingredients important in supporting students through to course completion, regardless of whether they are studying online, blended or face-to-face.
Where teaching academics do not have education qualifications, expecting them to master educational theory and practice without assistance is unrealistic. Knowing this, a team of educationalists and eLearning specialists is collaborating to bring together key educational ingredients into sound, theory-based learning templates/plans, as support for these teaching academics.
Although this pilot is being conducted with online units, the principles are transferable across delivery modes. In tandem with supported instruction, this project aims to develop a flexible recipe for course completion that builds student confidence, competence and a sense of belonging through purposeful:
•Teacher-student/student-student communication and interaction,
•Assessment and activities with clear instructions showing purpose and alignment,
•Organisation of information in learning management systems
•Pathways leading students through their chosen course.
We are changing the way our learning management system is used and the way interaction within it is undertaken, so that it becomes a vibrant, easily navigable space where ideas are generated, accessed and shared rather than using it as a repository where notes and readings are deposited and stored.
Online units are being transformed into interactive teaching and learning communities. The project is in its infancy, but already we have requests to expand it further.