OUA Media Centre | 5 February 2013
Leveraging changing attitudes towards the legitimacy of online education in 2012, mainly through the agency of MOOCs, Australia’s pioneering and premier online tertiary provider, Open Universities Australia (OUA). is embarking on a different journey from its competitors in 2013.
Paul Wappett, OUA’s chief executive, says that right now institutions are focusing their energy on the impact to their business if they too were to offer open, online education.
These new players have simply confirmed what we’ve always known – that the online environment has a rightful place in higher education and that there’s great appetite for it.
At OUA we see a different opportunity…unlike others who are prioritising the provision of open access and achieving massive enrolments, OUA has set its sights on supporting as many people as possible to successfully complete tertiary education.
Wappett says OUA will concentrate on make suring students are having a positive experience online, not just in terms of the academic quality of the course but also making sure OUA engages students in the right way – “all of which promote optimum student success”.
OUA proposes the modularisation of material into shorter repeatable sections with the aim to improve student comprehension. High production quality of courses will also go hand in hand with this, so what the student sees is compelling and engaging.
OUA also intends using the best technologies to personalise the student experience around individual circumstances and the diverse experiences each student brings to the table.
We have absolute faith that the number of people who will complete education, delivered in this way, will be substantially greater and as a result, the economic benefits will flow for all.
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Owned by seven of Australia’s premier universities, OUA enrolled more than 200,000 students since 1993 and currently provides access to over 1700 units and 180 qualifications taught by more than 20 leading Australian universities and tertiary education providers.
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