Hello there

Our final quarterly Educator Newsletter for the year contains plenty to read, so please make yourself comfortable, and enjoy. The entire Studiosity team (pictured above) send the warmest wishes for a happy and healthy start to 2018.

University and tertiary news

Students will hold our universities to account

“Can our universities absorb innovation fast enough to survive, let alone thrive?” is the question posited in The Australian article by Studiosity CEO Mike Larsen earlier this year. The article explores increasing student expectations and the new ways forward universities must consider before falling into innovation debt.

Geographical divide shouldn’t still shape educational privilege in Australia

Following the ‘National Independent Review’ into regional, rural and remote education, we believe there is now little reason why urban students should face a disadvantage in our technologically-connected era, when resources are readily available.

When it comes to support services, are you spending or investing?

Spending ticks a box; investing sees student satisfaction, repeat engagement, and academic outcomes. Jack Goodman covers five important factors for decision-makers, when it comes to choosing the right support provider. Because what good is a service, no matter how cheap, if nobody uses it?

Reflections on higher education in the UK

With UK universities traditionally accustomed to rankings based on research, how will they fare with the new ‘Teaching Excellence Framework’ analysing student experience? Full article here.

Musings on the student experience

At the Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS) annual meeting in London, creating ‘work-ready’ graduates was a popular theme. As teachers and leaders, we must recognise the absolute importance of core numeracy and literacy skills that provide the bedrock to prepare students for jobs and technology that do not exist yet. The question now, is how quickly this demand is met by institutions. Mike Larsen explores the topic in University Business.

Poor feedback practices are failing students

A recent analysis of the current feedback model of Australian universities and how it can be improved through timeliness, teaching methods and design is explored in this article for The Conversation.

Supporting part-time and online learners is key to reducing university dropout rates

Universities "need to be taking responsibility for the students they enrol" - Simon Birmingham, Minister for Education and Training. With Australian attrition rates sitting at 15%, The Conversation looks at why this is a trend we shouldn’t ignore.

High School news

A world without ATAR

Geoff Kinkade, former Principal Consultant for Gifted & Talented in the WA Department of Education, sits on our Academic Advisory Board. He recently published an article in Campus Review entitled “See you ATAR”, in which he explores what a world without ATAR scores looks like. You can read the article on our blog.

NAPLAN “wake-up call”

With minimum band standards now implemented in NSW and WA for NAPLAN, performance is pressured and punished, but where is the solution? 

Can Steve Smith help us with NAPLAN?

National hero and world’s top batsman, Steve Smith, reflects on how practice and feedback helped him to rise to the top in only two years. The question as educators now is, how do we make the same leap in results from sports to study.

“The perfect teacher: inspiring, intelligent, funny and cool”

Everyone has that one teacher who stands out in memory as the best, the one whose lessons you so looked forward to, and that you now look back on with fondness. To celebrate National Teachers’ Day back in October, we rounded up those memories from among our staff: Things We’d Say To Our Favourite Teachers Now.

A quick recap: 2017

The year in study help numbers

Students at partner universities, TAFEs, schools and public libraries have had another fantastic year in 2017. After engaging in over 3 million minutes of after-hours study help in 133,500 live sessions and returned submissions, our partners saw the results in increased GPAs (JCU 2017, WSU 2017, Macquarie 2017), more confident students and a higher standard of written submissions.

Rebranding lessons for the brave

“Here be dragons” - a complete rebrand is not an exercise for the faint of heart. Founder Jack Goodman recently wrote about the trials and tribulations of the process in CEO Magazine and how, over eight months this year, Studiosity morphed in name, design and definition whilst maintaining its imperative original pillars of culture, service and values.

All the best for a safe and happy holiday season

From everyone at Studiosity, we hope you have an enjoyable festive season and prosperous start to the new year in 2018. For students wanting to hone their skills over the break, our Writing Feedback service remains open 365 days, but the Subject Specialists in the Connect Live service will be working to a summer schedule - check here for the amended timetable.

Best regards,