Building pathways online: Indigenous Futures Collaboration

Research findings The IFC project provided a significant evidence base from which future endeavours may benefit. Findings discussed in this report include:  Online education can assist people in regional and remote areas into higher education when courses are tailored to meet the needs of specific cohorts.  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student support needs are diverse: students in pathways courses generally required a high level of student support, including literacy support and technical assistance. Those in Bachelor degrees were found to have similar needs to non-Indigenous students enrolled through Swinburne Online. Providing good support for all online degrees students is likely to meet the needs of Indigenous learners.  For pathways courses, blended delivery may be more successful than fully online delivery.  Digital exclusion remains a barrier for a significant number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students living in remote areas, and for some in non-remote areas. Students are likely to benefit from internet access support (such as account credit), instruction on platform use, and device provision.