S4.2.2

=Students are provided with information describing the institutional distribution of responsibility for student support services. =

Evidence
The use of e-learning to remove the constraint that students attend courses face-to-face does not remove the need for institutions to provide as full a range of support services as possible (Sewart, 1993). As well as technical support for e-learning students need support with personal and learning issues. It is important for the student to be welcomed and made sufficiently comfortable with the e-learning environment so that they are able to express and explain their need for and what they require from support.

Resources
The primary focus for institutions, according to (SIEL draft March 2010) is to anticipate the needs of the students. Improving post-secondary student e-learning and retention involves putting mechanisms in place to assist with communicating student and institutional expectations prior to the student’s first e-learning experience. Understanding best practice for student induction, undertaking self-assessment to evaluate institutional e-learning induction practices, and preparing first-year students for e-learning all during the early weeks of their first course. The SIEL report details in a matrix how all this can be done.