Digital Learning Environment—A Roadmap for the School of Business ^†

Abstract

This paper discusses the process of developing a new Digital Learning Environment (DLE) roadmap for CQUniversity’s School of Business and Law. The roadmap was developed through several iterations of data collection, sector analysis, and stakeholder engagement, resulting in the identification of 15 themes mapped against the university’s strategic plan, five macro-level trends, and six microtrends. The focus of the roadmap is on enhancing the learning experience of students, engaging them in the process, and raising the visibility of the product functionalities to support academic scholarships. The roadmap also addresses the immediate concerns of transitioning out of the effects of COVID-19 and known issues across the higher education sector while leaving space for exploring innovations in education.

1. Objectives

CQUniversity’s School of Business and Law introduced significant changes to its Digital Learning Environment (DLE) between 2019, and as a result of CQURenew, the school’s transformative project was undertaken in 2020. The objective of this paper is to discuss the process of drafting the next DLE roadmap. The development of a new roadmap is happening at a pivotal time for CQUniversity, and is informed by and aligns with complementary initiatives, processes, and governance structures. [1,2].

2. Methodology

The process for developing the roadmap required several iterations of data collection, sector analysis, and internal engagement, culminating with a roadmap produced for the School of Business and Law. The development of the roadmap included workshops with stakeholder groups such as Tertiary Education leaders, fellow Deputy Deans (Learning and Teaching), school managers, and students. The stakeholders were asked to reflect on three important themes: sector changes, CQURenew, and the future.

3. Results

The grouping of 15 themes was identified from the stakeholders and mapped against the CQUniversity strategic plan. The second stage of the project involved aligning the results with the governance of the university. This resulted in five macro-level trends being identified. [3,4,5] The final stage was mapping the outcomes to CQUniversity’s DLE product groupings of online learning systems and learning analytics, with the result of six microtrends being identified. [6,7,8,9].

4. Implications

The school holds expectations for its quality of learning and teaching experiences, particularly in relation to a high-quality curriculum, materials, learning management systems, and teaching practices that support student learning. All the practices and processes assure the equivalence of the design, delivery, and support of learning and teaching quality, for all modes of delivery and locations. The DLE will further enhance the learning experience of our students.

5. Originality Value

While there is a breadth of literature on digitalization in education, this DLE framework addresses the breadth and depth of the information on how business schools can address immediate concerns as we transition out of the effects of COVID-19, address known issues across the higher education sector, and leave space to explore innovations within education.

6. Contribution

The focus of the roadmap for the School of Business and Law is founded upon engagement by students [10] and on raising the visibility of the product functionalities in support of the academic scholarships of learning, teaching, and student support duties. A further focus of the roadmap is invariably upon iterative predictive model enhancements and the ongoing integrations with our current systems.