Facebook has become the students’ communication tool of choice. Instant messaging and online presence and the fact the “everyone you know” is on Facebook makes email look slow and clunky. Tutors may well be Facebook users themselves for those very same reasons, and as a way of keeping in touch with friends and family. Indeed, not to have a Facebook and Twitter account may be seen to be out of touch. At the same time, the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is embedded deeply into the higher education landscape. The VLE is an integral part of the student learning experience. The role of the VLE is well established and recognized as the place the students go to access learning materials associated with their unit of study. The VLE used at Southampton Solent University, UK, is MyCourse. A look at the patterns of usage of a selection of media students at SSU suggests that students access the VLE periodically, between classes, to review or preview learning materials and to review assignment briefs. However, by contrast, the students are connected to Facebook for long periods of the day. The VLE offers communication and collaboration tools, but does the “always connected, always checking in” nature of Facebook provide a more effective way of facilitating communication and collaboration? Similarly, the VLE offers the facility to share work via forums and message boards. However, do the instant update, commenting, and like features, combined with the fact that Facebook is a place the students choose to go, have an impact on student motivation if work is shared on a Facebook group?

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Students taking part-time, distance or blended learning units who are also in employment face high commitment demands of work, life and family in addition to their study. They do not have time to face the additional challenge of making sense of difficult to access learning materials. These students are also often highly discerning, and will talk with their feet – failing to complete units that don’t engage. At Southampton Solent University, we recognise the need to make online or blended units accessible and supportive. In order to engage students on these, we have developed a set of institutional standards for online course development that aim to make materials intuitive, easy access, clearly introduced and well signposted. The standards also identify levels of support and collaboration in order for students to feel both engaged in and to gain maximum benefit from the learning processes. At the same time we have established a Flexible Delivery Development and Support Team which collaborates with academic staff in course planning, writing and delivery. This team works with tutors to achieve the standards while aligning learning outcomes and assessment with online and blended learning activity. This workshop explores the stages that led to establishing our institutional standards for online course development and the scope of activities for the FDDST. We shall explore ways in which the activities of the team have been responsive and adaptive to student experiences, and illustrate some of the impact of these developments on both actual an anticipated student engagement, achievement and retention.

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