One Australian public university is radically changing the way it delivers higher education, introducing a 6-week immersive scheduling delivery model across all units and courses. Despite the emerging success of block and immersive models for raising the performance of diverse student cohorts, the design factors underpinning positive outcomes are underexplored. This paper presents a mixed methods study of the impact and value of student engagement with interactive and responsive online content modules and synchronous classes in an immersive scheduling model. The findings indicate that behavioural engagement with online learning modules has a positive effect on academic success and is a significant predictor of a higher final score. Qualitative data indicate several attributes of high-quality online learning modules that students appear to associate with engagement and deeper learning in the immersive model: interactivity, media richness, constructive alignment, flexibility and responsiveness. Synchronous class attendance did not impact final scores; however, students nonetheless valued the opportunity to form safe and supportive communities of inquiry during classes. This study demonstrates that in times of increasing demand for more flexible learning, immersive scheduling models that are founded on active learning principles and embed interactive, responsive, media-rich online learning modules can improve student engagement and performance. Implications for practice or policy: Higher education practitioners should integrate interactive, responsive, media-rich and constructively aligned online learning modules into curricula. Synchronous active learning classes that create safe communities of inquiry should be offered alongside options for asynchronous participation. Low levels of engagement with online learning modules should prompt follow-up from educators to raise engagement and bolster academic achievement. Immersive delivery models are effective curriculum innovations that, when designed with interactive online modules, can support improved academic achievement.

Post-pandemic, many universities are seeking ways to better engage students and support them to stay with and succeed in their studies. Immersive scheduling, whereby students complete units over shorter time periods than the traditional 12–15 week semester or trimester, may be a way to do this and improve academic outcomes at scale. This paper focuses on the impact of an immersive scheduling model at a public Australian university where higher education is being delivered over 6-week terms using active learning pedagogy. Student grades (N = 9,655) and unit feedback survey responses (N = 3,267) were collected from a suite of non-award pathways, sub-bachelor and Bachelor units offered in the immersive scheduling model in 2021 and the traditional trimester model in 2019. Results were compared across the two models for commencing, continuing, pathways, undergraduate, on-campus, online and mixed-mode students. Success rates improved in the immersive scheduling model compared to the traditional trimester model to a statistically significant degree for all cohorts, with particularly strong achievement enhancements observed for online students. These improvements exceeded results for a control group of units delivered in the traditional model in both years. Strong improvements in the pathways units, which were delivered using active learning pedagogy before and after the implementation of immersive scheduling, demonstrate that the more focused way of learning created through the model may be an important factor underpinning improved academic success. High levels of unit and teaching satisfaction were maintained in the immersively-scheduled units, indicating that the model supports high student satisfaction.

This study examines the impact of an Australian enabling program, underpinned by critical pedagogy, on students’ academic and professional success. Qualitative focus group data were collected from individuals who had completed an enabling program at a regional Australian university and progressed to undergraduate study. Quantitative data comparing the academic achievement of enabling and non-enabling students across a six-year period were also analysed. Together, the data present a compelling picture of the transformative power of enabling education underpinned by critical pedagogy. Students who completed the enabling program had higher success rates, grade point averages (GPAs) and retention rates than their non-enabling peers. They were also empowered to overcome limiting beliefs about their academic and professional potential, which in turn led to success in their studies and careers that they had not previously imagined possible.

Outcomes in higher education (HE) are influenced by the learning conditions created for students. The traditional model of HE, where students attend content-focused lectures over 12–15-week semesters, may not provide the conditions that best meet the learning needs of increasingly diverse HE cohorts. This study assessed the extent to which an immersive block model, a non-traditional form of HE delivery that employs active learning pedagogy and engages students in shorter, more focused periods of study, might enable higher student achievement and satisfaction compared to a traditional semester model. The study examined achievement (N = 27,528) and satisfaction (N = 7924) data from a public Australian university that has moved all coursework units into a 6-week immersive block model. Inferential statistical tests were used to compare results between the traditional semester and immersive block delivery over a 3-year period, as well as with results from control groups that stayed in the traditional model. Results demonstrate that immersive block learning underpinned by an active learning pedagogy has had a statistically significant positive impact on the academic success of various cohorts of undergraduate learners. Stronger improvements in student success were observed in first-year units compared to second and third-year units, suggesting that the immersive block model may be particularly beneficial for students transitioning into HE. Satisfaction was statistically lower relative to the traditional model, particularly in science and engineering, suggesting a need for further investigation into causes of lower satisfaction in these disciplines.