Banner - Threshold Standards for the Online Student Experience

In 2020 the Centre for Academic Development (CAD) developed the Toiere framework for creating a student centric online course. Created as an output of the University Resilience project, Toiere supported our quick pivot to online learning and provided teaching teams with a framework that ensured students were able to continue learning when disconnected from campus. Part of the development of Toiere was working with students on identifying their issues and considerations when learning online. Student focus groups informed us that when courses provided a level of consistency, structure and content provision that supported student progression, student stress, workload and anxiety in their learning was reduced.

In 2022, the Learning Platform project was instigated to revitalise our online learning environment, and to create Nuku, the learning platform and virtual campus for Te Herenga Waka. To ensure good practice enacted by Faculty during the pandemic continued and was sustainable, CAD collaborated with Faculty Associate Deans, Tītoko - Centre for Student Success, Student Learning, Te Amaru - Disability Services, and The Library - Te Pātaka Kōrero to develop a new framework to inform the design and accessibility of our online learning environment.

The Threshold Standards for the Online Student Learning Experience are the product of over two years of developing and supporting resilient courses through the Covid-19 pandemic. The acceptance and implementation of these standards through the Learning Platform project will not only ensure a more resilient learning and teaching organisation, but lay the platform for more formalised flexible and blended modes of delivery in the future.

They also define our expectations in the use of our online learning environment, and aid in the development of new courses and programmes across our formal, informal and professional learning offerings. Application of the Threshold Standards is also critical to holistic student advising. Tītoko - Centre for Student Success require key areas of the Thresholds to be implemented to get the right data at the right time that will identify students in need of support.

Click below to read Threshold Standards:

Read the Threshold Standards

Click below to enrol and access the CAD Toiere training course:

Enter the Toiere course

The following video introduces Toiere, the Threshold Standards, and provides a brief history of our journey to create a great online learning experience for our students.