News

Our new online portfolio ushers in a new generation of learning

Australian Catholic University will launch ACU Online, a fully online education portfolio, on 8 December 2021.

Available for students to enrol in April 2022, ACU Online will offer courses that will be specifically designed for online learning. The new platform will complement the university’s existing portfolio of both on-campus and online offerings.

ACU has managed and delivered the ACU Online offering entirely in-house. ACU Provost Professor Belinda Tynan said it was unusual for the sector and that, “We’re backing ourselves to know what students need.

Professor Tynan said that in introducing the new platform, the university could provide a personalised student experience that was supported by smart technologies.

“ACU wants to ensure it delivers on the dimensions of a next-generation student experience. This includes having a distinct pedagogy and the right ecosystem to support it.”

Wherever they are around the country, students who choose to learn through ACU Online will have extensive support. “It’s not enough to say that we are providing humans not bots; our people are highly trained professionals, so that during their studies students will have access to student success coaches, academic staff, learning facilitators, academic skills support, counselling services, and more. Students choosing to study online are making a significant commitment, and we want to honour that by ensuring they are not alone in ensuring their success.

“Our students might be studying at home, but they won’t be alone.”

ACU has invested in digital capabilities that will support students throughout the complete duration of their learning. This month it announced a partnership with Canvas to introduce a new learning management system which will provide students with a seamlessly integrated platform to enhance their studies. Earlier in the year the university introduced Vygo, an online system for student-to-student mentoring to help commencing students stay connected and supported.

Professor Tynan said the journey of digital transformation was well underway as the university embraced new technologies to broaden and enhance the scope of an ACU education. “We can’t discount the expectations of contemporary students, they expect a one-click fix to what they are searching for.”

They also expect that an ACU education will maintain the same high quality regardless of which platform students choose. ACU is ranked in the top two per cent of all universities worldwide¹ and is first in Australia for graduate employment². ACU research has been assessed as first or equal first in Australia in 10 fields, and its research programs tackle enduring and pressing issues in society, in Australia and around the world.

Find out more

1 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022. Percentage calculated as ACU's world rank as a proportion of the total number of universities in the world: International Handbook of Universities 2019, Palgrave MacMillan

2 Graduate Outcomes Survey – Longitudinal 2021, medium-term outcomes, full-time employment for domestic undergraduate students