Sarina Russo Institute (SRI) is renowned for its commitment to providing high-quality vocational and academic education. With an emphasis on equipping students with practical skills and knowledge, SRI delivers programs tailored to meet industry demands. One of its key offerings includes English language courses, which are designed to align with international standards such as the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and the Global Scale of English (GSE). These courses aim to enhance students’ language proficiency, ensuring they are well-prepared for further education and career opportunities.
In 2021, SRI’s online Bridging English Entry Program (BEEP) was awarded NEAS quality endorsement. Since this endorsement, SRI has striven to align its lower-level courses to the same standards of online delivery so that these courses can be run either face-to-face, online, or in a hybrid/blended mode. Although currently operating in face-to-face mode, Unipath 2 can be run as a fully remote online course via the Blackboard LMS and Collaborate Tool.
Online delivery is reviewed against the Quality Principles in Area H: Online Delivery. These Quality Principles focus on: ensuring the design of the online environment supports a positive and engaging user experience; the appropriateness of learning and assessment strategies for virtual delivery; provision of learning resources and technology to facilitate learning; and the presence of an integrated reporting system to support the online courses. Please refer to this section of the NEAS Quality Assurance Framework for further information: https://neas.org.au/resources/neas-quality-framework/#area-h.
The Unipath 2 and BEEP courses, each spanning ten weeks, enable students to progress to James Cook University Brisbane (JCUB) undergraduate and postgraduate courses respectively at direct entry level. SRI aims to acculturate students to the academic skills required for JCUB undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. By focusing on key Blackboard tools, SRI provides students with the online operability needed for success in subsequent pathway courses. The Unipath 2 course demonstrates a high degree of accessibility in terms of format, layout, font choice, and font size. The course pages feature good visual design and effective use of images, with a wide range of learning and consolidation activities for learners to choose from. Students commented favourably on the materials, content, and accessibility, and both students and staff rated the instructional language highly. SRI has ensured that instructional and content language falls within the word frequency ranges appropriate for current students’ levels.
June 2024
