Murdoch University has been a university of difference since its establishment in 1974. The university hosts around 23,000 students across campuses located in Perth, Mandurah, Singapore, Dubai and Malaysia, as well as online students studying through Open Universities Australia. The university prides itself on providing opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds to study and equip themselves with new knowledge and skills.
Murdoch has always been associated with environment and conservation, social justice and inclusion, and equal access. The current strategic themes of Sustainability; Equity, Diversity and Inclusion; and First Nations continue to provide this focus. The emphasis on quality learning and teaching practice is exemplified by Boola Katitjiin (Whadjuk Noongar name meaning ‘lots of learning’) – the new learning and teaching building at the Perth campus.
Why Studiosity?
In 2018-19, Murdoch experienced a rapid growth in international students across many undergraduate and postgraduate programs. A Tiered Learning Support Framework was devised to frame the catalogue of academic support services available to students. As part of this, a new partnership was established with Studiosity to provide Tier 1 online, on-demand study help to all students through myMurdoch Learning (LMS). Studiosity was identified as the ideal service, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and providing a breadth of services to complement and extend the internally offered services. 
"The professional approach of Studiosity with their service provision is greatly valued by Murdoch. This approach is validated through the 94% satisfaction rate from our students. We’re excited to be extending our partnership into the future."
Professor Don Klinger (Deputy Vice Chancellor, Education)
Studiosity+ pilot
The pilot of Studiosity’s Writing Feedback+ in 2024 has demonstrated that:
• students greatly value the constructive feedback on their draft assignments; and
• the university can scale its Tier 1 support to reach more students, more often.
Writing Feedback+ has been piloted in a large gateway unit designed to help non-English Speaking Background (NESB) graduate coursework students develop the essential communication and research skills necessary for study in an Australian academic context. The standard Studiosity service has also been used in the unit since 2019, with over 2500 students.
A key strategy for developing communication skills in the unit is the provision of meaningful feedback and opportunities for students to reflect on feedback in developing their writing skills. As part of the writing process for all assignments, students have submitted their writing to Studiosity and made changes to their draft before final submission.
Implementation to achieve university goals for equitable access
A low stake initial assessment is used to introduce Studiosity and to guide students to use the feedback to improve their work. This is done in a computer lab under the guidance of tutors. With Writing Feedback+, feedback is immediate, allowing students sufficient time to edit their work. The two major essay assignments are designed to provide a further cycle of feedback and reflection, with the second assignment being a longer, improved version of the first. The use of Writing Feedback+ to provide academic language feedback has allowed teaching staff to focus on providing more specific content and research-related feedback. Following this introduction, students have confidently used Studiosity in other units, knowing that it is a safe, effective service provided by the university.
Data from Semester 1, 2024 highlights many positive aspects of the Writing Feedback+ service. The pilot included 489 unique students (which represents more than 90% of the target cohort) with a total of 2,123 submissions. The data showed significant repeat usage indicating its value to students, with an average of five interactions per ‘active’ student.
Student satisfaction was notably high, and post-usage feedback overwhelmingly positive:
Staff analysis of Writing Feedback+
Analysis of Writing Feedback+ advice to students, conducted by a lead tutor with extensive Academic Literacy Development (ALD) experience, was highly positive. The analysis found that Writing Feedback+ provides specific, detailed, and relevant feedback, suggesting better word choices and sentence structures through explanations and examples. It effectively detects significant student errors and offers examples and suggestions for improvement. Feedback remains consistent across multiple submissions, identifying significant errors and making relevant suggestions each time.
Overall, Writing Feedback+ provides effective, specific, and relevant feedback, offering good suggestions for improving critical analysis.
The service highlights issues in the text and links to explanations, examples, and videos, helping students develop their critical thinking skills by using examples and case studies. It also highlights positive aspects of students’ work and provides an ongoing record of feedback, emphasising the most frequent issues and strengths. Feedback is received quickly, and multiple submissions can be made for the same assignment. Overall, Writing Feedback+ provides effective, specific, and relevant feedback, offering good suggestions for improving critical analysis.
Future Partnership Plans
As a result of the successful trial of Writing Feedback+, the University has decided to make it available to all 23,000 students from 2025 and extend its partnership with Studiosity for another three years. For the upcoming partnership period we are seeking to engage with more gateway units to embed the use of Studiosity in assignment workflows, increasing the overall uptake of Studiosity, and thereby increasing student satisfaction and success.
