The Online program at Southern Cross University has now reached a point where an increasing number of Schools and individual academics are developing their units for online delivery, according to Dr Michael Singleton, Manager of Southern Cross University Online. At this time we are experiencing a very rapid increase in the number of online units that are in either development or delivery - a substantial expansion from the handful of units that we began with in the 1999 pilots. In addition, there are a number of commercial partnerships that are being negotiated that will leverage on our online capabilities. A core component to the university's online capability is the MySCU homepage for students that was launched in July of this year. The first version of this homepage has given personalised, secure and easy access to the online value-adding services of the university to every student.
Subsequent versions are likely to include greater personalisation and functionality.
That's our aim - and I think our achievements to date and our plans for the future mean that we're going to get there. These functions have been combined with the multimedia development resources involved in online and website development to create a new Multimedia unit. This unit is responsible for providing staff and students with a cohesive set of services ranging from still image and photographic authoring to video conferencing and digital video production and distribution. Plans are underway to upgrade the existing Technical Services area in Level 1 of Lismore Library to support staff and students wishing to develop multimedia materials. The Centre is planned to open for Semester One, 2001.