CQU nursing lecturer Dolene Rossi was thrown into the deep end of online learning but has emerged inspired by its possibilities.

Last Autumn, she took on 177 first-year, first-term nursing students from throughout Australia, enrolled to study Health Communications in an on-line environment for the first time - helping to pilot the use of Blackboard software within CQU.

Ms Rossi gained grant funding to help evaluate the transition to online learning and to compare the pilot year (last year) with this year's cohort of 35 students (smaller due to a change of degree structure).

There was considerable resistance at first but even the critics had to admit they had learned something through the process, including IT skills.

"This course used to be seen as a bit of a soft option, with a general lack of commitment ... now the feedback is that students are challenged and they need to work consistently,” Ms Rossi said.

"I continue to be impressed by the visibility of the learning process in an online environment. I can really see the way students are thinking, how they interact, who is contributing (and who is not) how they deal with issues, their peer support and tolerance ... you don’t have the same opportunity to experience this in a face to face class.". Ms Rossi said on-line learning was often portrayed as being more cost effective but, done properly, the constant feedback and interaction aspects required even more time from the lecturer, to the point of becoming addictive for both student and lecturer.

"Students have commented that the course is in itself a new way of thinking; the very environment makes them think in a different way.

"It also encourages peer support. Often a question is answered by a fellow student before I have the opportunity to respond. All I have to do then is to comment on the advice given.

"Students have also shown they are keen to collaborate and to contribute to peer assessment, even when these options have not been required.".

Ms Rossi said the online medium was a wonderful teaching and learning tool and she was 'blown away' by its potential to enhance both learning and teaching practice.

"You have to take some knocks and it's not an easy process, but there's a lot to be gained both personally and professionally within an online environment," she concludes.