Associate Professor Lorraine Marshall - Student learning

Helping you make the most of university studies

Associate Professor Lorraine Marshall has been helping students discover their full earning potential through a series of award-winning innovative study modules.

The program was developed by Associate Professor Marshall and her team from the Teaching and Learning Centre to help time-poor adults hone their online study skills.

The team’s effort has resulted in an acclaimed Carrick Award for Australian University Learning and Teaching.

The ‘Awards for Programs that Enhance Learning’ category of the Carrick Awards recognise learning and teaching support programs and services that make an outstanding contribution to the quality of student learning. The Quick Skills modules were entered in the category of Flexible Learning and Teaching.



For Assoc. Professor Marshall, author of the modules, one of the challenges facing universities is the need to help students develop academic learning skills and an ability to manage study alongside other activities in life, including work and family.

 “Using a Project Management framework, the Quick Skills modules cover a range of topics including setting goals and objectives, managing risks, knowing study resources, managing time and tasks and preparing and sitting for exams,” Assoc. Professor Marshall said.

The Quick Skills modules each take two to three hours to complete and can be taken in any order or individually, according to student’s need and interest. Designed as a stand-alone resource, the modules are available online 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Quick Skills modules were initiated by and developed for Open Universities Australia and are used by Open Universities and Murdoch University students.

More than 1000 Open Universities’ students have used the modules and they are proving to have a positive impact on the retention of these students.