There is a great deal of evidence that many students struggle to develop academic writing skills (Aitchinson et al, 2012). There is also substantial evidence that the capacity to plan, manage, monitor and reflect on one’s learning - i.e. to engage in self-regulated learning - is key to academic success. For instance, seminal research has identified fourteen SRL strategies where high performers differed from low performers by two standard deviations (Zimmerman and Martinez-Pons, 1986) and this difference was accounted for by strategy presence, frequency and consistency (Nandagopal and Ericsson, 2012). In this presentation, we will provide an overview of an ongoing Erasmus+ funded research project called STARS (Self-Regulated Learning for Academic Success) that seeks to integrate insights from these two sets of literature by co-creating a digital tool that will help to systematically develop self-regulated learning (SRL) skills with respect to academic writing. More specifically, we will present some preliminary results from focus groups with undergraduate and taught MA students that were undertaken as part of the needfinding phase of the project. We will then show some prototypes of the digital system to demonstrate how the project will respond to identified needs within respect to strategies for cognitive, meta-cognitive and emotional regulation.

StatsSkills is an accessible, open-access web app through which learners systematically build statistics skills. StatsSkills contains exercises targeting specific skills, on which learners receive immediate, automated feedback, and through which they can track their progress to master specific areas and so increase their self-efficacy.

During the academic year 2024-2025, StatsSkills was scaled to handle more learners and multiple groups with around 260 students using StatsSkills in three modules. In our presentation, we will briefly demonstrate StatsSkills, and then discuss findings from student focus groups, a student survey and usage data.

Responses to the student survey sent in November 2024 indicated high levels of satisfaction with StatsSkills. Students praised the app as "simple, handy, and fun," valuing its accessibility and role in boosting their confidence with learning statistics. Early findings from the student focus groups in March 2025 reinforce the survey findings, with students also describing how using StatsSkills during class time kept them engaged and made learning statistics more enjoyable. Students also offered valuable suggestions for how to enhance StatsSkills for future learners including streamlining the process for accessing StatsSkills, increasing the variety and difficulty of exercises, and implementing analytics dashboards to allow learners to track their progress over time.

Discussions on AI and educational technology both imply and assume that learners have access to digital technology. However recent cyber incidents in HE institutions have illustrated that the digital divide persists and has far-ranging effects on learners. In the midst of one such cyber incident, I undertook a survey of managerial staff to ask ‘what is the attitude of managerial staff in HE towards students’ digital equality?’ The research entailed an anonymous online survey of third level managerial staff (academic heads of departments) to explore their experiences, knowledge of, and attitudes to students’ access to online learning, in particular whilst off campus. My objective was to ascertain whether management in HE considers the digital divide in relation to their students; and whether they take any actions to mitigate against such a divide.

This research was informed by an egalitarian theoretical framework and a Freirean approach to access and equity for learners. It is crucial that management in HE is attuned to any potential disparities in students’ educational experiences and access to learning that may result from the digital divide. The findings of my study indicated complexity in managerial attitudes, and a variety of approaches to learners.