New resource aims to bridge gaps for non-traditional learners

As a reflective teacher, Liam (Leigh) Frost-Camilleri says he has always written notes to himself about the things that happened in the classroom during the week. They were bits of information that could be drawn on when the textbooks he was using did not always have the answers for what was happening in class.

These information gaps also set him on a course to examine the resources and the research in teaching with an enabling focus. In Australia, enabling programs are non-award courses designed to assist non-traditional students with transitioning into a university bachelor course. He found that there was little coverage of students' transition to mainstream education that spoke to their experiences. He says the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that a better resource was needed.

Mr Frost-Camilleri, who is a Lecturer in the Federation Access Studies (FAST) program and the Master of Teaching at Federation University, has recently published the peer-reviewed open-access textbook – The Art of Re-Learning: A Guide to Academic Readiness – a resource that explores concepts like self-efficacy, independent learning, and cultural competence, alongside practical advice on researching, plagiarism, and tackling group work. He was also presented the NAEEA 2024 National Teaching Excellence Award for his work in enabling education.

"The book has an enabling focus, so it might be for students who didn't get the score they wanted when they finished Year 12, so they do a transition course. At Federation, it's called FAST. There are also mature students who do this course who may have been out of education for 20 years and want to see what university is like," Mr Frost-Camilleri said.

"But realistically, the textbook could be useful for anyone in their first year at university. The transition between Year 12 and university can be a very difficult change.

"It's about understanding not only yourself as a learner but the expectations of the institution and how you fit within because that can be difficult to navigate. It works on a lot of levels, but primarily, it's aimed at enabling students."

Mr Frost-Camilleri taught at primary and secondary levels before focusing his work on helping students who had been moved out of mainstream education. He has also been a numeracy and literacy coordinator and tutored at Federation. He is also close to completing his PhD, researching second-chance education being delivered in TAFE youth programs.

"Like many of the students in the course, I'm neurodivergent myself and late diagnosed, so there are a lot of things I'm still unravelling about what it means to learn and what equity and education actually mean," he said.

"I'm researching what pedagogies and practices are successful – what actually works within the classroom. It's a massive interest area of mine now."

The book was published with the Council of Australasian University Librarians Open Education Resources (OER) textbook project. This OER project provides a library-supported publishing pathway for academic and teaching staff to create or adapt open-licenced textbooks. The project's outcome are peer-reviewed high-quality academic textbooks providing students with equitable and zero-cost access to educational texts online worldwide.

Mr Frost-Camilleri says there are great benefits to publishing through the OER project – the books are available to anyone to download for free, and they are a living document that can be added to or improved over time.

"Another great benefit is that other universities or academics can grab one of your chapters or even the whole book if they want, edit it in the way they want while attributing it to the original author, and use the piece that might be right for their course.

"It's a very communal way of creating a textbook, and I also love the bonus that it's free – we have enough of a burden on the students to begin with in terms of finance.

"After the proposal was approved, I started drafting and writing – I had the ideas I'd written down on my phone and in emails I sent to myself. Eventually, I could form it into a structured textbook."

Mr Frost-Camilleri says the book is "peppered with research throughout" and includes students' experiences that aren't well researched or have often been generalised. He also researched plain English writing – looking into what had been done in that area so he could help keep the book academic in nature but make it accessible to a broad audience.

The peer-review process meant there was plenty of feedback and adjustments before the book was released in early March 2025.

"At the end of each chapter, there's a link to a form to give me feedback directly because I'd prefer this to be a living document. If there are things that are no longer relevant or need to change, or if people want to offer suggestions, I'd love to hear about it," he said.

"At the moment, the only feedback I've been getting is praise. A few students have written comments like, 'I really needed to hear that right now on this stage of my journey, it's good not to feel alone'.

"That feedback is so validating, and I'd love to hear from anyone because that's what makes it a useful resource in the long run." 

For more information, visit the Open Educational Resources Collective