On a more formal level, student mentors were also mentioned as a good way of connecting with other students
who have more experience of DL. A mentorship/buddy programme could equally be created with external
professionals with industry experience (e.g. alumni). However, not all students favoured socialising activities that
were not directly related to the course; these were perceived as “not a good use of time” during an intensive DL
course that involves too much reading and where there is “no time for socialisation”. On the other hand, contact with
staff meant that they were “not just reading Power Point sheets” but they had experience of what they called a
“human lecture”, not via a “message board, but question and answer sessions” and video sessions that were
considered as the most effective method to “see people on the course with you, people you can engage with”.
Students required more information about their lecturers, “what they have done, looking at their specific discipline
and their experiences” and linked to this idea was the value of creating a sense of immediacy in early communication
when students felt that they were “working in the dark”. Different time zones and work commitments, however,
made synchronous communication “a big commitment” and thus recording live sessions was deemed very valuable.
In addition, messages were often not received or digested by students because of the overwhelming amount of
information they were exposed to, and their unfamiliarity with the online environment created worry and anxiety that
they were missing important information.