Asynchronous Video-Based Scaffolding of English Academic Writing Skills for Distance Tertiary Students: an Innovative Approach to Supporting Postgraduate Students in Hybrid Courses

Abstract Academic writing support for students in hybrid programmes can be troublesome. With academic writing support mostly offered face-to-face on campuses, distance students face a ‘sink or swim’ mentality. The COVID -19 pandemic ‘forced’ many universities to move teaching online at short notice, which provided the impetus to re-think how current academic literacy support could be employed in a completely digital learning environment if pandemics such as COVID -19 were to persist. This article offers insights into how a postgraduate programme sought to support distance students’ English academic writing skills. Purposefully crafted webinars were created to explicitly scaffold students through multiple aspects of academic essay preparation, thus ensuring English academic writing practices were available to students asynchronously. Data findings suggest a positive upward trend in students’ writing skills, and convergence towards a higher academic writing outcome with a narrower dispersion amongst students. Put differently, even academically weaker students have an equal opportunity to improve their writing abilities through the use of video-based scaffolding.