Otago Polytechnic Block L - Carpentry by leighblackall

Spend this week familiarising yourself with flexible learning strategies and policies in the organisation. For example, the 2008 - 2012 Strategy for Otago Polytechnic.  Also, the reading about technology-enabled active learning environments is worth a look - we already have some of this happening at the  polytechnic - see if you agree. How can we do better? Also, Getting Results in Literacy and Numeracy report from the Tertiary Education Commission is an interesting paper with suggestions for the future, and one I know several of you will be interested to read. Although the other articles appear at first glance to be for universities - they are applicable to any programme. If you can find something more suitable for the area in which you teach, please share. There is a lot of choice this week, just pick what is most relevant to you, but make sure you look at the 2008-1012 strategy, and charter.

The tertiary education sector is highly competitive, and now that funding is shrinking even further organisations are scrabbling for a slice of the pie. Is Flexible Learning the answer? What strategies are working well and give organisations the edge? In this topic we will explore and justify some approaches to providing flexible learning environments in tertiary organisations. The Horizon report is worth a look each year to see what technologies are being predicted in the educational sector. 2011 Horizon report.

Activity Ten 

• How do your ideas and strategies for flexible learning fit with your organisation?
• Post a response to your blog once you have explored your organisation's policies and strategies.
• Locate your educational organisation's strategic plan, charter or profile (or equivalent). It is usually a public document with mission statements, aims and objectives, and performance indicators.
• For example, the 2008 - 2012 Strategy for Otago Polytechnic.
• The Otago Polytechnic Charter. Other Otago Polytechnic strategic documents.
• Highlight statements that refer to or relate to flexible learning.
• Explore blogs of Otago Polytechnic staff who publish notes on their efforts.

• Fisher, K.(2010). Technology-enabled active learning environments: an appraisal. CELE Exchange 2010/7. OECD.
• Listen to or read the article: Annand, D. (2007). Re-organizing Universities for the Information Age. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol 8, (3), 1-9. 
• Getting Results in Literacy and Numeracy report. Tertiary Education Commission, New Zealand. An update of what has been achieved to date and next steps for the tertiary education sector. 
• Read the article - The edgeless university