Today, many organisations are working out new ways to offer flexibility in their learning programmes. For example, a combination of distance and face-to-face contact(blended), flexible start and end dates, the full assessment of an individual's skills and understanding prior to starting a course, smaller courses to pick and mix, individualised or negotiated assessment, open access for wider participation. In this topic we will look at a few examples and consider the methods used to achieve flexibility.

Activity Three – Investigate and describe an example of Flexible Learning in your organisation:
  • Make a time to talk to two colleagues about how they incorporate flexibility in their teaching.
  • Who are their students?
  • How are the five dimensions of flexibility designed - time, delivery and logistics, entry requirements, content and instructional approaches and resources (Casey & Wilson, 2005)? Hint: Use the flexibility grid - Table 2.2, p. 7 & 8, and also Appendix 3, p. 41-44 in A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education by Casey, J. & Wilson, P. (2005). A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education.
  • You may wish to interview the teachers, and/or prepare a description to post to your blog. (Remember to ask permission to use any audio or other information on your blog.)
  • Use the Three-Step Reflective Framework and template as a guide when writing posts for your blog. Look for the template. (This is based on Bronwyn Hegarty's Doctorate research.) 
Reading
  • Listen to or read the article: Akyol, Z., Garrison, D.R. & Ozden, M. (2009). Online and blended communities of inquiry: Exploring the developmental and perceptional differences. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 10(6).
Web conference
A web conference is scheduled on Tuesday 20 March, 13:00 to 14:00 in Adobe Connect - https://adobeconnect.op.ac.nz/fl12/ - Sarah Stewart will talk about some examples of flexible learning.


Image: 'Colorful abstract background'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13270924@N08/2382506045

1 comments:

  1. jaylen watkins said...

    Best examples have been given. Thanks for this stuff.


    Sample Assessments



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