2008 - 2013 Flexible Learning Course

By 24x7learning.com CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Online classes
The first online class (for people who could not attend the on-campus workshop) is scheduled for  Wednesday 13 February 2013 - 09:30 - 11:30 via Adobe Connect. Most people who responded to the Doodle survey can make it at this time. Subsequent times and days will be negotiated with you. If you are unable to attend and are feeling lost about where to start, please get in touch with Bronwyn asap.

A reminder about this week's topic - details are on the course wiki.
You are scheduled to begin exploring the principles of flexible learning and will be deciding on a definition for your teaching context. Two activities are suggested to guide your work in this topic, and to get you thinking about flexible learning in your context and also in other contexts. Often it is useful to hear what others are doing as well. The concept of Blended Learning is considered since this is the reality for most of us now. The learning objectives for this topic are:

• Define flexible learning in your context.
• Explore principles and processes of flexible learning and teaching.
• Investigate multiple dimensions of flexible learning.
• Critique a variety of examples of existing flexible learning and teaching options.
• Reflect on how the dimensions of flexible learning could be applied in your context.

I suggest that you use these objectives to set yourself some learning goals. Remember that the activities for each topic will guide you to prepare evidence and reflections for your learning Portfolio - Assessment two. Two participants have posted links to their portfolios on the Moodle discussion forum - it is best to do this early so you can begin to share your ideas with others in the class.
Must have resources suggested for exploring this topic are:

• Casey, J. & Wilson, P. (2005). A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education. This is a very useful resource about flexible learning.

• Collis, B. & Moonen, J. (2001). Flexible learning in a digital world. Open and Distance Series. London: Kogan page Ltd. Chapter One - Hard copy or Google book.

• A copy of Chapter One is available on Moodle in the Flexible Learning folder.

• Oliver, M. & Trigwell, K. (2005). Can blended learning be redeemed? E–Learning, 2(1), 17-26. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/b5z93gd

Examples of Flexible Learning
I highly recommend that you check out the ebook by Diana Oblinger Game Changers: Education and Information Technologies. Look for one or two examples of blended learning to explore. For example, SUNY Empire State College: A Game Changer in Open Learning - this College uses mentoring, learning agreements and RPL processes in a progressively designed curriculum. This reference will also be added to the wiki for this topic and the Resources page.

Please add your questions and comments either to this blog or to the discussion forum in Moodle.