How to stimulate teachers to integrate technology in education?

In my previous post I reflect on the design process of my final assignment and I also told something about working with TPACK. In that post I said that I found it very nice to work with TPACK and during the design process we only looked at the components of TPACK in our design for one or two times. So, we weren’t busy with thinking about the T, P and C in our design. They just found their way in the program.

But in different posts before the last one I also talked about TPACK and about teachers using technology in education. But we also have to think about the integration of technology in education. In this post I will try to tell something about the way that we can stimulate the teachers to integrate technology and not only use it in education.

The process to integration technology consist of a couple of phases I think. At first there is knowledge needed on technology, then the attitude of teachers has to be positive towards technology, they have to believe that it can work in education. And to really use it there are skills needed to work with technology. Going through all these phases can lead to integration of technology, but teachers can’t do it alone. They need support to go through the several phases and of course they need time to get used to technology in education and working with it.

Knowledge on technology

To really integrate technology in education, I think that teachers need knowledge about the technologies in the class. They need to know what they can do with them, what the technology can mean for the teacher and of course for the student. To know more about technology they need experiences with technology. In that way they can see what the technology can do and with an interactive workshop about the several technologies they can learn more about the technologies.

Attitude and beliefs  towards technology

When a teacher knows more about technology then it isn’t directly so that they will use technology in their classrooms. The teachers need a positive attitude towards technology and willingness to integrate technology in their education. You can stimulate these positive thoughts by let them experience technology in a positive way. Teachers need positive experiences to understand that technology can be useful in the lessons and that it is a good thing to integrate technology into the education.

Skills to use technology

When teachers finally have a positive attitude and willingness to integrate technology and they also know more about the value of technology, they only need more skills to really integrate technology. To really be able to use the technology and also integrate it in education I think that teachers need to learn how to work with it, learn more about it and also try a lot. Here are experiences also a very important thing. These experiences build on the knowledge and skills of the teachers and make them able to use technology in the right ways. I think that when teachers know how they can use technology, that the integration into education will be much easier.

Support and time

We can leave teacher alone in the world of technology and hope that they will understand it and are able to integrate it in their lessons. But I think that teachers need support in the whole process that is mentioned. The support can be given from two different groups. At first it is important that there is an expert that support the teachers. This expert can show the teacher a lot and the teacher can learn from this expert. I think that it also gives a feeling of trust, when someone with knowledge stands next to you. I would feel secure and also would know that the expert can help me out. But later on the expert can also be supportive by helping the teachers integrating the technology, but I think that it is very important that other teachers and people from the leading and supporting staff of a school are working with the teacher. All of these people can give support to each other, and help each other to work with technology and integrate it in the lessons. By working in teams with each other, there is also the possibility to overcome barriers with each other and then you can reach more then when you need to do it alone.

A really big issue in stimulating integration of technology is the time that a teacher has. We all know that teachers are very busy and they have to do a lot more then only teach. I think that the support that is given from different kinds of people isn’t ending after two or three weeks. I think that teachers needs guidance for a longer time. It is hard to integrate technology, when you are used to work with your blackboard and the books that were there for years. But with guidance for a longer time there is stimulant to really try to integrate technology.

As I said before, I think that integrating technology is a process that a teacher needs to work through. But by giving the teacher support and the opportunity to experience technology in different ways, I think that it can stimulate the integration of technology in the right way. I think that when the teacher has the willingness to learn about technology and really wants to work with it, then I think that the integration of technology will come. But the support and the time is a big issue that we, as educational scientists and designers have to think about. We can want a lot, but we have to make sure that it is able for our teachers to work with it. So giving them the support that they need to create ownership on technology, will give them the self-efficacy that we want them to have. But it is a process that takes time and it needs to be done in a careful way, otherwise teachers won’t work on integration of technology.

Designing a professional development program based on TPACK

This week I finished the final assignment for the course ‘Pedagogies for Flexible learning’. This final assignment was about designing a professional development program for teacher or a course based on TPACK. In this post I will reflect on the process of designing that I walked through for this assignment. I also will tell something about my experiences with working with TPACK.

With the group that I worked with we choose to design a professional development program for teachers. I was very happy with this decision. Not because I don’t like to design a course, I also liked that assignment a lot, but the important reason was that I really like to do something new. In the bachelor Educational Science that I followed on the University of Twente I worked a lot on assignment about lessons and specific information for students and class based programs. This final assignment gave me the opportunity to work on a new level of designing and a new way of looking towards important design decisions. I also liked the fact that you really have to think about stimulating the teachers in this program and in other design assignments, I’ve got the feeling that the teacher wasn’t in it a lot.

So, I started with lots of excitement on this assignment. In the beginning I had some difficulties. This was because I didn’t had a group very soon. When I finally joint a group, they already had an idea to work out and parts of the report were already divided under the other group members. For me it was a little bit difficult to really own the assignment in the beginning. Because I missed the first meetings and decision points, I had trouble to work myself really in the design. But after a while and also be reading the parts of the other group members I was able to own the assignment and start to like it a lot.

Working towards the end result I didn’t have any trouble to think about possibilities that can be used to learn TPACK to teachers. I also like it to think about the set up of the program. By doing it together there was the possibility to learn from each other and also work with each others background. In our group we had two persons that came from the bachelor, 1 member was a foreign student and the last one did pre teacher education before she came to the master track. So a divers group with lots of ideas. I really liked it to work with them and learn a lot about advantages and disadvantages of a professional development program for teachers. And because we had to explain some point to our foreign student, there was the possibility for us to really explain it well and by explaining I learned about the subject as well.

But of course there were also some big challenges to work on. One of them was for me that you really need a good balance in the program. Sometime I thought that parts in our program were too much or that it could be a lot shorter then we made it. Especially when I talked with members of other groups I thought sometimes that we did too much. But when I look back I think that we did enough. Our program is year based, but I think that you need it in a school to work with TPACK for a longer while then only two weeks, to really get used to the way of working.

When I look back to our design process I think that we worked pretty well on the assignment with the whole group. We divided the different parts of the report, but we had enough meetings together with the whole group to make sure that everybody knows what was going on and agreed with the things that we worked on. In the design process we also designed one activity in detail of the whole program that we designed. In that way the reader can imagine how the sessions could look like. Designing this part was a challenge, because you really have to think about all the things that need to be done in that session. For me it was very good to work on it in that way, because you see problem areas quicker, then when you only design a program with guidelines.

In the process that we went through I think that we looked at a lot and I think that we build on a good framework, but maybe we could have done it less extended. At the other I really do think that we thought through every point in our program and everything can be linked to the conceptual framework that we used.

In the design process we also focused a lot on TPACK. Not a big surprise, because the professional development program that we designed has to be based on TPACK. But for me it was sometimes difficult to think about TPACK. You are busy with the design and the writing of the different parts of the report, but I didn’t thought of TPACK a lot. One moment in the process we stopped with everything and started to mention the T, P and C in our program. We did this to make sure that they can be named and that they were in it. But when I look back at the whole process that I walked through I didn’t looked directly towards all the parts of TPACK. But still everything was in the program at the end, so in that case we thought about it through the time. I guess that in someway you just think about it, because you know that you want to make a balance with technology in your program. But really thinking about every part is too much I guess. In the way of designing this it was very nice to just do what you like and at some points look back to TPACK and say, this is in and this has to come there, to make it complete.

Did I like working with TPACK? Yes, I really did. I think it is very good to work with a framework or model that your program needs in the end version. For me, I found it very nice that you can measure in that case if you have all the components. But it isn’t necessary for me to walk through every step of TPACK, for me it was kind of obvious that it has to be in that way. But I think that that way of thinking depends on your background. I know what it is to design and designing this program was a really challenge for me, not because it was really difficult, but because you have to think of new points. And working with TPACK was a new thing, but more a measuring scale to focus on at the end, if every point was in it. Not to work from in the beginning.

The only thing that I really found difficult in the design process was the implementation and evaluation part. The evaluation was something that we knew quite soon, because of the articles that we viewed in the course. But the implementation part is something that is difficult. You know that you want it and that it is very helpful for the teachers when they know more about TPACK, but you also know that there isn’t a lot of time in the schools. We made a school context in which teachers are motivated, but what when you have a context without motivation. These are points that you really have to think about and I think that in the process that I walked through, that thinking about implementation wasn’t enough. I could have thought more about it and now it was too much away from me. This was the only part that I didn’t really own in the project. And that is too bad and not good, but I can work on that in the future.

So, when I look back on the design process and working with TPACK, then I can say that I really like the assignment. I learned a lot in ways of thinking as a teacher and knowing what is possible and what is not. But I think that I also missed some points, mostly about the implementation phase. I think that I could be more part of this and now it wasn’t in the main point for me. But I really liked to work with TPACK and especially design with TPACK. I know that I can design programs and lessons, but thinking about and designing with TPACK was a challenge and I liked it a lot. I think that it isn’t easy to make something really TPACK, but I think that we did a pretty good job and I'm very happy with our end result.

The added value of TPACK: looking back to the different topics of the course

After four lectures about flexibility, pedagogical approaches, technology and of course the TPACK model it is time to reflect on the things that I have learned. I would like to look back to my previous posts and lectures and also would like to come to a conclusion about the added value of TPACK in the different topics.

In the first lecture we talked about flexibility in education. This lecture opened a new world for me. I really have to say that flexibility was all about distance to me. But you can have different kinds of flexibility. I’ve described them in an earlier post on my blog. All these different kinds of flexibility can be used in classes to make education flexible.

But making a course more flexible is a real challenge for a teacher. Not only because it is another way of teaching than the teacher is used to, but most of it because the teacher will lose a piece of control. I think that it is very difficult for a teacher to give the control out of his hands and that is a struggle. But last week we talked about TPACK and I think that TPACK can help the teacher to reach more flexibility in the class.

To reach TPACK a teacher has to work hard, because it is difficult (see my previous blog), but the integration of technology, content and pedagogy will make it easier to come to a flexible lesson. Not because TPACK takes difficult choices away, but because TPACK gives a teacher the chance to combine the three elements of knowledge together in a logic way. It gives you a form of support to combine all your knowledge together to make your learning environment flexible.

I also wrote something about different pedagogical approaches. Especially I looked to the combination of a specific approach with the use of CMS (Course Management System) and then several approaches next too each other. From this lecture and the assignment I really learned in what way we can combine technology with a specific approach, but also how difficult it can be. Teachers have to take a lot of different elements in mind when they design a lesson and technology is often forgotten in the organization of the lesson. In my blog about pedagogical approaches I was wondering how we can convince a teacher to use a new approach that differs a lot from the approach that he always used. And I have to say that a step in the right direction is the introduction of TPACK. I think that TPACK can have a real value in this part. The TPACK model gives a teacher a real opportunity first to look separately towards the different kinds of knowledge that is needed and after that to start with the integration of these three parts of knowledge to make it one. When a teacher can use TPACK I think that it will be easier to integrate technology into the approach that a teacher uses.

Before we talked about TPACK we also looked at technology and the way it can be used in the classroom. For me it was a really important learning point that we always say that technology is a negative thing for teachers and fun for students. But we forget that it also can be fun for teachers. So for me that is very important to think of when I’m talking about technology in classrooms again. I think that sometimes it isn’t the problem that teachers don’t like technology, but that they don’t know how they have to work with it. And to make that easier and help them to use it in a normal way the TPACK model can help. As I said before I think that the TPACK model can make teachers aware of the way they use different kinds of approaches and technology. By making them aware of the possibilities and the ways they can integrate it, I think that will make teachers more capable of using technology in their lessons. Of course there are costs, time and the guidance that are issues that can’t be forgotten. But I think that with using TPACK in the organization of a lesson it will be easier to combine all the things together.

Looking back to the lectures I realize that the lectures were the preparation for the TPACK model. And it has helped me to understand the goal of TPACK and the way it can be used. I also see now, after writing this reflection, that TPACK can help teachers in several ways. I also can say that I really know more about the different topics we discussed and the way they can be used in a lesson and in what way they influence the way our teachers teach. At first I thought that the three different topics were kind of separate from each other. I found it very hard to combine all three together. The introduction of TPACK made it easier for me and I can see the connections now. And I really see that TPACK can make a difference in all three topics. It really can support the integration of the three core types of knowledge that the teacher need to organize a lesson.

I can link TPACK towards the three different topics we discussed and then I really think that it can help the teacher. But I also see some difficulties mostly in the way that I can work with the model. I understand the model and know what every piece means and how you van integrate it. But after the lecture of last week I conclude that it is very difficult to make the combination and design a lesson based on this model. And I’m really wondering how you can convince teachers to use it. You can learn it to them in training programs, but is that enough? I really wonder in what way you can stimulate the use of TPACK in the classroom and not only in the programs for professional development. Because I can imaging that it takes a lot more time to understand and use the model in the right way then a workshop or training program will take.

So, I’ve really learned a lot about the topics and I like TPACK very much and also think that it can be used in a good way in education, but I really wonder in what way you implement this model in education with as result that it will be used by the teachers for a longer time. Hopefully the next lecture will also talk about the implementation of TPACK in education and the different things that we have to think about. Maybe you have a good idea about how we can implement the model in education, how we can make our teachers aware of the three elements and the integration of those elements? And how we make sure that the model will be used more then once? Maybe we can come together to a good answer on my questions

Bringing it all together: Meet TPACK

In the first three lectures of the course ‘Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology’ we focused on flexibility, pedagogies and technology. Last week I had a lecture about bringing it all together. Finally we talked about TPACK. In this blog I will try to explain what TPACK means and why it can help teachers to teach their subjects.

In figure 1 (source: http://tpack.org/) you see the TPACK model. This model shows four circles, three circles are standing in the middle and are connected with each other. The last circle stands for the context which is important for the teacher to think about.

Figuur 1: TPACK model (source: http//:tpack.org)

The TPACK model is based on the PCK model of Shulman (1986; in Koehler & Mishra, 2009). PCK stands for Pedagogical Content Knowledge. The PCK model describes how teachers’ understanding of educational technologies and PCK is interacting with each other to produce effective teaching. Koehler & Mishra (2009) added the T for Technology in this model and created TPACK. They added the T because they say that technology is moving so fast that it is important that a teacher has specific knowledge about this area and not only the basics that can be used in the classrooms.

But what does this TPACK exactly stand for? Let me explain the different parts of the model.

First we see the Pedagogical Knowledge (PK). A teacher needs knowledge about certain pedagogies that can be used in the class. You can think about Inquiry learning, problem-based learning or workplace learning (for an explanation about this please see an earlier post of me). But a teacher also has to know something about the prior knowledge of the student. Based on that prior knowledge he can make his lesson. Also the way of assessing is a part of the pedagogical knowledge.

Then we have the Content Knowledge (CK). This type of knowledge means that the teacher needs to know a lot about the subject that he teaches. When a teacher teaches geography for example it is important that he has knowledge about climates. He has to know what the differences there are and where the different kinds can be found.

To support the teacher in teaching there are several kinds of technology that the teacher can use. You can think about an online learning environment, simulations or cameras. It is important for the teachers that they understand the technology and that they have the knowledge and skills to work with it. That is the third inner circle in the model, Technological Knowledge (TK). This is the part of the circle were the teacher can develop skills to work with technologies. But it also has to give the teacher full understanding of the technologies and the ability to learn and adapt new technologies. In that way the teacher is up-to-date and can integrate technology in his lessons.

Those three circles are related to each other. You can see that they are connected with each other in different ways, namely:

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK) à This is how pedagogies change because of ICT

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) à How particular aspects of subject matter are organized, adapted and represented in the lesson

Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) à How subject matter changes because of ICT

And finally we have TPACK in the centre of the model. TPACK stands for Technological, Pedagogical Content Knowledge and goes beyond all the three components I have discussed above. This means that all the knowledge that is important for a teacher is connected in TPACK. So TPACK is an understanding in which interaction between content, technology and pedagogy is reached. But reaching TPACK isn’t an easy job. This is because there isn’t one combination that works best for all the different subjects, teachers and the way a teacher teach.

So it is hard to reach TPACK, but I think that it is important that a teacher tries to reach TPACK and that the teacher also get the support to reach it. And by working together it is possible to reach TPACK.

Koehler, M., J. & Mishra, P. (2009) What is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Eduaction, 9(1), pp. 60-70.

Homework, The Game

I saw a video on the internet in which a program of the Dutch television is telling about a new form of making homework in primary education. This is a computer program in which games, profiles and learning are combined. The name of the game is ‘Squla’ and it provides the learner with exercises about several subjects like mathematics and geography. Learners can make the exercises in school, but also at home. By playing the game and making the exercises the learners get rewards like a new game or gifts. The learners can also play in a competitive way with the other children of the class.

The company who developed the program hopes that this will satisfy the need for computers that learners have. It also provides the learner with useful information were they can learn from and it isn’t just gaming for fun anymore. But it is important to know that schools have to pay for every child per month to work with this program. Nevertheless the teachers who are working with it already say that money don’t have to be the problem, because the program is very good and provides learners to get information in several ways.

I think it is a nice way of integrating technology in the class and gives the teacher an opportunity to combine content, pedagogy and technology together. And I really thought that this was something to share with you. Because this can be a really good step towards more integration of technology in education and on the other side it is a nice example of the combination of pedagogy, content and technology. What do you think about it?

You can find the video clip here (I’m really sorry, but it is only in Dutch): http://www.rtl.nl/components/actueel/editienl/miMedia/2010/week40/di_huiswerk.avi_plain.xml

Pedagogical approaches supported by a CMS

In the lecture of last week we talked about pedagogies. A pedagogy is the teaching method: the principles and methods of instruction. In the lecture we also talked about several approaches of pedagogy. I would like to share some pedagogical approaches with you. I will explain how each approach can be supported in a course management system (CMS) such as Blackboard. A lot of the points that I will address in this post comes from the lecture of Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology.

Task-oriented learning

This pedagogical approach is working around a specific task that the learner has to solve. This approach has some characteristics. At first it is important that there is a problem or assignment available. The problem or assignment has to be presented in a meaningful context. To come to a good result there has to be worked through series of actions. Important is that there has to be information and tools available and students need to use theory. The central idea of this pedagogical approach is learning by doing a task that is presented to you.

In this approach there can be a lot of support from the CMS Blackboard. Blackboard can provide the learners with all the information that is necessary to work on the task. The teacher can give the student a real short explanation about the task and refer the learners to the Blackboard environment. In this environment can be found the whole description of the task, the expectations from the learners and very important the way of grading and the criteria for grading.

Traditional learning

This approach is familiar for almost everybody. A lot of teachers use this approach in their classes. When we talk about traditional learning, we talk about teaching in a face-to-face situation where the learner works in one single room and don’t move between different locations. The teacher is trying to work on the prior knowledge and make a link to the new information that will be discussed in the lecture. The assignments that need to be done by the learners are done by individually. Of course there is room for questions, but the learners have no other role then listening and watching the lecture of the teacher.

Although the teacher is saying a lot in the lectures there is also a possibility for using Blackboard as supporting environment for this pedagogical approach. The environment can be used for sharing the information that is given in the lecture with the student. It can also be used for giving the assignment and the place to hand it in or as a place to find information for the next lectures. But because of the traditional learning approach it is a good opportunity that the teacher will use Blackboard only for the essential points and won’t do anything more with it.

Inquiry learning

Inquiry learning approach is very different from the traditional learning approach. In inquiry learning the teacher uses a learner-centered approach. The learner is going to discover resources to learn things. In traditional learning the learner starts with explaining things to learners. In the inquiry approach the teacher only asks a question. This question has to be meaningful for the learners, but not directly be answered with the knowledge they have. The learners will look for their own resources that profit them with useful information to answer the question of the teacher. With these resources the learner forms answers to the question of the teacher. In this part of the learning the teacher provides the learner with process feedback. When the learner can’t find the right resources than the teacher can give hints or other information that the learner can use to find the answers.

When all the learners have made up an answer then the answers will be discussed between the other learners.  In this part of the learning the teacher still gives process feedback to the learners. After the discussing the learner will reflect their own outcome and in this phase the teacher will give product feedback. This feedback focusing on the product, thus the answer, and will provide the student maybe with the information that they have missed in the search.

This approach can be strongly supported by a CMS as Blackboard. Because the students work on their own to find the answer, the teacher can provide the students with feedback via Blackboard. The teacher can use Blackboard as well as an environment where the students can work in. In this way the teacher can see were the students are and what they have at this moment.

So, in this approach Blackboard can be used in different ways and not only for the basic options that this CMS has.

Problem-based learning

In this pedagogical approach the learner is also standing in the centre of teaching. In this approach the learner works on a problem that is stated within a meaningful context. When the context isn’t meaningful the learner can’t learn from it. The learners will discuss the problem in small groups and an important thing is that they talk about what they already know, so their prior knowledge and what they don’t know but need to know to work on the problem. After discussing in those groups every learner works alone to get the information and knowledge that is needed to work on the problem. After this search process the groups will come back together and everyone tells about his or her findings. In this way they build mental models with each other. The teacher is a coach in this pedagogical approach and is supporting the groups by giving hints or helps them to move on in their problem solving. But there is no face-to-face lecture; the teacher is only a coach.

For this approach Blackboard can be a good solution to work together. The teacher can use it of course to share the problem with the learners and maybe give them support if they need it. But the main support of Blackboard can be given by providing a discussion place and a workplace, so that the groups can talk to each other and share what they have, before they go and talk about it. In that way the whole group can work on building the mental models from the beginning.

Collaborative learning

The last approach that I will share with you is collaborative learning. In this approach the learners will work in groups and in that way they will work on a task. By working in groups the learner can share ideas and opinions with the other group members. The learner will learn from this collaboration and everybody has to work in the group, active participation is playing a very important role to succeed in collaborative learning. The teacher is in this approach responsible for the process that every group goes through, but he or she isn’t responsible for the product. That is the responsibility of the group. The teacher has a key role in deciding about the task that is appropriate for the group and also decides what the standards are for assessment. But the teacher won’t have a common role in the groups or as teacher in a face-to-face lecture.

For this approach Blackboard is also very useful. It gives the teacher the opportunity to share the statements for assessment and the task with his learners. So the basic things can be used by the teacher to get a better learning process. For the learners in this approach Blackboard can be an environment for communication. By giving a chat room to the groups they can discuss everything also outside the class hours and they can collaborate on a distance. Other opportunities are the use of workspaces were groups can share documents with each other and a forum for discussion where a group can ask questions to other groups or to group members of their own. Even discussing about the subject or task is possible in that way.

After sharing these five approaches with you I can conclude that those approaches have similarities and differences. But every approach has his own charm and I think that we can’t get away by choosing one. Of course I have a approach that really gets me. I really like problem-based learning, but also collaborative learning. Why? Because it give me the opportunity to work together with other people, who know different things and are looking to the world in another way. I think that I can learn more from a subject of problem, by talking to them and working together with those people. And also I have to say that looking for information by me is a challenge, because you never stop asking yourself if you have the good information.

But like I said I find it hard to choose really one, because I think that every pedagogical approach has something that should be used in a classroom. But not every approach can be connected to technology in my opinion. So, when I look to the combination with technology I see opportunities for a lot of approaches, but I know that they aren’t used in the real classroom. And the link with technology is what I want to get to know and what we want to come to in this course. I think that there are a lot of challenging approaches, but that a lot of teacher don’t know them or don’t want to know them. I really hope that someday teachers will see that a new approach isn’t always scary, it can also be a new world with new opportunities and chances. Let’s hope so that with this course I can find out how I can convince teacher to try a new approach and work together with technology to get the best out of the learner.

Flexibility of learning

In the First lecture of the course Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology was the topic flexibility. Flexibility in learning is an upcoming word. Many people think of distance when they need to describe flexibility in learning. But it is much more than that. The real key idea of flexible learning is that the learner has a choice in different aspects of the learning experience. In this blog I will describe five different kinds of flexibility and the advantages and disadvantages of those kinds of flexibility.

Time related flexibility

A form of this kind of flexibility is the pacing in a course. This means that students can decide for themselves the tempo in which they walk through a course. A way to give the freedom about pacing to the student, a teacher can give information to the student via a lot of ways. So information can be given by an e-learning environment were the student can get it at the time he wants. Also the teacher can provide information and assignments, but without a deadline. In this way a student can decide what he wants to do when.

A big advantage of this way of working is that the student can work in the time that he or she wants. This means that the student can divide the work that has to be done over more time, so that the focus can lie on the right subjects.

The other side of this flexibility is a big disadvantage. The teacher has to re-design his course for it. Because the pacing is in the hands of the student the teacher can’t make an end date for the course and he can’t go further with another course. So it cost the teacher more time to prepare and to finish the course.

Content related flexibility

In content flexibility we can talk about flexibility in the choice of topics in a course. This means that the student can decide what kind of topics he wants to talk about in a course. In that way the student can make the course as attractive and interesting for him as he wants. For the teacher it is necessary that there are several options for the student to choose. The teacher also needs to check on the way that interaction can be held. The lectures of topics have to fit in the curriculum and the schedule of the course, so that every topic can be discussed. For a teacher that can mean that he has to elaborate a topic in an online environment or by exchanging extra materials in classes.

An advantage for this way of flexibility is that the student is free to choose. And that he can make a course in that way it is interesting all the time. The student gets also the opportunity to make the course relevant for the future. But the other side of this free choice and that are also some disadvantages for this way of flexible learning, is that the teacher is very unsure about the way he needs to teach the course. When every student is free to choose, every student can have another interpretation of the course then teaching the course is very difficult.  So there is nothing for sure and that isn’t very good for the teachers. Another disadvantage is that there is a possibility that students don’t get the information and the basics that they have to learn to become a expert in the course or in the study that the student follows. There has to be a good distribution of learning goals and the way that students get to know those goals.

Entry related flexibility

When we’re talking about this form of flexibility we can think about how flexible the conditions for participation are. The conditions can be really flexible so that people don’t have lot knowledge to start a specific study or course. In this way you can get a lot of students that join the course and you can deliver your knowledge as teacher to a really big group.  When you make the conditions more fixed then the course is really mend for people who know about the topic and want to know more about it. Then the level of knowledge is kind of the same so that the course can reach a new level in knowledge.

This flexibility has also some advantages and disadvantages. An advantage is that if you are a student that you can participate in a course that your really like, even when you don’t know a lot about it. And in that way you can switch in an easy way from research or study topic. On the other side is it less challenging for a student, because you don’t need any knowledge for participating. Student can become lazy and think that they can take the course also without the extra courses, so they will choose maybe the easiest way.

A disadvantage of flexible conditions is that the teacher of a course has a lot of different levels in the class and he can deliver a course on a good level, because everybody has a lot of different knowledge. This makes it hard to prepare the course and maybe even harder to really teach the course, because you also need to make sure if the level isn’t too high for the students.

Flexibility related to instructional approach

The instructional approach can also be seen as a kind of flexibility. The approach can be flexible in different kind of ways. The social organization of the course can be flexible, because it can be face-to-face, or in groups, or even individual. Also the language in the course can be flexible. The topic of the course and the audience in a course can decide on that. When you have different kinds of nationalities in a group of students it can be easier to give the course in English. But for Dutch students it is easier to write in their own language then in English. To give freedom in language choice you can make the course flexible.

But of course this way of flexibility has also some issues. An advantage of it is that everyone can join the course and follows it in the way it works the best for that student. So if you want to work in groups and in session through video that is a possibility. Also the language in which the student learns best can be chosen, so the student hasn’t any trouble with it anymore.

For the teacher there is a disadvantage, because when every student wants to work in their own language and you have a class with several nationalities, the teacher needs to know every languages and that isn’t possible. Also the way of social organization is very difficult for a teacher, because this form of organization is important to tell the essential things of the topic. So the teacher needs to be very flexible in the way he gives the course and that isn’t easy for some topics.

Flexibility related to delivery and logistics

The last form of flexibility that I will discuss is related to delivery and logistics. This means flexibility in for instance the way of help that is given to the student. To make that very flexible the teacher can use different ways of technologies to give help to the students. So teachers can work for instance with online learning environments, forums and chat sessions. That gives the student the opportunity to get help in the way that he finds best and that the student don’t have to go to class or to a meeting to get an answer to his question.

An advantage of this flexibility is that students don’t have to go to the educational institution to get help, but that the student can search for help if he needs it. In a way it is easier for the teacher, because some of the discussed technology can be prepared before the session. The teacher doesn’t lose time with planning new meetings to discuss. But a disadvantage is that the teacher has to make sure that there is enough information for the student to solve the problem without help or that the sources for help are complete. It is also possible that it takes a lot of time for the teacher to prepare all those kinds of help forms. So teachers have to make time to do that and to think about it very good, so that it is relevant to the student.

So, as you can see there are a lot of different ways to create flexibility in education. But flexibility creates also a lot advantages and disadvantages. So we have to find out what is necessary and useful in education and what ways of flexibility isn’t successful in next couple of months or years. Hopefully I can share more information about the good ways to implementing flexibility in our education in some of my next blogs.

Start of a real challenge

Well, here we are. For the course 'Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology' I will use this blog to share my discoveries, ideas and new knowledge that I learned during the lectures and the assignments. I never used a blog before, so I'm very curious how I'm going to experience this new way of working. So a real challenge in an also very challenging course.
I really hope that the next few weeks will help me to learn more about the way that technology can support flexible learning. And I'm really interested in the way we can support teachers for using technology in their classes.
Because of the different backgrounds we have in this course, I hope to learn more about these backgrounds and the way they think about the use of technology and the support that's needed.

So lots of expectations for this course. The next couple of weeks we will see how these expectations come out in the course. I will let you know!