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.
