When I think about flexible learning and what it means, I realise that my thoughts seem to keep growing. One answer leads to many more questions. So let's start small and see where we go.
In summary:
What does flexible learning mean to me?
At this point, to me, flexible learning means the ability to study what you want, when you want.Why is a more flexible approach necessary?
I mentioned some of the reasons to become more flexible in my post 'Getting on with it', but to summarise they can be listed as:Outside the department
- Innovate or die - changing society expectations
- Otago Polytechnic the 'Brand' - institute pressures to keep up with the play
Inside the department
- Give all our students more options in study and qualification outcomes
- Increase out student base
- Facilitate learning for distance students and those who cannot study 9 - 5
- Help students to staircase into advanced or higher qualifications
- Reduce the teaching load created by teaching one to one and specialist tutorials
- Improve the experience of our in class traditional students - this is the hardest area for me to visualise at the moment and will be my biggest challenge.
What do I need to explore to make this happen?
The obvious answer to this question, is that I need to explore technology, social media, and education innovations. There are two less obvious barriers that I need to consider, and they are nature and myself, or my nature!Nature isn't that flexible. In horticulture certain tasks have to be completed at specific times of the year, and only in the appropriate weather conditions. We spend a great deal of time selecting the units that we teach and putting our timetables together. Everything has to be carefully planned to enable us to prune roses at the right time of year, or have examples of leaf rollers (a plant pest) to show to the class. Wet weather alternatives are all planned in because you can't dig the soil or prune plants when it is wet. This automatically removes some of the flexibility. Nature herself (itself?) controls timing, sequencing and environmental conditions.
Theory can be delivered with relative ease using any format you choose, but what about practical skills? Most of our students choose horticulture because they are drawn to the practical component of the programme. They are often kinaesthetic learners. It is surprisingly difficult to learn a practical skill from reading instructions or even watching a video. Not all the tasks can be practised at home in the average garden.
Another big question is always going to be over practical assessment. Are photographs and video enough to demonstrate that a student is competent at a task? Students can write about their experiences, but it would not be accepted by the industry.
There are answers to all these questions, and solutions to all these problems, but they will require a great deal of work and some very flexible thinking.
This leads me to an interesting barrier - my inflexibility. I am open to new ideas, but I need a damn good shove to get me there. It all takes a lot of work, and the process of changing my mindset can be painfully slow at times. So the biggest challenge will be to explore and challenge my own boundaries and beliefs.
What goals do I have?
As I have already mentioned elsewhere, my short term goal is to set up a course on moodle or wikieducator, using dynamic content and best practice. Long term goals include multiples courses/programmes.My longer term goal is to look at how flexible learning can become part of the classroom experience.
A wonderfully honest post Lisa. I promise to push! I see so much potential with your subject. Yes you do need to timetable practical activities with the seasons that is clear, but that doesn't need to stop you and your students recording the activities using image and video. This will have two purposes: 1. students can review the activity afterwards to check they have understood, and return to it as many times as necessary until they 'get it'. 2. Resources can be accessed when needed. For example if, a. the weather prevents outdoor work; b. onsite while doing the activity (using smart phone, ipod etc) to ensure it is done correctly.
ReplyDeleteEven the incorrect techniques would be worthwhile to view and critique as the students are more likely to remember why they were mistakes than the perfect cutting or pruning etc.
And don't forget to think creatively about assessments - how about a portfolio of work recorded using media and descriptions - wouldn't that be authentic evidence for the accreditation body that they actually did the technique rather than just wrote about it?
Don't you think that your students would love to be able to access the resources after they finish the courses? How could this happen? I feel some ideas for open education practices forming here. What do you reckon?