What is flexible learning?

The following are replies from my colleagues about what flexible learning means to them.

Reply One


What does the term Flexible Learning mean to you?

Flexible learning or flexible delivery?

Flexible delivery/ learning is a finance driven approach to delivering education more cheaply, by not having to supply venue, materials etc to offsite students. It enables a much larger staff/student ratio.  It has its place in making available resources  and online assessments but in my opinion, and that of students i have spoken to, who are doing “distance learning “ It is not as effective as the hyperbole suggests as a means of .

Why is it necessary to use a more flexible approach in your work?

Educationalists are under pressure are under pressure to deliver ( what appears to be) more for less, in order to maintain our jobs and positions and to keep our courses open , we must be seen to be doing what the academics who drive these trends would have us do.

The rise in the internet does make options for the presentation and sourcing of course materials more varied and hence, presentation of those materials can be more adaptable.

What do you need to explore to make this happen?

The internet, computers, various programmes and systems

What goals do you have for using Flexible Learning in your work?

Making more course material available through shared drives, develop some on line assessment.

Get through to the end of the year.




Reply Two


Another colleague replied via their blog. 

Life, the universe, everything and flexible learning

Thanks to Douglas Adams, we now know that the answer to 'Life the universe and everything' is of course 42.  The key is in understanding the question.

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.

Thought of the moment

Not feeling that social

The interesting thing about social media is that it is designed for the socially minded.  I am not that social.    I like to have my own thoughts wrapped around me, they swirl and change and make interesting patterns.  When I talk to people I can see their faces and the swirling patterns of their thoughts and ideas wrapped around them.

I am struggling with the idea of blogging, even on  a professional level.  The act of sharing my thoughts and writing into the black whole of the internet makes me feel exposed.  Reading the thoughts of others seems like some strange intrusion, like I have sneaked a peak at a diary.

This may not be rational or logical, but it is oddly real.

The Point?

Not everyone wants to share in a public forum.  Over the years we have had students become distressed because we have asked them to tell a little something about themselves and why they want to study horticulture.  For many the idea of using a blog would be helpful - it is remote and removes some aspects of social accountability.  For others, that very remoteness creates a disconnect.  Where is the information going? who can read it? what will people think of me? how will I know?  We work hard to create a safe learning environment in the classroom, and need to work just as hard to create a safe environment for flexible learning.

For some people however, the barriers will persist.

Getting on with it

Introduction

Me, myself and I

I should introduce myself.  My name is Lisa Short, and I am Mum to a beautiful little girl called Briar.  It seems odd to start with information about my personal life, but it is the essence of who I am as a person.  

I work in the School of Natural Resources, or Horticulture as we often call it.  Natural Resources is now officially part of ABE, although we have been based at L Block for a few years now.  I was originally employed to teach the Diploma in Horticulture, but after ten years, I have taught many different courses and programmes within the horticulture field.  There is probably a pun in there somewhere.


I am currently teaching on the National Certificate in Horticulture (Level 4), and my current focus is Plant Propagation and Landscape Design.  I also facilitate the Diploma in Horticulture, an on-line 'distance' programme developed by the Cromwell campus.  We will get to this later.

Horticulture

Horticulture can be a profession, a science or a trade, depending on how far, or where, you want to take it.  Many of our students are very practical, and prefer to be 'doing' rather than sitting in a classroom, others are very interested in the science and background information.  We try very hard to cater for the individual learning needs of our students.  Regardless of whether we are running a practical or teaching theory subjects, the reality is that horticulture deals with nature, and nature is a dynamic changing system.  The most effective way to teach horticulture is in the field.  The challenge, is to teach flexibly and still try to maintain that connection.

Flexible delivery

So Far

• As well as our on campus students, we have students based at the botanic garden.  These students work full time, and study towards the National Certificate in Horticulture (Advanced) (Level 4).  Learning material is delivered by weekly tutorials, printed learning packs, block courses, and on job training.

• The Diploma in Horticulture is traditionally considered a distance programme, that is delivered through industry experience, on-line via Moodle, and block courses.  The programme has been designed to be studied part time whilst being employed with the horticulture industry.  In Dunedin, the programme is usually studied full time, but there is only one weekly tutorial.  This gives the student the flexibility to study where or when they want, but the schedule of assessments is controlled.

• In addition to this, a couple of colleagues use either Moodle or Wiki educator as part of their teaching tool box.

• Personally, as well as using Moodle for the diploma programme, I use the I: drive, and Moodle to store resources, and copies of PowerPoints.  My Moodle site is best described as a library of information, which is why it is called The Study Room.

Oddly enough, for someone who has managed to become a technological dinosaur, I quite like technology.  (Even if I freely admit that it may take a while for me to fully embrace social media.)


We are a very small School, and somewhere in the back of my mind a little voice is saying 'innovate or die'.  From a more pragmatic view point, I use Moodle to reduce the amount of wasteful printing that I do, and at the same time make sure that resources are available to students at all times.

The Plan

• We teach a one year certificate, which staircases into a two year advanced certificate.  For students who wish to do the advanced certificate, we try to give the students as many options as possible, but it is impractical to teach (face to face) a course for one or two students.  Flexible delivery would allow us to increase the number of options that we can give to our students.

• There are students throughout the country who would like to staircase from their current certificate to the advanced certificate - flexible delivery would allow us to facilitate that.

• In addition, there are always students who wish to study part time, or cannot simply stop working to become a full time student.

• And finally, I have vague unformed ideas about using net-books in class, and students driving their own learning... but that may be part of another discussion later on.

The Goal

My overall goal is to set up a full course (Plant Selection) on moodle using dynamic content/best practice rather than simply sticking on a few pdf files and some hyperlinks.

Flexible Learning Thought of the Moment

Flexible Learning Thought of the Moment

Self discipline, planning and time management are vital skills for any student wishing to undertake flexible learning.

I am already weeks behind in my study. There is always something more important or urgent to do, and the time set aside for study vaporises under the pressures of professional and personal responsibility.

I am constantly astonished by how hard some of our students work to overcome their learning barriers and achieve amazing results.

Barriers to learning

I haven't even had time to reflect, and I have already encountered my first learning barrier, technology!

I can only see half of my editing tools, leaving me to guess what the icons might be trying to tell me.  I am already frustrated, and I feel slightly stupid.  In reality, I can almost certainly get this fixed, but if I was isolated from my lecturer and fellow students, I would just turn off.

Welcome

Rosa canina, briar, dog rose

Welcome to my professional development blog.  I would normally consider blogs to be for those people who should maybe get out more often, but I am exciting about how we can create professional blogs that can engage our students.

I am ready to be converted!