Flexibility
Flexible learning is often taken as synonymous with distance education. But according to Collins and Moonen (2001) this is not necessarily so. Flexible learning is a movement away from a situation in which key decisions about learning dimensions are made in advance by the instructor or institution, toward a situation where the learner has a range of options from which to choose with respect to key dimensions (Collins and Moonen,2001).
Five kinds of flexibility in learning
According to Collis and Moonen (2001) there are five kinds of flexibility in relation to the key dimensions i.e time, resources, Content, entry requirement and delivery &logistics.
1. Flexibility in location :
It is a kind of flexibility where the learner can carry out different learning activities associated with a course. Many of the learning activities in a course can be carried out from a location outside of the physical campus, allowing the learner the choice of maintaining his home and work situation.
Advantage: It allows the learner the choice of attending his study while he is in his own home, or work place, etc. without costing or losing his job to much.
Disadvantage: many institutions are not offering flexibility for every aspect of every course because of communication or other setup problem. Some courses may strictly require face to face learning.
2. Flexibility in program:
Assuming the learner has relevant previous experience, subgroups of courses can be chosen in terms of the learner's needs and interests. This implies in turn,
Advantage: it is more flexible for students to choose whatever they need based on their prior knowledge.
Disadvantage: instructors must be more flexible, in terms of prior expectations of the students and in providing extra resources and opportunities to compensate for different backgrounds.
3. Flexibility in types of interactions:
It is a type of flexibility where students can choose either in group or an individual work as per their demand & may be as per their social interaction. As an example, students who benefit from group interaction and group-based project work can choose for these sorts of opportunities, while other students, perhaps with families and work commitments who benefit more from the freedom to organize their own times and ways of studying, can also be accommodated within the same course.
Advantage: As indicated above, it is a good freedom for all kinds of students who need to interact with group or not.
Disadvantage: Some students may not understand what benefit can they get from the group interaction & they may lose it.
4. Flexibility in forms of communication:
This is a way where instructor & learner interact very well through different ways of communication especially through ICT.
Advantage: A student can be able to ask a question or any comment of his instructor from his own location and at his own time, and the instructor also have flexibility in managing his or her own time in terms of handling it.
Disadvantage: If incase of limited or no fast communication system the learner may face to challenge on timely managing of his study. And in this case a face to face learning may be preferable.
5. Flexibility in study materials:
Students not only have a wider choice of resources and modalities of study materials from which to choose than only what the instructor has previously selected for them. So the student can choose whatever resources which he may assume important for his study.
It has its own disadvantage when the instructor need to refer all the referred books & resources especially for a large number of students at a time.
Finally, flexibility learning can have a wider range of application and methods especially to serve students more. Especially nowadays, there are a lots of technological opportunities like ICT for example, which can facilitate more the flexibility of learning, in regard to effective utilization of resources, time, logistics, etc. Flexibility in learning can also bring a wide opportunities for students who are leaving in developing countries especially women and much responsible for a lot of tasks in their life. So, putting together all the listed key types of flexibility and make them available may be a very worthy impact to widely distribution & effective education throughout. However, taking care of some disadvantages should not be neglected.
References
Fisser, P. (2009). Lecture of September 23, 2009. Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology.
Collins, B, & Moonen, J. (2001). Flexible learning in a digital world. Experiences and expectations. London: Kogan Page.
