How principles of flexible learning can combat the challenges of study

I am increasingly aware of how difficult it can be to fit in study time into an already busy schedule. Every year a number of my students have health problems, a death in the family, divorce, birth or marriage not to mention full time jobs with or without workplace conflicts. At the end of the year I am awed by how they have managed to persevere and complete their studies despite the challenges they faced. I would like to think that part of their success is because I can offer them flexible options when it comes to learning and being assessed in their coursework. Of course I am limited in what I can offer and much of that is due to stakeholder restrictions that are usually directed by financial concerns. However, with what I have to work with I can do a lot to improve flexibility in my course.

The start of each year begins with directing the students to the course calendar that gives guidelines of when certain assessments are due. I advise about time management and suggest that they try to stay on track with the course calendar if they want to manage their time and complete the course in the allotted year. Unfortunately we do not have a facility for allowing students to carry on studies into the next year and that is a limitation to flexible delivery, however the students can enrol in a unit at a time and only complete as many as they are able in a given year. Still more often than not the students will enrol in all of the units at the start of the year and while this may allow them to complete faster, it is very difficult to achieve while also working full time.

I tend to be very lenient (flexible!) when students need more time with an assessment however I am also very present in terms of keeping motivation high in an attempt to ensure that the students are up to date with the assignments and are not falling behind. Some students just will not have the time to research or learn topics in depth and it is these students who really appreciate a very clear guidelines listing exactly what task to complete in a given timeframe. I provide a weekly study plan that provides students with a guideline as to what elements are being addressed in the course at that time and where they should be in terms of achieving the course objectives. Those students who are time poor really appreciate knowing they are on track. In contrast, students who spend a lot of time studying often know where they should be and instead they are often seeking additional resources in order to gain more knowledge of a particular area. It is a fine line to provide plenty o f resources without overwhelming those students who only can complete the bare minimum!

Learning resources need to be varied inasmuch as student learning styles vary. Video, audio, and written lecture materials are increasingly available as are interactive exercises. Tutelage is offered via Elluminate and the face to face sessions focus mainly on hands-on practical exercises, group bonding, mentoring and collaborative learning and teaching. I try to avoid lecturing during valuable face to face sessions since I can easily offer this kind of learning activity via audio/video or Elluminate session.

In terms of assessments, this is an area where we are driven by access and equity. Many of my distance students do not have resources to complete the assessments so I need to provide assistance in that area but unfortunately that could give one students an unfair advantage over another in completing the assessment. These challenges limit my ability to be flexible in assessing students but I still try to offer flexibility in other ways such as offering video assessments, oral assessments, written assessments, peer assessments and flexible due dates.