Reflection

The designing process

Designing a professional development program for teachers was really new to me. First we made a group to work with. In my group there were three people who have experience with teaching. That is something I don’t got, so this group was really interesting for me. During the bachelor program I have done some assignments or projects in which I had to design something, but I never designed something like a professional development program.

During our first meeting we actually discussed the whole professional development program. We were really in line with each other. During this decision process every member of the group has contributed very well. We shared our knowledge efficiently. This means that some of us had a practical view on the assignment and some other students had a more theoretical view. I think this combination has resulted in an interesting and useful professional development program for primary education teachers. During the meeting that we discussed the program, we started with some contextual points. We were immediately thinking about what kind of school we would give the professional development program for, the target group, how many sessions the program should exist of, and so on. We concluded that, to reach TPACK within a whole school, it is important that everybody in the school is involved with the process (the professional development program). So, we decided to give the school leader, the ICT coordinator and the pupil monitor coordinator also some tasks during the program. After that, we filled in the five sessions we had created. For me it was really interesting to talk about this, because it is not impossible that some of us will get a job that is in line with designing courses or professional development programs. I think it would be useful for the bachelor students to do an assignment like this as well. Now the assignment was relatively ‘small’, but I can imagine that creating such a program in a project course could be very helpful. I think I should have liked it in my first years as a bachelor student.

As an educational designer I have especially learned some practical aspects about the motivation of teachers and the time they want to and can spend on activities like these (following such a program). Teachers are busy people. Their priority is to teach pupils, but it is also important that they develop their selves to improve their teaching skills. In this way a professional development program like we created can be very useful, but only if the teachers are motivated to reach TPACK. As an educational designer I’m really interested in the real implementation of a program like we created. For me it was a good assignment, but it makes me more and more curious about the implementation in real life. Will our program really work? What problems will you encounter? How should I handle with these problems? What kind of reactions of the teachers will you get? What if the teachers are not motivated anymore after two or three sessions? Questions like these will definitely get the attention in my future as an educational designer. To come back to our assignment, we divided the tasks really well. But, maybe we were to convinced about our program that we forgot to focus on the structure of the report, especially within the different parts of it. That is a struggling factor of working in a group. For a next time, it will be useful to discuss the report at the end in a face-to-face meeting. To discuss by technology like e-mail can be good, but sometimes a physical meeting will be better. Besides creating a professional development program, that is an important thing I have learned  as an educational designer.

Working with TPACK

Technology gets more and more an important role, not only in day life, but also in education. To make teachers aware of this fact, TPACK can be a very useful model. Before this course I knew something about content, something about pedagogies and something about technology. During this course I have learned a lot more about these aspects. That was nice, but for an educational designer it is more important to know how teachers can combine these important components to create ‘perfect’ lessons. And that’s where TPACK comes in. In my opinion it is not a difficult or complex model. For me TPACK can be a very useful supporting tool for teachers. During this course I sometimes ‘hated’ the fact that I have no teacher experience. If I should have some experience, I think I could transfer the model more to practice. So, while I was working with TPACK I thought all the time: ‘how should I use this model if I were a teacher?’ Working with TPACK made me realize that a lesson is not just a lesson. It is much more than that. You have to take care of all the components in the model to create a ‘perfect’ lesson. Next to that, the relation between these components should be deliberated by the teacher. Don’t use technology to use technology, but use it as a supporting tool to create optimum learning outcomes. Creating optimum learning outcomes is, and will stay, the priority of teaching. Next to that, technology has an important role in the society, so teachers and pupils have to learn how to work with it and they have to use technology to develop their selves.

I think most of the teachers will create lessons based on the content. To develop you as a teacher, you need to learn to integrate content, a pedagogical approach and a kind of technology in your lessons. That is something I definitely learned about working with TPACK. Another thing I have learned is the following. My colleagues who are a teacher besides their study told me many times that teachers are very busy. In that way I think teachers won’t create all their lessons with the TPACK model. They could do that for a few lessons, but after that it should become a routine. When teachers develop their selves well and they reach TPACK, they should use the model just for a check. They should create a lesson and use TPACK as a checklist to judge their lesson on content, pedagogical and technological aspects.

How to stimulate teachers to integrate technology in education?

As I said before, teachers are busy people and their priority is to teach pupils. But nowadays it is important to use and to integrate technology in education, so they have to make time for it. Especially for older teachers, who are not familiar with technology, it won’t be easy to get this done. Teachers need to make time free to learn how to use different kinds of technology, but they also have to be motivated for this. Then the question is ‘how can you motivate and stimulate them to learn this?’ First of all you can think of professional development programs like we created. In this case you can think of programs like ‘how to use technology’ and after that ‘how to integrate technology in education’. Some teachers will like these programs, but as a teacher you have to be really motivated to join programs like these because it costs some time. Next to this, you can also make teachers aware of the usefulness of technology by letting them experience it by themselves. As a school you can decide to purchase some different technologies for the teachers, just to ‘play’ with it. I can imagine that teachers become curious when there are different technologies available. They probably want to get familiar with the technology and when they are, they will perhaps use it in their classes.

I already said something about motivation, but I think teachers are not the only people who have to be motivated to integrate technology in education. For instance the school leader, the ICT coordinator and the pupil monitor coordinator have to be motivated as well. My opinion is that these people need to stimulate the teachers within the school to integrate technology in their classes. Especially the school leader has an important role in this process. I think he has to talk with the teachers about their lessons, the use of technology in the lessons at this moment and how they will use technology in the near future. When the school leader, but also the ICT coordinator and the pupil monitor coordinator, stimulates the teachers to integrate technology in their lessons, they will get motivated to do that. Next to that, teachers should talk to each other about their use and integration of technology in their lessons. In this way they can help and support each other. For instance, the younger teachers (who are more familiar with technology) could help the older teachers by explaining the use of different technologies.

So, I think a professional development program given by somebody outside the school can be very useful and effective, but stimulating each other within the school is the most important part of integrating technology in education.

Relation between TPACK and the topics that have been discussed so far

During the lectures of the course ‘Pedagogies for flexible learning supported by technology’ some main topics were discussed. These topics were flexibility, pedagogies and technology. In previous posts I already told you a lot about these topics. In my last post I told you about TPACK and the relation between the different elements of the model. But is it possible to make combinations between TPACK and the other topics?

About flexibility I told you there are five different kinds. I wrote about flexibility related to time, content, entry requirements, instructional approach and resources and delivery and logistics (Collis & Moonen, 2001). When I think of TPACK in relation to these kinds of flexibility, I think there are many combinations you can make. Overall I think the TPACK model is very flexible. The TPACK model consists of the aspects pedagogy, technology and content (Koehler & Mishra, 2009). As a teacher you can be very flexible in creating your lessons, based on different pedagogies, technologies and subject matters. You can apply flexibility related to content in the content part of the TPACK model and flexibility related to instructional approaches and resources in the pedagogy part as well. If a teacher takes the content as a starting point for creating a lesson, based on the TPACK model, he can choose to let the students pick their favorite topics (very flexible) or give some standard, fixed topics (less flexible). In case of starting with the pedagogical knowledge, the TPACK model is flexible as well. The teacher is ‘free’ to choose a pedagogical approach, as long as the content and the technology suits to this approach. My opinion is that using the TPACK model can be very flexible, as long as the pedagogy, technology and content are in line with each other. To give another example, the teacher can be very flexible in time by using TPACK. You can use the model for a lecture of one hour, but it is also an option to use the model to create a whole course that takes a few weeks or months. Using TPACK can also be flexible in many more ways, but as a teacher you always have to think about the blue circle, the context. Flexibility can be good, but take your context into consideration.

I think the combination between the TPACK model and pedagogies is obvious. When a teacher creates a lesson, based on TPACK, there are many possibilities in choosing a pedagogical approach. As I mentioned in my previous post, a teacher can take the Pedagogical Knowledge as a starting point for creating a lesson (or a course). In that case the teacher has to have knowledge about different pedagogical approaches. I already told you something about traditional learning, problem-based learning, workplace learning, collaborative learning and inquiry learning, but there are many more. In this case you can say TPACK is flexible as well. There is not just one pedagogical approach to create a lesson based on TPACK. As a teacher you must have the knowledge to choose the right pedagogical approach that fits to the subject matter and the technology you want to use. But just like at flexibility, the context is very important to keep in mind.

During the third lecture the topic was technology. I experienced that there are many, many kinds of technology you can integrate to a lesson. So, in that case I didn’t had the Technological Knowledge that is necessary for teachers. If a teacher wants to use technology in a lesson, he has to know a lot about it, how you have to use it and what the added value of the technology is. As a teacher you can use technologies like Wiki’s, weblogs, digital audio, virtual learning environments, course management systems, Web 2.0 technologies, digital video, e-portfolio’s and so on. For a teacher it can also be helpful to monitor the developments and trends in the world of technology. In that way a teacher can make the best decisions for using technology in their lessons. As you see, also in the technology part of TPACK there is enough flexibility, but still be aware of the context. For a teacher it can be very nice to use technology in the lessons, but is it useful for the students, can they deal with it and is there enough money to use technology?

I think you can compare the added value of TPACK to the order of the lectures (and posts) in this course. After three lectures I had learned a lot about flexibility, about pedagogies and about technology, but I didn’t know how to combine these topics. In my opinion that is where TPACK comes in. The big advantage of TPACK is that you as a teacher have a framework in which you can combine the three main items of a lesson. The model exactly tells you what kinds of knowledge you need to have and that you have to bundle these kinds of knowledge to a create a ‘perfect’ lesson. Moreover, the model makes the teacher aware of the fact that you have to combine pedagogical-, technological- and content knowledge in the specific context of the teacher. So, the overlapping parts in the model are added value, because now the model tells you that just technological knowledge, for instance, is not enough. Knowing a lot about technology can be nice, but for a teacher it is also important to know how to teach with the use of technology (TPK) and how to relate this to a particular content or subject matter (TCK). At last, the teacher need to know how to teach a specific subject on the right way (PCK). If a teacher is able to combine these three kinds of knowledge, he reaches TPACK. I think the TPACK model can be useful for every teacher. It won’t tell you how to create a lesson, but it can help and support you to create a lesson.

If I were a teacher, I think I would use TPACK. You can always use it as a check for your created lesson, but you can also create a lesson based on it. The model doesn’t force you to anything, it just supports you as a teacher. That is really important, because the teacher has to decide by themselves whether he wants to use a model like TPACK or not, but I do recommend it..

References

Collis, B., & Moonen, J. (2001). Flexible learning in a digital world: Experiences and expectations. London: Kogan Page.

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.

What is TPACK exactly?

In this post I will explain what TPACK includes in my opinion. I will also explain what the different components of the model include and how they relate to each other.

TPACK is an abbreviation of Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge. Mishra and Koehler (2009) are the founders of the TPACK model, which is presented in Figure 1. In my opinion TPACK is the knowledge of the teacher on how to integrate technology in a lesson with a specific content, where a specific pedagogical approach is used. To reach TPACK, you need to have knowledge about three different aspects and you must be able to combine these three into your lessons. The three main aspects of TPACK are technology, pedagogy and content. In the model these aspects are presented as the colored circles.

By technology I mean all kinds of technologies, like computers, whiteboards, video cameras and so on. The teacher need to have knowledge about the availability of these kinds of technology, but also about how these technologies work. So, just Technological Knowledge (TK) is not enough. In my opinion the teacher also need to have the skills to work with it.

The second main aspect, Pedagogical Knowledge (PK), is about different pedagogical approaches. The teacher has to have knowledge about the learning process of the students and the pedagogical approaches that suits them the best. Pedagogy is a broad concept. I think the teacher needs the knowledge about different teaching strategies and the skills to apply these strategies or approaches. Next to that Pedagogical Knowledge also includes knowledge about the use of useful resources. Another important thing is knowledge about the students. The teacher must have knowledge about their students’ prior knowledge, their curriculum and their personal development. The teacher has to think of all these aspects when he/she has to use a specific pedagogical approach.

In the last colored circle you see the Content Knowledge (CK). When I think about content knowledge, I think about the content or subject that the teacher is teaching. As a teacher you must have knowledge about what your students will learn, that’s obvious. But I think a teacher also needs knowledge about the theories, facts and/or frameworks behind this content. Moreover, the teacher must be able to give examples about the content in my opinion. If the students have questions about the content, the teacher must have sufficient knowledge to give a good answer to the questions related to the subject matter.



(Source: http://www.tpack.org)



As you can see in the model there are four overlapping parts between the three main circles. Three of these overlapping parts are combinations of two kinds of knowledge (circles).

The first part is the overlapping part between Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) and Content Knowledge (CK), what is obviously called Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). A teacher must have this knowledge to teach specific subjects on the right way. Thereby the teacher must be able to handle with misconceptions and difficulties about the content. The teacher needs to have knowledge about the content and the pedagogical approach he/she has to apply for this content. For a teacher it’s important to know how to organize a lesson, to adapt on your students and the content and to create a fruitful instruction.

Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) is also overlapped by Technological Knowledge (TK). This means that a teacher also needs Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK). In my opinion this is knowledge about how to teach with the use of technology, but also the adaptation of your pedagogical approach(es) to technology. In some pedagogical approaches the use of technology, or ICT, can be very useful. I think the teacher must know how to deal with technology in their lessons and how teaching and learning can change when technologies are used.

The last overlapping part between two circles is Technological Content Knowledge (TCK). I think this includes the knowledge about using technology for teaching a particular content or subject. The teacher must know how subject matter changes because of technology. Not for every content the use of technology can be added value. That is something that the teacher has to decide, for which subject matter technology can be useful. Knowledge about how technology can support the content is very important for the instruction.

In the middle of the model you see an overlapping part between all the three kinds of knowledge. This part is what we call Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK). To create TPACK, a teacher has to have knowledge about how technology, pedagogy and content can be combined. So, he/she has to know how to use technology in a lesson with a particular content where a specific pedagogical approach is used. Once the teacher has reached TPACK, he or she can make many combinations of the different aspects. For a teacher it’s an option to start with a specific content, then choose a suitable pedagogical approach and after that decide what kind of technology will support the lesson. In this case it could be that a teacher want to teach their students something about biology. Because of this content he/she could decide to use an inquiry learning approach, where the students has to go outside to discover the biology by themselves. At last this learning process can be supported by technology like making pictures of it with a photo camera for instance. But off course it’s also a possibility to start with the technology, for instance a simulation. Because of this simulation the teacher can decide to teach a specific subject matter by a specific pedagogical approach. At last the starting point can also be the pedagogical approach. For example the teacher can create a lesson based on collaborative learning, which he/she combines with a specific topic and a suitable kind of technology. So, with TPACK there are many options for a teacher.

The last aspect I want to explain is the blue dotted circle around the model. This circle means that the context always influences reaching and using TPACK. Every teacher has different circumstances. Different types of schools, preferences of teachers, the background of the students are some of the aspects that can influence the use of TPACK. The teacher has to handle with aspects like these and must be able to find a solution to use TPACK in the best way.

My opinion is that TPACK is a great framework for teachers. If I were a teacher I would definitely use it, because I think it will professionalize you as a teacher. This model can always be used as a framework for creating lessons, in every situation..

Reference:

Koehler, M. J., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.

The combination of flexibility, pedagogical approaches and technology

Let's start with a real-life example this time. My father is a teacher in the upper grades of primary school for more than 25 years. Last week he came home from work and was really pissed off. Of course I asked him ‘what’s up dad?’ Then he told me that the beamer in his classroom was broken and it would take a whole week to fix it. He was really frustrated about the fact that he has to work one week with just a blackboard instead of his digital whiteboard. I told him that he is really spoiled in my opinion, because the first 23 years of his career he had always worked with just a blackboard..

So, my point is: the use of technology in education can be very useful for the learners, but what about the older teachers? It costs a lot of time to get the older teachers familiar with all these kinds of technology. Besides this ‘negative’ point of using technology in pedagogical approaches I am very positive about it. The fact that my dad is really pissed off about the fact that he cannot work with his high-technological whiteboard says enough. Even the ‘older’ teachers like it to work with technology, what is really important for a successful implementation of technology in education.

Off course education is about the learners, they have to learn something. Nowadays technology is used everywhere, all over the world, so it has to integrate in to the schools. Teachers must get familiar with it, because it’s better for the learners. Related to the example of my father, flexibility is also an important aspect for teachers. In this case he has to be flexible and find another way to teach his learners.

After listening to some lectures, writing some posts and reading some other blogs so far, I think this subject really interests me. There are so many pedagogical approaches and even more ways to use technology in it. The combinations of these aspects will lead to many ways of flexibility. I think this must and also will trigger the teachers to create innovative ways to teach their pupils, because they have lots of options instead of just the traditional learning approach where the teacher is telling the pupils the information. I think that handling with all the possible opportunities will lead to a professional development of all the teachers..

Taaltreffers

http://www.taaltreffers.nl/

Taaltreffers is an online Dutch vocabulary game for elementary school pupils from group 6, 7 and 8. I think this game is based on a inquiry learning approach, because the learner makes a virtual tour through the soccer stadium of FC Twente. Under while the pupil is making this tour, he will find many words he has to define. At the moment this game is used by schools in the neighbor of the soccer stadium of FC Twente. There are plans to create a newer version that can be implemented on a national level.

I did my bachelor thesis on this game and I discovered that it’s a very attractive game for elementary schools. I think this is because all the pupils are familiar with the football club FC Twente and the players, who are also part of the game. This makes the pupils enthusiastic what will lead to a good motivation for finding and defining the words. The pupil learns under while he is playing with technology. I think that is a wonderful combination for children in that age..

http://www.taaltreffers.nl

Pedagogical approaches supported by Blackboard

In education a teacher can use several pedagogical approaches. In this post I will explain you something about five of these pedagogical approaches. In addition, I will relate the approaches to the support of a Course Management System (CMS) like Blackboard.

Traditional learning

This first pedagogical approach is probably the one that is the most familiar to you. You can describe traditional learning as an approach of ‘telling the students the content of the lesson’. Traditional learning is used in many situations. It’s about a teacher who is giving a lecture and students who are just receivers. In most classes the way of teaching is still like traditional learning. Nowadays there are more and more approaches with lots of interaction, but the traditional learning approach doesn’t need that much interaction. The teacher is just teaching, giving you an assignment and you can get to work.

In many of the courses I’ve followed, the support by Blackboard was like the traditional approach. Blackboard gives me some information about the course, like the schedule, some staff information, some announcements and sometimes the assignment(s). There is no interaction or communication within the environment. The teacher just posts some information on Blackboard and you as a student can get it or read it.

Problem-based learning

Like the name of this approach already suggests, students have to solve a problem and reflect on their experiences. The students work in collaborative groups to solve open-ended problems. The role of the teacher is extremely different to the traditional learning approach. In this case the teacher is more like a facilitator. Students have to collaborate and take responsibility for their group. They have to organize the learning process by themselves and create a solution together.

An environment like Blackboard can be very helpful for the collaboration of the groups. Beside the ‘traditional information’, Blackboard can support the students by a workspace for adding documents and a discussion forum or a chatbox for collaboration within the group. Off course the teacher can add documents on Blackboard about the problem that has to be solved.

Workplace learning

Nowadays workplace learning is becoming more and more popular. It means that people also learn on their workplace and not just on the educational institute like a University. The advantage of workplace learning is that the student can learn in practice. It could be that there is a kind of a problem on the workplace the student has to solve. Actually there are many ways of workplace learning. You can think about formal learning activities like trainings or workshops on the workplace, but informal activities like asking help from others or observing others also include workplace learning.

For a student who is learning on his or her workplace, Blackboard can be very helpful. In this case Blackboard can support in a way of communication tool between the teacher and the student. Additional information for the student to solve the problem on the workplace can be placed on Blackboard, but also functions like a discussion forum or a chatbox can be integrated in Blackboard. In this way the student can communicate from his or her workplace to, for instance, the teacher or co-students. Blackboard can also be used for handing in assignments and giving feedback to each other.

Collaborative learning

This approach means that students will work in groups to complete a task, given by the teacher. The students have to discuss and come to a fruitful solution. In many situations of collaborative learning there is one team coordinator who will lead the process. The group should make appointments about the performance of subtasks, so they all have responsibility. Just like in the problem based approach, the teacher fills the role of a facilitator.

The support of a CMS like Blackboard can also be equivalent as in the problem based approach. The major point of these support is to create a tool for the students to discuss and share their thoughts. This could be a discussion forum or a chatbox. The advantage of a discussion forum is that not all the team members have to be online at the same moment. They can post a reaction whenever they want. This could lead to a long waiting time for getting response by other group members, what can be seen as a disadvantage. In that case a chatbox will ensure that the students give immediately answers, but they all have to be online at the same moment. The teacher has to decide what kind of discussion function will fits the best to the assignment or project.

Inquiry learning

This last pedagogical approach, inquiry learning, is a kind of discovery learning. In this case a teacher is presenting an interesting question. After that the students have to search information about a possible answer to the question. Most of the time students have to find an answer on the question whole by themselves, individually. In this way they have to deal with responsibility for their own process and their own answer.

When a teacher uses the inquiry learning approach, I think there shouldn’t be that much information available on Blackboard. If the teacher gives the student lots of support in this environment, you cannot call it inquiry or discovery learning anymore. So, my opinion is that the teacher should give just a little information about the assignment or the question. The learner has to discover it by themselves. Of course there should be some standard information about the course like staff information, the schedule, and so on. Finally, it can be helpful to add a workspace for the student where he can keep the resources and the information that he had found.

I cannot say that I have a preference for one of these pedagogical approaches. I think they all could be useful, but all in some different situations. Sometimes it is just necessary to sit down and listen to the teacher what he or she has to say, like the traditional approach. But in other cases it can be more useful to discover a phenomenon by yourself or collaborate with co-students. I think it just depends on the content of the course and the assignment that you have to complete and it’s up to the teacher to choose the most fruitful approach for the students…

Preparation for pedagogies session

As a preparation for the session about pedagogies I have found an interesting article. In this article the pedagogical approach ‘discovery learning’ is mentioned. The title of the article is: ‘The effects of discovery learning and expository instruction on the acquisition of definitional and intuitive knowledge’, written by Swaak, De Jong and Van Joolingen (2004).

In the article the differences between discovery learning (in a simulation) and expository instruction (in a hypertext learning environment), both with the same domain content, was measured. These kinds of learning were linked to the acquisition of definitional and intuitive knowledge. Working in a simulation and with the hypertext learning environment both leaded to learning improvement. It was found that the hypertext group performed better on a definitional knowledge test. On an intuitive knowledge test the hypertext group scored better than the simulation group on the correctness of the items but not on the time needed to answer items. On an explanation test there was no difference between the two groups.

I think this article is relevant for the pedagogies session because it is about the effects of two pedagogical approaches, discovery learning and expository instruction. Moreover, the pedagogical approaches were supported by technology. I think it is important that investigators measure the effects of pedagogical approaches with the support of technology, because this combination becomes more and more the way of learning nowadays. In that case we have to know whether it is right or not what we are doing..

Here you can find the link to the article: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2004.00092.x/pdf

Reference

Swaak, J., De Jong, T, & Van Joolingen, W.R. (2004). The effects of discovery learning and expository instruction on the acquisition of definitional and intuitive knowledge. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20(4), 225-234.

Flexibility in Education

Nowadays flexibility is a popular concept in education. What does flexibility actually mean? Collis and Moonen (2001) call flexibility ‘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 these key dimensions’. When we talk about these ‘key dimensions’, we talk about five different kinds of flexibility. These five kinds of flexibility will be discussed (Collis & Moonen, 2001).

1.   Flexibility related to time

This kind of flexibility focuses on different aspects of time. The starting and finishing time of a course is an example, but you can also think about the flexibility for submitting assignments and interacting within the course. Another example of flexibility related to time is the tempo or pace of studying (Collis & Moonen, 2001). Some advantages of these flexibilities is that a motivated student can classify his/her own time, the student has more freedom and you can determine your own pace of studying. So a predictable disadvantage is the possibility that students who are not motivated won’t do anything. It also will costs a lot of work to manage all the individual ‘programs’, because everybody has a different pace.

The moments of assessment can also be flexible (Collis & Moonen, 2001). In this way students can decide by themselves when they want to make an assessment, but in way of logistic aspects it can become unmanageable, because of the different schedules and the availability of classrooms.

2.   Flexibility related to content

The content of learning can also be flexible or fixed. An example is the topics of a course. It is possible that students can pick their own favorite topics for a specific course. Another example is the sequence of different parts of a course, this could also be fixed or very flexible. Next to that, the orientation of the course can be fixed or flexible. It is possible that students can decide whether the course is totally theoretical or practical or a combination of them. Some last examples about flexibility related to content are assessment standard and completion requirements (Collis & Moonen, 2001).

When the learners has flexibility in choosing their own content he will probably only pick out the topics that he likes. Thus it is possible that a student never learns some main topics. Flexibility related to context has also to do with motivation. For a very motivated student it can be good to choose their own content, because this student knows exactly what he/she needs. A student who is not that motivated will have problems with choosing the important topics, probably he/she will choose the nicest topics.

3.   Flexibility related to entry requirements

If you talk about flexibility related to entry requirements, you can think about the different conditions that there can be for participation in a course or a whole study program (Collis & Moonen, 2001).

When we think about a course it is possible that you have to complete one or more other courses to participate. An advantage is that all the students have the same prior knowledge about the content, so it is easier for the instructor to create lessons. A disadvantage is that it could be that you will get very small classes. When it is hard to complete course A to participate course B, the class at course B can be very small. It is also possible that there are conditions for participation in a study program. In that case there will be a ‘selection process’, what will lead to a study with only the ‘best’ students. A disadvantage is that you have to disappoint students who are not allowed to join the study program.

4.   Flexibility related to instructional approach and resources

The pedagogy and the resources can be fixed or flexible. A well-known example is the social organization of the learning process. This can be face-to-face, in a group, individual, etc. Another example is the language to be used during the course. This depends on the nationality of the students. Do they all speak English? Or do you need some different teachers who can speak different languages. Some other kinds of flexibility related to the instructional approach and resources are the instructional organization of learning and the learning resources (Collis & Moonen, 2001).

An advantage of flexibility in the social organization of learning is that you can choose what fits you the best, face-to-face, group or individual work. The organization must not be too flexible, because when students can do whatever the like, it will probably mess up. For every student it is important to have social contact, so when a student only want to do individual work it won’t be good. The flexibility in learning resources is growing nowadays. You have a lot of possibilities in learning resources. In order to this course you can think about technology. Maybe it is better if there is a part fixed, like a real instructor and face-to-face lessons. When the student can decide everything about the resources, he/she can stay at home and surf on the internet whole day long.

5.   Flexibility related to delivery and logistics

This kind of flexibility is about logistics aspects like time and place. Many times people associate flexibility with learning on distance, but as you have discovered now, it is not. Many people think about the time and place where contact with instructor and other students occurs. This can be flexible or fixed. Another example is the types of help. How do you communicate? How do you use technology to communicate? This kind of flexibility is also about the location (Collis & Moonen, 2001).

A huge advantage of distance learning is that you can learn wherever you are. There are a lot of online learning environments, like Blackboard. In this way face-to-face contact is not necessary, the student can do everything from out of home. The student has more freedom in this case, but it can also be a disadvantage that there is no face-to-face contact. To communicate by technology is not that personal. In a physical conversation it’s easier to explain what you mean.

I think flexibility in education can be a good thing, but you should watch it. The motivation of students is an important aspect in flexibility. If someone is really motivated in studying, he or she can handle the flexibility, but if you are not that motivated the flexibility can be misused. The use of technology in education can improve the flexibility and I think it is a good thing, but never throw the face-to-face contact away. I think personal contact with your co-students and teacher is an important aspect of studying..

Collis, B., & Moonen, J. (2001). Flexible learning in a digital world: Experiences and expectations. London: Kogan Page.

Pedagogies for Flexible Learning supporterd by Technology

Hello everybody,

I created this weblog for a specific course in the mastertrack CIMA (Curriculum, Instruction and Media Applications). The name of the cours is 'Pedagogies for Flexible Learning supporterd by Technology', given by Petra Fisser. In this course I hope to learn more about the specific elements 'pedagogies', 'flexible learning', 'technology' and the relation between these interesting elements. So, in this way I think of questions like: how can you use technology for flexible learning? How do different pedagogies relate to flexible learning? And what possibilities do we have to combine these elements? I think this course is important for me because the themes (like flexible learning and using technology) that are discussed in this course are very populair and important in education at the moment. In the next few weeks I will share my experiences during this course with you...

Thomas Tijhuis