flexibility

Last week we got an lecture about flexibility and were asked to write something about this on our blog. I discovered that flexibility in education much more is then just distance education. It can take many forms and can be related to time, content, entry requirements, instructional approach and delivery or logistics.
An example of a time related flexibility possibility is to let the student decide when an assessment takes place. This of course has advantages like having students do the assessment when they are really well prepared but it can also have disadvantages like being very time consuming for the teacher.
With the content an example of flexibility is the topics of the course. An advantage of this is that students can be more motivated because they chose the content but on the other hand the teacher may not be able to treat every subject that it wants to.
The entry requirements can be the conditions for participating in the course. When people of different backgrounds can take part in a course this is a form of flexibility. An advantage is that more people can participate and a disadvantage is that not everybody will have the same level of knowledge about the content that is being handled.
For the instructional approach an example can be the language in which the course is taught. People might feel more comfortable to have the course in their native language but it also makes the course less accessible of foreign students.
For the delivery methods and logistics an example is the time and place were the instruction takes place. This can be very handy for students because they can plan their classes. Especially when you have a job next to your study this can be a great help for someone’s planning. A downside of this is that the teacher needs to have a lot of free time, which they don’t often have.