Martha Caddell, Peter Chatterton and Heather GibsonDeveloping and Supporting a Flexible Curriculum: Opportunities for critical reflection and (re)engagement

Flexible Curriculum: Understanding the Challenge Providing learning

opportunities that meet the needs of current and future students.

Responsive Creative Flexible

Why? In what ways? For whom? … and how?

A Dynamic (and Challenging) HE Landscape

Student Diversity

(needs, experience, background)

New market conditions

Technology: determinant /

enabler?

Pedagogic innovation

• Diversity of understanding … and diversity of practice.– Institutional focus is varied.– Subject, programme, module diversity. – Diversity of learner journey increasingly central to institutional work. – Enhancement Themes Case Studies demonstrating this diversity.

• Key challenges: – Understanding and engaging with changing context.– Strategic challenges and opportunities.– Practical support and guidance to facilitate (creative) engagement.

Enhancing Flexibility: Sector Engagement

Exploring the Flexible Continuum: Work to Date

• Revisiting Flexibility– (Changed) Relevance in the context of 2013. – Draw on work of Collis and Moonen (2004) and Casey and Wilson (2005). – Papers produced on context and on online opportunities and challenges.

• Recognising multiple layers / dimensions of flexibility.– Mutually reinforcing? Or need to prioritise? – Review ‘flexible continuum’ as analytic tool. Identify dimensions of flexibility.

• Make accessible to multiple stakeholders. – Module level to strategic decision makers. External & internal stakeholders. – Toolkit to reflect, review and plan

Flexible continuum diagramEntry, transitionand progression

Learning model and personalisation

Mobility oflearning

Learner and employer engagement

Dimensions of flexibility

• Student engagement (design and delivery) inc. content

• Employability skills / graduate attributes / digital literacy

• Learning in, through and for the workplace / authentic learning

• Balance of vocational –v- academic • Employers engagement with design and delivery (agile

& responsive)• Sector/employer body needs and initiatives • Alignment with employer goals, initiatives, CPD,

projects etc. • Alignment with professional, national, sector,

international standards

• Anytime, anywhere learning • Mobile technologies (BYOD, low-cost devices)• Mobility across institutions (including

international)• Mobility of qualifications • 24-hr Access to resources (e.g. learning

materials, ISG, library, WWW)• Access to tutors, peers, experts + other

stakeholders

• Widening participation • Articulation • RPL• Shell frameworks• Credit accumulation, transfer and mobility

(inc. e-accreditation)• Mobility of qualifications • Pace – e.g. part-time, accelerated• Affordability

• “Content” –v- “process” learning (activities and interaction)

• Topics• Autonomous/social/life-long learner/self-

reviewer• “Assessment for learning” (more timely

formative/less summative/action on feedback) – based on A&F principles

• Module learning outcomes –v- programme learning outcomes

• TEL / external systems (e.g. Cloud)• Open approaches/OERs/MOOCs• Personalisation to different learning

styles/media/IT

PLANREVIEWREFLECT

Towards a Flexibility ‘Toolkit’

What's driving the need for flexible

curricula?

Develop benchmarks to achieve for flexible

curricula

Review programme(s) against the

benchmarks for flexible curricula

Develop plans for curriculum flexibility

• Learner & employer engagement• Mobility of learning• Entry, transition & progression• Learning model & personalisation

Develop benchmarks to achieve in respect

of institutional responsiveness

Review institutional responsiveness against

the benchmarks

Develop plans for becoming a

responsive university

• Policies & strategies• Staff expertise & teamwork • Processes & systems• Professional support services

• Student expectations & needs?• Key Government drivers ?• Key institutional drivers &

goals?• International competition?• Employers and employer

bodies’ needs and expectations?• Change in what we are

teaching (including impact of technology)?• Improving recruitment and

retention?

Dimensions of flexibility

Dimensions of responsiveness

(process, web resource, community of practice)

Flexible continuum diagramProcesses and systems

Professional support services

Staff expertise, teamwork & culture

Policies and strategies

Dimensions of institutional responsiveness

• Flexible learning strategies and plans• Alignment with other strategies e.g. MIS, IT, estates,

WBL, employer engagement• Innovation and change management• Employer partnership strategy

• Staff development (including part-time & external staff and employer mentors/assessors etc)

• Staff recognition and reward • Professionals standards frameworks • Communications and engagement with FL

• External marketing and communications• QA/QE for flexible learning • Staff workloads• Agile curriculum design and validation• Learner analytics• Research, evidence and evaluation • Cross-institutional collaboration• Partnership working • Programme business/commercial case, market

research, costing model• ICT/MIS infrastructure • Open innovation/collaborative developments

• Organisation, resourcing and support for flexible learning

• IT support• Flexible learning design support • Learning materials, online library etc.• Pre-induction and induction ISG • Student training and support (e.g. IT, library, DL)• Resources for partnership development

Indicators of flexibility

Summative assessment dominatesNo action on feedback/feed-forwardFocus on the mark

Staged formative feedbackTimeliness of feedback

Frequent low-stakes assessment (to inform teaching)Design based on A&F principles

Dialogue/action on feedback/feed-forward/longitudinalA&F aligned with employer needs/authentic assessments

Autonomous learners (able to self-review)

More fixed More flexible

Learning model and personalisation

24-hr Access to resourcesInstitutional libraryPoor ICT infrastructure (e.g. minimal wi-fi)Employer firewall policies block access to resources (e.g. VLE)

Fully online libraryE-books

Robust ICT infrastructureBYOD

E-learning resources (multiple formats) E-Information, Support & Guidance

24-hr access to live support

Assessment for learning

Mobility of learning

Next steps

• Flexible Curriculum workshop: 20th June in Edinburgh

– From analytic framework to practical tool. • Reflect, Review and Plan toolkit developed and tested.

– Case studies • Exemplars of innovative practice. • Examples of challenges encountered and overcome.

– Facilitate further development of communities of practice in the field.

Contacts:

Martha Caddell, The Open University in ScotlandMartha.Caddell@open.ac.uk

Peter Chatterton, Independent Consultantpeter.chatterton@daedalus-e-world.com

Heather Gibson, QAA Scotlandhgibson@qaa.ac.uk