INNOVATIVE AND TRANSFORMATIVE APPROACHES TO BLENDED AND

FLEXIBLE LEARNING - DISCIPLINARY PEDAGOGY AND PERSPECTIVES

Professor Mike KeppellDirector, The Flexible Learning Institute &

Professor of Higher EducationCharles Sturt University

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OVERVIEW

Overview

What is blended and flexible learning?

Transformative learning

Perceptions from fellows

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PERSPECTIVES ON BLENDED LEARNING

Blended learning means that you need to look at the cohort, and the resources, the lesson, curriculum and put it all together. It requires a change of language. I see it as using technology for enhancing learning and it allows you to cater more for differences, for the different needs of the student body (Teaching Fellow, 2008).

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PERSPECTIVES ON BLENDED LEARNING

The reason I’m a bit cynical about it (blended learning) is that I think it’s a matter of good teaching that you do... anyway. It’s a bit of a jargon word, I think, but I can understand the need to have it for the increased range of technologies (Teaching Fellow, 2008).

… It’s very, very hard to get people who come on campus to want to do something that’s not face-to-face and it’s very hard to get people who want to be totally flexible and do something at two o’clock in the morning by themselves to actually want to engage with other people (Teaching Fellow, 2008).

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FLEXIBLE LEARNING

“Flexible learning” provides opportunities to improve the student learning experience through flexibility in time, pace, place (physical, virtual, on-campus, off-campus), mode of study (print-based, face-to-face, blended, online), teaching approach (collaborative, independent), forms of assessment and staffing. It may utilise a wide range of media, environments, learning spaces and technologies for learning and teaching.

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BLENDED & FLEXIBLE LEARNING

“Blended and flexible learning” is a design approach that examines the relationships between flexible learning opportunities, in order to optimise student engagement and equivalence in learning outcomes regardless of mode of study (Keppell, 2010, p. 3).

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BALANCE

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TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING

An enhanced understanding of pedagogy and of their own pedagogical approach.

An increased capacity and willingness to reflect upon their own practice.

A willingness to think critically about received ideas and conventional approaches.

Readiness to innovate, to accept technological change and to build effective pedagogic connections between face-to-face and online teaching strategies.

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TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING

Renewed confidence with regard to leading and adopting change and innovation among their peers and within their own schools.

Being empowered to negotiate perceived technological and institutional barriers to change.

Preparedness to maximize the time/space opportunity of the Fellowship to actively engage in meaningful and relevant activities for their individual context.

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BLENDED AND FLEXIBLE LEARNING APPROACHES

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http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/flexible-learning/

http://www.ascilite.org.au/

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