Flexible Learning

The term “flexible learning” is itself flexible and encloses several aspects; however, there seems to be a consensus in at least the following points:

• Flexible learning implies that processes of teaching and learning can be liberated from the constraints of time and place.

• Flexible learning provides learners with a choice about how, where and when the learning process will take place.

Furthermore, the term stands in opposition to linear learning (also called traditional learning ) and it is often related to student-centeredness in educational practices (or learner-controlled learning environments ). Although it is mainly used to encompass distance learning and open learning, especially in the context of higher education, its scope may be much wider, once it may also be found in face to face contexts and different age groups. In addition you may consult these two useful tables by various authors, which compile further characteristics of flexible learning:

Characteristics of Flexible Learning According to Lundin

Dimensions of Learning Flexibility: options available to the learner - Collin, Vingerhoets and Moonen

The five myths

Moreover, the term flexible learning is loaded with a series of myths regarding its popular understanding. Five of them can be identified:

1. Flexible learning is often taken as synonymous with distance education. This is not necessarily so. There are many ways to make education more flexible that can benefit students who are in full-time residence on a campus and even benefit those who are in the same room together. Flexibility can involve options in course resources, in types of learning activities, in media to support learning, and many other possibilities. There is more than distance that can vary. Moreover, distance learning may contain components of inflexibility itself as we will see further in this article.

2. Flexible learning is, as the term clearly displays, about learning. Contrary to the signifier itself, the real meaning of flexible learning is not unilateral but it equally applies to ‘flexible teaching’. Flexible teaching concerns the design and implementation of the course and assessment of tasks in a way which ensures that the array of flexible measures adopted by the lecturer or institution may benefit the learner. It also includes guidance and support of students regarding the access to resources . Thus from now on, when flexible learning is mentioned, it shall be understood as ‘flexible learning and teaching’.

3. Flexible learning is a new phenomenon. Flexible learning is not a brand new phenomenon brought by the practical means of the digital era. Students in higher education for instance, have for a long time chosen from a variety of courses, studied their textbooks in a variety of locations and times, and selected from a variety of resources in the library.

4. Flexible learning is all we need. This statement concerns the ‘ideal’ character acquired by the term, that is, people judge it to be invariably good. There are advantages indeed, but they have up to now been treated as unquestionable and very little research has been dedicated to a deep understanding of its discontents and challenges, topic which will be highlighted in the next paragraphs.

5. Flexible learning is more effective because it is fun. The assumption that flexible learning is more enjoyable than linear or traditional learning is nowadays embedded in the collective unconscious, as well as the assumption that one learns better in an enjoyable (fun) environment. For this reason, many people believe that flexible learning is a more effective approach when it is fun. However, based on the information presented by the chart below, one may say that outcomes of the combination between enjoyment and flexible learning are not as positive as the popular imagination has constructed. The graph shows in the vertical axis the ‘declarative knowledge’, which refers to the knowledge learners can speak about after the learning process; and which stands in relation to the level of enjoyment, in the horizontal axis, concerning the level of enjoyment they have declared to have had during the learning process. Considering that PC stands for ‘Program-controlled’ (linear learning) and LC for ‘Learner-controlled’ (flexible learning), one may conclude that in a linear learning environment, the higher the level of enjoyment, the higher the declarative knowledge; whereas in a flexible learning environment, the higher the level of enjoyment, the lower the declarative knowledge.

Taken together, these results suggest that learner satisfaction is not necessarily a reliable or positive predictor of learning, even in flexible learning environments.

Intrinsic Learning Behavior

It is characterized by the natural neural cognitive activities responsible for learning processes performed in the sub-conscious level; it is the ‘brain behavior’. Examples from intrinsic learning behaviors are:

• information processing and association with prior knowledge – memory;^[1]

• learning from mistakes and failure;^[2]

• innate curiosity;^[3]

Each of this operations, are performed by the brain within various learning styles sets, depending on the individual’s personal inclination.

See also: cognitivism

Active Learning Behavior

Employed in parallel with the above-mentioned activities, the active learning behavior refers to the actions performed by the individual in the conscious level aiming the mastery of the task to be learned. The latter is the most frequently addressed in the literature on learning behavior and encompasses the following practices:

• self-discipline (through self-conditioning);

• self-organizing, establishing a strategy;

• self-studying, self-reflection;

• self-motivation^[4];

• engagement;

• concentration, focus, mindfulness;

• transformative learning/collaborative learning (widening one’s perspective): exchange of ideas, seeking feedback, sharing information, seeking for help, talking about errors, collaboration, argumentation, discussion;

• learn by doing: to put the knowledge in practice, problem solving;

• creating a proper environment for learning activities, learn in a proper environment;

• provide oneself with proper sleep;

Outer Stimulus

An alternative approach refers to the outer stimulus ‘pro-learning’. It consists in the way the mentor (eg. the boss, supervisor, trainer, instructor, etc.) acts in favour of the learning performance of his pupil. For example, challenging the learner’s previous knowledge and conditioning his behavior by making use of either negative reinforcement (punishment), or positive reinforcement (reward, compliment), the latter enhancing motivation.