"Opinion Piece" was introduced in 2004. Each month an industry specialist was invited to share their view on that month's Community theme. In this Opinion Piece, Paul Flavel discusses: How students feel about flexible delivery

When I was asked to write this piece about being a flexible learning student all my experiences started coming back to me. I remember how hopelessly inadequate I felt at first coming into a new learning environment and thinking “Oh s***, what am I doing here?!  What is this?!”

Anyway, faced with the difficult and unknown task of writing this piece, I did what many students do…that’s right – I asked other students for help! Thanks to email and the passion of students I was able to obtain feedback about their experiences really quickly.

What I discovered in their feedback was mixed reactions to flexible delivery, but everyone agreed that flexible learning has to be adaptable to the student - not the other way round!

Some students were very passionate and loved flexible learning.

“I found it most suitable to enable me to balance home and work life because I can access it 24 hours a day 7 days a week.”

“I can pick up my books anytime especially late at night, when I can’t sleep... I like writing instead of speaking to groups such as a class full of students.”

Others weren’t so positive. One student said that flexible learning –

“…did nothing more for me than waste a year of my time and a considerable amount of money…”

“If I was to rate the experience so far out of 10, then I would give it a 2. Feedback from teaching staff should be achieved within 1 working day (even if only an acknowledgement), however it currently takes up to a week.”

Another group have just “come to terms” with flexible learning’s limitations and have found ways to work within them. These people were willing to put up with the limitations of flexible learning for the convenience it offers.

“I can do my studies at times appropriate to my busy work/lifestyle schedule, but … I thought it would be more interactive (with Lecturer and other classmates) than what it is…”

“I could not have done this course if it meant regular static lesson times. For a working person the flexibility of an online course is a great asset.”

Many of the successful students in flexible learning are highly motivated self-starters anyway and so it fits into their life style. This seems to be the theme, with students with the “me-helping-myself” attitude doing the best. Some did stress the need for organisation and commitment to do flexible learning or it all just gets away from you.

Some said they liked the peer pressure from other students to achieve the workload. One student, a long distance truck driver, said -

“It’s my way out, no matter what time or where I am, I can hit the books.”

However, he eventually quit his job to move into full time study as he felt that he was losing momentum and full time mode meant graduating sooner.

Many said that they missed interaction with other students - obtaining feedback, sharing resources and opinions, the classic case of sitting of the front lawns and exchanging philosophies or “shooting the breeze.” Some students were unclear on what to expect from their facilitator. Others said they were glad when they had the opportunity to meet lecturers and other students from their course to “put names to faces.”

One student described the course work as “a bit dry.” In a face-to-face environment the material might have been filled out and made juicer with the lecturer’s own knowledge, anecdotes and humour. Online the material was just presented “cut and dry” – how boring!

Students have a desire for flexible learning, but say the technical side of online delivery needs to be fixed. Some had issues with Internet firewalls in the workplace and others soon realised the need for a broadband connection to use the Learning Management System used by the college. (the TAFE S.A. method of online delivery). Unfortunately this means that many country students miss out. This is very unfortunate as online is an ideal method of delivery for people living in remote areas. Perhaps in the future the access issues will get sorted out. One country user referred to the Internet as “tinnienet,” explaining laughingly that he measures the time taken for downloading information from the Internet in the amount of beer cans he can consume!

The workplace, some noted, still doesn’t accept that students need to be given clearly defined study time. When they were learning online one workplace student said it looked -

“…like I was working at my computer doing my ordinary job with people asking me questions and wanting attention.”

What do students think a truly "flexible learning" quality system would look like?

“Flexible means choice, interaction, convenience and adaptability, any flexible learning system should offer a wide range of choices and be able to adapt quickly to changing circumstances and/or requirements of the student.”

I think deliverers of flexible learning may need to look at a blended delivery approach. Attending face-to-face workshops where you can focus on your course 100%, can motivate students and make them feel more committed to their online studies.

Finally, as a student myself, I embrace flexible learning as another tool that I can use for learning. However, I embrace it on my own terms. If a course that I wish to do has multiple delivery modes then I want to be able to choose the mode that is most suitable for me at that time, not the provider. Though the technology hasn’t quite worked in favour of all users yet, it is a method of delivery that has yet to reach its full potential.

I sincerely extend a huge thanks to Catriona Ward (adelaideiglobal) for putting me in touch with other students and to all the students who contributed.

Paul Flavel is a graduate in Information Technology. He is the web administrator of www.tafestudents.com  and a representative of TAFEStudentsS.A. (the student association of TAFE in S.A).