Flexible Pedagogy, Flexible Practice Notes from the Trenches of Distance Education

Flexibility has become a watchword in modern education, but its implementation is by no means a straightforward matter. Flexible Pedagogy, Flexible Practice sheds light on the often taken-for-granted assumptions that inform daily practice and examines the institutional dynamics that help and hinder efforts toward flexibility. The collection in international in scope, drawing on the experience of specialists in distance education from North America, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, and Japan. Contributors to the volume were asked to reflect candidly and critically on a series of questions, including: What precisely is flexible learning? Who or what is driving the flexibility agenda, and for whose benefit? And who or what is resisting it? What challenges must be overcome in order to achieve flexibility, and what are some of the compromises it can entail?

Essentially, the book is about what happens when the canonical concept collides with the ‘rough terrains of practice,’ and in addressing this question, it succeeds admirably. … Your thinking will be both challenged and informed.

David Murphy

About the Editors

Elizabeth (Liz) Burge is professor of adult education at the University of New Brunswick. She is a past president of the Canadian Association for Distance Education/Association canadienne de l’éducation à distance. Chère Campbell Gibson is professor emeritus of adult education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She established the Certificate of Professional Development in Distance Education and has served on numerous editorial boards. Terry Gibson is professor emeritus of adult education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research has focused on instructional settings in the home, in the workplace, and at educational institutions.

Reviews

A refreshingly honest, hard-edged attempt to get to the heart of what flexibility really means for instructors, students, and administrators working in tertiary institutions. … Above all [the reader emerges] from these deeply contextual chapters, set in a diversity of geographical and cultural milieus, convinced of the importance of taking a situated view of flexibility as a counterweight to sloganeering. This book should be a must-read for university educators, researchers, administrators, managers, and policy makers.

Educational Technology

Pulling no punches, these chapters tell stories about fearful and overworked faculty, turf wars, rigid bureaucracies, complicating technological infrastructures, staff and funding cuts, and slashed programs. But they also show us how high-quality courses and programs can be built through successful collaborations of people with a shared vision. … The editors are to be commended for organizing this eclectic selection of narratives and reflections into a coherent, extremely readable, and meticulously edited volume on the realities of flexibility in higher education.

Educational Technology, Research and Development

This is an important book for distance educators with an interest in international education and the challenges of distance delivery from a global experience. The significance of this compilation of essays is that it is the first step in a process to create a much needed dialogue on the issue of flexibility in education, with the intent of establishing standards for universal access to education.

Educational Technology & Society

In this excellently edited and stimulating book, targeted at all interested in post-secondary education, practitioners in the fields of flexible pedagogy and distance education across the globe share and critically reflect on experiences of flexibility grounded in the gritty reality of practice.

British Journal of Educational Technology

Table of Contents

1. Foreword / Frits Pannekoek
2. Introduction: Why Look at Flexibility? / Elizabeth Burge
3. Part I. Clarifying the Concept
   1. Introduction
   2. 1. Flexibility in the Twenty-First Century: The Challenge of Web 2.0 / Denise Kirkpatrick
   3. 2. Students’ Perceptions: Flexing Pedagogy and Practice / Julie Willems
   4. 3. Structured Flexible Learning: Making Informed Design Choices / Der-Thanq (Victor) Chen, Rose Liang, and Yu-mei Wang
4. Part II. Identifying Driving and Restraining Forces
   1. Introduction
   2. 4. Flexible Distance Education for Social Transformation / Milly Daweti and Jean Mitchell
   3. 5. Politics, Pedagogy, and Productivity as Drivers of Flexible Learning / Cathy Gunn
   4. 6. Cultural Perceptions of Flexibility in Asian Higher Education / Colin Latchem and Insung Jung
   5. 7. Openness and Flexibility in New Zealand: Victories and Challenges / Mary Simpson and Bill Anderson
5. Part III. Surviving the Swamps of Everyday Practice
   1. Introduction
   2. 8. Before the Fall: Breaking Rules and Changing Minds / Darcy W. Hardy
   3. 9. Implementing an Online System: Voices of Experience / Andrew Higgins and Mark Northover
   4. 10. Adding Flexibility to Higher Education Using OERs: Lessons from the Open University / Andy Lane
   5. 11. From “Here” to “There”: The Rocky Road to Flexibility / Kay MacKeogh and Seamus Fox
   6. 12. Where Has the Effort Gone?: The Quest to Sustain Momentum / Darien Rossiter
   7. 13. An Elephant’s Lifetime, the Patience of Job / Yoni Ryan
   8. 14. The Garden of Learning Delights: The Librarian’s Tale / Non Scantlebury and Gill Needham
   9. 15. Reflecting on Swamp Life / Arthur L. Wilson
   10. 16. Mapping the Driving and Restraining Forces on Flexibility in Higher Education / Chère Campbell Gibson and Terry Gibson
6. Part IV. Admitting Compromises
   1. Introduction
   2. 17. The Fog of Flexibility: The Riskiness of Flexible Post-secondary Education in Australia / Terry Evans and Peter Smith
   3. 18. Flexing Costs and Reflecting on Methods / Greville Rumble
   4. 19. “Which Is to Be Master”?: Reflections on Ethical Decision Making / Melody M. Thompson and Lorna Kearns
7. Part V. Voicing Contrarian Opinions
   1. Introduction
   2. 20. The Paradoxes of Flexible Learning / David Harris
   3. 21. Transformational Technologies: Exploring Myths and Realities / Adrian Kirkwood
   4. 22. “Plenty of Saps” / Alan Woodley
   5. 23. What Happens in the Stretch to Flexibility? / Katherine Nicoll
8. Conclusion: The Challenge of Weaving Principles with Practice / Elizabeth Burge, Chère Campbell Gibson, and Terry Gibson
9. Index

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CA). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.