Students Perceptions: Flexing Pedagogy and Practice

The interlinked terms flexible learning and flexible delivery, in both skills-based and knowledge-based post-secondary contexts, have been conceptualized in a vast number of ways and according to the perspective of the various stakeholders involved. These stakeholders have been identified as the politicians, managers, administrators, marketers, program and product developers, teachers, support staff, and students involved in any flexible-learning program (Willems 2005). My focus is on the perceptions held by the end-users of flexible learning and delivery: the students themselves. This client base is far from homogeneous: like other stakeholder groups, students approach flexible learning with diverse perceptions and desires. In terms of learning, what constitutes "flexible" for one student can be "rigid" for another. To inform pedagogy and practice, this chapter explores some of the many interpretations of flexible learning from a student-centred perspective, reinforcing these viewpoints with case study examples (Willems 2004).