Flexible learning

Strategies for flexible teaching and learning

Approaches to assessment and learning which are focussed on student activity are more likely to lead to effective learning. The following modes of engagement using learning technologies can be used to build learning activities at La Trobe University.

Mode of engagement	Examples of traditional learning activity	Examples of online learning activity
Lectures as presentation and interaction	Students - take notes, watch images, videos, demonstrations. - contribute to discussion, - collaborate to make a mind-map of the key concepts	Revision and study using: Recorded presentation via Lectopia, videoconferencing Subject content, videoclips & podcasts Readings from Library Create discussions, journals in LMS for later discussion or reflection
Individual student activity	Tutorial exercises, essays and project assignments, self-assessment, reflective writing, case studies, simulations: via journals, portfolios	Activities: literature search, self-assessment, reflective writing via online discussion Simulations, eg., from bio-sciences from the UCEL website Quizzes using LMS or Respondus
Student-teacher interaction	Tutorial supervision, individual case study, investigations, surveys, fieldwork or observations, reflective tasks, work-based learning, portfolio evidence, mentoring, formative assessment, online role-play.	Groupwork collaboration using LMS Communication Tools, Group manager tool. Journal activity via LMS blog tool Online assignment submission and feedback rubrics Discussion rubrics and online protocols (Dabbagh 2000)
Student-student interaction	Discussion, problem-based learning, group investigations or projects, peer collaboration, peer review assessment, presentations and performances, online role-play.	Peer collaboration Online discussion in LMS Collaborative groupwork via wikis Peer review via blogs Sharing documents with google docs

Adapted from Bostock (2007, p. 9)

La Trobe University provides online Teaching Technologies, including the LMS, Lectopia, Respondus and Turnitin, to support teaching and learning activities.Web 2.0 software, such as wikis and blogs are available from web sources, which may be used by La Trobe staff and students for appropriate learning activities. See Guidelines for teaching using Web 2.0 and social software for use of Web 2.0 at La Trobe University. To find out more about using social software for learning and teaching, see Dalsgaard, (2006), and McLoughlin & Lee, (2008).

The good practice page is the location where academic teaching staff across La Trobe University have provided examples of their approaches to flexible learning.