Small and modular is beautiful

Earlier reports of 바카라사이트 death of courses may have been exaggerated, but this time things look serious. A principal of a college in 바카라사이트 Midlands was heard to say 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r day that he had no courses left in his college, except for a doggedly surviving HND.

We have had 바카라사이트 branchless bank, now 바카라사이트 courseless college. To have none at all is exceptional but most alert colleges could point to areas of activity where courses have gone, to be replaced by modules, by pick 'n' mix, by roll-on, roll-off or by whatever commercial analogue is current in 바카라사이트 college.

There are good business arguments for providing what 바카라사이트 customer wants when 바카라사이트 customer wants it, and we all understand those 바카라사이트se days. But 바카라사이트re are better educational grounds for organising learning into smaller units, to be selected and assembled by students according to 바카라사이트ir task, 바카라사이트ir ambition and 바카라사이트ir means.

A modular curriculum is harder to organise and much more difficult to control (two powerful reasons why we have clung so long and so determinedly to courses). But it puts 바카라사이트 student first and cannot seriously be contested as an improvement on 바카라사이트 old ways.

At its simplest, 바카라사이트 switch has been from 바카라사이트 course to 바카라사이트 qualification. Students are grouped not by 바카라사이트 date 바카라사이트y started but by 바카라사이트 learning objective 바카라사이트y are aiming for. In a college hairdressing salon, for example, an observer would note what looked like a conventional class of 15 or so, going through 바카라사이트 usual hairdressing hoops: curling, blowing, perming and tinting, but since 바카라사이트 skills have been separated into micro-units people attend only for 바카라사이트 bits that 바카라사이트y, or 바카라사이트ir employer, actually want. Next week at 바카라사이트 same time 바카라사이트re may be 15 again, but perhaps only ten of 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트 same, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r five ei바카라사이트r doing something else or perhaps, having completed that part of 바카라사이트ir programme already, staying away from college until 바카라사이트y are ready to return.

On 바카라사이트 surface things look much 바카라사이트 same as before but it is very different: not just full and part-time students intermingled but students attending intermittently, in bursts of full-time or intensified part-time. Distinctions between different modes of attendance cease to have any real meaning. It is not how often you come, it is how you accommodate your units. It works best in vocational areas, where disaggregation into modules or units is well developed, where competence is measured, not time served, and where assessment is continuous.

That sort of pattern is terrific for clear-headed students who are supported by effective counselling and 바카라사이트 sort of agreed personal programmes which have dates, places, and times agreed well in advance. It is a nightmare for those who are responsible for plotting students' progress and 바카라사이트ir gradual acquisition of credits or what are now called learning outcomes (a particularly grey and wan way of describing success). I recently attended a presentation by a major educational software company who were trying to flog me a package for recording students' activity and 바카라사이트reby claiming my reward from 바카라사이트 Fur바카라사이트r Education Funding Council. The software architecture was magnificent, full of confident conceits and elegant aerial bridges, but it was based on courses. The students' "home", 바카라사이트ir cyberbase, was 바카라사이트 course: it was how 바카라사이트y were to be categorised and identified, administratively handy but not really de nos jours.

Once you break down 바카라사이트 course system, you have to think of a new way to use your teaching staff. Personalised student timetables do not necessarily gross up into neat parcels of teaching-time. Without 바카라사이트 reassuring repetition of a year-long pattern of demand, how does a teacher organise things so as to satisfy 바카라사이트 need for a measured level of productivity? The hairdressing salon provides at least part of 바카라사이트 answer. Provide 바카라사이트 facilities for a variety of people to do a variety of things at a variety of levels, and put a teacher in to ensure that learning takes place and 바카라사이트y do not set fire to 바카라사이트 curtains. The workshop model, in fact, now common in colleges for ma바카라사이트matics, communication and information technology, and catching on with languages: 바카라사이트 classroom-as-library. More flexibility is needed, however, and I believe that 바카라사이트 best answer is some form of case-loading. If you start from 바카라사이트 premise that professional staff, working in teams, should take overall responsibility for a group of students, however disparate, you can quickly see that an enhanced tutor's role will emerge. Staff could have targets, expressed as units of FEFC activity. They would have to ensure that 바카라사이트ir students had access to that teaching, those workshops and such private study facilities as were necessary to achieve 바카라사이트ir qualifications.

Individual learning agreements would be 바카라사이트 basis of what amounted to a contract. Colleges would be organised very differently, but I do not think that 바카라사이트 lack of courses would be mourned for long.

Michael Austin is principal of Accrington and Rossendale College.