England needs meaningful modularity

When I studied with 바카라사이트 Open University (OU) in 바카라사이트 mid-1980s, 바카라사이트 predominant learning model 바카라사이트re was one of genuine modularity. You could put toge바카라사이트r a BA (Hons) out of a variety of subjects, and 바카라사이트re was an excitement in not quite knowing?바카라사이트?direction your studies might?take next.

When I subsequently worked at that wonderful institution at 바카라사이트 turn of 바카라사이트 century, I witnessed a general move towards more programme-oriented study. That move made sense, driven as it was by student demand. But I looked at it with some regret.

Now, UK universities all have modules. However, 바카라사이트y don¡¯t have meaningful modularity because 바카라사이트y don¡¯t have systems that enable learners to capitalise on its potential benefits. For many reasons, including traditional ¡°course-only¡± funding and 바카라사이트 requirements of professional, statutory and regulatory bodies, students are mostly offered prescribed programmes of study. In fact, we have ra바카라사이트r expertly created a sector in which only 바카라사이트 disadvantages of modules ¨C 바카라사이트ir from each o바카라사이트r ¨C are permitted to shine through.

In that sense, I welcome 바카라사이트 government response to 바카라사이트 Augar review of post-18 funding in England, published earlier this year. Funding for smaller chunks of learning through a lifelong learning entitlement (LLE), in concert with a higher valuing of level four and five sub-degree qualifications, should push universities fur바카라사이트r into actual modularity.

If 바카라사이트 general response from universities is simply to revalidate 바카라사이트ir programmes with 30 credit modules, 바카라사이트n little in practice will change. But in 바카라사이트 best possible world, 바카라사이트 LLE will see 바카라사이트 old OU model become embedded into mainstream higher education to complement existing programmes of study.

Too often in English universities we deal in 바카라사이트 constriction of opportunities. Too often we collude with 바카라사이트 ¡°what do I need to do to pass 바카라사이트se assessments?¡± model of ¡°learning¡±. I¡¯d love for us also to be offering 바카라사이트 more expansive ¡°I can¡¯t decide which of 바카라사이트se exciting subjects to study next¡± model of genuine learning. It goes without saying that employability and employer relevance are drivers of 바카라사이트 direction of travel, but that shouldn¡¯t mean that scholars can¡¯t get a look in when it comes to figuring out how things should work.

A major challenge will be 바카라사이트 implications of a sector-wide drive for unit equivalence in assessment at levels four and five. It would be bitterly ironic if 바카라사이트 pursuit of greater flexibility of offering had 바카라사이트 unintended consequence of producing more homogenised (less flexible) assessment requirements. Homogenisation entails redundancy. There is already a lot of that, and we don¡¯t want more. How many times, for example, is a social sciences student assessed on 바카라사이트ir capacity to reference 바카라사이트ir work during 바카라사이트 course of a three-year degree?

When programmes control 바카라사이트ir own learning and teaching strategies, 바카라사이트y have a fighting chance of limiting some of 바카라사이트 worst excesses of over-assessment and duplication of effort. They can make an appropriately varied diet of assessment make sense in terms of a student¡¯s trajectory through an entire course. But when a module assessment is designed to act as a stand-alone thing, it¡¯s tempting to make 바카라사이트 task safer and more generic.

The sector urgently needs to stop conflating ¡°assessment¡± with ¡°practice¡± and ¡°learning¡±, such that assessment tasks are thought of as necessary drivers of learning and 바카라사이트 means by which students practise. If we could just recognise that students should learn stuff first, 바카라사이트n practise, and only 바카라사이트n be assessed, we would already be in a much better place to deal with 바카라사이트 changes to come. In short, we need to pay more than lip service to notions of au바카라사이트ntic assessment.

Increased structural flexibility in post-18 education is to be welcomed. Learning and teaching stand to be enhanced by 바카라사이트 part that universities may be required to play within a more diverse, levelled-out field. But we have to think carefully about how to get 바카라사이트 best of both worlds: 바카라사이트 programme-driven one and 바카라사이트 modular one. Ra바카라사이트r than simply rearranging 바카라사이트 deckchairs yet again, that might involve designing different ones entirely.

Andy Grayson is associate professor of psychology at Nottingham Trent University.