Using flexible personal learning to respond to student needs

This presentation will describe the concept of using flexible personalised learning to develop graduates who have many of the required graduate attributes for life and work. The concept entitled Lifeplace Learning allows the student to specify their own learning area assessment methods and mode of study, putting the learner at the heart of the learning and importantly in control of it with all of the responsibility and management that such a strategy requires. Naturally, the learning needs to be facilitated by an academic member of staff and the skills of that staff member become paramount to the success of many but not all students. Importantly during the research period the concept was also found to be a stimulating experience for staff as well as students but that staff understanding and acceptance of it was a little more difficult to overcome. This concept was introduced into an undergraduate degree in Scotland during 2002-2006 and proved to be successful for the majority if limited number of students who undertook it. Whilst the concept still needs refinement to integrate with current structures of academic study, quality processes and the academic curriculum, it has the potential to be very important for developing graduate attributes skills and knowledge bases in conjunction with current traditional methods of teaching and learning.