Flexible Classrooms in Adult Education

Questions for Reflection:

  • Have you ever considered changing your classroom setup?
  • Are there ways that your classroom is already flexible? How?
  • Do you already change the setup part of the time? What works? What can be made better?

Why flexible learning in adult education?

Diversity: 

Our students range in age from 16 – 96, their cultural backgrounds are richly varied, as are their socio-economic statuses as well as their reasons for being in our centres. For some of us, our classrooms are also made up of multiple levels and subject matters.

Flexibility is not merely an option, it is essential!

Technology:

It allows for easier and more natural integration of technology. If your classroom has minimal access to technology, you can create a tech zone where perhaps learners can use their own devices or they can access the few pieces of tech you do have in your classroom – it could be clustered around the smart board if you have one.

Students in front of a white board with the question: Who uses the IWB in your room? Make it a learning zone where your students can collaborate! by Tracy Rosen

Maybe it is time to dismantle your centre’s computer lab and distribute the computers among some of the classrooms so that they can be used within the tech zones…

old fashioned computer lab with the text: Is it time to dismantle the computer lab? How often are all of your students prepared to use it at precisely the same time every 2nd Thursday? by Tracy Rosen

Curriculum: 

With its focus on competency development, the student experience is central to our new programs. In order for students to be able to develop and master competencies and for teachers to be able to assess their development, flexibility is essential.

Key ideas for flexible learning:

  • Choice – students are given choice in what and how they learn.
  • Pace – students are able to set the pace of their learning.
  • Environment – the environment needs to reflect the concept of choice as well and can be reconfigured based on these choices.

When learners can choose how and when and where they will learn and collaborate, we are ‘walking the talk’ of our CCBE and DBE programs in adult education that put the learner at the centre of the learning process.

When it comes down to it, creating flexible learning environments for our students is a big way to demonstrate our confidence in our students abilities to succeed.

Video: Watch this video with examples of teachers across Quebec who are allowing for flexible learning to happen in (and out of!) their classrooms.

 

Learning resources created by Teachers across Quebec, Avi Spector (RECIT Consultant, RSB),  and Tracy Rosen (RECIT Consultant, CSSMI), 2016, 2017.

Thank you!

If you would like more information about these resources or if you have something you would like to add to this tile, please contact Avi Spector or Tracy Rosen.

 

All materials are expected to be reused and shared according to this Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0