Future-Thinking Flexible Learning Development

A Design Approach for Sustainable Change

Abstract

Can you imagine the student's experience in higher education beyond 2020? How will teaching approaches have changed? How will learning technologies play a role in the 21^st century student? In higher education, institutions will need to be future focused. So far, institutional change in the use of learning technologies has been dominated by an applied or pragmatic focus that persists despite the increase in uses of constructivist pedagogies and the potential of the read/write web, or Web 2.0. This paper proposes a new, future thinking and sustainable approach to flexible learning development. This approach engages with factors that are often ignored in applied design approaches to learning technologies, including the change management problems associated with introducing flexible learning into higher education institutions and conflicting institutional practices when using technology systems. The sustainable design approach proposed in this paper is referred to as "FOLD": Flexible and Online Learning Development, as introduced at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia.