Making professional development flexible: a case study

Forsyth, Rachel (2002) Making professional development flexible: a case study. Open Learning, 17 (3). pp. 251-258. ISSN 0268-0513

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Abstract

There seems to be a relentless pressure to move towards more flexible approaches to learning and teaching in higher education, as described by Latchem and Hanna (2002) elsewhere in this issue. To achieve this, academic staff need to have access to professional development opportunities in flexible learning. This case study describes the experience of trying to 'practice what we preach' in terms of offering professional development for learning and teaching in a flexible way. However, it was found that academic staff were less prepared to be flexible learners than they thought, and that it was necessary to reduce flexibility for the professional development to achieve its intended outcomes.