Flexibility Might Be Our One Word

“I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Plastics!”
– Mr. McGuire, The Graduate, 1967

When Mr. McGuire spoke those words to Benjamin Braddock in the classic film The Graduate, few knew how prophetic they would be for the world. Plastics are integral everywhere, and it’s almost impossible to live without them. In 2022, it’s possible that flexibility is now the “just one word” of education. The flexibility door opened with the forced pivot to online learning and being flexible is talked about in multiple contexts for supporting individual life situations, time constraints and humane treatment. Teachers are encouraged and even warned that flexibility is essential to student’s long-term goals and college retention. Flexibility in teaching and learning is here to stay, which is possibly a fortunate consequence of the past two years.

Let’s define flexibility in teaching. Flexibility is thoughtful consideration of individual circumstances, modification of assignments and activities, changes of pace or further explanation of concepts, and even shifting from tried and true approaches for new ones that might yield better results. Flexibility is not lowering standards, eliminating deadlines and handing over the reins to a course–but it can turn into that without purposeful thought and planning. Flexible teaching accommodates student curiosity and allows lessons, assignments and submissions to have a looser structure, letting students follow their curiosities where they go within parameters.

Flexibility in education can mean student choice of what to learn, how to learn it, and how to demonstrate that learning. We know that there is always too much to cover in a course, so allowing students some opportunity to choose a focus seems not only flexible, but a way to encourage students to be responsible for their own learning. How to learn about the topic and how to demonstrate that learning is also a place for student personal responsibility. Students might read, listen to podcasts, interview experts, or create experiments. Maybe you’ll find out what the student learned in an oral report, demonstration, written document, video or model. When we allow flexibility for students to be curious and create, the options are really endless for ways our students can gain understanding.

But what about the downsides of flexible learning? It takes more time, it’s stressful on students who aren’t used to having the freedom to direct some of their learning, it’s hard to grade a variety of things with the same standards, and let’s be honest, it’s uncomfortable for us because we give up some control. Things may go in a direction we didn’t think of, or cannot competently address with our knowledge base. These are all possible; however, these downsides (or fears) can also be exciting, and a place for us to learn alongside our students. In adopting the goal of creating one flexible assignment for a course, we grow. In the article “Maintaining a Flexible Teaching Mindset” on the Oakland University Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning website, Christina Moore says that “Flexibility is a mindset more than a list of tips.” She offers the following considerations for teachers:

• Prioritize people (including yourself) – Emphasize teaching the whole person rather than delivering content
• Prioritize open space – Allow more space in the course for reflection and review as these are keys to real, long-term learning
• Use what you’ve got – Keep recent changes that support learning like recorded lectures
• Plan for the long term – Adopt a framework like Universal Design for Learning (UDL) that allows students more agency in how they engage with the course and demonstrate what they have learned

If flexibility is the “plastics” of our time and our industry, why not explore its value. Make a change toward more student choice and autonomy on one assignment and allow students the choice for self-determined methods of response (submissions) to that assignment. Create a rubric that evaluates self-learning and the expression of that learning. These two things are such important skills for students to practice and develop. Taking this leap won’t be boring, and it puts us in the learner's seat which we all find fun.

What do you think? Please comment below!