Education done like work flex-time

reasons

• scheduling class around work, home, and other parts of life can be very difficult
• especially when a rigid schedule week after week is required and
• required classes frequently have few available scheduling options
• long, fixed terms mean students must plan in advance and be scheduled for months

possible implementation characteristics

• no more fixed semesters or similar fixed periods
• students attend lectures, office hours, etc. whenever they want
  • each lecture, etc is offered at one of many pre-scheduled times
    • students can pick and choose which time they want to go
    • times and frequency chosen based on previous demand
• student must attend a certain set of lectures, plus perhaps some from an optional collection
• can take as long as they want to complete a course
• take tests/evaluations/projects when they feel they are ready
  • tests given in a testing center where they can be taken any time
    • monitored, students from many classes take tests at once
    • much harder than current tests to give flexibility in determining competency
      • getting 50% of the questions right probably good target normal grade
  • one on one type evaluations scheduled with prof for most convenient time
    • at least as important as tests
    • profs spend time with student determining their capabilities
  • projects are like homework, but larger and with a more defined purpose
    • projects last a certain duration, must be finished by a due date
      • some longer and bigger, some short and small
    • groups projects will require students signing up, running once a quota is reached
• competencies rather than grades
  • not fixed
    • students can keep going until they achieve desired/required level of competency
  • profs decide competency based on tests, projects, evaluations, time spent with in class and office-hours
  • many profs involved, whole department perhaps
• no homework per se normally
  • in class, supervised work only most of the time
  • perhaps some courses will have some continuity between some lectures with coursework given between
    • required to be taken in a certain order
    • should be rare
  • projects will be the majority of work done outside of class
• Office-hours/tutoring
  • Some students obtain and undertand information in certain classes very easily while other students need a lot of help.
  • Part of profs time will be spent in an office hours / tutoring like teaching methodology where students are encouraged to seek assistance from the profs
    • in a larger capacity setting than an office.
      • An entire class should be able to show up and be handled in this setting.
  • Possible student activities would be private study with occasional questions to prof or longer discussions with prof about certain points.