What is Flexible Learning??????

The way we deliver our courses here at our Community Learning centre is, i feel, very flexible.
A person can walk in off the street and be learning how to use a computer within a short time.
Session times are very flexible with 2 hour session thoughout the day and night sessions to suit students that maybe have day jobs or family commitments during the day.

We cater for ages 16 years to 100 years. My oldest C4Free student was born in 1921. He was given a computer from his family and wanted to learn how to use it and send emails to keep intouch with his family that is scattered far and wide around the world. Learning doesn't stop because you think you have reached a certain age.

The process for students enrolling in Computing For Free (C4Free) is very quick, filling out one form and a dicussion with a facilitator to find out how much they know and what their learning needs are. Then they are given a book to work though at their own pace.

Our Qualifications For You (Q4U) courses take a little more time with paper work etc but much the same discussion goes on to find out how much the student knows, their experiences with computer programmes, what their needs are and what they would like to learn. Students are then given the unit standard book to go though at their own pace. Students are given workbooks to fill out as they go though the sections of the book to reinforce what they have learnt in the previous section. This is a good way to assess their learning along the way.
Once they have completed the unit standard book students are encouraged to complete the assessment for that unit. My oldest student enrolled in Q4U was born in 1931 and has now completed their National Certificate in Computing Level 2 . What an achievement!!!!

We also have an on-line version of Q4U with Intuito where the student enrols with us at the Community Learning Centre and is shown by a facilitator how to work with the on-line learning programme and then they are free to work with it anytime, anywhere. They can also come in study the on-line course in our computer suites if they find they need help or reasurrance from a facilitator. I find with the Intuito though its not as flexible as it could be as the students still need to make time to come into the suite to go though the enrollment process and wade though the paperwork with a facilitator. Also when it comes to completing their unit there is an on-line assessment to pass but also they need to come and make a time to do our own assessment to beable to pass that unit. Once the assessment is passed the student then needs to go though the whole process again for the next unit/units. Not very flexible for some people.