Student-Paced Learning

Author: Joel Liechty

Courses are designed around the institutions calendar. Fall semester, J-Term, Spring Semester, Summer Terms. These are rhythms of offering coursework that make sense to the institution.

Foundry is interested in building learning rhythms around the student. This means we have to step away from normal framework for scheduling learning. Students are learning all the time in their jobs or through mentoring and supervision. This last week, I spoke with a potential student who often has to travel for work. Unfortunately, the idea of being able to log in at a certain time every week was not feasible.

Paul LeBlanc, in his book Students First, tells the story of a parent with a child who would have unexpected bouts of sickness that would require full focus on the child. During these times, school work was the furthest from her mind and not possible to keep up on. When the medical bout would eventually subside, she’d try to pick back up in her classes, only to discover she was far behind, unable to catch up, and inevitably failing the courses with financial implications alongside that. Her transcript was littered with failed classes. This was not because she was unable to learn, incapable of doing good work. Instead, the rhythm of learning was built around what worked best for the institution, not what worked best for the student. For many students, learning built around their schedule is not a convenience but a necessity. It is outside of their reach if it is not flexible enough to account for the realities of life. We can continue to operate as we aways have, but to do so is to willfully embrace the unfortunate fact that we will not be able to serve well the very students that might most benefit from education.

The pace of learning should be built around what works best for the student. If a student needs to do school in the evening, great. If they need to do school work while their kids are in school, great. If they have to take off 3 weeks to help an ailing parent, they should be able to pick up their work right as soon as they are done. If a medical emergency takes them out of commission for 5 days, they should be able to pick up right where they left off without the added stress of having to try to catch up with a schedule that serves the institution more than it serves them.