Flex Learning Implementation Committee Releases Quarterly Report

The UMass Amherst Flexible Learning Implementation Committee released its first quarterly report on Monday, Feb. 28. The report documents the committee’s work as it plans and guides the implementation of flexible learning across campus and moves forward the recommendations made to the Chancellor by last year’s Flexible Learning Taskforce. 

Highlights of the committee’s work to date include the launch of a FlexLearning Fellows program through the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Instructional Design Engagement and Support Group. The inaugural FlexLearning Fellows (FLF) were announced this past November. The FLF program helps faculty and their departments identify types of flexible learning that work best for their field, their degree programs and their students. It also provides a faculty-centered learning community in which faculty can further develop the knowledge and skills needed for flexible pedagogy. 

The committee is also undertaking an instructional technology platform needs assessment; conducting estimates of revenue and expenses for expanded online offerings; reviewing conferencing, capture and storage needs for flexible instruction; and working with the Registrar’s Office to develop a coding framework that will allow courses to convey the learning modes. 

The committee is also creating a university-wide identity for flex learning and a faculty- and student-driven definition of what flexible learning will look like at UMass. The committee will launch a flex learning website later in the spring semester, in conjunction with an inaugural Flex Learning Summit, to take place on campus Tuesday, April 12, 2022. 

Each of these projects, as well as additional recommendations made in the 2021 Flexible Learning Taskforce Final Report, will continue to move forward throughout the spring semester. Additional information about the committee, its membership, and its work is available on the current Flexible Learning website. The committee’s next quarterly report will be released in May.