UMass Flex

UMass Amherst Flex Summit Welcomes New Era of Flexible Education

More than 200 faculty, staff, students and community members gathered, both virtually and in the new Student Union Ballroom, for UMass Amherst’s inaugural Flex Summit held Tuesday, April 12, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The UMass Flex program, initiated by Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy in 2018, is an expansion of the university’s pioneering degree completion program, the University Without Walls, now celebrating its 50th year. It explores ways to present the entire university experience — from classes to career services — to students and instructors, both on and off campus.

Full program highlights can be found on the UMass Flex Summit site.

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UMass flex attendees
Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy delivered the opening remarks. 

The summit emphasized the additional choices students will experience through UMass Flex, which will allow them to take courses while participating in internships, service learning, international experiences, and other long-term off-campus opportunities.

For faculty and staff, UMass Flex will use adaptive, accessible technology solutions to engage students in active, deep learning and support multiple types of instruction and interaction.

“UMass Flex is not a substitute for traditional classroom learning: it’s an additive part of the process,” Subbaswamy said in his opening remarks. “It builds on our reputation for excellence in face-to-face teaching, and expands opportunities for learning, with students interacting, discussing and collaborating, both synchronously and asynchronously.”

Subbaswamy also noted the financial and strategic importance of UMass Flex as colleges in the Northeast face a dramatic decline in enrollment of college-age students.

“With UMass Flex, we are positioned at the leading edge of revolutionary change in higher education. We have the opportunity to continue our strong trajectory and become a national model for American research universities in a new era,” Subbaswamy said.

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UMass flex
David Madigan, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern University, delivered the morning keynote session. 

In his morning keynote presentation, David Madigan, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern University, shared what he called “inevitable trends that are going to change the nature of our learning environments.”

These include human-machine interactions to accomplish tasks, increased global connectiveness, immersive experiences with virtual and augmented reality technology, and changing notions of what “physical presence” means with standardizing the use of avatars as digital identities.

Personalized experiential learning experiences will be a priority for Northeastern going forward, he said, adding that “students are increasingly demanding their own path. They don’t want to do a cookie-cutter major, they want it highly personalized and they, and we, want it to be experiential throughout.”

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Brian beatty
The afternoon keynote was delivered virtually by Brian Beatty, associate professor of instructional technologies in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies, and Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University.

Brian Beatty, associate professor of instructional technologies in the Department of Equity, Leadership Studies, and Instructional Technologies at San Francisco State University, gave the afternoon keynote. Beatty, a pioneer of the HyFlex course design model for blended learning environments, touched upon the values and principles of the model, as well as its history and implementation.

He spoke to the need for changes in the academic mindset of designing coursework for students who attend class in person, and those who attend online are not treated the same or provided with the same learning outcomes.

The UMass Flex wordmark is shown on a laptop screen.

UMass Flex offers an education with revolutionary flexibility, building on UMass Amherst’s record of academic excellence and innovation to offer the best of both.