Designing for Flexibility in the Traditional University

Instructors in traditional universities are expected to respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse student body by making more flexibility available in their courses. Based on a systematic analysis of flexibility options, various tools to help instructors in the design of their course Web environments for more flexibility have been built into the CMS (Course Management System) used at the University of Twente since 1997. It is our experience that instructors use the tools to increase course flexibility with regard to the efficiency and logistics of participation but do relatively less with respect to increasing course flexibility when this involves new pedagogies.