Modular course structures in higher education

Abstract

The extreme modular course is modified by the constraints of the timetable and the need for educational and professional coherence. The pure linear course is softened by a choice of options and various manifestations of continuous assessment. Modular courses are certainly student-centred in the sense that, with greater flexibility, the student has more responsibility for planning his own course, under guidance, than in a linear system. The price is paid, however, in that individual modules are less likely to fit a particular student’s needs and a student’s programme of modules is less likely to hang together as a coherent whole. This chapter investigates the middle area between an extreme modular and an extreme linear approach and considers the difference between a modular system restricted by educational, professional and administrative needs and a linear system softened by the choice of options.