Final Report Pilot Project - Phase 1

interrelated factors play a role. These are not limited to the number ofworking hours, workload and brightness of the student. Also methodsof teaching and learning have to be taken into account. It might makequite a difference whether teaching is organised in large groups ormore individually: in other words, whether the majority of course unitsa student has to take are lectures or seminars, exercise courses andpractical exercises. Furthermore the number of students in a workinggroup might have its effect on the result of teaching, as probably theuse of a tutorial system has. Also the kind of assessment will play arole, as will the design and coherence of the curriculum (is it focusedon gradual progression in performance or does it make excessive orinsufficient demands in some phases?) as well as the quality of theorganisation and the availability of advanced teaching aids likecomputers. Furthermore, national and regional traditions have to betaken into consideration. For example, in some countries moststudents will live at home and need time to travel, while in others theylive on their own and have to look after themselves. In others againthey will be housed on campuses. All these factors bear, in somemeasure, on the results of the teaching/learning experience asmeasured in time (in terms of credits) and in performance (in terms oflevel of achievement). In an ideal situation the aims and objectives setwill be fully reached in the notional learning time. As said before,notional learning time is not the actual time that any particular learnerneeds to spend in order to achieve the learning outcomes. The actualtime will differ from student to student. In many cases the idealsituation will not exist.To summarise, we may consider the relevant elements which play arole under the following headings:—Diversity of traditions.—Curriculum design and context.—Coherence of curriculum.—Teaching and learning methods.—Methods of assessment and performance.—Organisation of teaching.—Ability and diligence of the student.—Financial support by public or private funds.The above mentioned factors make clear that it is not only impossible,but also undesirable, to identify one way of achieving desired learningoutcomes. Given the internal and external circumstances and conditionsthe right balance for every course programme has to be found in termsof the above mentioned factors, of which time is one. This mix will vary243