This also provides flexibility and convenience in studying. It is particularly well suited to mature students who have a well developed sense of direction in their learning. Younger students may require more structured classes combined together with resource-based learning. The taught session then consists of students comparing their understandings, looking at their different ways of organising their notes and coming up with a list of main points put forward by the paper or a set of questions and issues to be dealt with by the lecturer. This method helps to encourage independent learning by having students work in tutorless groups or with more senior students.
Students can run their own seminars with leadership rotated amongst small groups.
The lecturer's role is to provide clear guidelines to the student leaders about what the seminars should achieve and what sort of learning strategies to use. Group leadership will require students to express their ideas in order to organise them for their audience. This process creates a deeper level of understanding because one of the most effective ways of learning something is to examine each other's interpretation, agree on a line of argument and how to present that argument and then teach it to someone else. Learning contracts Learning contracts encourage independence by enabling students to negotiate their own study with the lecturer and together reaching an agreement about how and what is to be assessed. The contract can be written on a pro forma and include objectives, resources, experiences, evidence and criteria for successful completion.