How flexible do students prefer their learning to be?

The term 'flexible learning' has been used in the literature for decades in a rather general sense and has been closely associated with open and distance education. The notion of flexibility has been examined on various dimensions, such as admission criteria, students' control of learning time, commitment, content and tasks. There has recently been a tendency to use the term in a more defined or technical sense.One research focus has revolved around course design for effective learning in relation to the learner and dimensions of flexibility. This paper offers an updated review of the literature on the approaches to understanding flexible learning and the dimensions of flexibility involved. It also reports a preliminary study on distancelearners' preferences for flexibility in the courses in which they are engaged. In the study, a questionnaire was administered to 162 distance learners in Hong Kongto determine their preferred levels of flexibility on a range of dimensions. The results suggest that learners' preferences vary across dimensions. Based on the findings, it is argued that the diversity of learners' preferences and learning styles should be incorporated as an integral part of the mechanism for designing and reviewing study programmes.