Mastery learning: How can you as a teacher design and deliver a student-paced course?

Abstract

The course IT1001 at the NTNU uses mastery learning with a series of modules that each student can take according to their own pace and ambition level. The course has received positive response from the students. To what extent can a similar course design be appropriate for other courses in various disciplines? The design of IT1001 is used as an example, but different subjects can have different needs, and there are many design alternatives within what may be labelled "mastery learning". The article tries to address the following questions: (1) Why use mastery learning? (2) What choices does the teacher have concerning the design of a course with mastery learning? (3) What is a purposeful process when develo+ping such a course? As the article indicates, there are many possible course designs within the broad concept of mastery learning, and each teacher must find a design suitable for their course. It is important to find a design which can be handled within available time and resources both for students, teachers, and tech/admin staff, and it is a good idea to involve students already in an early stage of planning the course.