ABSTRACT
For many higher education institutions the creation of a modular structure has presented both opportunities and challenges in offering students much more choice and flexibility in course provision. In the early stages of modularization the pattern of development seems to indicate a ‘unitizing’ of established courses with few opportunities for flexible learning (aside from ‘optional’ units). The change experienced, initially, is relatively minimal. In some ways this is understandable. Particular concerns of staff appear to centre on the dangers of establishing a fragmented learning framework in the creation of more flexibility. Among the issues for institutions which have pursued the modular route is the extent to which, in recognizing the development of cohort diversity, there can be an identifiable outcome integrity. For staff there are real concerns about learning development, progression and most important of all, coherence.
