Self-Paced Learning

Self-paced learning has been around for some time. It's used in correspondence courses and other situations. For reasons that seem self-evident,teaching as a group is most often the practice. It allows the teacher to leverage communication by addressing the class as if it was a single person. For a variety of reasons, it’s an efficient way to deliver teaching.

But, self-paced learning has somw advantages. It's obvious that everyone doesn't learn at the same speed. Some people are more gifted or have an internal aptitude, some people are more interested and some are just better students.

A fixed-pace, fixed-schedule system penalizes faster students and deprives slower students - those that need assistance - of getting the help they need.

One answer might be self-paced learning. A student masters one bit then move on to the next bit. The student can go fast, stop and study more or get help. You can have tests or just student attestations that he has completed the assigned material.

It may not work in every situation, but it certainly would work in many classes to speed up education and benefit students.

Research it. Try it. Use it.