It has been a year since we introduced block teaching, and as such it’s an opportune moment to reflect on the successes and challenges of this innovative approach.
Wonkhe doesn’t usually carry single university case studies – but given the considerable interest in Block Teaching and its potential benefits, the team has encouraged us to communicate our learning from a year on the Block.
Block teaching condenses traditional semester-long courses into intensive, focused blocks of learning. The ethos is to give students more time to engage with their learning by studying one subject at a time, instead of several at once.
In theory it leads to faster feedback through more regular assessment, and a better study-life balance – as it avoids bunching of assessments at the end of the traditional year.
At DMU, each block runs for 7 weeks in total (6 weeks of teaching and 1 week for assessment). Each student has 2 hours lecture, 2 seminars (3 hours each) and 2 hours of asynchronous materials. This makes up a total of 8 contact hours per week per student.
