Re-designing Curriculum to Enhance First-Year Student Success: A Case Study

McCluskey, Trish; Samarawickrema, Gayani; Smallridge, Andrew J.; Dempsey, Naomi

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-80045-1_12

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Evidence suggests that students have demonstrated improved performance in shorter intensive courses (Austin & Gustafson, 2006), which is consistent with the findings at Victoria University (McCluskey et al, 2020). These outcomes indicate that there has been no compromise in academic standards.…”

Section: Creating Conditions For a Transformative Pedagogysupporting

confidence: 63%

Teaching on the Block

Muscat,

Thomas

2023

JBILT

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This article presents case writing research that explored the pedagogical benefits of teaching in Block mode through a university educators’ perspective. The authors of this research examined their tertiary teaching experiences of Block Model delivery. Through two teacher-authored cases, the researchers engaged in a collaborative practitioner research framework to critically reflect on their own teaching experiences in Block Model to uncover and examine the patterns occurring across iterations of various deliveries. The aim of the research is to examine approaches to teaching and learning in Block and unearth the pedagogical changes required to effectively teach in Block. The aim of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of Block delivery from a teacher perspective and examine the benefits to teaching and learning experienced through Block model delivery. The findings suggest that the systematic foundation of Block delivery, coupled with the immersive nature of Block led to a range of pedagogical benefits such as an enhanced sense of belonging, increased notions of student agency and it promoted scaffolded instruction. The hope is that this classroom-focused research will provide the basis for further research and refinement of Block teaching and learning.

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Section: Creating Conditions For a Transformative Pedagogysupporting

confidence: 63%

Teaching on the Block

Muscat,

Thomas

2023

JBILT

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“…Each unit has approximately 900 students enrolled per semester. Compared with all the other universities in Victoria, Australia, the unique demographic of VU represents the highest proportion of students from non-English-speaking backgrounds and the second highest proportion of students coming from a low socioeconomic status or being the first in their family to attend university [27][28][29]. Indeed, the discipline and content-heavy nature of anatomy and physiology subjects were demanding for both the students (to engage with the content in a time-intensive block model) and the teachers (to cater to a culturally and linguistically diverse student cohort), even prior to the onset of the global pandemic.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

ZOOMED IN, ZONED OUT: Academic Self-Reports on the Challenges and Benefits of Online Teaching in Higher Education

Rajaraman,

Klein,

Sinnayah

2024

Education Sciences

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Online teaching in higher education has become increasingly prevalent, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. While teaching online offers many benefits, it also presents several challenges. Sharing one’s lived experiences as an educator is essential to improving one’s teaching skills and enhancing the learning outcomes for the students. Here, we present our personal and lived experiences as higher education teachers in the VU Block Model® First Year College at Victoria University. In our allied health science subjects, we have identified the key challenges in online teaching, such as technology and infrastructure, student engagement and interaction, adapting learning styles, assessment integrity, digital literacy, social-isolation-related mental health, and workload. The benefits included flexibility, innovative teaching tools, personalised learning and accessibility, and the continuity of teaching and learning despite the pandemic disruption. Overcoming these challenges requires careful planning, effective pedagogy, and ongoing support for both teachers and students. The benefits of online teaching can be maximised when its limitations are acknowledged and addressed appropriately via sharing teacher’s personal narratives as an effective mode of communication.

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“…The VU Block model enables students to build a sense of belonging, receive timely, regular feedback, engage in blended, active and collaborative learning with self-contained assessment and not be burdened by other competing unit demands typical of the traditional university experience (McCluskey et al, 2019). In 2020, the VU inaugural first year block model cohort led to improvements in retention and results (McCluskey et al, 2020).…”

Section: The Vu Block Model and Learner Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each unit has approximately 800 students enrolled per semester. A distinguishing feature of VU's student population is that it features the highest proportion of students who come from non-English speaking backgrounds (NESB), the second highest proportion of students arriving from a low socioeconomic status (SES) or are the first in their family (FIF) to attend university, compared with all other Universities in Victoria (McCluskey et al, 2020;Messinis & Sheehan, 2015;Samarawickrema & Cleary, 2021). Given the typical demographic of the cohort in this study includes students with a low SES and a limited Science background, we wanted to scaffold students with the provision of online, out-of-class asynchronous activities and resources.…”

Section: The Vu Block Model and Learner Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Student Preference and Perceptions of Asynchronous Online Activities for First Year Allied Health Physiology Blended Block Units

Gauci,

Edwards,

Rajaraman

et al. 2023

JBILT

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Foundational knowledge in Anatomy and Physiology is integral to all health courses, however, first year students often find the volume and complexity of the concepts challenging (Vitali et al., 2020). Furthermore, our typical demographic student profile comes from a low socioeconomic status with a limited Science background. To help students with their study, health science education literature supports the importance of self-directed study including the use of technology-enhanced learning in blended approaches to learning (Gagnon et al., 2013; Geng et al., 2019). In 2018, Victoria University (VU) launched the VU Block model (where students study only one unit at a time for 4 weeks, for all first year units, (McCluskey et al., 2019). Our design included a blended approach, combining pre and post class technology-enhanced online learning activities and resources supported by face-to-face workshops involving small team based guided inquiry learning with no lectures. Within a block, blended learning environment, little is known about which online learning activities and resources students prefer and engage with. We utilised surveys, student grades and learning analytics to investigate student outcomes including preference for and participation in learning activities. Studentspreferred and engaged the most with the asynchronous online formative quizzes and H5P learning interactives. Both the number of H5P’s and quizzes utilised by students were significant (p=.001, p=.001) in predicting final grade (F(2,1245) = 102.19, R2 =.141, p=<.001). Student satisfaction data via the institutional unit evaluation survey was high for our traditional 12- week blended design and reduced for the intensive block mode setting. We suggest that providing students with a variety of asynchronous online learning activities and resources supported the blended design for block.

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Re-designing Curriculum to Enhance First-Year Student Success: A Case Study

Cited by 5 publications

References 18 publications

Teaching on the Block

Teaching on the Block

ZOOMED IN, ZONED OUT: Academic Self-Reports on the Challenges and Benefits of Online Teaching in Higher Education

Student Preference and Perceptions of Asynchronous Online Activities for First Year Allied Health Physiology Blended Block Units

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