Block Delivery Pilot for Improving First-Year Success and Retention

Description

This project will pilot a transformative block model of delivering the first-year curricula of six undergraduate engineering programs, inspired by the successful VU Block at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. The block model reimagines how we teach first-year students at York. It is designed to improve first-year success and retention.

The block model is a unique way of learning where instead of juggling many courses, students complete one subject at a time (with an additional course running throughout the whole term). so that means, students take one class for 3.5 weeks, complete it, and start another course right after – allowing students to give their full focus to one topic at a time. The block model is also a fully-blended curriculum. This means students study on campus three days a week and study from home for two—the blended delivery gives students more flexibility (and they spend less time commuting)