{"id":16205,"date":"2020-09-04T14:00:05","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T20:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=16205"},"modified":"2020-09-04T14:43:33","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T20:43:33","slug":"block-plans-flexibility-proves-to-be-an-asset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2020\/09\/block-plans-flexibility-proves-to-be-an-asset\/","title":{"rendered":"Block Plan\u2019s Flexibility Proves to Be an Asset"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other Schools Looking at CC\u2019s Model<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When Professor of\u00a0Anthropology\u00a0Sarah Hautzinger started preparing her spring courses in January, she did not envision teaching a Block 8 course in which the major project would be in direct response to \u201cCOVID-19\u201d and \u201csocial distancing.\u201d Indeed, those words would not have appeared on her syllabus in January, February, or even mid-March. But into Block 7, when her vision for the upcoming 200-level anthropology course began taking shape, those concepts were foremost in her mind.<\/p>\n

Assistant Professor Amanda Minervini, who teaches in CC\u2019s Italian program, originally planned to teach a gastronomy class in Italy during Block 8. When the coronavirus pandemic forced her to make new plans, she created a course specifically with the pandemic and online format in mind \u2014 Storytelling During the Time of the Plague: Boccaccio and \u201cThe Decameron.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such is the flexibility of CC\u2019s Block Plan. Rather than being locked into a traditional 16-week semester course, Hautzinger and Minervini were able to quickly adapt their courses so the focus was immediately relevant to what was taking place across the country \u2014 and the world.<\/p>\n

That ability to react and adapt quickly is one of the advantages of the Block Plan, says Chad Schonewill \u201903<\/strong>, assistant director of solutions services. \u201cI mean, if there\u2019s any place geared to reacting quickly … that\u2019s bread and butter for the whole college, but certainly for IT,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The book Minervini based her class on, \u201cThe Decameron,\u201d by the 14th-century author Giovanni Boccaccio and set in 1348 Italy, is a collection of 100 stories told by a group of young adults sheltering in the Tuscan countryside having left Florence to escape the plague. It\u2019s a far cry from a gastronomy class in Italy, but completely relevant to the times, and Minervini credits the Block Plan for its nimbleness to adapt courses to changing circumstances. \u201cThere is no other system that would allow me to develop and teach a whole course in response to a rapidly changing situation like this,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Hautzinger\u2019s class, The Body \u2014 Anthropological Perspectives, which included a project called\u00a0\u201cSocial Bodies While Distanced,\u201d also was unique to this moment in time, something the CC anthropologist loves about the Block Plan. \u201cEvery block is its own story,\u201d says Hautzinger. \u201cThe Block Plan moves away from cookie-cutter courses. Each block is like a bead added to a string; the color and tone are idiosyncratic to that moment. The whole month is tied to that experience, to a single course and not multiple courses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adjustments Add Flexibility to Academic Calendar<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The block format is attracting interest from other colleges and universities because of the flexibility it offers, not only for course content, but also for scheduling.<\/p>\n

The flexibility of the Block Plan allowed CC to adjust its academic calendar for the 2020-21 academic year, broadening scheduling options for students and providing more value to them during this unpredictable year. The addition of a new January \u201cJ Block,\u201d in addition to half blocks and summer courses, means that students can take 10 blocks of courses for the usual 8-block tuition cost this academic year. Or students may choose to shift their academic year\u2019s start and end dates, while still meeting their requirements for the year. Currently, CC plans to offer 11 blocks, beginning in August and continuing through Summer 2021, with the ability to add a 12th block if needed.<\/p>\n

Former Provost Alan Townsend, in an \u201cAll Things Considered\u201d interview that aired on NPR in May, said, \u201cColleges that use [block scheduling] have the opportunity to change the way classes look every three weeks \u2014 since there are multiple start and stop points. With a semester, you have only a single start and then, often 16 weeks later, an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

This calendar, with multiple options, allows students to adjust their schedule as needed. In addition to the \u201cJ Block,\u201d CC is offering its usual credit and non-credit Half-Block classes, additional summer Half Blocks will be added, and a summer Block C may be added if needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent students can make different choices. That\u2019s really hard to do with a semester-based system, but the blocks allow us to do that,\u201d Townsend said in the NPR interview, which addressed \u201cSix Ways College Might Look Different in the Fall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Schools Looking at CC\u2019s Model<\/strong><\/h3>\n

CC has been contacted by various small liberal arts colleges, K-12 schools, and universities, including research universities and an Ivy League institution, seeking information about block teaching, says Traci Freeman, executive director of the Colket Center for Academic Excellence, and Jane Murphy, associate professor of history and\u00a0director of the Crown Faculty Center. Schools want to know the benefits and challenges of the block structure, how faculty should design courses for the intensive format, what works and what doesn\u2019t, and what challenges students face learning at an accelerated rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are interested in hearing how the Block Plan works and how to prepare faculty and students to teach and learn in a block system,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cThey are also interested in the impact of the block on student life, academic support, and advising.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy and Freeman co-organized the Institute on Block Plan and Intensive Teaching and Learning, originally scheduled to be offered in-person\u00a0this summer, in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Block Plan. With interest in block programming intensifying\u00a0because of COVID-19, Murphy and Freeman restructured elements from the original program and designed a remote version, offering two webinars in July with colleagues around the globe. Among those presenting at the July webinar were Freeman and Drew Cavin, director of the Office of Field Study. Freeman and a colleague from Cornell College \u2014 a private liberal arts college in Mount Vernon, Iowa, that has been teaching a Block Plan model since 1978 \u2014\u00a0 co-presented \u201cTeaching and Learning in Block Plan and Intensive Courses,\u201d and Cavin presented \u201cActive and Experiential Learning Online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Freeman, Murphy, and Mike Taber, professor of education, traveled to China last fall to consult with administrators and faculty at Duke Kunshan University, which has a seven-week term. This spring and early summer, Freeman and Murphy presented to several hundred faculty and administrators at multiple institutions, in addition to holding conversations and sharing materials with folks across the country.\u00a0Among their presentations was \u201cTeaching and Learning for Intensive, Time-shortened Courses,\u201d which Murphy and Freeman delivered in June to faculty and administrators at three small liberal arts colleges.<\/p>\n

Murphy says other schools are especially interested in hearing about introductory STEM and other content-heavy classes, reading, writing, and research.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe answer these questions honestly. Research would indicate that time-shortened courses are no better or worse for student learning than semester courses,\u201d says Freeman. \u201cWhat does seem to matter in a time-shortened course is the faculty member and their pedagogical choices. This said, the Block Plan does put certain pressures on the processes of teaching and learning, which faculty designing classes should take into account. And we make the point the Block Plan alone is not what makes CC special, but rather it is the teaching and learning culture of the institution that has developed alongside the Block Plan that matters most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy agrees. \u201cWe advise them that classroom climate, inclusive pedagogies, and meaningful relationships between students and student-to-faculty also is really essential to a successful block,\u201d she says. \u201cThese relationships with one another and the material motivate students to do the intense work we are asking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Other colleges and universities are looking to CC as a model during the pandemic, when maximum flexibility is needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1388,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-16205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-2020","tag-features"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1388"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16205"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16486,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16205\/revisions\/16486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}