VU Block Model research
Our VU Block Model® is built upon pedagogical research, focusing on student engagement, retention rates, academic performance and student satisfaction.
Research also suggests that faculty members view the block teaching model favourably. They especially appreciate the opportunity for more meaningful interactions with students and the chance to innovate in their teaching practices.
Beyond the ongoing evaluative studies of the VU Block Model previously and currently being undertaken, there are several areas of future research that VU and other academic institutions need to undertake to understand best practices in block teaching.
We continue to establish a strong collaborative partnership in researching the efficacy of the model as an innovation in a higher education delivery of study.
VU Block Model research publications
The VU Block Model was built on research that prioritises the use of evidence-based strategies that are student-focused, enhance learning outcomes, and foster critical thinking skills.
Since the implementation of the block model a number of both review and applied pieces of research have been completed, or are currently underway. The current key areas of research focus are connected to the following research domains: design, implementation, contrast, progression, and institutional.
Below are various publications from VU Block Model practitioners. These peer-reviewed findings include but are not limited to four key impact areas:
Block mode teaching & student experience
- Rebuilding the first year experience, one block at a time (PDF)
- Building on the VU Block foundations: Results from the inaugural first year cohort
- Introducing block mode to first-year university students: a natural experiment on satisfaction and performance
- Block mode study: Opportunities and challenges for a new generation of learners in an Australian university
- A Participatory Evaluation of Transforming First Year LLB Into Block Mode
- Students’ experiences of a first-year block model curriculum in higher education
- New kids on the Block: Results of a First Year College initiative
- Re-building the first year experience, one block at a time
- Staff Experiences in the Victoria University’s First Year College during the Transition to Block Mode Teaching (PDF)
Block mode teaching innovations & strategies
- The Impact of Three-Dimensional Printed Anatomical Models on First-Year Student Engagement in a Block Mode Delivery
- The VU way: The effect of intensive block mode teaching on repeating students
- Block mode delivery for studio design teaching in higher education
- A field trip in the first week at university: perspectives from our LLB students
- A combination of active learning strategies improves student academic outcomes in first-year paramedic bioscience
- Reimagining physiology education with interactive content developed in H5P
- Peer feedback as a strategy to foster feedback literacy in first-year allied health students
- Re-designing curriculum to enhance first-year student success: A case study
- Women’s work: Women leading women in a teaching-focussed first year college
- The Block: A catalyst for ongoing innovation
Curriculum development & learning approaches
- Block teaching and active learning improves academic outcomes for disadvantaged undergraduate groups (PDF)
- Does university prepare students for employment? Alignment between graduate attributes, accreditation requirements and industry employability criteria
- ‘We need one more hour solely based on anatomy… Give us anatomy!’: Early-year learner perceptions of anatomy within an integrated & case-based learning osteopathy curriculum
- Ignorance is risk: An exploratory investigation of Australian higher education students' perceptions of their education-employment pathways
- Professional learning for academics teaching first-year undergraduate students
- Twelve tips for developing feedback literacy in health professions learners
- The self-regulated learner, entry characteristics and academic performance of undergraduate nursing students transitioning to University
- Designing learning for intensive modes of study
Online learning & COVID-19 impacts
- Student Preference and Perceptions of Asynchronous Online Activities for First Year Allied Health Physiology Blended Block Units (PDF)
- Academics embrace disruption: lessons learned teaching first year law during a pandemic
- That synching feeling: An exploration of student engagement in an online environment
- First Year Student Perception and Experience of Online Topographical Anatomy Laboratory Classes using Zoom Technology during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- The impact of teaching from home during the covid-19 pandemic on the student evaluations of female academics
