Session 1 - Strand 2

Abstract:

This session examines how block teaching can create new opportunities for curriculum development within the connected curriculum and how it can support an inclusive student experience. Through a focus on learning design planning, it considers how intentional and collaborative design approaches can lead to a different and more engaging learning experience. Drawing on the idea that “The block might not be the right answer for every institution, but it does ask the right questions” (Weldon & Konjarski, 2005, p. 3), the session explores how intensive course redesign can encourage innovation and open new ways of learning within higher education. Using the London campus as a working example, the session demonstrates how detailed learning design plans can help course teams to think beyond compliance and instead justify their design decisions with purpose. Staff worked within a learning and teaching community of practice, using collaborative digital tools that enabled a range of colleagues to contribute meaningfully to curriculum development. A further focus of the session challenges assumptions about assessment within block structures and considers how different rhythms of assessment can enhance future skills and knowledge development. It raises questions about where assessment as learning is positioned within a module and how assessment patterns influence the overall learning journey.