Revolutionising the First Year Learning Experience with Collaborative, Systemic and Systematic Learning Design

Revolutionising the First Year Learning Experience with Collaborative, Systemic and Systematic Learning Design

Victoria University (VU) is a dual sector University with a mission of, ‘opportunity and success for any student from any background’ based in Western Melbourne. Since its establishment in 1916, the University has grown from a single technical school of 220 students, to an organisation with over 30,000 students across nine campuses.

With a culturally diverse population of students and staff from a wide range of backgrounds, VU has a powerful moral purpose to provide vocational and higher education that transforms the lives of students and the communities it serves. As a result the University is reinventing the first year of university, with an Australian-first program designed to provide additional support, encourage flexibility, and improve student engagement and retention.

Called the ‘Block Model’ the approach steps away from the traditional university structure of teaching four units at a time over a three or four-month semester, to teaching one unit at a time in intensive four-week blocks.

Ahead of the Learning Designer’s Summit 2019 we chat with Professor Ian Solomonides, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Students) at VU about the opportunities, benefits and challenges of transforming traditional learning structures and student experience through systematic learning design initiatives. 


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