Victoria University staff, students and friends are invited to meet the global pioneer and force behind Block Model teaching and learning, Professor David Helfand.
Professor Helfand has reimagined 21st century tertiary education and his thinking inspired The VU Way, where the revolutionary Block Model is seeing pass and retention rates soar.
Chair of the Department of Astronomy at New York’s Columbia University and former President of Quest University, Canada, this is a rare opportunity to hear the international thought leader explain why VU’s Block Model is the ‘New Way To Do Uni.’
Event details
Just focus! The joys & challenges of teaching on the block
The modern human condition is defined by interruptions. The average 18-24-year-old consults his or her cellphone 86 times per day (5 times per waking hour); the top 10% (yes, many students) touch their phones 5400 times per day. This behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with learning. Carving out islands of tranquility in these hectic days and focusing on a single subject for weeks at a time is transformational.
Professor Helfand will recount the history of intensive, single-subject teaching, review the literature on its results, and describe the profound learning experiences that block teaching can produce, along with the operational advantages (and disadvantages) it provides.
Date: Tuesday, 11 June, 2019
Time: 6 - 7.30pm (arrive 5.30pm for refreshments)
Where: City Flinders Campus, Level 11, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne
