Presentation given at ALT-C 2021, 7th Sept 2021 Video available on You-Tube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_5N6uYyNbY&t=21s

1. Short and fat or long and thin?
The educational impact of the shape of the timetable
Moira Sarsfield
Imperial College London
🙋🏽♀️ Interact via YouTube (login required) @msars m.sarsfield@imperial.ac.uk
✍

2. Thinking about the timetable
• Big picture
• Considering formal education
• Terms / semesters
• Why do schools go back earlier in Scotland
than England?
• The timetable is based on various issues:
• Agricultural
• Practical
• Pedagogical?
TUBS, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

3. The shape of the termly timetable
Long thin modules Short fat modules
Three modules per term
• same content
• same credit value
• same face-to-face hours and personal study hours
• different shape

4. Your experience as a student
• Think about current formal learning you are
undertaking or formal learning you have
completed in the past …
• How was the termly timetable arranged?
 Long thin modules
• How many modules at once?
 Short fat modules
• How many weeks per module?
 Some other approach
• What was this?

5. History timetable changes – practicality
• System of semesters originated when education was formalised
• 1800s – summer sessions introduced for catch-up/stretch
• 1960s – intersessions introduced
• 1990s – alternative length sessions added to improve student choice
• Most studies show that blocked delivery results in equivalent or
better attainment vs traditional approach
Key reviews: Scott and Conrad (1992), Davies (2006), Tatum (2010), Baun (2015)
• Large-scale studies in institutions delivering equivalent modules over
different durations showed better results for shorter courses
For example, Austin and Gustafson (2006), Logan and Geltner (2000)

6. History of timetable changes – pedagogy 1
• From 1970s – some small liberal arts
colleges introduced a block plan – e.g.
Colorado College, Cornell College,
Tusculum College.
“Faculty believed that the compressed format of classes
would provide students with deep learning, conceptual
understanding and meaning-making” (Freeman,
Fedesco & Cavin, 2020)
• Extensive ongoing review with positive
results and high satisfaction from staff
and students in general
https://www.coloradocollege.edu/basics/blockplan/

7. History of timetable changes – pedagogy 2
• 2020s –
institution-wide
change to blocked
delivery at Victoria
University in
Australia
Image from (Loton et al., 2020)

8. History of timetable changes – pedagogy 2
• 2020s – aim of change at Victoria University is to support students
from diverse backgrounds
“the focus is to reduce the complexity of study and increase opportunities for success.”
(Samarawickrema & Cleary, 2021)
• Analysis of block v traditional teaching after 1 year showed:
• A significant increase in marks
• Largest impact on “younger, non-English-speaking background, less prior
education, lower academic performance and socio-economic status students”
• A small increase in satisfaction with teaching
• A decrease in course satisfaction – mitigated when assessments had been
changed for the blocked module
• Performance (n=86,545), satisfaction (n=15,989) (Loton et al., 2020)

9. Traditional or blocked?
• Mostly either approach will work – providing the pedagogic approach
aligns with delivery mode
• Different strengths and weaknesses, e.g. students are positive about social
aspects of learning and motivation in block mode (Lee and Horsfall, 2010)
• Different requirements for teaching, learning and assessment (Walsh, Sanders
and Gadgil, 2019; Dixon and O’Gorman, 2020)
• For a new delivery mode, consider benefits and drawbacks
• Think about module design in terms of teaching approach, admin processes,
student guidance, assessment…

10. Share your thoughts and experience
Please post benefits and drawbacks of each delivery mode to the Padlet
.
https://padlet.com/msars/TimetableShape
From the point of view of:
🙋🏽♀️Interact via YouTube (login required)
• students
• teaching-focused staff
• research-focused staff
• administrators
• different disciplines
• different types of
programme
• different institutions

11. Summing up
Short and fat or long and thin?
The educational impact of the shape of the timetable
Moira Sarsfield
Imperial College London
🙋🏽♀️https://padlet.com/msars/TimetableShape @msars #resources @msars 🏽
m.sarsfield@imperial.ac.uk
✍

12. References
• Austin, A. M., & Gustafson, L. (2006). Impact of course length on student learning. Journal of Economics and Finance
Education, 5(1), 26-37.
• Baun, J. T. (2015). Concentrated learning: A linear approach to knowledge for higher education. In Global innovation of
teaching and learning in higher education (pp. 13-26). Springer, Cham.
• Davies, W. M. (2006). Intensive teaching formats: A review. Issues in Educational Research, 16(1), 1-20.
• Dixon, L., & O’Gorman, V. (2020). ‘Block teaching’– exploring lecturers’ perceptions of intensive modes of delivery in the
context of undergraduate education. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(5), 583-595.
• Freeman, T., Fedesco, H., & Cavin, D. (2020, September). Teaching Compressed Courses: The Block Plan at Colorado College.
In The National Teaching & Learning Forum, 29( 5), 8-9.
• Lee, N., & Horsfall, B. (2010). Accelerated learning: A study of faculty and student experiences. Innovative Higher
Education, 35(3), 191-202.
• Logan, R., & Geltner, P. (2000). The influence of session length on student success. Report for Santa Monica College. Available
from: https://www.sfasu.edu/docs/envisioned/the-influence-of-session-length-on-student_success.pdf.
• Loton, D., Stein, C., Parker, P., & Weaven, M. (2020). Introducing block mode to first-year university students: a natural
experiment on satisfaction and performance. Studies in Higher Education, 1-24.
• Samarawickrema, G., & Cleary, K. (2021). Block Mode Study: Opportunities and Challenges for a New Generation of Learners in
an Australian University. Student Success, 12(1), 13-23.
• Scott, P. A., & Conrad, C. F. (1992). A Critique of Intensive Courses and an Agenda for Research. In J. C. Smart (Ed.) Higher
Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, Volume 8 (pp. 411-459). Agathon Press, New York.
• Tatum, B. C. (2010). Accelerated education: Learning on the fast track. Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching, 3(1), 34-50.
• Walsh, K. P., Sanders, M., & Gadgil, S. (2019). Equivalent but not the Same: Teaching and Learning in Full Semester and
Condensed Summer Courses. College Teaching, 67(2), 138-149.