The 'Block' Experience

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B Y A R V I N R A V I N D R A N Throughout my years of studying at Victoria University I have progressed through various models of teaching. When I first started in 2015, we had Trimesters which consisted of four units running together that lasted about 12 weeks. I found it incredibly challenging to keep up with work as I was not a very organised student and would have a large pile of assessments all due in the same week.

After struggling for a couple of years I had the opportunity to start again in 2019 in a new course which was when I found out about the Block Model at Victoria University. The model is a fourweek block that allows students to focus on one unit at a time rather than having four units at once. However, it was more intensive as in most units there would be weekly assessments and an exam.

Personally, I had been craving to start my higher education journey again, and my time off had changed my perspective and allowed me to mature. The Block Model was one of the best aspects of university as it allowed me to focus on a unit and complete it before I had to think about another. I started achieving higher grades and was eventually able to transfer into my dream course in 2020. Due to COVID, everything had shifted to online learning which made it harder to adapt personally. Since I returned to University, I was more invested in classes and got more involved than I had done previously. However, when we transitioned to online learning, I felt less involved and at times falling back to old habits of not turning up to classes. Online learning was difficult but as I became aware that it was likely going to last a while, I decided to ensure that I would make the most of it.

There were many small things that I personally did to make the most out of Online learning in 2020. The first being joining the Law Chat and having groups for each unit that I was enrolled in. This allowed me to engage with other students who gave me lots of support throughout the year. Another crucial aspect is speaking up and if you are not comfortable emailing your lecturers. It will always be daunting to speak up in front of 20 of my peers but most of the time others would ask the same questions that I was unwilling or nervous to ask.

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B Y A R V I N R A V I N D R A N The last aspect is attendance, even though I was not overly active in classes, just being in class allowed me to pick up certain hints that were provided in classes but not overtly evident in the lecture slides.

One of the most important classes is the revision class or the last class before exams as understanding the exam structure and the topics that are most relevant helped me assign time in studying and preparing notes.

One of the best parts of Block mode online is that I do not have to travel to and from the City and exams in St Albans. This saved me time and costs, furthermore, we were provided with PDF copies of textbooks which saved me buying hard copies.

Complacency was something that I had to fix during my online learning in 2020. I was achieving good results but started to slack off with critical exam preparations such as making thorough notes. It was a big wake up call when my grades were not meeting my expectations which allowed me to step back up and accomplish tasks that I would have done if we were in face-to-face learning. Overall, Block Model and Online learning together has been an experience that has helped me in many aspects as it made studying more independent but also taught me the importance of my peers and the help that we provide for each other can be critical at times.

" It will always be daunting to speak up in front of 20 of my peers but most of the time others would ask the same questions that I was unwilling or nervous to ask. "