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Learning Blocks

A Learning Block is the term STUREC© uses to describe an instructional setting where:
  • Students are independently working, and not necessarily on the same assignments.
  • Students may be working in different and/or multiple subjects over the life of the class.
  • Students may come and go according to their personal schedule as determined when they enrolled, but the same teacher or team is present for every minute the Learning Block is scheduled to meet.

Hmmm, sounds an awful lot like "Study Hall", doesn't it? However, unlike a true study hall, Learning Blocks allow students to earn academic credit by demonstrating mastery of approved curriculum under the supervision of a certified instructor. Since the students are engaged in self-paced learning the teacher's role is more of a facilitator than instructor.

In order to simplify the record-keeping for Learning Blocks, STUREC© uses two types of class setup records, which are permanently linked. The Block Header record is used for attendance (and Michigan FTE) and teacher scheduling purposes. Look to the Block Header record to determine:

    • Who is the teacher?
    • Where will the teacher be?
    • When will the teacher be there?

The Academic Component Record is used for enrollment and grade/transcript purposes. These records are used to not only determine who is signed up for what courses, but also to track students' grades.

Learning Block classes are easy to setup and use in STUREC©, but if not done exactly right, you will cause problems for yourself. On the bright side, as long as you follow a these simple rules when creating your Learning Blocks in STUREC©, you should have no problems:

  • Learning Block Section Numbers must be unique within any given enrollment period.
  • Configure the Header Records to reflect the total instructor availability.
  • Do not manually create class setup records for the academic components of Learning Blocks - STUREC© will create them as needed.
  • Attendance is recorded for the Learning Block, not the individual academic components.
  • Grades and credit are recorded only for the appropriate academic components, and not the Learning Block itself.

The Procedure:

Before creating a Learning Block Header Record, you must create appropriate entries in menu:5.1. Master Course Catalog, in the "0" (zero) department, which is reserved for Learning Blocks. Here are some sample entries:

  • 0101   Morning Block
  • 0102   Afternoon Block
  • 0103   Evening Block

Now, lets create a Learning Block Header Record:

  1. Go to menu:5.2.Class Setup Procedure, and specify the current enrollment period.
  2. Enter 0101 as the Course Number, and ZZ as the Section Number.
  3. Press A to add this new class.
  4. Press [Enter] to skip the Alternate Schedule code.
  5. Set the meeting days to MTWR, and press [Enter].
  6. Let's have this Block open from 9am to 11:30am.
  7. Enter an appropriate building and room.
  8. Enter the Instructor's name, and management group.
  9. Set the CREDIT value to what each individual Academic Component is worth.
  10. This is an EXCEPTION class, but not a TRADITIONAL one.
  11. STUREC© will enter the Section Number as the LIST CODE.
  12. Enter the correct number of teaching weeks, hours/meeting, total meetings, and total course hours (teacher availibility).
  13. Enter appropriate start and end dates, and maximum students.
  14. After verifying the enrollment period, and saving the new class, you are ready to enroll students.

To enroll students in the new Learning Block, follow this procedure:

  1. Go into menu:1.Student Enrollment Data, and call up a student.
  2. Type L (Local) C (Classes) to access their classes.
  3. Add class 0101-ZZ, our new Learning Block.
  4. After verifying the enrollment date, you may edit which days the student will attend, and the amount of time per scheduled meeting.
  5. After accepting the Learning Block class, you will be prompted to add Academic Components. You may use any valid course in your catalog, and STUREC© will automatically assign it the same section number as the Learning Block Header. After adding all the required Academic Components, simply press [Esc]. You should now see a check-mark next to each Academic Component. You may add as many Academic Components as appropriate for this student / block combination.

For example, if you might normally run a 1/2 credit HSC class for 60-65 hours per semester and you have a Learning Block set-up for four days a week at 3-1/2 hours per meeting for 18 weeks in the semester, that would be 252 hours per semester or about 63 hours per class. The student could be enrolled in four Academic Components in the Learning Block. The FTE Value for the block would be PUP:0.46, PAR:0.56 and each Academic Component would be worth 0.50 academic credit on their transcript.

Learning Block are NOT appropriate for ABE or ESL classes. By definition all of those classes are Exception classes, the ABE classes are Non-Traditional but, the ESL classes may be Traditional. 

** A note about section numbers for Learning Blocks.  They must be absolutely unique within the enrollment period. In our example we used ZZ. That means you cannot use ZZ again during this enrollment period for any class section, you may use ZA or Z1 or A1 or 88. It doesn't matter as long as you do not use it again this period.


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Copyright © 2004 MicroData Systems, Ltd.. All rights reserved.
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