Introduction

The purpose of this report is to represent the opinions of the current students at Aquinas College regarding the potential implementation of the block schedule model. As such this report is also intended to provide the Aquinas College Faculty Assembly with detailed information regarding the current student opinion for their consideration in the voting process.

The data for this analysis was collected through a survey conducted by the Aquinas College Student Senate. The purpose of this survey was to provide all current students with the opportunity to share their opinion regarding a potential transition to the block schedule. The survey was conducted through Google Forms of which a PDF version can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zc2jCfcQULBQ1wMtkgtRSe58VidrBaMt/view?usp=drive_link

The Block Model Opinion Survey was released to the entire student body via email on February 8th, 2024 at 8:37 AM and closed on February 27th, 2024 at 11:59 PM. 375 responses were received.

Only 24 hours after the official release of the survey, 267 responses had been recorded.

Disclosures

During the first few hours of the official release of the survey, respondents were able to view the full results summary after completing the survey. This was not by design and was not caught in the trial phase which contained 56 respondents prior to the official release of the survey. This issue was corrected at 11:55 AM on February 8th, 2024 and there were approximately 175 responses at the time.

Of the 375 total responses received, 5 were excluded in the analysis of the results. This was due to 2 respondents not being current students1, and 3 responses that clearly indicated the respondents were sharing their opinion regarding the 4-Credit Model rather than the block schedule2. Additionally, there was one response of which one answer was altered, with expressed permission from the respondent3.

Data Set

The data set used in this report has been modified from the raw data that was extracted from the survey. Most modifications were done manually in Excel.

First, the Major/Area of Study responses were fixed to correlate exactly with one of the majors as provided by the Aquinas College Registrar. The additional variable Other Area of Study was created to capture additional responses when respondents listed more than one area of study.

For the questions that were included in both the Traditional Student section of the survey and the Block Model Student section of the survey, responses were combined under the same variable from the two separate variables the raw data provided.

For the two questions “Please rate how effective you think the block model would be to provide an education that prepares you for your career” and “Please rate how effective you think the traditional schedule would be to provide an education that prepares you for your career” the scale values were reversed between the Traditional Student section and Block Model Student section of the survey4. The Block Model student responses were manually changed, with extreme care, to correspond with the scale provided in the Traditional Student section. The scale values 1 through 5 for these two questions, in addition to the “How would you rate your understanding of the block schedule?” question, were then replaced with their corresponding label value through RStudio5.

A similar method was applied for the question “Should Aquinas College transition to the block schedule, would you continue your studies at AQ?”, however this question was intended for current Freshmen and Sophomores only - and was stated as such. Thus the responses to this question from respondents who indicated they were not a Freshman or Sophomore were removed from the analysis. We recognize that in this process we may have also removed the responses of those who are not a Freshman or Sophomore but will still be a student by Fall 2025.

Any questions on the survey where respondents had the opportunity to share their explanations, comments, concerns, etc. were removed from the data set for the privacy of the respondents. Common concerns were then summarized in the Concern variables, with a value of 1 if the respondent indicated they had the corresponding concern and a value of 0 if they did not. This was done manually in Excel by the Student Senate Executive Board.

Finally, the time stamps and email addresses were removed to preserve the anonymity of the respondents.

The data set contains 370 observations and 23 variables. Variable names were also simplified from their corresponding questions on the survey for ease in the analysis.

The full data set used in this report can be viewed below:

Student Demographics of Survey Respondents

The variables Class Status, Major/Area of Study in addition to Other Area of Study, and Student Athlete provide insights into the student demographics of survey respondents. They correspond to the first three questions listed on the survey, respectively.

Class Status

Class status was provided by respondents according to their total credits excluding the Spring 2024 semester.

Of the 370 survey respondents, 25.9% indicated they are a Freshman, 30.8% indicated Sophomore, 20.0% indicated Junior, 21.6% indicated Senior, and 1.6% indicated Fifth-Year Senior.

Areas of Study

The following data set shows the total number of respondents within each academic area as well as the total number of students at Aquinas College within each academic area, corresponding with data provided by the Aquinas College Registrar. The percent of students within each academic area represented in the survey responses is also provided in this data set.

The Major/Area of Study and the Other Area of Study variables were used to group respondents into one of more of the academic areas. In the case where a respondent listed more than one area of study, the first two areas of study listed in the response were used. Grouping into academic areas was determined as per the Aquinas College website6.

The following visualization summarizes the data set depicted above, with the bar corresponding to the number of survey respondents within each academic area and the point corresponding to the total number of students within each academic area as provided by the Aquinas College Registrar7

Education was the academic area with the largest survey representation at 51.6%, followed by STEM with 50.5% of students represented and Global Studies with exactly 50%. Students who are undecided in their major were the least represented at 8.5%, followed by nursing students with 11.8% represented in the survey responses.

Student Athletes

Respondents were asked whether or not they were a student athlete in consideration of the large student athlete population at Aquinas College. Two-thirds of the survey respondents indicated they were a student athlete.

Block Model Participation

Additionally, survey respondents were asked “Have you ever participated in a block model?”. There were three answer options: “No”, “Yes, but not at Aquinas,” and “Yes, at Aquinas specifically.” If one of the first two answers were selected, survey respondents were brought to the Traditional Student section of the survey, and if the third answer was selected survey respondents were brought to the Block Model Student section of the survey.

The purpose of this question was to enable specific questioning for Block Model Pilot students, but also to capture the students who have participated in a variation of a block schedule in high school and/or middle school. While one can attest that college classes and high school classes are very different, there are comparative measures. For example, the traditional schedule with four classes is similar to a high school schedule with eight classes. Thus, the 4X4 block variation of four classes over four quarters of the school year (or two per semester) is the equivalent to the block model used at Aquinas College, being the 1x4 Block or the one-class-at-a-time model.

Other variations of a block model consist of an A/B or Alternating Days Schedule, where students would take three to four classes a day for 80-100 minutes. This schedule allows for an entirely different schedule between an ‘A’ day and a ‘B’ day over the course of a semester. The next variation commonly found is the trimester schedule. Trimesters split the academic year into three semesters instead of two like a traditional schedule. Student take five classes every day for the entirety of the trimester. Finally, the 75-75-30 Block Schedule is another option for K-12 Public or Private Education. This schedule consists of two 75-day blocks and one 30-day intensive block. Students would take three classes during the 75-day block, and the 30-day block can be two 15-day classes or one 30-day class depending on the school8.

The answer option “Yes, but not at Aquinas” was thus included as, although there may be differences between the Aquinas College Block Model and the High School/Middle School Block Models, this still may impact a survey respondent’s opinion of the block model.

Of the 370 survey respondents, 28 indicated that they were a Block Model Pilot student and 342 indicated they were a Traditional Schedule student. 34 of the Traditional Schedule students indicated that they had participated in a block model, but not at Aquinas College.

Opinion Poll

Before proceeding with the opinion poll results, the volunteer bias must be addressed. It can be reasonably assumed that the respondents of the Block Model Opinion Survey consist of the students that felt strongly for or against the potential implementation of the block schedule at Aquinas College. Thus, these results are presented in such a way that aims to represent the respondents of this survey specifically - which in itself represents a large amount of the student body at Aquinas College - rather than in such a way that attempts to extrapolate the results to the entire student body.

To gauge the opinion of survey respondents regarding the block model, survey respondents were asked: “Based off your current understanding of the block model, would you support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College?”

Current Understanding of the Block Model

As shown above, the block model opinion question was stated in such a way that requires respondents to base their opinion off their current understanding of the block model.

Additionally, the survey description stated: “By participating in this survey you are confirming that you have educated yourself on the purpose, potential benefits and drawbacks, and implications of the block model to the best of your ability. However, you may have remaining questions or uncertainties regarding the block model. We acknowledge that this survey is based off your current understanding, and we appreciate your time in sharing your opinion.”

In the email sent to all students to officially release the Block Model Opinion Survey to the student body, there was also a link to a Google Drive containing information on the block model provided by the Student Senate Executive Board9.

As such, this survey relies on the self-verification of survey respondents in their current understanding of the block model. Survey respondents were asked: “How would you rate your understanding of the block schedule?”

The following visualization depicts the distribution of how survey respondents rated their understanding of the block schedule.

81.6% of survey respondents rated their understanding of the block schedule as “Good” or “Excellent”. Conversely, only 4.3% of respondents indicated that they had “No” or “Little” understanding of the block schedule.

The Student Senate Executive Board, prior to this analysis, had hypothesized that a majority of survey respondents would rate their understanding of the block schedule on the lower end of the scale, primarily corresponding to a “Little” or “Decent” understanding. This hypothesis was formed based on the observation that there has been limited information communicated to the student body regarding how the block model may be feasibly implemented at Aquinas College. However, we can see from this distribution that the results contradict this hypothesis.

There are multiple potential explanations as to why the survey results contradict this hypothesis. First, considering that 62 survey respondents indicated that they have participated in a block model, it can be reasonably assumed that there were responses based off personal experiences.

Second, we may consider the fact that the implementation of the block model at Aquinas College has been a heavily discussed and monitored topic amongst the Aquinas College community. This includes the student body, and as such students have had ample opportunity to consider the implications of the block model, and to imagine their experience within this academic model, based off the information they had access to. This could reasonably lead to survey respondents having a perceived greater understanding of the block model.

Third, a social desirability bias may have influenced survey respondents in indicating they possess a greater understanding of the block model. It can be reasonably assumed that students, in sharing their opinion to be represented to Faculty Assembly, would not want to risk their opinion being undervalued or invalidated. To indicate that they possess a poorer understanding of the block model may have been perceived as such a risk by survey respondents, and thus may have led them to indicate that they possess a greater understanding of the block model.

This is not to question the accuracy or honesty in the survey respondents’ ratings of their understanding of the block model - rather, it must be stated that the opinions of survey respondents are valid and should be valued regardless of their understanding of the block model. This is especially true for the underclassmen, as this is their current opinion regarding the future of their education.

Total Survey Respondents

The following visualization depicts the Block Model Opinion Poll results of the total survey respondents.

Of the 370 total responses included in this analysis, 35 students indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

335 students indicated they would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College. Once again, while this cannot be extrapolated to represent the entire student body at Aquinas College, this is still a significant amount of students of which we can conclude are not in favor of the block model.

Underclassmen

210 survey respondents indicated they were either a Freshmen or Sophomore at Aquinas College. Thus 56.8% of students who responded to this survey may be significantly impacted should Aquinas College transition to the block schedule.

As shown in the visualization below, 13.3% of these students indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College, while 86.7% of these students indicated they would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

Upperclassmen

160 survey respondents indicated they were either a Junior, Senior, or Fifth-Year Senior at Aquinas College. This consists of 43.2% of all survey respondents.

As depicted below, 4.4% of these students indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College, while 95.6% of these students indicated they would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

Academic Area

The following visualization depicts the opinion poll by academic area.

Of the survey respondents that indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College, includes 9.8% of STEM students, 10.5% of Business students, 9.4% of Social Sciences students, 13.5% of Fine Arts and Humanities students, 10.9% of Education students, 0% of Kinesiology students, 6.3% of Global Studies students, 0% of Nursing students, and 25.0% of Undecided students.

We previously showed that the academic areas Education, STEM, and Global Studies had 50% or more of their students represented in the survey respondents. Thus we can safely conclude that for these areas of study, at least 46.0%, 45.5%, and 46.9% of students, respectively, would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

Block Model Participation

The following visualization depicts the opinion poll by block model participation.

Out of the 35 survey respondents that indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College, 57.1% indicated that they were Traditional Schedule students and 42.9% indicated that they were Block Model Pilot students.

We can see that there were a portion of Block Model Pilot survey respondents who indicated no in support of an eventual transition to the block schedule as well. We can further analyze the responses of the Block Model Pilot students specifically to better understand their opinions.

Block Pilot Students

Of the 370 survey respondents, 28 indicated that they were a student within the Block Model Pilot at Aquinas College.

Opinion Poll

The following visualization depicts the opinion poll for Block Model Pilot students specifically.

15 Block Model Pilot students indicated that indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

Explanations and reasoning provided regarding the answers of these respondents included better focus, consistent schedules, and less stress.

Of these students, 5 listed concerns regarding the potential implementation of the block schedule, and 5 indicated that they think there are benefits to the traditional schedule.

13 Block Model Pilot students indicated that they would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

Explanations and reasoning provided regarding the answers of these respondents included difficulty learning and retaining information, desiring more realistic and attainable schedules that prepare one for their career and/or graduate school, and concerns regarding more intense courses.

Of these students, 4 indicated that they have enjoyed participating in the block model or otherwise indicated that they think the block model works well for incoming freshmen and general education courses.

Continuing Studies Within the Block Model

In the Block Model student section of the survey, respondents were asked: “Given the choice, would you prefer to continue your studies in the block model for your sophomore year?”

The following visualization depicts the distribution of the answers to this question.

13 Block Model Pilot students indicated that indicated that yes, they would prefer to continue their studies in the block model for their sophomore year.

15 Block Model Pilot students indicated that they would not prefer to continue their studies in the block model for their sophomore year.

The 13 Block Model Pilot students that indicated they would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule all selected “No” in response to this question. Thus 2 students who indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule also selected “No” in response to this question.

Explanations and reasoning provided regarding the answers of these 2 respondents indicated that they were concerned about more difficult courses, especially those pertaining to their major.

Opinion Vote Yes

As previously stated, the purpose of this report is to represent the opinions of current students at Aquinas College regarding the potential implementation of the block schedule model. Thus we will further analyze the responses that indicated yes, they would, and no, they would not, support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College, respectively.

The following data set contains the 35 responses that indicated yes.

This data set will be used for the following three visualizations, which will depict how these students responded to the following questions: “Please rate how effective you think the block model would be to provide an education that prepares you for your career”; “Please rate how effective you think the traditional schedule is for providing an education that prepares you for your career.”; and “Please rate how effective you think the block model would be to provide an education that prepares you for graduate school and/or continuing education.”

Career Preparation - Block & Traditional Schedule Ratings

Survey respondents were asked to rate how effective they think both the block and traditional schedules are, or would be, for providing an education that prepares them for their career. These questions were asked in consideration that many students attend college for this purpose.

The following distributions depict how survey respondents - who indicated yes in support of the block model - rated the effectiveness of the two schedule models for career preparation.

This visualization shows that 54.3% of these respondents rated the block schedule as being mostly or very effective for career preparation. Conversely, 17.1% rated the block schedule as being not effective or slightly effective.

The next visualization, which depicts how these respondents rated the traditional schedule, shows a slightly more neutral distribution:

We can see between these two visualizations that the distributions of ratings are very similar. One noticeable difference is that eight responses indicated the block schedule would be “Very Effective” for career preparation, while only three responses indicated the same for the traditional schedule.

These eight survey respondents consist of four traditional schedule students and four block model pilot students. The four traditional schedule students indicated in their explanations that the block schedule would allow for better time management and scheduling, with one student specifying that it would prepare oneself for the consistent and quick deadlines that they may experience with their work in their career. Additionally, the four block model pilot students indicated in their explanations that the block model allows for more focus with course material, which could be connected to confidence in career preparation. None of these eight survey respondents were among the three who indicated the traditional schedule would be “Very Effective” for career preparation.

Further Education Preparation - Block Schedule Rating

Survey respondents were asked to rate how effective they think the block schedule would be to provide an education that prepares them for graduate school and/or continuing education.

In the following visualization there is an N/A variable depicted. This is because respondents that indicated they were currently participating in the block model pilot were not asked this question. This was in consideration of the difficulty a first-year college student may have in answering this question, as perceived and determined by the Student Senate Executive Board.

Traditional first-year students were asked this question, however, as the Google Form response formatting did not easily allow for this exclusion.

We can see from this visualization that the effectiveness ratings are distributed fairly evenly from “Not Effective” to “Very Effective,” with the neutral “Somewhat Effective” rating being the most common response. Thus, especially in comparison to the previous two visualizations, these survey respondents have a varying opinion on how effective the block schedule would be for further education preparation.

Opinion Vote No

We will now analyze the responses of the survey respondents that indicated no in support of an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

The following data set contains the 335 responses that indicated no.

With this data set, we will analyze the same three question responses as previously done for the survey respondents that indicated yes in favor of the block model.

Career Preparation - Block & Traditional Schedule Ratings

As previously stated, these visualizations summarize the responses to the questions: “Please rate how effective you think the block model would be to provide an education that prepares you for your career” and “Please rate how effective you think the traditional schedule is for providing an education that prepares you for your career.”

First, we will analyze the effectiveness rating distribution for the block model:

This visualization depicts a very different distribution than that of the survey respondents who were in favor of the block model. 61.5% of the respondents who indicated they were not in favor of the block model rated the block model as being “Not Effective” for career preparation. None of these 335 respondents indicated that the block model would be “Very Effective” for career preparation, and 5 indicated it would be “Mostly Effective.”

We will now analyze the same effectiveness rating distribution for the traditional model:

50.4% respondents indicated the traditional schedule is “Very Effective” for career preparation, and another 44.5% indicated “Mostly Effective.” Together this accounts for 318 out of the 335 respondents within the “Opinion Vote No” data set.

When also accounting for the survey respondents who indicated that they are in favor of the block model, there were 335 survey respondents total that rated our current academic model as mostly or very effective for career preparation.

Further Education Preparation - Block Schedule Rating

Finally, for the survey respondents that indicated that they are not in favor of the block model, we will analyze the effectiveness rating distribution for the block model in regards to further education preparation. As previously stated, this corresponds to the question: “Please rate how effective you think the block model would be to provide an education that prepares you for graduate school and/or continuing education.”

We can see that this distribution is slightly more polarized in comparison to the career preparation effectiveness rating distribution. Removing the 16 “NA” responses from the total, this visualization indicates that 68.3% of these respondents rated the block model as being “Not Effective” for further education preparation. None of these 319 respondents indicated that the block model would be “Very Effective” for career preparation, and 2 indicated that it would be “Mostly Effective.”

There appears to be a pattern between the three previous visualizations, in which respondents favorably rated the effectiveness of the traditional schedule for career preparation, and unfavorably rated the effectiveness of the block schedule for career and further education preparation. We can establish the validity of this observation by further investigating the correlation between the effectiveness ratings of individual survey respondents.

Effectiveness Rating Correlations

The following data set was created from the previously used data set that only contained the respondents that indicated no in support of an eventual transition to the block model, which contained 335 out of 370 survey respondents.

This data set contains 285 survey respondents that meet both of the following two conditions: (1) Selected either “Not Effective” or “Slightly Effective” (which corresponds with scaled answers 1 and 2) in rating the effectiveness of the block schedule for career preparation, and (2) Selected either “Very Effective” or “Mostly Effective” (which corresponds with scaled answers 5 and 4) for the same of the traditional schedule.

Of these 285 survey respondents, the effectiveness ratings of Career Preparation - Block Schedule/Career Preparation - Traditional Schedule are as follows: 127 Not/Very; 74 Not/Mostly; 57 Slightly/Mostly; and 27 Slightly/Very.

76.1% of these respondents selected the same scaled answer value for both of the block schedule questions, which pertain to career and further education preparation. Thus for Career Preparation - Block Schedule/Career Preparation - Traditional Schedule/Further Education Preparation - Block Schedule, there were: 115 Not/Very/Not responses; 60 Not/Mostly/Not; 26 Slightly/Mostly/Slightly; and 16 Slightly/Very/Slightly.

Therefore, 217 out of 335 of the survey respondents who indicated no in support of an eventual transition to the block model followed a pattern in which they favorably rated the effectiveness of the traditional schedule for career preparation, and unfavorably rated the effectiveness of the block schedule for career and further education preparation.

It must be acknowledged that this pattern may have been influenced by a combination of an extreme response bias and a question order bias. This assumption is based on the fact that the three questions that correspond to the effectiveness ratings all had a scale as an answer, and followed one another on the survey form. These biases suggest that some participants may have chosen an extreme answer value to answer a question, and that some participants may have desired to be consistent in their answers, when in reality there could have been different answers to this set of questions on the block model topic.10

This may correspond with our previous mention of the social desirability bias, which was based on the assumption that students may not want to risk their opinion being undervalued or invalidated. We can assess the validity of this potential correlation by analyzing how the survey respondents who followed the previously established pattern rated their understanding of the block model:

We can observe that the survey respondents who chose the extreme answer values for the effectiveness ratings (Not/Very/Not) were more likely to rate their understanding of the block model as “Excellent” compared to the other survey respondents. Additionally, the survey respondents who chose one extreme answer value for the effectiveness ratings (Slighty/Very/Slighty and Not/Mostly/Not) were more likely to rate their understanding as “Good” rather than “Excellent.” Finally, the respondents that chose the more moderate scaled answer values (Slightly/Mostly/Slightly) were also more likely to rate their understanding of the block model as “Decent” or “Good,” rather than selecting one of the extreme answer values for this question.

Again, this is not to question the accuracy or honesty in the survey respondents’ selected answers. However, we may question why such a pattern or bias may be present in the results, or in other words why a large majority of survey respondents would express their opinion in this manner.

To further assess the cause of the these strong opinions, as demonstrated by the previous visualizations, we can review the common concerns indicated by survey respondents in their explanations.

Common Concerns - Block Schedule

One of the purposes of this report is to provide the Aquinas College Faculty Assembly with detailed information regarding the current student opinion for their consideration in the voting process. As such, the following common concerns regarding the potential implementation of the block schedule were compiled to provide insights into why 90.5% of survey respondents indicated they would not support an eventual transition to this model at Aquinas College. Thus we seek to better understand the student opinion to allow for further collaboration between faculty and students specifically, so that (1) faculty may make a decision better informed by the opinions and concerns of their students, and (2) students may have their concerns more effectively addressed moving forward.

Survey respondents were asked, after answering the four questions corresponding with the variables Opinion Vote, Career Preparation - Block Schedule, Career Preparation - Traditional Schedule, and Further Education Preparation - Block Schedule: “Please provide at least one reason for your answers above.” Survey respondents also had the opportunity to provide explanations for their answers in the optional survey question that stated: “Please provide any additional comments, questions, or concerns below.”

The following common concern counts were derived from the answers to these two questions.

Total Concern Count

There were 11 total common concerns noted by the Student Senate Executive Board in conducting this analysis, listed and described as follows11:

Information Retention - Concerns regarding how information might be retained within the block model, in which students would be recalling and practicing learned material for a shorter period of time compared to within the traditional schedule.

Attention Spans - Concerns regarding how students might maintain their attention spans within the block model, in which they would be participating in a more repetitive day-to-day schedule for longer periods of time compared to the traditional schedule.

STEM Courses - Concerns regarding how courses relating to STEM topics, notably our science and mathematics classes, would be conducted within the block model. This especially pertains to laboratory work, specifically the content and scheduling of labs, as well as the intensity of material and the workload of these courses.

Language Courses - Concerns regarding courses dedicated to the learning of languages, in which students would be actively learning and practicing these languages for a shorter period of time compared to the same courses within the traditional schedule.

Time Management Skills - Concerns regarding the development of time management skills, in which respondents indicated that the traditional schedule enables the development of such skills, and expressed concern that the block schedule would not provide the same opportunity to develop these skills.

Continuing Education Preparation - Concerns regarding the ability of the block model to prepare oneself for graduate school and/or continuing education.

Career Preparation - Concerns regarding the ability of the block model to prepare oneself for their career.

Athletics - Concerns regarding how athletics may be affected by the implementation of the block model, including: the availability and scheduling of athletic facilities and other resources, particularly for practices and games; and missed class due to athletic competition.

Missed Classes - Concerns regarding how one’s education might be impacted should they miss a class within the block model. This includes missing class due to reasons such as illness and athletic competition.

Schedule Flexibility - Concerns regarding how one might schedule for their other commitments within the block model. This includes jobs and internships, extra-curriculars, athletics, and any other priorities that may significantly consume one’s time.

Course Pacing - Concerns regarding how courses might be paced within the block model, especially relating to courses with already heavy workloads and/or intense material within the traditional schedule.

These concerns have been counted and summarized in the following data set:

We can see that the most popular concern is Information Retention, with 118 survey respondents indicating that they had this concern in their explanations. This is followed by the STEM Courses concern with 70 students respondents, and the Time Management Skills concern with 64 survey respondents.

The count of all concerns is also summarized and displayed in the following visualization:

Before conducting further analysis of the common concern count, it must be stated that if a survey respondent did not indicate a certain concern in their explanations, this does not mean that they do not possess that concern. In other words, there may have been more survey respondents that possess other concerns, however this common concern count only contains the concerns that were indicated in the provided explanations.

From the above visualization we can observe that the 4-8th most common concerns have Count values very close to one another. As indicated by our data set, Course Pacing and Continuing Education Preparation are separated by 1 at total counts of 46 and 45, respectively. Similarly, Schedule Flexibility and Career Preparation are only separated by 1 with total counts of 41 and 40. The Attention Spans concern is only 4 counts behind with a total of 36.

We can further analyze the common concern count by separately assessing the concerns of the upperclassmen and underclassmen.

Upperclassmen Concern Count

The following data set contains the concern count for survey respondents that indicated a class status of Junior, Senior or Fifth-Year Senior:

We can see that the top three concerns - being Information Retention, Time Management Skills, and STEM Courses - are the same top three concerns as in the total concern count. However, Time Management Skills is shown to be a more popular concern than STEM Courses for upperclassmen, which was reversed in our total concern count.

We can see that Continuing Education Preparation is the 4th most common concern, while Career Preparation and Schedule Flexibility are tied for the 5th most common concern. We could reasonably infer that this is because upperclassmen are more concerned with preparing for life after graduation, and thus would be thinking about how the block model might impact this preparation.

We can also gather that there are 254 total concerns counted among the upperclassmen. This averages to about 1.6 concerns per survey respondent, which indicates that many of the upperclassmen respondents listed at least two concerns in their responses.

Underclassmen Concern Count

The following data set contains the concern count for survey respondents that indicated a class status of Freshmen or Sophomore:

Once again, we can see that Information Retention, STEM Courses, and Time Management Skills are the most common concerns. However, Course Pacing and Attention Spans are the 4th and 5th most common concerns. To compare, these concerns were listed as the 7th and 9th most common concerns for upperclassmen, respectively.

We can again gather that there are 270 total concerns counted among the upperclassmen. This averages to about 1.3 concerns per survey respondent, which indicates that more of the underclassmen respondents listed at least one concern on average in their responses.

Retention Rating

Survey respondents were asked, “Should Aquinas College transition to the block schedule, would you continue your studies at Aquinas College?”

This question pertained to the underclassmen survey respondents specifically, and as such any upperclassmen responses were removed from this analysis:

Of these survey respondents, 145 indicated that they would either be “Definitely” or “Considering” transferring should Aquinas College transition to the block schedule. This accounts for 69.0% of the underclassmen survey respondents.

Conclusion

The purposes of this report were to represent the opinions of the current students at Aquinas College regarding the potential implementation of the block schedule model, as well as to provide the Aquinas College Faculty Assembly with detailed information regarding the current student opinion for their consideration in the voting process.

We found that of the 370 total survey respondents, 35 indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College, and 335 students indicated that they would not. This included 15 and 13 Block Model Pilot students, respectively.

When reviewing the opinion poll by academic area, we found that 9.8% of STEM students, 10.5% of Business students, 9.4% of Social Sciences students, 13.5% of Fine Arts and Humanities students, 10.9% of Education students, 0% of Kinesiology students, 6.3% of Global Studies students, 0% of Nursing students, and 25.0% of Undecided students indicated that yes, they would support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College. Since Education, STEM, and Global Studies had 50% or more of their students represented in the survey respondents, we also concluded that for these areas of study, at least 46.0%, 45.5%, and 46.9% of students, respectively, would not support an eventual transition to the block schedule at Aquinas College.

We found that the most common concerns regarding the block model, provided by students in their survey responses, were Information Retention, STEM Courses, and Time Management Skills, with 118, 70, and 64 survey respondents, respectively.

Finally, we also found that 145 of the 210 underclassmen survey respondents indicated that they would either be definitely or considering transferring should Aquinas College transition to the block schedule.

Thank you for your time spent reading this report. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please direct them to or to for further information.

Acknowledgements

First I would like to thank Dr. Richard McCluskey and Dr. Molly Patterson for their expertise and guidance during the creation of the survey. Also special thanks to Dr. Joseph Fox for reviewing the code used in this report, and for teaching me how to do so in the first place.

I would also like to thank Alicia Lloyd and Brigid Avery for their diligent support in empowering the student voice. The survey wouldn’t have been possible without your guidance and advocacy. Similarly, I would like to thank Dr. Chad Gunnoe for his support in overseeing the release of the survey.

Thank-you to Dr. Gretchen Rumohr, who has already taken action to address the student concerns outlined in this report.

Huge thank-you to the faculty that are reviewing and considering this report as they approach a decision on implementing the block model at Aquinas College. Thank you for listening to the voices of the 370 students that responded to the survey, and in doing so upholding the value of our education.

Special thanks to our twelve General Senators, who throughout the entire process did an excellent job in representing the student body: Eric White, Natalia Hay, Chloe Fisk, Aseel Jadallah, Kate Kramm, Lucas Baker, Abigail Vallance, Gabriel Hay, Kaitlyn Yonker, Jessica Baker, Mark Musgrave, and Grant Bricking.

Last but not least, thank-you to each and every one of the students who took the time to complete the survey. You all made the choice to share your opinion, and in doing so have greatly benefited the Aquinas College community as a whole. You all proved that we can and will be heard.

I would especially like to thank the one survey respondent who took the time in their response to thank the Student Senate for conducting the survey. That gave me more motivation than all the caffeine consumed in writing this report, and was an excellent reminder of how a little appreciation can go a long way. I hope that we can all continue to hold a little appreciation for each other moving forward.

Sincerely,

Kadynce Romijn, On Behalf of the Student Senate Executive Board

Notable Quotations

The Student Senate Executive Board, while conducting the analysis of the survey results, found certain statements and explanations provided by survey respondents to be notably significant in their delivery and meaning. As such, listed below are notable quotations selected by the Student Senate Executive Board that which we felt carried profound significance and deserved to be shared.12

“As a science major, I know it is impossible to process and understand all information taught in one block model day by the next day, impacting course progress and exam preparedness. As a peer tutor and active member of the Aquinas College community, I have seen the social and emotional impact of this schedule on the incoming freshmen this past fall. Several have explained situations through which they were unable to keep up with the workload and were not provided with the resources to remediate falling behind. For example, missing a day to attend a conference or a game as a member of an RSO or student athlete.”

“I feel cramming a semester’s worth of information into 3 weeks limits a student’s ability to genuinely understand and retain that information later on. I feel like the knowledge would be quickly lost after the course and would rob students of their education.”

“If a student needs to drop a class, either due to insufficient grades or change in interest, it would seem as though they are left with few options. Do they just sit and wait a month until their next class begins, paying for tuition they’re not using?”

“If AQ was to transition over to block scheduling, I would be transferring and I know a lot of other people feel the same way.”

[Should Aquinas transition from the traditional schedule to the block schedule] “I will be transferring to a college that at least offers a choice between the two.”

“Transferring would be a serious consideration if the block model is approved. I picked a school that is far from home, please do not let me regret my pick.”

“As a freshmen in the block program, I have no real college class experience. Therefore, I have nothing to compare my experience in the block to. This is one of my biggest issues with the block. To me, it seems not illogical but also deceitful to use freshmen for the block as their only experience in college thus far is with the block model. Using only freshmen provides a biased answer, potentially to be used in favor of a decision students would not support if they had more experience. Again, using freshmen for this pilot is not only illogical but also deceitful, preying on the only college experience freshmen know so far. However, what I have experienced so far as a block student is that while it is nice to be done at noon, I feel that sitting in one class for 3 hours a day creates a restless environment. Students can only take so much until they need a break from the same class and the same work everyday. Another issue I have with the block is that we are require to buy textbooks. Buying textbooks for a semester long class, like in a traditional model, is smart as they will be used for the whole semester. However, when it is expected of students to buy books only to be used for a few weeks at most, it simply comes down to a waste of money.”

“The block schedule would be very hard on students emotionally and it is not what I came to Aquinas for, Aquinas’s identity as a large majority student athlete population would be fundamentally changed and that is not what I believe your goal should be as a college.”

“I like working on more than one topic at a time. Especially if there is a topic I am not doing well in I don’t have to just be doing that topic and I can have another class along with it I might enjoy.”

“It would be a very stressful situation for myself because of my ADHD. Being in class that long on one subject would be extremely hard for me.”

“I felt very trapped while in the block model and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.”

“I have had the unique opportunity to work with block students throughout my time at the writing center. While working with block students, I have asked them about their thoughts on the scheduling. Despite what I have been told by professors and administration about the”99% satisfaction” with the block surveys given to students, that is far from the case through my interactions. Nearly every block student that I have talked with about the block has said a few things. It is NOT helping them learn. They still feel like they are in high school. They only like it for the convenient scheduling and getting gen eds out of the way but would be OPPOSED to it if it was for their major because they don’t think they would actually learn the content. They feel like they are being spoon fed information by their professors. Furthermore, while talking with my teammates and the people I am consulting, they have said that they do not feel like they are learning anything or grasping the content. It goes at too fast of a pace, and they are burnout by the end of the day after being in class for three hours at a time. To put it frankly, I will be incensed if Aquinas chooses to transition to the block. I do not believe that it will be an effective way for me to learn and goes against much of what I have been taught in my education classes. Where is the scaffolding? Where is the necessary repetition? The reason I am going to college is not to have an easy, convenient schedule where I go to class for three hours a day and do some homework. No. I am here to get a degree, a teaching certification, and the knowledge to be a highly qualified employee. That is what we are all here for: to get a degree and education that will make us outstanding employees in our future fields. The block model will not do that. The block students do not remember what they learned in almost any of their classes because it was so fast-paced, and they are burnt out. I do not want to spend my time and money at an institution that will not fully prepare me to become the qualified teacher that I want to become. Rather, I would be attending a school that changed its whole model to simply attract more incoming students because of the convenient, high-school-like, schedule. I have to admit that I have been harsh, but these are my thoughts on the block model that have developed through numerous conversations with my peers. Unlike a survey, my peers are unafraid to say what is actually on their minds. They can complain and express why they do not like the block model and why they do not want it to continue. If Aquinas is so keen on the block model, consider keeping it in the format that it is now. Offer it as an option for incoming freshman to complete their gen eds. But to have the block model as the whole college’s schedule would be an egregious slap to the face of academia. As I have stated before, we are here to get a degree, and the block will not do that. I want and need time to grapple with and digest the material, not simply rush through it in 18 days.”

“I hope that I can continue my traditional education at Aquinas after I’ve built many relationships and invested both time and money. My deepest concern is transparency. As a student investing myself into this institution, I would hope that my institution is being honest and transparent with all advancements and innovations.”

“The block schedule completely ignores every study that has ever been done that says learning over longer periods of time helps you to retain information better than cramming everything in short term. It is quite literally why professors tell you not to cram the night before an exam but instead we’re forcing our students to cram every night because there is an information overload happening everyday […]. The human brain can only pay attention and retain information for up to an hour, that means students will start to lose focus after an hour yet they are expected to sit and listen for 2 more hours straight or 5 more hours if they have a lab […]. All of the positives that I have seen and heard of for the block schedule are positives that are quite literally just a part of college life.”More free time” and “more hands on learning” is what students get in college regardless so you cannot attribute that to the block schedule when it comes with traditional scheduling too […]. I truly believe if Aquinas moves to a block schedule they will be failing their students.”

“Though the block model seems great for many majors, like education, business, and others- block forces many challenges upon world language majors and science majors specifically. By stating students will ONLY be in class from 9-12 is a lie, as science majors will also have to have a lab segment EVERYDAY. if we then calculate out how many hours of homework they claim we should have, plus the lab work that students are working through, there is not nearly enough time to successfully study science majors in this model. this also puts a significant block on science majors who are athletes as their schedules will be changing as they go through the semester with different block classes. This is also a lot of work to ask for our students. This also puts a significant disadvantage to students who are student -athletes to begin with. Many post-season competitions can run during the week. If a student were to miss just one day of block, they would be missing an equivalent of three class periods, which can majorly affect their grade in the class with no room to fix it. This is hurting students who are also athletically gifted as many NAIA Nationals run during the week. We also only have 1 sports gym at Aquinas, which is fought over every fall and spring for practice times. this would cause all teams to not be allowed to practice from 8-12:30 and we would no longer have enough time in the day to allow all of our sports to practice on their respective floors and in the spaces that benefit them the best. I also do not believe that capstones could successfully be carried out in a 3&1/2 week time. they deserve time to properly research and work through their presentations. With that being said, many classes like Grant Writing and Capstones that have semester long projects would have to change their content and would not give the students the full 16 weeks to carry out and immerse themselves into a real world situation. I believe that there are many, many issues that have yet to be addressed with the block model, and I also believe that the attitude of our faculty is concerning based. Many faculty look at the block model with rose colored glasses and do not realize the amount of harm it could affect to the college. Few faculty have quietly spoken out about the issues within block and nobody address them. By putting out statements like “all students are happy with the block model and nobody is switching out” is a lie. Students HAVE switched out of the block model from this fall to spring semesters, and bringing media into those classrooms and only allowing ‘positive comments’ to be stated promotes a false narrative and story about what this block model is. Faculty and Administration needs to finally address the concerns that we as students have for those who will be coming into this model. Aquinas is a highly athletic school and the goal to switch it to an academic school will only continue to hurt numbers of enrollment at this school which we all know they need. The transfer rate WILL be higher.”

“As a student who is also feeling impacts of the Block Model while not being in it, I feel this needs to be considered as well. I personally have had to substitute classes from my major in order to graduate on time due to professors seeing scheduling conflicts or they are teaching only the block model. When there is only one professor teaching a majority of the classes needed for a major and they are teaching the block model, there are very limited options for the other students outside of the Block. My brother has been accepted and is planning on attending Aquinas this fall. If the block model is implemented he will not be attending Aquinas and he will go to a different school without the block model.”

“For students with certain medical conditions, sitting in class for 3 hours straight every day simply is not possible and would be detrimental to their academic success.”

“The people choosing this are too worried about their incoming classes. I’ve been to a block meeting and spoke at it and all I got out of the meeting is that they don’t care about their current students and their opinions. And if it switches to block they don’t see that they will lose more students than gain.”

“I have talked to a lot of my friends about Aquinas transitioning, and I believe a lot of people will transfer if they do, including me. I am currently in it but do not enjoy it.”

“It is very important to get a large survey of data from both block and normal schedule kids. The people on the normal schedule probably have negative opinions about the block because they have never tried it before, and change can be difficult. Sure they can read about the benefits, but I still think it would be hard to convince people that this is better when they have never experienced it before. One of the biggest reasons I would be in support of the block model is because Aquinas could try out this new teaching method to see if it would work for ourselves.”

“I enjoy the block but don’t see it giving me the proper education I need to give myself the best possible future.”

“Please consider these words, as well as the words of all of those who took the time to submit this survey, into account when voting on the adoption of the block model.”

“The college is in too rough of shape financially, employment-wise, and infra-structurally to allocate this much time and money into a program that may or may not work. Although numbers may seem promising now, students won’t be inclined to stay when their professors benefits are being cut, campus resources being unavailable due to staff and faculty leaving, and the terrible and often-times unsafe conditions of the dormitories. Focus on fixing student utilities before attempting to lure potential students into a college that shows that they prioritize students as numbers rather than people.”

“The block schedule puts students like me with disabilities at a serious disadvantage. If I have to miss class for any reason I miss out on a large portion of the work and it makes it much harder to recover. And it’s not just for sick students but also for athletes, people with jobs, family emergencies and other things that might prevent someone from being in class. On top of that, block would make it extremely difficult to drop a class if you need to or add a class later since you can only take one at a time, there’s no wiggle room at all. It includes way more in class hours then I normally would have with the traditional schedule. Additionally, I’m concerned about not being able to pick my own classes. I am not a child and I am paying for my education and I don’t like my choices being taken out of my hands. I didn’t come to Aquinas for the block schedule and if we transfer over to it I will be leaving for something I did sign up for.”

“As someone with ADHD, having to suffer through 3 hours of the same class everyday for weeks sounds like a nightmare. It also is not feasible to make someone sit that long for classes like art or science classes with an additional lab.”

“Firstly, I can not learn over a short period of time. Learning is”the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience,study, or by being taught.” Experience is NOT over the span of 3 weeks; it is defined as “Experience, which refers to conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these processes.” The block model to me, seems to be stuffing information in your head. I will not be able to become “familiar” with the material but will be expected to move fast though, doing “short-term” storage in my head. I will not only be unable to pay attention but then understand the material through long-term experiences throughout the semester. Being a sociology major, a sociological sense is developed, not forced, and this sense can not be built over 3 weeks and is even hard to develop in just a semester. I also do NOT learn from long classes, even if it is just one, I struggle with paying attention to a one hour class. I will not retain the vast amount of information in such a short period of time, but I will most likely forget quickly because I struggle with remembering from a one-hour class! Also, being a student-athlete, this model makes little sense. I will miss just about a week of school in the spring due to nationals (which we go to almost every year), missing a whole 1/3 of class instruction. I do not learn well online, so having to then do online for a whole week, while competing (so I will not have much time), will be detrimental to not only my grades, but my overall learning. It will also impact my sports performance. Going from school to practice, or practice to school for that long of periods of time, I will not be able to focus in either, and my body will be sore from sitting for long periods of time. If I fail that class or am not able to take it due to absences, I will not only be behind in graduating, but it will also cost ME financially. Also, many grad schools are not structured like this, so it makes little sense to structure our school this way. Also, what occurs when I get sick? I know many people who have had mono and had to miss mass amounts of school, this happening during a black model would be missing an entire class, setting them behind. While this model may work for some, for others this will lead to detrimental “learning”, including myself. This is not a model that works for everyone, and I believe it will be detrimental to undergraduate learning, creating a “just get it done” culture rather than building understanding and knowledge over a long period of time.”

“At my Community College I had the pleasure/displeasure of being involved in Block Model classes. Certain classes with a lot of material, that requires extensive amounts of questions, answers, and debates such as history, political science, philosophy, psychology, and more cannot be taught in such a small amount of days/weeks with more hours. Not only that it visibly exhaust professors and students alike, and makes it more inconvenient.”

“Block Model will not take away from nor add to the education of the students. If anything, keeping focus on one class everyday for a few weeks is nothing short of draining, from what I’ve heard. Also takes away our choices of having a schedule we actually want, and work around our schedules. I think both schedules are effective for future preparation but I don’t believe the entire college should transfer to only block.”

“I am also a language student, and I worry about language retention if I am not taking a class consistently for more than three weeks. To be frank, I did a language study abroad, and it only took a few weeks for me to lose all of the progress that I had gained while I was gone. I know people have talked about doing block classes that end with a trip, but honestly, I don’t think that is enough to keep retention.”

  1. One respondent was a faculty member and another was an alumni. The survey was intended for currents students only, and as such these responses were removed from the analysis data set.↩︎

  2. Two of these responses selected that they had participated in a block model at Aquinas College specifically↩︎

  3. In the analysis process it was noted that one respondent who indicated “Yes” in support of the block schedule had also clearly indicated in their comments their dislike for, and opposition to, the block schedule. With intentions to obtain clarification on this respondent’s opinion, and to avoid excluding their opinion of which they have a right to share, this respondents identity was viewed and they were notified of their conflicting response. The respondent clearly indicated they had intended to select “No” rather than “Yes” in support of the block schedule, and provided permission to have their response altered.↩︎

  4. The Traditional Student section of the survey listed 1 as “Not Effective” and 5 as “Very Effective.” The Block Model Student section of the survey listed 1 as “Very Effective” and 5 as “Not Effective.”↩︎

  5. 1 = “Not Effective,” 2 = “Slightly Effective,” 3 = “Somewhat Effective,” 4 = “Mostly Effective,” 5 = “Very Effective.” Similarly, 1 = “No Understanding,” 2 = “Little Understanding,” 3 = “Decent Understanding,” 4 = “Good Understanding,” 5 = “Excellent Understanding.”↩︎

  6. Obtained from https://www.aquinas.edu/academics/undergraduate.html↩︎

  7. Total number of nursing students was not provided by Registrar. This was instead obtained from one of the nursing students.↩︎

  8. Obtained from https://educationadvanced.com/resources/blog/high-school-schedules-that-work-5-effective-types/↩︎

  9. Informational Google Drive found here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1uS-36alDPTEyn9BumASDmACmRU5s1AXZ?usp=drive_link↩︎

  10. Source: https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/research/survey-bias/#:~:text=Extreme%20response%20bias,is%20an%20extreme%2Dended%20one.↩︎

  11. Descriptions are based off how students generally described these concerns themselves.↩︎

  12. If you are a survey respondent who recognizes one of the following quotations as your own and who wishes for it to be removed from this report, you can contact the Student Senate Chair Kadynce Romijn at . Upon this request your quotation will be removed as immediately as possible.↩︎