With the focused calendar (block system), we break down barriers of time. Because there are no 50-minute class periods, no bells, no other classes to be rushing off to, you can take your time to absorb what you are studying - not just memorizing information.

When your discussion of capital punishment in The People Shall Judge gets intense, you won't have to miss any of it. On the verge of discovery in Organic Chemistry, you can continue to learn, not hurriedly dismantle your lab so another class can start.

Over the course of a year you will take eight different classes, each one for three and one-half weeks (18 class days) at a time. Classes usually meet from nine to noon every week day, so afternoons are available for labs, studying, or researching. And at the end of the block, you'll have a four day break to refresh for the next block.

Catch the Rhythm

There is a rhythm to the block plan, an ebb and flow of learning. The first week of class, you get to know everyone and begin to realize what the class is really about. By the second week, you find yourself debating with classmates the issues at the core of your subject. By the end of the third week, as you work on your final project and prepare for your final exam, you'll find you've immersed yourself in the course in a way not possible under a traditional calendar.

Tusculum has been following this innovative pattern for about a decade now, and our graduates tell us repeatedly that the focused calendar improved both the quality and depth of content of their higher education experience - it prepared them for the "real" world.

Building Blocks

Because you complete one class before moving on to the next, you expand your mind one block at a time. But, like the blocks you stacked on top of each other as a toddler, each course builds on what has gone before.

How It Works

At Tusculum, a semester is comprised of four blocks, each three and one-half weeks long. A student takes one course per block. This allows our students and faculty to concentrate on a particular course without the distraction of having to prepare for other courses at the same time. This calendar was implemented in order to produce a distinctive teaching and learning environment.

Since classes meet for three hours or more each day, students and faculty are able to get to know each other quite well, facilitating exchange of ideas among all members of the class - transforming the classroom into a model of a community.

In addition to transmitting knowledge, such classes actively engage students in their own learning. The focused calendar allows time for serious learning and critical thinking, as well as time for learning to communicate clearly. In the process, students and faculty connect the subject matter of the course to their lives and the life of the community more directly than is normally possible.