It started on a cold November afternoon in 1968. A group of young Colorado College professors sat around a table at Murphy’s Tavern.
Pints on the table, professors Glenn Brooks and Don Shearn brainstormed with colleagues on how to have more impactful instruction as the college underwent sweeping changes.
“Why can’t the college give me 15 students and let me work with them — no time limit,” Shearn suggested.
That was the spark that led to the block plan — a teaching format that allows students to take one class at a time for 18 days, with the theory that they can learn more effectively by focusing energy on just one subject.
The proposed course method has been in use for 50 years at Colorado College — and it recently received international attention.
“The Block Plan,” a film documenting the history and impact of the unique instructional set-up, won best film at the Helsinki Education Film Festival International 2022.
Filmmakers Steven Hayward and Bryan Beasley co-directed the documentary to mark the 50th anniversary from when the concept was implemented at the college in 1970. The film takes the viewer from the conception of the block plan to its present-day application, following four students at Colorado College who are studying under the block plan format in real time.
“We wanted to show the past, from the founding of the block plan to the lived reality of the plan today,” Hayward said.
After learning about the Helsinki Education Film Festival, which highlights films centered on education, the directors decided to submit the documentary. The goal of the festival is to provide a channel for educators and filmmakers to exchange ideas on an international stage.
“They’re a very specialized film festival,” Beasley said. “We knew immediately, this is kind of like our Sundance.”
Hayward, who attended the film festival in Helsinki, Finland, said the win was a “pure surprise.” Because of COVID-19 restrictions, it was Hayward’s first time viewing the film on the big screen with an audience.
“People responded in a really emotional, authentic way,” he said. “People were really moved by various parts of it. It felt like the culmination of a long journey.”
The film didn’t shy away from criticisms of the block plan, including the mental health impact it can have on students and professors.
“We didn’t want to produce a piece of propaganda,” Hayward said. “It was a forward-looking, interrogative documentary. That’s what people responded to — it wasn’t an advertisement, it was a documentary.”
The project was funded largely by the Inasmuch Foundation, and the crew was made up of Colorado College alums.
“There are some critical moments in it,” Beasley said. “We were allowed to make the film we wanted to make.”
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