Workshops

Participants of the ELLS General Assembly and Forum can attend one of the three workshops listed below. The workshops will create an opportunity for the participants to relate the theme 'Education in a Digitalizing World' to their own institutions and policies. There will be an exchange of experiences between the participants in the context of ELLS.

Workshop 1: Balancing online and face-to-face teaching and learning activities

Dr.ir. Julia Diederen, Lecturer, Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Wageningen University & Research and Melanie van Berkum, MSc, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Sciences

Julia Diederen ELLS 2.jpg

The core of university course design is the selection and combination of Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs). TLAs may involve various types of interaction, either face-to-face or with and through media. Traditional media such as books are increasingly being supplemented with many types of online media such as short video presentations known as knowledge clips. Wageningen University introduced knowledge clips to several second-year Food Technology courses, partially shifting from face-to-face interactions to online activities that facilitate acquiring, inquiring and practicing. Student questionnaires and a student group interview were used to reveal differences in student preferences towards knowledge clips and the other TLAs. In this workshop we discuss the preferred balance, amongst students, in online and face-to-face teaching and learning activities, based on the outcomes of research conducted within several courses. We will show some examples of online teaching activities at Wageningen University & research, like LabBuddy (inquiry based lab education software). With use of a student panel we aim to get an active and encouraging discussion with the audience.

Biography Julia Diederen

Julia Diederen has a PhD in designing digital learning materials for food chemistry education, and is currently designing virtual laboratory simulations to foster the acquisition of scientific skills. She is also involved in several education innovation projects. “For campus education, a careful mix between digital learning materials (clips, exercises) with meaningful face-to-face activities makes the learning situation efficient and effective for both students and teachers.”

Workshop 2: Acceleration Plan Educational Innovation with ICT

Drs. Ulrike Wild, Programme Director Online & Open Learning, Wageningen University & Research

Ulrike Wild ELLS.jpg

Higher education institutions in the Netherlands will work in the coming years to implement the Acceleration Plan Educational Innovation with ICT, which is encouraged by the government. Never before has the support to really make the difference been so great: higher education institutions commit themselves to improving education through the use of digital technologies. The educational institutions also look critically at the content of curricula and attainment targets to improve the digital skills of the student, for all types of programs. This should improve the connection to the labor market so that students are better prepared for the labor market. In this respect, education and business know how to find each other better in public-private partnerships. In this workshop we will share this Dutch example of collaboration in innovation in education. Moreover we will invite the audience to give examples from their home universities in order to share ideas and get inspired.

Biography Ulrike Wild

Ulrike Wild is responsible for strategy, policy development, business development and course production around open and online courses and programmes at Wageningen University & Research. These involve online masters, professional education and (derivatives of) MOOCs. "You miss a 100% of the shots you don’t take, said the famous ice hockey-player Wayne Gretzky. It might be true as well in this changing field of Higher Education. Taking chances and experimenting, and at the same time carefully expanding a valuable system, that’s the challenge".

Workshop 3: Online master in Wageningen: solely behind your own PC?? NO!!!

Dr.ir Cora Busstra, Lecturer, Human Nutrition, Wageningen University & Research

Cora Busstra ELLS.jpg

Currently, at Wageningen University working professionals can enrol in fully online (part-time) Master programmes. In this workshop, we will share our experiences with online learning in the MSc Nutritional Epidemiology and Public Health. This will give insight in the possibilities of online learning with respect to curriculum design, academic competences, and practical procedures. This workshop consist mainly of a lively demonstration in which you can experience how studying online works both from the view point of the student and their teachers. It will show how students are challenged by active online learning assignments, how they interact with each other and their tutors, how core contents and lectures are delivered, how exams and assessments are organised etc. In this workshop, there is much room to discuss experiences and new idea’s with the audience and speaker. In summary: after this workshop you will (almost) experience how it is to be an online student: studying behind your own PC, but certainly feeling not alone or isolated.

Biography Cora Busstra

Cora Busstra obtained a PhD on the development of interactive digital learning material for academic education in Human Nutrition and Epidemiology. She co-developed the online master on Nutritional Epidemiology and Public Health at Wageningen University & research. ‘What I like in online education projects is the close connection between ‘content knowledge’, ‘instructional design’ and ‘IT technology. I enjoy the collaboration with specialists from all these fields, in order to design high quality instructional materials from which BSc, MSc and PhD students as well as professionals could benefit’.