Professional Development in Teaching

In my search to explore ways to develop, educate and coach teaching quality I found 5 elements do deal with. Teaching quality is defined as instruction that enables a wide range of students to learn. Therefore the aim is is to reach all students and not just those who choose to participate in classroom learning.Continue reading “Professional Development in Teaching”

MOOCs: What Higher Education Can Learn From It

In the last twenty years sharing knowledge and information has become very easy because of the explosion of internet technology. This has led to new pedagogical possibilities, also in the field of education. Modern education represents a fusion of powerful communication technologies, internet literacy, and pedagogical innovation which is developing into a new creative paradigm for education.Continue reading “MOOCs: What Higher Education Can Learn From It”

Bildung As A Theory of Learning

In higher education the concept of Bildung is introduced. Bildung (self-cultivation and self-realization) as a reflective tool and as a point of orientation and regulation.
In order to clarify the conception of Bildung theories of transformative learning may be helpful in explaining some of the core features.Continue reading “Bildung As A Theory of Learning”

DT to Improve the Academic Experience

In education we do not typically engage our users — our students — to tackle some of the problems in education. But with a fast growing interest in user experience design we can’t neglect our students anymore. Design thinking can be very useful to provide insights for curriculum development and learning culture. User-centered design can make students feel valued and help them build the communication and self-regulation skills they need. It can be a great way find some answers to the question: how to improve the academic experience.Continue reading “DT to Improve the Academic Experience”

Unleash the Innovative Spirit

Nelson Mandela once said: education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Given the current era of digital revolution, digital skills and entrepreneurial attitude education should engage with this to drive our economy forward and secure a successful future for our youth.Continue reading “Unleash the Innovative Spirit”

The Classroom Is Dead

Educators all around the world are trying to engage students in innovative ways. The biggest problem is that classrooms are often the last places where innovation starts. Unfortunately school management and even teachers are slow to allow new technologies and innovation within their education.Continue reading “The Classroom Is Dead”

How to Improve Learning in Sports

Improving learning is a very important task for every educator. When it comes to sports teachers and trainer/coaches the main aspects of learning can be described as:

– the best way to learn how to do something is to do it;
– the closer practice activities resemble the full activity the better.

Putting these aspects into practice doesn’t mean students will learn. Teaching or coaching is something different than learning. Working with students we frequently experiment with how it can looks like and practice. Ofcourse we also debate what it means in practice. I still enjoy the discussions and energy we put in together to learn and find some personal answers. It is a search to put learning to the forefront of the sport lessons.Continue reading “How to Improve Learning in Sports”

 How To Create DIY Learning

The world has changed. Being a learner is more important than being learned. To have the best chance of happiness and success in the world students have to be able to flourish in freedom. Can you agree? Intellectually, you may be able to make sense of the arguments but the biggest barrier to rethinking education is our own experience.Continue reading ” How To Create DIY Learning”

Hackademic Education 

The ability to adapt to change is essential to be succesful in the 21st century. It’s true that if you don’t roll with the changes you’ll become a victim of them. Despite what have happened in the past, the future of education will be even more ruthless to those that wish to hold tight.
Education is part of society that is caracterised by exponential growth and development, with new technologies altering the lives of millions in the blink of an eye. This asks for new approaches and different skills. It’s time for university to become a hackademia.Continue reading “Hackademic Education “

Creating a Learning Experience

I’ve spent the last couple of days thinking about some tools I will use next year with my students. I want to prepare an inspiring and effective ground for learning. I don’t want to structure and pre-define everything. I do not want to create a community for my students. Instead, I want to create the conditions necessary for the right kind of environment to emerge. Building an environment for the students is likely to result in failure: environments and communities need to be build with the students, with their full participation, through their work and their interactions.Continue reading “Creating a Learning Experience”

How Do You Create Empowered Learners?

Many research verifies the relevance of empowerment to education. When students are empowered, they learn more, and they learn better. So how do we help those tentative, cautious learners who are lack confidence in themselves and, above all else, want learning to be pleasant and painless?Continue reading “How Do You Create Empowered Learners?”

Education Needs a Humanistic Approach 

The context of learning is changing. There is a lively public debate on the foundational principles for education. Rethinking education affect the organization of learning. This includes the recognition, validation and assessment of learning in a plural and interconnected world.Continue reading “Education Needs a Humanistic Approach “

What Is An Empowered Learner? 

Empowerment is about how students approach learning – motivated, with confident, and ready to tackle the task.
Unfortunately, it is not how many of our students approach learning. Their mindset is more like: how hard it’s going to be, how you aren’t going to like it, worry that you are not smart enough, wonder if there might be some easier way, and wish you didn’t have to undertake such a tough assignment.Continue reading “What Is An Empowered Learner? “

Context Teaches Most

If we really want students to grow up to become self-reliant and reach their full potential; we would be doing something very different in University! Steve Hargadon and Thieu Besseling are telling a story about the power of learning that is very different from what we experience in traditional models of school.Continue reading “Context Teaches Most”

Teach Beyond The Test

Is it possible for teachers to meet standards without teaching in a standardized way? This question is at the heart of many educators. With standardized education and testing growing rapidly in higher education the temptation to teach to the test exists. How to teach the standards without becoming standardized.Continue reading “Teach Beyond The Test”

What Blogs Can Do to Empower Learners

To me ’empowered learning’ is a variation on inquiry learning and passion-based learning. It’s about helping students choose their own learning path and support them to be curious and entrepreneurial.Continue reading “What Blogs Can Do to Empower Learners”

Learning Experience Design

The process of designing an experience, regardless of purpose, is based on reaching a certain outcome. Ideally with as little fuss and as much joy as possible. The purpose of an experience and the environment in which the experience takes place will vary: purchasing a holidays on a tablet, enjoying dinner in a restaurant, or learning to teach a class. Each of these experiences requires its own unique approach but the elements of the design process are mostly the same. The best representation of those elements comes from Jesse James Garrett’s Elements of User Experience.Continue reading “Learning Experience Design”

Empowerment Comes Before Engagement

Do we want teachers to be empowered or engaged? I would like to work in a school culture in which teachers feel empowered to learn and try new things. This builds leadership capacity and intrapreneurship. Should teachers be engaged? Absolutely, but after they feel empowered. I don’t think this would be different for students.Continue reading “Empowerment Comes Before Engagement”

Play + Passion = Purpose

Content and standardised testing should no longer be at the heart of education. In the information age the teacher his main job should be to help students develop key skills necessary for when they leave education. To be a successful lifelong learner there are 8 things to be good at:Continue reading “Play + Passion = Purpose”

Deep Learning Mindsets & Strategies

How can we best prepare students for a world that will require more of them? The most important resource in education reform is the learner’s mind. We need to re-ignite the hunger for learning that many students lose along the way. Explicit and embedded work on learning mindsets and learning strategies & habits puts students in the driver seat of learning. It gives them direction to chart their paths to succes and happiness. Lets take you through it.Continue reading “Deep Learning Mindsets & Strategies”

One-size-Has-to-fits-all

Around the globe, economies are shifting away from machine-focused industries toward human-powered creative industries. Many adults are caught in the middle of this shift. Educated for the industrial age but trying to make a living in the information age. Inspired by the work of John Abbott and some others I wrote this post about the effect of this for education.Continue reading “One-size-Has-to-fits-all”

Different Kind of Student Data

Most teachers make an effort to get to know their students, and regularly distribute surveys at the start of each year are part of it to speed up that process. But is this a fair view to people? Our students bring so much more to the table.Continue reading “Different Kind of Student Data”