Teaching Fair 2023: what can we look forward to?
The Teaching Fair is once again upon us. What can we expect from this year's afternoon of inspiration for teachers? Three participants tell us.
University lecturer Looi van Kessel gives a workshop on 'woke'
'During the Teaching Fair, I conduct a workshop on Breaking the Stalement: Didactic responses to 'woke' and 'anti-woke' classrooms. Teachers at university increasingly face hardened debates in which students use personal experiences and normative arguments. As a result, students no longer listen to each other, which has the effect of frustrating the learning process. These hardened debates increasingly occur on topics that are politically sensitive: racism, gender identity, and the Netherlands' colonial past, for example.'
'In the workshop, we will look at different didactic strategies to take the sting out of heated debates and convert the friction that arises during such situations into learning moments. We will discuss some best practices from the didactic field, but participants are also invited to share their own experiences of stalled debates with the group. I hope the workshop will give teachers tools to turn situations that threaten to disrupt the learning process into moments in which students can reflect on their own position within the debate, thus restoring a conversation in which all students feel heard.'
Policy officer for Internationalisation and Diversity & Inclusion Aurelie van 't Slot talks more about the JEDI fund
'The Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity (JEDI) Fund is a fund that provides financial support to projects and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion, with a specific focus on creating an inclusive learning environment.' The fund offers teachers the opportunity to set up a project, preferably in collaboration with students, to support an inclusive learning environment.
Established in 2022, the fund can still needs to become better known. 'I therefore want to inform teachers about the grant opportunities and hope to inspire them with examples of previous successful projects. One such example is Tazuko van Berkel, who received a grant in 2023 and told me she thinks it's great that the faculty supports initiatives like this. Times are really changing and I am proud to be part of these changes.'
Video coordinator Thomas Vorisek talks more about podcasts
'I’m going to talk about the possibility of having students create an academic podcast. What is the didactic value of the assignment? But also: how can ECOLe and the Digital Skillslab facilitate it practically?'
An academic podcast uses conventional skills, such as writing and giving presentations, and puts them in a modern context. Students learn the added value of good preparation, collaboration, mastering knowledge and the diversity of academic perspectives. 'This is interesting in the context of transferable skills such as science communication and modern presentation techniques.'
'At the Digital Humanities Skills hub, we offer students workshops on how to get started with this. Students often find it a bit scary to be behind the microphone in a professional setting, but in the end they are almost always very enthusiastic. The same goes for the teachers. Because we provide the workshops, they don't have to reinvent the wheel. The students and lecturers are often so pleased with the podcasts they’ve created that they are made public.'