Five new Teaching Fellows appointed
Hanne Cuyckens, Michiel Dam, Anja van der Voort, Daan Weggemans and Paul Gobée have joined the Leiden University Teachers’ Academy. Lecturers from the academy can exchange experiences, develop themselves and share their knowledge and expertise with the rest of the university, for example through the Leiden Teachers Blog.
The Leiden University Teachers’ Academy (LTA) comprises 23 Teaching Fellows, five of whom are new. Each year new fellows are selected from faculty nominees. Fellows drive innovation in teaching and learning, share their experiences and seek collaboration with other lecturers within and outside their own discipline. The winner of the LUS Teaching Prize, this year Paul Gobée, is always made a Teaching Fellow.
The Teaching Fellows receive a 25,000-euro grant to carry out one or more projects relating to innovation in teaching and learning. The five members have already submitted the project they want to start working on.
Hanne Cuyckens - Educational Director of Leiden University College and Assistant Professor of International Law
Universities can make an important contribution to solving sustainability challenges. Education also plays a crucial role in this. Hanne Cuyckens will research how the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) can be used to identify what degree programmes already do in the field of sustainability. She is also researching to what extent the SDGs can be used as a tool for further curriculum development. The interdisciplinary Leiden University College programme is serving as a test case here.
Michiel Dam - Assistant Professor in STEM subject didactics at ICLON
Michiel Dam from the University Graduate School of Teaching will also focus on sustainability. His project focuses on ‘hopeful teaching in the climate crisis’ for students from the teacher training programme. People all around the world feel different types of anxiety about climate change, and this anxiety is highest in young people. These feelings lead to helplessness, polarisation between groups and apparent stasis. Michiel’s research therefore focuses on education about climate change through the lens of hope. In the midst of anxiety, hopeful climate education can shift young people’s perspectives from obstacles to strategies for change. It can help them appreciate that at its deepest level a crisis comprises problems − complex and intractable as they may be – to which solutions can be found.
Anja van der Voort - Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education and Child Studies
Anja van der Voort teaches methodology and statistics at the Institute of Education and Child Studies. Many students dread these ‘M&T’ courses and (by no means rightly so) have low confidence in their own abilities. In her project, Anja is going to enhance the whole learning pathway and develop interactive teaching and learning materials. Offering students a recurrent and simple way to test and refresh their knowledge, helps them improve their M&T skills and their confidence in those skills.
Daan Weggemans - BSc in Security Studies Programme Director and researcher at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs
Daan Weggemans will deal with a very topical subject: innovation in teaching and learning and a project on lecturers’ professional development at today’s universities. Lecturers with or without a PhD are essential to the university and are much appreciated by students. Daan is researching how to provide good training and how we can help lecturers achieve their longer-term career goals.
Paul Gobée - Doctor, anatomy lecturer and e-learning developer
Paul Gobée won this year’s LUS Teaching Prize for his drive and passion for his discipline. As an anatomy lecturer and coordinator of the dissection room, he uses all considerable perspectives and assignments to activate students and help them learn. He was also nominated as a teaching fellow by the LUMC. His project is all about developing open learning materials and blended learning in co-creation with students and lecturers.
Bannerpicture: Monique Shaw