Teachers eager to start Grassroots and Grass shoots innovations
Five teams of teachers are getting started with their educational innovations in the coming academic year, thanks to the Grassroots and Grassshoots grants. This year is particularly special: the grant programme is celebrating its tenth anniversary and has now run for thirteen rounds.
‘We’re seeing inspiring plans again in this edition,’ says Lotte Vinkenoog (SOLO), who coordinates the programme. ‘Two Grass Shoots projects build on previous Grassroots innovations; it’s great to see them being continued in this way. Four projects are using AI—with the our own Leiden University Cognitive Agent as a key tool.’
Socratic chatbot
This includes the project of Lude Rozema (Educational Sciences), who is going to develop a Socratic AI chatbot for his statistics courses. ‘Students often use AI to substitute their learning process, instead of supplementing it. Moreover, AI often provides answers that do not correspond to the material we assign the students. During the Education Fair, I heard that the university is working on chatbots that teachers can develop themselves and make available to their students.’
Understanding and practising
Rozema's chatbot will, with the right input, guide students to the correct answer themselves through prompts and follow-up questions. ‘The chatbot also offers practice exercises, so that students can practise using the formulas.’ Rozema is keen to get started on his project. ‘Thanks to the Grassroots grant, I can set aside enough time for it. The ultimate goal: a tool that helps students improve their understanding of what is, after all, a difficult subject, without placing an extra workload on teachers.’
Interactive timeline
Sebo Uithol (Psychology) is set to develop an interactive timeline covering the history of psychology. ‘For the History of Psychology module, students currently learn from separate online book chapters, but the connections between schools of thought, thinkers and concepts are easily lost in this format. Students find it difficult to maintain an overview.’
A journey through time
Uithol hopes that by the end of this project he will have a working timeline that he can continue to develop. ‘I'm aiming at a kind of Wikipedia with a graphical interface. The timeline will be interactive, so that students can click and navigate through it. The items will also include formative assessments, allowing students to test their understanding.’ Uithol will use the grant to hire a student assistant and purchase a software licence. ‘I’m really looking forward to it! I think the students will benefit greatly from this interactive journey through time.’
Want to get started yourself?
Want to innovate your teaching too? Whether you’re eligible for funding or not, SOLO is here to help, says Vinkenoog. ‘Do come along for a consultation. We’ll explore the options and are happy to brainstorm with you!’
- Mail SOLO: solo@fsw.leidenuniv.nl or check out the Grassroots & Grass shoots website.