Several lecturers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have once again received a Comenius grant for their innovative teaching projects. Two Senior Fellow grants of €100,000 each and two Teaching Fellow grants of €50,000 each have been awarded to four VU Amsterdam lecturers who are committed to future-oriented and meaningful education.
The Comenius grants are awarded annually by the Dutch National Initiative for Education Research (NRO). They offer lecturers the opportunity to put their ideas for educational innovation into practice. This year’s awarded projects once again reflect a wide variety of themes. From clinical reasoning in medicine to feedback culture and personal development in health sciences.
Senior Fellows
Paul Houben (dr., general practitioner, clinical reasoning coordinator – Faculty of Medicine) is developing the project Clinical Reasoning – from Basics to Bedside. Clinical reasoning is a crucial skill for every doctor, but learning it is complex and takes a lot of practice. Houben is designing an integrated learning trajectory that guides students step by step, from the start to the end of the bachelor’s programme. Students are given more ownership of their learning process and practise in realistic educational settings.
Maxim Lagerweij (assistant professor – ACTA) is developing CoDent: a clinical case-multiplier created for and by dentistry students and lecturers. Students turn their own clinical experiences into interactive digital learning materials for their peers. This helps them reinforce their knowledge while contributing to a growing database of relevant and up-to-date practice cases. The CoDent case-multiplier enriches both case-based and theoretical learning and supports the continued improvement of dental education as a whole.
Teaching Fellows
Elke Vlemincx (assistant professor in Health Sciences – Faculty of Science) introduces GLOW: Gaining Life skills for Optimal Wellbeing and Success. Within the Bachelor’s programme in Health Sciences, a new learning path on transversal skills is being implemented. Transversal skills are trainable skills that are not tied to a specific discipline. Examples include collaboration, decision-making, emotional regulation, presenting, and providing feedback. Through this learning path, students develop a personal and dynamic transversal skills profile. The path offers students the opportunity to actively work on both their professional and personal development throughout their studies.
Micha Wilhelmus (programme director and associate professor – Faculty of Science) is taking a new approach to course evaluations with the project Portfolio Course Feedback (PCF). Traditional evaluations often offer only a limited view of students’ experiences. Within PCF, students learn how courses are designed and how to provide meaningful, constructive feedback. A selected group of students collects feedback during each course, discusses it together, and then shares their insights with the teaching teams.
