Teaching and Learning Online EDUiLAB at Tilburg University

Many universities in the Netherlands and around the world are seriously exploring challenge-based learning. The University of Twente is on its way to implementing this educational philosophy in the next few years, the Eindhoven University of Technology already embedded it into its core educational strategy, and Maastricht University has been practising problem-based learning, a close cousin of challenge-based learning, already since its founding in 1976!

Tilburg University has also dipped its toes in this trend, and today on the show we are exploring the Societal Challenge, a one-and-a-half-day event in which students came together to try and solve some interesting and pressing problems.

Guests in alphabetical order:


Anne van der Velden (challenge organizer)
Bendegúz Ken Bonecz (student)
Frank van den Berg (expert on challenge-based learning)

If you would like to get in touch with Anne, feel free to reach out to her via A.vdrVelden@tilburguniversity.edu.

To reach out to the host of the podcast, send a message to eduilab@tilburguniversity.edu.

Hardly a week goes by without an accomplished lawyer announcing on LinkedIn they are quitting their career in order to rekindle a long-neglected passion for photography or some other artistic endeavor. It may therefore surprise you that many students in dr. Leena Grover’s course Public International Law are artists who decided to pursue a second career in the legal field. Listen now to what it takes to design a course that makes photographers trade cameras for a tailored suit.

Guests in this episode:
Dr. Leena Grover, Associate Professor at the Tilburg Law School
Sahib Singh, Lecturer at the Tilburg Law School
Eleonora van der Steen, student
Miriam Rezaeian, student
Bram van Haaren, student

In his grant-winning educational intervention Dr. Bender paired bachelor and master students to practice intercultural skills through serious games. What were the games about? Did students like the exercise? Do they think they can transfer the learning into the real world? Listen now to find out!

In this episode, Rector Magnificus Wim van de Donk and Vice Rector Magnificus Jantine Schuit share their views on education in these tumultuous times and how their past experiences drive their vision for the future at our university.

Faculty and students at the university are being challenged by pandemic-related restrictions. The use of facilities as well as movement on campus are severely limited. For new students it is difficult to connect with the academic community as well as with the programs. So how can we make sure that students feel connected to the university and that we stimulate them to take ownership of their own learning?

Kenny Meesters, lecturer in the Information Management master within Tilburg University School of Economics and Management, rose up to such challenges with a bootcamp idea. Together with colleagues Andreas Alexiou, Joris Hulstijn, Francesco Lelli, and Carol Ou he developed a new approach towards teaching in these times.
In this episode Kenny tells us how, throughout the bootcamp, students explore a societal relevant case with the support and guidance of different lecturers. Alex Muller, one of the students who took part in this initiative, tells us how such model provides an holistic view on the program, as opposed to isolated courses. Prioritizing meaningful dialog and discussion with students, rather then projecting knowledge or provide instructions, gives ownership to students by creating a ‘thirst’ for knowledge to solve the case and share the results. This, in turn, allows students to get to know, use and integrate all aspects of the Tilburg Education Profile, forging them into socially engaged, critical thinkers.

In the first episode of season two we are going to take you back to the end of August when TOPWEEK, Tilburg University’s introduction week for new students, was taking place. This year's TOPWEEK was an extraordinary one as students started their student life mostly online. We invited Ilse van den Bosch, board member from MAK Mentorship Sytem - Supported by Asset, and Joep Hurkmans, board member of TOP Foundation, to tell us what it was like to plan such an unprecedented event.

Sebas Krijgsman van Spangenberg, a first year-student, and his mentor Stan den Teuling also joined the conversation, to share their experiences on starting student life online which exceeds everybody’s expectations.