Harry Bitter of Biobased Chemistry & Technology with a VR set that enables students to practice setting up the materials for a complex distillation. Photo Guy Ackermans All employees and students at WUR may nominate an innovation in education for the new Education Innovation Award, which has been initiated by Education & Student Affairs. The award is to be conferred during the Dies Natalis on 9 March.
A jury chaired by Education and Learning Sciences Perry den Brok will select the winner. The prize consists of a sculpture and a sum of 1000 euros.
The award aims to ‘honour and celebrate innovations in university education’ and stimulate innovations. In order to be considered for a nomination, the innovation must have been implemented in education and thus be more than a mere plan. Examples include innovation in courses, exams, programmes (in whole or in part), education support, education facilities online or on campus, extracurricular activities and much more. Nominations can be done by anyone. Only nominating oneself is prohibited.
Rewarding pioneers
‘The education innovation award is designed to reward pioneers who have the courage to take novel approaches in their education, who have the courage to think outside of the box and who inspire us with new ideas’, says head of the jury Perry den Brok.
Many teachers changed their education during the pandemic. ‘From the teachers’ perspective, that was innovative. They worked with new IT tools and have delivered their courses in ways they would otherwise never have tried’, Den Brok states. ‘But, there is a small group that has taken the opportunity to try really new and unusual things, such as developing new tools, entirely different work methods or adopting a new approach to learning goals or learning results. The radical innovation has not increased suddenly, but there has certainly been a gradual innovation in small steps.’
Nominations can be submitted here. Nominations may be submitted to and including 16 January 2022.
