E-learn Weblog of Willem van Valkenburg

As I mentioned on this blog in December I'm moving on to a new position. This means that there is a vacancy for my old position as Manager Teaching & Learning Services. The job opening is available here: https://www.academictransfer.com/en/289745/manager-teaching-and-learning-services/

We are also hiring a new learning developer (in Dutch) and a UTQ Trainer (in Dutch). Want to know more about what the job of learning developer entails, read this blog post of learning developer Bea de los Arcos.

It is a great team with lots of enthousiasm, expertise and a strong drive to improve education. If you are interested, please apply before March 1st.

You will be involved in supporting all the education activities of the university: open education, blended education, online education, education for professionals and teacher training.

Last week MIT published the report "The global state of the art in engineering education":

The report, authored by Ruth Graham, is a global review of cutting-edge practice in engineering education. It is informed by interviews with 178 thought leaders with knowledge of and experience with world-leading engineering programs, combined with case studies from four different universities. The report paints a rich picture of successful innovation in engineering education as well as some of its opportunities and challenges.

The study was structured in two phases. First phase provided a snapshot of the cutting edge of global engineering education and a horizon scan of how the state of the art is likely to develop in the future. Phase 2 involved case studies of four selected institutions identified during Phase 1 as being ‘emerging leaders’ in engineering education. TU Delft was selected as one of the four institutes, next to Singapore University of Technology and Design (Singapore), University College London (UK), and Charles Sturt University (Australia).

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Last year (it sounds long ago) the TU Delft approved our new educational vision:

This document contains Delft University of Technology’s vision on education. It describes our educational goals and quality ambitions, and states directions for further development of our educational portfolio and our way of teaching and learning.

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We are looking for a hands-on PhD candidate in the field of engineering education as part of a Knowledge Alliance on the Professional Roles and Employability of Future Engineers in the Erasmus+ programme. You will design, implement and evaluate curriculum elements for engineering programmes on both the BSc and MSc levels to prepare students for their future careers. The premise of the project is that every engineering graduate has a natural preference for certain professional engineering roles. Discovering one’s preferred roles and enhancing the required skill portfolio for these roles will enhance employability.

The deadline to apply is December 1st. Apply via academic transfer. If you have any questions, please contact Gillian Saunders.

Knowledge Alliance

The PREFER project (Professional Roles and Employability of Future EngineeRs) aims to reduce the skills mismatch in the field of engineering: new engineering graduates frequently display a lack of transversal skills required by the labour market. Enterprises observe a lack of self-awareness among new engineering graduates of who they are as an engineer and what their strengths are. Despite appropriate levels of technical skills, enterprises recruiting engineers often demand a more elaborated transversal skill set.

The objectives of the PREFER project are threefold. First, we aim to construct a Professional Roles Framework wherein the different roles engineers can take on in the beginning of their career are described, independent of the engineering disciplines (e.g., electronics, chemistry, ..). Each role will be characterized with an associated set of transversal skills. Thereafter, a Test System will be developed in order to (1) increase engineering students’ awareness of the multitude of professional roles in engineering and (2) to make them reflect on their own engineering identity and their interests, strengths and weaknesses. Third, we will explore how to implement these innovative tools into the engineering curriculum by running a number of pilots in the participating universities. This will result in a modern learning environment that ensures that people can develop their own talent in full on the basis of informed study and career choices.

In order to reach the PREFER objectives, a well-balanced consortium is constructed. Three leading engineering education institutions (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Delft University of Technology and Dublin Institute of Technology) and three multinationals with large experience in recruiting different profiles of engineers (Engie, Siemens and ESB), are involved. In order to develop reliable and valid test material, an experienced test development partner (BDO) is a member of the team. And finally, we will guarantee a large European network thanks to three Societies of Engineers (ie-net, KIVI and Engineers Ireland), one national sector federation (AGORIA) and two European societies (SEFI and FEANI). They play an essential role in connecting higher education institutions with a large number of companies and SME’s hiring engineers.

SURFnet lanceert een nieuwe initiatief om ICT start-ups in contact te brengen met onderwijsinstellingen. Het initiatief is een experiment dat start-ups met innovatieve ICT-technologieën en nuttige producten en diensten voor het onderwijs helpt hun weg te vinden naar toekomstige gebruikers. De start-ups hebben al een toepassing, maar nog weinig tot geen afnemers en staan op het punt te groeien.

Op de website startuppodium.surf.nl kunnen start-ups zich aanmelden. Onderwijsinstellingen kunnen die pitches vervolgens liken. Bovendien kunnen onderwijsinstellingen die direct met een start-up in zee willen, rechtstreeks met hen in contact komen.

Ik verwacht natuurlijk dat een aantal YesDelft startups zich melden, zoals FeedBackFruits, ProjectCampus, Binkies, KE Works, Vemble, en WebChair. 

Start-up Live Event
Op 19 mei organiseert SURFnet tevens een Start-up Live Event, waar enkele start-ups hun product of dienst presenteren. Het programma biedt ruimte aan onderwijsinstellingen om in gesprek te gaan met de jonge ondernemers.

It has been a busy travel year: 12 trips, 8 countries, 20 flights and 92 nights away from home. As many of you know I like the travelling to comes with my current job. In most cases I have the opportunity to stay a couple of days longer to explore the city or country. Here is the list of trips:

• Jan: day trip to Brussels
• Feb: visit to Airbus in Toulouse and Marseille
• March/April: conference in Sausalito (next to Golden Gate Bridge) and extra time to do a roadtrip around California (San Franscisco, Napa Valley, Yosemite NP, Kings Canyon, Sequia NP, Death Valley, Santa Barbara, HW 1 up to Monterey)
• April/May: Conference in Banff and a roadtrip around Alberta (Banff NP, Jasper NP, Edmonton, Drumheller, Calgary)
• June: Conference in Barcelona, only one afternoon to explore the city
• July/Aug: Holiday in Fryslân
• September: Weekend in Dusseldorf
• Sept/October: Conference in Sun City, South Africa. Added 2,5 weeks to explore South Africa (Johannesburg/Pretoria, Entabeni Game Reserve, Capetown, Krugerpark, Sun City)
• November: Conference in Vancouver. Added a couple of extra days to visit Whistler and Vancouver Island.
• Nov/Dec: Conference in Rome, added 2 days to visit Rome and Vatican City (first time for me in Rome)
• December: Christmas holiday in Fryslân

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On November 2nd 2005 I posted my first item on my blog. Ten years later and 1178 items further I'm still blogging. Lots of things have changed in my work and on my blog, but I still enjoy blogging. Although it is not as frequent as it once was.

Above is a wordle of all the titles of the blog items.

SURFnet is een nieuw initiatief gestart: de Innovation Challenge:

Via de Innovation Challenge maken duo’s van docenten en studenten in het hoger onderwijs kans op € 10.000 voor experimenten waarbij zij innovatieve ICT-toepassingen inzetten om flexibel en gepersonaliseerd onderwijs te stimuleren, onderwijs op maat te bieden en aan te sluiten bij de leerbehoeften van studenten. De experimenten kunnen een toepassing, product of dienst opleveren waar studenten en docenten direct baat bij hebben in het hoger onderwijs en die een directe bijdrage leveren aan het verbeteren van het onderwijs.

Het gaat om experimenten waarbij innovatieve ICT-toepassingen worden ingezet binnen een onderwijscontext. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan toepassingen waarbij slim gebruik is gemaakt van augmented reality, 3D printing, drones, wearables, big data etc. Of aan producten of diensten als apps, games, ebooks of interactietools.

Interessant aan het initiatief is dat het gaat om een combinatie van een docent met een student. Binnen de Extension School bestaan de meeste Course Teams uit een team van docenten en studenten. Onze ervaring is dat dit erg goed werkt.

Om mee te doen aan het voorstel moet je voor 9 oktober je voorstel indienen. Het gaat hierbij om het invullen van een template en het aanleveren van een video of animatie. Het voorstel dat je indient moet binnen 6 maanden te realiseren zijn.

Meer informatie is te vinden op innovationchallenge2015.surf.nl.

Do you want to be part of innovating education with online education? Help us to become a world leader in online education? Educate the world! We are looking for 2 eLearning Developers to join our (international) team!

TU Delft

Delft University of Technology is the leading University of Technology in the Netherlands with a global reputation in the fields of science, engineering & design. TU Delft’s mission is to make a significant contribution towards a sustainable society for the twenty-first century by conducting ground-breaking scientific and technological research which is acknowledged as world-class, by training scientists and engineers with a genuine commitment to society and by helping to translate knowledge into technological innovations and activity with both economic and social value.

Open & Online Education

TU Delft has been a forerunner in the field of Open & Online Education since 2007, and is one of the sustaining members of the Open Education Consortium and since 2013 charter member of the EdX Consortium. In March 2014, the board of the TU Delft approved a 3-year innovation program to accelerate the development of open & online education. The goal is to educate the world by creating an online learning portfolio with open & online courses for a global population of life long learners. Our courses are listed on https://online-learning.tudelft.nl.

Job description

As eLearning Developer you will be part of the (international) Extension School team, which supports and leads the online learning developments of the university. You will create advanced eLearning modules that will be part of the TU Delft Online Learning portfolio. The Extension School delivers MOOCs, Professional Education, blended and online education (bachelor and master level) to a worldwide audience. You will have considerable experience designing and developing online & blended education courses.

In this role you will partner with and support the academic staff to create outstanding open and online courses. Your project management skills contribute to your success in this role as you will be responsible for managing multiple projects. Together with a team of eLearning developers you will also work on constantly improving course designs and deliveries.

• Devise complex technical methods and processes to meet new and unique eLearning and web requirements and resolve technical problems.
• Ability to work independently. Ability to interact effectively with various faculty members in the TU Delft organization.
• Recognize, recommend and participate in the development of standards and procedures that support quality improvement in the Delft Extension School and products for our students.
• Provide project management for e-learning projects with tight deadlines. These projects bring together people from various departments and backgrounds to develop content, technical specifications and functional prototypes for the Extension School.
• Provide training to faculty on developing and teaching online courses.
• Meet all internal deadlines according to project plan regardless of project limitations.

Requirements

• Master of Education (M.Ed) in Instructional Design, Educational Technology or related experience plus 1 year recent curriculum design and/or course development experience in online education;
• Demonstrate a keen sense of organization and attention to detail;
• Demonstrated ability to handle unforeseen difficulties and obstacles with ease;
• An excellent team player that is able to work on complex projects with a group of other course developers;
• Ability to work on a tight, rapidly-changing schedule;
• Experience with using ICT in education, such as digital assessment, e-moderating, online teaching methods and platforms;
• A committed consultant with strong communication skills in English, mastery of Dutch is a plus;
• Experience in higher education;
• Experience as a teacher of open or online education is a plus.

For more information and application, please visit our official vacancies website. If you have questions you can contact me via contact form above.

Today, New Media Consortium (NMC) and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) released  the NMC Horizon Report > 2015 Higher Education Edition. This edition describes annual findings from the NMC Horizon Project, an ongoing research project designed to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have an impact on learning, teaching, and creative inquiry in education. They’ve also released this video summary:

This image shows the 6 key trends, 6 challenges and 6 technologies.

Download report