Your Honours+ project provides a unique opportunity to collaborate with fellow students and engage in independent, interdisciplinary research. During your studies, you have already conducted research with varying subjects and scales, but the essence of your work remained the same: trying to answer a particular question.

Before you design your Honours+ research, collect and analyze your data, it is imperative to be explicit and clear about what you are trying to find out. Your task therefore, requires a disciplined and thoughtful transformation of your ideas into clearly formulated research questions.

Developing a good research question is one of the most challenging stages of your research process.

In this workshop we will discuss the process of research and the scientific method, and focus on the first stage in research, namely identifying a problem in the real world and forming a research question to address it. We will also reflect on how to bring together your personal skills and how to make your research questions more relevant by employing an interdisciplinary perspective.

In preparation for this workshop, please read:
Trochim, W. M. K., Donnelly, J. P. & Arora, K. (2015). Research methods: The essential knowledge base. Cengage learning. Chap. 1, pp. 3-32

! If you cannot find a copy of this work in the library, know that we will send you the required chapter also via email 2 days prior to the workshop.

Available sessions:

• Wednesday, 01.12.2021, 14:30-17:30 hrs;
• Tuesday, 07.12.2021, 18:00-21:00 hrs.

All “How to Formulate a Good Research Question” workshops will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require them to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location two days before the session.

You and your fellow team members have just started an exciting new challenge. In order to deliver good results, you will have to be able to collaborate together in a constructive way. Effective collaboration is a vital condition for team success. Apart from that: working together in a constructive way can be a satisfying experience. Looking back on a pleasant way of working adds up to the team success. These are two important reasons to invest in collaboration skills. When collaborating with your favourite people, you may not need to think too much about how you say and do things. But professional situations do not always involve favourite people. And good collaboration does not occur by itself. You might experience difficulties. Some of these difficulties stem from differences in personalities, communication styles, interests, and perspectives. This workshop focuses on how to identify and handle those difficulties.
This requires not only a good look on the other but also a clear image of your own way of working. The workshop offers a practical introduction to students who recognize the importance of collaboration skills, and are ready to extend the range of options they can choose from when faced with “difficult team members”.

• About you
  How do you tend to operate in a team? How do you handle conflicts? And what
  other options do you have? Each situation may ask for different strategies. We
  will discuss Thomas- Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, which describes
  different styles of behaviour in conflicts.
• Considering the other
  Take the time to consider your team member. What questions would be useful to
  ask yourself about the other person in order to decide how to respond? We will
  do a mapping exercise in which we make an estimate of people’s motivations
  and perspectives. Special attention is given to interdisciplinary expectations and
  misunderstandings.
• Action and reaction
  The way you communicate has an effect on how your team member responds.
  How can you increase the likelihood that team members respond in a fruitful
  way? We will work with Leary’s Interpersonal Circle, a model that provides
  insight into different communication styles and the reactions they provoke.
• Giving and receiving feedback
  So now you know what to do, how will you do this? What can you say to a team
  member in order to solve the situation? You are going to make explicit what you
  are planning to try out and improve in future teamwork.

Results

• The student is more aware of his/her own preferred way of
  communicating and handling conflicts in a team setting.
• The student is attentive to what reaction his/her behavior may cause in
  other team members.
• The student feels the importance of placing him/herself in the position
  of other team members.
• The student is aware of the range of options of communication when
  the team is faced with conflict situations.

Available sessions:

• Monday, 31.01.2022, 13:30-16:30 hrs (online);
• Monday 21.03.2022, 18:00-21:00 hrs.

The “Teamwork & Constructive Communication” workshop on 31.01.2022 will take place online. The other session on 21.03.2022 is for now scheduled to take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require it to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location/link two days before the session.

Creativity, or creative problem solving, is seen as one of the most important skills for the 21st century. A worldwide survey by IBM in 2010 under 1500 CEO’s stated that in an increasingly complex business world, creativity is a major leadership quality to embed in organisations. Next to our analytical know-how, we will need creativity to solve problems, to find opportunities and to accelerate change. Creativity is the outboard engine for innovation.

In this workshop we will give you a hands-on, introduction training in creativity skills and the creative process. You will work on a business case from the food industry and on a question/problem/case you are asked to bring along. Together we will try to find as many ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas as possible, for both cases. How to find extraordinary ideas and how to select and combine the best ideas? With the food industry case we will explore a couple of tools for divergent and convergent thinking. What is a good starting point for a creative process? We will tackle this using your own question/case.

We will wrap-up the workshop by discussing how to use creativity skills during your assignment. Furthermore, we will show you books on creativity and websites of interest.

Available sessions:

• Monday, 21.03.2022, 13:30-17:00 hrs;
• Thursday 14.04.2022, 09:30-13:00 hrs.

All “Creative Problem Solving” workshops will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require them to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location two days before the session.

If you want to excel it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to do more, quantity wise. It foremost means that you deliver better quality. However, of course you really excel when you can do more and do it better.

The problem with our brain is that it needs to be able to focus on the task at hand and that’s hard when there’s so much going on. If you’re stressed, lack a good overview, or your life is just an all-around mess, it’s probably hard to excel at anything.

In order to overcome this, you should:

• know how your brain works to steer it away from procastination, “multitasking”, and distractions (e.g. a pesky social media habit);
• know how your brain processes information;
• streamline all the work that is coming at you (emails, homework, assignments, papers etc.);
• plan ahead for the large tasks so that you don’t have to do everything at the last moment;
• keep a good overview of everything on your plate and decide what to focus on.

In the Time-Management workshop we promise you one thing: we are going to cover all of these subjects (and more) in a non-boring fashion. You will be provided with ready-to-use insights and practical tips on how to stay on top of things with the use of the latest insights and technology (you may expect many useful suggestions for how various specific apps can adequately support time management).

Available sessions:

• Tuesday, 12.04.2022, 09:30-12:30 hrs;
• Tuesday, 19.04.2022, 13:30-16:30 hrs (online).

The “Time Management” workshop on 12.04.2022 will take place at EDLAB Tapijn building X. The workshop on 19.04.2022 will take place online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location two days before the session.

During this workshop we will dive into the Science of Well-being.

By teaching you how the brain works and providing you with recent findings on how to boost optimal functioning, this workshop will help you capitalize on positivity and improve your productivity, performance and well-being.

This workshop will be brought to you by drs. Barbara Kuiters. She is a skilled psychologist with an expertise in positive psychology and neuroscience. She runs a successful company as a psychologist, therapist and teacher to educate other (mental) health professionals on the power of positive psychology.

Available sessions:

• Wednesday, 24.11.2021, 13:30-16:30 hrs;
• Friday, 26.11.2021, 09:30-12:30 hrs.

All “Science of Well-being” workshops will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require them to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location two days before the session.

How do you ensure you make a convincing argument? Which techniques strengthen your argument and how can you best respond to questions? This debating workshop addresses these issues and provides you with useful knowledge and skills which you will apply directly in a debate about current issues in university education and society at large. During this inspiring and varied programme, you will be provided with insight into rhetorical skills and techniques that are of great value in your (future) work. Afterwards, you will be able to present your ideas and recommendations more convincingly, leading to greater impact.

Het Debatbureau (The Debating Bureau) is specialized in debating and presenting. Based in The Hague, the agency supports professionals and students with training and workshops, and team members serve as moderator for a wide range of events. Trainings focus on improved debating, presenting and persuasion skills.

Available sessions:

• Wednesday, 05.01.2022, 13:30-16:30 hrs. (online via Zoom);
• Tuesday, 15.02.2022, 18:00-21:00 hrs.

The “Debating Skills” workshop on January 5th will take place via Zoom. The session in February will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require this session to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location or Zoomlink two days before the session.

We all find ourselves in stressful situations from time to time. Whether at work, during our studies, or when life throws nasty surprises at you. This is normal. But, when does it become problematic? When are you in danger of stress becoming a danger to your health and what do you need to do to avoid this? This workshop will give you basic insights into what stress is, where it comes from, and its effects. You will also get to identify your stress sources and tips on how to better manage these stressors and how to ensure
you have enough resources.

Available sessions:

• Monday, 14.03.2022, 18:00-21:00 hrs;
• Tuesday, 15.03.2022, 10:00-13:00 hrs.

All “Stress Management” workshops will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require them to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location two days before the session.

Presentations and pitching styles can be as versatile as the subjects that are being presented. What makes a good presentation be memorable? How can you deliver the main message of your project in a professional way? From content to delivery, a strong presentation and the skills that are deployed during effective pitching can create bigger impact with the audience, and deliver the message they need to hear.

During a three hour workshop, you will learn the foundations of a good presentation and the adequate content for pitching a proposal, or a project finale.

From learning what kind of content is suited for each project, to mastering stage presence and nearly perfect slides development, this workshop aims at unravelling the natural skill of the presenter and blending it with the appropriate content to deliver an effective and professional pitch.

The structure of the session consists of three parts:

• In the first part of the session, you will receive helping questions to give you structure for the content of your presentation.
• In the second part, we will focus on some practical exercises that will enhance performance, boost self-confidence and give some tips for keeping a professional stage presence.
• The third part of the sessiom is focused on practicing and receiving feedback and improvement suggestions.

Want to get the best preparation for your Closing Event pitch, or improve any presentation you will need to give during your studies, then sign up for any of these sessions.

Available sessions:

• Friday, 04.02.2022, 10:00-13:00 hrs (online);
• Wednesday, 16.03.2022, 13:30-16:30 hrs.

The “Ultimate Presentation Skills” workshop on February 4th will take place via Zoom. The session in March will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X unless last-minute Covid-19 restrictions require this session to be offered online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location or Zoomlink two days before the session.

People spend a lot of their time reading: students and knowledge workers alike. Weird enough we are not aware of how we read, why we wander off and what we can do to read better and faster. The adult reads with a speed of 200 to 250 words a minute and comprehends approximately 60% of what he is reading. With some practical tools and insights it is possible to double the reading speed without losing any text comprehension.

In this workshop you get a better insight in your own reading and information processing skills and learn how to double your reading speed and increase text comprehension in a practical and effective way.

The main focus of this workshop is to:

• Get valuable insights in the attention process during reading.
• Learn efficient reading strategies and techniques.
• Gain insight in inhibitions and distractions during reading combined with effective ways to tackle them.
• Learn practical tools to increase your reading speed and text comprehension.
• Practice with exercise texts to increase your reading speed and text comprehension.
• Track progress in reading speed and text comprehension.

The only way to learn speed reading is by actually doing it. That is why practicing is the main focus of this workshop. Reading exercise texts, tracking your reading speed and text comprehension is therefore the main activity in this workshop.

Available sessions:

• Tuesday, 26.04.2022, 09:30-12:30 hrs;
• Tuesday, 03.05.2022, 13:30-16:30 hrs (online).

All “Speed Reading” workshop on 26.04.22 will take place at EDLAB’s Tapijn Building X. The workshop on 03.05.22 will take place online. All attendees will receive a reminder email with the exact location two days before the session.