In honor of 10 years of PREMIUM, we look back on what a decade of PREMIUM has meant for our alumni, coaches, mentors, clients, and trainers.
Another important component for the PREMIUM programme to be successful, are the dedicated mentors who put themselves out there to support the team dynamics and the process. This year, we are supported by around 20 mentors. And then there are also the enthusiasts who (lucky for us) come back every year as a mentor. Amongst them is Ike Kamphof, assistant professor at FASoS.
Ike is particularly interested in the senses. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that she has successfully mentored teams for the Marres project quite a few times already. Next to her role as mentor, she is also the FASoS coordinator for PREMIUM and helps in setting up, further developing, and evaluating the programme. Interested to know more about the role of Ike in the PREMIUM programme? Let’s look back on 10 years of Excellence together with Ike and hear about her experiences!
What does a successful PREMIUM project team look like for you?
‘I am not sure about that, since success is not always the most important thing. Of course, students want to deliver something valuable to their client. However, even if the project fails it may still be a successful experience for the student. PREMIUM is a safe learning experience for students.
If you ask me though what an ideal project team looks like, I would say the team ideally has to be interdisciplinary. This is an important aspect of PREMIUM. In the past, I have been a mentor to teams of students that were almost all of the same faculty. That is more difficult to work with. Especially when measuring success in terms of the learning experience for the students and to the final deliverable for the client. ‘
‘It is partly the success of the team, if they can find something valuable to offer to the client, in response to a problem that the client has. This may not always be what the client initially had envisioned, but what derives from what the team can analyse.
In the Marres project, the client is quite free and open in expectations – they are interested in the students’ experiences of explorations. Therefore, the Marres project is unique in a way that it is very open in the context of the assignment, though challenging and demanding in the sense that it has to be based on the students’ sensory behavior, genuine exploration and real discoveries. Students have to be willing to step out of their comfort zone and should not be afraid to be challenged and to open up.’
In what way has PREMIUM developed itself over the past few years?
‘As FASoS Coordinator, I have been involved in the development of the programme. Throughout the years, we have gained a much firmer grip on interesting and valuable projects for students. We have been able to develop more interesting challenges and at the same time, we became more aware of (possible) pitfalls in projects. Pitfalls such as; is the project doable within the given time, is the client too demanding or overly vague? We learned how to fine-tune project’s assignments in a way that projects will work most of the time. This is a good development that I have seen over the years.
The same goes for the workshops; in the beginning, we received feedback sometimes that a workshop was not that relevant to students. Now, we do not receive these complaints anymore.
Also, we always emphasize that PREMIUM does remain a learning experience, we know better how to communicate this to clients. ‘
What makes the mentoring of a PREMIUM project team unique?
‘I enjoy seeing the students grow to young professionals. This is one of the major components PREMIUM has to offer: a safe environment where we provide students with the experience of applying their knowledge to a client’s real-life problem. We also do this in PBL at Maastricht University, but that still remains abstract.
It is also a safe environment for students to get to know themselves better, in relationship to other people, whether this is the client or the team. A large part of studying is individually orientated; you have to choose your curriculum, you are working individually towards your career, you are assessed on an individual basis – a lot of university practices are quite individualistic. This is not how the real world works though – in the real world you have to work in teams, you have to solve problems together and you have to relate your expertise to that. In PREMIUM, they start to incorporate all of this already. Students learn who they are, in relationship to other people and the world. They grow immensely. ‘
In what way has the pandemic and working from home situation influenced your role as mentor for the PREMIUM team?
‘I notice that my team, and I heard this of other teams too, puts forward a lot of enthusiasm and positive energy. As if the pandemic calls up this extra motivation and energy to make things work well. Students are already in a situation that has a lot of negativities, so they want to keep the environment very positive. They support each other and work together very well.’
‘As a mentor, I am not active in organizing them at the start, they have to organize themselves. I may suggest some things or give back reflections or notes and give this back to the team and open a conversation. This is more difficult in Covid-19 times because you do not see them personally or do not see the body language. Therefore, I am trying to feel from other clues how the teamwork is going.’
Why would you advise others (e.g. UM colleagues) to become a mentor in the PREMIUM programme?
‘It is a nice experience to see the students grow and to be involved in that process. It gives me a lot of energy, satisfaction and pride. Almost every time, I am proud of my team and the way they come out of the project.
I also like this particular kind of mentoring students; you help them reflect on their strengths and weaknesses, and their perspectives. You learn the play of letting the students independently bang their heads against the brick wall, and then you help them reflect. I like developing those reflective skills a lot. Your role looks really small and from the sidelines, but it is quite important.’
What is your best PREMIUM memory so far?
‘I always like the Mix & Match, Kick-Off event because of the intensity of that event; students and clients come there with hopes and expectations and the networking is always quite intense.
There was this one time when the client Marres was stuck in traffic and was not in time for the presentation of the project, so I had to step in. Usually, I like to over-prepare for these kinds of things, but in this case, I couldn’t really.
I told the audience in my speech what it means to be sensory present. That we were all in that room together, and that we know and sense a lot more about each other than we sometimes articulate. I was talking about the sensory connection that we have to the world.
Then, I see this one student, a Law student, listening to me and sort of changing. Later, he came to talk to me and said that he wanted to be on the project. He changed his initial project preference completely, based on my speech. He wanted to be challenged, step out of his comfort zone and experience what I was talking about. That was so touching.’
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Step 3: Align means and ends
This exercise provides a first introduction to PBL and the seven-step approach.
As collaboration is an important aspect of PBL, the topic of the first task they discuss is group development and group dynamics – reflecting the situation they are actually facing.
By making group work the subject of study and discussion, it becomes easier to talk about the real-life experiences and expectation student have. This way, a more personal reflection on learning is combined with a first glance at doing and using research, making a critical discussion of the literature a logical next step during the post discussion.
After the session, we also evaluate this first discussion, using questions such as:
–> Can you describe what happened during the discussion?
–> Was this what you expected of a PBL discussion?
–> What went well? And what could be improved?
Stage 1: Mapping teaching & learning styles – Stage 3: Align means and ends
At DKE, we identified a set of key features that define our Project Centered approach to learning. We then created a playful approach for our introduction, revolving around one essential aspect of PCL: team work.
At the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, DKE students took part in an alternate reality game, a Covid-proof interactive event designed for the introduction days of the academic year of 2020-2021. Students were confronted with various strange situations. Those who logged in early to their faculty introduction programme encountered unexpected footage: before the virtual welcome address, men and women in black could be seen combing the lecture halls and escorting speakers in and out.
Through a series of online puzzles disguised as group assignments – a hallmark of the project-centred learning method of the programme – students uncovered a wild plot as they raced through puzzles, collaborating within and outside of their group through Zoom, Google Docs, Whatsapp and UM’s custom-built social media platform.
Through the game, students are actively exploring and practicing many aspects of Project Centered Learning:
–> It was not clear in advance where it was going (the plot only became clear along the way: kidnapping, bomb, villain, etc.)
–> After an introductory presentation in groups of 6-8ish (online, Zoom), with a supervisor we started with two assignments – varying from a quiz (clear assignments) to a fake broken webpage (very vague, much self-direction needed)
–> Division of roles in groups stimulated by the supervisor (who takes minutes, who coordinates with other groups, etc.)
–> Assignments all had double bottom / hints to solve the bigger plot > extra effort from students was needed to bring it to a successful conclusion (problem solving) instead of just doing the assignment stupidly
–> Group dynamics were made challenging as each group had to send someone away to an assignment on location (and keep in touch as well).
–> All groups then had to work together, organize / exchange information to solve the big problem.
Stage 3: Align means and ends
At the Maastricht Sustainability Institute, teaching and learning in the master takes place in a ‘flipped classroom’ format. Small groups of 5 to 6 students first work independently on learning objectives, and subsequently report back in a plenary meeting with around 20 students. This puts a strong emphasis on the self-directed and collaborative aspects of learning. To prepare for this, at the beginning of the programme, students do an exercise in group work. They also draw up a Team Charter that describes how they will collaborate.
Stage 5: How are we doing?
This activity aims to get students to reflect on their experiences with PBL, especially those that have been less positive, thinking first about what caused the disappointment, then possible solutions. The activity involves a 10-15-minute individual reflection activity, followed by some 30 minutes of small group discussion of causes and solutions to problems. The tutor’s role (not described in the exercise) is to monitor the discussion and ensure suggestions are collected in a useable form.
Stage 4: Keeping up the spirit
At the MSc Learning and Development in Organisations, learning is based on the principles of constructive, contextual, collaborative and self-directed learning. The constructive and collaborative aspects of learning in particular, are seen as very similar to learning and working in a professional context. In the coaching that is an integral part of this programme, reflection on what is learned and how it is learned become two sides of the same coin. Goal setting and self-evaluation by students concerns the development of competencies and the way in which these are acquired through learning.
Stage 2: Mind the gap to previous experiences
We used a flipped format to deliver PBL information during Introduction days. We set up a canvas course dedicated to Introduction days were students could find all sort of information, including websites, contact information and student manuals related to their selected study programme. Within this canvas site, we added an Introduction days schedule with embedded welcome videos and/or documents. In the week prior to Introduction Days, participants received an email (via Canvas announcements) asking them to go over the event’s schedule on Canvas and watch a ~40 min video with a detailed explanation on how PBL works. During Introduction days the panel was organized as follows:
— Panel chair briefly summarized the main concepts related to PBL
— The tutors/coordinators and current students panelists introduced themselves and shared (informally) their thoughts and experience with PBL
— The chair opened the room for questions from new students
Unlike previous years that used a simple PBL presentation (passive listening), the flipped approach allowed us to provide the factual information before hand and opt for a more active PBM meeting for optimal engagement of participants during the event. Participants asked many questions, often building up from answers provided by the panel. Having a diverse panel answering questions was an added bonus, as the participants quickly realized that different coordinators/tutors might approach PBL differently, depending on the content and focus of the course. The current student perspective was very valuable as they provided examples of how they prepare for PBL and act as chairs or scribes. In Period 2 we asked the new students to provide feedback about Introduction Days and they commented quite favorably about the active PBL panel.
Stage 1: Mapping Teaching & Learning Styles
This activity is designed to get students to compare their expectations of teacher and student roles, with the hope of revealing underlying cultural perceptions so that all are aware of them and they can be addressed. When grouping the students, try to select diverse nationality groups. Time stage A so that students discuss their (national) cultural expectations before learning in detail about PBL. Carry out stage B after they have received some input about what PBL is.