Successful 2nd edition of the UM Teach-Meet

On December 7, EDLAB hosted the second edition of the UM Teach-meet at the Department of Knowledge Engineering at the Tapijn barracks. Teaching staff from all UM faculties came to exchange ideas about this editions topic: the role of lectures in higher education. Seven givers shared their best practices followed by lively discussions.

Best practices in lecturing at Maastricht University

#1: Duo-lectures
Ben Janssen & Piet Leroy  (dept. Pharmacology & dept. of Pediatrics – FHML) explained how they improve interaction with medical students during their duo-lectures. Interaction between lecturers and students is enabled by having one lecturer standing in the audience and one lecturer at the blackboard making notes. Being a researcher and clinical doctor respectively, they are able to build bridges between scientific and clinical content together with the audience. As a result, they create synergy of both fields and students are more likely to understand and memorize the content better. By adding humor to the lecture, Ben and Piet keep the energy level among the students high.

#2: Engaging a multi-cultural group
Julieta Marotta (lecturer – Maastricht Graduate School of Governance) talked about keeping a multi-cultural group of Master’s students involved during their first course in their MPP program. Her solution is to combine 1) personalized examples, 2) brainstorming sessions before starting a new topic, 3) explain theories by linking them to personalized examples and brainstorming session, and 4) use YouTube videos to give examples or to present other views on the topic. Her approach keeps students engaged and allows them to connect with the theories through their own experiences. Using different channels to present the content helps the development of the student’s academic skills and competencies.

#3: Student-centered learning
Nicole Kornet (assistant professor Commercial Law – LAW) addressed lecturing in a PBL-setting and the tension between lecturer-steered content and student-centred learning. She experimented with on-demand lecturing during one of the Master’s courses, whereby the lecture is planned after the tutorial and is driven by questions proposed by students. Her approach enables students to address those topics that require extra explanation, and makes them feel more confident and better prepared for the exam.

#4: Group work during lectures
Nynke de Jong and Hylde Verbeek (both assistant professors dept. Health Services Research, FHML) explained how they transform lectures into group work and role-play during lectures enableing the students to think about real life situations.

#5: Using online software tools
Sjoke Merk (Lecturer Finance, SBE) shared his personal experiences with an online software tool (Wooclap) to enable interaction with the audience. During his lectures students can log in on a website on their mobile devices and give answers to open or closed questions. Sjoke makes use of this programme to increase engagement, but he also uses it to test the students’ general understanding of the lecture content and for feedback purposes.

The second edition of our UM teach-meet resulted in a fruitful afternoon and we can look forward to organize the next edition. What topic would you like to see as the next edition’s theme? Let us know!