Teaching and Learning Inspiration Days

In an era of increasing polarization, engaging with sensitive or controversial topics in the classroom can be challenging—for students and teachers alike. How do we foster the attitude that makes meaningful communication across differences possible?

This lecture introduces you to ''Fostering an Open Mind and Open Attitude in Higher Education'', an educational innovation project that focuses on cultivating openness, curiosity, and perspective taking in academic education. By practicing skills such as active listening, empathy, critical self-reflection and dealing with discomfort, students and teachers become better equipped to engage with complex or polarized issues.

Key element of the project is the use of creative methods. Games, game design, and artistic dialogue formats make complex issues experiential and accessible. These approaches help implicit perspectives and emotions surface, supporting deeper reflection than traditional discussion formats.

During the lecture, we will share what we have learned while developing and piloting these methods with students and lecturers across disciplines. The session offers practical inspiration and insights for educators who want to contribute to a more open, curious, and brave conversational culture in higher education.

Language: English
Work form: Keynote
Location: USP

By Jessica Hegeman.

Believe in what is possible—and discover what happens when you show it. 

People learn more when you show that you have high expectations of them. In fact, people learn better this way because they are encouraged to believe in themselves and get the most out of themselves. It is important to show what is possible in the here and now, rather than setting unrealistically high expectations in the (distant) future. This theory of high expectations plays a major role in didactic coaching, which is characterized by the same positive approach.

So what exactly is didactic coaching?
In didactic coaching, you stimulate the learner's thinking by giving motivational feedback and asking questions that promote learning. You minimize giving instructions in order to activate the learner and give them the opportunity to think for themselves. A characteristic of didactic coaching is focusing on what is already going well, rather than emphasizing what is not going so well. In short: identify what is (already) there and ask questions about what is not (yet) there.

During the workshop, we will work with this methodology together.

Language: Dutch (English also possible)
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Gwenda Frederiks (UMCU) and Nanette Verhulst.

Are you looking for creative ways to equip your students with the skills to bring about social change? Or inspiration for challenge-oriented, interdisciplinary, or innovative education? Or are you in the process of redesigning a course? 

Then join this inspiring workshop, where you will be introduced to the Transition Makers Toolbox. In this interactive session, you will discover the content and possibilities of this toolbox and learn how to use the tools in your teaching. The toolbox contains ready-to-use materials for teaching skills that contribute to solving complex problems, in line with the Inner Development Goals (IDGs). There are tools for brainstorming, collaboration, resilience, and bringing together different perspectives. Many of these skills overlap with the Graduate Attributes (GAs) from the current UU education model. Come and be inspired to embed the GAs in your daily teaching practice. 

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Sandra Kalsbeek and Ruud Dielen.

Open Textbooks are high-quality study books for students that are shared online and can be accessed freely by anyone. These educational materials are a way to move away from expensive (commercial) textbooks students or institutions need to buy. They're also a way to regain autonomy over one's course content. Since 2024, the University Library has been piloting a service for creating open textbooks by UU teachers.

In this interactive workshop, we explore different questions: What makes a good open textbook? Where can these be found? What are the benefits and drawbacks? And what to do if want to publish a textbook yourself?

In 90 minutes, you'll explore all facets of Open Textbooks.

Language: English
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Miriam de Boer, Renske Bouwer, Joy de Jong and Marjolein Verhoeven.

Academic writing education is under pressure, partly due to GenAI and budget cuts. The question of how reading and writing skills can be effectively and feasibly embedded in the curriculum is therefore widely debated. Why are these skills particularly important right now? How can you still offer students space for their learning process? What didactic tools can teachers use to achieve this? Within an interfaculty USO project, we developed a roadmap to help with this. In this session, we will discuss how you can use the roadmap in your own teaching practice, based on previous experiences in Chemistry, Pedagogy, CIW and History. 

Your knowledge, experience and frustrations regarding academic reading and writing education are indispensable during this session. If we want to make the roadmap useful for teachers, course coordinators and programme directors, we need to know from you whether the path we have now embarked on is the right one! 

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By team Future Learning Spaces and teachers.

Are you curious about how colleagues use the Active Learning Space in their teaching? During this interactive inspiration session, you will be introduced to an Active Learning Space and the effect of the space on the learning process. Based on the inspiring practical experiences of teachers, you will discuss the use of learning activities and how you can use an Active Learning Space to teach more actively, creatively and effectively. 

What can you expect:

• Inspiring examples from teachers
• Practical tips for designing learning activities
• Opportunities for exchange and ideas

Sign up and experience how the Active Learning Space can transform your teaching! 

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop, inspiration session, teacher talk
Location: USP

By Judith Loopers and Joris Veenhoven.

Do you also find that students don't always see the coherence in education? Do you also notice that colleagues don't know much about what is covered in the programme and how? Or do you want to work on the visibility of graduate attributes in the programme? In this session, you will discover how the UU learning trajectory tool can provide answers to such questions. The UU learning trajectory tool has been used for over 10 years in a wide range of programmes across all faculties at UU. 

We will start the session with a short demonstration of the learning trajectory tool and an explanation of how its use can strengthen coherence in education within a programme. You will then get to work with the learning trajectory tool yourself. You will create a learning trajectory for your own programme in a (skills) domain of your choice. As you do so, you will learn about the possibilities and exchange experiences with other participants and the trainers. Both trainers have extensive experience in using the learning trajectory tool in programmes within Utrecht University.

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Janine Geerling (UMCU) and Jaleesa Latupeirissa (UMCU).

Teaching an increasingly diverse group of students, tutoring students from different (cultural) backgrounds, or collaborating with a colleague from a different educational background or generation. You will probably recognize yourself in one of these situations, which can sometimes be surprising, confusing or frustrating encounters. What is obvious in these situations for one person may not be so for another and is influenced, among other things, by the (cultural) lens through which we perceive and try to understand the world around us. How do you deal with this?

We invite you to attend the Intercultural Competencies Workshop, where you will learn how to better deal with the cultural perspectives of students, colleagues and yourself. In this workshop, we will work on recognising and developing your intercultural competencies, which will help you communicate more effectively in your work. 

Language: Dutch
Workform: Workshop, inspiration session,
Location: USP

By Davitze Könning and Maaike van Tuinen.

Are you not so familiar with Generative AI yet? Or are you not so sure how to use Generative AI in your teaching or your own work? Then this workshop is ideal for you!

In this workshop you will learn the basics of Generative AI, including the (ethical) issues, but most of all the possibilities. You will actively work on different assignments to discover how you can use GenAI in your own practice. You will work with different chatbots and learn how to write a good prompt. After this session you will know how to apply GenAI practically and responsibly in your own practice!

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Maarten de Boer and Fleur van Gils.

Do you test students to assess them, or do you test students to help them learn? During this workshop, we will discuss the differences between assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning.  

We will then look at examples of assessment that you can use to enrich your teaching. Together with colleagues, you will discuss how you can implement the two functions of assessment in your teaching in relation to the Utrecht education model. 

Language: English
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Esther van Dijk and Femke Kirschner.

Standard course evaluations seem to rarely live up to their potential: too few responses, too much vague feedback, and not enough real insight. In this interactive session, you’ll learn how to make your evaluations more effective by refining or adding questions to existing evaluations, or by collecting complementary data from your students using time-efficient methods, such as short surveys or class conversations. 

Starting with a concrete question – “What do I want to learn about my teaching?” – you’ll explore how to boost response rates, craft focused questions, and interpret results that lead to meaningful insights into your teaching and course design. To do this, we will build on key steps for systematic evaluation (UR-SoTL) and evidence-based methods for generating meaningful insights into teaching. In this way, evaluation becomes more than a required task: it becomes a meaningful, scholarly way to enhance your teaching practice (educational scholarship).

Language: English
Work form: Workshop, inspiring session
Location: USP

By Anja Bastenhof, Jill Goeman and Hannah Witteveen.

Scientific insights are increasingly reaching a wide audience—through news, blogs, and social media. At the same time, these channels are teeming with claims that are not evidence-based. It is becoming increasingly difficult for students to distinguish fact from nonsense. In this stimulating, practical workshop, you will learn how to guide students in this process. Together, we will dive into the world of information manipulation. Not to promote it, but to arm you as a teacher. In a safe setting, you will apply manipulation techniques yourself. You will learn to quickly recognise and expose framing, clickbait, and cherry-picking. Afterwards, you will be able to easily discuss the subject in your teaching. You will leave with ready-made teaching methods, sharp examples, and more confidence in making students more media literate. Be sure to bring a healthy dose of critical thinking with you!

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Annelies Pieterman-Bos and Steven Raaijmakers.

During this session, we will show how you can use open educational materials for your own education and how you can upcycle your educational materials. We will use an easy-to-use checklist to make example materials from an Open Science course sharable. We’ll also discuss what makes open educational materials reusable across contexts. After this workshop, you’ll be able to find and use open materials of other teachers to enhance your own teaching and you’ll be able to share your own materials. And as an extra benefit, you’ll learn how to translate your educational efforts into concrete output with a DOI that is coupled to your ORCID.

Language: Dutch
Work form: Round table session
Location: USP

By Jeroen Bosman, Marc van Mil and Hanne Oberman.

Open Education is a central design principle in the updated Utrecht educational model. But how do you connect your course to the Open Education ambition? Colleagues from the Community for Open Science in Education (COSiE) will guide you in identifying concrete opportunities to “Open Up” your course. The best ideas will receive an Open Up your Course-voucher for free of charge help from our COSiE student-assistants to put the ideas into practice.

Language: English
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Liesbeth de Bakker, Robin Bos, Hiljanne van der Meer and Sigrid Merx.

How can you engage in discussions about complex and urgent topics in your teaching? Especially now, when discussions at university are becoming stalled, overheated or even non-existent. Discover Het Vlak, in which participants jointly explore a complex topic. Think of the wolf in the Netherlands, euthanasia, climate change, obesity or anything else that is relevant to your field. Discuss these topics with attention and respect for each other and each other's perspectives, but without avoiding any discomfort. 

During the Teaching & Learning Inspiration Days, you will experience Het Vlak for yourself. There will also be colleagues who will share how they have used this method in their teaching and what it has achieved. Inspired? A training course will be given in the spring of 2026, after which you can immediately use Het Vlak in your teaching.

Het Vlak is one of three tools from the Comenius project Fostering an Open Mind and Open Attitude. Using Het Vlak as a form of discussion, we discuss topics using a white surface on which various objects are placed and continuously moved around. How do the relationships between the objects change? Who, what and which factors and emotions play a role in this? 

Language: Nederlands
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Pim Huijnen and Els Weinans.

Many students find methods education difficult and boring. This workshop shows how reproducibility can offer a fresh and original entry point in methods education. It helps students discover the value of rigorous and transparent methods—regardless of how central reproducibility is in their field. 

Through interactive exercises from disciplines ranging from geography to history, we aim to explore how reproducing existing research helps students better understand how science works, sharpen their eye for things like fake news and alternative facts, and how it can function as a conversation-starter on the value of reproducibility itself.

Language: Dutch or English
Work form: Inspiration session
Location: USP

By Pim Huijnen and Swantje Falcke.

Generative AI is reshaping academic teaching. Its wide use among students forces teachers to rethink how they design and assess learning goals. Many feel uncertain about how to judge its impact or how to ensure that their assessments still reflect their intended learning goals. This workshop offers a structured space to explore these questions together.

Participants will work with a three-step reflection instrument developed at the Faculty of Humanities that aims to help clarify where and how GenAI affects their teaching.

Through shared discussion, we will identify common challenges across disciplines and exchange best practices for adapting assessments, or even entire work forms in the light of GenAI. The aim of the instruments is not to ban GenAI from academic education, but to turn the question whether students use it irrelevant.

The workshop is not just about applying the instrument, but also about improving it. Participants’ feedback and experiences will help make the instrument more useful across different disciplines and teaching contexts. Whether you already experiment with GenAI or are just beginning to consider its impact, this session aims to equip you with insight, practical handles, and inspiration for your own courses.

Language: English
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Emma Daniëls.

Curious about how immersive media can transform your teaching? In this interactive workshop, you’ll experience firsthand how 360° videos can bring lessons to life. Whether you’re working with simple mobile devices or advanced headsets like the Quest 3, you’ll discover practical ways to integrate VR into your classroom — from small seminars to large group settings.

Using 360° video and virtual reality (VR) in your teaching can make learning more engaging, memorable, and effective for students. These tools allow you to bring complex ideas to life by letting students explore places, scenarios, and objects that would normally be too expensive, dangerous, or difficult to access. They support authentic, experiential learning—such as virtual field trips, clinical scenarios, and cultural encounters—and can foster empathy and deeper perspective-taking. VR also enables active, hands-on interaction and self-paced practice, while 360° video offers accessible, context-rich experiences for both in-person and remote learners.

In this session, we’ll explore when and how to use 360° videos effectively to create engaging learning experiences, such as virtual field trips or interactive storytelling. You’ll also learn about the XR (Extended Reality) facilities and support available at UU, so you’ll leave ready to start experimenting with VR and 360° video in your own teaching practice.

Join us for an inspiring and hands-on session that will expand your perspective on what’s possible in education.

Language: English
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By Sara Brouwer, Bouke van Gorp, Charlotte Miller and Veronique Schutjens.

Fieldwork, learning outside the walls of the classroom through direct experience with the outside world, is an important educational method in disciplines such as geography, earth sciences, biology, and beyond. Since fieldwork is inherent to these disciplines, it has long been taken for granted. However, fieldwork can exclude students from minority groups. Many teachers have already made individual adjustments to the programme or assignments to address concerns of individual students. However, this assumes that students are willing to express their concerns or needs in advance – but that is by no means always the case. In this workshop, we will explore ways to make outdoor learning activities more inclusive right from the design stage and what is needed to achieve this.

Language: Dutch
Work form: Workshop
Location: USP

By team Educational Games & Play.

Are you curious about how your colleagues use games in their teaching? Or are you interested in games developed by fellow teachers? Then come to this inspiring session!

Various teachers from different faculties at Utrecht University have created games. These games are used in teaching and are specifically designed with certain learning objectives in mind. During this session, we have invited teachers to showcase their own games. We will first give a short introduction about the use of games in education. You will then have the opportunity to walk around, look at the games, and ask questions to the creators of the games. We will also tell you more about using games in your own teaching. We will briefly explain what the Educational Games and Play project is and how we can help you if you would like to create a game yourself.

Language: Dutch/English
Work form: Workshop, inspiration session
Location: USP

By dr. Gemma Corbalan and dr. Marjolein Cremer

In this session, teachers will gain practical insights and strategies for teaching in English in an international and culturally diverse classroom. The session highlights the intercultural and didactic implications of working with heterogeneous student groups and demonstrates hands-on activities that help teachers address common challenges (around expectations, learning materials, assessment, cases). Participants will leave with concrete, tailored approaches they can implement in their own courses to create more inclusive and effective learning in their international classrooms.

Teaching in English in an international classroom requires a methodological shift, as it affects not only your teaching approach but also the interaction with and among students. In this session, you will experience didactic implications of teaching and learning in culturally and linguistically diverse environments. Internationalisation is more than translating materials into English, it also demands good pedagogy and intercultural sensitivity.

We will briefly introduce three key elements:

1. Intercultural competences, including the importance of awareness of different educational systems and learning behaviours.
2. Using English as a language of instruction, highlighting what it means to teach academic content in English in contexts where it is not the majority’s first language.
3. An internationally inclusive environment, which involves recognising and explicitly addressing the cultural perspectives embedded in the teaching materials (examples, literature, case studies) and assessment. Are these materials meaningful to all students?

This session introduces practical teaching tools that can be applied in lectures, seminars/tutorials, and supervision sessions. Participants may work with their own course materials to directly apply these insights to their teaching practice.

Language: English
Work form: Workshop / Inspiring session
Location: USP