All the hands up in the air! The Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning celebrates first lustrum
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning (CAT) and also the tenth anniversary of CAT-partner teacher community TAUU. Several celebratory activities are planned through to December. The celebration kicked off on 13 October with a symposium organised together with UU programme Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) entitled 'All Inclusive', followed by a reception and party.
With many guests present, the festive day was opened with a welcome speech by Manon Kluijtmans, scientific director of the CAT, and the theme of the symposium ‘All Inclusive’ was further explained by Janneke Plantenga, Diversity Dean of the UU. Then, Professor Bruce Mutsvairo spoke as the symposium's keynote speaker with his speech: ''Envisioning, embracing, and emboldening inclusive education: Why it matters and why now''. He indicated that we should be wary of forms of inclusion that exclude groups or voices.
Senior Fellows Gönül Dilaver and Jeroen Janssen and Principal Fellow Leoniek Wijngaards were then interviewed by Principal Fellow Karin Rebel about their projects, all of which focus on inclusive education. This was followed by the first round of workshops with various topics around the theme: learning how to design an inclusive curriculum, talking about how to keep a classroom free of racism or playing the 'Dilemma' game from the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion programme. The workshops were all very well attended and produced inspiring and engaging conversations.
After this round of workshops, former kickboxer Houda Loukili brought a nice and energizing interlude with her inspiring life story. Where does she come from and where does she stand in life now? How does she bring people together and get them moving, literally and figuratively speaking?
In the second workshop round, there was a choice between a live podcast recording of ‘De Docentenkamer’, a session about pronouns or digital and physical accessibility in education. In this round, the workshop on pronouns proved to be especially popular; it seems to be a topic that resonates with many students and colleagues. There was also ample opportunity to exchange personal experiences. After a short break, we reflected on 10 years of TAUU and then Agnes Andeweg, researcher and UU lecturer, presented the joint reading project 'One Book One Campus'.
After Manon Kluijtmans closed the symposium, all colleagues joined together in the Danszaal for the festive reception, with Rector Henk Kummeling raising a glass to celebrate TAUU's tenth anniversary and the CAT's fifth anniversary. After a walking dinner, many attendees enthusiastically danced the night away, and celebrated together that the Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning is a vibrant and dynamic network for all UU teachers and UU colleagues who are enthusiastically working on the education of the future.
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