Utrecht Education Incentive Fund: two projects granted

Support for neurodiversity at universities remains inadequate. Compared to their fellow students, neurodivergent students perform less well, are more likely to drop out and suffer more from mental health issues. They make up a significant proportion of our student population, and there is a pressing need for better support for their learning process.

Furthermore, neurodiversity is not limited to students with a formal diagnosis. The challenges faced by neurodivergent students – such as difficulties concentrating, anxiety/stress or feeling overwhelmed – are also experienced by other students, such as those with mental health issues, temporary or chronic conditions, or caregiving responsibilities. Creating a more inclusive learning environment for neurodivergent students therefore benefits many other students as well.

The NeUUroinclusive Education project tackles this challenge using the research-based framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The project introduces a targeted innovation to promote the success and well-being of all students in an equitable manner by strengthening inclusive educational practices and integrating neuro-inclusive principles into the design of study programmes and educational policy. In doing so, it supports the qualification, socialisation and personal development of all students.

The aim of this project is to raise awareness and knowledge of neurodiversity at Utrecht University and to foster a university-wide culture in which cognitive diversity is valued. This will ensure that all students are able to work towards their qualifications, socialisation and subjectification. This aligns perfectly with the priorities of the Strategic Plan: diversity, inclusion and student wellbeing.

Want to know more? Then please contact the project leaders Jasmijn van Harten and Mateusz Platos.

In a recent global survey of computer science lecturers, 48% of the 514 respondents stated that there was a lack of examples of best practices regarding the integration of GenAI into their teaching. Many lecturers feel the need to experiment with GenAI, but there is a risk that the pedagogical aspects will be overlooked in the process.

The Consolidating the AIGem project offers teachers of programming (from secondary schools to IT lecturers at college and university level) access to an open platform that uses GenAI to generate high-quality teaching materials. This is done in a way that is based on proven teaching methods and in which human oversight and data sovereignty are built in from the outset. Indirectly, this material also reaches their students.

The vision behind this project is to create an open, community-driven platform for teachers of programming in the Netherlands, enabling them to develop exercises and activities to support their teaching. In doing so, Utrecht University is contributing to society by providing an open platform that is freely available (with fair-use-quotas) to teachers.

Want to know more? Then please contact the project leaders Isaac Alpizar Chacon, Hieke Keuning and Ioanna Lykourentzou.