edUMinded
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edUMinded is the UM online magazine on Teaching & Learning
\ edUMinded is a place to discover, read and write stories about classroom experiments, reflections on professional development, student perspectives, tips and reviews, and more.
Do you have an idea for an article? edUMinded delivers articles from the Teaching & Learning community at Maastricht University to all education enthusiasts and welcomes contributions from staff and students alike. Contact us!
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Featured articles
From shortcut to study partner: Student approaches to GenAI
As Generative AI becomes part of everyday study practice, many teachers are asking the same questions: when does it support learning, and when does it replace it?
In this article, Donna Carroll shares what a UM student survey reveals about why students turn to GenAI and how course and assessment design can make a real difference.
Making calculus sustainable!?
A calculus course is not the obvious place to encounter sustainability. For Circular Engineering student Leoni Haller, that absence felt like a missed opportunity. While her programme focused on circularity and environmental challenges, mathematics often seemed disconnected from those themes.
That changed when she had the chance to help rethink the course using sustainability-related examples. The formulas stayed the same, but the context shifted.
You’re human too! Making tutorial sessions at UM more inclusive
How can tutors make small-group learning at UM genuinely inclusive? Drawing on interviews with experienced tutors from FHML and SBE, Boukje Compen and colleagues examined when and how diversity becomes visible in tutorial groups, what tutors find challenging, and the kinds of support they feel they need.
Compen suggests small, practical steps tutors can take to help students connect, create a safe learning environment, and learn from each other’s perspectives, while also acknowledging the doubts tutors sometimes experience.
If a machine can write a flawless essay, what’s left for the writer?
UCM graduate Robin van Wassen traces how writing has shaped her learning, identity, and voice, and asks whether AI, despite its fluency, can ever replace the intent, authenticity, and connection that define human writing. Drawing on her experience as a student, columnist, and aspiring journalist, she explores the tensions between creativity and academic rigour at Maastricht University, and what’s at stake for learners and for universities.
A thoughtful read on authenticity and the future of writing at UM.
Warming up the classroom: music, mindfulness, and reflection in PBL
Athletes must warm up and concentrate before any performance. Why, then, do we expect our students to instantly become active when they enter a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) session?
Cognitive psychologist and lifelong learner Joanna Kuczyńska realised that students also require a "mental warm-up." She shares her own classroom experiments, using simple yet effective methods that transform the experience in the tutorial and establish skills for lifelong learning.
Classroom experiments
Intelligence Augmentation: a technological revolution and paradoxical blessing
Is AI really intelligent, or simply a tool that helps us think differently? Prof. Hans Savelberg argues that the idea of Intelligence Augmentation, offers a better lens for imagining the future of higher education.
More than another ‘to-do’: how the UTQ helped me rethink my teaching
For Elian Sieben, a teacher-lecturer at University College Maastricht, the UTQ trajectory turned out to be far more meaningful than expected. In this article, Elian reflects on his experience and how it made him grow as a teacher.
How I rely on my university-taught writing skills, now that I use ChatGPT as my daily assistant at work: perspective of a recent graduate
How does a recent graduate transition from using AI tools with caution at university to embracing them at work? In this article, Helen Frielingsdorf shares her experience of adapting to AI, particularly ChatGPT, in her professional life.
What do we really value? Rethinking our approach to education at UM in the age of GenAI
In this article, EDLAB research fellow Robyn Ausmeier reflects on her research into GenAI as an educational tool, and what this reveals about the underlying educational vision and values we hold at UM.
What student use of Grammarly tells us about writing support
In this article, John Harbord, writing advisor at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS), looks at the patterns of Grammarly use and the writing challenges students face. He also explores the impact of relying on automated tools for developing academic writing skills.
PBL otherwise: senses-based learning
Emilie Sitzia explores how to (re)integrate our eight senses into Problem-Based Learning.
Moss art in education: a tool for reflection and problem-solving
Burak Can: "People actually learned a way to see their challenges as opportunities for creation."
Students exploring research together: collaborative learning in a methods course
Alexandra Supper challenges the conception that skills training operates separately from Problem-Based Learning (PBL) principles.
How making videos changed my dismissive view of PBL
Making educational videos enabled math teacher Stefan Maubach to turn education theories from abstract concepts into practical tools.
How to quickly make videos that get "The Job Done"
Do you know that making educational videos can actually be a more fun, less frustrating and less time-consuming experience?
How to teach students to learn how to learn? Making theory practical
Therese Grohnert studies how teachers can empower students to become lifelong learners in a way that is both motivating and relevant.
Jacob Ward's experience with authentic assessment: smiles, surprises and some wobbles
Jacob Ward, Assistant Professor in History, asked his students to design a museum exhibition instead of writing an academic paper. How did they react to this assessment format?
Ready. Set. Integrate! Revitalising the lost art of integration in calculus through student competition
Martijn Boussé implemented an integration competition in a calculus course for engineering students. The results surprised him: "If a competition can motivate students up to this point, then I feel like my job as a lecturer is done!"
Enhancing self-regulation: the power of practice testing and the role of self-assessment
Researchers at the School of Business and Economics investigated two strategies to support students in becoming self-regulated learners.
Students digitise Maastricht's history with interactive museum collection
During her Master’s in Digital Cultures at FASoS, Nada Naguib joined a collaborative digital museum project at Centre Céramique. What began as a mandatory course became a valuable experience in client work, teamwork and engaging with Maastricht’s local history.
Insights and reflections
Feeling lonely in PBL
Trust is crucial for effective Problem-Based Learning (PBL), even over brief periods.\ Drawing on her experiences as a student and a tutor, Carolina Cicati discusses the challenges of building a collaborative learning environment when groups change frequently.
The student voice
Yes, students complain, but let us also listen to their suggestions.\ In her experience as EDLAB Innovation Coordinator and a former UM student, Lena Gromotka has encountered four types of student voices - the Complainer, the Critic, the Idealist, and the Suggester. In this reflective piece, she envisions a larger role for students' perspectives in education.
Community of Practice
A community of practice in search of an identity.\ In the spring of 2022, EDLAB set up a Community of Practice (CoP) for a group of teaching professionals, study advisors and students around the topic of blended learning. But the experiment soon ran into an identity crisis. The two CoP leaders Annechien Deelman and Hans Savelberg share the story.
Tips and reviews
Podcast: Alice in Eduland
In this second episode, Emilie Sitzia joins host Alice for a conversation about creativity in education. For the past 20 years, Emilie has been driven by her own self-proclaimed 'short attention span' to try all kinds of experiments for making education genuinely exciting, meaningful and enjoyable for both teachers and students alike.
More creativity and flexibility in education? Flip the classroom!
UM researchers published an article in Public Health Reviews in which they describe various successful flipped classroom activities.
Book review: Academic advising
'Encourage students to write the story of their education,' says Academic Advising specialist Peter L. Hagen in his book ''The Power of Story: Narrative Theory In Academic Advising". A review by Oscar van den Wijngaard.
Become an author
edUminded accepts contributions from anyone who feels connected with the Teaching & Learning community of Maastricht University.
edUMinded is a collegial collaboration where the EDLAB editorial team works directly with educators and researchers to publish articles for a broad audience.
Articles are generally related to one or more of the following perspectives:
- I did/made/tried/learned/found out about this, and here is why you should know about it.
- I read/saw/heard this, and here is why you should know about it.
- I think this, and here is why you should know about it.
- I know, researched (and possibly published about) this, and here is why you should know about it.
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Why edUMinded
edUMinded is a platform where Maastricht University teachers, education professionals and students showcase their expertise, share insights and connect with colleagues in key areas of UM education and educational research:
- problem-based learning education
- the international classroom
- global citizenship education
- diversity and inclusivity
- educational innovation
- educational research
- support for teachers and education professionals