Education for professionals? ‘A personalised approach is very important for this group’
Educating professionals is becoming an increasingly important task for universities and universities of applied sciences. For lecturers, this means that they will be teaching professionals as well as students. This requires a slightly different approach to education. To facilitate this, the UU is starting a pilot module for lecturers on the didactics of educating professionals. Consultant Hanne ten Berge of Educational Development & Training was involved in setting up this pilot.
Different learning needs
A survey conducted among (starting) lecturers concerned with educating professionals showed that both lecturers and coordinators feel a need for the professionalisation of didactics for education for professionals. For some, the focus was on guidance, while for others it was the design of the education.
Hanne ten Berge: 'The pilot has been set up in a modular fashion to meet the different learning needs. After the base module, participants can choose their own follow-up module. As such, participants can choose what they want to focus on. The meetings are planned such that participants can also participate in both modules (design, support).'
The modular structure of the pilot is also a good example for the participants as they themselves will design education for professionals in the future. For how do you build a course so that it is as engaging and accessible as possible for learning professionals?
Hanne: 'A personalised approach is very important for this group. One of the ways of achieving this is making your education modular. This allows the learner to plan the programme in terms of time and sequence as best suits their own situation and offers opportunities to match content to personal learning needs.'
Working on personal learning goals
Another example of customisation in the course Didactiek voor OvP (Didactics for Education for Professionals) is that it is possible for participants to work on personal learning goals and situations. They will also be working on their own education for professionals, have they opportunity to share and exchange experiences with peers, and be given individual coaching.
Didactics for educating professionals
In addition to the course design, the pilot project also covers didactics. How do you support professionals in their learning process? How do you approach a diverse group (in age, experience, field of work, learning needs)? How do you work on individual learning goals as well as course goals? Which work forms and assessment formats work best? The course also offers insight into research on didactics for educating professionals and what characterises the quality of education for professionals.
Target group and registration
The pilot module is open to UU lecturers and lecturers of the EWUU-alliance (TU Eindhoven, Wageningen ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ & Research, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ). This allows for the exchange of experiences and learning from each other across organisations. The module starts in August 2021, intakes will take place in July 2021. If you are interested, you can contact us via cat@uu.nl.
Contact
Hanne ten Berge is a consultant for institutions in higher education and elsewhere on education for professionals. She is involved in the design and implementation of this pilot together with colleagues Rouven Hagemeijer and Ineke Lam.
More reading (in Dutch)
Een Leven Lang Leren vraagt om flexibiliteit
In: Tijdschrift THEMA (januari 2019)
Auteurs: Hanne ten Berge & Ineke Lam