Parallel sessions

Get ready for an exciting lineup of three rounds of parallel sessions designed to boost your skills and knowledge. Dive into a variety of topics and discover what’s in store below.

Don’t miss out - register now through the registration form to secure your spot in the session(s) that interests you most!

PARALLEL SESSIONS - ROUND I

Assessment of Boundary Crossing Facilitator(s): Judith Gulikers, Wageningen University & Research		During this workshop 3 examples of how Boundary Crossing is assessed at WUR are pictched followed by a discussion on the topic. Developing BC success criteria together with students in the Bachelor Marine Sciences Developing a Boundary Crossing Portfolio and interview in the Master Biobased Sciences Using the BC rubric for setting BC learning goals (in the beginning) and reflections afterwards in the Master Environmental Sciences

Network EHON		This session is only for EHON network members

Dialogic peer feedback at the Writing Lab Facilitator(s): Elske van Lonkhuijzen, Wageningen University & Research		Recent research shows that dialogic peer feedback activates student writers and leads to conversations with more focus on content, argumentation and structure of a text. The writing coaches at the Wageningen Writing Lab are specialized in having these meaningful conversations with their peers. In this workshop we will analyze audio clips, talk to the writing coaches about their best practices and explore how dialogic peer feedback can get a place in the WUR curriculum.

Nuts and bolts of implementing a skills learning trajectory Facilitator(s): Leonie Kamminga, Gijs Elkhuizen, Renée de Waal (Wageningen University & Research)		Imagine you have to implement a learning trajectory for one or multiple skills in a BSc programme. What is a good way to approach this and who should be involved? We will share our process, including challenges and solutions. Our experience and the lessons learned can be systematically applied to other skills learning trajectories.

Meaningful education through Entrepreneurial Agency Facilitator(s): Robbin Reijnen, Stefan Nortier (Wageningen University & Research)		Through hands-on activities and real-world cases, we’ll demonstrate the impact of entrepreneurial agency on student engagement in courses and on their drive to become change agents. You’ll leave equipped with actionable insights, pathways within WUR and strategies to bring entrepreneurial learning to life in your educational practice. Join us and discover how case- and challenged based education can ignite a sense of ownership and empowerment in students, preparing them not just for careers but for dynamic futures in which they are expected to contribute to solving the Grand Societal Challenges of our time, such as the transition towards a circular economy.

Nature as a skills teacher? Nature-based methods for skills teaching Facilitator(s): Louise van der Stok, Lian Kasper (Wageningen University & Research)		In this interactive workshop we are going to explore the relevance of nature-inclusive education for skills development. We will also experience a couple of nature-based methods and discuss how to implement them in a course setting.

PARALLEL SESSIONS - ROUND II

Boundary Crossing Learning Trajectories Facilitator(s): Karen Fortuin, Carla Oonk, Inge Palm (Wageningen University & Research)		This session shares the lessons learned from design and implementation of boundary crossing learning trajectories in various WUR Bachelor programmes. We touch upon the levels of programs, courses, as well as educational policy making and teacher training. We illustrate our insights by examples from the BSc programmes Animal Sciences and Marine Sciences, amongst others by an ‘at the spot’ panel consultation of a teacher, student, program director and skills learning trajectory coordinator.

Mindmapping and peer learning conversation as assessment tool Facilitator(s): Hubertie Kroon (Wageningen University & Research)		How to assess personal development skills? And not have students, or teachers in their UTQ trajectory, write yet another reflection paper or extensive portfolio? In this workshop you will experience mindmapping as a way to document learning, and reflecting on learning in a peer learning conversation.

Empowering Students and Alumni Facilitator(s): Matt Hrusc (ERBS)		What happens when students and recent alumni design and teach relevant courses for 21st-century skills? The first part of the workshop explores the key learnings of the LifeVersity project at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where students and alumni co-created over 20 transferable skill and extracurricular courses on topics like public speaking, personal finance, generative AI, leadership, etc. The second part invites participants to share their experiences, discuss best practices, and brainstorm new ideas for co-creation in skill education.

Do it more than once: Integrating inner development Facilitator(s): Pascal Frank (Wageningen University & Research)		Current efforts to incorporate inner development into higher education primarily focus on isolated learning activities. However, research on practices that foster inner development shows that learning outcomes are closely linked to the time dedicated to these practices. To integrate inner development effectively into education, it is essential to shift the focus toward implementation at the course, module, and curriculum levels. In this workshop, we will explore Self-Inquiry-Based Learning as a pedagogy that supports this approach.

Skills curriculum design Facilitator(s): Lisa Nieuwboer, Melanie van Berkum (Wageningen University & Research)		In this workshop you will discover how to integrate a chosen skill into your curriculum with a step-by-step process. We will present two successful examples from Plant Sciences and Food Technology, focussing on implementing researching and personal leadership skills. We’ll also cover strategies to motivate teachers to participate actively and how to support students in tracking their developments through portfolios and personal development plans. After this workshop, you will have a clear plan to launch your own skills academy.

Tools for implementing Boundary Crossing Facilitator(s): Cassandra Tho (Wageningen University & Research)		Do you already have some knowledge of boundary crossing (BC) and are currently looking for tools to implement BC in your course/program? Have you always wanted to take a look at the BC toolbox but not had the opportunity to do so? If you answered yes to either question, then this workshop is for you! We will introduce the BC toolbox and look into some tools to show you how you can apply it in your course. If you already have some ideas for implementing BC in your course, feel free to also bring it to the session and discuss with colleagues in the session and learn from one another.

Coach-the-Coach: Faculty Development Programme Facilitator(s): Laurie Delnoij, Ainsley Loudoun (Maastricht University)		Integrating skill development can be challenging for educators, requiring them to adopt a coaching-oriented role alongside their traditional expert role. This workshop blends recent research with collaborative program design to support this transition. Participants will first explore pedagogical principles from a literature review and insights from educator interviews. Breakout sessions will then focus on strategies for faculty development to address these challenges, equipping educators with the skills and techniques necessary to enhance student skill development.

Designing assessment Facilitator(s): Mieke Latijnhouwers, Jolanda Soeting (Wageningen University & Research)		Are you interested in skills assessment? Do you want to explore how formative assessment can foster skills development, or how a programme can decide whether students achieved a required skills level? Do you want to learn more about developing an assessment strategy that extends over several educational periods? Then this workshop is for you! We will give some background on assessment types, explore different scenarios, and help you integrate skills assessment in your own programme/skills trajectory/course.

PARALLEL SESSIONS - ROUND III

Competency Identification: Designing Competency-Based Curricula Facilitator(s): Agata Szperl (Rijks Universiteit Groningen)		This workshop focuses on the crucial first step in developing competency-based curricula: identifying key competencies for professional practice. Through hands-on activities, participants will identify competencies based on real-world tasks for their preferred graduates. A reflective session will follow, evaluating the approach’s effectiveness. Finally, we’ll explore how to translate these competencies into learning outcomes, forming the foundation for curriculum development.

Evidence informed selfregulated learning Facilitator(s): Sjirk Zijlstra (Vrije Universiteit)		Education is increasingly becoming flexible. Students are largely free to decide where they study, when they study, how they study and, more recently, what they study. This requires students to regulate their learning process. However, every teacher in higher education knows students have difficulty to self-regulate their learning. To address this, research is needed. In this session, we will highlight insights made by the NRO funded SELFLEX consortium (www.selflex.nl) and, together, we will bridge the gap between research and (curricular) practice.

Walking & Talking: Reflection Skills Facilitator(s): Luuk Huijgen, Marieke van Schaik (Wageningen University & Research)		Reflection is a powerful capacity in learning but nowadays it seems to become overused while at the same time underdeveloped in many places in higher education, leading to lower levels of student motivation. This session is for all of us who want to (re)build meaningful development of reflection skills in our education. We will together look (outside) for opportunities, challenges, inspiration and practical actions in relation to implementing reflection skills. We leave the space open for the themes that participants bring in. Amongst the topics that could be explored are student motivation, (non-)grading, alternatives to reflection reports and creating supportive conditions.

Embedding design thinking in transdisciplinary learning Facilitator(s): Anke Swanenberg, Marta Vallve Odena, (Wageningen University & Research)		In this interactive workshop, you will explore how to integrate Design Thinking as a method within your (transdisciplinary) courses. You will experience some design thinking activities yourself, so you get a better understanding on how to enable students to tackle real-world challenges through empathy, creativity, and collaborative problem-solving. You will learn how to guide students in applying Design Thinking to bridge disciplinary boundaries, engage with communities, and develop innovative solutions that are socially relevant and impactful. This will help students developing their social embeddedness skills.

From vision to practice Facilitator(s): Renske Dijkstra, Melanie van Berkum (Wageningen University & Research)		The transfer from a vision and ambition to practice in daily education can be a challenge in universities. In this inspiration session we share how we proceeded in this project, both on organisation level as on programme level. We we will share our insights and lessons learned.

Career orientation in skills education improves academic attitude and personal leadership Facilitator(s): Lisa Nieuwboer, Jet Vervoort (Wageningen University & Research)		In this inspiration session we will present how we linked skills development to career orientation to improve academic attitude and personal leadership of students. For this project, called the BPW Academic Journey, we developed professional profiles and accompanying assignments that are available for any who are interested.

Navigating & Feeling Boundaries Facilitator(s): Cassandra Tho, Camilla Ramezzano (Wageningen University & Research)		Do students in your course have to integrate multiple (disciplinary) perspectives? Does your course involve working on a societal case? Do you have a course with many international students? Do you want to support your students to recognize, seek, utilize and appreciate these tensions/boundaries? If you answer yes to one or all the above questions, then join this workshop to feel the boundaries and experience boundary crossing (BC). We will share more on BC theory, the learning mechanisms and examples of BC@WUR, and give you a chance to apply it in your own context and also learn from others.

License to skill: Programmatic assessment Facilitator(s): Mattijs Smits, Marijke Veugen (Wageningen University & Research)		This session presents the outcomes of a pilot project on programmatic assessment of skills trajectories in the Bachelor Environmental Science programme. We will discuss our findings with you and think through how this could be integrated in a (ribbon-)course. We invite you to share your experience with skills (trajectories), formative/programmatic assessment or simply interest in these topics. And to learn more about programmatic assessment of skills!

Parallel sessions

Skill-Up Festival