He is used to a few things in terms of foreign visits, Eric Slaats. The Open Learning leader at Fontys ICT sees the requests coming in on a daily basis, so to speak. From all corners of the world, educational institutions want to see what they are doing there at Fontys ICT, why this new educational method is so popular and works so well.
And so, with great regularity, foreign delegations land at the TQ building in Eindhoven to get an insight into the method Slaats devised over ten years ago.
Saamie and Eric
Student
One of those delegations a few weeks ago came from the Swiss college (called university there) FHWN Brugg-Windsch. Did they get excited? Yes indeed. So much so that the dozen or so Swiss had a request: they also wanted to hear a student's story. And in Switzerland, to explain and share experiences about Open Learning on the spot.
This allowed second-year ICT student Saamie Vincken to go to the Alpine country for five days to brush up on her study methods, particularly with teachers. Much to the delight of the Swiss, teachers and students. And how best to describe Open Learning, according to Saamie herself? ‘You devise your own assignments. That can be slightly different for each module, by the way. And you attach your own learning objectives to these assignments. And you then find the teachers you think you need for that.’
In Saamie's case, that includes Eric Slaats himself. ‘I actually talk to Eric on a daily basis. The more classic form of education is that you are assessed once and that's it. But with Open Learning, you hand in what you have produced so far several times. You then get feedback on that each time, which gradually makes you improve things too, gives you more confidence and makes you understand it better yourself.’
In Switzerland, Saamie gave a presentation explaining the purpose and content of Open Learning and what a semester and a course of study look like. Earlier in the week, she had also held a brainstorming session with the teachers who had visited Fontys.
‘Their teaching is a bit more traditional than what we are used to here. For example, there was one teacher who was worried whether the students were learning enough maths. In the end, though, they understood how Open Learning works. They now want to move more towards project teaching themselves. In the data science department there, they want to switch completely to Open Learning. That would involve about 50 to 100 students.’
Slaats: ‘And they definitely shouldn't change everything at once either. For God's sake, not one ‘big bang’.’ Without saying it: that, of course, is where things went wrong for some programmes and institutes at Fontys last year. Because the path of gradualism was not followed.
Magic word
‘Meaning is the magic word,’ Slaats explains. ‘Once, 15 years ago, I developed the talent lever. That is the underpinning of Open Learning. What it boils down to: don't put energy into things you are not good at and have no passion for. But put the energy mainly into the things you do have talent and passion for.’
‘We also work with open innovation questions from the business world. We have about 80 to 100 ready every semester.’ This teaching method also involves: no tests. After all, the proof of what you have learned is evident from the whole process the student goes through. ‘That is why something like ChatGPT is not a threat either,’ Slaats argues. According to him, you can just use AI as a tool, but fathoming and understanding things is something the student undergoes himself, and that development is also what teachers' assessment is based on.
And working in groups, something that is sometimes criticised within Fontys? Not at ICT, according to Saamie. ‘You mainly work individually. You also work together, incidentally with all year groups and directions mixed together, and so you all contribute to something. But it can be described more as group work than group assignment.’
All is well
In any case, the Swiss were enthused by their visit to Fontys and Saamie's visit to their university. Does that apply to all foreign delegations Slaats receives? ‘There was once also a delegation from Shanghai here. I asked them: put on paper what is not good or should be better about your current education. I'm going for a coffee and then I'll hear about it later. I come back and it turns out they haven't written anything down, because everything is good. To which I said: see there your problem.’
‘It has mainly to do with the culture of a people. If it has a strong hierarchical bias, it is difficult to apply Open Learning. You see this in China, but also in a country like Germany, for example. Whereas in Switzerland or Canada, for example, it is different again.’
Meanwhile, by the way, Saamie is looking forward to a follow-up in that same Switzerland. ‘I hope to do my internship there in September. And in any case, I am still going to help them introduce our teaching method.’
Source: bron.nl