Izaak Dekker

During my work as a teacher and policy advisor in primary, secondary, and tertiary education I became fascinated with (the lack of) sustainability of innovations in education. It seems like many innovations in education are reinvented multiple times without being evaluated thoroughly. Did we not do this before? Did it contribute to the pursuit of our goals? I decided to become a researcher in order to conduct rigorous evaluations that can improve the learning capacity of educational organizations (and perhaps even the broader field). During my PhD, and since then as a researcher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, I conducted field experiments to learn more about the effectiveness of educational interventions in higher education. I have, thus far, tested a goal-setting intervention, a chatbot-coach, supplemental instruction, and a summer bridge program, and will look for further opportunities to deepen my understanding of contributors to student success. Apart from performing research I also like to contribute to making outcomes and implications of scientific research understandable and accessible for practitioners by publishing short explainers and posts that summarize important findings.