Context When the pandemic hit the world, teachers were forced to change their education from onsite to virtual overnight Understandably, teaching quality decreased in the beginning, as there was little experience in how to adapt the educational design Zuyd University of Applied Sciences ( recognized the problem that teachers were on different didactic and pedagogical levels when it comes to online education Unfortunately, the pandemic made it hard for teachers to connect with each other In the Domain of Health and Welfare, this led to the idea of establishing a professional learning community A professional learning community ( can be seen as an informal group of people who share knowledge and experiences among each other on a common topic they are all highly interested in Zuyd’s vision “passion for development” sets a good basis for the start of such a community. Steps we took In order to find out how a professional learning community can look like in Zuyd, the following steps were taken Firstly, we collected and evaluated literature and best practices around the topic Based on our findings we developed an interview guideline and conducted interviews with eight teachers from the Domain of Health and Welfare Throughout the whole report a SWOT analysis was performed with the literature and best practices filling opportunities and threats and the interviews providing content for strengths and weaknesses Main findings From these sources, we derived enablers for a successful learning community, which led to recommendations for Zuyd on how to strategically position, implement and organize a PLC One of our major recommendations is to make didactic and pedagogical skills an important topic within Zuyd in order to strategically implement the learning community into Zuyd’s strategy Furthermore, we recommend giving the lead in organizing and facilitating the PLC to the blended learning task force To collect a diverse set of interested employees to the core group, the educational managers should personally approach teachers that might be interested The sense of urgency around the topic needs to be addressed regularly through the directors of the Domain, the task force of blended learning, as well as the PLC itself In this way, interest in the topic of didactic and pedagogical skills and blended learning can be enhanced In the report we go into greater detail on how to organize and apply these recommendations. We are convinced that implementing these steps will pay off in the future and will successfully enhance competencies on blended learning and didactic and pedagogical skills through knowledge exchange.
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Video was used in a variety of formats during a third year elective Inholland course ‘Levensbeschouwing’ at the Faculty Onderwijs en Innovatie (education and innovation) in Amstelveen. From April to June (2017), 30 part-time and full-time students on the Tweedegraads Leraren Opleiding chose to follow the course for the ten week study period. Students used a variety of video formats to support and enhance their learning process. This research evaluates how the didactic embedding of video supported the teaching and learning on the course. The objective of the research was to gain insight into the ways in which video supports the learning and teaching process in the course and into the perceived practicality and effectiveness of this video support. The research examined how video was integrated into the course structure, how students and lecturers perceived the practicality of the use of video, and whether they considered it effective. The conversational framework of Laurillard (2002), was used as a framework in which to examine the interaction between students and teachers at the conceptual and application level. An overview was made of the different forms of videos used during the course (both teacher and student generated), how they were viewed and the value of them to the students. A survey was collected on the last day of the course in which students could share feedback on the ways in which video had contributed to their learning process. At the end of the course, a group interview was held with six student representatives (one from each group) and with the lecturers on the course to collect additional qualitative feedback on how video contributed to the learning process.
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This paper presents a mixed methods study in which 21 first-year student teachers took part that investigated learning outcomes of a modified learning by design task. The study is part of a series of studies that aims to improve student learning, teaching skills and teacher training. Design-based science challenges are reasonably successful project-based approaches for breaking down the boundaries between traditional school subjects. Previous learning outcomes of the extensively studied Learning by Design (LBD) approach demonstrated a strong positive effect on students’ skills. However, compared to traditional classroom settings, LBD provided little or no profit on (scientific) concept learning. For this, according to two preliminary studies, a lack of explicit teaching and scaffolding strategies, both strongly teacher-dependent, bears a share of responsibility. The results of this third study indicate that more emphasis on these strategies indeed strengthens concept learning without reducing positive effects on skill performance.
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