In 2019, the first "Atelier Book" was published . Since then, a few years have passed and numerous new Ateliers have emerged. With this new atelier book, through more than 30 portraits, the richness and variety of ateliers within our college are shown. The portraits are divided as follows: ateliers at the NHL Stenden locations, external ateliers and ateliers which the facilities are a strong determinant. These portraits show which issues are being worked on, how they cooperate with the field and researchers and what the added value of the Ateliers is. This atelier book also contains a number of in-depth articles that talk about working and learning in ateliers. The contribution in chapter 1 is about: what NHL Stenden aims at with ateliers, where do the ateliers differ and some experiences with ateliers. After the portraits in chapter 2, chapter 3 presents the 'Atelier Value Creation Model' and a model with design dimensions. Both provide tools for designing and evaluating ateliers. Chapter 4 zooms in on the effects of physical space on learning. Then, Chapter 5 discusses the outcomes of (current) research on ateliers.
The model of the Best Practice Unit (BPU) is a specific form of practice based research. It is a variation of the Community of Practice (CoP) as developed by Wenger, McDermott and Snyder (2002) with the specific aim to innovate a professional practice by combining learning, development and research. We have applied the model over the past 10 years in the domain of care and social welfare in the Netherlands. Characteristics of the model are: the interaction between individual and collective learning processes, the development of (new or better) working methods, and the implementation of these methods in daily practice. Multiple knowledge sources are being used: experiential knowledge, professional knowledge and scientific knowledge. Research is serving diverse purposes: articulating tacit knowledge, documenting the learning and innovation process, systematically describing the revealed or developed ways of working, and evaluating the efficacy of new methods. An analysis of 10 different research projects shows that the BPU is an effective model.
Little is known about the effects of different instructional approaches on learner affect in oral interaction in the foreign language classroom. In a randomized experiment with Dutch pre-vocational learners (N = 147), we evaluated the effects of 3 newly developed instructional programs for English as a foreign language (EFL). These programs differed in instructional focus (form-focused vs. interaction strategies- oriented) and type of task (pre-scripted language tasks vs. information gap tasks). Multilevel analyses revealed that learners’ enjoyment of EFL oral interaction was not affected by instruction, that willingness to communicate (WTC) decreased over time, and that self-confidence was positively affected by combining information gap tasks with interactional strategies instruction. In addition, regression analyses revealed that development in learners’ WTC and enjoyment did not have predictive value for achievement in EFL oral interaction, but that development in self-confidence did explain achievement in EFL oral interaction in trained interactional contexts.
