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Sem01 (2024-2025) Coaching, Teaching & Transformative learning

This course uniquely blends theoretical learning with practical, job-like teaching experiences. It merges rigorous academic content with the hands-on acquisition of essential skills, preparing you for real-world applications in educational settings.In today’s society, effective development and coordination of expertise is the key driver of sustainability, innovation, resilience, and development.

Participation in the 'Coaching, Teaching, and Transformative Learning' course inherently involves engagement with the Broader Mind Course—an extracurricular, interdisciplinary programme designed to foster personal development and address societal issues such as success and failure, poverty, and sustainability. Upon completion, students will be proficient in facilitating group discussions and mentoring peers, employing classroom facilitation techniques, and assuming leadership roles. Ultimately, they will utilize these skills as guides for the course itself, transitioning from learners to leaders and peer educators.

Students will become ‘guides’ in the Broader Mind Course, supervising a group of 20 students for a period of four months. The guide is a unique figure, as both learner and leader within an academic setting. Guides, being close in academic experience to their learners, bring a level of relatability and approachability to the educational experience, leveraging their proximity to the learners to foster an environment where empathy and shared understanding thrive. The guides, equipped with training in coaching skills and leadership, not only impart knowledge, but also learn by teaching. The coaching aspect ensures a dynamic learning process where they receive concrete feedback and support as they help others learn, creating a nurturing loop of continuous development. Through reflective practice, guides critically evaluate their experiences, leading to transformative, personal insights.

Due to the time-intensive nature of this trajectory, and the responsibilities involved, participants receive a financial remuneration of €1,520, which is distributed as €190 per month over an eight-month period.

Course details

  • Practical information

    Academic year
    2024-2025

    Semester
    1 &2

    Period
    2, 3, 4 & 5

    Day(s)
    various 

    Time
    various 

    Number of meetings
    30+

    Dates of all meetings
    Nov-June, 9 Trainings on Thursdays, Feb-June, 10 meetups with student groups & 11 coaching sessions

    Location
    Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam

    Room
    tbd

    Credits
    6 (plus a financial remuneration)

    Who can apply?
    All students from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam or Universiteit van Amsterdam who are enrolled in the Honours Programme

    Lecturers

    • Prof. dr. Govert Buijs — Professor of Political Philosophy and Frits Goldschmeding Chair Social and Economic Renewal, Faculty of Humanities. Academic Director Broader Mind Course.
    • Prof. dr. Marjolein Zweekhorst – Professor of Innovation and Education at the Athena Institute and leader of the Broader Mind Community Service Learning (CSL) team of the VU.

    Course Coordinator
    Prof. dr. Govert Buijs — Professor of Political Philosophy and Frits Goldschmeding Chair Social and Economic Renewal, Faculty of Humanities. Academic Director Broader Mind Course.

    Guest Lecturers

    • Coordinator Guiding BMC Trainings: Dr. Eduardo Urias (coordination)
    • Coordinator Guiding BMC Coachings: Ermelinda Jaku (supervisor coaching sessions) & Dr. Igno Maggio (coach)
    • Lectures will be given by educational advisors and trainers of the VU Center for Teaching and Learning as well as the Athena Institute, besides guest speakers from inside and outside the VU.
  • Learning objectives

    The objectives of this course are:

    • Students will get acquainted with current debates on innovation of academic teaching and will be able to identify the main positions and arguments.
    • Students will critically evaluate and define their roles and boundaries as guides, using self-reflection to recognize their strengths and areas for development.
    • Students actively engage in creating and maintaining a safe learning environment, demonstrating the ability to foster inclusivity and respect for diversity in group settings.
    • Students are able to motivate their peers and communicate effectively, using intervention techniques and providing constructive feedback to enhance the learning experience for all participants.
    • Students demonstrate the ability to apply teaching techniques that are interactive and engaging, promoting active involvement in both online and offline educational activities.
    • Students demonstrate the ability to communicate interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration, preparing them to lead discussions and work constructively within diverse and multi-cultural contexts.
    • Students demonstrate the capacity to design and implement assessment criteria that are fair and conducive to the learning objectives of their peers.
    • Students demonstrate reflection on their own attitudes, actions and interventions in the group.
    • Students demonstrate the ability to critically reflect on various theoretical approaches to academic educational innovation and apply these insights to their own teaching experiences.

    Upon approval of the final report, the guide will be awarded an ‘Edubadge’. This digital certificate is issued by the participating universities and organizations of the StuKO project group (Student Qualification in Education, in Dutch: Student kwalificatie Onderwijs: StuKO) and reflects mastery of the learning outcomes.

  • Working formats & structure

    The course follows the three phases:

    1. Orientation phase involving literature on academic educational innovation including training.

    2. Implementation phase, practice: actually participating as a guide in the Broader Mind Course.

    3. Final reflection report including final interview

    1. Orientation phase:
    Four lectures on key concepts, principles and frameworks of transformative learning, Bildung interdisciplinary education, near-peer teaching, and peer-to-peer learning.

    2. Implementation phase: Trainings & Coaching sessions & Guiding the Broader Mind Course
    Guiding the Broader Mind Course focuses on the knowledge, skills and attitudes that senior students need to acquire to become (more) effective guides. For that purpose, Guiding BMC is divided into three main components, namely: training sessions, coaching sessions, and evaluation sessions. This figure offers a visual representation of those components over the academic year.

    3. For the Honours students there are two evaluation moments:

    • A mid-term presentation (end of March) in which the students present initial thoughts on their final paper to each other and the Academic Coordinator.
    • A final group presentation session about the final paper plus an individual assessment meeting with the Academic Coordinator.
  • Assessment methods

    This course will be graded with a pass/fail, including substantial personal feedback.

    The assessment consists of the following elements:

    • Attendance and participation in classes and training sessions.
    • Act as a guide within the Broader Mind Course.
    • Participation in intervision and coaching sessions.
    • Peer observation form of a given meetup.
    • Peer observation form of an observed meetup.
    • Final reflection report integrating relevant literature: 3,500-4,000 words.
    • Final interview and evaluation with the responsible mentoring course coordinator.
  • Study load

    30 hours — Guides trainings & coaching sessions
    80 hours — Guiding the Broader Mind Course
    50 hours — Lectures, reading literature, mid-term, and final reflection report and interview

  • Study material

    We will read selective pieces of a wide range of literature; downloadable journal articles, reports and papers.

    A selection of chapters to read are taken from:

    Laros, A., Fuhr, T., & Taylor, E. W. (2017). Transformative Learning Meets BildungAn international exchange. Sense Publishers: Rotterdam/Boston/Taipei