One of the participants is mr Mariska Verseveld, senior procurement expert at PIANOo Expertise Centre and guest lecturer in the VU Law Academy's course on procurement law for lawyers. She also runs a course for buyers and lawyers within PIANOo. In this interview, she shares her experiences with the course.
Why did you choose this course?
Although my affinity with teaching is great, I taught teaching mainly by myself. I wanted to use the course to gain a more solid foundation and further improve my teaching skills. The in-depth 'Teaching professionals' course was a great help.
What appealed to you most about the programme?
What appealed to me was that the course was very well suited to guest lecturers. There was no starting requirement such as a BKO, which would have been too demanding for me. The programme was flexible and really looked at the needs of the participants. Two things stood out: many teachers themselves come from a traditional school system of 'sit and listen', and most recognised that they were still mainly transmitting. My fellow course participants and I were looking for more activating teaching that better suits professionals, and we did indeed delve deeper into that.
How do you apply what you have learned in practice?
To me, it was an eye-opener that activating education is also very valuable for professionals. I was previously more under the impression that they mainly want to consume and receive, but science shows that interaction ensures better processing and retention of the material. I haven't taught since the course, but I was already experimenting with activating forms. Now I have better tools to do this properly. Specifically, I already have two plans:
- Get the whole group actively involved in the homework, by having them talk to each other about it at the start of the meeting.
- Putting a case study at the centre of the lecture, so that the material is directly linked to practice.
What is special about teaching professionals?
Professionals are already formed in practice and generally more motivated. They are usually not there for study or training points, but out of intrinsic interest. This also requires a different attitude from the teacher: less directive, and more room for autonomy.
Can you say something about the atmosphere and the trainers?
I really liked the trainers Wouter and Dragana. They were open to our needs and were able to adapt the lessons accordingly. They used activating work forms themselves, so we could experience them directly. It was easy to bring in questions from our own practice. Being a new course, they also actively asked us for feedback for improvements. That made it very interactive. I can definitely recommend the course: with relatively little effort, you can improve your guest lecturing considerably.
How do you see your role as a lecturer?
Besides covering the material well so that it sticks, I always want to inspire. So I like to place my part in a broader context and try to take participants along with me.
Also interested in taking this course?
In the advanced course 'Teaching professionals' you will learn in three half-days how to use experience-based teaching methods, how to create a challenging and supportive learning environment and how to deal with group dynamics. This course will be offered again by the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning from 1 April 2026.
Also for this round, lecturers connected to VU Amsterdam, VU for Professionals and/or the VU Law Academy can participate for the special internal rate. Click here for more information on the course.
