SoTL success stories: “It gave me the tools and confidence for my project."

Today we have Tess Dekker, a junior lecturer at Human Movement Sciences, who wanted to rethink how students engage with anatomy by offering a fresh approach to learning with Virtual Reality (VR). “The most striking impact was on student engagement: students were more motivated, asking questions, collaborating, and fully immersing in the 3D models. Making learning more enjoyable for them and me.”

Tell us, Tess, what was your SoTL project about?
“During my Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) project, I was a junior lecturer in Human Movement Sciences, where I introduced VR into our first-year anatomy courses. My goal was to make learning more interactive and engaging for students. While I initially looked at how VR might affect their exam results, I was even more interested in whether VR could increase their engagement during lessons. I wanted to see if they were more motivated to learn and more actively involved when we used VR in our workgroups.”

What motivated you to carry out research on this project?
“Personally, I’ve always enjoyed using Virtual Reality in my teaching, but I wanted to see if it was actually helping students. I was curious if VR would really make a difference in how well students understood the material and whether they felt more engaged with the lessons. I also wanted to explore educational research more in-depth, which was new to me, and the SoTL programme provided the perfect opportunity to do so.”

How was your experience with the SoTL programme?
“The programme was an incredible support system. They offered workshops with experts in educational research, which gave me much more confidence in my project. I wasn’t familiar with research methods in education, but through SoTL, I learned how to go about my project step by step. And the coaching was fantastic! I could discuss all my doubts with them, and they were always able to connect me with the right people to help.”

How did SoTL level up your own teaching approach?
“It really opened my eyes to how I could better evaluate and improve education. It gave me the tools to look at teaching from a more analytical perspective, and it helped me connect with other educators who were also doing innovative things at VU Amsterdam. That network was invaluable. Meeting others who were experimenting with new teaching methods inspired me to think about how I could continue improving my own courses.”

Was there something that surprised you?
“Yes! One of the biggest twists for me was learning how to do qualitative research. Coming from a more quantitative background, I wasn’t used to analyzing things like student engagement through interviews and observations. But I found it fascinating to say the least! It requires a different mindset, but it provides really valuable insights into how students experience their learning.”

How did your project make a difference for students?
“The results were promising, especially in the context of student engagement. While the improvements in exam scores were moderate, students in the VR group consistently performed slightly better than those in the traditional setup, particularly in later exams. The most striking impact, however, was on student engagement. They were far more motivated and involved during the sessions, actively asking questions and working together to explore the 3D anatomical models. The immersive nature of VR made learning more enjoyable for them, which really enhanced their participation and focus. Overall, VR made students feel more connected to the material, which I believe will have long-term benefits for their understanding and retention of knowledge.”

How do you see the future of VR?
“There’s so much potential for VR in education. While I focused on anatomy, I can see VR being just as useful in other areas. My hope is that this project will inspire other educators to adopt VR and that it becomes a regular part of our teaching. If we can make learning more engaging and interactive, we’ll have a much greater impact on how students learn and retain knowledge. All in all, good for education at VU Amsterdam as a whole.”

For those interested, you can read more about Tess’s project.

Curious about more stories and inspiration on SoTL? Check them out.

And don’t forget to save the date for the National SoTL Day at VU Amsterdam on 3 April 2025!