RT @OscarvandenW: In “Under 350” words I wrote this short review of Peter Hagen’s inspiring book Power of Story for #edUMinded - the online…
EDLAB
Maastricht University Centre for Teaching & Learning
EDLAB brings together the Maastricht University Teaching and Learning community to enhance educational practices and enrich the student learning experience.
Nestled in the city part at the Tapijn barracks, we are an educational expertise centre dedicated to creating and sharing knowledge, resources, and support for the Maastricht University community. We aim to drive professional development, foster innovation, facilitate knowledge exchange, and conduct educational research to build a strong educational community.
Cultivating a Culture of Learning
Advancing Education Innovation
Enhancing Knowledge and Practice
Stimulating Students
Reaching Out
Cultivating a Culture of Learning
EDLAB is committed to fostering a culture of learning at UM, and our activities are open to both teaching staff and students. We offer a diverse range of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for teaching staff, including workshops, training courses, and online resources. Additionally, we host conferences, seminars, the annual UM Education Days, and interactive Teach-Meet and Student-Meet sessions, which provide opportunities for staff and students to network and gain valuable insights from experts in the field.
Our online magazine, edUMinded, serves as a platform to showcase the perspectives and experiences of the Teaching & Learning community at Maastricht University and to foster ongoing dialogue and engagement with education enthusiasts in Maastricht and beyond.
Workshops and events
Advancing Education Innovation
At EDLAB, we define innovation as the intentional process of creating new ideas and practices to address educational needs and create new opportunities in Teaching & Learning. Innovation can be about educational methods and practices, technology, learning environments and human interactions.
What is Innovation?
To be innovative is to explore and experiment, to have an open mind and learn from successes and failures. Innovation is driven by curiosity and the desire to do things even better than they are done now. At EDLAB, we see innovation as a process that is ongoing and happens at various levels.
- Innovation is ongoing because it is a mindset rather than a single accomplishment. We reflect on what we do, we look for new perspectives and opportunities, and we learn from the new ideas and practices we explore and try out.
- Innovation happens at various levels: what is new for one person may not be new to others. From the perspective of those who teach at UM, innovation may range from:
- I have never done this before, to
- no one at my faculty has ever done this before, to
- no one at UM has ever done this before, to
- no one in the field of education has ever done this before.
- no one at UM has ever done this before, to
- no one at my faculty has ever done this before, to
- I have never done this before, to
At EDLAB we see innovation as an expression of curiosity and a source of inspiration, a way of maintaining a high quality of education for our students by actively engaging the educators.
UM Education Days
Over 120 members of the UM Teaching & Learning community – teaching staff, support staff and students – from across the university came together at EDLAB for the first edition of UM Education Days on 1-2 June 2022. It was a vibrant event filled with inspiring exchanges on educational practices and perspectives.
Enhancing Knowledge and Practice
EDLAB fosters the UM vision of student-centred, active learning. We provide a set of conditions necessary to facilitate innovation at all levels and ensure continuity. Through our various activities, we connect people and their expertise, develop new knowledge, and support practical implementation.
- We offer a creative space that is accessible to all those who want to collaborate and explore new possibilities in education, where we share successes and where failure is perceived as a form of feedback and a firm basis for learning.
- We safeguard sustainability by providing support in the process of adopting and implementing new ideas and practices, generating backing for innovative projects across UM, offering continuing professional development and providing expertise and connecting experts across the UM Teaching & Learning community.
- We provide a solid foundation for innovation by nurturing the scholarly perspective, connecting research with practice and researchers with practitioners. We offer grants and support research aimed at deepening our shared understanding and broadening our scope.
These three core conditions for innovation are at the heart of everything we do at EDLAB.
The UM Education Days gave me time to reflect – this should be done more often!
UM Education Days participant
Professional Development
EDLAB works closely with UM teaching staff to develop and implement innovative teaching practices. We offer many continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities for teaching staff with a UTQ and a teaching load of more than 160 hours per academic year, irrespective of individual FTE. These vary from training courses, workshops, and symposia to discussion panels and online resources.
Education Innovation
Global developments such as emerging technologies, internationalisation and changing dynamics in the labour market alter the way students think and learn. In collaboration with the EDLAB Advisory Board and UM faculties, the EDLAB education innovation team initiates university-wide pilots on cutting-edge themes. We also offer individual consultations for UM teaching staff. Contact us for an EDConsult!
Educational Research
EDLAB works on creating and disseminating knowledge in the field of education to inspire educational innovation and sustain the quality of education at Maastricht University. We offer Educational Grants to researchers who want to experiment with new ideas in the PBL classroom. We coordinate an Educational Research Fellowship programme in collaboration with UM faculties.
Stimulating Students
Excellence Education
Maastricht University offers a range of Excellence programmes for ambitious, motivated, and high-performing students. At EDLAB we further develop, implement, and centrally coordinate these programmes. In a challenging, interdisciplinary learning environment, students engage in extracurricular opportunities that help them develop their talents, increase their knowledge, and strengthen their CVs.
Students as education partners
The EDLAB Student Advisory Board (ESAB) represents the student community and hosts several Student-Meet sessions throughout the year.
The PREMIUM excellence programme showed me that creativity is a core competency of our times. There is often simply no ‘right’ solution to complex challenges in real life.
Nicola Grande, SBE student
Excellence Education
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PREMIUM is UM’s exclusive Honours programme for high-performing master’s students.
- MaRBLe (Maastricht Research Based Learning) is UM’s excellence programme for talented and motivated 3rd-year bachelor students.
- Honours+ is UM’s excellence programme for students participating in their Faculty's Honours Programmes.
ESAB - EDLAB Student Advisory Board
The EDLAB Student Advisory Board offers a student perspective on EDLAB projects, providing early feedback and insights from the student community.
Students can initiate and drive their own projects to make their voices heard. ESAB is composed of students from all six UM faculties and meets once a month at EDLAB or online.
Student Assistants
EDLAB is always looking for talented and motivated students to join our team as student assistants. We welcome open applications from individuals who are passionate about developments and innovation in education, and have strong communication, research and digital skills. By submitting an open application, you will have the opportunity to be considered for future student assistant positions.
Reaching Out
EDLAB engages with external parties and stakeholders in the field of knowledge on education, be they teaching staff from other educational institutes, organisations that collaborate with EDLAB's Excellence programmes, external professional training companies, or other Centres for Teaching & Learning in the Netherlands and abroad.
Twitter feed
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EDLAB via2 days 19 hours ago
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Are you a teacher seeking to improve your coaching abilities? Or are you a student intrigued by the power of motivation?
These are some of the activities offered by EDLAB in the coming weeks! Check our website for more information and to register!
EDLAB via3 days 21 hours ago -
'Encourage students to write the story of their education,' says Academic Advising specialist Peter L. Hagen in his book ''The Power of Story: Narrative Theory In Academic Advising". A review by Oscar van den Wijngaard.
EDLAB via4 days 19 hours ago
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