Barend Last receives SURF Education Award
On 9 November, Barend Last, educational specialist at EDLAB, received the SURF Education Award. At Maastricht University, he is one of the driving forces behind the university-wide Technology Enhanced Education (TEE) programme. This programme stems from the position paper "Lessons from a lockdown" that he wrote with several colleagues. Barend guides many education administrators, programme directors in the implementation of blended learning, and lecturers in making a good design, choosing teaching methods that fit in with the learning objectives, and in the subsequent assessment.
As a core team member of the special interest group (SIG) learning spaces, he is committed to improving the design of the teaching space. With his colleague Stefan Jongen, he wrote the book 'Blended learning and educational design: From theory to practice'. He explains complex educational concepts in an accessible way, for example in his articles and in the video series 'Barend legt uit' (Barend explains). His message: it's not all that complicated, as long as we speak the same language.
With unflagging dedication, Barend is a unifying figure within UM who seeks improvement opportunities in close cooperation and coordination with the faculties. At the same time, Barend propagates the message at UM that what matters is good education, whereby technology is a means to an end.
This is what the jury said about Barend Last:
“Barend knows how to explain educational theories in a humorous, passionate and knowledgeable way. Perhaps not surprisingly for an expert in the field of education, Barend always succeeds in creating proximity, even when he is not physically present. During the corona crisis, he has become a figurehead of blended learning, but to portray him as 'mister blended learning' would sell him short. In all his work, learning is central. His mission is not to get the Dutch education system to embrace blended learning, but to ensure that the Netherlands has the best possible education.”
