The Education Lab of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies deepens various aspects of transdisciplinary teaching and education development over four workshop days, such as finding and involving societal partners. Reflection on your own teaching is central to this process. Registration is open until Friday, December 6, 2024. The course will be taught in English at the Roeterseiland campus. 

To tackle large, complex societal challenges, collaboration between scientists and societal partners, such as governments, businesses, and citizens, is essential. Effective collaboration between these stakeholders is challenging due to differences in background, interests, values, or conflicting perspectives. Higher education can play a key role in developing transdisciplinary competencies, but transdisciplinary learning is still rarely implemented in curricula. 

In effective transdisciplinary education, students learn how they can contribute to addressing major societal issues and how they can collaborate with parties that rely on other (scientific or non-scientific) sources of knowledge. Transdisciplinary education encourages students to look beyond the course context, inviting them to engage with society, apply their skills and knowledge to solve real problems, and turn challenges into solutions. There are various approaches to facilitate these learning experiences, such as Design Thinking, the Transition Cycle, Placemaking, and Citizen Science. During the course, you will practice these types of methodologies and develop ways to apply them in your teaching. 

The teacher training "Transdisciplinary Education: Learning and Teaching with Impact" is offered by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies and taught by teachers, education developers, and teacher trainers with extensive experience in transdisciplinary education. The course is intended for UvA teachers who have obtained their BKO and builds on this knowledge. Participating teachers have an active role in (the development of) transdisciplinary education. 

In four sessions, we will work on several themes related to transdisciplinary teaching. From setting up a course with corresponding learning objectives to learning activities and assessing these objectives. We will also focus on your role as a teacher and the involvement of societal partners in your education. Each session requires a preparation time of 2.5 hours. Prior to the course, there will be an intake interview to determine if this is a good time for participation for you. After the training days, a coaching session will be offered to further support the development of your education. 

The training consists of four half-day sessions. It is essential that you are available for all sessions: 

Session 1: Friday, January 31, 2025, 9:00 – 13:00. 

What is transdisciplinarity? 

Session 2: Friday, February 7, 2025, 9:00 - 13:00. 

Your role as a teacher. 

Session 3: Friday, March 14, 2025, 9:00 - 13:00. 

Working with societal partners. 

Session 4: Friday, March 21, 2025, 9:00 - 13:00. 

Learning activities and assessment. 

At the end of the program, participants will be able to: 

• Formulate a clear vision of transdisciplinary education. 

• Formulate transdisciplinary learning objectives. 

• Reflect on their own role as a teacher in transdisciplinary education. 

• Choose a didactic approach for transdisciplinary learning. 

• Design, implement, and meaningfully assess transdisciplinary learning activities. 

• Find and engage societal partners. 

There is room for sixteen participants. After registration, you will be invited for an intake interview. Register yourself via the link below.