Educational (innovation) projects bring together various parties. These projects offer many opportunities, yet the collaborative approach and often limited resources sometimes require extra creativity and perseverance. In this article, a teacher, educational consultant, and student-assistant reflect on the project ‘ESHPM Knowledge Bank for Qualitative Research’ and the process: what challenges did they encounter and what are some valuable lessons learned?
Educational Innovation Project ‘ESHPM Knowledge Base for Qualitative Research’
The Project ‘Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management (ESHPM) Knowledge Base for Qualitative Research’ has a clear goal: creating a central place where academic staff, support staff, and students can find insights and learning materials about qualitative research. The reason for this is simple: “Students writing their theses keep running into the same issues, but don’t really have a solid reference point when it comes to conducting qualitative research”, says project initiator and assistant professor Annemieke van Dongen-Leunis (ESHPM). Additionally, the faculty consists of various research groups, between which (nuance) differences exist that can lead to varying assessments. The online knowledge bank offers a solution for this and ensures greater efficiency in education: teachers do not have to repeatedly reproduce the same information individually, (nuance) differences between research groups are made transparent, and students (and teachers) can easily access uniform, reliable information.
Due to the transition to a CLI innovation project, arising from the desire for more didactic support, the project involved a diverse network of stakeholders. Ultimately, ESHPM lecturers from multiple research groups, educational advisors from Risbo, a CLI project manager, student-assistants, and ESHPM students worked together. This broad composition presented some challenges, but above all, it yielded valuable lessons and positive experiences!
ESHPM Canvas Module "Knowledge Bank for Qualitative Research"
Note: As the project is still ongoing, the Canvas module is continuously being expanded and improved. The above screenshots provide an initial impression.
Effective collaboration: from work sessions to brainstorming sessions
A particularly valuable part of the project was the organization of a joint writing session. Within a three-hour time slot, teachers were free to drop in and work on video scripts (for knowledge clips), with direct support and feedback from a Risbo educational consultant. The high level of interest showed that there was a clear need for this session. Educational consultant Jamie Verstraeten (Risbo) explains, “At Risbo, we always offered teachers the opportunity to email us their scripts for feedback, but we noticed that many teachers were reluctant to do so.” To lower that threshold, a work session was organized: an accessible way to effectively and efficiently support teachers during the writing process, and not just afterwards with the final result. Annemieke is also enthusiastic about this way of working: “When you set aside time and are physically present, it's easier to ask for support. What's more, it acts as an incentive to get started on writing a script.”
During the project, several brainstorming sessions were also held at the Erasmus Education Lab, attended by various stakeholders. Using educational models such as the Innovation Loop and the Critical Items Diagram, participants were challenged to think more deeply about various aspects of the project, including the integration of the knowledge bank into different subjects and its user-friendliness. Annemieke also reflects on the role of Risbo: “Risbo provides didactic support; it's not help that reduces your workload. In some cases, it may actually increase your workload because you're asked a lot of questions.” This reflection highlights one of the greatest added values of both Risbo and the Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI): encouraging teachers to think critically and creatively about their educational (innovation) projects, thereby contributing to an even better process and end result for both students and teachers.
Added value of the student perspective
Another important part of the knowledge bank project was involving students in all phases of the project. Within education and innovation projects, there is a growing awareness of the importance of structural student participation, something that all interviewees explicitly mentioned. “You have to take the student perspective into account, because if it's of no use to them, then it's of no use to the teacher either. Ultimately, it's a waste of effort,” says student-assistant Katja Rasha (ESHPM). The fact that teachers and students often work from different perspectives within a project and sometimes have slightly different goals or emphasize different aspects, reinforces the need to add student perspectives. Katja explains, “Sometimes I would contribute something to a discussion, and teachers would be quite surprised or hadn't expected it at all, even though to me it was the most normal thing in the world.”
During the knowledge bank project, students were not only asked for feedback during brainstorming sessions, for example, but were also actively involved in designing the Canvas page. Annemieke explains: “The student (Katja) set to work designing the knowledge bank herself, ensuring that it was as accessible and appealing as possible for students.” Adding the student perspective maximized the quality and impact of the project. For the students themselves, it is also simply fun and a valuable experience to be involved in educational development. "Students find it valuable and motivating to represent their own opinions and to actually make a meaningful contribution to the process," says Katja.
Project support from the CLI
Within the project, the Community for Learning & Innovation (CLI) provided financial support for the development of the knowledge clips and the deployment of educational expertise (such as the Risbo educational consultant), and provided project management to facilitate the implementation process. Has this article inspired you to start a project with the help of the CLI? Then visit this page.
The Community for Learning & Innovation considers promoting knowledge sharing between faculties to be one of its crucial tasks. In doing so, we hope to inspire faculties and provide insight into the support that the CLI can offer and how it can be utilized.
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Would you like more information about the project, or do you have a question? Please contact us at cli@eur.nl.
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