Minor Impact Space

Programme: Impact at the Core
Educational theme: Minor
Project lead: Joe Binetti, Almar Bok, Lisette Ligtendag, Linda Litjens
Duration: 2022
Status: Running

Mission

Every EUR student in Bachelor 3 should get the opportunity to participate in an experiential educational setting geared at developing their impact capacity. To give students that opportunity we designed the so-called Impact Space at the start of Bachelor 3. In this 10-week course (15 credit points) students from different faculties work interdisciplinary together with stakeholders on authentic societal problems.

While orienting on the challenge presented, students gather resources to study different perspectives and understand the needs of all parties involved. They investigate multiple perspectives in depth, including their own perspective. Students are challenged to be curious, take a systematic approach on a societal challenge and to focus when thinking of intervention directions. Interaction and collaboration with external stakeholder(s) take place to truly understand the challenge and work towards interventions. An ecosystem of stakeholders is being provided for the challenge that students work on, but students are challenged to reach out and initiate collaboration themselves. To also provide a learning experience for the stakeholders, students involve them in an active and interactive way in the problem-orientation phase. In the impact space students experience multidisciplinary cooperation within student teams, receive tools and guidance on multidisciplinary cooperation and reflect also on the collective learning.

We want to implement this way of experiential learning more broadly in bachelor 3 for all interested faculties. That is why we pilot during the minor period with the design of such an impact space.

Implementation

During the minor period we observe the planned learning activities as designed. We conclude the minor with an evaluation together with students, teachers, and stakeholders. The results of this evaluation will guide our redesign. Based on this redesign we arrange to co-create with teachers from different faculties to realize impact spaces in bachelor programs for every interested faculty.