Last week, Community for Learning & Innovation at Erasmus University Rotterdam hosted the Education Innovation Day. The event featured an interactive workshop on Inclusive Education, co-facilitated by Dr. Yumna Asaf, Ph.D., Project Lead for Inclusive Education at IDEA Center, and Prof. Jeroen Jansz, Academic Director of CLI and Full Professor at Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC).
Members of learning innovation teams and strategic programmes of Erasmus University Rotterdam as well as educational consultants participated in the session. The workshop began with an engaging icebreaker activity, focusing on positionality and identities. This exercise prompted participants to reflect on their multifaceted identities and to examine how these aspects influence their professional and personal lives.
Later, participants engaged in a thought-provoking exercise that delved into the concept of 'world citizenship', a core Erasmian value. This activity encouraged participants to think about their personal interpretations of this value. The session concluded with the Inclusive Education Dilemma Game of the IDEA Center, that provided an interactive platform where participants, assuming the role of educators, shared their viewpoints on the challenges of implementing inclusive practices in classroom settings. Overall, the session sparked conversations on identity, values, and diverse viewpoints, motivating participants to further explore and understand the subject of inclusive education.
Today, Yumna is introducing our Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Education to the members of the Learning Innovation Teams across all faculties at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Together with CLI, these teams are working on a teacher onboarding program named DEVELOP. Our Knowledge Platform is a rich repository of information and inspiration for educators. It offers practical tools and resources on a wide range of topics related to inclusive education. These include strategies for making curricula more inclusive, fostering respectful and empathetic communication, enhancing a sense of belonging through community building, and promoting critical self-reflection with tools focused on positionality.