24-T9 Change agents in Higher Education
Tutors:
Renske de Kleijn (r.a.m.deKleijn-3@umcutrecht.nl) and Yvette Baggen (Yvette.Baggen@wur.nl)
PhD representative: Pieter van Lamoen
Course description
The purpose of this ICO-Masterclass is to provide a broad overview of the current state of research into themes that are specific to higher education, in Flanders and the Netherlands as well as internationally. Furthermore, we challenge you to think about the future of higher education research. Important questions are: What are the goals of higher education and what kind of students do we want to educate/deliver?
One perspective is that we aim to educate the professionals of the future. And even though all domains, such as health care, science, humanities, and arts, have their own individual challenges, pressing sustainability challenges such as climate change and migration arguably affect all domains. Both these overarching as well as domain specific challenges, call for our students being change agents. Change agents work together in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teams to create innovative solutions for complex problems that do not have a one-site-fits all solution.
In the Higher Education ICO course, we discuss different theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and approaches to create, implement and evaluate (innovative) learning journeys – using the perspective of students as change agents, teachers as change agents, and researchers/academics as change agents. Participants are challenged to think about their research project in terms of the wider developments in higher education (research), change agency, and to reflect on their own identity and position as researcher.
In case you have any questions in advance of the course, do not hesitate to contact us. We are looking forward to meeting you in the course!
Course objectives
The course objectives are that you:
- have basic knowledge of theories, models and research designs used by researchers within the domain of research into higher education;
- have an understanding of the notion of change agency with regard to their own development and with regard to students, professionals and other stakeholders in higher education;
- have insight in the types of research questions, theories and methodologies that play a dominant role when investigating innovations and changes in higher education;
- can engage in debates about strengths and weaknesses of theories and methodologies often used in higher education research;
- can translate research questions, methodologies and findings of research into higher education to the context of your own (PhD) research project;
- are able to position the topic(s) of their own (PhD) research project in relation to change agency in higher education;
- can translate the theories and concepts of the course to (the development of) their own professional identity as an educational researcher;
Requirements/entry level
There are no additional requirements for following this course.
Dates:
- Oct, 1st: Registration deadline
- Oct, 18th: Deadline video pitch
- F2F Meeting 1: Monday 4 November 10.00-17.00 h
- Dec, 20st: Deadline analysis of papers
- F2F Meeting 2: Monday 20 January 13.00-17.00 h
- F2F Meeting 3: Monday 24 March 13.00-17.00 h
- April, 4st: Deadline assessment
Location F2F meetings: Vergadercentrum Vredenburg, Vredenburg 19, Utrecht
More information about the course and a description of the course days can be found in the Course Manual: https://ico-education.nl/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/24-T9-20240419-Course-Manual-ICO-HE-002.docx