Innovation

Rigorous design methodology meets experimentation

Our work with lecturers across campus – be they tenured professors, first year associates, or even student Dream Teams – includes research and experimentation in new ways to teach online and improve the learning experience. This results in a variety of educational innovations: tools, animations, online labs, simulations, assessment methods, serious games, and various technology applications.  

Cutting edge projects

Funding from the EU and the Ministry of Education (Stimuleringsregeling Open en Online Onderwijs) supports some of our innovative projects and the co-development of online courses in key areas of interest – like the Nuclear Energy MOOC with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. Visit  Education Projects to know more.

Some examples of educational innovation and tools:
 

Labs

Laboratories (labs) are a particularly important element of the learning experience in many engineering courses. Together with faculty and external developers we created a number of those, such as the one for water filtration in the MOOC Drinking Water Treatment and the Photo Voltaic (PV) labs to exercise skills and demonstrate understanding of PV panels and systems.

Sketchdrive tool

This is an interactive tool to easily share and discuss visual work online, including being able to sketch directly on the images. We use it in several courses varying from design MOOCs such as Rethink the City, to campus ones at the faculties of Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Design, and Technology, Policy and Management.

Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR)

There have been several initiatives to develop and implement AR and VR technology on campus and online education. One of our online courses making excellent use of this technology is the MOOC Models in Architecture: participants explore the concept of scale and relate it to context by bringing visuals and 3D models to life in an accessible manner.