Celebrating Education at TU Delft’s Education Day

Sometimes a story is best told by starting at the end. Vice-Rector Magnificus/Vice-President Education Rob Mudde’s closing words at the Education Day on November 10th are a great example of exactly that. When asked how he would summarise the day, or what he’d taken from the programme, he said: “I’m so happy we got to celebrate education together with such a large group of colleagues.” 

Indeed, even though the official title of the annual event was “The Connection – Creating Opportunities”, another important underlying theme was celebration. The programme was curated around three domains of connecting, whether it be with people, research & education, or future & society. Those domains resonated with many of well over 200 attendees, but a recurring point was the excitement that people felt throughout the various sessions. Because as demonstrated by the many workshops offered to and by TU Delft’s own educators, there is indeed much to celebrate and be excited about when it comes to education. What is the role of critical dialogue in teaching? How can we use ludodidactics? And who exactly are the engineers of the future – what should we be preparing them for, and how do we teach that? 

Aside from the workshop sessions, attendees were also treated to two keynote sessions. These provided fresh and engaging perspectives on what education innovation could look like, and why we have to innovate education in the first place? Guest speaker Dr. Emanuela Tilley (UCL) discussed the added value of integrated curricula, whereas Dr. David Abbink delivered an inspiring keynote on the need for transdisciplinary education.