Best Practice Awards in Teaching & Learning 2025

Teaching team: Dr. Marianna Markantoni and Dr. Inna Majoor-kozlinska

Best Practice: 'Principles of Entrepreneurship: An experiential journey in entrepreneurial mindset development'

The Principles of Entrepreneurship course aims to foster self-authored entrepreneurial mindsets, encouraging students to construct their own values through experiential learning. By shifting from traditional knowledge delivery to facilitating more inner development, the course equips students with adaptability, problem solving, critical thinking and team working skills, all vital ingredients for facing and addressing real-world challenges.

In a Living Lab setting following a Design Thinking methodology, students can apply theories to real business situations and come up with business ideas to solve actual problems. Weekly clinic hours provide tailor support, enabling students to seek guidance and feedback on their projects. Guest lectures from industry, business and academics create links between theory and practice, offering firsthand insights into entrepreneurial challenges.

This course model is transferable to other disciplines at UG, where self-directed learning, flexible assessment moments, continuous feedback (formative and summative) and real-world engagement are invaluable. Student’s feedback highlights the course success in fostering their growth and confidence, the value of reflectives practices, hands-on learning and continuous support offered by the instructors. The course prepares students not just for entrepreneurship but for lifelong adaptability, ethical decision-making, and meaningful contributions to our fast-changing society.

Teaching Team: Dr. Maria Mazzoli and Dr. Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi

Best Practice: 'Presenting a research project at an International Conference'

Students of the MA Linguistics (Multilingualism track) turn their final research project into a research poster and they have to present it at the Mercator International Conference on Multilingualism. This practice aims to: 1) teach students to critically reflect on their own research and present it in a concise, compelling way; 2) provide a space outside of University for students to interact and connect with the wider (academic) community; 3) inspire students to think about the impact they want to have as members of this wider community. This practice is transferable to other educational contexts, because the aims are very much transferable, even if the specific context wherein those aims were pursued was not.

Teaching team: Dr. Zoltán Lippényi and Giorgos Michelakis, MSc.

Best Practice: 'Close reading: Get students to read, understand, and critically engage with academic texts'

It is important to foster close reading of students to form them into independent learners. Close reading is important for understanding the materials and to critically evaluate them. Through a combination of lectures, seminars and assignments, theory is taught, which is then put into practice in assignments and presentations. Through the use of Perusall, students are encouraged to engage with the literature and critically examine its contents. Upon participating in seminars, completing assignments and critical reading, a bonus on the final exam can be gained. The course set up is highly applicable to a wide range of academic courses: all courses with academic literature can benefit from the combination of theoretical lectures and practical assignments, as well as reading closely and critically. With the rise of AI these skills are now even more important and this is a good skill to teach our students.

Nominee: Tim Huiskes

Best Practice: Governance and EU Law course: Transatlantic virtual exchange project

Tim is nominated on behalf of the Faculty Campus Fryslân for his success in designing, executing, and embedding exciting new educational methods. For the course Governance and EU Law, Tim includes a specific Virtual Exchange project, where American and European students come together to collaborate on cross-border global challenges, learn from different local perspectives, and jointly work on policy solutions. Tim has designed the project so that our students from the UG actively work together with students from Virginia Tech (VT) in the USA, creating a unique learning experience for all, and perhaps one needed now more than ever as trans-Atlantic relations are rapidly changing.

Teaching team: Dr. Jacoba Oedzes and Dr. Stefan Berger

Best Practice: 'From data to impact: Data-based storytelling in the board room'

This HR analytics course bridges the gap between academic learning and workplace practice, preparing students to thrive in data-driven roles. Through a project-based approach, students analyze realistic datasets from a fictitious organization, tackling challenges like messy data, ethical dilemmas, and stakeholder communication.

A key highlight is the HR Analytics symposium, where students present findings to practitioners role-playing as a board of directors. This experience simulates high-stakes corporate presentations, helping students develop both technical and storytelling skills. Guest lectures on graphical communication and data storytelling further enhance their ability to translate complex insights into actionable recommendations for non-technical audiences.

The course has consistently received outstanding evaluations (4.5/5) and has been praised by students for its hands-on approach, networking opportunities, and ability to make data analytics approachable. Practitioners have also highlighted the symposium’s value, with some returning multiple times.

Transferable across disciplines, this innovative practice promotes data literacy, employability, and collaboration between UG and external organizations, making it a model for educational quality and relevance.

Teaching team: Evelyn Schaafsma, Pauline Emaar, Iris Hagoort, and Herrien Wapstra (students: Manske Burg, Carlijn Lammers, and Marrit Dijkstra)

Best Practice: 'Teaching Talent'

Within the medical faculty, many students take on active teaching roles within their curriculum. Senior students support junior students in various ways. Collectively, these students with teaching responsibilities are referred to as Students-as-Teachers (SaT’s). It is essential that SaT’s receive proper training to prepare them for their teaching roles. This training is guided by experienced SaT’s, also known as didactic supervisors. In the faculty’s Teaching Talent program, didactic supervisors learn how to conduct effective didactic workshops, facilitate peer discussions, perform observations, and provide feedback to SaT’s. The program aligns with the competency model of the University Teaching Qualification (BKO/UTQ). Didactic supervisors are introduced to all competencies of the UTQ and further specialize in the competency 'teaching and supervising students’. Furthermore, the Teaching Talent project emphasizes recognizing and rewarding SaT’s. In 2023-2024, programs for novice SaT’s were certified with EduBadges, making their teaching qualifications visible. The aim is to create a follow-up badge for didactic supervisors. In short, the Teaching Talent program not only enhances the quality of current education but also offers students an inspiring introduction to a teaching career. Through this program, students gain valuable skills and recognition for their contributions to education.

Nominee: Prof. Dr. Ranjita Bose

Best Practice: 'Game based learning assignment'

This practice turns the theoretical nature of polymer chemistry into a dynamic learning experience, blending game-based challenges with a practical lab tour to connect complex concepts to real-world applications.

Via the game component in the course’s design, students achieve higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy by applying advanced concepts in practical scenarios. It emphasizes decision-making, critical thinking, and evaluating diverse interests, preparing students for challenges beyond the classroom. By linking academic content directly to practical situations, students learn by failing safely and experiencing the consequences of their decisions in a structured environment.

This approach is scalable, adaptable, and seamlessly integrated into the curriculum, making it suitable for broader implementation across disciplines. The game element is not simply for engagement—it serves as a tool to deepen understanding and enhance skills like time and financial management in a way that is both memorable and effective.

Students consistently demonstrate a strong grasp of polymer chemistry concepts while developing valuable soft skills. The combination of simplicity, scalability, and impact makes this initiative a compelling example of educational innovation, bridging academic learning and real-world application.

Teaching team: Annet Kempenaar, Özlem Altınkaya-Genel, and Niels Grootjans

Best practice: ‘EIP: Living Lab’

The EIP: Living Lab course is a course that excels in bringing students into contact with the work field. It mimics the professional practice and offers students hands-on experience in addressing real-world planning and design challenges by letting them develop a professional advice for an external client. Students team up, prepare meetings with the client, explore relevant information, select and analyze research, investigate the physical situation, and identify and reach out to other stakeholders. This results in a professional advice to the client. The course is greatly appreciated by students. Students value the course’s emphasis on teamwork, client engagement, and the integration of theoretical concepts with practical application. They feel the course helps them prepare for their professional careers. The course is also valued by external clients, allowing them to engage with students and provide them with a better understanding what abilities graduates possess. EIP: Living Lab is a great example of what happens when the university collaborates with outside parties. The synergy provides learning experiences for students and gives them valuable insight and trust their abilities, while also addressing student’s desire for a better preparation for the labour market.

Teaching team: Dr. L. Georgescu and Dr. C. E. Knowles

Best Practice: 'Interactive Learning'

The practice ‘interactive learning’ aims to stimulate students to become more active during the lectures and create a deeper understanding of the material. It achieves this by changing the layout from the traditional lectures to create a more discussion-based way of teaching. This method of teaching makes sure that students have to actively participate in the process of understanding the material and help each other along the way. The material is being discussed with the students, instead of unidirectionally presented, which leads to students really understanding the material, rather than just being informed about it.

Not only does this practice lead to a deeper understanding of the material, students also really prefer this practice over the traditional way of lecturing. They indicate that this method of teaching makes them feel heard and accountable, and learns them valuable skills that are transferable to other parts of their life.

This practice really has the ability to improve education at the university, it is easy to implement, and has really valuable results. Especially in a time in which digital distraction is ubiquitous, we think that this way of teaching can improve the lives and results of students all over the university, and beyond.

Teaching team: Mr. Pepijn Tukker and Prof. Mr. dr. A.M. Klingenberg

Best Practice: Second Year IT law Symposium

This symposium helps law students develop important communication and professional skills in a practical and safe environment. It gives them the chance to work together, present their work, and build a network - skills that are valuable for their future careers. Involving alumni adds extra value by connecting students with the professional world and creating opportunities for collaboration.

This best practice has three focus points:

1. developing essential skills;
2. connection to professional practice;
3. building and enhancing the IT law community

Teaching team: Dr G. Andrejč and Dr A.F. Bakker

Best Practice: 'Concepts and Methods'

The course Concepts and Methods from the Bachelor of Theology program is a course that inspires, interacts, and makes an impact. The course aims to give students a broad introduction to the field of theology. Students are inspired by doing fieldwork. By observing church services, they see the discipline in practice. In addition, the interactions between the RUG and PThU inspire as professors with different research backgrounds teach students to look at concepts from different points of view. As a result, students learn to talk about different forms of religiosity in society. These forms were previously recognized but could not be distinguished or explained. This subject-specific knowledge, but also the skill of looking at certain matters from different points of view in general, ensures that the course makes an impact. This skill benefits students for the rest of their academic careers and forms the critical thinking that is fundamental to students' citizenship education. Through the collaboration between the two universities, the assessment, and the involvement of, in particular, Dr G. Andrejč, students form a conceptual framework to interpret the practice of theology in relation to modern society.