Focus

“Students must be given freedom of choice”

Business economist Bob van den Brand teaches subjects such as accounting and bookkeeping. In doing so, he uses educational innovations to make his classes better and more interesting.

Why are innovations in education important? “I see everyone in class on social media constantly. This isn’t allowed, of course, but it’s happens anyway. So, you have to come up with something. Lectures should be clearer and more concise. And students should also be given a bit of freedom of choice. The worst thing at my high school and university was that there were things you understood after going over them once, but then you got dragged through them three more times. That’s not very motivating.”

What kind of innovations do you use in your education? “Instead of long lectures, I use video lectures. I can use them to make things easy to understand and funny at the same time. For example, if my lecture is about pizza, I film it in front of a pizzeria. I once wore a Harry Potter costume, and sometimes I use a green screen to pretend I’m at an airport in China, or something like that. To keep students awake, I add little quiz questions in between. There shouldn’t be too much one-way traffic. I can see the answers they give, and I can come back to them in smaller study groups, where I can see the students live.”

Do you only adapt your lectures or also your examination forms? “The tests during the video lectures usually count for a few percent. If you want to work with a friend, I encourage that. Because that means you answered not ten but maybe eighteen different questions. There is also a final exam. We randomize questions per subject. Students also make a game out of passing the exam. They want to beat the system.” –IV