Daisy Smeets is assistant professor in Education and Child Studies. In their Master course Digital media in the family: opportunities and challenges, she and her colleague Lenny van Rosmalen use the so-called carousel method. “The students work on a theme in groups every week, but each group gets a different type of assignment within that theme. And within that assignment, they have a lot of freedom in what they highlight.”

Different perspectives

“When everyone presents the same type of assignment, it does get a little boring. But now the weekly meetings are much more interesting. Because instead of listening five times to, say, a parent advisory on the topic of 'Violent video games', now in addition to that parent advisory there are presentations on recent scientific research, the role of education, questions from society.... The topic is highlighted from all kinds of perspectives.”

Captivating and fun

“So the meetings are much more fun this way, students are captivated and alert. I think you can expect master's students to look for depth and follow their own interests, and this way they can do that to the fullest. As a teacher, I am also regularly surprised by a new angle or information they have found.”

Role of the teacher

“I am very enthusiastic about this method. What we did have to think about beforehand was the assessment. Students obviously value feedback a lot. But in this form, we as teachers can only assess all assignments at the end of the course - when all groups have done each type of assignment. We also limit our feedback in between; we mainly let students give feedback to each other. Students can become insecure about this. So it is very important to explain this well at the beginning.”

More information

Daisy Smeets and Lenny van Rosmalen received a Grass shoots grant for their educational innovation.