In this episode of In Beta, we talk to Joost van Wijchen at the HAN University of Applied Science in the Netherlands. For the past 3 years, Joost and some of his colleagues have been experimenting with what they call guided choice-based learning, a short description of which might be that it is a curriculum without the curriculum.
At the heart of the concept is the idea that, within any educational programme, content and instruction should not be the main focus for educators. Rather, the emphasis is on the novice colleague (or student) who develops and becomes an autonomous, socialised physiotherapist with true confidence in their own competence and capabilities. As teachers, they are part of a community of practice with their younger colleagues, but also have the responsibility to facilitate and guide students in their developmental journey of becoming a physiotherapist. At the same time, students help the teachers to “stay sharp, think in new directions, challenge the obvious, and to remain reflective and critical.”
You can still view the planning document, which includes more information and links to additional resources on the topic. And remember that you can join the community by subscribing to the podcast to get announcements about future episodes. Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or any of the major podcast clients on Android.
Guest on the podcast
Joost van Wijchen (Twitter, LinkedIn)
Joost is a Senior Lecturer and educational designer in the Department of Physiotherapy at the HAN University of Applied Sciences in Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He has a special interest in solvability, constructionism, connectivism and complementarity in learning.
Note: We had a bad internet connection during this conversation with the result that the audio quality of the recording was terrible. Unfortunately, we only realised how bad after we had finished. Joost kindly agreed to go back and re-record some of the worst sections. We will ensure that future episodes don’t have the same problem.