Leerpodium

The new condensed, part-time theater teacher training program is a school without walls. There is no physical building; classes are held wherever students work together, in small groups, or individually on one of the islands or in Suriname. The new program’s digital learning environment is the place where the program community comes together. The program is being developed and evaluated within TEP in collaboration with Leerpodium.

The TEP Learning Platform uses the Learning Platform provided by the Amsterdam University of the Arts and ArtEZ. In collaboration with students and faculty, and at the initiative of Theaterdocent Verkort (AHK) in Amsterdam (NL) and ArtistEducator (ArtEZ) in Zwolle (NL), an open-source learning environment has been developed that adapts to the structure and content of the educational program. It is now used throughout the ArtEZ program and by a large portion of the AHK. Key values of this learning environment include shared ownership, opportunities for democratic development, and the bottom-up principle.

With “LEARNING, CREATING, SHARING,” a project in which Leerpodium’s digital learning environment serves as a catalyst for educational innovation, the Amsterdam University of the Arts (AHK) and ArtEZ won second prize in the 2024 Dutch Education Award. This grant is used to fund various projects. One of these is the “international classroom.” International Classroom creates and explores digital opportunities for a (formal) educational environment based on shared ownership, democratic values, and decolonial awareness. The results of this study will be shared and are applicable to the entire education sector.

This research is conducted in a practice-based manner within TEP. Among other things, we are working on building a community, developing digital opportunities for education, setting up a digital library, and addressing the formal requirements for higher professional education programs regarding testing and assessment.