Although methods subjects are not always everyone's favourite, Daniëlle actually enjoys taking a step-by-step approach to research and going through those different steps with students. "I am a very organised person, and in methods subjects, you often have a most convenient way of tackling things. I enjoy being able to help students with that." One subject-based course that Daniëlle will be teaching is Risks and Opportunities of Social Media, one of three courses from the new minor in Communication Studies. "This course is closest to my own research interests, and I think it's super fun to then develop a new course from scratch." The course was developed together with Hanneke Hendriks and will be taught for the first time in November.
What does Daniëlle likes most about teaching?
"Yes... this might be a lame answer, but I really like the variety between courses. It's nice that in a course, you can do something completely new, but it's also nice to do a course you've done before and are comfortable with. It's that variety that makes it a lot of fun." In addition, interacting with students and working on such a course together is what gives Daniëlle extra energy. "In the Master's programme, I mainly supervise theses, and students can actually choose anything they get excited about as a subject, as long as it's something they want to immerse themselves in for six months. I then especially enjoy thinking with them about their ideas and then translating their ideas together into research."
What are the challenges?
Daniëlle sees a challenge for herself in her form of teaching. "I want to move away a bit from traditional lectures and be more interactive. For example, using input from the lecture hall to shape the lecture. This would then take a more Q&A-like form, where you can have a mix of topics you want to address as a lecturer and topics students come up with. That would be ideal!"