Motivation
A few years ago, a coaching track was developed to help Biomedical Sciences students in their professional development. However, several components of this coaching track do not match well together, which causes them to often miss their target. How can this coaching track be improved in such a way that students receive proper guidance?
Currently, the goals of this mandatory component of the master's programme do not align with the learning objectives of students themselves; there is misalignment. For example, it is not uncommon that the topic 'Writing a resume' is not tackled until after finding an internship. Other parts of the coaching track raise the question whether it would not be better to have those parts be taught by a specialist in a group setting, instead of one-on-one, so that the execution runs more efficiently.
Desired solution
The learning activities in the current coaching track can be adjusted in a way that learning objectives can be better achieved. A different teaching method could, for example, better fit a specific learning objective. This is being investigated further.
Anniek van der Waart and Esmeralda Davidson aim to improve this coaching track by clearly formulating the learning objectives and, in addition, leaving room for learning objectives formulated by students themselves. They also aim to align the learning objectives and the eventual assessments with these personal learning objectives.
Action plan
The various coordinators of the specialisations within the Biomedical Sciences master's programme have a share in resolving the misalignment within the coaching track. However, the students' own input for improving this is the most important. Therefore, several learning activities are being organised, which will be evaluated from the student perspective.
The evaluation will be carried out by students, alumni, and people from their future field of work. They are a point of contact and ensure that the student point of view is well represented.