Abstract:

To improve the teaching of academic skills to bachelor students having an easily accessible overview of the skills that are taught and used in the different courses of the bachelor curriculum is vital. A web tool was created to enhance the accessibility of the content of the academic skills curriculum that allows both students and teachers to see in which courses they learned and used different skills. Instead of being merely focused on the content of a certain course, the student is in this way encouraged to connect the latest learning in the pre-existing knowledge of the skills they have already learned in previous courses.

Likewise, the use of the web tool allows teachers to enhance the alignment of the curriculum. With the web tool lecturers and teachers can easily oversee the curriculum of the bachelor program. Both lecturers and coordinators can identify where in the curriculum more attention is needed, or where there is a duplication in learning and by addressing these issues improve the alignment of the curriculum. Moreover, lecturers can more easily build on, and refer to, previously taught knowledge on academic skills from other courses.

The web tool is used in different bachelor studies, such as veterinary medicine and theater, film and television studies, and psychology of Utrecht University. A pilot study is being done where both students and teachers are involved in creating the content of the web tool, and in using the information in their courses. By using the web tool they have an easy access to the academic skills they have learned during the bachelor. From the beginning of the bachelor they are stimulated to reflect on the accumulation of their knowledge.

Keywords:

Curriculum, improvement, alignment, web tool.