{"id":138752,"date":"2022-04-12T16:13:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T14:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=138752"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:26:14","slug":"psychology-starts-first-fully-online-masters-degree-in-the-netherlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2022\/04\/12\/psychology-starts-first-fully-online-masters-degree-in-the-netherlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychology starts first fully online master\u2019s degree in the Netherlands"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Digital Media Psychology master\u2019s programme will move fully online in September. This will be Erasmus University\u2019s first fully digital master\u2019s programme. Course coordinators Daantje Derks, Huib Tabbers and Rolf Zwaan are keen to go online. \u201cWe\u2019re actually a group of three enthusiasts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Daantje Derks (left) and Huib Tabbers coordinate the fully online master programme.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdriana Youssef<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences master\u2019s degree started two years ago with fourteen students. At the time it was already the aim to do as much as possible online and that proved necessary because of the coronavirus. \u201cEverything actually went really well,\u201d stated Derks.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hybrid just doesn\u2019t work\u2019 <\/h2>

More was allowed on campus in the second year, so it became a hybrid study programme. \u201cWe actually wanted to continue online. But our programme director remembered that this wasn\u2019t possible as we\u2019re not an institute that delivers distance learning,\u201d stated Derks, somewhat disappointed. Several practicals were therefore delivered on campus. But Derks and Tabbers aren\u2019t keen on hybrid education. \u201cHybrid meetings just don\u2019t work,\u201d Derks insists. \u201cOf course, there\u2019s added value in meeting in person, but if half the group is at home listening in, you need to divide your attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Community for Learning and Innovation (CLI) contacted them during the coronavirus to ask whether the master\u2019s degree was suitable for moving fully online, the coordinators were immediately enthusiastic. \u201cWe\u2019re actually a group of three enthusiasts,\u201d Derks revealed. Zwaan mainly researches fake news, while Tabbers specialises in online learning and Derks in online interruptions.<\/p>\n

New teaching methods<\/h2>

They also enjoy using new online tools and teaching methods in their work. For instance, Zwaan has a YouTube channel for knowledge clips and Tabbers uses Feedback Fruits, software that makes it easy for students to give feedback on lectures. Derks invested in her contacts. \u201cI asked a lot of well-known researchers and other people in my network whether they\u2019d provide a ten-minute clip for my lectures. I was amazed that they almost all did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

For them, flexibility is a huge advantage of digital only. \u201cOne of the most difficult challenges in education is timetabling and booking rooms,\u201d explained Tabbers. \u201cFor example, if you want to work on an assignment in eight small groups, how do you find eight small meeting rooms next to each other? For us that problem is solved as we do everything online. All you have to do is create a few breakout rooms in the video call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disadvantages<\/h2>

This doesn\u2019t mean that everything is easy as breakout rooms also have their disadvantages. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s really difficult to follow what everyone is doing. If you put students in a separate group, you can\u2019t see or hear them anymore. You can visit each room, but that\u2019s really time-consuming,\u201d admitted Tabbers, which is why he and Derks experimented with other software that makes it easier to \u2018visit\u2019 students. Getting acquainted is also difficult. \u201cThat\u2019s much easier offline, but we do everything we can to get to know each other online, one bit at a time,\u201d explained Derks.<\/p>\n

The two lecturers recognise that there are many obstacles en route to full online education and that things do sometimes go wrong. \u201cFor example, when we first started we used Zoom and that\u2019s not always handy. For instance, chats disappear in the program as soon as you close it, which is why we started using Microsoft Teams as that saves everything we need,\u201d added Tabbers. \u201cThose chats can be really useful for students who may have the same questions later on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Persistent postman<\/h2>

In a digital media master\u2019s degree, students encounter many theoretical issues directly in practice. \u201cOur course is an exact reflection of what we\u2019re doing,\u201d explained Derks enthusiastically. Her course focuses on things such as interruptions during digital sessions and she also experienced that in practice. \u201cAt a certain point, I was sitting at the kitchen table giving a lecture on interruptions and the postman rang the doorbell, and as he was really quite persistent, I had to answer the door,\u201d she explained smiling. \u201cIt was a great practical example of the theory we were just talking about. But next time I think I\u2019ll sit upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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