Last year, several students followed the second edition of the Minor Impact Space and were very positive about it! This minor introduces students to a new educational program that revolves around impact-driven education and, therefore, deviates from traditional campus-based learning. It offers students a unique learning experience to tackle real societal challenges and understand innovative interventions. The theme of this minor in this edition was ‘Building a Fair Rotterdam: Striving for Equality’, which gave students a broad thematic area to scope their topic of interest. Students were inspired by meeting local residents and they became informed by participating in meetings with stakeholders and by exploring the city.
To learn from the experiences of all participants and to improve impact-driven education, this minor’s edition was studied by the research team of Impact at the Core. In this blog we reflect on the benefits as experienced by students and we highlight the areas in which improvements could be made. The hands-on approach of this minor ensured that students became more motivated and were also able to reflect on their own learning journey. They transitioned from feeling frustrated by the uncertainty of the tasks to seeing themselves as agents of impact. Breakthrough moments, such as pitching ideas and collaborating with stakeholders, gave the students important insights, namely the fact that even small contributions can have an impact on society. This shift in perspective made it increasingly clear to students what societal problems entail and how they could make an impact on society. The students’ motivation was further strengthened by the connections between students and teachers and by the peer support among students. The inclusive and supportive environment made students feel a sense of community, and they had open communication, which enriched their educational journey. They appreciated that teachers saw them as adults, which they found highly gratifying. Thus, the learning-by-doing approach of this minor, although at first challenging, was in the end greatly appreciated by the students. It gave them independence and agency compared to traditional learning methods. They developed crucial skills that they could apply in other professional or academic contexts. For instance, receiving and giving feedback led to a change in student attitude, as they realised that feedback was given so they could improve on a professional and personal level. By acquiring these skills, students can now deal well with constructive feedback.
Of course, we can’t deny that this edition had some flaws that needs improvement. The goal of this minor is to show that students can acquire the (academic) skills and be confidence to make an impact on the world around them. However, some students developed unrealistic expectations about the scale of the societal impact they would achieve during the minor. It is, therefore, essential to manage students’ expectations and guide them to reach their potential in making an impact on. Furthermore, given the central role of reflection in the success of the student’s learning experience, great attention has to be paid to give this activity the space and time that it deserves. All in all, even though there are also disadvantages in this minor, we can still conclude that this was a successful edition with many happy faces!