ANNELOES POST
Anneloes is an E-learning consultant at Bright Alley in Utrecht, the Netherlands. As an educational psychologist, she develops effective learning environments for professionals.
Why did you choose this programme at the University of Twente?
I used to love computer games like The Sims, or online games, like World of Goo. I always wondered how it could be that edutainment motivated me to learn the hardest things. When I discovered the Master's programme Learning Sciences, I knew immediately: that was the place for me. That is where I would be taught how so-called game-flow works. I also wanted to be able to set up something useful and meaningful in practice. Thanks to the UT's applied design approach, I can now develop e-learning at Bright Alley.
What are your tasks within the organisation?
We try and develop an appealing and effective learning environment for every learning question. This involves a lot of deliberating with the team: the client, the target audience, the educational consultant, the graphic designer and the project manager. As an educational psychologist, I am mainly in charge of making sure the client and the target group's needs match. What motivates the target group? How do I make the learning material interesting and useful? What learning culture prevails in the company and how does our e-learning fit into it?
What knowledge from your studies do you use at work?
One of the main things I learned during my Bachelor's was to recognize the ins and outs of a target group. Think, for example, of target group analyses of the student, the colleagues and the company. Now, after my Master's, my focus as an educational psychologist lies mainly on the development of the target audience. Does there seem to be a learning or behavioural problem? What (learning) results are they expecting? Under what conditions? What learning strategies are relevant?
What are your ambitions for the future?
We run relatively short projects – varying from a few weeks to a few months. This allows me to rapidly gain a lot of experience. As a team we enthusiastically set to work on creative brainstorming whilst at the same time staying focused on achieving the learning objective. We also give workshops on designing e-learning and we advise companies on e-learning. Those are two areas in which I am especially keen on further developing myself.
Do you have any tips for future students?
What I enjoyed about this programme was that you get a clear and broad picture of your potential areas of work. You are challenged in your design approach and your ideas on education for children and adults, but also in diagnosing learning problems through tests or brain scans. But don't forget: the real learning comes once you have finished studying.
Interested?
If you’re intrigued, take a look at the specialisation in Educational Psychology, which is part of the Master's in Psychology.