In the first episode of Degrees of Freedom, we try to figure out what the point of University education is. How much of it is structured development and how can students think about creating their own self-development path?

To help us navigate these issues, we speak with Klaas Van Veen, Professor in Education Studies and Vice Dean of Education at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences of the University of Groningen.


Produced by Tassos Sarampalis and Sally Ainsworth, at the University of Groningen
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Illustrations by Anne Caesar van Wieren https://www.annecaesar.nl/
What's the Angle and Zen Garden are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

S1 Ep1 - What's the point of University education?

The lecture! Mainstay of university teaching for hundreds of years, mow much maligned for not promoting active learning, for not focusing enough on the student, for being ineffective and uninteresting. For being too old-school. Is the lecture dead and should we think of it in those terms?

In this episode, we speak with Dr Simon Dalley, lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Groningen about what lectures are (and can be), how to think about structuring them, and how teachers and students can approach and best prepare for them.

The books we mentioned were:
- What's the Use of Lectures, by Donald A. Bligh https://tinyurl.com/2p8wpd77
- How Learning Works: 7 Research-based Principles for Smart Teaching by Susan A. Ambrose et al. https://tinyurl.com/wc23p4kv
- The Craft of University Teaching by Peter Lindsay https://tinyurl.com/ywvxazpw
- Interactive Lecturing: A Handbook for College Faculty by Elizabeth F. Barkley and Claire H. Major https://tinyurl.com/5n93ub8s

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Produced by Tassos Sarampalis and Sally Ainsworth, at the University of Groningen
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Illustrations by Anne Caesar van Wieren https://www.annecaesar.nl/
What's the Angle and Zen Garden are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

S1 Ep2 - The Lecture is Dead, Long Live the Lecture!

We are delighted to present to you this episode featuring Dr Brian Ostafin and Dr Marcello Seri. In this podcast we touch upon the definition and origin of failure, as well as the overall difference and importance between successes and failures in multiple aspects of life. Alongside these experts in their fields, we delve deep into the meaning of failure and how we can reflect on it in order to grow.

You can learn more about Marcello Seri here: https://www.rug.nl/staff/m.seri/
and Brian Ostafin here: https://www.rug.nl/staff/b.d.ostafin/

Some of the books mentioned in the podcast were:
* Erich Fromm's To have or to be https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/25490.To_Have_or_to_Be_The_Nature_of_the_Psyche
* Ernest Becker's The denial of death https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2761.The_Denial_of_Death?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=zylVxcGv01&rank=1
* Harry Frankfurt's The reasons of love https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3494.The_Reasons_of_Love?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=POyiRGBItK&rank=1
* Hartmut Rosa's The uncontrollability of the world https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52592768-the-uncontrollability-of-the-world?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=QtNL2RM5B2&rank=1
* Robert Putnam's Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/478.Bowling_Alone?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ZocaKxs2Zg&rank=1
* Anthony Kronman's Education's End: Why our colleges and universities have given up on the meaning of life https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1749052.Education_s_End?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=z9IsILBrrt&rank=1

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Produced by Tassos Sarampalis and Colm O'Fuarthain, at the University of Groningen
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Illustrations by Anne Caesar van Wieren www.annecaesar.nl/
What's the Angle and Zen Garden are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

S1 Ep7 - Failing Forward

This episode marks the final episode that Colm will join us on. We want to thank him for all his efforts and wish him all the best with his next chapter! In this episode, we are joined by Amy O'Connell, the upcoming co-host and 3rd-year psychology student. She has done a board year at VIP (study association of psychology) and has taken a year off studying to do so. During the episode, we talk about all of our experiences with learning, how to become motivated to learn and the processes of learning.

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Produced by Tassos Sarampalis and Colm O'Fuarthain, at the University of Groningen
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Illustrations by Anne Caesar van Wieren www.annecaesar.nl/
What's the Angle and Zen Garden are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

S1 Ep9 - Learning To Learn

The Degrees of Freedom podcast aims to empower learners and teachers in Higher Education in their goals. We host conversations between teachers and students on pedagogical, practical, cultural, and inspirational topics with the goals of strengthening the community and its members.
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The podcast is produced at the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Science of the University of Groningen, in The Netherlands, by Tassos Sarampalis and Marcello Seri.

S1 Ep1 - What's the point of University education?

Degrees of Freedom

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