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Dear Transition Maker,
Catch up on what’s new, what we’re working on behind the scenes, and where we’re headed:
🧰 Fresh from the kitchen: The Humble Mindset, Travelling Concepts and Challenge your Beliefs have recently been added to the Transition Makers Toolbox.
🔙 We look back on Utrecht University’s Skill Saturday and our workshop during the VU Education Day.
🗞️ Our approach to interdisciplinary skill-building, grounded in the IDGs, was featured in the Times Higher Education.
🍱 A recipe worth sharing: Judith van den Boogert talks about her interdisciplinary course, Lost in Translation? Dialogue in Times of Polarisation, where students work on developing courage, empathy and trust.
🔮A sneak peek into the final months of our project and what’s next for the Toolbox.
Read more below
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Inner Development
Conversation Starters |
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| Connect on a deeper level with yourself and others with the Inner Development Conversation Starters, designed to inspire reflection and dialogue.
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Join our LinkedIn community to become a member of the IDG Higher Education Hub and learn, innovate, practice and share the application of tools or share stories, recordings of lectures, event designs and presentations with other Transition Makers. |
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Click on the icons below to browse the latest additions to the Toolbox: |
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Exploring Courage at UU Skill Saturday |
| During Utrecht University’s student-led Skill Saturday, 70 honours master’s students of the transdisciplinary Leadership Programme explored the transformative role of courage in leadership with Hubertie Kroon, in a prototype session for a new tool for the Toolbox.
Student Alexandra Sarban reflected on LinkedIn: “Courage is a conscious choice, not instinct, but purposefully acting despite fear. We practised deep listening, speaking up when it’s hard, and embracing discomfort. It made us ask: how can leaders create a culture where people feel safe to be courageous?” |
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| Imagining the Future at VU Education Day |
| Toolbox core team member Madison Carr and VU toolmaker Wouter Buursma led a condensed version of Imagining the Future, inviting participants to experience how imagination can unlock new ways of thinking. With eyes closed, they began the exercise by envisioning a city above the clouds—its buildings made of books, its movement fluid. Though there was no time for the full sequence of free writing and idea-sharing, the session left a lasting impression. As Advalvas reported, it illustrated how the Toolbox supports students in becoming “ambassadors of the good,” echoing VU Rector Jeroen Geurts. |
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In Practice: Teacher Story |
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In an interdisciplinary course on dialogue in polarised times, students learn to navigate difficult topics by facilitating constructive conversations. Drawing on her experience in international mediation and conflict resolution, Judith van den Boogert guides students in developing courage, empathy and trust to address polarisation in the Netherlands. |
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Times Higher Education feature |
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| How can we prepare students for complex, interdisciplinary challenges? In this article for Times Higher Education — a leading platform for global higher education insights — we share how the Inner Development Goals offer a practical framework for cultivating the inner capacities that future-proof education. |
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| What’s Next for the Toolbox? |
| As we head into the final months of the project, we’re excited to be putting the finishing touches on several new tools, nearly ready for publication. At the same time, we’re in the final round of co-creation to reach our goal of offering at least two tool options for each IDG. In September, we’ll celebrate this milestone together with you at our festive wrap-up party (more info in the next newsletter!).
After that, our focus will shift. While the website will remain live and all tools will remain freely accessible, we’ll move away from developing new tools and hosting workshops. Instead, we’ll concentrate on embedding the Transition Makers tools and bringing transformative and affective learning to life in classrooms, as part of the educational programmes of our partner institutions. |
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Meet the Transition Makers |
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| Hebe Verrest
“Complex world problems require creative, outside-the-box solutions that are rethought and adjusted to reflect insights generated from experience and new knowledge. However, many students struggle with assignments outside of their comfort zone, where they are required to try something new or experiment with different perspectives
Self Guided Assessment helps define learning objectives, reflect on personal growth, and co-create assessment criteria for a challenge-based task” |
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| Esther Reefman
“Imagine a world shaped by your values—how it looks, feels and how you share it with others, while also hearing their dreams. Acting in Alignment will take you one step closer to turning that vision into reality.
My focus lies on human and team development, with an emphasis on coaching and education. Establishing nurturing habits has been key to my development. I’ve incorporated inner development into my work by embracing new experiences, exploring new places and connecting with nature.”
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Contact us
Do you have questions about the Transition Makers Toolbox? You can reach us at info@transitionmakers.nl. We are looking forward to hearing from you! |
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Meet Paul Mbikayi at our Community Event