Developments in artificial intelligence (AI), data science and disinformation, for example, have dramatically transformed higher education and offer enormous opportunities and challenges. During the Library Academy, lecturers and educational support staff from the AUAS, UvA and VU could become acquainted with innovative educational tools and future-proof information skills that the libraries of Amsterdam's higher education institutions offer.

Day 1: Library Academy workshops at the VU Amsterdam

Getting Started with Podcasts in your Education

An exploration into what goes into making a good podcast. From the importance of good audio, to what type of microphone is desired, the ideal distance to that microphone and how to prevent noise. This and more led to an insightfull and lively workshop Getting started with podcasts in your education.

Object Based Teaching and Learning: Feel and Smell the Future of Teaching

How can learning experiences be enriched with Object Based Teaching and Learning? In the workshop Object Based Teaching and Learning: feel and smell the future of teaching, information was shared and participants experimented with the many applications of OBTL.

ART Science Gallery tour

After a delicious lunch, participants were guided through the ART Science Gallery at the VU Amsterdam.

3D Printing, the Basics: Experience the Power of Maker Education

In the workshop 3D printing, the basics: experience the power of maker education, participants explored how 3D printing can contribute to learning objectives and a richer learning experience for students.

Day 2: Library Academy workshops at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Discover and Share: Open Educational Resources

Open educational resources are part of both national and institutional agendas. But how can teachers benefit from sharing and reusing these educational resources? A discussion about usefulness and necessity kicked off this workshop. Participants then started working on finding open educational resources and sharing them themselves. As of the start of this year, the AUAS and UvA can share educational resources via the national search portal Edusources.

Learning to Combine: Create the Optimal Mix of Teaching Materials

How do you ensure an optimal mix of closed and open learning materials, carefully tailored to both lower and higher order learning objectives? This made up the core of this workshop with reference to a few practical examples, for example an initiative in which VR was used to simulate a court hearing. In the second part, the participants got to work themselves using the “choose your learning material wiser” tool.

Presentation Library SMART Health en Vitality Lab

The 'Library SMART Health and Vitality Lab' is a new innovation lab of the Faculty of Health, Centre of Expertise Applied Artificial Intelligence and the AUAS Library. Highlight was a dance by the robot to the song 'Get lucky'.

Disinformation: the Student as a Critical Professional

Learning to think critically is an essential part of assessing news and information. It is important to offer students criteria that help with this.

Day 3: Library Academy workshops at the University of Amsterdam

The Future of Feedback in Education: Discover iGuideMe

Participants were introduced to a new tool “IGuideME” that enables personalised feedback, also in large-scale education.

Beyond ChatGPT: AI Tools in Literature Research

In the workshop Beyond ChatGPT: AI tools in literature research, experiments were conducted with various AI tools. Not only ChatGPT and Google Bard, but also Elicit, Perplexity and Semantic Scholar. Prompting (formulating questions) and assessing content was also discussed. In the final part, there was a lively and interesting discussion about the ethical aspects of using AI tools.

Demonstration Transkribus

The tool Transkribus was demonstrated during lunch. This tool helps you with text recognition, image analysis and structure recognition of historical documents.

Smart Education: the Power of AI in Didactics

The influence of GenAI on didactics is huge. This workshop zoomed in on GenAI in constructive alignment: learning outcomes, learning activities and assessment/feedback. Especially in the latter category there is a short-term impact. Teachers examined their own assignments and test questions.

From Text to Insight: Dive Deeper into Text Analysis with Voyant

The workshop on text analysis with Voyant Tools offered participants without prior programming knowledge an introduction to the digital analysis of texts. By working on their own topic, the participants became familiar with the possibilities of text analysis and the Voyant tool in particular. It was all about discovering connections and trends in order to extract more value from texts.

Thank you for your participation

The Library Academy team (Libraries AUAS, UvA and VU) would like to thank everyone who attended the workshops, the workshop instructors and everyone else who helped make the days a success. We hope that everyone went home with fresh perspectives, new insights and valuable contacts that will enrich and innovate education at the VU, AUAS and UvA. We hope to see you again at the Library Academy 2025!