[staff-physics-and-astronomy-HL-UHD-UD] [VWP-l] AI and education workshop and teachers meeting

Wed May 13 15:38:43 CEST 2026

Dear all,

Unfortunately, we have to postpone the teachers meeting from May 19 to June 30 from 15:30-17 in F2.04 (Science Park). The funeral of a close family member of mine is planned next Tuesday afternoon, and it would therefore be impossible for me to be at the teachers meeting.

Various colleagues kindly offered to step in and present the discussion topics (program updates, finances and cost saving measures, active learning, and visible learning trajectories). Nonetheless, I think it’s important for me to be there to answer your questions, and hear you concerns and ideas. Therefore decided it would be best to simply postpone the meeting.

There are 2 small program updates I would like to share now already:

Influx of students - Many of you have probably heard rumors that we are facing a decline in student registrations.
Over the last month the number has been fluctuating quite a bit (ranging between ca -5% and -20% relative to the same time last year), but we can indeed anticipate a decline. Our current prognoses is that the influx will decrease by about 10%. We are continue to work hard to keep our influx high.

Honours program coordinator - Corentin Coulais will be stepping down as honors coordinator at the of this academic year. We very much appreciate Corentin's amazing efforts that ensured we have such a rich and successful program! Antonija Oklopčić from API will be the new honours coordinator starting in September.

I hope to see many of you at the teachers meeting at the end of June and apologize for the inconvenience of postponing the date.

Best,
Chase

-------------------------------------
Prof. dr. Chase Broedersz
University Research Chair Professor
Theoretical Physics of Life
Program Director Physics and Astronomy BSc JD
VU Amsterdam - Research building 4B-145
Group website<http://broederszgroup.com/> <http://broederszgroup.com/>

From: Broedersz, C.P. (Chase) <c.p.broedersz at vu.nl>
Date: Monday, 13 April 2026 at 16:00
To: vwp.nat.few at listserver.vu.nl <vwp.nat.few at listserver.vu.nl>; api-staff at list.uva.nl <api-staff at list.uva.nl>; staff-iop at uva.nl <staff-iop at uva.nl>; Rink, B.W. (Bob) <b.w.rink at vu.nl>; jaapdejonge3 at gmail.com <jaapdejonge3 at gmail.com>; S.Shadrin at uva.nl <S.Shadrin at uva.nl>; I.Hettelingh at uva.nl <I.Hettelingh at uva.nl>; d.a.sandtke at uva.nl <d.a.sandtke at uva.nl>; C.K.Tai at uva.nl <C.K.Tai at uva.nl>; Joris Peters <j.j.m.peters at uva.nl>; Willigen, M.F. van (Marnick) <m.f.van.willigen at vu.nl>; secr-astro-science <secr-astro-science at uva.nl>; Joëlle Kessels <j.g.h.kessels at uva.nl>
Subject: Re: AI and education workshop and teachers meeting

Dear colleagues,

It was brought to my attention that the teacher meeting schedule for the 12th of May overlapped with major events for the Nikhef and API communities.

The teachers meeting is therefore rescheduled from May 12 to May 19 from 13:30-15:00 in A1.28. We’ll do our best to make the meeting also virtually accessible for those of you who can’t be there in person.

Best wishes,
Chase

-------------------------------------
Prof. dr. Chase Broedersz
University Research Chair Professor
Theoretical Physics of Life
Program Director Physics and Astronomy BSc JD
VU Amsterdam - Research building 4B-145
Group website<http://broederszgroup.com/> <http://broederszgroup.com/>

From: Broedersz, C.P. (Chase) <c.p.broedersz at vu.nl>
Date: Friday, 10 April 2026 at 10:53
To: vwp.nat.few at listserver.vu.nl <vwp.nat.few at listserver.vu.nl>, api-staff at list.uva.nl <api-staff at list.uva.nl>, staff-iop at uva.nl <staff-iop at uva.nl>, Rink, B.W. (Bob) <b.w.rink at vu.nl>, jaapdejonge3 at gmail.com <jaapdejonge3 at gmail.com>, S.Shadrin at uva.nl <S.Shadrin at uva.nl>, I.Hettelingh at uva.nl <I.Hettelingh at uva.nl>, d.a.sandtke at uva.nl <d.a.sandtke at uva.nl>, C.K.Tai at uva.nl <C.K.Tai at uva.nl>, Joris Peters <j.j.m.peters at uva.nl>, Willigen, M.F. van (Marnick) <m.f.van.willigen at vu.nl>, secr-astro-science <secr-astro-science at uva.nl>, Joëlle Kessels <j.g.h.kessels at uva.nl>
Subject: AI and education workshop and teachers meeting

Dear colleagues,

I want to announce two important events for the Physics and Astronomy BSc program.

  1.  AI and education workshop on April 30 9:30-12:30 in A1.18 at Science Park. Rapid developments in AI require us to rethink how we teach and assess Physics and Astronomy. This workshop will be provided by Vincent Tijms from TLC and brings together current best practices on navigating the role of generative AI in education. We will explore a two-lane approach: on the one hand, safeguarding assessment against undesirable use of GenAI, and on the other, leveraging it constructively to support and even deepen student learning. Importantly, the workshop will also create space for exchanging perspectives: what elements of our teaching do we want to preserve as we adapt?

     I strongly encourage all our teaching staff to join. If you haven’t signed      up for the workshop in response to my earlier emails,  you are still      very welcome. But please do let me know so I can be sure our room is      large enough.

  1.
Teachers meeting on May 12 14:00-15:00 in F1.02.
We will discuss how facilitate active and engaging learning practices, especially in our tutorials. I’m hearing from many colleagues that it is becoming increasingly challenging to get students to attend and actively engage in lectures and tutorials. Students themselves indicate that they prefer more activating teaching formats over traditional ones, as these offer clear added value and a strong advantage compared to studying the material independently at home.
In addition, we will give a short update on the Visible Learning Trajectory project for the Physics and Astronomy BSc program, which will launch in September ‘26.

Best wishes,
Chase
-------------------------------------
Prof. dr. Chase Broedersz
University Research Chair Professor
Theoretical Physics of Life
Program Director Physics and Astronomy BSc JD
VU Amsterdam - Research building 4B-145
Group website<http://broederszgroup.com/> <http://broederszgroup.com/>

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