10-11-2026 –, Tango 1
At every university, excellent teaching takes place, but almost always behind closed doors. Starting teachers rarely get the chance to see an experienced colleague who truly excels in front of a group. In this PechaKucha we share how our Center for Teaching and Learning opened those doors with a ‘Class Shadowing’ pilot and why it became the easiest and most appreciated project we have ever done.
The idea is simple. Starting teachers browse a curated list of experienced colleagues who open up their lectures, pick one and sign up with a single click. An automated system handles the rest: reminders, supporting materials, and a short evaluation afterwards. The response was overwhelmingly positive: not a single complaint, and nearly everyone said they would recommend it to colleagues.
How did we keep the effort and the cost so low? We share the tactical choices that made it possible: using AI to rapidly prototype the idea and build support for it, building on systems the university already has instead of adopting new tools, and fully automating the administration. Together, they turned what could have been an unwieldy project into something that almost ran itself.
Two counterintuitive insights also made the difference. One: be transparent about how you selected the senior teachers. Starting teachers want reassurance that someone really is a strong teacher. Two: deliberately steer people towards a subject they do not know. If you understand the content, you get distracted; good teaching is largely subject-independent.
We will also share what went wrong, and how we are scaling the project.
Big impact does not require a big project. With smart automation and a few counterintuitive choices, you let starting teachers learn from the very best — with almost no overhead.
Nikos Basbas is coördinator bij het Center for Teaching and Learning van Tilburg University. Hij leidt daar het werk van de universiteit rond AI-geletterdheid voor studenten en medewerkers, en werkt aan de doorontwikkeling van het center zelf: van Scholarship of Teaching and Learning tot class shadowing, waarbij beginnende docenten meelopen met ervaren collega's.