Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are interfaculty professional learning communities for teachers that work together on a specific theme. For example, you can choose to join the group on Assessment, eXtended Reality and Educational use of AI. In this way, the UvA TLC network contributes to knowledge sharing, expertise development and community building at the UvA.
SIG: professional learning community
A SIG is a group for teachers with shared interest and expertise within a particular theme. In a SIG, participants come together to exchange, develop and apply knowledge and experience. Essentially, a SIG focuses on expertise and networking around a specific theme. Themes that teachers care about and are relevant for the quality of academic education at the UvA. With the SIGs, we transcend faculty boundaries and enable teachers from all faculties to meet each other.
Participation in a SIG
All interested teachers at the UvA can participate in a SIG. Participation is entirely without obligation. As a teacher, you can join as an expert. However, you are also more than welcome to join if you aim to increase your expertise within a particular theme. The structure and procedure vary per individual SIG. For more information, please visit the specific SIG pages or contact the coordinators.
Fair, Resilient & Inclusive Societies (FRIS) grant
Apply now for the FRIS grant (until 31 January 2025)! This grant offers you time and space to develop and co-create an educational innovation related to FRIS themes.
Impact Learning grant
Apply now for the Impact Learning grant (until 31 January 2025)! This grant offers you time and space to develop an educational innovation or research connected to impact learning.
SIG International Classroom
Higher education classrooms are increasingly diverse, presenting both challenges and benefits. The SIG International Classroom fosters inclusive and dynamic learning environments that celebrate cultural diversity, promote global perspectives, and prepare students to thrive in an interconnected world.
SIG eXtended Reality
This SIG is concerned with the deployment of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) and 360-degree video in education.
SIG Assessment
Assessment is critical to the university: how do we determine whether the student has really met the program’s learning objectives? We discuss these kinds of issues and more in the SIG Assessment.
SIG Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL)
The SIG Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) aims to bring teachers who are interested in researching their own teaching practices together.
SIG Fair, Resilient & Inclusive Societies (FRIS)
The SIG FRIS is a network of educational innovators who want to contribute to the development of more Fair, Resilient & Inclusive Societies (FRIS). In 2022, the SIG FRIS launched as UvA’s second thematic educational innovation grant from TLC-Central and the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies. In the context of an overheated and fast-paced academic learning and working environment, this SIG constitutes a growing collective learning space that strives to ‘refresh’ the academic world.
SIG Impact Learning
Impact Learning is a form of education that actively engages students in addressing real problems and making meaningful contributions to society. Impact Learning goes beyond the traditional classroom and encourages students to engage with society, apply their skills and knowledge to solve real problems and turn challenges into solutions. This involvement can take various forms, including direct collaboration with society, engagement with external project partners or communities, and participation in citizen science initiatives.
Controversies in the classroom
27 March 2025 – SIG SoTL and International Classroom
Choose between two sessions that focus on new insights for discussing controversial or sensitive topics in the classroom.
Lunch seminar: The role of cultural empathy in teaching and learning
24 november – The meeting point between academic curiosity and empathic attunement
SIG Educational Use of AI
The SIG is a network of educators working or interested in integrating GenAI into education in an ethical way. If you are a lecturer, teacher, researcher, examiner, or policy advisor with an interest in the intersection of AI and university education, we invite you to join the SIG.
The fifth FRIS café: a growing community
On Thursday, June 28, we gathered for what was already the fifth FRIS cafe. These six-weekly gatherings provide grantees of the Fair, Resilient & Inclusive Societies (FRIS) theme grant the opportunity to come together, share ideas and get inspired.