Winners edX Prize 2022
For the third time, TU Delft wins this international accolade for exceptional contributions to online teaching and learning with the MOOC Global Housing Design by Professor Dick van Gameren and his course team – Nelson Amorin Mota, Frederique van Andel, Rohan Varma, Ramona Scheffer and Stephany Knize.
The course focuses on the design of sustainable and inclusive housing, directly addressing the critical global need for urban development expertise, as we register close to a billion people worldwide currently living in inadequate buildings.
Teaching online allows me to reach thousands of people across the world and empower them to make positive changes to the environment and the buildings they work and live in. As a team, we can use our passion and expertise to teach others about designing and building adequate housing for a more sustainable future. And learners can acquire knowledge and skills at a time and place that suit their busy lives – whilst collectively we contribute to a better world.
Van Gameren
Creating impact - Enabling change
The prize recognises the positive impact of this immersive course that educates learners about the challenges and opportunities of creating affordable residential buildings from both a global and local perspective. It encourages critical discussions about the design process and the social, economic, and environmental influences and motivations that influence design. In addition, it offers a highly personalized component, where learners are tasked with reimagining the housing projects in their own communities to visualize a more sustainable tomorrow. Those development proposals are compiled into one searchable database for participants to explore new ideas and offer feedback, creating a global network of energized learners eager to enact change.
Innovation in online education
The edX Prize is given annually to the faculty members and teachers who best showcase the potential that online learning has to transform our educational systems and inspire learners to chase their knowledge goals. It is also a recognition of the innovative methods that instructors use to maintain learner engagement and help build connections to turn insights into real-world impact.
“The exemplary work of Van Gameren and his colleagues showcases the potential of online education to reach communities of learners hungry for knowledge but unable to meet the demands of a traditional education,” said Rob Mudde, Vice Rector Magnificus at TU Delft. “The team is helping to arm a new generation with the insights and network needed to create a sustainable future centred around affordable housing for all.”
Success
This is the third time that the university receives the edX Prize for its exemplary work in online teaching and learning. In 2016, TU Delft’s first MOOC Solar Energy by Arno Smets (Faculty of Electric Engineering, Mathematics & Computer Science) was awarded the inaugural edX Prize, whilst Andy van den Dobbelsteen, Eric van den Ham and Tess Blom (Faculty of Architecture & the Built Environment) won it in 2020 with the MOOC “Zero-Energy Design: an approach to make your building sustainable”.
About edX
TU Delft offers online MOOC courses on the edX platform. edX is a non-profit platform for online education, which universities such as MIT and Harvard have been using since 2012 to make education accessible to everyone with access to the internet, no matter where they are in the world. Anyone can follow the courses free of charge, regardless of prior education and without an entrance test. In 2013, TU Delft was the very first European university to join and offer courses on the platform.
The Global Housing Design course is part of a dedicate portfolio offering for Sustainable Cities by the TU Delft Extension School for Continuing Education. Visit the program page for more information.