Josephine Verstappen. Job elsewhere.

Over 2.5 years ago I started working as a policy advisor Educational Innovation with IT at the Association of Universities in The Netherlands (VSNU). Quite a mouthful, this job title. At the time of my application, it was already clear that the Acceleration Plan would be a large part of my range of duties and I was looking forward to that enormously. The book “Why do I need a teacher when I have Google” inspired me tremendously during my studies in Educational Sciences. And so, I saw working on educational innovation with technology as an interesting challenge. A challenge where I could work with others on a future-proof education system.

I’ve felt cooperation from the very first moment and always felt a kind of solidarity with the Acceleration Plan colleagues. Together, we’re working on enriching education through IT, making it extra fun to work for the Acceleration Plan.

The past years, we have all grown in the programme. In the first year, there was (quite rightly) a lot of attention for team building and idea formation. I remember giving board members at the time mostly process updates. Suddenly, however, the teams started to develop a huge number of products. Today, the tally stands at more than 100 products, projects and publications, something we can be proud of.

But after 2.5 years, it’s time for me to take the next step (job elsewhere). I remember at one point when we had so many changes among the project leaders and connectors that the steering committee jokingly noticed the Acceleration Plan was good for people’s careers. In the end, that’vs what it turned out to be for me too. I will continue to work for the VSNU, but will be involved in other educational dossiers. I will greatly miss the Acceleration Plan. The variety of products -from the motion sensor for institutions to national micro-credentials pilots- is beautiful to see and I’m certain the last 1.5 years will bring many more beautiful results. I wish everyone all the best and I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.