Een nieuw ontwerp voor het schrijfonderwijs in het schoolvak Nederlands

In this article, we argue that a new conceptual, pedagogical and didactic design is needed to foster the writing skills of Dutch high school students and to enhance their education in the Dutch language and culture. We present the first draft of such a new design, based on the needs of the various stakeholders (teachers, high school students, didactic experts) as well as the opportunities the teaching of writing skills holds out. Needs were inventoried through interviews with stakeholders and through a literature review of reports on the current state of the teaching of writing skills. Potential opportunities were identified by studying literature on the conceptual modelling of the writing process and by investigating pedagogic and didactic practices aimed at professional as well as creative writing teaching (both in international and historical contexts). Taken together, these new insights in current needs and potential opportunities resulted in a new design for teaching writing skills, as well a first proposal for a digital learning environment (http://SchrijfLab.nl) that will allow for testing of this design

Listening Space:An Exploratory Case Study on a Persuasive Game Designed to Enrich the Experience of Classical Music Concerts

Classical music venues in the Netherlands and throughout the world are struggling to attract new audiences. Especially younger visitors are underrepresented. Previous research emphasizes the importance of providing new, potentially interested audiences with more means to consume the music. This paper presents an exploratory case study with the persuasive game Listening Space which we developed to help attract new audiences and thus preserve Western classical music heritage. In particular, we studied to what extent this game could promote more varied ways of listening to classical music and thus enrich the experience of visiting a classical music concert. We designed and executed a controlled randomized trial with surveys before and after the experiment as well as a series of in-depth interviews with participants after the experiment. Our treatment group consisted of 139 participants (both new and existing visitors). They played our digital game at their own convenience, followed by a visit to a concert in a renowned classical music concert hall. A control group of 165 participants only visited the concerts. We measured the effects of the game – changes in the ways participants listen to classical music – through self-report in questionnaires before and after the experiment. Results show that Listening Space seems most effective for new audiences: the game promoted more varied ways of listening in the treatment group and thus enriched their experience of visiting a classical music concert. The control group of new visitors did not show an effect and also no differences were found between the treatment and control groups of regular visitors of classical music concerts We employed regression analysis to identify predictors of the game's effect on listening styles: participants’ age and their level of appreciation of the classical music genre were negatively related to the effectiveness of the game. The way in which participants experienced the game also significantly influenced the effectiveness. This case study shows the potential of using games to promote classical music concerts: games seem to be valuable in attracting new, young audiences and, therefore, represent powerful instruments to help preserve Western classical music cultural heritage

Recognizing the tenascin-X deficient type of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome:A cross-sectional study in 17 patients

Contains fulltext : 169802.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)The tenascin-X (TNX) deficient type Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is similar to the classical type of EDS. Because of the limited awareness among geneticists and the challenge of the molecular analysis of the TNXB gene, the TNX-deficient type EDS is probably to be under diagnosed. We therefore performed an observational, cross-sectional study. History and physical examination were performed. Results of serum TNX measurements were collected and mutation analysis was performed by a combination of next-generation sequencing (NGS), Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). Included were 17 patients of 11 families with autosomal recessive inheritance and childhood onset. All patients had hyperextensible skin without atrophic scarring. Hypermobility of the joints was observed in 16 of 17 patients. Deformities of the hands and feet were observed frequently. TNX serum level was tested and absent in 11 patients (seven families). Genetic testing was performed in all families+ADs- 12 different mutations were detected, most of which are suspected to lead to non-sense mRNA mediated decay. In short, patients with the TNX-deficient type EDS typically have generalized joint hypermobility, skin hyperextensibility and easy bruising. In contrast to the classical type, the inheritance pattern is autosomal recessive and atrophic scarring is absent. Molecular analysis of TNXB in a diagnostic setting is challenging