Student group’s challenge

“A group that comes to mind is a student group that worked on nutrition. They asked themselves how it could be that people with diabetes eat so unhealthy, so the problem is that people with diabetes cause part of the condition and the misery themselves by eating unhealthy. That is especially a problem among lower educated people and people with a migration background. So, the students felt that they (students) have to make a change here. And then, the students came up with the idea of cooking with those people in the neighborhood. I then thought whether the students could think of something else. Because it is a nice idea, but how is this idea innovative? Of course, it has already been done that people cook with these people in the neighborhood, what is new about that? Nothing came out of the students. […] It was a bit of a hassle to get something more out of the students. […] In the end, the students did a number of fun things with my suggestion to do some things online. The students made short videos with very simple advice. The students were then faced with the question what the most prominent problem is with nutrition, what foods are we talking about, maybe you just have to be concrete—besides cooking something healthy—be clear about what is allowed and what is not. So, the students then recorded short videos in which they all played a role promoting specific foods. The funny thing is that they had the most fun if they did come up with something. […] I noticed that if the students came up with something they had not thought of initially—which they thought they would never get done—that gives the students the wow feeling. Then they (students) feel that they have achieved something” [T12 unhealthy eating patterns].

Teaching activities

“I recall that together with the students, we thought of several suggestions which were scalable. The initial idea was that students would go cook for people in the neighborhood, which is fun, but then in the long term, how sustainable is that innovation? And how innovative is it really? So, then the students have to think about how to go a step further, how to make it work in the Netherlands? How to ensure it can be shared in another way besides students traveling through the whole of the Netherlands. […] So, I just asked the students, ‘so, you have to come up with an idea. What exactly is the innovation here?’ I usually just ask it like that. And then I say, for example, ‘you want your idea to be applicable in the long term. So, if you look at everyone involved in this problem, have you analyzed the stakeholders and students whether your innovation will succeed? Is it feasible to expect that all students will do this?’ […] However, not much response came out of my questions, so eventually I made a few suggestions of what the students could do. For example, ‘can you think of anything that can be done online—that a few people can do online—which can be used very often?’. […] And in this way, you can make the message available in different but very easily way to people with a lower education or migration background. […] Well, I try to encourage the students to look further and to ask people again and again. And to dare to. […] I also tell the students that 90% of all your innovations ultimately will fail, that is not a problem, but you just have to dare. And you have to do something that you actually think of that it will succeed. Otherwise, it is not an innovation. So, you really have to dare to think creatively and sometimes go outside your comfort zone. How do students respond on this? Some groups do it very naturally and with other groups it is just a little more difficult, like with this group. But eventually students do it and then they also say afterwards, yes it was actually very fun to be involved with this innovation process. […] I also encourage the students to think of ways how they (students) can get their initial idea, which requires a lot of effort towards less effort. So, their idea for cooking clubs for all people with a low SES and diabetes. This is not feasible for all medical students in the Netherlands. So, if you think medical students are going to help people with diabetes cook in the evening. […] That could be something that you might say has a medium impact, but the efforts are gigantic. So maybe this is a good innovation, but then you have to think about how you can move it so that it has the same effect with much less effort. So, the suggestion of, can you come up with an idea where you do not have to send students to the neighborhood a thousand times, but change something where you do something once and then students virtually go to the neighborhood, do a cooking program on TV or something else. Then students have much less effort with their solution with equal impact” [T12 unhealthy eating patterns].