About my development
I grew up in a family where learning at school did not come easily. For some family members, dyslexia was an issue with significant consequences. They thought they were not academic since learning from books took so much effort. As a child, I struggled to understand this because at primary school, learning appeared to come naturally to me. When I started secondary school, it turned I was not quite the scholar I thought I was: I suddenly found it harder to learn from books. There is a distinct possibility that MSN had something to do with this, but let's not get into that here. I really could not understand why I was struggling. After all, learning had come so easily to me in primary school.
About my career
It took me a while to fully understand why secondary school was a less successful time for me. Was it possible that my easy learning at primary school was purely a coincidence? On my path towards higher professional education, I realised that I learn much faster in practice. By doing! I can add the books later if needed. This is also how I made it through my part-time Communication degree: learning in practice, and then wanting to find out what the books say. I worked in education during my studies – temporarily, or so I thought. After all, I had so many plans. But then, my employer offered me the opportunity to apply my communication skills to create online educational tools. I had come full circle to learning by doing. Every day, I was creating webinars & knowledge clips for various higher professional education programs, and in the meantime, I was doing research with a project group into the study success of online learning.
That was my first introduction to didactics, which helped me understand myself and my family much
better. I started to understand why learning is different for everyone, and that people’s learning needs
vary. I also realised that by getting to know these learning needs, I could make personal development
more accessible. It proved the ultimate combination for me: communication and didactics.
Since then, I have had lots of opportunities to gain experience in developing, coordinating and creating educational pathways for higher professional education programs and Learning & Development departments.
Now it is your turn! What can I do for you?
Mariëlle van den Oever
PS: As you have probably noticed, I am interested in many things, but I also know when I need to bring in other people. Check out the Collaboration page. On this page, you will find all the wonderful people I enjoy working with and who I can turn to when I have questions.
‘Mariëlle, er staat een spelfout op je visitekaartje.’
Dat klopt, en toch ook weer niet. Ik wil jou namelijk zeker leren kennen, maar ik wil ook jouw manier (of die van jouw doelgroep) leren kennen.
Dus wanneer mag ik jou(w) leren kennen?