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Dear Honours+ Student,

It is our pleasure to welcome you to Honours+, Maastricht University’s interdisciplinary excellence programme for

Bachelor programme Honours students.

Over the course of six months, participating in the Honours+ programme will offer you plenty of opportunities to

challenge yourself, further develop useful academic skills, and explore other academic fields and disciplines in order

to deepen your knowledge and expand your academic mindset. Honours+ was specifically designed to bring Honours

students from all faculties together and add value to your bachelor education by doing so.

We have been working hard to organize and coordinate a highly educational but also fun programme for you and

hope you are excited about participating as we are about creating an optimized learning environment for you to

flourish in. Honours+ will be centrally coordinated out of EDLAB, Maastricht University’s new institute dedicated to

education innovation at UM.

In this student handbook you will find everything you will need to make your Honours+ experience a grand success.

We advise you to read it carefully and make sure you are familiar with the information at all times.

We wish you a fruitful and inspiring Honours+ endeavor and look forward to seeing you and all that Honours+ helped

you accomplish at the Honours+ Closing Event in May 2018.

Warm regards,

The Honours+ Central Management Team

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Chapter 1: Guidelines for Being an Honours+ Student

First things first. In order to help you get the most out of your Honours+ experience, we wish to provide you with

guidelines and an explanation of assets we believe will enable you to become an honours student truly worthy of the

additional plus. Participating in Honours+ asks a little more of you academically as well as in the “effective

teamwork” department. Honours+ will offer you a chance to supplement your education in a highly valuable

manner. However, you will only reap the benefits of the programme if you put in a certain amount of effort, hard

work, and time.

In our view, the ideal Honours+ student:

• is able to make a serious commitment and willing to go the extra mile;

• has impeccable time management skills or the drive to develop them;

• is a flexible, exceptionally reliable, and people-oriented team player;

• is eager to learn, grow, and work on personal/academic development;

• sees problems as an exciting challenge;

• is able to apply creativity and innovative solutions to said challenges;

• is able to translate complex academic content into intelligent but accessible representations;

• is able to academically connect with others across disciplines and work together towards a common

objective.

The Honours+ programme offers you plenty of opportunities to work on developing or fine-tuning this set of assets.

Wrapping up your bachelor’s education as a true Honours+ student will give you a competitive edge as an excellent

student, with not just outstanding academic achievements but also a set of useful practical skills that are valuable in

any form of graduate education or professional occupation following your bachelor's degree.

1.1. Professional behaviour

Throughout Honours+, you will be meeting and working with Supervisors, UM employees, fellow bachelor students,

the Honours+ Central Management Team, and other (external) professionals. All Honours+ students are expected to

behave in a polite and professional manner towards all parties involved with Honours+. You will soon find that

maintaining a courteous and professional demeanour in both concord and conflict will go a long way and always

enable you to achieve the desired results in the end.

Guidelines for professional behaviour:

• Communicate politely and respectfully with everyone at all times.

• Take your commitments seriously and be a reliable team player.

• Give and receive feedback in a strictly constructive manner.

• Always aim to resolve any sort of conflict in a fair and effective manner.

• Be honest and ethical.

Examples of unprofessional behaviour:

• Showing up late or unprepared at (team) meetings.

• Letting conflicts escalate, get out of hand, or arguing in a disrespectful manner.

• Lying, making excuses, or talking about someone behind their back.

• Informal, impolite, or rude communication.

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Chapter 2: Honours + Programme Structure

The Honours+ programme contains various simultaneous components. More specifically, you will attend a couple of

Central Events, workshops, and execute a group assignment in your interdisciplinary student team.

Closing Event: Thursday, May 24th.

Holistic

Thinking

Strength

Finding

Debating

Skills

Kick-Off: Tuesday October 31st.

Creative

Problem

Solving

Teamwork

&

Communi-

cation

Time

Manage-

ment

Visualizing

Science

Present

& Pitch

Academic

Team

Assignment

4,5 ECTS

Total: 5,0 ECTS

+ 2 elective

workshops

0,5 ECTS

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2.2 Learning goals

Each programme component is specifically designed to accommodate a set of three major learning goals we wish to

help you accomplish.

1. Broadening your horizon: deepening your academic knowledge across various disciplines will help you

become a well-rounded, knowledgeable student and a real team player. By working together on the group

assignment, you will develop a broad understanding of different disciplines and perspectives at a high

academic level.

2. Personal and professional Skills Development: we wish to send you off into the rest of your education

programmes (at UM or elsewhere) or onto the job market after obtaining your bachelor’s degree with a

useful set of practically applicable academic skills. By attending the workshops and by working in an

interdisciplinary team, we offer you a chance to work on these skills in an educational setting.

3. Building community: we wish to bring all honours students together and connect on an academic and social

level. An interdisciplinary exchange between faculties is extremely educational and in line with Maastricht

University’s aim to connect and thrive as one. Additionally, an increasingly strong honours community at UM

could be beneficial to its members’ future endeavors, whether they be academic or professional. Through

coming together at workshops, networking at the central events, and creating something together in the

group assignment, we aim to build bridges and unite as one honours community.

2.2 Time investment

Honours+ is a part of your honours education. Taking into account Honours+, your faculty honours education, your

regular curriculum, as well as any other extracurricular or private activities that might fill up your weekly calendar, it

is important to realize that participating in Honours+ will require your commitment and dedication.

Overall, Honours+ has been designed to require 140 hours (the equivalence of 5 ECTS) of your time, spread out over

the course of approx. 6 months (November 2017 until Mid-May 2018). It is important to note that poor time

management will most likely not only affect you, but your team members and your Supervisor as well. Be sure to

manage your time well and securely schedule your activities.

The breakdown:

• ±8 hours for attending mandatory Central Events;

• ±6 hours for attending (mandatory) workshops;

• Remaining hours (±126) for the group assignment.

Honours+ offers a workshop on time management, to help you prioritise and manage your time and tasks wisely.

2.3 Mandatory character of the programme

Participating in Honours+ is not without obligation. Whereas you are entirely free to plan team meetings when they

best suit you (and we will facilitate you as much as we can), your teammates and (on set occasions) your Supervisor,

there are several programme components that require mandatory attendance. Some of these programme

components are more flexible than others.

For example, you are required to attend at least 2 workshops. The workshops are offered several times on different

dates and time slots to ensure that every student is able to attend.

Your attendance is also mandatory at the Honours+ Central Events. These events are organized on set dates. For

specific information on mandatory programme elements, see the section on ‘Assessment’ below.

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Exceptional circumstances

In case a student is unable to 1) attend the required number of workshops, or 2) attend a Central Event due to a

serious personal situation or highly important prior engagement, he/she may makes up for missing a workshop or

event by submitting a substitute assignment.

Students should email the Honours+ Central Management Team in case exceptional circumstances apply. Upon

evaluation of their request they may receive this substitute assignment.

���� Timeliness: in any case, students are advised to contact the Honours+ Central Management Team whenever

private, personal circumstances (threaten to) get in the way of their participation in Honours+. We understand life

can throw a road block at you and we are always willing to look for a solution together if a student informs us in a

timely manner.

2.4 Assessment

Assessment occurs on the basis of 1) your Supervisor’s evaluation of you and of your team (both procedural as in

your performance as a team player (in part based on peer review) and the quality of the end product), 2) formal

requirements.

In order to successfully complete Honours+, all students must fulfill a number of requirements.

The student or the student team:

1. Student: attended at least 2 workshops*.

2. Student: attended all mandatory Central Events: the Kick-Off and Closing Event; and attended them

from beginning to end*.

3. Student: has contributed sufficiently to the team assignment and has proven himself/herself a

valuable team member.

4. Student team: submitted the final report and outcome of the group assignment before the deadline.

To fulfill the requirements 3 and 4, each student will receive a grade (scale 1-10, with > 6 = pass) from their

respective Supervisor, comprised of:

60% � The team’s performance with regards to the final report;

40% � The student’s own personal and individual contribution.

*In order to assess every student’s attendance, you are required to sign an attendance sheet at all mandatory events

and workshops. Please make sure to always sign the sheet, because your attendance cannot be verified otherwise.

The Supervisor will fill out an assessment form for each individual student which includes feedback on the group

assignment and the individual performance of the students. This assessment form includes five different criteria

which the Supervisor will give points for. These points will be added up and will form the final grade for your

Honours+ programme. The criteria that will be graded are:

1. Relevance – based on the choices you made;

2. Logic – based on the structure of your reasoning;

3. Added Value – based on the novelty and insights of your suggestions;

4. Applicability – based on the feasibility of your suggestions;

5. Communication – based on how you make yourself understood.

Upon successfully fulfilling the above mentioned assessment criteria, you will have successfully completed the

Honours+ programme, and receive a ‘pass’ for the programme. A ‘pass’ for Honours+ is an integral part of the

successful completion of your faculty honours programme.

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Chapter 3: The Honours+ Team Assignment

“Teamwork makes the dream work.”

Before the Honours+ Kick-Off opening event on October 31st

, you will have learned already which team you have

been assigned to and who your teammates are. At the Kick-Off you will get an opportunity to get together and get to

know each other better. You will be embarking on the Honours+ journey together, as a team. Teamwork can be

frustrating and difficult, but it generally is such a rewarding experience. Not only does teamwork allow for

brainstorming creative solutions much better than working by yourself ever will, working in a team also means that

together you surely have enough time, resources, and mental capacity to get the job done right. We sincerely hope

you are all able to experience working in your Honours+ team positively.

However, if you feel your team is not functioning optimally, be sure to speak up and do it as soon as possible! Always

try to prevent any issues from escalating. Give each other feedback and respect each other’s (cultural) difference.

When things (appear to) go south, don’t be afraid or hesitate to contact your Supervisor or the Honours+ Central

Management Team.

How to be a team player:

• Have an open mind and go into the teamwork experience with positivity and readiness to succeed;

• Commit to your team and all agreements made within your team;

• Schedule and manage your time wisely, so that none of your teammates are ever left hanging;

• Communicate and communicate clearly. In case of conflict, take a proactive and effective approach toward

solving the conflict and setting your team up to succeed in the future;

• Be reliable. Always be on time for group meetings and meet your deadlines.

3.1 Team roles

The team is responsible for planning and execution, under the guidance of the Supervisor. Most likely, team roles

will be defined amongst you naturally, or perhaps the division of tasks is more of a guided process. Either way, it is

good to be aware of the different team roles and what the varying responsibilities mean. Throughout the

assignment, the team leader will work closely together with the Supervisor to steer the team in the desired

direction.

The role of the Supervisor

Because of the interdisciplinary character of Honours+, the main role of the Supervisor is to monitor an equal input

from the various disciplines (students).

Furthermore, throughout Honours+, the Supervisor will support the team in planning, developing, and completing

the assignment. The Supervisor does not take over the role of the team leader. The students are to appoint a team

leader in their team. The Supervisor solely takes the role of steering and guiding the group to the agreed upon

assignment.

The Supervisor is also responsible for assessing the group assignment and as such, the team’s performance (see also

section on “Assessment”). The final report and the visual representation will be assessed on relevance, creativity,

logic, added value or novelty of insight and suggestions, applicability and communication. Students will be assessed

by the Supervisor both on their team performance and their individual performance and input, to avoid freeloading

within the teams as much as possible.

Because of the supporting role of the Supervisor and the safe learning environment he/she provides within

Honours+, we have specifically requested that Supervisors be physically present in Maastricht during November-May

to regularly attend team meetings and be available for questions you might have throughout the team assignment.

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3.2 Team Meetings & Team building

In order to successfully work on the Honours+ team assignment, we advise students to regularly meet up as a team.

It’s also advisable to meet with your Supervisor on a regular basis (preferably in person) and keep your Supervisor

regularly updated. The initiative to schedule these meetings lies with the students primarily.

Try to be creative with these meetings as much as you can. Schedule a meeting over dinner for example and have

everyone bring a dish. It’s not just beneficial for your assignment, but for team dynamics as well.

We would like to facilitate you to meet up, as much as we can. There are rooms and a Common Room to reserve at

Tapijn X, should you wish to meet. In case you wish to use the facilities, please send an email to

honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl and we will check the availability.

Team Kick-Off Meeting & The Teambuilding Assignment

The actual assignment starts with a Team Kick-Off Meeting with the Honours+ team (Supervisor and students).

During this meeting you not only get to know your fellow teammates and Supervisor (it’s vital that your Supervisor is

present), but you will also discuss issues such as:

- Expectations: what do you expect from each other, what can they expect from you?

- Establish and clarify roles.

- Set agreements for communication, behaviour and cooperation: this is a unique moment to discuss and

agree on how you will work together during the Honours+ programme. This can vary from practical issues

(use of email, phones, dates of meetings, etc.) to the way you will interact (how will you give each other

feedback, how will you deal with conflicts, etc.). This is also the perfect time to make arrangements

concerning the other individual and team meetings you will have.

Secondly, you will use the Team Kick-Off meeting to complete a teambuilding assignment. This activity focuses on

effective communication and problem-solving skills.

Email the Honours+ Central Management Team to make an appointment to come pick up the assignment at EDLAB.

Once you have done so, you may work on completing the assignment together as a team, with your Supervisor

acting as moderator. This will take place during the Team Kick-Off Meeting.

In total, the assignment should take approximately 1 hour. You may attempt to reserve a room at EDLAB (email

honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl to do so), use the EDLAB common room, use the Tapijn learning spaces, or use

an alternate location. Upon completion, you hand the assignment back in to the Honours+ Central Management

team at EDLAB.

3.2 The Team Assignment

Once entering the labor market the majority of our graduates will have to work in an interdisciplinary context. In

Honours+ we aim at offering a first learning experience to work in such an interdisciplinary context under the

professional guidance by staff members from Maastricht University, your so-called Supervisor.

Furthermore, the setup of the Honours+ Team Assignment is aimed at building bridges between education and

research and thereby fostering closer links between researchers, students and disciplines.

The assignments can vary greatly in subject, but are linked to the 3 core research themes of UM’s strategic

programme 2017-2021:

a. Europe & a Globalizing world;

b. Quality of Life;

c. Learning & Innovation;

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“Research at UM contributes to solving major societal issues within the framework of our primary research themes.

While fundamental research remains essential, we also seek to translate UM research findings into economic,

financial or social value. The university therefore participates in centres of excellence, both technological and social,

to allow scientific discoveries to be swiftly converted into practical applications. Furthermore, research at UM is

closely linked to the education process. As an inclusive research university, UM is home to researchers who come

together from different scientific fields and different cultures to create an inspiring environment where students are

trained as academically minded professionals and responsible citizens. Our focus areas are organized into three

university-wide themes –Europe and a Globalizing World, Learning and Innovation, and Quality of Life – in which

researchers conduct curiosity-driven and applied research across the six UM faculties and various interdisciplinary

institutes. To fulfil our ambition to be an inclusive, innovative and sustainable university, we intend to strengthen

these focus areas, while providing sufficient scope for fundamental research.” (UM Strategic programme 2017-2021)

A true Honours+ assignment:

1) Is a challenging, academic case, question or issue related to UM’s core research themes;

2) Pushes students outside their comfort zone;

3) Calls for an innovative solution, exploration or approach;

4) Allows and facilitates an interdisciplinary approach;

5) Requires a time investment of 126 hours per student;

3.3 Team Assignment outcome

With a need to reflect on a problem in a certain academic discipline from more perspectives, and an ongoing

transformation of the scientific enterprise towards larger collaborations on an interdisciplinary level, students in

Honours+ are to be working together by providing the insights on a problem using the knowledge from their own

academic backgrounds. By completing the assignment during the Honours+ programme, you will get a grasp on the

interdisciplinary collaboration, together with all the opportunities and challenges it provides.

Furthermore, the translation of the findings of the assignment into practical recommendations for UM’s Executive

Board and Management Team, and the creation of a visual translation of your findings will serve as tools to learn

how to communicate results from a scientific research towards non-expert audiences and peers. You will be able to

create an impact on solving real life problems by transferring your scientific knowledge into practical outcomes.

Honours+ defines general guidelines for the outcomes of the assignment. The further refinement of the style of the

academic report needs to be defined in close interaction between Supervisor and students. Honours+ requires the

following outcome:

Assessment criteria for the Academic Report:

• It should display an interdisciplinary understanding of the researched subject;

• It should be between 6000-8000 words;

• The report should be written in accordance with the APA guideline;

• The findings from the report should further result in:

o Recommendations for UM’s Executive Board and Management Team based on the explored topic

and the students’ findings ( e.g. to investigate, to develop, to communicate/disseminate, to

evaluate, to address, to create, to stimulate/encourage);

o A visual translation of your team’s findings. (e.g. an infographic, poster, flowchart, etc.)

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Assessment criteria for the visual translation:

o The visual translation adequately presents the team’s assignment and outcome (it is clear what the

objective, process, and outcome was);

o Consistent and aesthetically pleasing layout;

o Effective use of images, colours, and fonts;

o Public can understand the assignment without reading large text-boxes;

o Source citations in proper APA-style.

To support you in translating your finding into a visual report, we are offering a workshop on “Visualizing science”.

Chapter 4: The Workshops

In order to help you develop practically applicable academic skills that will be useful to you now as well as in your

academic and professional future, Honours+ offers you the opportunity to attend a number of workshops. All

workshops will be conducted in English, take approximately 3 hours, and take place at EDLAB (visit www.edlab.nl for

address and directions).

All Honours+ students are required to attend at least 2 workshops out of the 8 different workshop topics that we

offer (see “Assessment” section for specific requirements). Attendance is registered using signup sheets at the

workshops. Please make sure to always sign the sheet, because your attendance cannot and will not be verified

otherwise. Attending more workshops than the required amount is allowed, provided there are spots open.

Choose 2:

1) Creative Problem Solving;

2) Teamwork & Constructive Communication;

3) Holistic Thinking;

4) Time Management;

5) Strength Finding;

6) Writing about sciences;

7) Debating Skills;

8) Present & Pitch.

Please note that some workshops require preparation. You may find materials for preparation on www.edlab.nl.

4.1 How to sign up

To sign up for workshops, go to www.edlab.nl (Honours+) and navigate to the ‘Current Students’ page. There you

will find, amongst other useful information for your Honours+ journey, the link to the workshop registration page.

This page includes the workshops’ description, preparation material if applicable, and a link to the signup sheet in

Slottr.

Please note that once you are signed up it is not possible to cancel your registration yourself. If you must cancel your

registration please email honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl with your request. Registration or cancellation of a

registration is allowed up to 24 hours in advance of the workshop date and time.

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4.2 Workshop descriptions

Creative Problem Solving, by Rene Hartman

Creativity, or creative problem solving, is seen as one of the most important skills for the 21st century. A worldwide

survey by IBM in 2010 under 1500 CEO’s stated that in an increasingly complex business world, creativity is a major

leadership quality to embed in organisations. Next to our analytical know-how, we will need creativity to solve

problems, to find opportunities and to accelerate change. Creativity is the outboard engine for innovation.

In this workshop we will give you a hands-on, introduction training in creativity skills and the creative process. You

will work on a business case from the food industry and on a question/problem/case you are asked to bring along.

Together we will try to find as many ‘out-of-the-box’ ideas as possible, for both cases. How to find extraordinary

ideas and how to select and combine the best ideas? With the food industry case we will explore a couple of tools

for divergent and convergent thinking. What is a good starting point for a creative process? We will tackle this using

your own question/case.

We will wrap-up the workshop by discussing how to use creativity skills during your PREMIUM project. Furthermore,

we will show you books on creativity and websites of interest.

Teamwork & Constructive Communication, by Susanne Maris (Maris Et Al)

You and your fellow team members have just started an exciting new project. In order to deliver good results, you

will have to be able to collaborate together in a constructive way. Effective collaboration is a vital condition for team

success. Apart from that: working together in a constructive way can be a satisfying experience. Looking back on a

pleasant way of working adds up to the team success. These are two important reasons to invest in collaboration

skills. When collaborating with your favorite people, you may not need to think too much about how you say and do

things. But professional situations do not always involve favorite people. And good collaboration does not occur by

itself. You might experience difficulties. Some of these difficulties stem from differences in personalities,

communication styles, interests, and perspectives. This workshop focuses on how to identify and handle those

difficulties.

This requires not only a good look on the other but also a clear image of your own way of working. The workshop

offers a practical introduction to students who recognize the importance of collaboration skills, and are ready to

extend the range of options they can choose from when faced with “difficult team members”.

Holistic Thinking, by Eric Koenen (Doorwerth Groep)

The term "holistic thinking" in this context refers to a big picture mentality in which a leader, manager or team

recognizes the interconnectedness of various elements that form larger systems, patterns, and objects. Thinking

holistically is the opposite of the well-known business Analytics thinking that involves understanding an organization

by thinking about its parts, departments, layers, and how they work together to produce larger-scale

effects. Holistic thinking involves understanding a system by sensing its large-scale patterns and reacting to them.

To solve complex problems in organizations we need another type of intelligence. Not only in one person, but it is

also a challenge to create a collective intelligence, a ‘scenius’ instead of a genius, that is able to create a holistic view,

to go for the overall idea or the "big picture" and act according to these views. Holistic abilities are said to be used

for art, music, religion, intuition, and a host of other good things. In a holistic way of looking at an issue, situation or

problem, we do not tear things apart mentally, to understand them. We tend to approach a subject by trying to

understand its gist or general meaning.

Holistic people often excel in social situations requiring sensitivity, intuition, and tact. Using computer jargon, a

holistic person might be regarded as a parallel processor. That would be the case if a correct response evolves out of

widespread simultaneous activity instead of resulting from a controlled, step by step process.

In this masterclass the holistic way of thinking is explained, explored and challenged.

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Time Management, by Björn Deusings (TijdWinst)

If you want to excel, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to do more, quantity wise. It foremost means that

you deliver better quality. However, of course you really excel when you can do more and do it better. The problem

with our brain is that it needs to be able to focus on the task at hand and that’s hard when there’s so much going on.

If you’re stressed, lack a good overview, or your life is just an all-around mess, it’s probably hard to excel at anything.

In order to overcome this, you should:

• know how your brain works to steer it away from procastination, “multitasking”, and distractions (e.g. a

pesky social media habit);

• know how your brain processes information;

• streamline all the work that is coming at you (emails, homework, assignments, papers etc.);

• plan ahead for the large tasks so that you don’t have to do everything at the last moment;

• keep a good overview of everything on your plate and decide what to focus on.

In this workshop we are going to cover all of these subjects in a non-boring fashion. You will be provided with ready-

to-use insights and practical tips on how to stay on top of things with the use of the latest insights and technology

(you may expect many useful suggestions for how various specific apps can adequately support time management).

Strength Finding, by Hugo Alberts

A strength is defined as “a pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is authentic

and energizing to the user, and enables optimal functioning, development and performance”. Simply put, when you

use your strengths, you are doing what you do best. Activities that require your strengths are energizing and allow

you to perform well. You feel at your best while doing them. Although using skills can result in good performance as

well, the personal enjoyment and energy that characterize strength-use is missing.

Unsurprisingly, research findings show that more use of strengths is related to higher levels of job satisfaction, self-

esteem, positive emotions, vitality and lower levels of stress. Despite the benefits of using strengths, research has

also revealed that most people are unaware of their strengths. The goal of this workshop is to increase knowledge

on your personal strengths. What are your top strengths? To what extent are you currently using those strengths?

What kind of jobs will allow you to put your strengths to work? These and other questions will be addressed in this

interactive workshop.

Visualise and communicate your research, by Vincent Janssen

Did some extraordinary research and wrote an amazing paper about it? That’s great, but reading an academic paper

can be difficult and time consuming. Fortunately there are tons of other methods to communicate your results with

a wider audience. You just have to know which one is best suited for your own research.

In this workshop, two information specialists from the Maastricht University Library will show you how you can

translate and transform the results of your paper into a more accessible medium. The workshop will focus not only

on the reasons and theory behind the communication of scientific materials, but also on the practical creation of

media. Infographics, posters, websites, visualisations, interactive flowcharts, and more will be discussed with the

help of free tools and easy-to-use applications.

After this workshop you will be able to communicate and present your research with not just your peers, but also

friends, family, and social networks. Don’t let your research wither away under a pile of dust; visualise and share it!

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Debating Skills, by Het Debatbureau

How do you ensure you make a convincing argument? Which techniques strengthen your argument and how can

you best respond to questions? This debating workshop addresses these issues and provides you with useful

knowledge and skills which you will apply directly in a debate about current issues in university education and

society at large. During this inspiring and varied program, trainer Jordy Sweep provides insight into rhetorical skills

and techniques that are of great value in your (future) work. Afterwards you will be able to present your ideas and

recommendations more convincingly, leading to greater impact.

How to Prepare a Pitch, by Adina Petre

Presentations and pitching styles can be as versatile as the subjects that are being presented. What makes a good

presentation be memorable? How can you deliver the main message of your project in a professional way? From

content to delivery, a strong presentation and the skills that are deployed during effective pitching can create bigger

impact with the audience, and deliver the message they need to hear.

During this workshop, you will learn the foundations of a good presentation and the adequate content for pitching a

proposal, or a project finale.

From learning what kind of content is suited for each project, to mastering stage presence and nearly perfect slides

development, this workshop aims at unravelling the natural skill of the presenter and blending it with the

appropriate content to deliver an effective and professional pitch.

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Chapter 5: Central Events

Over the course of the programme, Honours+ organizes several central activities for all Honours+ students,

Supervisors and coordinators. All events contain educational and/or assessment elements and offer opportunities

for students and UM employees to meet, connect and create an honours community.

Remember! Your attendance at these events is mandatory and a necessary requirement to fulfil if you want to

successfully complete the Honours+ programme. Mark your calendars! If you cannot attend a central event, please

refer to the section on ‘Exceptional Circumstances’.

Please refer to the Honours+ website, your student email account, and Facebook for official invitations and definitive

dates, places, and times.

5.1 Kick-off

We want to officially welcome you to Honours+ and kick-off the programme together with a bang! Students receive

their Honours+ welcome gift and everyone will get an opportunity to first meet and get to know each other.

Additionally, there will be an encouraging lecture and an enjoyable group activity to facilitate the formation of

harmony within your team right off the bat. At this festive but furthermore meaningful event, we hope to inspire you

to go into the Honours+ experience with an enthusiastic approach and a good foundation for pleasant and effective

teamwork.

What Time

Reception & Registration

With food & drinks

18.00-18.30

Opening 18.30-18.35

Inspirational lecture

by Rianne Letschert

18.35-19.30

Pub quiz 19.30-20.30

Drinks and snacks 20.30-21.00

Mark your calendars!

The Honours+ Kick-off event will take place on Tuesday October 31st, at DKE (Tapijn Building Z). Your attendance is

mandatory.

5.2 Closing Event

The Honours+ programme is concluded with a festive Closing Event, focused on bringing your Honours+ experience

to a close reflectively, together.

During the Closing Event, each student team will pitch their findings with regards to the team assignment, and their

recommendations for the UM executive board and deans, to not solely the Honours+ community, but also to a panel

formed of UM’s policy advisors and innovators. Three parallel sessions will be organized, based on the 3 main UM

research themes that all your assignments are part of.

Did your team develop a great idea? Have you found an initiative that UM needs to take the lead in? Is there a

research gap that needs to be filled and your University needs to do something about it? This is your chance to let

them know and possibly see your ideas come to life.

Furthermore, we will exhibit all of your infographics/posters/flowcharts etc. during the event and hand them over to

the Executive Board of UM afterwards.

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Programme of the evening

What Time

Reception & Registration

With food & drinks

17.30-18.00

3 Parallel session of pitches

- Quality of Life;

- Learning and Innovation;

- Europe and a Globalizing world;

18.00-19.30

Drinks and snacks 19.30-20.30

Pitch

Each student team will have to present their assignment outcome and UM recommendations by means of 5-minute

pitch (supported with slides), during the Honours+ Closing Event.

A pitch is a quick and well-designed speech designed to sell a product, idea or yourself, in a very short time frame. It

is designed as an answer to one essential question: why is your team spending their time on this assignment?

In order to support you delivering a great pitch, we are offering a workshop on pitching this year as well.

After you have pitched your assignment outcome and recommendations to UM, other teams and the panel formed

of UM Policy Advisors and academics are requested to ask in-depth questions concerning your assignment.

Assessment criteria for the Closing Event Pitch and poster

• Submitting the poster:

o The team prints their visual translation in A0 format (118,9 cm x 84,1 cm) and brings it to the Closing

Event on May 24th.

o See the section on Team Assignment outcome specific assessment criteria with regards to the visual

translation

• Submitting the slides:

o One member of the student team emails their PowerPoint file to

honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl, before the deadline (Tuesday, May 22nd

)

o When submitted, the pitch has a duration of max. 5 minutes, no more.

o The slides are based on your team’s assignment outcome and recommendations for UM. Feel free to

be as creative as you want to. As long as it helps getting your message across and is relevant to the

story.

• Pitch content ���� all pitches should at least include the following topics:

o Storyline: When possible, open your pitch by telling a story that addresses the problem your

assignment addresses. Keep it simple and realistic. In the end, what people will remember after they

walk away from you, was the story you told.

o Reflection on team process: Don’t show away from showing of what your team has accomplished.

Even if you have met hurdles on the way, but found a way to overcome them.

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o A description of what has been accomplished: Prioritize the most important things you want to

share and stick to those pieces and make sure your presentation is clear to anyone and everyone.

Also, take a nice big breath before you speak. It will help you deliver a more compelling and

thoughtful pitch.

o Recommendations to UM. What should or could UM do based on your team’s findings? You have

been working on an assignment related to UM’s core research themes, so your findings are of great

interest.

Mark your calendars! The Honours+ closing event will take place on Thursday May 24th

.

Please refer to the Honours+ website, Facebook, and your student email accounts to stay informed about the

Honours+ Closing Event. Your attendance is mandatory.

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Chapter 6: The mighty Honours+ Checklist

Below, we provide you with an overall checklist for every task you need to complete in order to successfully

complete Honours+. To be specific, if you stick to this checklist, nothing can go wrong and you should stay on track

just fine.

Ready? Set? Go!

1) Honours+ Kick-Off (Deadline: Tuesday October 31st)

� Attend the Honours+ Kick-Off event;

2) Team kick-off (Deadline: Friday December 1st)

� Schedule your first team meeting together with your Supervisor to set ground rules for teamwork;

� Pick up the teambuilding assignment at EDLAB (please inform us when you are planning to come in);

� Complete the assignment during the Team kick-off;

� Hand in the assignment at EDLAB.

Throughout the programme

3) Attend 2 workshops of your choosing (Deadline: Friday May 11th)

� Sign up for both the workshops;

� Attend both the workshops;

4) Schedule regular team meetings

� Schedule weekly sessions with your student team

� Schedule sessions with your Supervisors (once every 2 weeks preferably)

Wrap it up!

5) Final Result (Deadline: Friday May 18th)

� Send the final report to your Supervisor and to honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl;

6) Honours+ Closing Event (Deadline: Tuesday May 22nd)

� Send your slides for your pitch to honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl;

� Print your visual representation as an A0 poster, bring it with you to the Closing Event and hang it on one of

the boards;

� Attend the Closing Event on May 24th

;

7) Team Closing Session (Deadline: Friday June 1st)

� Schedule your team closing session together with your Supervisor to evaluate and discuss the results of the

group assignment.

8) Honours+ Evaluation (Deadline: Friday June 1st)

� Complete the Honours+ overall programme evaluation form.

17

Chapter 7: Contact

Do you have any other questions; please contact the Honours+ Central Management Team or the honours

coordinator at your faculty.

www.edlab.nl/honoursplus

Honours+ Central Management Team

Contact the Honours+ Central Management Team at honoursplus@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

EDLAB

043 388 4173 Fabienne Crombach, Coordinator Honours+

Fabienne.crombach@maastrichtuniversity.nl

EDLAB

043 388 4078 Ivanna Vinnicsuk, Junior Coordinator Honours+

Ivanna.vinnicsuk@maastrichtuniversity.nl

EDLAB

043 388 4150 Marie-Lou Mestrini, Administration

marie-lou.mestrini@maastrichtuniversity.nl

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APPENDIX I: Rules for Feedback

In life as much as in work, it’s important to know how to provide feedback to others, effectively and constructively

without causing offence. There are many opportunities in life for providing others with feedback, from commenting

on the way that your colleague has carried out a task, to discussing your children’s behaviour with them. In this

Appendix we focus on the process of communicating with someone about something that they have done or said,

with a view to changing or encouraging that behaviour. This is often called ‘giving feedback’, and when you do, you

want your feedback to be effective.

The guidelines for giving constructive feedback fall into four categories: content, manner, timing, and frequency.

Content

Content is what you say in the constructive feedback.

• In your first sentence, identify the topic or issue that the feedback will be about.

• Provide the specifics of what occurred.

Without the specifics, you only have praise or criticism. Start each key point with an "I" message, such as, "I have

noticed," "I have observed," "I have seen," or when the need exists to pass on feedback from others, "I have had

reported to me." "I" messages help you be issue-focused and get into the specifics.

Manner

Manner is how you say the constructive feedback. As you may know, how you say something often carries more

weight than what you have to say — manner is an important element when giving feedback.

Timing

Feedback is meant to be given in real-time, as close as possible to when the performance incident occurs so that the

events are fresh in everyone's minds. When feedback is given well after the fact, the value of the constructive

feedback is lessened.

When giving negative feedback, you may want to apply a different timeline: ASAR (as soon as reasonable/ready —

that is, when you're ready). Sometimes when an incident happens, you aren't feeling too good about it, and you

need time to cool off and get your thoughts in order before you give negative feedback (so that your manner

displays a tone of concern). Doing that may mean giving the feedback tomorrow rather than right now, but

tomorrow is still timely, and your feedback will come across as far more constructive.

Frequency

This last guideline is the most important because it makes all the other guidelines work. Use constructive feedback

regularly to acknowledge real performance. Try to catch and respond to people doing their job right just as much as

you catch and respond to them doing something not quite right — and don't acknowledge how they are performing

only sporadically.

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Constructive feedback is information-specific, issue-focused, and based on observations.

It comes in two varieties: Praise and criticism are both personal judgments about a performance effort or outcome,

with praise being a favorable judgment and criticism, an unfavorable judgment. Information given is general and

vague, focused on the person, and based on opinions or feelings. Don’t get this wrong, to give praise for example is a

good thing when it is deserved, but it’s not constructive feedback since it’s a personal judgment. Remember that you

are making no comment on what type of person they are, or what they believe or value. You are only commenting

on how they behaved. Do not be tempted to discuss aspects of personality, intelligence or anything else. Only

behaviour.

Feedback should describe the effect of the person’s behaviour on you. After all, you do not know the effect on

anyone or anything else. You only know how it made you feel or what you thought. Presenting feedback as your

opinion makes it much easier for the recipient to hear and accept it, even if you are giving negative feedback. After

all, they have no control over how you felt, any more than you have any control over their intention. This approach is

a blame-free one, which is therefore much more acceptable. Some useful phrases for giving feedback include:

“When you did X, I felt Y”. “I noticed that when you said X, it made me feel Y”. “I really liked the way you did X and

particularly Y about it”. “It made me feel really X to hear you say Y in that way”.

In positive feedback situations, express appreciation. Appreciation alone is praise. Yet when you add it to the

specifics of constructive feedback, your message carries an extra oomph of sincerity. For example: "Sue, your

handling of all the processing work while John did the callbacks made for an efficient effort and showed good

teamwork. Everything you did was accurate, as well. Thanks so much for helping out. Such initiative is a real value to

the team." Always keep in mind to give at least as much positive feedback as you do negative. Positive feedback

stimulates the reward centers in the brain, leaving the recipient open to taking new direction. Meanwhile, negative

feedback indicates that an adjustment needs to be made and the threat response turns on and defensiveness sets in.

You don't need to avoid negative, or corrective, feedback altogether. Just make sure you follow it up with a

suggested solution or outcome.

In negative feedback situations, express concern. A tone of concern communicates a sense of importance and care

and provides the appropriate level of sincerity to the message. Tones such as anger, frustration, disappointment, and

the ever-popular sarcasm tend to color the language of the message and turn attempts at negative feedback into

criticism. The content of the message gets lost in the noise and harshness. The purpose of negative feedback is to

create awareness that can lead to correction or improvement in performance. If you can't give negative feedback in

a helpful manner, in the language and tone of concern, you defeat its purpose. Your feedback usually won't be

productive if it's focused on making the other person feel bad or make them look foolish in front of peers.

Be specific. People generally respond better to specific, positive direction. Avoid saying things like, "You need to be

more talkative in meetings." It's too ambiguous and can be interpreted in a lot of personal ways. Say something

specific and positive pointed at the task you want accomplished, such as, "You're smart. I want to hear at least one

opinion from you in every meeting we're in together going forward."

Be direct when delivering your message. Get to the point and avoid beating around the bush. Both negative and

positive feedback should be given in a straightforward manner.

Be sincere and avoid giving mixed messages. Sincerity says that you mean what you say with care and respect.

Mixed messages are referred to as "yes, but" messages. For example, "John, you have worked hard on this project,

but. . . ." What follows is something the person is not doing well and is the real point of the message. The word

"but," along with its cousins "however" and "although," when said in the middle of a thought, create contradictions

or mixed messages. In essence, putting "but" in the middle tells the other person, "Don't believe a thing I said

before."

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State observations, not interpretations. Observations are what you see occur; interpretations are your analysis or

opinion of what you see occur. Tell what you've noticed, not what you think of it, and report the behaviour you

notice at a concrete level, instead of as a characterization of the behaviour. Observations have a far more factual and

nonjudgmental aspect than do interpretations.

RECEIVING FEEDBACK: USEFUL TIPS

It’s also important to reflect on what skills you need to receive feedback. Especially when it is something you do not

want to hear, and not least because not everyone is skilled at giving feedback.

Be open to the feedback. In order to process feedback, you need to at least listen to it. Just listen, don’t think

already about what you are going to say in reply. Also notice the non-verbal communication and listen to what your

team member, coach or mentor is not saying, as well as what they are.

For example, you might say: “So when you said …, would it be fair to say that you meant … and felt …?”“Have I

understood correctly that when I did …, you felt …?”Make sure that your reflection and questions focus on

behaviour, and not personality. Even if the feedback has been given at another level, you can always return the

conversation to the behavioural, and help the person giving feedback to focus on that level.

Thank you. Always thank the person who has given you the feedback. They have already seen that you have listened

and understood, now accept it. Acceptance in this way does not mean that you need to act on it. However, you do

then need to consider the feedback, and decide how, if at all, you wish to act upon it. That is entirely up to you, but

remember that the person giving the feedback felt strongly enough to bother mentioning it to you. Do them the

courtesy of at least giving the matter some consideration. If nothing else, with negative feedback, you want to know

how not to generate that response again.