Diederik Roelandts is an educational intrapreneur and teacher of applied informatics. As a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, Diederik led the Erasmus+ KA2 project 'Strip to Identity' in 2016, using comic books, comic book software, (foreign) languages, IT and other subjects to create a comic book collection compiled by pupils from many different countries all over Europe and Asia. Students and teachers at each of the 10 schools involved in the project used MS Office 365, Sharepoint and Skype for Business, which allowed them to access a shared platform and create a fully-documented website.
While Diederik rolled out this project to multiple countries, all by using new technologies, he has transformed his way of teaching all along. He started by teaching 50-minute lessons, but gradually new educational technology has turned him into a study manager, monitoring his pupils through their different assignments, enabling them to learn when and where they can, need or want.
The ability to learn anytime and anywhere has completely transformed Diederik’s classroom, his way of teaching, and the way his students learn. The formal old-fashioned teacher has been converted into an agile tutor. The effectiveness of this way of working is amazing. As a tutor he has by far more time to dedicate to the students who really need his attention. It gives him the opportunity to differentiate. He now finally has time to attend to the needs of less strong pupils and to offer new challenges to the strongest ones.
In 2019, together with his colleague Dirk Staf, Diederik was awarded the 3rd 'Innovation in Education' Prize issued by Queen Paola of Belgium for his efforts in the field of internationalisation.
Diederik still continues to offer learning chances to his students by being their apprenticeship mentor during international work experiences.
As a sculptor, Diederik enjoys working with marble and bronze. In his free time, he also travels and hikes around the whole globe, preferably on foot. You can certainly find him on one of his next pilgrimage trails or on the golf court.
Language skills: Dutch, French, Italian, English