Bio

Between 2004 and now, I ...

• Taught a programming course (CSI: Amsterdam - Creating surveys on the internet with PHP/MySQL) for several years @Psychology, FMG.
• Redesigned the Psychological methods specialisation programme (still in use today)
• Got my Phd (Admissible statistics from a latent variable perspective) @Psychological Methods, FMG.
• Was an assistant professor, teaching methods and statistics @Child Development & Educational Sciences, FMG.
• Was programme director of the Bachelor Child Development @Child Development & Educational Sciences, FMG.
• Was programme director of the shared premaster Political Sciences, Social Sciences, Child Development & Educational Sciences, embedded in 7 HvA programmes, @Child Development & Educational Sciences, FMG.
• Created five MOOCs on methods and statistics (taught three, produced five) for Child Development & Educational Sciences, Social Sciences and FMG.
• Was Blended Learning coordinator at FMG.
• Am director of the Centre for Educational Innovation  at Economics & Business.
• Am co-manager of the Teaching and Learning Centre at Economics and Business.

Research

My research used to focus on quantitative measurement in psychology. More recently my interests have shifted to experimental research on the effectiveness of educational innovation interventions.

Teaching

Courses I taught include Methods and Statistics in Educational Sciences in the CDES research master and 'Toegepaste Methodenleer en Statistiek' or TMLS, a second year bachelor course on research methods and statistics. I also coordinated the 'OnderzoeksPracticum'. The MOOCs Quantitative Research Methods and Inferential Statistics are based on the undergraduate courses I taught on research methods and inferential statistics.

Other

I am currently the Coursera liaison for the UvA. I currently contribute to the DLO-board and a temporary board to coordinate replacement of the 'Streaming Media Dienst'.

I have served on several boards, including the Blended Learning and later the Centre for Learning and Teaching board from 2015 - 2018. Other previous professional activities include work for the Society for Mathematical Psychology: organizing the 2009 conference, creating the society and conference websites and helping to set up the Women of MathPsych workgroup. I chaired UvAPro, the PhD student association of the UvA.

Toegepaste MethodenLeer & Statistiek (TMLS, Applied Methods and Statistics)

Leerdoelen

1. Nadere toespitsing op de grondbeginselen van de algemene sociaal-wetenschappelijke methodenleer.
2. Behandeling van de toetsende statistiek.
3. Het leren hanteren van SPSS voor het uitvoeren van (toetsende) statistische analyses.

Deze module gaat verder waar Algemene Methodenleer en Statistiek is gestopt. Er wordt aandacht besteed aan het opzetten van onderzoek in zowel het laboratorium als daarbuiten. Problemen en uitdagingen die men in de praktijk van het onderzoek tegen zal komen worden nader toegelicht. Daarnaast wordt er dieper ingegaan op de toetsende statistiek. Voor de pedagogiek en onderwijskunde belangrijke statistische technieken zullen worden behandeld, Er zal daarbij ook aandacht zijn voor het onderscheidingsvermogen van deze technieken. Tevens worden pedagogische en onderwijskundige onderzoeken besproken op methodologische en statistische aspecten.

Methods and Statistics in Educational Research (MSinER)

Goals

Knowledge of (a) the most commonly used statistical (GLM) techniques in educational research; (b) how to apply these techniques to real data sets with the computer program SPSS; (c) how to report statistical analyses and the results in academic journals; (d) how to read, understand, and interpret academic journal articles in which the techniques are used.

The course starts with a short review of common experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, and associated types of analysis of variance (ANOVA). The general linear model is introduced as the general model that subsumes both ANOVA and regression analysis. Multiple regression analysis and MANOVA are treated extensively. Next, the generalised linear model is introduced as the even more general model that also subsumes logistic regression analysis and log linear modelling, which techniques are also treated extensively. Effect size indices and statistical power will be discussed for all mentioned statistical techniques. Through practical assignments, students not only learn how to apply the statistical techniques, but also how to prepare and screen data, and how to handle commonly encountered problems such as missing values, outliers, non-normality, heteroscedasticy, multicollineraty, inflated family-wise error rates, etc. Articles from educational research journals are used to illustrate how the statistical techniques are applied and described in the scientific literature, and how the results can be reported and interpreted.

Creating Surveys on the Internet (CSI: Amsterdam)

Students learn how to create a webapplication that allows the administration of a psychological test or survey online.

During the course students learn:

• HTML -  Markup language : How to present a webpage on the internet.
• CSS - Style rules : How to layout a webpage.
• PHP - Programming language : How to create a dynamic webpage.
• MySQL - Database system : How to store and retrieve data that is input or output for a webpage.

This course is no longer offered.

Grondslagen van de Methodologie (Foundations of Methodology)

I coordinated this course and taught the section on measurement. Here we considered what constitutes measurement, discussed several theories of measurement and the restrictions that measurement assumptions put on the use of statistical tests.