SURF Onderwijsaward for Marieke van Osch: “She connects national AI developments with day-to-day practice”

Marieke doesn’t start by asking which AI tool is available, but rather which educational problem it can solve. Within ROC Mondriaan, her approach has led to over 20 AI pilot projects under the MondriAI initiative. Marieke also actively shares her knowledge and experiences with the wider education sector, including national working groups. She does this via Edu-AI, a national WhatsApp and Signal community focusing on AI and education, and Eduapp, a knowledge platform where knowledge is linked to specific scenarios within the model she designed herself.

This is what the jury says about Marieke

According to the jury, the link between technology and education is a key part of Marieke’s contribution. Within educational institutions, AI is often approached from the perspective of its technological possibilities. Marieke turns that perspective on its head and looks first at the educational value.

In doing so, she offers a way to make the discussion about AI more concrete. She translates developments relating to, for example, the AI Act, AI literacy and the responsible use of AI into solutions that education professionals can put into practice.

The jury also recognises the value in the way Marieke makes knowledge available to others. Through platforms and communities, she brings together experiences from various institutions. This helps to avoid reinventing the wheel in every instance and enables everyone to learn together from experiments with AI.

It is not just the individual AI applications that Marieke develops that have an impact. The jury also appreciates the way she brings people and knowledge together around a development that will continue to shape education in the coming years.

Here’s what colleagues say about Marieke

“Marieke knows how to link national AI developments, legislation and regulations, and day-to-day educational practice. Whilst innovations often start with the technology, according to her colleagues, Marieke begins with the educational question: what problem do we want to solve, and does AI contribute to better learning?”

This approach is reflected, amongst other things, in the more than 20 AI pilot projects set up within ROC Mondriaan. Marieke looks not only at what is technically possible, but also at pedagogical goals, AI skills, ethics, privacy, governance and assessment.

Marieke’s impact is also evident outside ROC Mondriaan. As a co-initiator of EduAI and Eduapp, she helps create a space where educational institutions can share AI experiments and practical examples and learn from one another. She co-founded the WhatsApp community ‘AI & Education’, in which over 1900 education professionals now exchange knowledge and experiences.

According to her colleagues, Marieke does not make AI the driving force but rather ensures it serves the purpose of good education: “Marieke not only provides education professionals with knowledge about what AI can do, but, above all, gives them the tools to determine when and how AI actually adds value.”