SURF Education awards 2023

This year, the SURF Education Awards were presented again, to three professionals who have made a major contribution to IT innovation in Dutch education. Quite rightly, Leon Sprooten (VISTA College), Timon Idema (TU Delft) and Diana Molenschot (Thomas More University of applied sciences) received the SURF Education Awards 2023.

Timon was one of the first to recognize the importance of open educational resources and to put this into practice. In 2018, he published his first open textbook for the Nanobiology program (TU Delft & Erasmus University). With the support of a grant from the SURF incentive scheme, Timon, with the help of colleagues, subsequently developed a series of open educational materials for the Bachelor's and Master's programs in Nanobiology.

But it didn’t stop there. Timon also made a significant contribution to the development of a publishing service for open textbooks. Through this service at TU Delft, instructors can publish their own open educational literature using Jupyter Books. The catalog now includes more than thirty open textbooks, both classic and interactive. Under Timon’s leadership, extensive manuals, examples, and templates have been published, enabling anyone to create their own interactive open textbooks with Jupyter Books.

Since 2020, Timon has been the program director of the Master’s program in Nanobiology.

Colleagues say:
"Timon is a shining example of an educator who encourages teachers to innovate their educational materials and share them openly. He understands that educators value tools developed by those who are teachers themselves. Additionally, he actively involves both teachers and students in his projects. Everything he develops is presented to colleagues and students, for example, in workshops or conference presentations. This way, he receives valuable feedback that helps him better align the results with the needs of his target audience, ensuring that both teachers and students find it valuable for their work or studies."