David Stienaers

I am a lecturer of Latin Linguistics, Literature and Pedagogy at the Faculty of Teacher Education at the Unversity Colleges Leuven-Limburg in Belgium (since 2015). I obtained my master’s degree in Latin and Greek Linguistics and Literature at the KU Leuven (M.A., 2009) and did PhD-research on Latin Linguistics at the Free University of Amsterdam (2010-2015). In my spare time, I collaborate on a series of high school textbooks for Latin (Ars Legendi, Plantyn Publishers). For me, working togheter with other teachers is a very enriching experience.

My professional interests include Latin Linguistics and Narratology, philosphy of education, inductive active learning environments and of course flipped learning. My way of thinking about education is deeply inspired by the mantra of the late Steve Jobs: Focus and Simplicity. Both values are deeply embedded in the designing process of my flipped classes and I strongly believe that they are very important for teachers too.

As a teacher at a teacher college, I adopted Flipped Learning because I find active learning very important, especially since my students will be teachers in the future. Therefore, it is crucial that they have experienced what active learning means and how flipped learing enables them to do this. In my classes, I also focus on self-directed learning, an important skill teachers should be trained in.