What if students already have wings? A Conversation with Robin van Oorschot

Robin's metaphor says it all: students come to class with wings—some bigger, some smaller—and as the "guardian of the winds," Robin's role is simply to provide the conditions they need to fly. This episode explores Robin's emergent teaching philosophy, shaped by student-driven inquiry and a commitment to designing for neurodiversity. Robin shares innovative approaches like creating theatrical dialogues between interview subjects who've never met, and discusses the theory-practice gap that frustrates so many academics. With an optimistic outlook and belief that entrepreneurship and regeneration naturally go hand-in-hand, Robin challenges us to trust students' inherent capacity and focus less on content delivery and more on creating the winds of possibility.

Key themes: Student agency, neurodiversity, innovation in methods, theory-practice integration, optimism

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