Technical Instructor Interaction Station – Willem de Kooning Academie

Hogeschool Rotterdam; Rotterdam; On-site; EUR 47,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam is seeking a Technical Instructor to guide students in safe, hands-on use of equipment and to support the technical learning environment. You will work with fellow teachers, contribute to the knowledge base, and help sustain a workspace where students explore ideas and create.

The role emphasizes practical teaching, collaboration, and the development of extracurricular workshops while ensuring safety and accessibility in all activities.

Qualifications

• Ability to support and guide students in safe equipment use.
• Experience in maintaining inventory and ordering materials.
• Strong collaboration with colleagues to support student learning.

Responsibilities

• Support, guide and instruct students in the safe and responsible use of equipment and tools at the station.
• Monitor and maintain inventory, ensuring materials and equipment are available and well managed.
• Recognize when students need additional support and connect them with the relevant colleagues or expertise.
• Support other station teachers before, during and after their classes.
• Develop and facilitate technical extracurricular workshops focused on specific skills and techniques.
• Contribute to clear and accessible technical documentation of tools, equipment and processes on our wiki.
• Keep workspaces organized, inviting and ready for students to experiment, learn and create.

Skills

Student coaching

Safety training

Team collaboration

Tools

Lab equipment handling

Job description

As a technical Instructor, you play a key role in creating a welcoming, safe and inspiring environment where students can turn their ideas into reality. You combine technical knowledge support with a hands-on, student-focused approach: helping students explore practical solutions, supporting them in using equipment safely, and encouraging them to learn by doing. You work closely with fellow teachers and colleagues, contribute to the development of our technical knowledge base, and help foster a workspace where everyone feels comfortable, supported and included.

Principal accountabilities:

• Support, guide and instruct students in the safe and responsible use of equipment and tools at the station;
• Monitor and maintain inventory, ensuring materials and equipment are available and well managed;
• Recognize when students need additional support and connect them with the relevant colleagues or expertise;
• Support other station teachers before, during and after their classes;
• Develop and facilitate technical extracurricular workshops focused on specific skills and techniques (in colaboration).
• Contribute to clear and accessible technical documentation of tools, equipment and processes on our wiki;
• Keep workspaces organized, inviting and ready for students to experiment, learn and create.

Willem de Kooning Academy

The Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences (WdKA/RUAS), offers a variety of bachelor and master’s programmes in the field of visual culture, art, design, education in arts, and leisure management. The curriculum of the Willem de Kooning Academy is founded on an interdisciplinary ethos. The Majors are the entry point of study for all Bachelor students,the interdisciplinary research contexts in the second half of the Bachelor programsand the highly unique Stations (advanced workshops focused on Research through Making) complete the three pillars of the institute.

The Stations

The stations arecentersof knowledge andexpertise. They arelocations that cover traditional as well as innovative technologies. The stations are at the vanguard of the developments within the professional field and the processes of production that are relevant for the art and design practice. Stations are not only a space of execution and production, but also a space in which tutors, instructors and students question why we make, how we make and for whom we make. Stations are part of a collaborative effort (an educational instrument) to develop a student-driven curriculum that supports self-directed learning.

About the Interaction Station

In the Interaction Station we focus on a broad array of creative (digital) technologies; from programming, machine learning, and AI, to augmented and virtual reality, electronics, and real-time 3D. We take an open and experimental approach to technology, acknowledging that the definition of interaction is constantly shifting. We like to experiment with new tools, technologies and hardware, always with a critical eye to new and developing technologies and how they can be appropriated for creative uses. We’re equally interested in how older technologies can be re-evaluated in contemporary contexts. The instructors and teachers in the Interaction Station come from a variety of backgrounds, with diverse sets of expertise. We’re here to help students develop their ideas into working projects providing individual consultation, station skills and lessons.