One of the main tasks of the students in Responsible Innovation minor is to write weekly columns, based on the subjects that were discussed during the week. On the second week of our minor, we had a terrific visiting teacher, Frank Nuijens who gave us the keypoints on writing a column.
Frank Nuijens is the editor in chief of two different publications from TU Delft; Delta Newspaper and Delft Outlook Science magazine. He introduced the students to his own methodologies about how to develop a successful column.
The lesson set clear definitions in our minds on what a column is and how it differs from other type of articles. The columns contain opinions, conclusions and arguments. They can include a strong sense of humor, addressing issues from many different perspectives. In Introduction to Responsible Innovation, they work as a great method on developing a critical view on the weekly subjects.
Frank Nuijens did a thorough exercise on how to formulate an argument and how to structure it into a good text. Later on, the students were asked to comment each other's arguments.
