- People
- 14/10/2025
ID and ESoE alumnus wins national Teaching Talent Award
Alumnus Yorn Thijssen combined his master’s in Industrial Design with a teacher training program at the Eindhoven School of Education (ESoE). For his final project, he created Behind the Feed: an educational game designed to improve algorithmic literacy among twelve- to sixteen-year-olds. With success; his work has now earned him the national Teaching Talent Award.
During his bachelor’s in Industrial Design (ID), Thijssen discovered his passion for teaching. “I realized during that program how much energy I got from sharing knowledge—especially when presenting prototypes I’d made,” he says. “That’s when I first thought: maybe a teacher training program would be something for me.”
Once he started his master’s, Thijssen enrolled in the teacher training program at ESoE. “Most people do that program after their master’s, but I decided to fit it in between the first and second year of my master’s,” he explains. For his graduation project, he combined both studies by designing an educational game aimed at improving algorithmic literacy among twelve- to sixteen-years-olds.
Algorithmic literacy
According to Thijssen, algorithmic literacy consists of four elements: being aware that algorithms exist online; understanding how they work; developing a critical attitude toward their influence and intentions; and having the skills to deal with or even being able to influence algorithms yourself.
I think it’s really important for that age group to understand that there are algorithms in the background that can influence you
“I specifically focused on social media algorithms for twelve- to sixteen-year-olds,” Thijssen says. “I think it’s really important for that age group to understand that there are algorithms in the background that can influence the way you think, how you feel, and even what you know.” From his teaching internships, he noticed that this awareness is often still missing.
Behind the Feed
That insight led to Behind the Feed. “This lesson series combines teaching materials, classroom discussions, and three interactive games that are interconnected,” Thijssen explains.
In the first game, Enter the Bubble, students learn what a so-called filter bubble is. “A filter bubble is the selection of content that a social media platform filters for you, based on your personal interests,” Thijssen says. “The platform does that based on your behavior—what you like, skip, or save.” In the game, students are challenged to enter a specific filter bubble themselves, for example that of a car enthusiast. Through an app, they see videos they can ‘like’ or skip depending on whether the content fits that bubble.
In the second game, Guess the Data & Video, the roles are reversed. Students are no longer the users but the algorithm itself. They are shown someone’s filter bubble and have to guess that person’s personal characteristics based on it. “For example, if a user watches a lot of videos about soccer, the Eredivisie, and Ajax, you can guess that they like football, probably live in the Netherlands, and might be an Ajax fan. That’s already three things.” Once they’ve gathered enough information, they have to choose new videos that the user is likely to enjoy.
The final game, Social Media Battle, brings everything together. “You play in pairs: one team represents a media company trying to collect as much user data as possible, while the other team plays a critical user managing their own feed,” Thijssen explains.
Teaching Talent Award
Thijssen’s supervisors were so impressed by his project that they submitted Behind the Feed for the national Teaching Talent Award (Onderwijstalentprijs). “The game’s theme addresses a very current and urgent need,” says his ESoE supervisor, Elisa Quant. She also praised the project’s co-creation with end users, its innovative use of technology in education, and its engaging game-based design.
I’d like to work as a designer in the industry first, and later bring that real-world experience back into education
On Monday, the jury announced Behind the Feed as the national winner in the secondary education category. “It’s only the third time in roughly fifteen years that a TU/e student has won this national Teaching Talent Award,” Quant says.
Thijssen admits it still feels surreal. “The award ceremony was on Monday, and the next day my girlfriend and I flew to Portugal for our holiday. Now I’m starting to get a lot of the messages, LinkedIn requests, and interview invitations—so it’s only now that it's starting to sink in,” he says with a laugh.
Next steps
With his ESoE diploma, Thijssen is now qualified to teach all secondary school grades. Still, he wants to gain more hands-on experience before entering the classroom. “Teaching is part of my long-term plan,” he says. “First, I’d like to work as a designer in the industry, and later bring that real-world experience back into the classroom.”
Ideally, he hopes to combine both fields of his education and find a job in a company that designs innovative educational tools. “During the award ceremony, I already took the opportunity to say that schools or companies interested in Behind the Feed should reach out to me. Who knows what might come from that.”
This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.
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