Education · Speaking · Tinkering

Making learning a little less boring.

Odd and fun. I'm an education entrepreneur, speaker, and serial tinkerer based in North Brabant. I look for the best ideas in learning and help people put them to use.

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Maurits van der Plas laughing
Maurits speaking
Maurits with a book
Maurits applauding
currently smiling ✦
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Education entrepreneur
Co-founder & director of Van Haren Learning Solutions.
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Speaker
On stage across Europe, from Sofia to Leuven, on learning and best practices.
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Serial tinkerer
Always building something: a house, a community, a side project.
ALL POSTS ESSAYS SHORT NOTES BEST PRACTICES CURATED READS EDUCATION DESIGN
The Insights

Maurits' latest insights

Long-form essays, short notes, and the occasional curated read, on learning, luck, and building things.

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FEATURED EDUCATION

Designing with Courage

In education we tend to treat every "no" as a full stop. In business, the same objection is an invitation to dig deeper. I think education deserves the same nerve.

Read essay → 6 min read · Sept 2024
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"It's not the right time." "It's too expensive." "What if it doesn't work?" In business those are invitations to go deeper, so why take them at face value in education?
ESSAY

Can You Force Luck?

Life is roughly half chance and half choice. Here's how I try to tilt the odds in my favour.

5 min read→
BEST PRACTICES

Building a Learning Community at Work

With Capgemini Academy, we translated the PLC framework into something an organisation can actually run.

7 min read→

Side projects — things I tinker with

🏗️ IN PROGRESS

Building a house

A hands-on home construction project — learning by literally laying the bricks, one weekend at a time.

🌱 COMMUNITY

Sustainable streets

Co-running our local neighbourhood group, turning the block into a greener, more sustainable place to live.

Maurits in conversation
North Brabant, NL
About

I find the best practices worth teaching and help trainers and partners put them to work. I co-founded the Association of Enterprise Architects, and I think quality education is one of the few real levers we have on this century's hardest problems.

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