Maaike Bouwmeester

With over 20 years of professional experience, Maaike Bouwmeester has held a variety of roles in educational technology teaching, product design, and leadership. Before joining the Educational Communications and Technology (ECT) faculty, she was the Vice President of Product Development at Taskstream, an educational software company that serves over 400 post-secondary educational institutions. At Taskstream, Maaike was responsible for overseeing the design and development of educational, productivity, and outcomes assessment tools, as well as the corresponding analytics and reporting capabilities. Her responsibilities included leading design and research teams, strategic product development, UX strategy, and Agile/lean software development.

At NYU, Maaike brings her industry and academic experience to courses such as Foundations of Cognitive Science, Design Process for Learning, and User Experience Design. She has a particular interest in pedagogies that help students bridge the gap between theory and practice and heads up the internship and thesis components of these programs. As a former ECT Program Director, she developed three specializations now offered to all Master’s and PhD students: User Experience Design, Learning Analytics, and Transformative Learning Design.

Maaike's teaching and research focus on making student-centered and active learning approaches more accessible to students from diverse backgrounds and removing barriers that prevent educators from implementing or sustaining these approaches. Her most recent work includes projects and research that support collaborative and hands-on STEM learning, including a partnership with the League of Young Inventors, and higher-ed focused initiatives including an AI-enhanced skill development platform and a project-based "VITAL” learning methodology.

Maaike Bouwmeester earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in Sociology and pre-med and her master’s and Ph.D. from NYU Steinhardt in Educational Technology. Before that, Maaike served in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping, where she was posted overseas in both Croatia and Bosnia. She currently resides in Brooklyn with her husband, their two sons, and their dog, Yoda.