On 8 June 2017, the international student teams took the opportunity to present the results of their joint virtual work at the final event of the international STEM Summer School. Apart from the teams, the student tutors and the consultants from the cooperating companies participated in the virtual final meeting. The consultants assessed the work of the teams and put the team results into the economic and entrepreneurial context.

Both the participants as well as the consultants were enthusiastic about what the teams had done in the last nine weeks.

„I was impressed by the participants‘ fast perception. Already during our first virtual team meeting, it was clear that the team was on the right way to the solution. Especially the interdisciplinary and interactive work led to innovative approaches.“
Alexander Heiden, Branch Manager, SEM Fire and Rescue Pty Ltd, Australia

“I would like to express my appreciation for the Summer School! This project developed my communication skills, diplomacy, a sense of community and my knowledge in different fields 🙂 What about an International STEM Winter School?”
Polina, Participant of the International STEM Summer School 2017, St. Petersburg

A big and hearty thank you to all the participants, tutors and consultants! Another successful round of the international STEM Summer School would not have been possible without you!

A lot has happened during the last few weeks…

• In calendar week 14, we had 3 WARM-UP sessions to introduce e-learning tools, such as virtual classroom, wiki, forum, and e-portfolio.
• To our KICK-OFF event on April 11, we welcomed 13 highly motivated STEM students (yes, more! =)) in seven different countries. During the KICK-OFF, representatives from globally operating companies presented their cases and the student tutors the teams, who will deal with the cases in virtual teamwork.

To get an impression of the KICK-OFF event on April 11, some pictures.

Since then, the teams meet regularly in the virtual classroom. And there are also initial successes…

• The teams got to know each other and developed a guideline to work together.
• The cases were individually analyzed by each participant and within the team.
• Each participant reflected on her/his experiences and professional expertise within solving individual weekly tasks.
• Each team has developed an approach to solve the respective case.

Now, the hot processing phase solving the cases can start!

 

We are pleased to welcome 12 highly motivated STEM students from all over the world at our international STEM Summer School.

At the moment we all are getting familiar with the online course and the used e-learning tools, such as virtual classroom, wiki, forum, and e-portfolio, within our WARM-UP week. Furthermore, the participants are getting to know each other as well as the basics of working together in virtual groups.

In the following nine weeks our 12 STEM students from different nations and universities will work together on interdisciplinary case studies, which are based on real life events and experiences of industry partners.

We all are looking forward to an exciting and eventful STEM Summer School starting with the KICK-OFF on 11 April 2017, 12 a.m. (UTC/GMT + 2 hours)!

Since this morning, as coordinator of the international STEM Summer School, I am standing next to our poster and answering all the questions of the interested participants. Both the concept of the project as well as the implementation of the first round from April to June 2016 are discussed. Of course, this year’s round (starting in the beginning of April 2017) is also of great interest and I am diligently distributing business cards.

 

During an oral presentation, I was able to present the results of our first round and am very happy about the lively input and encouragement. The listeners were particularly interested in the experience with the exclusively virtual cooperation of international students. What were the challenges and how were they solved? On the basis of our successful first run, I was able to explain and demonstrate it.

Now the business cards are slowly running out and all participants are looking forward to a small breather….

The throat is a bit dry, the jacket not anymore … It was worth it! At the invitation of the Donors‘ Association for German Science, Aline Bergert and Aleksandra Mansfeld (student tutor during the Summer School) presented our best practice project, the STEM Summer School, at the ‘MINTernational Conference’ of the Donors‘ Association yesterday.

 

The idea and, above all, the implementation have received a great deal of recognition, both on the part of the Donors‘ Association, as well as by the representatives of other university leaders and meeting guests.

It works: internationalization and practice orientation and digitization. The TU Bergakademie Freiberg, or the media center, was already awarded in April last year together with eight other universities.

Based on the findings of the joint workshop with the University of Paderborn, the team has developed interesting ideas, e.g. regarding curriculum development, language training, participant recruitment, etc. We hope that these innovative ideas will find their way into current projects.

By the way: We are called upon to apply for a follow-up project …

The presentation is ready, the posters are printed, the materials are packed … we are very well prepared for our workshop on October 13th in Berlin. Our sponsors of the Donors‘ Association for German Science, the Daimler Fund and the Daimler and Benz Foundation have invited us to present our first international STEM Summer School. The goal is the presentation of exemplary concepts for the internationalization of STEM subjects. In a joint workshop with the project of the University of Paderborn, we present our results of the first Summer School course and discuss discovered potentials and challenges with the participants. This exchange will hopefully give us a lot of input for the second round of the STEM Summer School from April to June 2017.

To our delight we were praised for our international STEM Summer School by both sites: by the participants as well as by the consultants of the cooperating companies.

Have a look at a short statement from Alex Heiden, our consultant from SEM Fire and Rescue Pty Ltd (Austalia) here:

After the final event of the first round of the international STEM Summer School we asked our participants to give feedback. Therefore we met for an interactive meeting at the virtual classroom. Moderated by the project coordinator the participants assessed the Summer School live during this meeting.

The following diagram shows how our participants evaluated the Summer School in general. Every participant valued by putting a symbol e.g. star, hook, cross in prepared graphics (5 = very satified, 1 = not at all satisfied).

As promised, we publish comments of the participants and the project partners on our international STEM Summer School.

The following one is prepared by Aishwarya. She comes from India and participated in the first round of Summer School.

Thanks to Aishwarya for sharing her experiences and thoughts with us.

 

In the past month the first round of the international STEM Summer School has finished very successfully. To our delight we were praised for it both by the participants and the consultants of the cooperating companies.

To provide a better insight into the project, we will publish comments of the participants and the project partners as well as some final conclusions in the coming weeks here.

As start – the feedback of our participants: