We near the end of the first month of the academic year, and the class of 2020 has already gotten a taste of our working style. Through a freshman project, they were tasked with designing a novel product to promote education for the building ATLAS will soon move into.
'Het Paviljoen'
With this introduction, students gained invaluable experience working with and organizing teams, applying basic design theory, and learn to share constructive feedback. These skills are the foundation of most projects done here and often set ATLAS students apart when working externally. These skills are not born into us, and most don’t have much experience in this setting before ATLAS. Erkan, one of the participating first years, outlines what he thinks of the project: “What I like most about the freshmen project is that it gives you the complete freedom to approach a problem in whatever way your group finds best. We set up our own plan of approach with the steps we thought were most logical. The alternative to this would have been to start without a plan, which will result in a messy process.”
Erkan went on to mention the benefits of something shorter, before the main semester project: “Especially for students who are working in project groups for the first time, the freshmen project is also very useful because it is an introduction into project-based learning. It teaches you the basics of planning, communication, and group dynamics. With this, the students are better prepared to jump into a big semester project at the start of the year.”
One such group
Daphne, a member of one group which focused on promoting an outdoor, inspirational environment, also notes some of the same challenges: “At first, we were thrown into the deep. We just started, but now I know it would have been better if we had worked it out more. I never got to do design, or work in a team before… You get the idea of how everything could work if it functions properly, I look forward to the semester project. Everyone gets so enthusiastic.”
With the freshman project finished, the new class is starting their first-semester project. We may see how that goes in a later post. For now, we can just look forward to seeing where their enthusiasm takes them.
University College Twente offers a unique bachelor’s programme, Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences, to top students. Visit the University College Twente website for more information about the college and Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences website for more information about the bachelor program. Or visit us during the open day, a student-for-a-day or an insight-day.
Header and thumbnail photo's by S.A. Atlantis
