On the 30th of January the study advisers for the bachelor programmes TCS and BIT received the educational bouquet!

Ellen, Bibian, Rianne and (until the start of this academic year) Jan are the study advisors for both of our bachelor programmes. Every week they help students with large and small problems. Especially during the BSA-stress period and in helping solve the issues with starting a completely new studies at the start of the year they are super helpfull! To thank the study advisors for their continuous effort in helping all the students they have all received an educational bouquet!

Do you know someone who is extremely committed to improve the quality of education or is always willing to help students without hesitation? Then, what are you waiting for? Nominate him or her for the education bouquet! Think for example of a teacher who gives extra lectures or a student assistent who is making hours in overtime to help each and everyone of you! You can nominate someone by going to this page.

Overview of awarded bouquets

The Kick-IT committee for the Kick-In of 2020 has been formed, together they will organise the faculty Kick-In for Inter-Actief.

The function division is as follows:

Jelle Maas - Chairman
Merel Bijkerk - Secretary & Integration
Alen Badrajan - Treasurer & Do-group Market
Jochem Bleeker - Logistics
Robin Kreuger - Camp
Arda Koç - Bachelor Day & Activists

For Module 7 the module team is looking for students with knowledge of Python to help assist with the lab sessions for Python!

Interested? Send an email to r.langerak@utwente.nl

We’re already halfway through the second quartile, so it’s time for the first Educational Update of this academic year! We would like to keep you updated on everything!

TCS Module 1: Pearls of Computer Science

Pearls of Computer Science was the module about which we got the most complaints. Due to the large number of participants for the module and the new ‘Houses-system’, some issues arose. Below you will find a list of the issues with their solution:

• Grades for Pearl 1 were late. This was because a large number of plagiarism cases were detected, which needed to be handled by the examination board before the grades could be published. Soon after contact with the module coordinator about this, the grades were published.

• Multiple issues occurred during the Intelligent Interaction pearl. Lectures were rushed and chaotic and the material was not explained during the lecture. Due to this, the teachers for the pearl had been asked to give a recap lecture/Q&A session for the wednesday lecture. Next to that, they were also asked to join the practical sessions so they could see the issues for themselves and so that the pearl could be improved. After this, multiple students thought the test given was not representable for the week, as there was a lack of example tests as well as multiple issues with the testing system. This has also been brought to the attention of the module coordinators and will be evaluated for next year.

• An announcement made by the pearl teacher of week 8 regarding the test results was found insulting by numerous students, as it implied that they could not read and needed professional help. The teacher later clarified this with an announcement on Canvas that it was not her intent to insult anyone, but that students could have gotten a lot more points if they had read the questions properly.

TCS Module 5: Computer Systems

The Computer Systems module also had some hiccups, mostly concerning Operating Systems and IT&Law:

• The Operating Systems lectures were changed into Q&A sessions as the lectures had all been videotaped before and were available on the Canvas page of the course. The reasoning behind not having the conventional lectures again was that students are actively participating in a Q&A and not passively listening during lectures. As this change was not well received by all students, the module coordinator has discussed how to improve the lectures with these students.

• A pass/fail criterion for a VHDL crash course was added to the curriculum without being in the module description. This was later changed so that the crash course was no longer a requirement for passing the module.

• The grades for the IT&Law test were published half a day late. The teachers tried to get the resit to be moved back, however this was not possible and it was decided that the resit would still take place on the same date and time.

Remindo (Digital Testing Environment)

Starting from this year both TCS and BIT are making use of digital testing more than the previous years. This is done in the form of having tests on Chromebooks in the digital testing environment Remindo. Because we have just started using Remindo, there are still some startup problems. One of these is for example the calculator, which does not allow the use of logarithms, which were needed for pearl tests. When you take a test with Remindo and have issues with the system the team working on Remindo would like to know these issues as to solve these as soon as possible. You can send these issues to the e-assessment team by emailing to e-assessment-ces@utwente.nl!

Basic Machine Learning

Multiple issues regarding this Master course were brought to our attention. Officially this course is not run by our programme, but as a large amount of students following the course are Computer Science students the programme director still decided to pick up on this complaint. Evaluations and meetings have been held with the responsible teachers of the course and a plan is being made to make the organization of the course better for the upcoming year. A special OEC evaluation has also been held for this course.

What was noticeable with all the complaints filed during the last weeks was that most of the times, the module coordinator did not know about the issue at all before they were contacted by us. Usually module coordinators are very helpful in solving these issues and often it does not need involvement of Inter-Actief to solve the issue. If contacting the teachers and module coordinator does not work then we can of course help you! If you are unsure on what to do or if you have questions you can always come by the Inter-Actief room!

Next to all the negative points regarding different modules that are usually discussed, we would also like to showcase some positive points! The results of the NSE (Nationale Studenten Enquête) are in and both Technical Computer Science as well as Business Information Technology are scoring above the national average for their fields!

Another awesome thing you can do is to nominate someone for an educational bouquet! You can nominate a teacher, module coordinator, study advisor or any other staff member from our programmes for an educational bouquet if you feel like that person has gone above and beyond for the students! Nominating a person can be done through ictsv.nl/bouquet! Each quartile we will be handing out a bouquet, and the bouquet for last quartile will be handed out soon!

Good luck with studying and if you have any questions feel free to come by the Inter-Actief room or send an email to education@inter-actief.net!

The Inter-Actief room is closed on the 26th of November because of SNiC ResilIT in the Flint in Amersfoort.

Starting the 27th of November the room will be open again from 09:00 till 16:00 in accordance with our normal opening hours.

Come to the Inter-Actief room and decorate your very own shoe!

Sinterklaas has once again returned to our lovely nation! As is tradition, Sinterklaas will be accompanied by his "zwarte pieten" and all children get to set a shoe in their home. In the Inter-Actief room, you can find an arts and crafts corner to make and decorate your personal shoe. Who knows, maybe you will find a small present in your shoe on Sinterklaas morning!

Don't forget to write your name on your shoe.

Due to the Open Days, the Inter-Actief room will be closed on Friday November 15th.

Starting Monday, November 18th, the room will be open again from 9:00 till 16:00 in accordance with our normal opening hours.

Dear reader,

With pain in our hearts, we share that Niels Overdijk unexpectedly passed away last thursday, the 17th of October 2019. Niels was 20 years old.

In 2017, Niels started studying Technical Computer Science. Like many others, Niels joined the Kick-In where he soon made new friends in his do group Lorem Ipsum. Niels was also familiar with Inter-Actief as part of the LAN committee for a full year, where he helped organize two LANs. Niels could also be found at various other activities.

It affects us deeply to have to say goodbye to Niels. We wish his parents, family, friends and loved ones all our sympathies during these difficult times.

To say goodbye, a memorial room has been set up in Zi 1016. In this room there is the possibility to remember Niels either alone or together and to share memories. Everyone is invited to visit the memorial room and to leave a message. The room will be opened on tuesday and wednesday from 12:00 to 16:00.

If you are affected by this news and would like to talk to someone about it, our psychologists at the UT have extra appointments available for you to do so. You can make an appointment by calling +31 (0)53 489 2035 or at the ‘red desk’ at De Vrijhof building, floor 3, room 311. If you wish to talk about the death of a fellow student, you will be given a priority appointment. You can also talk to the study advisors. To make an appointment online, please go to ewi.planner.utwente.nl. You are also welcome to talk about Niels with both the study advisor and the student psychologist later in the year.

This week we will all take a moment to remember Niels. Therefore, all activities of Inter-Actief this week will be cancelled. This concerns the lunch lecture of Xsens, SNiC On Tour, the Study Trip Fuente interest lunch and the Low Latency Workshop by Optiver.

On behalf of the board, Kevin, Reinier, Gerrit-Willem, Denise, Patrick and Danique

The IBC committee for 2020 has been formed!

The committee consists of the following members:

• Niels de Groot - Chairman
• Jelle Maas - Secretary \ Promotion
• Magdali Go - Treasurer
• Sven Mol - Logistics
• Jelle van den Wijngaard - Excursions
• Bilge Tekes - Excursions

Do you want to help high school students in choosing the right study? Then we are looking for you! https://www.ictsv.nl/sfad

We are currently looking for new first year students who want to join the Open Days team, the Student for a Day team, or both!

What do you do as a member of the Open Days team?:

• Help during both the Open Days twice a year
• Talk to students, telling them about your own experience at the UT
• Help with the workshops
• Show your own projects during the project market
• Have a lot of fun with the entire team!

What do you do as a member of the Student for a Day team?

• Help high school students choosing the right study
• Let high school students become familiar with the UT
• Make an appointment with the student and keep in touch with them through the system
• During the day show as much as possible: lecture, practical, campus tour, study adviser, lunch, study association etc.
• For international students: you will have "Skype Buddy Chats"

What does the University offer you? Open Days (possibility to work for the whole duration of your study)

• Earn 8-15 hours per Open Days

Student for a Day (first year students)

• Earn +/- €30,- per high school student
• Earn +/- €10,- follow-up conversation per student

Interested in one or both? Please fill in the Google Form including a motivation and your CV before the 27th of September!

Google Form: https://www.ictsv.nl/sfad

The 41st board of I.C.T.S.V. has been appointed!

At the GMM of 3 September 2019, the 40th board made way for its successors. The 41st board has been charged as follows:

• Chairman - Kevin Witlox
• Secretary - Reinier Stribos
• Treasurer - Gerrit-Willem Smit
• Officer of internal affairs - Denise den Hartog
• Officer of external affairs - Patrick van Oerle
• Officer of educational affairs - Danique Lummen

Klaas is going to retire and as appreciation for his years of effort, he received the educational bouquet (and more...)

Unfortunatly, Klaas Sikkel is saying goodbye to enjoy his retirement. Klaas was responsible for the course Software Design in the Software Systems module and the module coordinator of the module Data & Information. Klaas was loved by loved by many students due to his enthousiasm, thoughtfulness, openness, and punctuality regard e-mail traffic. Because a single bouquet just isn't enough to cover the appreciation of all students, the Education Committee made a book available in which every student could write words of appreciation individually. The book and bouquet were handed over on the 5th of July at the Fat Friends of Grolsch Levend VI.