Penn State Beaver (USA) – Faculty of Chemistry and Technology (CROATIA)
Spring, 2018.
Kristina Kelek:
Pilot project: "Connecting the University of Split and Penn State Beaver through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)" was a nice experience because I met people of different profiles from America and I also got to know more about the colleagues who participated with me. This project gave me the opportunity to find out what would happen in the future at conferences, through programs that allow you to communicate with the videocall and forced me to communicate in a foreign language, which I do not use every day. All in all, a very nice experience I will surely use in the future.
Josipa Lovrić:
Wonderful and fun experience that I would definitely do again. With this project we got the opportunity to meet young people from the other side of the World, from our field of interest and to exchange experiences and knowledge, both, in the field of chemistry and social life itself. I hope that in the future there will be more projects like this.
Zrinka Miljak
I am grateful to the organizers of the COIL project for designing the theme of the project and for encouraging students to participate in this kind of international co-operation. Participation in the project gave me the opportunity to practice communication in a foreign language as well as getting known with the American system of study. Also, I realized that with little bit of imagination, effort and will it is possible to achieve productive practical work in a very simple way. Since this was a "pilot project", I am satisfied with the results of it as well as with the way of performance. I believe that this project will be successfully improved in the coming years.
Zvonimir Jurun
I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in COIL pilot project in association with Penn University from US. Not only did I have the opportunity to learn more about soap production while communicating through video calls, but this project also gave me opportunity to meet new people from across the Globe and that impressed me the most. I've stayed in contact with colleagues from Penn University through social media and I believe we'll be also in touch after the project is finished.
I believe this project is very useful and as a participant in it, I have a wish that this project is proposed to future generations of our Faculty too.
Katarina Rajić Mišković
Very fun and interesting experience, with witch I met people from other part of world but same field of study. Project helped me in practicing expert language, making presentation and presenting in English. The idea of COIL project was very good elaborated, and I am thankful that I could take a part.
Kata Deronja
Pilot project COIL that we did with Penn State from USA really fascinated me because not only I met new people but also I had a chance to share my knowledge with them. I think this is a very good way to communicate on other language and also compare an education system in other country. This project allows a lot of great things but the thing I liked the most is interaction with students of same profession. I surely had an amazing opportunity to improve my communication skills and I am very happy this was part of my personal experience. I would definitely suggest this project to continue because is very fun and interesting experience for every student.
Jelena Duvnjak
I was honored to participate in COIL project with colleagues from Penn State University. Project has enabled me to meet new peoples, as well as introduction and communication on foreign language. On a very easy way, we accomplished communication and exchanged different opinions and ideas, on mutually satisfaction. I think that project is very interesting and instructiv. I hope that other generations will have opportunity to participate on project like this.
Ana Pušić
Collaboration with US students for our own personal experience meant developing communication, working at great distances and getting to know another culture. The way of cooperation we have shown to our associates is that as a small country we know a lot and we have predispositions for any type of work. I hope to continue cooperation on next generations.
Mihaela Čelan
Working on the COIL pilot project is a very interesting and instructive experience for me. In this way, we have the opportunity to meet and get in contact with students at Penn State University and to share knowledge, the way of studying and the way of life in general. It has given us the opportunity to communicate in a foreign language with native speakers, introduce ourselves, our country, city and university, which is a very good foundation for our further professional development. I think that the project is well thought out and realized, I would recommend the continuation of cooperation. I hope that this cooperation will continue to enable future generations of students to use this kind of communication and work.
Haris Defterdarović
Participating in the COIL project I find very interesting and useful, giving me the opportunity to meet new people, their cultures and other organizations of education. I think this project has greatly contributed to the development of my communication skills as well as the skills of group work and work with modern technologies.
Jocelyn Laveing
It has been an honor to work with graduate students from the other side of the world. Not many people have that opportunity and I am proud to say that I was a part of something so eye opening. Croatia is a beautiful country that I would love to visit. I hope future students have the opportunity to travel there.
Lauren Banks
I found my experience with the Croatian students to be very intriguing and eye opening to the study of chemistry from around the world.
Mariah Mack
Connecting with the students at the University of Split was an engaging and enriching experience. I enjoyed learning about the similarities and differences in the higher education systems, cultures, and social lives of between us and the Croatians. Without a doubt, my professor, Mrs. Claudia Tanaskovic, did a phenomenal job facilitating the collaboration between our Organic Chemistry class here at Penn State Beaver and the Organic Chemistry graduate students at Split. Using different technologies to connect with the students from Split was a learning experience that was important for determining the best way to communicate across great distances and cultural and language barriers. Overall, I think it is very important for Universities to cooperate and exchange information, cultures, and viewpoints to increase acceptance and unity among cultures and academic fields.
Steven Theuerl
Going into this collaboration, I literally knew nothing about Croatia. The presentations about the economics, industry, and lifestyles of Croatians the Split students preformed for us were very informative and interesting, and their landscapes are awe inducing. The collaboration was an excellent opportunity to be subjected new technologies that allow independent classes to learn together simultaneously. It also allowed all of us students to start getting used to working with others, which is great because in the work-field, one will seldom work alone, especially in a research or lab setting. I would recommend recurring collaborations for future classes.
Jacob Cline
The class crossover was an unique experience that I had the privilege to be a part of, and I would like to do again.
Linjie Wu
This collaboration is wonderful. I didn’t know anything about Croatia before and now I even have the experience of working with these fantastic guys.
