Sunday, 20th of February
We started our journey early in the morning when we left Maribor and set off towards the city of Ghent in Belgium. The trip was quite long, but it gave us students from Maribor the opportunity to get to know each other better. When we arrived in Belgium we took the train to Ghent. There we were greeted by very strong winds and rain, which are a bit way to the hostel. Due to the weather conditions, the trams stopped, but we reached the vicinity of the city center by city bus. We walked the rest of the way and soon we were surrounded by beautiful medieval buildings and ancient churches. We spent time in Ghent in the Uppelink hostel, which with its interior and exterior gave a nice antique impression. Nevertheless, it was quite modern and very nicely decorated. The entire building was reserved for ATHENA Blended project participants, so there was more than enough space. When we managed to settle in, the professor invited us to a joint dinner to get to know each other even better. We discussed our previous experiences and expectations for the projects that await us in the coming months. Upon returning to the hostel, we saw that most students from other universities had already arrived. The atmosphere was unique and the desire for new insights and experiences was present in many of us. Despite the fatigue, the students sat down at the table and played board games late at night. The atmosphere was unique and the desire for new insights and experiences was present in many of us. Despite the fatigue, the students sat down at the table and played board games late at night. The atmosphere was unique and the desire for new insights and experiences was present in many of us. Despite the fatigue, the students sat down at the table and played board games late into the night.
Monday, 21st of February
After a simple breakfast, it was time to finally start the starting week. With the help of Belgian students participating in the project, we headed towards Odysseus University. There we were met by the organizers of the event and the founders of projects with an introductory program. We learned what is expected of us in the initial week and what our duties are regarding the assigned projects. The work plan and the distribution of teams around the premises were presented. The daily plan included eight hours of group work and a short summary of the work done, which we present to the other groups and professors. We had the opportunity to use our lunch time around noon every day. At the same time, we had to create a group website, where we monitor information about our task, progress and a short descriptive presentation of all members of the group.
After the introductory program, the groups went to certain rooms, where we got acquainted with each other and the tasks covered by our part of the project. Our group comes from different parts of Europe, ie from Belgium, Greece, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia. We were assisted by Professor Harald Wilhelm Steber from Germany, who observed our work and guided us if we encountered any obstacles. There were no major language barriers between us and we communicated in English, but of course there was an initial trepidation in front of new people. We met the founders of our project, Pietro Delaere and Simon Temmerman, who came up with an interesting assignment. Their company tool has already been completed and is in use among various companies. They want us to make suggestions for improving the user experience of their dScribe data tool, we increase the number of users and try to improve its longevity. They provided a starting point for where to start and what little things to pay special attention to. For more details, they referred us to the documentation, which they playfully called Gandalf the White, as their system underwent a major update and changed significantly. Then they introduced a short team game, during which the members of the team got to know each other better, thus breaking the initial fear between us. Everyone briefly introduced themselves, told about their current well-being and hidden traits about themselves, how they can contribute to teamwork and why they applied for the project. After that, we were able to tackle our task, which was given to us by Pieter and Simon. The key concepts we came from are the gamification and longevity of the system. We immediately started working with the team and started a big brainstorming session, and with the help of the online tool Miro.com we gathered a huge number of ideas and slightly arranged them into six different starting points that we could focus on during the work. We debated various aspects of implementations and how our ideas would help improve the product. Towards the end of the day we were visited by prof. dr. Tatjana Welzer Družovec, where we completed a short but instructive intercultural education. Coming from different parts of Europe, the aim was to understand and respect the potential cultural differences between us and to learn to work better together with this understanding. We debated various aspects of implementations and how our ideas would help improve the product. Towards the end of the day we were visited by prof. dr. Tatjana Welzer Družovec, where we completed a short but instructive intercultural education. Coming from different parts of Europe, the aim was to understand and respect the potential cultural differences between us and to learn to work better together with this understanding. We debated various aspects of implementations and how our ideas would help improve the product. Towards the end of the day we were visited by prof. dr. Tatjana Welzer Družovec, where we completed a short but instructive intercultural education. Coming from different parts of Europe, the aim was to understand and respect the potential cultural differences between us and to learn to work better together with this understanding.
In the evening, a night tour of the old town of Ghent was organized in front of the hostel, which most of us were happy to attend. The guide guided the whole tour in a very colorful and experienced way, and we learned about interesting and, among other things, strange events that have taken place in the city throughout history. Although we were caught in the rain towards the end, we persevered to the end and got to know this beautiful place better, where the introductory week of the project took place.
Tuesday, 22nd of February
After a good rest, it was time to get back to work. Day 2 brought new tasks and ambitions. We were instructed by the organization to update our team page to include a project description. At the same time, we need to start preparing the criteria according to which we would carry out a self-assessment, an assessment of other members of the group and an assessment by the project organizers. After lunch, all groups had a lecture on the agile work system SCRUM, led by Wouter Van Den Bosch from imec. He presented the characteristics and systematics of project implementation according to the SCRUM methodology, which has often proven to be more productive than the waterfall approach. We learned all about team roles, planning and reporting progress, and tools that allow groups to record tasks. In such programs, a certain task can be added to several people, however, it may also be given due importance. In the future, our task was to assign important SCRUM roles to each other and start looking for the right tool to monitor our tasks, their importance and levels of completion. At the end of the day we had the first presentation of our team, the project and the progress we have managed to make so far. We sat down together, found out the most important information and prepared a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day. In the future, our task was to assign important SCRUM roles to each other and start looking for the right tool to monitor our tasks, their importance and levels of completion. At the end of the day we had the first presentation of our team, the project and the progress we have managed to make so far. We sat down together, found out the most important information and prepared a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day. In the future, our task was to assign important SCRUM roles to each other and start looking for the right tool to monitor our tasks, their importance and levels of completion. At the end of the day we had the first presentation of our team, the project and the progress we have managed to make so far. We sat down together, found out the most important information and prepared a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day. to monitor our tasks, their importance and levels of completion. At the end of the day we had the first presentation of our team, the project and the progress we have managed to make so far. We sat down together, found out the most important information and prepared a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day. to monitor our tasks, their importance and levels of completion. At the end of the day we had the first presentation of our team, the project and the progress we have managed to make so far. We sat down together, found out the most important information and prepared a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day. find out the most important information and prepare a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day. find out the most important information and prepare a presentation. As there has been a lot of joint work so far, we have appointed a representative to present our progress to other groups, project founders and professors who have evaluated us. After the defense, we got the feeling that we were going in the right direction with the implementation of the project, and thus we gained additional impetus for the work that awaited us the next day.
Wednesday, 23rd of February
The new day brought a new task and new challenges. Unfortunately for our team, one member fell ill and was unable to attend. His energy, knowledge and suggestions were severely lacking, but we continued to develop ideas with the remaining strength and good will. The new daily task by the organizers included updating our website with an explanation of the challenge given to us by the founders of dScrib. We also managed to organize a meeting with them through the Microsoft Temas tool, as we wanted to present our ideas in more detail, which we were not able to present at yesterday’s presentation due to time constraints. So we got feedback on what Pietro and his team like and which points to focus on thoroughly. Above all, he welcomed the proposal to create a mascot system in the form of a wizard, as a play on the naming of the Gandalf the White documentation provided to us. After lunch, we carried out a dynamic group activity led by the local professor dr. Karlijn Koek. The goal of this class was to learn to behave properly with other team members and to pick the right approaches to resolving any disputes that may arise between us. The lesson included various tasks and activities, where each had its own twist and significance in effective group work. Since we spent most of our time developing our ideas, we fell behind by preparing a daily presentation of progress. We tried to capture and properly present our work, and before that we also got used to it. At the presentation, we realized that our justification of certain terms and ideological connections was superficial. At the same time, the presentation raised several new questions, to which we had no thorough answer. It was clear that we would have to work harder for the next day and come up with a clear explanation of our content and progress.
In the evening, the students of University of Maribor prepared something special. The hostel allowed the use of the kitchen near it was a small shop. We bought ingredients and various accessories and prepared a simple dinner together for our professor Tatjana and new friends. Together, we prepared the ingredients for the tortillas and had fun while cooking and having a relaxing conversation over dinner. There was no end to the socializing after the event, and the students went for a walk around the city and continued to relax.
Thursday, 24th of February
The new daily task included the inclusion of SCRUM assignments and personally set evaluation criteria on the group website. Unfortunately, our Wout member was still absent, which is a small obstacle as he had access to the group website and created it himself at first. Since we were adding content without focusing on stylistic design, we decided to update the group website accordingly. We agreed on selected benefits, including designing a badge and medal system that would serve as rewards for using the dScribe tool, thoroughly preparing the daily presentation, and updating the group website. We divided the roles among ourselves and created subgroups, each of which contributed to the daily set task. I started updating the group website myself, as I have some experience with this and more skilled programmers have been able to focus on designing a badge and reward system. Because we had well-divided tasks, we also managed to better prepare the daily presentation for the other groups. We received the latest feedback and a recommendation to finalize the presentation, as it serves as an explanation and plan for our further work after the final week. There was also a request to present our work as a group, all together. This posed an additional hurdle, as not all persons are so sovereign in front of an audience. As a group, we then realized that the final presentation would be the most important issue the next day, so we agreed to spend more time on it. we also managed to better prepare a daily presentation for other groups. We received the latest feedback and a recommendation to finalize the presentation, as it serves as an explanation and plan for our further work after the final week. There was also a request to present our work as a group, all together. This posed an additional hurdle, as not all persons are so sovereign in front of an audience. As a group, we then realized that the final presentation would be the most important issue the next day, so we agreed to spend more time on it. we also managed to better prepare a daily presentation for other groups. We received the latest feedback and a recommendation to finalize the presentation, as it serves as an explanation and plan for our further work after the final week. There was also a request to present our work as a group, all together. This posed an additional hurdle, as not all persons are so sovereign in front of an audience. As a group, we then realized that the final presentation would be the most important issue the next day, so we agreed to spend more time on it. to present our work as a group, all together. This posed an additional hurdle, as not all persons are so sovereign in front of an audience. As a group, we then realized that the final presentation would be the most important issue the next day, so we agreed to spend more time on it. to present our work as a group, all together. This posed an additional hurdle, as not all persons are so sovereign in front of an audience. As a group, we then realized that the final presentation would be the most important issue the next day, so we agreed to spend more time on it.
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After a busy day, the organizers prepared a huge pizza party in the faculty dining room, where it was possible to socialize with other participants of the ATHENA Blended project and professors of the program. We also had authentic homemade beer available, which was brewed as part of a study program at Odysseus University. After a very good feast, we were invited to attend an improvisation evening. The journey to the theater space was long, but worth every second. The prepared program was original and entertaining, and the suggestions of the audience were incredibly imaginative. It was great entertainment, which we discussed long after the program ended.
Friday, 25th of February
It was the last official day of the starting week, so the shortcomings we noticed during the week had to be improved. We knew that the final presentation was crucial, so we stopped developing new ideas and spent the whole day preparing a flawless, understandable presentation for project organizers, product founders and other students who participated in the ATHENA Blended project. Since we were all asked to present, we divided the content so far into several parts. We designed a plan for the entire presentation, divided the sections among the members of the group, and everyone was able to fully focus on the content they will present. So good organization eventually allowed us to add a couple of sections that weren’t in the original plan. We also carefully got used to the presentation, that we presented our project as sovereignly as possible at the closing presentation. Judging by the response of the professors, it seems to me that we have succeeded well. Our founder was also pleased with the implementation and progress we managed to make this initial week.
We were also offered dinner by the event, but our team decided to celebrate the last day for themselves and in their own way. So we went to a small bar in the city, where we ate after school and spent the last time together. We knew that the next day we would each go in our own direction and we would only meet in the Microsoft Teams online environment by June. After dinner, we went for our last drink, which most of the ATHENA Blended students eventually found themselves on. For a long time, late into the night, we discussed the latest topics about the project and ourselves, and had a lot of fun. It was a beautiful sight and a beautiful end to our time together here, in the old part of Ghent.
Saturday, 26th of February
ATHENA Blended’s initial week has officially ended and it was time for the students to head towards their homes. Our Slovenian group had a flight only in the late afternoon, so we were able to use the morning for the last tour of Ghent, the purchase of gifts for family (and for ourselves) and the last meal before departure. Since we had some time left, we shortened it by playing board games. In the end, we headed with only a few other groups towards the train station, where we said our last farewells. It was great to meet new people, especially from abroad and after such a long time when the epidemic did not allow us such experiences. We boarded the train towards the airport and so finally headed home. But we are all probably already looking forward to the final week to meet again and successfully complete the ATHENA Blended project.