Online Study Placement with snack boxes and kitchen chemistry

The usual concept had to be rethought into a digital format. From guided tours to information about degree programmes, Odense as a study city and the job opportunities. At the Faculty of Science and its departments, outreach coordinators, lecturers and especially many committed students  worked hard to create an online Study Placement experience. Students made introduction video and guided tours, organised the event programme, and acted as technical assistants on the day

Susan Traun from SDU Student Services' department for Strategy & Communication is project manager for Study Placement at SDU, and she had some considerations prior to the event:

– I was a bit worried about whether high school students would want to participate in an Study Placement event. But we received more than 1000 sign-ups, which is about two thirds of our usual number of participants. Altogether, Danish institutions of further education had less half the usual number of participants, so I am very satisfied on behalf of SDU , says Susan Traun and continues:

– However, this meant that SDU IT had to be ready to provide support for 1000 new Zoom users on SDU's system. They had to call in extra personnel, but luckily the technical part of the event went smoothly.

– Before the event took place, we sent snack boxes to all registered participants. The snack boxes contained various delicious snacks and leaflets about SDU's degree programmes and their admission requirements, along with an invitation to listen to stand-up comedian Mark le Fêvre. I noticed that 260 participants listened along, says Susan Traun.

At the Faculty of Science, a total of 183 high school students participated in the online Study Placement event. This is roughly the same number as in previous years.

For Event Coordinator Allan Haurballe Madsen from the faculty administration, the planning process was different than usual:

– We had a lot of meetings across SDU to be able to convert the Study Placement event to an online format, but I think the result was good. I also believe that the new format has acted as an icebreaker for the departments in relation to planning and implementing digital outreach activities, says Allan Haurballe Madsen.

At the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Professor Rolf Fagerberg was involved in developing the online event, and he is very pleased with the result:

– Long Zoom meetings can be very tiring. Therefore, at the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science we chose to organise a short and dynamic event with a student acting as host, who regularly switched to different features. In a relatively short time, it gave the participants a good insight into our study programmes, student life, career opportunities, the department, SDU and Odense as a student city, explains Rolf Fagerberg. He is positive about repeating the format if it should become relevant again.

At the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Outreach Coordinator Lilian Skytte had planned a course which she calls Kitchen Chemistry:

– I usually have the participants to experiments in the laboratory, but this year I sent them a shopping list and a kitchen manual. During the Study Placement event, I instructed the participants via Zoom how to make bioplastics using, among other things, skimmed milk. The exercise was successful for all of them, says Lilian Skytte.

Lise Junker Nielsen is outreach coordinator at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and their participants were also did experiments at home in their kitchens:

– We instructed the participants in purifying DNA in fruit using alcohol, water and dishwashing detergent. It is my impression that most participants had a good experience from the exercise. I believe our Study Placement went much better than I expected. We had some technical challenges with the audio and for a moment we also lost our internet connection. I was afraid of seeing black screens and 48 inactive participants, but most of them were very active, listening and inquisitive, says Lise Junker Nielsen.

Rikke Svensson was responsible for planning the Study Placement event at the Department of Biology, and she also had concerns about the technical side of the event:

— All our features were planned to take place live, so I worried a lot about whether or not it would go well. I had students make guided tours at the department and tell about the Biology programme. We also visited the Marine Biology Research Centre in Kerteminde, where we fed seals and told about our research. We had also included a couple of exercises that the participants did at home. Our participants were very active, and I am relieved about how well it all went, says Rikke Svensson.

Susan Traun from SDU Student Services is currently working on evaluating this year's Study Placement event. Until we get the result, we hope that an e-mail sent to Rikke Svensson expresses many participants' impressions of the event: