This assignment consisted in the proposal of interventions in order to solve a Societal Challenge. The mock-ups and copywriting for the proposals are displayed here:
UniTe
One of the main problems for international students is not being aware of the multiple events the associations are organizing. There are 8 international associations in the University of Twente organizing a fair amount of activities and publishing their announcements through Instagram. This fragmentation of information makes it difficult to learn about all the events; the only way to access all this information is to follow all of the 8 Instagram accounts, which is a tedious procedure, as other information unrelated to events may be published.
Luckily, the umbrella association called UniTe is where all the international associations come into place to support international students and reduce the gap between them and the University. However, in the present this platform might be used under its possibilities and their social media and website are not easy to access, as some international students claimed during the interviews that they were not aware of the existence of associations. To solve the problem of the fragmented information, UniTe’s Instagram could be utilized as a common board for announcements of events that might be of interest to all international students that want to socialize during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This intervention could be the first to be implemented, as the process would be quick: the UniTe Instagram account already exists, so whenever an association wants to publish an event, they can send it to UniTe who will upload it to the Instagram page. Additionally, in the present, the only page where it is possible to visualize all the associations only redirects to their website and not their social media pages. Therefore, it would be beneficial for international students if the communication of international associations is done through a main account such as UniTe, to broaden their communicational capacity and reach more students. The University of Twente’s website could be also modified in order to highlight this intervention by introducing the page in the main text and add social media buttons for all of the associations.
UniFy
International students feel like they are missing out on socialization due to social restrictions. But socializing is not the only difficult task for students nowadays; it is not easy for classmates to manage and organize the work and study life when all communication is done online. Nowadays most communication flows through WhatsApp but it has plenty of inconveniences: your number needs to be shared, notifications are either popping or silenced, and there is only one track of conversation, the main chat.
However, the University of Twente could build UniFy, a platform with multiple chat rooms divided in two parts: Interests and Studies. With UniFy, every student can enter a room with a different theme, post messages, audios or share files. The goal is to make it easy to create new virtual friends, but also to find your real life classmates and organize for assignments, ask questions or study together. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the rooms: hobbies like photography or jogging, digital events, political debates, language exchanges… Any student can create a room within one of the two main categories, and after being approved by a moderator, the room will be up and ready for new conversations. This concept follows the track of successful sites like Reddit or Discord, so why do not bring it to UT Students? This website could also be used during the next stages of the corona pandemic, as socialization has always been a problem for international students and this website provides an everlasting digital space for UT students.
The implementation of this intervention could be produced entirely by UT Computer Science students, in a way to promote employability. The research, launch and promotion of this intervention could also be directed by Communication Science students, and the campaign release can be implemented as the main challenge in a bachelor or master course. A social media platform made by students, for students, would definitely add extra value to this initiative.
UTeam
As social restrictions enlighten, the practice of sports is always the first thing to be allowed. Many international students see sports as the best way to meet people and still comply with the pertinent restrictions. Additionally, practicing sports and living a healthy lifestyle might be helpful to prevent diseases like COVID-19, as well as improving mental health. However, it is not easy for some students to find others to play team sports: it is usually required to join a sports team within University that requires a payment that might be lost money if restrictions are back.
To face this problem, the mobile App UTeam, developed by the University of Twente, attempts to offer a digital system to organize sports matches. The menu will be divided into all the different sports that are possible to practice within the current restrictions. As these restrictions become less, more sports will be available. Once you choose one sport in the menu and the day and hour you want your match to be, you will be randomly assigned to a group of people that chose the same date and hour. If all players confirm assistance, a booking for a court in the UT campus will be automatically made. Then, you can meet with your new fellow teammates and practice your favourite sport together while getting the possibility to know each other, and become friends in the App to play again if you make a good team. This exciting match-making system, similar to dating apps like Tinder, could truly change the way we see sport teams, while promoting a healthy lifestyle among those students who would like to experiment the thrill of meeting people for the first time. To ensure this system is Corona proof, the App will only allow the users to log in if it detects that the Corona melder App is installed on their phone. To do so, a permit needs to be conceded when installing the App. This system will hopefully promote the downloads of the Corona melder App among UT students and improve the traceability of COVID-19 cases.
Similar to UniFy, the previous intervention, this App could be developed by a team of UT Computer Science students and promoted by Communication Science students. Additionally, the usability of the App could be researched and improved using the University of Twente neuromarketing labs. This app could still be updated during all stages of COVID-19 as new feasible sports could be added to the menu.
UT Study Olympics
As the pandemic of COVID-19 ends, international students are excited to come back to campus and enjoy what they have been missing out during the last year. After meeting other students online through Unify and playing sports with them through UTeam, the UT Study Olympics could be the definitive event to mark a new beginning in student lives in the University of Twente.
When measures allow it, the UT Study Olympics would be a three day event where students from all studies compete with each other; in these Olympics there are no nationalities, so international students and Dutch students will either play or cheer together for their study. A different sport competition would be organized during each one of the days: the first day would be a track race in the UT olympic track, the second day would be basketball in the Sportcentrum, and the third day a football tournament in the UT olympic field. The prize for the winners can be material (UT merch, free food in the cantine or even money), but the best reward will be to share outdoor quality time and play sports with all these online friends we made during the pandemic. There will be nothing more bonding than sharing together the once in a lifetime experience of retrieving our normal lives. People would be allowed to watch, drink and eat with their housemates and friends, sitting 1.5 meters from the other groups as social restrictions allow.
This event would be feasible only if the corona situation improves, however, nowadays it is important to be flexible when organizing events; if regulations are stricter than expected, people could be required to wear facemasks or even rapid tests could be introduced as a groundbreaking new massive experiment.
Project done for the University of Twente with Lennart Meyer, Pien van Dalen, Sanne Meijer and Josien Klein Gebbinck.
