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Alen Delić

Immediately after my return to Zagreb, I was able to conclude that I have spent ten high-quality days in Florida. While spending our time at University of Central Florida and other places that we had visited, we had a chance to share information about cultures, as well as education and our universities.

People we met, both UCF students and staff were really able to show us „how things work there“. I will try to share as much information as possible with other students at my faculty in the upcoming period. 

Figure1

 

I hope that our researches and presentations will help in the development of the hole project (cooperation between UCF and FOI).

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my great team (Katarina, Jelena, Ozano, Matija and Ivor), our leader, professor Violeta Vidaček-Hainš, as well as Faculty of Organization and Informatics which enebled me to participate in this cooperation.

NASA - Kennedy Space Center

Last trip out of Orlando was to NASA Kennedy Space Center (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Although NASA is one of the World's largest research centers which is primarily used for the researches related to aviation and space, scientists from NASA explore lot of other areas of science. For example, many use smart phones which were invented by NASA for the U.S. army.

 

Figure2

Main part of the researches are still focused to space. We have seen many different facilitie; those that are used for the researches, and both launch complexes and runway for space shuttles. Vehicle Assembly Building  is the second largest building by volume in the USA. Ironically, it has only one floor.

Space shuttles start their jurnies into the space from separated facilities that are called launching complexes. Shuttles are transported to those complexes by a special vehicle, which can reach a top speed of 1 mile per hour.  We were able to see following facilities at NASA:

  • Central Instrumentation Facility
  • Crawlerway
  • KSC Headquarters Building|Headquarters Building
  • Launch Complex 39
  • Launch Complex 39–Pad A
  • Launch Complex 39–Pad B
  • Launch Control Center
  • Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities
  • Operations and Checkout Building
  • Press Site–Clock and Flag Pole
  • Vehicle Assembly Building–High Bay and Low Bay

 

Figure3

INFORMATION FLUENCY

The biggest conference that we have participated in during our visit to Florida was Information Fluency Conference, which was also held at University of Central Florida.

Figure4

 

During the opening presentation, we were able to hear about main barriers while sharing information, and particulary about those information that are share in the academic environment. Many independant experts offer different solutions to problems that we face, but for the last few years they are  all giving their efforts together to join their solutions to give us standards that would talk about information fluency. As with many other things, we need to share our knowledge to those problems that are becoming global.

 

Figure5

One of the presentations at the conference has been made by Violeta Vidaček-Hainš, PhD in cooperation with Renata Horvatek from FOI and Michaelom Aldarondom-Jeffriesem from UCF. They have used a poster to present about collaboration between FOI and UCF. I hope that our experiences will also help further development of their research and also hope that this cooperation will continue.  I personally believe that this kind of experience is very good for all students who participate in any way, and that can help to inform students about many different aspects which is very important for each individual.

MADAM AMBASSADOR

I assume that the time we have spent with Ambassador Harriet L. Elam-Thomas will be described in many other blogs that are written by my colleagues.
 Spending time in the informal meeting with all the participants acting almost totally formal; being in a conversation with someone who was highly ranked in the U.S. diplomacy can be described by one simple word: perfect.

 

Figure6

Madam Ambassador has welcomed us in her meeting room (we could also say it was a „living room“)  in the department where she works at UCF. We have spent almost two hours listening to her anecdotes and her advices on various topics.

With a small dose of "anger" towards society, Ambassador has spoken about things she knows very well and in such way that is suitable for all the participants listening to her.
 She has talked about her 37 years long diplomatic career, about languages ​​she speaks and about her life in general. We have also discussed differences between American and European system of education, society and politics.

I am convinced that such an experience is more than useful for me and the others when it comes to the formal part of the trip we made.

TUESDAY, 8 MARCH

Our long day began by merging Varaždin, Graz and Orlando in a video conference. Professor Diana Šimić, PhD., our Vice Dean at Faculty of Organization and Informatics presented from Zagreb and our colleague Bogdan Okreša-Đurić who is currently on a student exchange program presented from Graz in Austria. They both did a great job showing us what is actually currently happening in the world of ICT.

After that, first research presentations about ICT and human rights were delivered  by Ozano and Matija.

Figure7

 

After lunch we held a meeting with the Head of international cooperations for the Eastern Europe at UCF. We have also participated in the presentation that was held at International Services Center at UCF. We were able to conduct many useful information regarding potentional study at UCF or student exchanges. I believe there are many ways to share those information with all the students who are interested in it at our university.

UCF is one of the fastest growing University in the U.S., not only by the number of students, but also by the quality of programs they offer. Any cooperation established with UCF or studying there can only lead to higher quality for an individual or a group.

Figure8

 

Our noon schedule took us to the the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) which is also a part of the University of Central Florida in which students are engaged to do one particular thing: create computer games.

Their program lasts four semesters during which they learn how to make  a computer game. They are not there just to learn the theory, but to „bulid“ the whole computer game. 

A large number of ex-students that took the program work today in some of the most recognized organizations for the development of the computer games. Games that they had made during their "college days" are also available on the market.
 Our very busy day ended by a cultural event. Thousands of people were thrilled by a great performance of the musical The Wicked.

MONDAY, 7 MARCH

The famous 9-5 "American" method of working days was also visible in our schedule. It was a very sunny and warm Monday in Orlando.

Today was the first time we went to the UCF campus. Our day began by a meeting in which detailed schedule for the whole week was discussed both with other important details about the conference in which we will participate. After that, first presentations were deliverd.

I had the privilege to open the "season of presenting" and to present about the Croatian school system to our American colleagues and their collaborators from the UCF. I tried to explain the main features of the school system in Croatia and to show what education looks like in elementary and secondary schools, as well as in higher education. I also tried to compare everything with US system.

 

Figure9

After my presentation my colleague Katarina Pažur presented about our Faculty of Organization and Informatics at University of Zagreb, while Matija Kapić presented about the City of Varaždin and its history.

 From the „American side“ we had the opportunity to listen about U.S. school system and the history of UCF which was presented by Lili and Laura, our hosts.
 It was interesting to get information about the UCF, which is the largest university by the number of students in Florida and second largest in the U.S. with over 56 000 students. 

It was also interesting to hear about the fact that 23% of students are older than 25 years. Students at UCF come from 140 countries of the world, and from each and every state in the United States.

University of Central Florida is also known for its many programs, primarily those related to economy, education, psychology, and one of the most popular program of interdisciplinary studies, in which students can „combine“ areas of studies they want to study together.

 

Figure10

After a short lunch break we continued with presentations. We met Head of Library Department at the UCF Laila Miletić Vejzović (born in Zadar). 

She presented us about the data and information they have in the University Library, as well as databases they use. 

She also demonstrated some search capabilities of the academic literature in their own databases, as well as some global databases that they/we can use.

 We used the rest of the day to do the community work which means volunteering that is very popular, not only for the students at UCF, but also for other residents in Florida.

We visited the university arboretum. 

„Shovel in hand, and to the field.“ as we would say it in Croatian.

For the effort we gave we also earned some free vegetables from the garden which we will use for our dinner tonight.

Florida Statewide Student Research Symposium 

It's hard to imagine a better way to start the formal part of the journey. We participated in the first conference of its kind in Florida, the Florida Statewide Student Research Symposium  in Jacksonville at University of North Florida. 

Many students from all accross the State presented their researches at the conference. 

It was a great opportunity to learn about the methods and types of the researches students do in the USA.

 

Figure11

 

As it was the interdisciplinary conference, we were able to see some interesteng work from various fields of science. We also used our time for some direct talks with the students who presented their research.

 We used the second part of the conference to participate in the presentations of various professors which were primarily related to the methods of hoe to make and present a research.

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