CommTECH Insight 2020

Continuing 2012 to 2019 Community and Technological (CommTECH) Camp, this time Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember through its Directorate of Global Engagement offers a short Project-based Learning (PbL) program for international partners named CommTECH Camp Insight 2020. CommTECH Camp Insight 2020 primarily aims to give a positive and developing effect to the public, precisely towards Surabaya citizens. It’s connected to the CommTECH Camp theme “Solving Local Problems with Global Knowledge”. This time, CommTECH Camp Insight 2020 offers 3 different courses; Sociopreneurship in Action, The Biodiversity of Coastal Ecosystem, and Build Your Own Boat: Designing, Building, and Operating Unmanned Surface Vehicle. There were 36 participants participating in this program coming from various universities and thirteen (13) different countries.

CommTECH Camp Insight 2020 was officially opened in Surabaya, 29 January 2020 at ITS Rectorate Building. Special performance by the traditional dancer opened the ceremony and followed by speeches from the representatives of ITS Surabaya. After the opening ceremony, the participants were given a brief explanation of the program, took a trip around the campus, and played the traditional games.

In the following days, the participants were getting new insights from the professor & lecturer regarding their courses. They were divided into groups and each group was assisted by one ITS Surabaya student. This way the participants could be more interactive and enjoy every session of the courses.

Every day, all the participants didn’t only have a course in the class but also learned a new thing especially about Indonesian cultures. There were several interesting activities followed by all participants such as traditional games, fun Indonesia language course, Indonesian martial art, and traditional dance of Indonesia.

On the first weekend, there are no courses for the participants, therefore they were going for a trip to explore Surabaya to visit historical and cultural places and Small-Medium Enterprises. The participants also bought some local souvenirs and batik (traditional clothing of Indonesia) in Mirota Batik & Handicraft Surabaya.

After several days, each course held a site visit related to their courses to observe what they have learned in class. The visitation was different for each sub-course. For Sub-course A participants, they visited Garda Pangan which is a food bank organization that has the vision “Create a Hungry-Free Indonesia Through Over-Distribution of Excess Food”. For Sub-Course B participants, they visited Pantai Pasir Putih in Situbondo to do an observation about marine ecology. For Sub-Course C participants there were two visitations, which are Hydrodynamics Laboratory Indonesia-BPPT and Shipbuilding Industry (PT. Adihulung Madura).

This program not only provided learning sessions, but also gave an opportunity for participants to enjoy a famous tourism spot, that is Pantai Tiga Warna (Three-Colored Beach). Pantai Tiga Warna is a beach tourism spot located in Malang. They were doing a lot of fun activities there, such as snorkeling, canoeing, and swimming.

At the end of the program, there were final project presentation and project exhibition where the participants had to present their project ideas related to their courses and be reviewed by the professors and lecturers. It was a wonderful experience for ITS to conduct this program and an unforgettable event to have for each party in this program. See you at the next event!