Surviving TU Delft’s online forums

And, of course, there’s Blackboard, the virtual classroom. Here’s a quick recap about them all.

Come2TUDelft
In 2013 the Central International Office (CIO) launched a social networking community for PhD candidates and researchers. Called Come2TUDelft, today the by-invitation-only network has close to 750 members. Come2TUDelft allows candidates and researchers across faculties to interact with each other, through posts and IMs. It is also an information portal, with pages on practical information about Delft and the university, upcoming activities, arrangements for new arrivals and events. There is also space for videos, photos, blogs and discussion forums.
http://come2tudelft.ning.com/main

Collegerama
Collegerama is an online database with live recordings of almost all lectures held on campus. It has over 20,000 lectures, and in 2015 had around 1.5 million visits. In June 2016, the site recorded its six millionth visitor.The amount of lectures recorded has been growing and is now over 3,000 a year. Started in 2008 as additional material for students, today about 70-100 lectures across faculties are recorded per week. “We have limited resources, but we try and cover all faculties. We get the most requests from EWI, CiTG and 3mE,” said Leon Huijbris, head of the New Media Centre.
http://collegeramacolleges.tudelft.nl/

Blackboard
This is a great blended learning tool for teachers and students. Accessible by campus ID, Blackboard has an online extension of the classroom, complete with options for interaction and feedback. “Teachers can use Blackboard as a digital learning environment to upload presentations, documents, notes. Here you can do everything you can do in class, it’s a great learning interface and is still evolving,” said Kees van Kuijen of E-Learning Support. Besides the Grade Centre and Content Editor, teachers can now also access Student View and are encouraged to use Blackboard Instant Messenger to communicate with groups, offer online consultation and video conferences.
https://blackboard.tudelft.nl/

Delftulip
Delftulip (also launched by the CIO) is an online international student community catering to MSc and BSc students. A private community, it is designed like a social media website with a profile page, chat boxes, space for blogs and posts. Incoming students are given resources about what to expect – on campus, in the city and Dutch society. The idea is to help students from different cultural backgrounds create networks within a safe environment even before they get on campus.
http://delftulip.ning.com/

iTunes TU Delft
When the app launched in 2011, TU Delft was the first Dutch university forum on iTunes University. With over 20,000 lectures, presentations, videos and podcasts, it is downloadable free and accessible all over the world. “The material includes almost everything found on Collegerama. This platform makes it easier to find globally and put us in the league of big international universities that were already on iTunes U,” said Paul Suijker, who was the project manager of the team that launched the app. It has had over half a million downloads and continues to grow.
https://ocw.tudelft.nl/about-ocw/itunes-u/

TU on social media
All of these forums apart, TU Delft is also very active on Face¬book and Twitter. The Facebook page has over 49,000 likes and they have over 53,000 followers on Twitter. Regularly updated with news, events, photos and campus goings-on, they’re a good resource all things TU-related.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tudelft
Twitter www.twitter.com/tudelft