Students created a web-based application to enhance the current process of collecting food bank related information.
The collection of information for the Hunger Count Report is made easier with forms that
are filled out with a couple of clicks. A report summary can also be generated automatically so statistics about clients can be viewed at a glance.
Currently CanU does all their attendance tracking through paperwork and excel spread sheets. This is not only time consuming but can also create error due to misprint in data. Every day after each program, their coordinator has to manually input all attendance for the day into Excel.
Three BTM students developed a custom app in Salesforce for the tracking and updating of users attendance. The application also automatically enrolls students into programs. Users are able to assign students to teams and buses for better organization and reports. Users can query who is on what team and what bus at all times. A complete and customized Salesforce experience for CanU to use. This will reduce downtime and increase accuracy of attendance tracking.
Company founders Dillon Perron and Kendra Garagan are former competitive swimmers at a national level and they created their company to help recreational and competitive athletes to develop their technical skills. As swimming coaches they recognized an area where it is difficult to track an athlete’s skills as they become more proficient in their sport.
Brides can spend up to 4 hours a day for up to a year planning their wedding. Penguin and Stone is providing a one stop shop with approved vendors to plan weddings. Couples will be able to plan their entire wedding in only a few hours using the Shopify application that students are creating. The main goal of the site is to expedite the planning of a wedding, but a couple can also use the application to explore the different possibilities for a venue, dress, flowers – or any other aspect of their wedding.
Luc Bohunicky and Sergii Us are working with the City of Winnipeg to develop a system to manage multiple city services within a limited number of downloadable apps to allow citizens to easily access the services they are looking for.
During the winter of 2016, 6 students worked on an important project for the Rehabilitation Centre for Children who work with parents of children that have physical and developmental challenges. The students created a database, complete with user interface which provided a live, real-time “picture” of production scheduling for equipment. This application tracked equipment such as wheelchairs and prosthetics through the process of production from when they are entered into the system until they are provided to the client. This process was previously done using cards with signatures passing between clinicians and technicians and needed to be automated. This application also generated reports to show the progress of each job as well as weekly, monthly and annual reports. The students created a system that provided the following functionality:
The students gained an in-depth experience using database technologies.
Professional Development Workshops
As part of the implementation of the E-Portfolio to students in the Accounting and Computer Education department we will be developing professional development workshops. Every week there will be two hours included in the student’s schedule for professional development and every semester will focus on how the students can expand and modify their portfolio as they learn new skills. By establishing regular classroom sessions students will be given direction on the creation and maintenance of their portfolio in both a group setting and individually. The importance of these workshops will be to prepare students for their co-op and industry project work terms and ultimately their job search for full time employment.
In the first semester students will be learning about what a portfolio is, how to create it, what to include in it and how to document their learning. At the beginning of each subsequent semester students will be taught how to reflect on their learning from their previous semester and include examples of the skills that they developed in and out of school. In the second semester the focus will be developing and enhancing their portfolio further and preparing for an industry mock interview.
In addition to the E-Portfolio students will be learning job search skills, cover letter and resume preparation, interview skills as they prepare for co-op. Students will be able to reflect on and get feedback on the co-op process as they apply for jobs and experience industry interviews. During their work term and upon return for their final semester students can use this time to add relevant skill sets to their portfolio and document their learning. In their final semester students will reflect on their overall learning, academically and from industry to modify their portfolio into a document that will impress employers.
As you have seen in previous blogs we are currently training to be able to show learners how to use an E-Portfolio and build it through Mahara. There are 8 staff members from the ACE department that are among those taking an 8 week course in E-Portfolios. We are looking to implement the concept of E-Portfolios to the Business Technology Management students in the second half of this semester. Then we will begin the Professional Development workshops in September for both the current BTM students and the new intake in the fall.
We have just started into another iteration of the Business Information Technology (BIT) industry project course. We hope to continue giving students great learning opportunities building solutions from inception to delivery where all the things that can happen on a project – can and do happen.
I have found that some of the most valuable learning experiences that come out of project are born from, as one instructor described, “chaos in learning.” The unexpected will occur, assumptions that you made about the products you are creating turn out to be wrong, technology doesn’t co-operate, and communicating and dealing with your project team turns out to be harder than you thought. The students have to deal with all of this, and have the added pressure of interacting with and delivering to a real-world client. All of these aspects give the students the learning experiences that we can’t give them in the confines of a usual classroom setting.
Red River College solar panels
Designed and installed by Solar Solutions in 2002, the Red River College Exchange District Campus had a solar energy system installed on the side of the Princess building that was, at the time, the largest of its kind in Canada. These environmentally friendly solar panels were installed to provide the college with energy that could be collected from the sun and used by Red River College students and staff. As time passed, these solar panels were left to do their job and were otherwise forgotten about.
Laptop connected to control panel
This past summer (summer of 2015), a team consisting of Haider Al-Saidi, Miguel Guzman and Sylvia Froese set out to find out more about these solar panels. The team wanted to know how much energy was being produced by the panels at what times, what these panels were powering and how they could use this data for educational purposes throughout the college. Read More →
Dean of Business and Applied Arts, Graham Thomson trying the Google Cardboard
On October 6th, 2015, the President and CEO of Red River College, Mr. Paul Vogt visited the BIT/BTM Project Space. He was given a tour of the project space as well as an introduction to the various projects being developed there under the guidance of BIT Space Development.
The chair of the Accounting and Computer Education department, Haider Al-Saidi, presented his vision for the future of the project space and his hopes that the project space will continue and grow and be the host for more innovative ideas and a way for Red River College students to learn valuable skills in a real world project environment.
Haider Al-Saidi presenting his vision for the BIT/BTM Project Space
RRC Polytech campuses are located on the lands of Anishinaabe, Ininiwak, Anishininew, Dakota, and Dené, and the National Homeland of the Red River Métis.
We recognize and honour Treaty 3 Territory Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, the source of Winnipeg’s clean drinking water. In addition, we acknowledge Treaty Territories which provide us with access to electricity we use in both our personal and professional lives.