Academic News

Hope everyone had a great and safe Halloween as our Nursing students did working on the Pediatric ward on Halloween!

Written by: Jennifer Johnson – Nursing Lab Manager

Photos by: Monica Nash – Nursing Instructor

On September 23, 2022, in the Black Lecture Theatre, we hosted a video premier event from a digital storytelling workshop held with four nursing students in the RRC Polytech BN program. The students were invited to share the digital stories they had created, including their challenges and success with learning to be a nurse during the pandemic. The video workshops and the research were funded by the RRC Polytech STAR grant fund. Four nursing student volunteers participated in the workshops and produced the videos linked below: Brynn Clifford, Lami Omidele, Nengi Shadrack, and Donna (Wenying) Wang.

The Video creation was the final phase in a study conducted by Breanna Sawatzky, Campus Mental Health Specialist, and Kim Mitchell (formerly of RRC Polytech, now Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, University of Manitoba). The study began prior to the pandemic in fall 2019 as a way to test the impact of several mental health interventions on student wellness and resilience. After the pandemic-related shut-down, however, we pivoted the study focus to the entire student body of nurses and conducted several surveys from June 2020 to June 2021. In the fall and spring of 2021, we held several focus groups with faculty and students.

The digital storytelling workshops were held both virtually and in person during the month of July 2022. Special thanks to Deb Gural who gave her support and expertise with WeVideo during the workshops. Breanna, Kim, and Deb all participated in the StoryCenter digital storytelling workshop in preparation for this phase of the study.

The first workshop with the students included topics such as the principles of storytelling, scriptwriting, and use of the WeVideo platform for video creation. We shared the focus group findings with students as inspiration for the video creation, but invited them to tell any story they felt willing to share. The second workshop focused on perfecting their scripts in preparation for recording. We then sent them off to spend two weeks finding images, music, and video clips that would support the telling of their stories. During the third workshop, students shared their rough video edits and worked on editing their videos.

The videos produced are moving renditions of the lives of students learning to be nurses in the midst of a pandemic while navigating parenthood, marriage, jobs, supportive and unsupportive instructors, mental health issues, and English as a second language. Each story is its own unique journey and reflects common issues we heard about from students during the survey and interview phases of the research.

Post written by Kim Mitchell – Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, University of Manitoba

Just over a year ago, RRC Polytech launched Communication Management, a post-graduate diploma program to help professional communicators boost their business acumen and leadership skills. The program’s first cohort is a mix of professionals who specialize in various communication disciplines.

Their common link is that they’re all now working in organizational communications, and came to the Communication Management program to build experience that will open more professional opportunities.

“I have already put my new skills into practice in my work at Manitoba Hydro,” says Kathleen Hodgson, Community Investment and Public Safety Specialist at Manitoba Hydro. “The course content is designed specifically for people like me, who may have mastered the fundamentals of communications but are still eager to learn more. I believe the confidence I gained from taking Business for Communicators 1 gave me the edge I needed to bid on an exciting new role within my organization, and get it.”

“The program has really helped boost my confidence and renewed my passion for my work, which is great for me and Manitoba Hydro,” says Hodgson.

The Communication Management program is offered online, on weekday evenings. The courses cover traditional business topics ranging from operating fundamentals (finance, governance, reporting, labour law) to professional project management and leadership skills. In addition to those, courses provide deeper dives into skills particularly relevant to mid-level communicators, from stakeholder engagement to change management and digital content marketing.

To complete the program, each student will complete a capstone project that puts their skills into practice for a real-life client of their choice – either an employer or another organization they want to help.

“Our Creative Communications grads develop strong communication skills in their diploma program, but we just don’t have the time to build the extensive business knowledge, project management and leadership skills we’d like to,” says Melanie Lee Lockhart, M.A., APR, who coordinates the Communication Management program. “Having taught Public Relations and Communication Management in CreComm for more than a decade, I know the vast majority of our grads find industry jobs quickly. But some eventually need additional training to help them move up.”

“We developed the Communication Management program to connect CreComm grads’ communication skills with the business knowledge and management skills they need,” says Lee Lockhart.

The Communication Management program comprises 12 courses. This coming winter term (January – April 2023), the program will offer its Managing Major Projects, Digital Content Marketing, and Labour Law and Management courses.

Between pandemic-related changes in the way we all work and the evolving influence of technology, professional communicators are doing more and more project management. Project management programs and designations are growing out of this need, and are equipping professionals to move up the ranks as they can handle more responsibility. The Managing Major Projects course aims to fill that gap for professional communicators in the Communication Management program.

While programs like RRC Polytech’s Creative Communications equip their graduates for the communications side of their roles, they don’t have enough time to develop extensive project management practices and skills.

Enter Managing Major Projects, a course in RRC Polytech’s new post-graduate diploma in Communication Management.

“The fact is, you can’t possibly learn everything you need to manage communications for an organization in a two-year program,” says Rose Regier (CreComm 2015), who has managed major projects for clients, including the Canada Summer Games, and will be teaching the evening course in the Winter 2023 term. “And besides that, you really need to have experience in an organization before you can really understand how project management should properly work.”

“This course was designed for people who are working as professional communicators. We build on what they already know and do, to develop high-level project management skills that will help them successfully play more important roles,” says Regier.

Like all courses in the new Communication Management program, the Managing Major Projects course develops related professional project management skills and picks up at the skill level its students achieved in a communications-related diploma or degree program. The students learn principles and best practices and then apply them to real-life client situations, in their own workplaces where possible.

“[Communication Management] is an innovative, industry-driven program,” says Joey Pothe, Communications Officer, Association of Employees Supporting Education Services (AESES), who is pursuing the post-graduate diploma in Communication Management and took Managing Major Projects in the Winter 2022 term. “It has small, flexible online classes; instructors are knowledgeable industry experts, and the real-world assignments can benefit your current employer.”

Managing Major Projects classes begin the evening of January 3, 2023, online, and are open to anyone with a diploma or degree in business communications, advertising, marketing communications, public relations, or communication management, or who has worked as a professional communicator.

The Sim family is happy to see everyone in person again! It has been an exciting term so far with everyone back in the labs and simulation. In-person simulation is expanding into courses that have not had simulation in the past. Simulation participants (actors) are back and interacting with students, giving them real life experiences. This allows students to have a unique learning experience providing them an opportunity to increase knowledge and skills with increased authenticity.

Virtual simulation continues to be integrated into courses within the curriculum. This allows students to begin transferring their theory to practice. Our research continues in virtual simulation through the CI Can Virtu-WIL grant with new virtual simulations being developed and more opportunity for upcoming paid research participation for students.

The research study that many of the Nursing Students at Red River College Polytechnic participated in will now be published. The link is below, and we thank you for your participation and continued support of furthering nursing research.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876139922000743?dgcid=coauthor

Allyson Cooper & Kim Pinel – Nursing Instructors

Brenda E. Enns would like to send out a special Thank You to all the students who nominated her for the Teachers Award of Excellence 2021-2022. She appreciates and loves her job teaching in the Nursing Techniques lab, and receiving this award shows that her students appreciate her too.

Post created by

Jennifer Johnson

Nursing Lab Manager

Welcome back everyone. I hope that you have had the opportunity to rest, relax, recharge and spend time with family and friends over the summer. The faculty are excited to welcome students back and start to work with you to advance your studies. The past few years have been a remarkable challenge for you. My hope for the coming year with the return to closer-to-normal learning experiences, including a return to campus and in-class instruction, will be a positive experience for you.

Regards,
Patrick Griffith
Chair, Nursing

Welcome back to RRC Polytech Nursing Department. As we transition back to in-class learning in BN theory courses, we are provided an opportunity to build on relationships with instructors and students and to enhance the critical thinking and learning that takes place. I have been smiling as I have enjoyed seeing the faces of both students and faculty at the Notre Dame Campus. All instructors, course leaders, advisors, managers, and support staff are present to guide the educational journey of all students. Please reach out to any of these individuals if you have any questions. Enjoy your time at RRC Polytech and keep smiling.

Keep smiling,
Tracey Fallak
Acting Program Manager – Theory

On behalf of the Clinical instructors and course leaders, we would like to welcome you back for the start of the new academic clinical year. Clinical is an opportunity to practice your skills, assessments and communication; implement critical thinking skills and draw from the theory learned in the classroom. Instructors and course leaders are once again looking forward to ‘walking along side’ your learning and support your development in obtaining all these skills. One of the greatest moments an instructor can experience with a student is what we refer to as an ‘aha’ moment. This is the moment when a student smiles and shares their true understanding of the connection between theory and the application of that theory in regards to their clients’ care. We look forward to seeing those smiles once again and in sharing those moments with you!

My door is always open; please feel free to drop by and share with me your clinical experience.

All the best for the new clinical academic year,
Sandra Holben
Nursing Program Manager – Clinical

Welcome Back Everyone! I hope you all had a restful, relaxing summer and took the time to enjoy! It has been nice seeing everyone back in person this week and hearing the laughter and chatter. I look forward to seeing all of you in the hallways and classrooms and working with each of you.

Take care!
Joanna Simmons-Swinden
Acting Program Manager – Academic Operations

Check out these reels created by students in the Digital Media Design – Video and Motion Graphics program. In this second-year specialization, students learn the art of motion graphic design and animation. Through storytelling, they implement video production techniques including shooting, lighting, editing, audio, colour correction and compositing.

Students in the Digital Media Design – Interaction Design and Development program create design-driven, responsive websites, apps and user interfaces. In this second-year specialization program, students are challenged to build websites using WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system. Take a look at some of their work below.

Thank you everyone who came out and participated in this much needed in-person gathering of Amazing Race!

Creativity was had by all at the last challenge, and sorry Patrick but because you left early we had to share your staff’s hard work!

A big THANK YOU to the Teaching Excellence Committee for all the hard work put into this day! Great fun was had by all!

(Kim, Tracey, Carla, Winona, Tracy, Kate (Anna and Jennifer too))

Have a great summer and look forward to new beginnings in the fall!

Blog post created by:

Jennifer Johnson

Nursing Lab Manager