Academic News

Second design students are holding their annual poster fundraiser this year Thursday December 3 and Friday December 4 in the atrium of the Princess Street campus.

The objective of this project is to provide students with the opportunity to create a professional portfolio using an ePortfolio product called Mahara. We will pilot this in the BTM program with a group of 30 students starting in January 2016. Lead instructors will be trained in portfolio facilitation and development to provide guidance to students. Students will create ePortfolios based on the program outcomes, course outcomes, college wide learning outcomes and other skills and abilities they may have.

Benefits of an ePortfolio implementation in the college

• Portfolios are a great mode of assessment to determine knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA)
• Students will self-assess their learning and take ownership of their learning as they complete their ePortfolios and program
• Students will have an ePortfolio to show potential employers
  • During co-op placement
  • During Industry project placement
  • After graduation, as a lifelong learning resource
• Students are accountable for mastering content standards in subject areas
• Portfolios can help students who would like to continue their studies and receive RPL credits
• Assessment portfolios promote communication between teachers and students
• Faculty advising easier as students can show their learning progress through ePortfolio
• Helps students get interview as it shows more than just a resume and cover letter
• Help students reflection on KSA and develop skills in meaningful self-assessment
• More student instructor collaboration

Thursday, December 3, 2015  |  5 – 8 pm
Exchange District Campus, 160 Princess St.
William Building, Main floor, A104 Lecture Hall
Graphic Design is holding an information night for students, parents and high school staff who would like more information about admission to our program. No need to register. Presentations will be run at 5 pm and 6 pm. After the presentation we invite you to:

• tour the facilities,
• meet with instructors, enrolment staff and current students,
• ask questions about the entrance portfolio and see samples of work.

For more information contact:
Diane Livingston, Program Coordinator at dlivingston@rrc.ca

The Manitoba Chapter of the GDC (Graphic Designers Canada) brought in well known US designer Aaron Draplin (http://www.draplin.com/). As part of his visit to Winnipeg our students bid on, and won, a studio visit from Aaron on Thursday November 5. He was very gracious with his time visiting with and answering questions from students. A very dynamic speaker with a great sense of humour, he shared stories and perspectives on design. As part of our winning bid, we also received 5 tickets for our students to attend the GDC lecture the following evening.

The Solar Panels

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 →

The 7th year (and 14th intake) of the Bridging Program is now past its halfway point of the 16 week program. Once the 16 week theory component is complete (referred to as Level 2), students will start Level 3 of the program, which is the 6 week clinical component. Students will be placed either at the Victoria General Hospital or Deer Lodge Centre.

New to this term is a two-day workshop on ‘Aboriginal Cultures Awareness’ provided by the WRHA Aboriginal Health Program: Health Education Department. This workshop focuses on providing “…relevant information about the contemporary, historical and cultural issues that influence stereotypical impressions of Aboriginal people.” The students participated in a Sharing Circle, after watching a video on residential schools, as well as a smudge at the end of the 2 days. Participants were very moved, some to tears, when sharing their thoughts after watching the video. Many felt that attending the workshop had changed their perspective and understanding of the Aboriginal culture and that the workshop had changed how they will interact with Aboriginal people in the future.

This year, the class chose a class representative, Carmelo LaGuardia, who gathered some comments from various class members on how they are feeling about this part of their long journey to become licensed as a RN in Canada. Here are some excerpts:

• “After I received my result of my CCA, I was so furious and depressed that I have to take the BPIEN program. The wait was almost a year just to get in to the program. But now, I can say that it was worth it. I didn’t realize that I have so many things that I do not know and this program will help me to bridge that gap to be a successful RN here in Canada.”

• “Before I entered the bridging program I was really scared. The truth is, I am petrified by it because I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know if like the others, I will just breeze through it or is it going to be tough for me. Like everybody else I’ve been given by the CRNM two years to finish the program and now I am at the last six months of it; meaning, there’s no more second chances for me. This is it, do or die. I am so scared because for the first time in my life I have no Plan B. But still, a part of me remains excited, because finally I have been given a chance to follow my heart, pursue my career and I am finally almost there. What I am trying to say is, the bridging program is what it says it is; a bridge. And last month I started crossing it. Just as I took the first step I discovered that I wasn’t alone; there are nineteen more like me. Nineteen more who also took risks and jumped hoops. Nineteen more brave souls who also laid everything down and halted their lives just to be able to have the chance to cross this bridge and most of them are like me, scared. And as I took small steps forward with them I discovered that our instructors are there on the bridge, and they are there to guide us, to push us forward and they are doing a fine job. Now I look at the bridging program differently, it’s not easy to trek but it keeps each of us moving forward. It is our link to our goal, to our careers, to our ambitions. I hope we all make it to the other end, because now as we are all inching our way across the bridge; we are not so scared anymore.”

• “Not only do we review what we learned during our Nursing School, but we also get to learn about the differences of practice from back home and Canada and how we can bridge that gap.”

• “The workshops (from Diversity) also add knowledge in terms of using helpful strategies in reading, taking exams and how to answer/ attack questions appropriately.”

We wish all of the students good luck in their final exams coming up in the second week of December!

Abstract: At the early stages of startups development they need to change. They must change and adapt to the market. As the young entrepreneurs learn more about their business, their market, and their customers they need to incorporate that knowledge into their business plan. The business plan at that stage of development in the author’s opinion is a dynamic document that keeps evolving until it reaches a state of maturity. And even then there is a level of adaptation takes place based on the changes in the market, technology and other external factors like policies and regulations. On the other hand most of our funding and startups help programs assume all applicants to be at the final state of maturity (there are few programs target the early stages of development) which put young startups at a great disadvantage and they are automatically disqualified in being part of these programs. The author believes that this requirement is just a filtering process to make sure that funds are allocated to mature ideas where there is a higher probability of success. This model is working to a degree, but the question is how many good ideas are disregarded due to the lack of support or the environment to foster them. Many young startups especially in the IT field fail to continue beyond their first year due to the lack of support regardless of the idea. Young entrepreneurs will have to go back to the job search engines to start new career and abandon their ideas no matter how good they are. In this article the author will suggest a model on how post-secondary educational institutes can build that support in their programs and help new entrepreneurs reach the level of maturity to be qualified for other programs. The author will demonstrate that with an experiment conducted by the department of Accounting and Computer Education at Red River College. The author proposes the utilization of the co-op and project terms offered by many programs to help entrepreneurs’ idea cross the gap between the moment of the inception of that idea and the point when they are qualified for other programs.

Date of Publication: October 2015

Author: Haider Al-Saidi

(Read Full Text PDF)

Manitoba Health’s Office of Disaster Management (ODM), in conjunction with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) of Manitoba, hosted a full scale disaster management health exercise on September 18th 2015. The exercise, titled Turbulent Sky, simulated a multi-organizational response to a plane crash.

Among other organizations, 55 third year Nursing students and 5 instructors from Red River College participated as part of their Inter-professional Practice course. The students joined the response to the simulated plane crash of Flight 725 at Winnipeg’s James Armstrong Richardson International Airport.

The Nursing students were able to experience an Interim Medical Treatment Facility (IMTF), through its setup and efficient triage and treatment of patients. The simulation allowed students to observe and practice effective communication and information sharing between response agencies.

The students collaborated with Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Emergency Medical Services Branch (EMBS), Manitoba Materials Distribution Agency (MDA), Manitoba Health’s Office of Disaster Management (ODM), Manitoba’s Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Red Cross, Salvation Army, Winnipeg Airport Authority (WAA), Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS), as well as representatives from the airline industry and students from Criticare and Brandon University’s Applied Disaster and Emergency Studies. The organizations worked together in their response to the simulated crash.

The Nursing department is proud to have participated in this health exercise. The experience was incredibly positive for the students as they put the theory of Inter-professional communication into practice.

The Turbulent Sky health exercise will continue to inform Nursing students. Currently, a Disaster Management virtual simulation is being developed. The project, similar to Nursing’s Journey North virtual simulation, will allow students to virtually experience the multi-organizational response to the Turbulent Sky plane crash. The project is being produced in conjunction with eTV, who was on hand to record footage of the health exercise.

Red River College’s Nursing faculty are committed to the furthering of nursing, health, and education innovation. From attending conferences to conducting and disseminating research, the department continually strives for professional development and modeling the importance of research and scholarship to students.

Nursing instructor, Wilma Schroeder BN MMFT, recently attended and presented at the 12th International Family Nursing Conference: Improving Family Health Globally through Research, Education, and Practice. The conference was held in Odense, Denmark from August 18th to 21st.

Wilma, along with Janice M. Bell from the University of Calgary, Wendy Looman from the University of Minnesota, and Kris Isaacson from St. Cloud Technical and Community College, presented four aspects of the topic Leveraging Social Media to Create a “Tipping Point” in #familynursing. The four presenters are all members of the IFNA Communication Committee, with Wilma and Dr. Bell being co-chairs. Their presentations explored how social media can be used in family nursing education, practice, and research, as the presenters discussed what is currently happening in social media and how it can be applied to promoting the work and ideas in family nursing.

The conference was a wonderful experience, Wilma related. She reiterated how there was literally something for everyone. “Even if you don’t call yourself a family nurse, you’ll find something relevant to your area of interest.” The conference was filled with excellent information and research from around the world. With 458 participants from 31 countries, Canada being the fourth largest group, the conference was truly international. Wilma talked about how exciting it is to see family nursing growing world wide. She relayed what a great experience it was to be a part of the conference with so many nurses dedicated to family health. She said one of her biggest excitements was meeting people whose work she uses in her own teaching, once again reinforcing the connection between education, practice, and research.

To learn more about the conference and the International Family Nursing Association, click on the image below to view their position statements on family nursing education and competencies.

The Public Relations Committee would like to thank Wilma for sharing her experience and promoting the importance of scholarship and connectedness with the global nursing community.