At Red River College, we know that every student is different, with unique strengths and challenges. We are dedicated to providing supports that are diverse and inclusive to help students to succeed in their academic goals.

As we get closer to the beginning of the term, we are now planning the upcoming Red River Ready, a variety of orientation sessions to help students get ready for their time at the college, taking place August 23 – September 3.

During the Red River Ready orientation, students will have the chance to join sessions where they will learn about:

• Specialized support for different programs, including math and science tutoring and library research instruction
• Academic supports and accessibility services available to students with disabilities
• English as an Additional Language (EAL) and International Education supports
• Student supports including financial aid, scholarships and awards

What is great about Red River Ready is that it allows students to customize their orientation experience and attend sessions that are most valuable to them.

Also, the Getting Ready for College webpage is also a resource to help students prepare for their Red River College education.

For more information, feel free to connect with us!

Academic Success Centre Staff (Library and Academic Services)

Feeling connected to the College is key for student success, and during a time where course delivery is mostly online, having regular and accessible communication with other students, tutors, and academic coaches fosters a feeling of connectivity and softens the pandemic phrase “being alone together.”

As we get closer to the beginning of the term, we are now planning the upcoming Red River Ready, a variety of orientation sessions to help students get ready for their time at the college, taking place August 23 – September 3.

During the Red River Ready orientation, students will have the chance to join sessions where they will:

• Meet peer tutors and ask them about their student life experiences at College
• Find out about the supports and events from the Students’ Association and ways to participate in Students Clubs
• Hear about opportunities to engage with the Indigenous Cultural Centre, the Global Connections Centre, and The Spectrum Room
• Learn about how you can contribute to our diverse college community and how we can all work towards Truth and Reconciliation

What is great about Red River Ready is that it allows students to customize their orientation experience and attend sessions that are most valuable to them.

Also, the Getting Ready for College webpage is also a resource to help students prepare for their Red River College education.

For more information, feel free to connect with us!

Academic Success Centre Staff (Library and Academic Services)

We understand that new students may be feeling uncertain about the move to online learning for most of the classes, and wonder how they could be prepared and organized to make the most of their studies at the College during the pandemic.

As we get closer to the beginning of the term, we are now planning the upcoming Red River Ready, a variety of orientation sessions to help students get ready for their time at the college, taking place August 23 – September 3.

During the Red River Ready orientation, students will have the chance to join sessions where they will learn:

• Learning technologies that we use for learning at the College
• Strategies for adapting to online learning and how to get your study space ready for success
• Ideas for managing your time and planning your study schedule
• Study skills that will help you identify how you learn best

What is great about Red River Ready is that it allows students to customize their orientation experience and attend sessions that are most valuable to them.

Also, the Getting Ready for College webpage is also a resource to help students prepare for their Red River College education.

For more information, feel free to connect with us!

Academic Success Centre Staff (Library and Academic Services)

Pride Month is a celebration and a remembrance of LGBTQ2+ accomplishments. It’s also a reflection on how much further to go before the world recognizes that ‘love is love.  To supplement the college’s  Pride Week Activities, including self-guided courses, the library has several resources depending on the format or looking at one aspect of the community.

Start Here

One place to start is the Gender & Sexual Diversity section of the Intercultural Competency & Diversity Guide for resources about the Transgender community or coming out in general. Place a request for a title or head to the website section for various websites devoted to organizations like Winnipeg’s own Rainbow Resource Centre or a media arts collective known as Love Intersections bringing an intersectional lens to the community.

Streaming Videos

A film can provide an intimate look into the lives of individuals within the community with titles looking back on history or looking at present concerns. The National Film Board features many documentaries as part of its LGBTQ2+ channel. Below are three of the many titles making up the channel:

First Stories-Two Spirit 

From the summary:
This short documentary presents the empowering story of Rodney “Geeyo” Poucette’s struggle against prejudice in the Indigenous community as a two spirited person (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender). Geeyo registers as a dancer in the Kamloopa Powwow under the Jingle Dress category (normally reserved for women). Deeply humiliated by a misguided elder, Geeyo is reminded by his grandmother that two spirited people were once respected and honoured for their spiritual gifts. Geeyo eventually makes a triumphant return to the powwow arena, realizing that the only way to change people’s minds is to walk proudly while being true to one’s spirit. 

Reviving the Roost

From the summary:
Filmmaker and bestselling author Vivek Shraya’s ode to a popular Edmonton gay bar that closed in 2007. With pulsating neon-light animation, Reviving the Roost is a story about community complexity and longing, and an elegy to a lost space.

Standing on the Line

From the summary:
TRIGGER WARNING: This film contains the following subject matter: Suicide and self harm.

In both amateur and professional sports, being gay remains taboo. Few dare to come out of the closet for fear of being stigmatized, and for many, the pressure to perform is compounded by a further strain: whether or not to affirm their sexual orientation.

Breaking the code of silence that prevails on the field, on the ice and in the locker room, this film takes a fresh and often moving look at some of our gay and lesbian athletes, who share their experiences with the camera. They’ve set out to overcome prejudice in the hopes of changing things for the athletes of tomorrow.

Are you an instructor in an academic program that is being highly impacted by COVID-19… and you need some new supports and resources to address your students’ learning needs online? 

Are you an instructor in a course that is being offered across academic programs… and you would like supports in different student cohorts?

Are you an instructor with students that despite all their efforts fall behind in their coursework… and you are looking for options that support the students while they do not affect your work time?

Join us at Red River College’s RED Forum on Thursday, May 20 at 3:20 p.m.

Staff from different units in Library and Academic Services will be presenting a panel session designed to share scenarios that will underscore the intersection of faculty instruction with library and academic services at the program, cohort and individual level.

The panel will share the suite of student supports that we have continued to develop over this past year in an engaging and interactive way, contextualizing the resources and services to situations you may have now, or may encounter in the future. The presentation will incorporate time for a Q&A section at the end of the session.

Please come to the session reflecting on areas where your students’ academic needs have changed during this past academic year. It is our intention that you will leave the session with a bank of resources that will help you in your everyday work with your students at the College.

For more information about this panel session, contact Dayna Graham at dagraham@rrc.ca.
 

What is Mental Health Week?  Why do we need a week to focus on this?  I don’t have mental health problems, so why make a big deal out of it?

All good questions with some very important answers.

Mental Health Week helps to break a long-standing veil of secrecy about this important part of our lives.  Talking about mental health destigmatizes it and brings awareness to the fact that no one is immune to mental health issues, be they short or long term, mild or debilitating and that yes, there are resources and treatments available.  In short, this week endeavors to provide information, increase awareness, end stigma and promote treatment.

The Canadian Mental Health Association’s 2021 theme is “#GetReal about how you feel. Name it, don’t numb it”, and in this time of Covid-19, mental health is increasingly being talked about.  We are more anxious, isolated and lonely, and more unsure of the future.  It’s important to give names to our feelings and emotions; the good ones and the difficult and challenging ones too.  Naming your emotions is the first step in dealing with them and recognizing they are normal and we all deal with them.

Mental Health Supports at RRC

Red River College has supports available.  These include the Healthy Minds Healthy College initiative, Mindfulness training through the MindWell platform, Counselling Services, College Athletics programs, an Employee and Family Assistance Program, Mental Health Workshops for students, and more.

RRC Library has many valuable resources also, such as a guide about the Healthy Minds, Healthy College initiative which contains links to print and electronic books, videos and relevant external websites. We also have Light Therapy lamps available to borrow, to combat Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Selected Resources

Below are just two of our many print and electronic resources; please email library@rrc.ca for more resources, or contact us via our Online Chat Service available on our Library Homepage.

Everyday self-care for educators : tools and strategies for well-being

Tantillo Philibert, C., Soto, C., & Veon, L. (2020). Everyday self-care for educators : tools and strategies for well-being. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

What to do when college is not the best time of your life

How is your mental health? If you have concerns remember, help is available and you are not alone.

Written by Emilie Jackson; introduction by Stephen Sawchyn, Academic Success Centre

Introduction

The Academic Success Centre has been helping EAL students in the Hospitality and Tourism Management program prepare to serve tables in Jane’s Restaurant since 2016. With COVID-19 restrictions keeping Jane’s closed to the public in fall 2020 and uncertainty around when students would be able to use the space again, the program decided to suspend language training until the winter term. Read on to hear how EAL Tutor Emilie Jackson successfully moved the language workshop series online, providing 25 students with virtual table-side service opportunities and gaining accolades from students, faculty and senior leadership.

Emilie’s Success Story: Moving the Language Workshop Online

This term I worked with four groups of EAL students in the Hospitality and Tourism Management program to help them prepare for the Restaurant Service Practical course, where students work in Jane’s to learn about fine dining. Three mornings a week for three weeks before their course, we met online to build their language skills. Our goals for the language support sessions were:

• Learn how to interact with a guest at Jane’s, including greeting the guest, taking their lunch order, serving the meal, and more, which we called the “Server Expectations Script”
• Become familiar with Jane’s lunch menu, including being able to make recommendations to guests and answer questions about menu terms and items

Our focus was learning the script and menu, but each student brought their own language needs to the sessions. While some students were confident enough in their language skills to jump right into the script or unfamiliar menu terms, others needed to focus on pronunciation, intonation, speed, or overall clarity. Students were aware that once they were on-site at Jane’s, they would be required to wear masks and socially distance, making clear speech even more essential.

Due to various language needs, I provided additional one-on-one tutoring to a few students in each group. These one-on-one sessions were student-led, and we were able to focus in on the phrases, words, or skills that needed special attention. We sang, flapped our arms, stretched out rubber bands to practice word stress, stood up and sat down, learned tongue twisters, and even practiced with masks – anything to build their skills and confidence!

Throughout the sessions, students had access to a Learn course that included materials used in sessions, as well as additional materials to assist in their independent practice.

At the end of our three weeks, the students and I hosted a Virtual Lunch. For this final session, I invited RRC staff and faculty from the Hospitality and Tourism Management program, Academic Success Centre, as well as a few members from the College leadership team to our online meeting to be “served lunch” by the students. Each student ran through the script from beginning to end with a new guest each time, which provided the students the opportunity to interact with new English speakers, receive in-the-moment feedback, and show off their hard work! It is something to be invited to lunch without food, so thank you to all the guests that have joined us over the last few months!

I was continually impressed by the students’ willingness to give their best, make mistakes, learn from each other, practice independently, and ask questions. It was a lesson in adapting to online learning, but the fantastic students made it a worthwhile challenge!

Feedback from the Hospitality and Tourism Management program:

I have been receiving glowing reports about the work Emilie Jackson has been doing with our students in Hospitality. Both our online instructors, and the restaurant instructors tell me the great job Emilie has been doing with supporting our students with language development in our program. The activities and instruction have been excellent.  (Karen McDonald, B.Ed., Chair, School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts)

Thank you to all of the staff and students who attended the virtual Long Night Against Procrastination on Wednesday, April 7, 2021. It was an encouraging evening, where students benefited from help desks, workshops, and wellness activities. The evening commenced with a Welcome Session in which Bettina Allen and Alan Chorney gave a quick tour of the event. Fred Meier gave a short speech, providing a dose of encouraging words and Elder Una said a blessing which set the tone for an uplifting evening.

A total of 54 students registered for the event. The most popular sessions were the Writing Help Desk hosted by Academic Success Centre, the Kahoot Game put on by RRCSA, and the workshop “Job Search: What Gets You Hired” presented by Student Employment Services. Congratulations go out to Riley Pritchard, who won the prize draw for a $20 gift card!

We have a few staff photos to share with you. As you can see, we had a lot of fun with virtual backgrounds!

To our students:

Our thoughts are with you, as you wrap up the term and set out to find employment and apply the skills you’ve acquired at RRC. We wish you opportunities that land within the paths of your dreams. Best of luck!

Sexual Violence Awareness – Education, Prevention and Supports

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), a month dedicated to raising awareness about the prevalence and impacts of sexual violence and sharing information about available resources to support survivors of sexual violence. Red River College is committed to creating and maintaining a safe and respectful environment for all members of our College community. This includes a working and learning environment free from all forms of sexual violence.

As part of a sexual assault awareness campaign at the College, a new guide called Sexual Violence Awareness — Education, Prevention and Supports is now available through RRC Library. This guide serves as a jumping-off point for research and resources related to sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence. Within the guide, you will find books, ebooks, videos, websites, and more on topics related to the larger theme of sexual violence.

The Versatility of the Library Guide Format

RRC Library has a broad range of guides, most of which gather together resources on a specific subject area. The guide format is particularly versatile, allowing information to be organized and arranged in multiple ways. Jess Spindler, Resource and Resolution Officer at RRC, was involved in the production of this guide. She describes the value of the library guide format eloquently.

Developing a library guide allowed us to pull together a large number of sources, and present them in a readable, accessible format. One thing I especially like about library guide format is that it allows you to organize readings and resources by subtopic, so the user can find materials specific to what most interests them. — Jess Spindler

An additional feature of guides is that they “are not static, meaning we can continue to add new resources as the literature and body of research grows.”

Fruit of a Collaborative Effort

RRC Library staff are aware that the most valuable guides come from input and collaboration with other College departments, so when Jess reached out to the Library about building this guide, she received a favourable response.

I approached Rosemary Woodby, a staff member at the Library, about an idea to bring together resources on the topic of sexual violence and supports for survivors as part of an awareness campaign for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. Rosemary was a pleasure to work with and helped identify a number of current texts within the library’s existing collection to highlight.

This is not the first time a guide collaboration has reaped fruitful results. Other successful joint efforts with Rosemary Woodby involved guides for students in Engineering Technology and Oncology Nursing.

Do you have an idea for a Library Guide?

If you have an idea for a guide that you would like to see developed, please contact us. We would love to hear from you, and we are always open to suggestions!

You will now find yearbooks from 1966 to 1990 in our archives.

For many years, the Red River College Library has been interested in the digitization of historical RRC documents and photos. However, we could not make much headway in this area as our staff lacked proper archiving knowledge, experience and time. Norman Beattie, our recently retired Public Services Librarian, managed to make some progress in developing our archives on his own time, and by using work placement students to help out with document scanning.

• • View the Red River College Historical Digital Archive

In 2019, after being approved for a Manitoba Heritage grant, we began to digitize more materials. Using this funding, we were able to hire an archivist to assess our situation and provide a guiding document, and a term employee to sort through materials, digitize and meta-tag as much as funding would allow. What was discovered is a mountain of historical documents and photos! Still, progress was made, and with additional help from the Red River College Print Shoppe we managed to digitize a full set of yearbooks from 1966-1990 in high resolution, and scan and meta-tag about 6,000 high-res photos.

Our archive is now online, and can be found here.

More recently, we have made the yearbooks from 1966 to 1990 available to the public. We feel these documents will garner the greatest interest from the college community, alumni and public in general. In the past, we had already placed historical Staff Newsletters and a selection of photos on the archive site. Again, there is sure to be good interest in these fantastic photos and documents.

There is more work to be done, as there are still thousands of photos that are yet to be uploaded to the site. Also, we are working toward ensuring that visitors to our OMEKA site can search within the documents in the archive. Finally, we soon hope to have our archive records appear in searches via our Library OneSearch feature.

To view the work completed so far, or for a nostalgic voyage back in time, visit our archive site.

Submitted by Mark Nelson