{"id":343509,"date":"2021-09-24T00:15:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T21:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-nova-scotia-community-college-students-solved-a-data-gap-while-building-their-resumes\/"},"modified":"2021-09-24T00:15:47","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T21:15:47","slug":"how-nova-scotia-community-college-students-solved-a-data-gap-while-building-their-resumes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-nova-scotia-community-college-students-solved-a-data-gap-while-building-their-resumes\/","title":{"rendered":"#How Nova Scotia Community College students solved a data gap while building their resum\u00e9s"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#How Nova Scotia Community College students solved a data gap while building their resum\u00e9s<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n An NSCC team participated in a six-month-long data analytics competition, illustrating the growing value of students connecting with employers\u2014and vice versa\u2014prior to graduation\n <\/div>\n
\n Stephanie Sheridan knew what she wanted when she enrolled last fall for a two-year diploma in data analytics at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC): a career boost.<\/p>\n

In 2018, with a degree in computing and creative arts from Queen\u2019s University in Kingston, Ont., she moved with her husband to Halifax but could only find work as a restaurant hostess. \u201cI needed a restart,\u201d says Sheridan, now 26. The diploma program seemed a way \u201cto get a foot in the door\u201d in a fast-growing field, she adds.<\/p>\n

What she did not expect was the experience of teaming up with six classmates from around the world\u2014and almost winning\u2014a new national competition for post-secondary students to solve problems for industry and non-profit organizations. The virtual Canada Comeback Challenge offered students a platform to demonstrate job-ready skills in a year of COVID-19 pandemic-forced cancellations of internships.<\/p>\n

The six-month-long competition, which kicks off again this fall, illustrates the growing value that students place on connecting with employers\u2014and vice versa\u2014prior to graduation. Employers frequently say one of their challenges is \u201cfinding and hiring new talent with the skills they need,\u201d says Michael McKean, chief research and development officer at the Business and Higher Education Roundtable, the organization that sponsors the federally funded competition.<\/p>\n

Encouraged to join the competition by an analytics instructor, the NSCC students selected their project from 87 real-life problems supplied to the organizers.<\/p>\n

Their chosen challenge\u2014how to track female candidates who run for elected office\u2014was submitted by Equal Voice, a national non-profit that campaigns to address the under-representation of women in politics. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive question,\u201d says executive director Eleanor Fast, because the available data is spotty. \u201cBasically, we have to do it manually and go into each riding at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was there a way, her organization wondered, to automate the search to produce timely information?<\/p>\n

The data-rich question app<\/a>ealed to the NSCC students. \u201cWe thought it would be most applicable to our program and help us grow as students and apply what we\u2019re learning in class,\u201d says Sheridan.<\/p>\n

They recommended a cloud-based central repository that uses analytical tools to extract, refine and manage data from multiple sources; it can be updated regularly and presented visually in an interactive format for journalists, researchers and the public. \u201cThey did a great job with a very difficult question,\u201d says Fast.<\/p>\n

The students dubbed their system \u201cIM4HER,\u201d short for Information Management for Her Equal Representation.<\/p>\n

They faced challenges, though. Team members from Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Bangladesh were in different time zones, taking classes remotely because of the pandemic. After class, they met virtually for up to three hours a week to develop a 10-page proposal for Equal Voice and, with mentors supplied by competition organizers, produced a polished three-minute video \u201cpitch\u201d for the judges. By mid-summer, the students still had not met in person.<\/p>\n

Team captain Alonso Guerra, a 44-year-old from Mexico, enrolled in NSCC\u2019s data analytics program last fall, not only to enhance his technical skills in telecommunications but also to start a new life in Canada. He studied virtually from Mexico and continued to do so after moving to Halifax last November with his family.<\/p>\n

Working on IM4HER honed co-operation and communication skills prized by employers, he says, noting: \u201cI had the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues from different backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Lafford, dean of technology<\/a> and environment at NSCC, says participation in the challenge is an excellent addition to a student\u2019s resum\u00e9. \u201cThese [activities] involve teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving and dealing with time-sensitive pressures,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Demand for data analytics and related programs is on the rise. Next June, NSCC expects 675 students to graduate from nine of its information technology-related programs, up from 439 in 2015. Typically, 88 per cent of graduates land relevant jobs within six months of getting their diploma. Employers, Lafford says, \u201cwant us to pump out more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheridan initially thought the competition would run for one week. \u201cI had never worked on a group project that big before,\u201d she says, praising the professionalism of her teammates. \u201cI felt I really had to step up, even though they never put expectations on me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last February, NSCC was one of only three colleges (alongside seven universities) to make the top 10 finalists, with its student team winning second place a month later.<\/p>\n

Sheridan says her career is back on track. \u201cAll of the goals I hoped to achieve by going to NSCC have been met.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

This article appears in print in the Maclean\u2019s 2022 Canadian Colleges Guidebook with the headline, \u201cScraping, meeting, growing.\u201d<\/em>
\n<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n