S

   

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Shis thsue:

(Y Presence on Wreck Beach this summer

And more!

(Y June events in New West and Coquitlam

(Y Reps debate BC's controversial elimination of ESL programs

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Contact: Angela Espinoza, News Editor

Mnews@theotherpress.ca

www. theotherpress.ca

Interactive social media project
highlights Douglas students

» Posters and mural share stories through smartphones

, Angela Espinoza
| News Editor

Minews
: @theotherpress.ca

D ouglas College has taken a
step forward in marketing
by incorporating Near Field
Communications (NFC) fora
public social media project.

inside a number of bus shelter

at Vancouver City Centre
SkyTrain station, all of which
are promoting Douglas grad-
uates and students by telling
their stories. Passersby can
interact with these hotspots
by “tapping” their smart
phones, which would then
load a video about a specific
student for users to view.
“NFC is an emerging
technology that’s built into
most new smartphones, like

: with le in a different way.
posters and a wall mural located : eee eee Ne

: Android, Windows Phones,

: most BlackBerrys and it’s

: coming in the generation six

: iPhone,” says Douglas College’s
: marketing and communica-

: tions director Dave Taylor. “It’s
: opened up some new possi-

: bilities for us to interact with

: prospective students and to

: tell stories about our students,

: so we thought, ‘Let’s give ita

NFC hotspots have been placed try and see how we can engage

” +: wanted to be able to connect
: our student stories together,
: plus people love new tech-

: nology, so we wanted to give

: them something new to try.

Taylor explained that NFCs

: work similarly to Bluetooth,

: able to connect to NFC-enabled
: phones and share information

: through radio frequencies.

“We wanted to make sure

: that we were reaching people
: who would be most interested in :
: the technology,” says Taylor. The :
: goal of the project is to easily
: engage prospective students
: with intriguing stories about
: Douglas College students.

“We've put out a limited number

: chose were designed to be

: near some of our prospective

: students. From our research,

: most high school students have
: smartphones, and an increas-

: ing number have Android

: and other devices that can

: use the NFC technology. We

: is large and features three of
: the student stories, and it’s

: traffic going by there, people
: going by ona daily basis and
: seeing these great images all
: the time at some point might

: of bus shelters largely clustered :
: around high schools, as well as
: the SkyTrain station mural.

“The locations that we

“The wall mural downtown

available to a more diverse
audience. There’s lots of foot

tweak them to go, “You know,

I want to find more about this

: story, and all they have to do is
: hold their phone, so it connects :
: them to hear the whole story

: of the student. It’s a great way
: to engage people on the go.”

The students of focus for

: this NFC project are Douglas

: graduates Britt MacDuff

: (performing arts) and Sanjin

: Ramovic (psychiatric nursing),
: and current international

: studies student Anoop Virk.

“They [MacDuff, Ramovic,

: and Virk] were part of our most
: recent campaign that we’ve

: been working on. We want to
: tell the prospective students

: about some of the cool things
: that are going on at Douglas

: College and some of the great
: people that are here and what
: they’re doing. This is a great

: way to share those stories.

: So the folks that are a part of

: that campaign volunteered to
do the videos that ended up

: being connected to the NFC
: chipboards and the mural.

“The technology enables us

: to go from one medium, which

: isa static mural, toa completely
: different medium, which is

: an electronic video on their

: phone, simply by tapping it. So

: it’sa great way to connect these
: great visuals of these students

: to the actual stories that they

: can tellin their own words.”

Taylor encourages current

: students and graduates to share
: their stories so that more enter-
: prising projects can take place

: inthe future. “We're always

: looking to tell student stories.

: We want to share those stories

: with prospective students.

: We want to share them with

: the community because our

: students have done some really
: interesting things, we have

: some amazing people here, and
we love sharing those stories.”

 

Zambia Global Leadership Program underway

» Douglas students travel to southern Africa for work experience

Cazzy Lewchuk
Staff Writer

 

articipants in the Douglas

College 2014 Global
Leadership Program (GLP)
have left for Zambia as of May
6. Currently in its fourth year,
the program sendsa group of
students to Zambia to work,

various areas. Ten Douglas stu-
dents of varying years and pro-
grams are currently working in
Zambia for this year’s program.
The program places
students into various fields of
work while travelling. Students
work to develop skills for both
themselves and residents of
the country in the areas of
education, health, small busi-
ness, and community building.
The students’ time is divided
into three intensive phases:
pre-departure training, work-
ing in Zambia, and a debrief
upon return. The students are

: currently undergoing phase
: two; they will return on August
: 5 to complete phase three.

Although Internet access

: is limited, the students

: regularly blog about their

: experiences. Entries by each
: student can be read in full

: online at douglife.ca. Child

: and youth care counselling

: student Jaime Pimlott described :
: her current experience ina
: passionate and enthralled
learn, and foster development in :

manner froma May 22 entry:
“T have finally settled in

: exciting, so you take in all the

: differences witha laugh. Even

: though you're not used to the

: amount of openly personal

: questions coming your way,

: having come froma colder, more
: individualized country yourself,
: you shrug it offand answer their
: questions. This is how culture

: shock begins in a new land.”

In addition to the training

: and work done by Canadian

: youth in Zambia, the reverse

: will also occur at the end of the
: program. In August, a select

: Ndola, Zambia and what a beau- !
: tifuland compassionate country :
: itis [...] The sounds of the mar-
: kets and the booming vibrations :
: ofthe Zambian music createa_:
: cultural experience, I could have :
: only hoped for [...] Although
: this is my first two weeks in

: Zambia, I feel as though lam
: at home among the people.”

The trip is a very unique and :
: new experience for most of the
: participants. Culture clashing
: is apparent, as noted ina blog

: entry by nursing student Jessica :
: Hartle: “Everythingisnewand :

group of Zambian youth will
visit Douglas College for training

: sessions and seminars. These

youth will learn skills in their

: fields of work, and after a month,

they will travel back to Zambia

: with anew wealth of knowledge
: in Canadian systems. Both sets
: of students are exposed toa

: radically different culture and

environment, fostering the GLP

goal of cross-cultural immersion
: and personal/professional
: growth through leadership.

 

Douglas Students leave for Zambia // By douglasishere.com