Presentation length: 1 hr

1. How Has IT Education
Evolved to Support Project
Delivery?
Sarah “The Awesome” LaCroix
Business Information Technology Student, Red River College
@punkrockgoth www.linkedin.com/in/sarahelacroix/

2. A shoutout to
our sponsors!
They’re the real MVPs

3. Hi. I’m Sarah. I’m awesome. True story.
Here’s a picture of a bunny and kitty being best friends for you to enjoy while I introduce myself.

4. An overview of the next hour:
Part 1: A brief history of IT education in Manitoba
Part 2: Tales from the “real world” our teachers and parents kept talking about
Part 3: Where do we go from here?

5. Part 1
A brief history of IT education in Manitoba

6. I visited 3 post
secondary
institutions
I consulted the academic records from
3 different institutions:
● University of Manitoba
● Red River College
● University of Winnipeg
I wanted to find out:
● What did early IT programs look
like?
● How have course offerings
changed?

7. A brief history of IT education in Manitoba
Computer education programs started to
appear in Manitoba in the late 1960’s-early
1970’s
● 1966 at University of Manitoba
● 1968 at Red River College (Manitoba
Institute of Applied Arts at the time)
● 1971 at University of Winnipeg
Offered through already established
departments
● Faculty of Science at UoM
● School of Business at MIAA
● Math department at UofW
Promotional photo for the new Computer Analyst/Programmer diploma
used in the 1968-1969 Manitoba Institute of Applied Arts (now Red River
College) course calendar.

8. ● Heavy focus on math
● Only 1 or 2 actual computer
courses
What did these
early programs
look like?

9. University of Manitoba Course Offerings 1965

10. Red River College Course Offerings 1968
How about that physical education requirement?

11. University of Winnipeg - 1971

12. A brief timeline of CompSci programs in Manitoba

13. By the decade...
● 60’s
○ Establishment of CompSci as a field of
study
● 70’s
○ Course offerings grow
○ Still math and programming heavy
● 80’s
○ Subtle shift towards computers as a
professional practice
○ Relational databases start being taught
● 90’s
○ Schools shift towards Object Oriented
models
● 2000’s
○ Schools adjust to growing number of
areas of study
● 2010’s
○ IoT, security and people skills getting
emphasis
Programs tended to make big
shifts and then spend the
following years growing into
those changes.
This is reflective of the industry
in general.

14. Some gems from the Wayback Machine: Part 1
Snapshot taken: August 2, 2002

15. Some gems from the Wayback Machine: Part 2
Snapshot taken: September 25, 2001

16. Some gems from the Wayback Machine: Part 3
Snapshot taken: December 16, 2000

17. What has been removed to make room for new stuff?
Insert video here

18. This brings us to today*...
● 4 undergraduate
degrees
● 2 Masters options
● 6 continuing education
programs
○ +1 to be launched this
winter
● 2 diplomas
● 1 diploma prep program
● 8 certificates
● 1 post-graduate diploma
○ +1 TBA
● 7 undergraduate degree***
options
● 3 joint programs
● 7 areas of specialization
● 2 Masters options
● PhD program
● 1 continuing education
program
***5 CS, 2 Computer Engineering
*”Today” meaning as published in 2017-2018 course calendars for the schools.

19. Part 2
Tales from the “real world” our teachers and parents kept talking about

20. I sent out a
survey!
I wanted to hear from different people:
● Current students
● Recent graduates
● Educators
● People who have been working for
awhile
I wanted to know:
● What was their most useful and useless
class?
● What was the important skill gained
through education?
● What skills would they add to
curriculums if they could?
● What advice do they have for students
and employers?
A lot of really awesome people responded!

21. How I thought students would respond:
● Most useful class: programming or networking
● Most useless class: accounting or humanities
● Most desired skill: programming
I expected recent graduates to respond similarly.
Assumptions - The survey answers I was expecting
How I thought experienced people would respond:
● Most useful class: business or communication
● Most useless class: accounting or humanities
● Most desired skill: management or communication
I expected instructors to respond similarly.

22. What I learned:
Most hated class:
● Technical Writing
Most valuable classes:
● Web Development
● Programming
Most important skill:
● Working with people
Nearly all respondents understand the
importance of strong interpersonal
skills, however they also don’t feel
that schools are adequately
addressing these critical skills.

23. Only 1 respondent said that students are stupid, lazy and getting dumber
with time. I expected more people to share this attitude, but overall, people
were excited to mentor students and work with new graduates.

24. PSA More than half of survey
respondents made mention to
harassment, sexism and
discrimination. This is particularly
noteworthy because I did not ask
about this.
Be nice to people. All people.

25. Part 3
Where do we go from here?

26. How has IT education evolved to improve project
delivery?
● Courses are now including project management both from the managing side and being part of a team
working with a project manager.
○ Project management is an elective at all institutions studied, however it does get mentioned in other courses
● Programs include more exposure to different areas of IT (business, web, development, databases, etc)
● Students are forced to consider opportunity costs for every decision they make. This is an unintended
consequence of the structure of post secondary education, but it does prepare students for business
decisions.
○ Downfall may be that students might not necessarily make this connection
● Instructors are forced to teach in such a way that all course takeaways may not be immediately obvious.
This includes group projects, writing proposals for assignments that were going to be assigned
regardless, and incorporating different styles of teaching.
○ Downfall may be that unless students make the connection, getting value from this may be difficult

27. Where does it fall short?
● Students don’t get the opportunity to get good at anything. Course loads are so heavy to compensate
for the increase of material that learning outside of the classroom is difficult
● Programs change so fast that teams working with students or fresh graduates don’t really know what
knowledge is already there
● Despite having high school be the base entrance requirement for these programs, these programs
are not beginner friendly. People who already have experience end up doing better in these
programs (which makes sense), but it often means that people without that background get left
behind. This is particularly problematic in cases where grading is done on a curve. This also continues
the idea that newcomers are not welcome to IT. Can someone without any existing knowledge
succeed in their programs? Yes, but the cards are stacked against them and it is an uphill battle.

28. What can we do to improve?
Students/Fresh Graduates…
● Understand that teaching and training are
hard jobs. The person training may or may
not have a lot of experience with students
and fresh graduates.
● Don’t assume your colleagues are familiar
with your knowledge base even if they
came from the same program as you.
● Be willing to be malleable. Businesses will
likely do things differently than you were
taught. Not wrong, just different.
Experts…
● Understand that even if students learned a
technology, they will still likely need
coaching.
● Have patience for people who are new to
the industry. Early experiences have a lot
of impact on how people will grow in their
careers as well as their attitudes towards
the workplace or even the entire industry.
● Don’t minimize what students are being
taught.
A lot of this is a case of “it is what it is”, especially because curriculums take time to change. The best that
we will likely be able to do as individuals is be compassionate, have patience and don’t assume.

29. Questions? Comments? Thoughts?
@punkrockgoth #prdcdeliver

30. Thank you for being here!
There were lots of great talks to choose from, and you chose mine. It is truly an honour.
@punkrockgoth https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahelacroix/