Tim.Maciag

Explorer of Technology, Art, Music, & The Everyday

Tag: research

  • CEEA 2022, Summer Vacay, & the Future

    Me presenting @ CEEA 2022 (York University)

    This past month (in June 2022) I was able to present both my papers at the annual/2022 Canadian Engineering education Association (CEEA) conference @ York University in Toronto. Below are links to my papers.

    The first paper above, “Facilitating Cross & Beyond Course Project-Based Software Engineering Learning Experiences,” details a process I have been exploring since being hired as a lecturer in the Software Systems Engineering (SSE) program, the general premise is the exploration of a process for educators, students, and industry collaborators to build on and continue iterating on the good work students produce within project-based courses. The paper discusses a learning experience that took place in 2018 with my graduate and undergraduate students, and my previous place of work, eHealth Saskatchewan. I’ve since been exploring the use of the process in other courses as well throughout the years, facilitating successful and/or interesting collaborations between students and industry partners (particularly with the Regina Fire & Protective Services, Internation Association of Business Communicators (Regina branch), the Regina Food Bank, and most recently the Regina Mandolin Orchestra so far). I hope to continue exploring this process this Winter as I engage in a new collaboration with Luther College’s Nonprofit & Voluntary Studies Network in future class offerings

    The second paper above, “An Exploration in Facilitating Learning Experiences Towards Inspiring Responsible Software Engineers,” details a learning experience I facilitated for undergraduate and graduate SSE students throughout 2021 that had students immerse themselves in exploring (and software engineering) solutions in support of education for sustainable development towards one (or many) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It is my hope to continue exploring this in future course offerings as well.

    The 2022 CEEA conference was really amazing. It was my first time attending the conference. I learned so much and connected with so many excellent folks from all across Canada doing great work in Engineering (and STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education. Plans are currently underway for a paper(s) submission to the CEEA 2023 event which will be at UBC/Kelowna. Super excited!

    With that, it is my plan over the next month and a bit to take some time off to recoup and rest up, coming back strong in mid-to-late August 2022 to prep for the Fall 2022 term! I am looking forward to taking a much-needed break as I reflect on the past couple of years, being thrust into COVID response back in March 2020, seemingly working non-stop until now (Summer 2022) trying to keep my head above water and trying my best to evolve my teaching while providing the best possible learning experiences to my students. I’ve learned a lot over the last little bit and hope to continue to explore, as although COVID wasn’t really a great thing that happened to us all and it really was a reactive “fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants” response, I do think some good emerged from all of my crazy explorations and experiences (and this just might be the premise of my next CEEA paper #hint …haha 😉

    Have a great summer all. If you do reach out please know I will be taking a break from it all and will respond when I can!

  • Spring Lego fun in 271

    Photo by Vlad Hilitanu on Unsplash

    I was able to break out the Lego in my people-centred design software systems engineering class this week (ENSE 271), the last time being 2-3ish years ago due to Covid.

    This activity was one I adapted/evolved from Stanford’s d.school to get SSE learners in the mindset of design thinking for their class project. Fun times!! Learners seemed to really enjoy the experience. I’ll have to do a write-up on it all in the near future – maybe for next year’s CEEA event!

  • Awards obtained from the RCE Saskatchewan

    The 2022 RCE Saskatchewan Annual Awards for Achievement in Education for Sustainable Development is happening on May 4, 2022. As director of the Humanity-Centred Computer Systems Engineering Graduate & Undergraduate Projects & Research Lab, I am pleased to announce that my students and I were successful in obtaining two awards for our efforts in the projects

    • “Education and Explorations in Being Responsible Software Engineers.” See below for student projects
    • “Web Engineering the Projects & Profiles on RCE Saskatchewan’s Website.” See below for student work

    As the event is in-person and being live-streamed we hope you can check it out!

    For more information see here:

    RCE-Recognition-Event-Advisory-2022Download

  • A research award was won!

    My team comprised of Ramona Kyabaggu-Sakubita Cheryl Camillo and me, along with our partners at Eden Care Communities (Billy Pratt, MA (Leadership) and Michelle Zulyniak) were awarded the Santé Award from the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) for the Top Solutions Program: Innovation Grant in 2021-22. Exciting!

    This work expands on explorations from one of our software engineering capstone student teams from previous years (Team Nicks). This is super exciting news as we continue our research and innovation exploration in the area in the coming year

    For more information, see SHRF’s article “Interdisciplinary research team examining how technology can help improve the delivery of home care.”

  • Software Engineers exploring the UN SDGs

    Over the past year and a bit, I have been facilitating a learning experience for both my undergraduate and graduate software systems engineering (SSE) students. The learning experience involves an in-depth, independent exploration of solutions in support of the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    The general questions I am exploring is can the now-and-future (software) engineer be inspired to contribute to positive local and global change? Can this be accomplished by immersing learners in a “safe-fall”, guided learning exploration on the engineering of computer technologies in support of the UN’s SDGs? My wife would tell me these are all run-on sentences, and for surely they are. My writing is a work-in-progress- HA! That all being said, I want to share with you brief 1-3 minute solution commercials on my students’ creations from the Fall 2021 (undergraduate class) and Spring 2021 (graduate class) where students explored exactly this. I, for one, have been inspired by the outcomes of my students’ explorations. I hope you are as well.

    As an aside: Look for a supporting publication as part of the 2022 Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA) event.

    Fall 2021

    (Undergraduate SSEers. Alphabetical by project codename)

    Mason’s “aeS” app. A game to teach children about ocean pollution
    Roxanne’s “Cope” app. An iOS watch app supporting mental health
    Rishabh’s “GreenScreen” app to support recycling efforts. This project will continue to be explored in the 2021-2022 SSE Capstone class in the Winter 2022
    MJ’s “CURL” app to help learners learn
    Abraham’s “Eatable” app to help tackle food waste and hunger
    Aina’s “Find” app in support of aiding vulnerable people

    Krupal’s “HealthHack” app to support people’s quest for healthy lives (Link leads to his commercial in GitHub)

    Carter’s “In Our City” app to help local teachers support their educational efforts
    Arika’s “No More Waste” app to help tackle food waste
    Shane’s “RageQuit” app to help tackle video game addiction and toxicity. This project will continue to be explored in the 2021-2022 SSE Capstone class in the Winter 2022
    Joe’s “SAS” app to help raise awareness of sexism and harassment and educate on their elimination
    Jon’s “Shared” app to help homosexual men learn, via stories, how to navigate their world
    Kaila’s “SolarShare” app to help citizen learn about solar energy

    Spring 2021

    (Graduate SSEers. Alphabetical by student first name)

    Bipin’s “Say No To Hunger” app to help reduce food waste
    Brandon’s “User-Friendly Jukebox” to support good health and well-being
    Dhaval’s “ProjectPosidon” to help support water infrastructure efforts in Tanzania
    Dhruval’s “Food For All” app to help tackle hunger in India and beyond

    Helly’s “Covid-Support” app to help companies manage COVID exposures (Link leads to his commercial in GitHub).

    Ho’s “Covid-19 Awareness” app to help citizens better understand Covid-19
    Nidhi’s “Motive Green” app to help citizens understand their carbon footprint
    Priya’s “WorryNot” app to help support mental health
    Reema’s “MHCare” app to help support mental health
    Sangeeta’s “Yield Prediction” app to help support agriculture efforts around the globe
    Shreyans’s “Connecting Humanity” app in support of hunger and poverty relief
    Tejal’s “Land Locator” app to help support small and large agricultural efforts
    Trevor’s “VoiceCare” app to help support good health and well-being

    I know there is a lot to unpack here. That said, all of these projects and student explorations give me hope! I also know that many students learned a lot about the UN SDGs and were/are inspired to go forth and be awesome – positively advancing society for us all!

  • Towards a “metaverse” we can all be proud of

    A pause for reflection from Ethan Zuckerman: “The metaverse isn’t about building perfect virtual escape hatches—it’s about holding a mirror to our own broken, shared world” from: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2021/10/facebook-metaverse-was-always-terrible/620546/

    As we continue to explore variations on the metaverse (variations of online digital spaces), which I think are inevitable, and as we inch even closer to a near Ready Player One existence, my question is where do/can we go from here? Can #softwareengineers & #computerscience practitioners make a difference? I think, maybe yes?

    Towards this, my students have been exploring (PDSA) solutions in the realm of providing immersive experiences around the UN’s 17 SDGs and it has been interesting to see how my students are providing opportunities for folks to “[hold] a mirror to our own broken, shared world” while also providing knowledge growing opportunities embedded within their computer system creations to allow humanity to positively progress forward. I look forward to sharing my student’s creations from this current term in a future post (here’s my post about my student’s creations in a past class).

    As I continue to explore this idea it is my hope that when my students are unleashed into the world that they take with them a sense of duty in the spirit of Eli Pariser’s idea of being responsible/ethical digital urban planners – those that seek to create palaces for the people where we all can all learn and grow in a more human(e) way.

  • Candace and me @ RIC 2021

    Candace and I recently presented at the 2021 Research Impact Canada (RIC) annual conference (http://researchimpact.ca), discussing our collaborative explorations between the Regina Fire and Protective Services and undergraduate students in one of my Software Systems Engineering classes (People-Centred Design) at the University of Regina to engineer modern software applications for fire safety education. Enjoy!

    Abstract: Over the past years, Regina Fire & Protective Services has provided an interactive activity, delivered by firefighters, designed to lead kindergarten to grade three students through the components of a family fire escape plan. While the original intent of this fire education program is still valid and necessary, the original design has become obsolete and lacks relevance with current technology and communication tools. In collaborating with the University of Regina Software Systems Engineering program, a modern technology was designed and developed by post-secondary students to evolve the teaching tool, saving lives by partnering education and the latest technology and engineering possibilities.

  • 2021 Adobe Max Conference

    As with last year, my favourite conference event of the year is happening online and for free registration. Fellow creatives, register and set up your schedule now!

    https://max.adobe.com/

  • Student-built 911 education app going live!

    My student Jack Zhao and I, with funding from the University of Regina Community Engagement and Research Centre, worked with Regina Fire & Protective Services and the City of Regina IT Department to design and develop a 911 education app to assist with home fire safety training initiatives (this work stemming from one of my Software Engineering classes).

    Software Systems Engineering student Jack Zhao was the lead designer and developer of the app. The app is going live soon! I couldn’t be more proud of Jack’s efforts on this project!

  • Presenting our research at EngAGE21

    Our research team presented at EngAGE’21. Our work, which extends the excellent work from our Software Systems Engineering capstone students (Nicolas Achter, Nickolas Schmidt, Nikolas Lendvoy, and Shayan Khan) seeks to explore how technology can support ageing at home. Please watch our presentation and comment away!