Georgian College integrates hands-on, real-world experiences with traditional classroom learning and digital innovation. From co-op positions to interactive and engaging Virtual Reality (VR) simulations, our students have the advantage of solving real-world problems, in a variety of ways, before they even graduate.
Georgian’s Big Data Analytics program is known for its focus on experiential learning. Here, students collect, curate, manipulate, encode and store data sets, while also completing a Major Research Project (i.e., capstone project) with an industry partner.
Juan Mafla Cetares, a Big Data Analytics student who started in Fall 2021 semester, says that working directly with an industry partner “gives him a sense of how these types of projects are handled in the real world.” Students follow specific guidelines and step by step processes that meet their client’s needs.
Caio Gasparine, part-time faculty in the Big Data Analytics program, explains that the Major Research Project gives students the opportunity to “apply innovative IT solutions, practice planning, prepare for uncertainty, analyze risks, and apply structured solutions to real business problems.” The project “requires them to think about complete solution implementation,” says Caio.
When they return for the winter semester Juan and his classmates, Amish Mukeshbhai Dungran and Amul Jiteshbhai Ghodasara, will be focused on their Major Research Project with a consulting firm called The Big Leaf. Together, they will be creating a dashboard with analysis and predictions capabilities for an academic feedback platform. The goal of this project is to provide students with a platform to rate textbooks using a variety of metrics. The data can be used by publishers to make improvements.
In addition to giving students real-world experience, the Major Research Project also “benefits industry partners who guide the teams to deliver solid and measurable business results, according to their needs,” says Caio. He describes it as “a win-win relationship” and Rahi Tajzadeh, President of The Big Leaf agrees:
“Juan has interned for us at The Big Leaf and our sister company, KnowQuest.net, for the last semester. He has taken on the challenge we presented to him with aplomb and has developed a project plan worthy of a Project Management Professional and Certified Management Consultant. He has demonstrated a clear understanding of our current situation, our goals, and the obstacles that lie in our path. Juan and his teammates developed a project plan that follows the SMART guidelines, and this is something we have approved on our end. I highly recommend working with Juan and am thankful for my experience with him.”
Jaison Jose, also enrolled in the Big Data Analytics program, spent the fall semester working with his groupmates Pranav Amin, Kshitij Basangar, and Karun Khajuria, to determine the specific requirements, objectives, and expectations that must be met for their Major Research Project with Glendor – Medical BD AI – Image Processing Solutions. Jaison and his teammates will be working to create a classification system that will identify, collect, and analyze medical images.
Both Juan and Jaison agree that while learning programming languages is a key component of the Big Data Analytics program, being able to apply this knowledge to real world problem solving is what sets Georgian apart from other colleges. Having the opportunity to “work with people who are working in the industry and seeing how they approach data analysis is invaluable,” says Jaison.
Students enrolled in the Big Data Analytics program at Georgian College graduate with both the technical skills and real-world expertise employers are looking for when they’re hiring. Companies choose Georgian College graduates because they know our students are prepared for the real-world and their future careers.
What skill do you think all students need to learn to set them up for the future of work?
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To find out more about Georgian’s Research and Innovation department and to learn more about partnership opportunities contact researchandinnovation@georgiancollege.ca.
To learn more about Big Data Analytics program please visit https://www.georgiancollege.ca/academics/programs/big-data-analytics/
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Submitted by: Kat Ennis, Communications and Event Specialist, Research and Innovation
