Looking to upgrade your digital skills? Mount Allison is offering free workshops this summer available to the Mount Allison community and the public, focusing on digital competencies like Excel, social media and marketing, and data visualization and infographics. The courses offer a mix of online and in-person delivery on campus and will provide valuable digital skill-building, along with a certificate upon completion for each workshop. 

Director of Extended Learning Dr. Beth Jewett says the Digital Skills Institute is just the beginning of a robust Extended Learning program that will be rolled out in the next few years at Mount Allison.

“We know our students and the wider community continue to want to learn in new ways and gain important career readiness competencies and upskilling,” says Jewett. “These workshops cover both field specific skills for the sciences, humanities, and commerce, and universal skills in compiling and communicating data. Participants will gain competencies with different digital technologies and programs, but also valuable experience in critical and creative thinking, knowledge translation, communication, and professionalism in a digital world.”

Registration for the courses is available on Experience MtA. Mount Allison students, faculty, staff, and alumni with existing Experience MtA user accounts can register with their user account and all others can register for the courses as a guest. Questions can be directed to student-skills@mta.ca. Note: Masks will be mandatory in the classroom for the in-person courses on campus. Students and instructors who are presenting may continue to do so without a mask.

The summer course lineup includes:

Exploring Excel — July 24, (9 a.m.- 12 p.m. Basic Excel, 1-4 p.m. Intermediate), online

Registration deadline July 21, 1 p.m.: https://experience.mta.ca/calender.htm?eventId=14

In this hands-on Excel workshop, you’ll learn how to navigate a spreadsheet, explore a dataset, and format it for readability. You’ll then develop intermediate Excel skills such as using formulas and creating well-labeled charts. The day will wrap up with expert tips and tricks on preparing files, spreadsheets, and data to overcome some of the difficulties of working with Excel.

International Business Negotiations: An Engaging “Game” for Cross-Cultural Success — NEW DATE: Aug. 25-Aug 26. in-person workshop

Registration deadline Aug. 23: https://experience.mta.ca/calender.htm?eventId=17

In this two-day in-person workshop, participants will engage in a dynamic role-play simulation to negotiate an international contract, gaining invaluable hands-on experience in the intricacies of international business negotiation. By representing companies from two distinct national cultures, participants will navigate the complexities of negotiating a strategic alliance, balancing the imperative to maximize financial performance with the need to honor cultural norms and values.

Digital Humanities Day — Aug. 10, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., in person  

Registration deadline Aug. 9: https://experience.mta.ca/calender.htm?eventId=12

Digital Humanities Day will build skills in computational thinking to give you a head-start for future Digital Humanities workshops, classes, or projects. The day will include a jargon busting activity, hands-on learning about regular expressions and working with files from the command line, a session on 3D printing for the Humanities, and a discussion about building a Digital Humanities community of practice at Mount Allison. Bring your own laptop! Food provided. Masks will be mandatory in the classroom.

Data Carpentry for Sciences — Aug. 14 & 15, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., in person  

Registration deadline Aug. 13: https://experience.mta.ca/calender.htm?eventId=11

Data Carpentries are workshops that empower researchers by building on your existing knowledge to develop fundamental data skills needed for research. Students from across the sciences are welcome to the 2023 Data Carpentries workshop at Mount Allison, which will use examples from ecology. Over two days, you’ll learn data organization in spreadsheets, data cleaning in OpenRefine, and data analysis and visualization in R. Food provided. Masks will be mandatory in the classroom.

Social Media and Marketing — Aug. 19, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in person  

Registration deadline Aug. 18: https://experience.mta.ca/calender.htm?eventId=15

Social media marketing is constantly changing and can be very difficult to manage. This workshop aims to simplify the process of developing a social media marketing campaign and provide some input on ways individuals/business owners can manage their business strategy across multiple social media channels. This workshop will involve groupwork, presentations and a focus on personal skills development in social media marketing. Please bring your own laptop. Snacks provided. Masks will be mandatory in the classroom.

Data Visualization and Infographics — Aug. 19, 1-3:30 p.m., online

Registration deadline Aug. 18: https://experience.mta.ca/calender.htm?eventId=13

A well-designed infographic does more than share information-- it tells a story, it engages viewers, and it encourages them to take action. In this workshop, you’ll learn best practices for visualizing your data and adding color, typography, and graphics to reinforce your insights. Bring your own data or idea for a social media post and leave with a compelling data story.