The uOttawa Datahub collates trusted and curated data from a vast array of sources into a single, online platform. This data can then be combined to produce reports or dashboards that make sense of complex business questions, regardless of the data source. The CDEL team is making the most of this resource to better understand students within the Co-op program, just one of many use cases for the Datahub’s capabilities.
Given that entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills are key components of career development, CDEL and the eHub have worked collaboratively for several years. The eHub is an interdisciplinary hub for University of Ottawa students, alumni, staff, researchers and faculty to experience, research, collaborate and advance (social) innovation and entrepreneurship on campus and within the community. To fulfill this mission, the eHub team offers several programs throughout the year to help its audience build entrepreneurial skills and start and launch businesses through programs such as the Solutions Lab, Match-Up and Startup Garage.
In light of the great synergy between the two teams, CDEL Associate Director Marc-André Daoust saw an opportunity to leverage the capabilities of the Datahub to integrate information gleaned about student participation from the eHub. To date, the eHub had been using Excel pivot tables and charts to model its participant data. With close to 4000 participants in eHub activities annually, this is a laborious process with much room for human error.
Starting with a subset of student data focused on the eHub’s programs for undergraduate students, CDEL and eHub have worked together to upload information to the Datahub. This now gives the eHub team more information about their participants and can help them filter the data based on several factors, such as faculty, year of study, gender, etc. Over the next year, the eHub hopes to be able to upload all its participant data to the Datahub.
Datahub uses all the recommended security measures that the University of Ottawa’s IT security team has assessed and approved in collaboration with Microsoft. These include multiple layers of data protection, notably multi-factor authentication (MFA), report and dataset-level security, as well as database security for all the sensitive data.
“With the help of a student, the eHub was tracking all its participant information through a very robust Excel document for the last number of years. By integrating into the uOttawa Datahub, we are getting a much more accurate picture of who is accessing our programs,” says Entrepreneurship Hub Assistant Director Kathleen Kemp. “The dashboards and graphics alone are an incredible tool for us, but the precise data allows us to assess where there are gaps in program delivery so we can better serve all students on campus.”
In the long term, the CDEL team intends to use this information, along with what they are collecting from a variety of other programs, to tell a more accurate story about the student experience at the University of Ottawa. This will help us better understand which groups of students are taking part in experiential learning activities and which ones may not be. Consequently, units can better align programming to meet student needs while delivering more effective student experiences.
“Data-driven insights are transforming how we approach student programming. The models created help our CDEL team to harness data from across the University to create more targeted, meaningful programming,” says Marc-André Daoust. “Our partnership with the eHub allows us to not only enhance our understanding of student participation in entrepreneurship activities, but also to see if these same students are engaging in other forms of experiential learning. By integrating this data into the uOttawa Datahub, we can identify patterns and gaps, helping us design more cohesive and valuable experiences that support all students on their career journeys,” he said.
Partnerships like this one demonstrate that when we come together as a campus community, we can be greater than the sum of our parts. “Another great example of our team’s continuous pursuit of innovative approaches, always striving to work smarter and collaborate effectively to achieve student-centred objectives. It’s this commitment to creativity, teamwork, and shared goals that truly embodies the essence of our #MissionEntrepreneurship. Together, we are shaping the future of entrepreneurship, one bold idea at a time!” explains Guy Levesque, who is associate vice-president of innovation, partnerships and entrepreneurship.
If you have questions on the eHub, the Datahub or its partnerships, please contact:
Andréane Drouin-Charette, Senior Specialist, Communications and Marketing Strategy, Student Affairs, Communications at adrouinc@uottawa.ca; or Maxine Fournier, Intermediate Advisor, Communications and Marketing, Entrepreneurship Hub at: maxine.fournier@uOttawa.ca;