Author: Evan Scammell

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Finally, a simple way to health care

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

CSU’s health-plan provider launches a mobile application

The Alliance pour la santé étudiante au Québec (ASEQ) has created a new mobile application designed to help students access their ihaveaplan accounts at Concordia on their mobile devices making it more convenient for its users to take advantage of health, dental, vision and travel coverage.

The mobile application is available online, in the Apple app store, free of charge, and can be used with Apple mobile devices, including iPads, iPhones, and iPods. An Android version of the application will be available but according to Callan Davey, a program manager for the ASEQ, a specific release date has not been set.

The user will be able to take a picture of their receipt for their prescription, dental, and health expenses with their smartphone or

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

tablet and send it directly to the insurance companies with the application, with a confirmation period of five business days. The application also keeps track of the users payment history and offers a special service for non-Quebec residents, by using a ‘pay-direct card’, meaning that the user can have their claims processed immediately.

The service also provides emergency travel contact information, 24 hours a day. This means that if a user is in another country, perhaps doing an exchange, and has a medical emergency, the app will help them get in touch with a specialist from Canada. They can then be directed to the nearest health service location.

“The CSU is extremely pleased with the new mobile application and we are always looking to improve student services,” said CSU President, Melissa Kate Wheeler. “We are convinced that this app will provide our members with easier access to health-care benefits. We’re happy that ASEQ understands the needs and habits of our students.’’

The CSU at Concordia has been collaborating with the ASEQ almost since its foundation in 1996, being one of the first schools to participate in the ihaveaplan service. The organization deals with school councils exclusively and currently has over 650,000 student users across Canada.

Davey explained that the organization needs to conform with the growing technological community at schools, making their service more accessible and easy to use in an age where almost everyone has their own personal electronic device.

The organization expressed they also want to move forward with the environmental standards of the future.

“The ihaveaplan mobile app is designed to make as many ASEQ services as paperless as possible, ultimately contributing to a more sustainable future for students,” said Lev Bukhman, executive director.

The organization has also participated in Climate Smart’s training program for businesses and were early adopters of a greenhouse gas emissions management strategy, according the their website.

For more information go to www.ihaveaplan.ca

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Updates from your Concordia Student Union

–UPDATED March 19, 2014: 19:09–

The Concordia Student Union met on March 12 in the CSU lounge on the 7th floor to discuss and make decisions about upcoming projects, requests, and proposals at Concordia University.

The temporary measures committee, was tabled indefinitely, practically guaranteeing its disbandment.

CSU president Melissa Kate Wheeler requested that the discussion about the Java U space be tabled until the next meeting due to insufficient information and planning on the issue at the time. A majority vote sided with Wheeler, pushing the discussion until next month’s meeting.

An update on the Hive project at the Loyola campus suggested that a project manager be hired for the advancement of the project. A majority vote was in favor of the request.

The meeting also addressed vacancies on several committees. There were two vacancies on the finance committee, one vacancy on the Loyola committee, and one on the Sustainability committee. Justin Caruso, a councillor currently on the Loyola committee, offered to be a representative for the sustainability committee and was accepted. Michael Richardson, a councillor who was absent due to family reasons, was nominated twice by other councillors for one of the vacant positions on the Finance committee.

A proposal by representatives from La FEUS (Federation Etudiante Universitaire de Sherbrooke) requested funding from the CSU for a research project involving the legal obligations of student council. The CSU found the request was valid and held potential value to their organization and said further inquiries into the project would be held in order to  make a final decision regarding the CSU’s participation.

Due to the upcoming Quebec elections in April, a proposal for the mobilization of youth voters was put forth. One representative suggested a video be made in order to inform, specifically Concordia students, about the importance of voting.

The CSU executive proposed entering into an agreement with Concordia’s archives department wherein the CSU would donate their archives to the department and give responsibility for the filing and maintenance of said documents to them. As the CSU currently has no unified means of archiving their documents, this would provide an ideal solution. The motion asked that the Council grant the executive permission to enter into a process of negotiation with the university’s archives department for the purpose of reaching an agreement whereby the CSU’s documents would be moved to the archives department. However, the executive was adamant that if given authority by the Council to pursue negotiations toward an agreement, they would not formally agree to anything without first bringing the agreement to council.

Another motion involving the backup of all Concordia files, as well as the conversion of paper files into digital format, was discussed. Morrow expressed that “having something like this is absolutely crucial,” emphasizing that a move to a digital culture is

necessary. The approximate cost of the project would amount to around $63,000. Morrow suggested that CommVault be considered a good candidate for this project.

Finally, a motion asking for the creation of easily accessible statistics and efficacy rates of student services such as HOJO and Legal Aid was proposed. Council said it would discuss and examine the issue further.

The next CSU Council meeting will take place on Wednesday April 9.

 

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Webster Library renovation plan in the works

Complete construction to be finished by April 2017

Guylaine Beaudry, Concordia’s interim university librarian, has unveiled the renovation and expansion proposal for the R. Howard Webster Library, which focuses its concern on the university’s growing number of students and lack of study space.

On March 4 at the J.W. McConnell building, a one-hour information session was held by Beaudry to discuss and set forth the renovation proposal to the board and devise a plan to improve the library space. The board acknowledged the issues presented and allowed Beaudry to begin by creating a proposal, which she shared with the student and staff attendees at the information sessions, (another one was held at the Loyola campus in the Vanier Library on Friday, March 7).

Beaudry has been working with students and gaining a lot of feedback through surveys using LibQual – an online library service survey – focus groups, and other means to find out how Concordians feel about their space.

One of the many comments expressed by current Concordia students is that “it is often difficult to find space in the library during exam periods.”

The Webster Library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and currently accommodates 1.8 million visits per year and 6-12 thousands visits per day, but Beaudry stresses that these numbers are going up at an accelerating rate; in February the library was averaging over 12,000 visits per day, which is supposed to be a relatively slow time of year.

Within a 20-year period, from 1992 to 2012, the population of students attending Concordia has nearly tripled going from 16,000 to 45,000.

In the proposal produced by Beaudry, the goal is to increase the overall space of the library by 27 per cent and the number of seats by 114 per cent, from 1,550 to 3,400.

Another addition to study space Beaudry would like to see is in the Grey Nun’s residence building, with plans to turn the chapel into a study hall.

Beaudry expressed that she is not only concerned with the amount of space at the library but also its accommodations for a certain kind of learning environment. One student expressed in a LibQual survey that there’s “not enough space to study and do teamwork.” Beaudry explained that a more “collaborative learning environment” is necessary.

In the proposal, all of the different types of study spaces were grouped into 11 different categories: tables for silent study, carrels for silent study, tables with desktop computers, social areas, group study rooms, presentation practice rooms, graduate student study spaces, classroom and technology sandbox, conciliation rooms, seminar rooms, and zero-noise rooms. In the group study rooms there would be whiteboard surfaces, television screens, speakers, podiums (for practicing presentations), and hook-ups for laptop or tablet devices; the zero-noise rooms would be made out of soundproof glass; more ‘social areas’ or lounge areas would be added; and the seminar room would be like the group study room, but much bigger, with more seats and a bigger space.

Beaudry explained that not only a change in the number of collaborative study spaces would be needed but also a “response to the revolutionary changes in information technology.” Concordia’s Webster Library currently has 200 laptops and 75 tablets available for rent; Beaudry spoke of doubling that number and doubling the number of desktop computers as well.

There have also been issues raised with students having to book study rooms through CLUES. Beaudry explained that CLUES was only designed to take out books and proposes the installation of digital booking modules onto each respective study room.

The digital device would be much like a small tablet or phone so students could punch in which time they would like to reserve the study room. The proposal also requests that 3D printers be available for all Concordia students to use. Additionally, the request for ‘visualization rooms’ that use multiple projectors to create a 360 degree image around one room to immerse the student into an environment using pictures and videos provided by the user was presented.

Beaudry described both visual and aesthetic reforms to take place if the proposal goes through, involving a change in the colour scheme of the space, incorporating more neutral colours (white, black, grey, and wood), along with different shades of maroon, red and pink.

One of the most important things, Beaudry explained, is the presence of natural light; the use of glass instead of brick and mortar will be highly stressed.

“We have to see joy in the space,” said Beaudry.

Along with a few other tweaks, like the incorporation of plants and having the book drop at the front of the entrance, the plans for the Webster Library renovations are just about finished. The board will make their decision in October 2014 and the proposed project is estimated to be finished in August of 2017 if accepted.

If you would like to give feedback email Guylaine Beaudry at guylaine.beaudry@concordia.ca.

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Concordia hosts an informative speaker panel

Photo by Tim Weynerowski

On Tuesday Feb. 4, The School of Community and Public Affairs (SCPA), and  the Political Science Student Association (PSSA) encouraged students to come out and get informed, get engaged and get involved in some of the discussions and issues that are going on involving the right to public information in Quebec and Canada.

Silence in Canada: The Right to Public Information, consisted of a two-hour discourse with invited panelists on the problems Canadians have with the legislation surrounding the Access to Information Act.

The panelists included Carolyn Carluccio, the director of administration at the Commission D’accès a L’information du Quebec; Mike de Souza, a political journalist and correspondent for Postmedia News and a specialist in access to information cases; Jonathan Brun, who has helped in the creation of Nimonik, a way to track and confirm certain laws on mobile devices and Alan Conter,  a former CBC Radio executive as well as a part-time faculty member teaching law and ethics in the journalism department. The moderator for the event was Emily McCarthy,  the assistant information commissioner of Canada.

Photo by Tim Weynerowski

The panel focused on discussing issues involving the limitations that the government has on information that they are obligated to disclose to the public.

In 1983 the Access to Information Act was passed, which gave Canadian citizens “the right to request access to any record under the control of a federal government institution”(Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Information and Privacy Policy Division).

McCarthy expressed that a lot of pressure is being put on the Harper government to review this legislation and discuss potential reforms. According to Carluccio, her department goes through 500 cases, involving access to information issues, per year with three other judges. Carluccio emphasized that the timing in which a government document is able to be released and whether or not it could be accessible through the Internet are important factors to discuss when deciding on proper legislative reforms, and a “willingness to change mindset” by the parties involved would be necessary.

Brun focused on what the general public could do, through using technology and the Internet, to access information and lobby for more transparency from the government. He stressed that the government would have to improve their “response efficiency” to requests for information if things are to change.

de Souza said that the law could be used to the publics’ advantage in getting the government to answer questions in regards to access to information. He himself has investigated several stories, including the Lac-Mégantic train derailment, where requested information took up to a year to be disclosed.

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Cooplearn gaining popularity for student projects

Have you ever wondered if there were other options out there besides Google Drive and Dropbox for student projects? Well, Ottawa University student, Bassil Eid, may have the solution for you.

Cooplearn.com is a website for students that offers innovative ways to collaborate as a group to study a certain subject. It was designed to improve students’ grades and study techniques, and also offers online social interactions with other students.

The site was founded by Eid, who is studying economics at the University of Ottawa, and Robin Defaye, in collaboration with graphic designer Ryan Sheppard.

Although Cooplearn.com has been running for less than a year, it’s membership is already growing at a steady rate, and it is improving its services to students and expanding its market.

Eid stated that through feedback from Cooplearn’s student users, they are constantly able to innovate ways to make their services more user friendly and efficient in order to help students to achieve their academic goals.

Some of the more significant changes made to the website include those pertaining to the aesthetic quality of the site, with improved navigation and user friendliness. Students also asked to have improved functionality, making it easier to share notes, textbooks and questions in a more creative way, explained Eid.

“We are of course constantly working on functionality. We improved inbox messaging by allowing for a quicker searching for scholars. We also updated our textbooks section in the Studyrooms to allow users to fill in more information regarding a specific textbooks making it easier/cheaper for other students to find. We are also working on adding in a chat.”

The site offers a more organized method of sharing than other online services, such as Google Drive, because the collection of documents uploaded to Cooplearn directly relates to the chosen course or “Studyroom.”  This allows students to more efficiently share assignments, exams, notes and add textbooks. For example, on the site, there are specific sections designated solely for assignments and exams where students can “post comments, answers and questions on the spot.”

According to Eid, users in programs such as English, psychology and history use the site the most. “They use [the site] to collaborate and discuss their assignments weekly. We are however seeing a surge of Econ and Math students registering and we expect them to be about 50/50 with the other programs by the semester’s end.”

The site is available in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Singapore, Switzerland and Denmark. Eid stated that the site is limited to certain countries and markets “in order not to get overwhelmed with feedback and ensure that we create a more user impactful product for our students.”

The site does not use any form of advertising for revenue purposes and Eid says that he will refrain from using it and if in the instance of the necessity of advertising it would be presented so as to not interfere with the user’s experience.

The site has relied solely on word of mouth from student to student for overall recognition of the website and Eid says that this form of marketing generates more than enough registered users and “has turned out to be the biggest promotional technique.”

Since the site is still in its beta form there are a lot more improvements to be made. Eid plans to continue working with students in finding out which changes to the site can be made in order to improve functionality and creativity.

Check it out at Cooplearn.com

With Files from Tim Weynerowski

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Political science students head off to a Model UN competition

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

The Concordia University Political Science Student Association’s (PSSA) Model United Nations team is off to participate in the annual Queen’s University Model UN (QMUN) competition on Feb. 6.

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

The team was organized exclusively by the PSSA, which is a separate entity from Concordia’s Model United Nations team (CONMUN).

According to Jawoon Kim, a member of the PSSA and team organizer for this year’s event, this is the first time Concordia has participated at QMUN.

QMUN is a simulated United Nation’s conference, providing a forum for students to discuss and debate contemporary world issues. Students will be able to distinguish themselves by acting as delegates for different states.

In preparation for the competition, delegates from both Concordia and Queen’s University were able to request three states in order of preference, which were then sent to the QMUN organizers, who will make the final decision regarding which delegate will be assigned which state.

For the competition, each delegate must represent their assigned state and debate different topics. Which topic they will debate depends on which committee they are assigned to.

At the competition, delegates will have the opportunity to participate in several different committees such as the African Union, the Arab League, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Historical Security Council, the Security Council, the United Nations Centre for Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the World Health Organization.

Topics being discussed in these committees range from food security to renewable energy sources for the future.

At this year’s event, there will be four guest speakers in attendance: John McNee, a former ambassador and official representative of Canada to the United Nations; Dienne Hardianti Moehario, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia; Hugh Segal, the senator for Kingston-Frontenac-Leeds; and Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Canada’s ambassador, and official representative of Canada to the United Nations.

A number of different awards will be presented to the delegates competing, such as best delegate, best policy paper (a paper written before the competition), and best dressed man and woman. There will also be one honourable mention.

This is the 29th QMUN competition to take place at Queen’s University.

The competition will begin on Feb. 6 and end on Feb. 9.

 

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