Diploma in Interactive Design and Technology

at Saskatchewan Polytechnic - Saskatoon Campus Canada

Demand for health-care workers is high, and that includes demand for continuing care assistants. If you enjoy caring for others, and if you want to get into the workforce quickly, Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Continuing Care Assistant program might be just what you’re looking for.

As a continuing care assistant, you’ll work directly with clients in long-term care, home care, assisted living, some areas in acute care, and even special needs classrooms. You’ll help them with mobility, personal care, assisting them to eat their meals, and medication monitoring. It’s a face-to-face, people-focused job.

The program combines hands-on classroom learning with practical clinical experience. You’ll build knowledge and skills in

• Addressing individual psychosocial needs;
• Administering personal care;
• Dementia management strategies;
• Gerontology (a major area of study);
• Long-term care philosophy in different settings;
• Promoting independence in a safe environment;
• Working with individuals with different physical and cognitive impairments; and/or
• Working with people of different cultures.

Your clinical work experiences will give you a taste of different work settings. Under the supervision of a buddy or staff member, you’ll work directly with clients in home care, long-term care and acute care settings. It’s a great way to build your skills and your confidence.

Do you like working with people? Do you believe everyone has the right to live life to the fullest? Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Disability Support Worker program offers the training you need to be a community service worker, supportive living worker, educational assistant or life enrichment worker.

Disability support workers are entrusted with the basic personal care of participants of all ages in residential and vocational settings. You’ll need strong communication skills, a common-sense approach to problem solving, an intuitive understanding of human behaviour and a steady personality.

Disability Support Worker is a one-year certificate program offered at Saskatchewan Polytechnic Saskatoon campus . It is also offered through distance and/or continuing education. Learn from experienced instructors how to provide compassionate, respectful care for individuals with challenging needs and disabling conditions. You’ll develop knowledge and practical skills in:

• Basic care skills
• Behavioural support and crisis prevention
• Disability support services
• Exceptionalities and human growth & development
• Interpersonal, professional and employability skills
• Person-centred planning
• Quality of life enhancements

Enhancing Lives
As a disability support worker, you’ll be working with people of all ages and varying levels of ability. The program not only provides the practical skills you’ll need, it also provides a broad knowledge base. You’ll have the tools you need to enhance individual lives, while also build a rewarding career for yourself.

Practical Experience
Practical experience is an essential part of your program. You’ll get direct experience helping individuals in two practicums with residential, vocational centre-based or community-based agencies. In caring, secure and stimulating environments, you’ll develop your skills in providing basic care, planning programs and implementing activities.

Mechanical engineering technologists help ensure the machines and systems our society depends on work the way they’re supposed to. You need an aptitude for all things mechanical, but you also need good problem-solving and analytical skills, because your job will involve troubleshooting problems; finding better, more efficient ways to do things; and ensuring vital systems stay up and running.

The job market is strong; the opportunities are diverse. You could work in mechanical design for a consulting engineering firm, as an engineering assistant at a manufacturing plant, as a systems inspector for a regulatory agency or as a technical sales representative for an equipment distributor.

Mechanical Engineering Technology is a two-year diploma program offered at Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Saskatoon Campus. The program focuses on mechanical design and drafting, industrial and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) systems and process instrumentation. You’ll learn how to apply scientific principles to solve basic engineering problems involving:

• air conditioning
• computer applications
• engineering design
• fluids and materials
• industrial instrumentation
• power and thermodynamics
• process control
• project management

Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s hands-on approach to learning means you’ll learn by doing. You’ll design a complete air conditioning system, use cutting edge software to design a machine, conduct an applied research project, troubleshoot solutions on a technical project and more.

As an early childhood educator, you will support children as they learn through play. Your role will be to create developmentally appropriate curriculum and design inviting and effective quality learning environments. You will learn how to develop holistic programs that include early literacy and language, creative arts, numeracy, and open-ended play experiences both indoors and outdoors. Your responsibilities will include working alongside your colleagues to build relationships with children and families, community partners and other professionals.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic's two-year Early Childhood Education (ECE) diploma program is offered on-campus in Prince Albert, Regina and Saskatoon, or through regional colleges or distance learning, wherever you live.

Please note, based on availability your practicum may be outside of your program location.

It is a highly respected program that integrates the most current research on early childhood education. Topics of study will include:

• observation, assessment and documentation
• learning through play
• children with diverse abilities
• child guidance techniques
• family and community relationships
• play environments and program planning
• programming for infants, toddlers, pre-school and school-age children
• administration and child care regulations
• communication and employability skills

Are you good at math and science? If you’re looking for a program that takes advantage of your strengths and can launch you into a good career in just two years, check out the Chemical Technology program at Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

Chemical technologists are involved in quality control testing, environmental analysis, product R&D and more. You could work in a variety of settings—industrial plants to commercial and government labs. The mining and resource sectors are big employers, but you’ll also find opportunities in agriculture, food and manufacturing.

Chemical Technology is a nationally accredited, two-year diploma program offered through Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Saskatoon Campus, Idylwyld Dr. You’ll get a well-rounded foundation in scientific principles and analytic practices—essential building blocks for a flexible career. You’ll build knowledge and skills in:

• Analytical instrumentation
• Basic, organic, physical, analytical and environmental chemistry
• Handling and manipulating chemicals
• Laboratory quality control and assurance
• Recording, processing and reporting data

Learning is hands-on—you’ll spend almost as much time in labs as in the classroom. And you’ll apply what you’ve learned during a four-week industry research project.

The world runs on power. Power engineering technologists are in charge of operating and maintaining the complex systems used to operate industrial boilers, pumps, air conditioning and refrigeration systems. Demand for skilled power engineers is growing, opening the door to good jobs in the oil patch, mining, manufacturing, power generation utilities and more.

Power Engineering Technology is a two-year diploma program offered full time at Saskatchewan Polytechnic Saskatoon campus. You’ll gain knowledge and skills in the operation of power (steam) plants and industrial processes, including:

• air conditioning and refrigeration
• boiler operations (high and low pressure)
• communications
• computer monitoring of plant operations
• controls and instrumentation
• environmental (pollution) management
• equipment checks and maintenance
• plant safety
• pump operations
• water treatment systems

The program combines classroom learning with hands-on labs, power labs, computer simulations and industry work experiences. Graduates are productive on the job from day one—something employers look for when hiring and promoting.

Metal fabricator-welders are in high demand—in the oil patch, mining, manufacturing and construction. It’s a trade that requires a high level of skill and a comprehensive knowledge of industrial welding and joining processes. The payoff is high wages and good career mobility.

It's a great way to jump into the workforce … in either the welding or steel fabrication trade.

Fabricator-Welder is a one-year, dual certificate program offered at Regina and Saskatoon campuses. You’ll learn from experienced instructors how to interpret drawings and use different welding processes and metal forming machinery. Working in Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s well-equipped shops, you’ll be trained in:

• Benchwork and trade safety
• Communications, trade math and print reading
• Layout, template development and fitting
• Gas metal arc and gas tungsten arc welding
• Oxy-fuel processes and plasma arc cutting
• Rigging and electric overhead crane operation
• Shielded metal arc welding
• Shop management

You’ll also fabricate several projects, complete your Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) welder qualification tests and participate in a one-week work experience.

Machinists are in high demand in western Canada—from the oil patch to power utilities, from manufacturing facilities to mines, mills and chemical plants. The job demands both problem-solving and creativity to machine parts to blueprint specifications.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic's Machinist certificate program can fast-track you into the workforce, and give you a head start on apprenticeship. You’ll need good computer skills, math skills and be comfortable working in industrial settings.

Machinist is a one-year certificate program offered in Saskatoon and Regina. You’ll learn on a variety of machine tools in Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s well-equipped shops including lathes, mills, drill presses, surface grinders, CNC lathes and machining centres. You’ll also learn online, blended training for the CNC course, and participate in an industry-based work experience.

Experienced instructors who understand the demands of industrial workplaces, from maintaining workflow to working safely, will help you build knowledge and skills in:

• Blueprint reading, technical drawing, precision measurement
• Communications and applied math
• Computer numerical control (CNC)
• Drilling machine operations
• Grinding and sawing operations
• Heat treatment processes
• Iathe operations
• Materials selection
• Milling machine operations

If you like working one-on-one with kids with different needs, and you want to see them included in the classroom, becoming an educational assistant might be the career for you. Educational assistants provide the all-important one-on-one support that makes today’s inclusive classrooms possible. The Educational Assistant program is respected by school boards province-wide. We’ll teach you the skills and give you the hands-on experience you need to make a lasting difference in a child’s life.

Saskatchewan Polytechnic offers the one-year Educational Assistant certificate program in Saskatoon, as well as through regional colleges around the province. Or, you can take the certificate through distance education. Whether you study on campus or via distance learning, you’ll participate in two 4-week practicums - one in an elementary school, one in a high school.

Why Practicums?
Putting you in the classroom lets you apply what you’ve learned to helping children with different needs. You’ll see first hand the kind of technology being used and the curriculum being taught. You’ll have a package of guidance strategies to help deal with situations as they arise. Most importantly, you’ll gain a solid understanding of what to expect in a real classroom with real kids.

What You’ll Learn
Your job is to assist classroom teachers by working with children or youth with diverse learning needs. Saskatchewan Polytechnic provides the knowledge and skills you’ll need, including:

• Basic care skills (lifting to feeding)
• Classroom management and crisis prevention techniques and strategies
• Communication skills and professionalism
• Cultural awareness and family dynamics
• Exceptionalities (causes, characteristics and accommodations)
• Social, emotional, cognitive development (children and teens)
• Supporting teachers in specific subject areas
• Your role in the classroom

The University of Regina and Saskatchewan Polytechnic jointly offer a collaborative program: the Saskatchewan Collaborative Bachelor of Science in Nursing (SCBScN)

As a Student in the SCBScN program you will begin your nursing education in Year 1 with opportunities to work directly with patients and clients. SCBScN is accredited by the Canadian Association of Nursing (CASN). This means that your nursing program meets national standards of excellence in nursing education.