EDUlib and Tech3Lab nominated for the OCTAS awards
April 16, 2013
EDUlib and the Tech3Lab – two innovative initiatives at HEC Montréal – are among the 88 finalists for the 2013 OCTAS awards saluting excellence in information technology in Quebec. The winners of the 27th edition of the competition, organized by the Réseau ACTION TI, will be announced at the OCTAS Gala on May 25, before an audience of more than 1,000 people, at the Palais des congrès de Montréal.
ITs serving society category
The EDUlib platform, launched in fall 2012, is one of the three finalists in the ITs serving society category. EDUlib is a virtual campus, offering free online university courses for the public in different management fields. The platform makes HEC Montréal professors’ expertise accessible not only across Quebec but throughout the French-speaking world. The first course, an introduction to marketing, attracted 3,870 students and has been completed by about 650 people. For Professor Jean Talbot, Director of the Learning and Teaching Innovation Centre, “access to top-quality higher education is a social issue, and technology, which lets thousands of students attend the same course, is allowing us to rethink the ways universities can contribute to the community.”
Innovation – over 100 employees category
The Tech3Lab, nominated in the Innovation – over 100 employees category, is a laboratory for applied management science research that can be used to analyze interactions between organizations’ technological interfaces and their employees or consumers. A variety of advanced behavioural and neurophysiological measurement tools are used to observe them and analyze their reactions. The innovative nature of the Tech3Lab lies in its use of a one-of-a-kind technology in Canada that makes it possible to triangulate different facets of the user experience for a broader understanding of interactions between interfaces and users. Co-directed by Professors Pierre-Majorique Léger, Director of the ERPsim Laboratory, and Sylvain Sénécal, holder of the RBC Financial Group Chair of E-Commerce, the lab enables a group of more than 20 researchers to carry out world-class studies in management.