Key success factors
- Students help solve a real-world problem that directly affects them and their campus community. Students better understand the course content and gain experience in business analysis.
- Students use ARENA software to design the computer models. This exposes students to a new skill that is in high demand in the current business environment.
- In addition to technical skill development, students learn critical thinking and adaptability as they work through different simulations.
Unique characteristics
- Partnering with on-campus food service providers gives students an opportunity to make improvements within their community.
- This also simplifies logistics since students don't need to leave campus or coordinate transportation to the partner's location.
- Since students are conducting this research on campus, they're working to solve problems they have faced, such as long line-ups for coffee. Students have direct contact with these problems and are inspired to make positive changes.
- Partners have made changes directly based on students' work in the course. Students are able to observe these tangible changes and see how they benefit their peers and campus population, such as a redesigned layout and mobile ordering.
Challenges
- At first, students expressed concerns about publicly conducting research and were nervous about being questioned. To solve this problem, students were given name tags and identifying information indicating that they are a part of an academic experience, and after making these changes, students have not expressed any concerns.
- The project must begin early in the term so students have enough time to collect the data, develop the models, and complete the final project.
Resource
Testimonial
"This service learning experience is an excellent opportunity to understand the functionality and problems of businesses and help them improve their functions." – Kavita Chowdry, MBA ITIS Student
"After the project was complete, we received many insights into our performance and some reoccurring pain-points that existed. We were also given a list of solutions that we could implement immediately to help eliminate the pain-points identified. We implemented the recommendation of adding a new order point and adding an additional staff member during peak hours. Since those implementations, we have seen a reduction in wait times by 12%, increased sales by 6%, and increased positive feedback from our Happy-or-Not program (scoring 84% positive feedback). I would recommend this to all my colleges both at Brock and other Franchise operators across the region." – Braden Day, National Brands Coordinator, Brock University
"The Tim Hortons Service Learning project for Ancillary Services at Brock University has had a significant impact on student learning in my graduate and undergraduate Simulation of Business Systems courses. It gives students hands-on experience with all aspects related to implementing a simulation project, including data collection and analysis, model formulation, analysis of results, and developing recommendations for improvement. This project has enhanced delivery of the course material. Students not only have a very tangible example to relate the material to, they also gain practical experience with studying, modeling and analyzing a real world system for a client." – Reena Yoogalingam, Associate Professor, Goodman School of Business