On Friday February 9th, the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department held a workshop on an Introduction to Blockchain. This workshop taught by Christopher Day, a business advisor from RapidQube, is the first in a series of three Blockchain workshops discussing how this new technology is disrupting and revolutionizing the business world.
OPIM Innovate
How the Internet Works Workshop
The internet: an everyday tool that has somehow become obscure and mysterious in both its definition and the way it works. On Friday, February 9, Adjunct Professor Stephen Fitzgerald tackled the daunting task of explaining how the internet works in the latest OPIM Innovate workshop. The workshop covered how we connect to the internet, how we send messages through the internet, the divisions of the internet (such as the surface web, deep web, and dark web), and websites.
Blockchain Workshop
On Friday November 10, the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) department held a workshop on Blockchain. In his third workshop of the semester, adjunct professor Stephen Fitzgerald, a UConn alumnus and Management Information Systems (MIS) graduate, was faced with the difficult task of explaining the intricacies of Blockchain in a ninety minute time frame.
Project Greenlight
On Friday, November 10th LIFX, a company that creates smart lightbulbs, decided to participate in a movement that began in 2013, Greenlight A Vet.
Unity Virtual Reality Programming Workshop
On Friday November 3, the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) team held one of its most successful workshops to date in the Gladstein Lab on Unity Virtual Reality (VR) Programming. The workshop, led by adjunct professor Stephen Fitzgerald, focused on acquainting people with Unity VR by “showing its historical progression, introducing students to the equipment, and teaching students how to stage a virtual reality space and make a virtual environment.”
Predictive Modeling Workshop
On Friday, October 27, the UConn Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department conducted a workshop on predictive modeling. This workshop is one of the technology workshops that the department is conducting in order to enhance the OPIM Innovate Initiative.
OPIM Welcomes Back Students
On Friday September 8th the Operations and Information Management Department (OPIM) held an ice cream social reception to welcome back their students. Management Information System (MIS) and Business Data Analysis (BDA) majors, new and returning alike, gathered in the OPIM department to learn about the resources available to them.
Installing IoT through Splunk
The final technology workshop of the Spring 2017 semester held by the Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department explored Internet of Things (IoT) through Splunk. It was the last in a series of technology workshops part of the OPIM Innovate Initiative. The workshop took place in the Gladstein Lab on Friday, April 21st. Continue Reading
Gamification Workshop
The UConn Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department conducted a Gamification workshop on Friday, April 14. This comes as a part of a series of technology workshops being held by the department throughout the semester as a part of the OPIM Innovate Initiative.
OPIM Professor Jon Moore, one of the coordinators of OPIM Innovate, taught the workshop. Moore, also, currently teaches a course on Gamification here at UConn. The workshop gave students some background on the process of Gamification and an activity on the topic.
Gamification is the study of creating experiences that increase engagement and learning in variety of different environments – such as, marketing, customer engagement, training and efficiency enhancement, Moore said. The importance of Gamification has grown because of the increase in customer data and, in turn, the acquisition of more accurate analytics data that can predict and display exactly what clients want, he said.
“I believe that Gamification is a new topic and pretty exciting to study,” Moore said.
Many students that have taken his class are Management Information Systems (MIS) majors, but Moore said what is interesting about Gamification is that it attracts a diverse audience, because it is applicable for many different majors.
Moore’s goal for the workshop was to spark students’ interest in Gamification and to introduce the topic to those who did not know about it beforehand. He said he hoped to gain the interest of potential students and to lead them into taking his Gamification class in the Fall.
One of the students in attendance, Shanzay Iqbal said she thought the workshop and the topic was very interesting. Iqbal has attended most of the OPIM Department’s workshops throughout this year.
“I really enjoyed the activity because it engaged students. Some of the other workshops are more of a lecture format and aren’t as interesting. I’m a hands on person so I liked that,” Iqbal said.
Moore said he included an activity to keep his audience engaged throughout the workshop. He said because Gamification software is less hands-on, he decided to add a group activity halfway through the workshop.
Moore was pleased with the outcome of the workshop with positive responses overall from the students in attendance. He said that many students approached him following the workshop, showing interest and seeking more information on the topic.
Additionally, Moore said he is looking for students who are interested in helping with Gamification consulting in the future, because many companies and outside organizations have shown interest in partnering in the space.
The last workshop of the semester, Exploring IoT through SPLUNK Analytics, will be taking place on Friday, April 21st in the Gladstein Lab. Please register here to reserve your spot in the workshop, as space is limited.
Demonstration of Raspberry Pi
The latest in a series of technology workshops held by UConn’s Operations and Information Management (OPIM) Department demonstrated Raspberry Pi. The workshop was held in the OPIM Department’s Gladstein Lab on Friday, April 7th, as part of the department’s new OPIM Innovate Initiative.
The attendees of the workshop came from a wide range of backgrounds beyond Management Information Systems (MIS), including students from the School of Engineering and Computer Science Department.
OPIM adjunct faculty member, Ryan O’Connor instructed the workshop, stating his goal was to explain Raspberry Pi technology and show students what the technology is capable of.
O’Connor said that Raspberry Pi is a Microcontroller, which is basically a tiny portable computer. He said that some common uses of Raspberry Pi technology are to control devices in the home, to host a web server and for Internet of Things (IoT) technology, just to name a few.
“The possibilities are pretty much endless with Raspberry Pi,” O’Connor said.
During the workshop, O’Connor gave an introduction to Raspberry Pi and instructed students on 
how to host and solve a web server using the technology.
“By the end of the class everyone was hosting a web server off of Raspberry Pi. I don’t think that’s something they thought they’d be able to say coming out of the workshop, so I think it went well,” O’Connor said.
Students in attendance said they found the workshop and O’Connor’s presentation to be extremely informative. O’Connor said he was pleased with the outcome of the workshop, calling it a great success.
The next workshop, an Introduction to Gamification will be taking place on Friday, April 14th in the Gladstein Lab. Please register here to reserve your spot in the workshop as space is limited.