Broad IT students prepared to work on real-world tech projects

An estimated 15 teams of Michigan State University juniors and seniors are prepared to help business, government and nonprofit organizations and MSU researchers. As part of the final course in their Information Technology minor, these students are required to work in cross-functional teams on a real-world project. They just need a few more clients.

Teagan Dixon, fixed-term faculty in the Broad College of Business’ Department of Accounting and Information Systems, and Tom Day, assistant professor in the Department of Media and Information in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences, who are teaching the course, say the students are ready to take on a wide range of projects. Each team will include students majoring in business, media and information, finance, supply chain management, engineering and others.

So far, students in the IT minor have completed successful projects involving the following:

• Websites and content management systems: Students have designed new websites, redesigned existing websites and proposed new ideas for database systems, among other web-related projects. For example, one student team was responsible for the redesign of an online dashboard for Steelcase and MSU.
• Businesses strategies and IT program solutions: A student team created a unified endpoint management strategy and built a proof of concept using the proposed solution for the Oakland County IT Department.
• Market and user research: Student teams have assisted companies in diverse ways when it comes to research needs, including developing a full market assessment of web technologies for the Michigan Government Management Information Sciences and performing user research via surveys and focus groups for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division.
• Social media marketing and search engine optimization strategies: Students have also created social media campaigns and SEO strategies for several companies and organizations. Recent projects have partnered with Wrapped in Love, a clothing and accessories line providing comfort, style and dignity for cancer patients, and content creators on the streaming platform Twitch, to organize a charity stream and assist with video editing tasks.

Project proposals are now being accepted from business, government or nonprofit organizations seeking student help for the spring 2022 semester, which starts in January and ends in late April. The ideal project is hands-on, with a well-defined outcome that can be achieved by five students in about 10 weeks.

To submit a project for consideration, please contact instructors Dixon and Day no later than Jan. 10.