Red Deer College - Red Deer, Alberta

Rose Z.

Was the absolute worst "learning" experience ever. Half the professors were to lazy to actually teach us anything. There website is terribly confusing to navigate and sigh up for classes. Can believe I've moved across province to come and get an education here, I payed so much in intuition and learned nothing

C M.

Bad school for mental health support and structure.

They clear the front of the school but not the back residence. I slipped three times in one year and there wasn't even a follow-up from the reports that I submitted. After that I took a shovel and salt anywhere I went LOL.

Residence doesn't keep up or maintain they will charge you like they do but the carpets were never cleaned before I moved in, when I lived there or after I moved out in a 3 year time. There were washers and dryers and so much clothing in the house that they had "already renovated".... When?

How does the saying go again? Oh yeah; when you're here you understand ..... Why do something in one day when you can do it in 5 and waste so much money, resources and time. .

Security super helpful, some teachers amazing some don't teach the right curriculum, Class sizes decent.

Lots of boasted support but accessing it is always a trick.

Things are slow moving right now at the college and there seems to be a lot of uncertainty but everyone is extremely helpful while being realistic and positive.

The registrar's office has had continuous miscommunication it has caused delays in my education and abilities to use the resources they say are available.

ID CARDS are not available on site due to covid (current system) they require you to upload a photo online, submit it you can pick up in 3 days at the registration office in the same line where the photos used to be and they could do it in 2 minutes.

It is incredibly beautiful here. Not clean unless you count the amazing tenants and visitors who clean up the area.

There haven't been any employees cleaning but they are great at sitting there not loitering.

Oh yeah; when you're here, you understand

Iyanah C. T.

This institution is a joke. I can speak for the extended education division. First, the administration does not even listen to our feedback as students. Second, the teachers are extremely disengaged from teaching and for someone without a technical background, enrolling here was such a bad move. Third, it is nearly impossible to follow with such a fast paced curriculum. Likewise, the teachers don't really care about setting you up for success.

To all international students out there - please don't waste your money on this institution. It's a total rip-off!

I hope somebody from the administration actually reads these reviews and realizes how bad the extended education programs are. More than that. I hope someone takes action soon. The negative feedback on the RDP downtown campus programs have been here for a long time and obviously nothing has changed. What a shame.

Holly R.

It's a college. Only reason to go there is if you can't leave the area for somewhere better. Limited programming, but great teaching staff. Not much amenities on campus, or opportunities for student recreation. I pity the students that live in residence because absolutely nothing is available outside of bankers hours.

Douglas S.

I mean what is there to say good about the extended education course at the down town campus?

UPDATE: They changed the name to Continuing Education and Corporate Training. Don't be fooled by the name change!

Let me break it down real quick
- We pay for Cengage textbooks that have outdated activities, or broken links (so far for the Software Development Diploma)
- I had one instructor who even openly admitted that Cengage is trash and should not be used because it makes you memorize definitions, and does not apply actual real world logical thinking.
- You have a few great instructors there, other instructors just read slides that summarized each chapter of a textbook.
- I actually had one online class, where the instructor had class for literally 25 minutes, he used the text book voice to read out a scenario instead of reading it himself, and then told us "Go do the critical thinking exercise".
- Classes are supposed to be about 2 hours and 30 minutes - 3 hours long, it's normal for classes to be ended 1 hour or more early.
- Classes are rushed, some instructors are completely disorganized, some of us are having a hell of time trying to keep up, but we can't because some of us are brand new and are getting up to 4 different topics thrown at us in 2 hours, and are expected to memorize every damn detail the next day.
- You ever hear about the Big O notation? Apparently it takes up to 2 months to get an actual understanding of what I nicknamed it "The Big O No". Why? Well you get it taught to you in about 20 minutes, and then you move on expected to be an expert on what it is because "We just talked about it".
- We get these emails after the courses to give an evaluation and feedback. I have elaborated on every single one of them with honest feedback, and how classes shouldn't be shortened, and the extra time should be used to teach us some real world stuff. I have also added in feedbacks that we should have hands on projects and lectures based on what we are working on, rather than just having a textbook read to us. Yet here I am still youtubing, googling, using ChatGPT, and having other class mates helping me understand what's actually going on.

I honestly feel bad for the international students, who come here to actually make something of themselves in Canada, pursue their career of choice and they are getting shafted by RDP because the extended education program is literally just milking them for whatever money they can get, and what makes it worse is some of these students are here doing bare minimum, cheating their way through the course, just to get their PR status and basically f*ck off afterwards and do as they please, and yes they are getting away with it because even when they were called out by previous instructors in previous classes for cheating. They still somehow managed to pass the courses, and I can't quite figure that one out. It is also extremely easy to pick out the students who actually try, and the ones who could care less.

My personal opinion, seek courses elsewhere, go to Edmonton or Calgary, and if you choose RDP. I wouldn't recommend extended education. Sadly it's not a tax write-off for charitable donations.

Pablo M.

Considering the high fees we have to pay as international students, and the fact that we left our country to pursue better education, the programs at extended education are pretty mediocre, and far from what I expected.

Very few teachers really care about what they are doing. Some just read slides and have not mastered their fields. A lot of their lectures can be really old-school style, although we are in IT. No real life projects that can give us an idea of what we should expect in the real world.

Besides, the platform they use, Cengage, is hard to follow, its quizzes are designed to measure your ability to memorize raw information, but not for reasoning. The material can be quite outdated as well.

Downtown campus is depressing. No amenities inside, very unpractical classrooms (good luck if you are in the middle of the room, and you need to charge your laptop), columns everywhere blocking your view, highly outdated devices.

RDP should realize that their competitors are platforms, such as Coursera, Udemy, CodeCademy, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc., etc., etc. These resources are way better than the lengthy monologues, and unappealing lectures some teachers provide.

It is demoralizing to realize that, despite we have provided feedback, not much has changed. I would not recommend the Extended Education Programs to anyone. To be honest, I have been learning better and more just by myself, at my own pace.

Maxb A.

staff who is giving information about the studies and details of international students joining process required more training and knowledge about surrounding universities too..so sad thing is no computer science related courses where more international students are coming to canada for higher education.actually this college has very less courses to attract international students when compared with colleges in big cities like edmonton ,calgary,toronto.

Myles R.

We went to the RD Symphony last night (also 5 stars) at Red Deer Polytechnic. There is ample free evening parking within a very short walk of the theater building. Seating was comfortable for a 2 to 3 hour event. Drinks can be purchased in a refillable lidded glass to reduce waste. On Friday night we went to the Harris Summer Games facility and were wowed. The hockey venue seating is very sufficient for a college team but I would recommend bringing your own cushion. The basketball venue is even more impressive and quite large. A cushion would help again and the stairs inside seem to exceed normal building standards in heights. There is an elevator for mobility challenged individuals, but maybe some enterprising company out there could donate funds for an escalator. In general we are blown away by the facilities here.