April Events 2007

Paul Kates, Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison

Announcement

This week, LT3 welcomes Rosina Kharal as the new Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison. Rosina can be reached at x35902, rkharal@uwaterloo.ca.

Course Development Funds

To enhance student learning, four funds are offering financial assistance for project and course development. Examples of funded projects, request forms/procedures and presentation details are available through each link below. Contact me for more information or assistance.

Office of Learning Resources and Innovation (LRI)

The Office of Learning Resources and Innovation sponsors grants to faculty, departments and schools for the enhancement of current learning outcomes in UW undergraduate courses through changes in instructional methods, learning resources, and curricula.

While details will not be ready until near the end of April, proposal guidelines will be similar to those of last year. This year it is recommended that more emphasis be placed on the evaluation of learning outcomes than in previous years. Please plan your application under the current guidelines until more information becomes available, as the grant application period may be only the first two weeks in May.

Last year, grants were worth up to $15,000 under the Learning Initiatives Fund and up to $20,000 under the Program Initiatives Fund (which is tied to formal undergraduate academic program reviews). The funds can be used over a two year period.

Details about the 2006 funds, contacts, and type of projects funded can be found at www.learning.uwaterloo.ca/PIF/index.html. Examples of 2006 funded projects are available at http://avp-lri.uwaterloo.ca/LIF/index.html.

For assistance with proposal and project development see your faculty LT3 Liaison (Paul Kates) or the TRACE office (Verna Keller, TRACE Office, MC4055).

MEF

The Mathematics Endowment Fund (MEF) finances projects that benefit undergraduate math students. Proposals, accepted from students, faculty, staff and student clubs, are to be of an educational nature, providing teaching resources, equipment and services that improve student learning. Total available funds each term are approximately $45K. Deadline details should arrive later this month. Funds will be available to prepare for the Fall 2007 term.

Funded examples include:

WEEF

The Waterloo Engineering Endowment Foundation (WEEF) provides funds each term specifically for improving undergraduate engineering education at UW. Proposals considered fall into any area where engineering student education will benefit. Proposals are accepted from Engineering (including the School of Architecture) students, staff, faculty and Alumni. Deadline details should arrive later this month.

Funded examples include:

TRACE

Instructional Development (ID) Grants of up to $1,000 are administered twice a year (Spring and Fall) through the TRACE Office. ID Grants are designed to help instructors and staff improve teaching effectiveness. for both on-campus and distance education courses. Information and the application form can be obtained from the above link. Proposal deadlines are: Friday, May 25, 2007 and Wednesday, November 7, 2007.

Funded examples include:

LT3 Events

Event descriptions are clipped from the LT3 events page. Registration is requested.

Thursday, April 12, 2007, 12:55-2:30pm

Online Peer Mentoring Programs for Distance Faculty: Web Conference
Presented by Barbara K. McKenzie, Department Chair and Mentoring Program Coordinator, University of West Georgia, Betul C. Ozkan, Coordinator of Instructional Technology, Distance Mentor, Long Island University.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library room 329

Faculty new to online teaching often use face-to-face instruction techniques that do not work in the online environment. In order to ensure top quality online programs, it is essential that administrators provide adequate support for inexperienced online faculty. One strategy administrators have found effective for training and supporting new online faculty is the peer mentoring program. Join us for the Online Peer Mentoring Programs for Distance Faculty web conference as we provide an overview of the types of factors that result in highly successful mentoring programs. The seminar will address the following three topics:

Monday, April 30, 2007, 2-3:30pm (the start of three days of UW events about teaching and learning)

Presidents' Colloquium on Teaching and Learning : "What Makes Great Teachers Great?"
Presented by Dr. Ken Bain.
Location: Humanities Theatre, Hagey Hall

How do the best teachers help their students to achieve remarkable learning? How do they think about teaching and learning? How do those thoughts guide the structure and teaching of their courses? What makes great teachers great? Dr. Ken Bain, author of the award-winning "What the Best College Teachers Do" (Harvard University Press, 2004), will explore the major conclusions of a fifteen-year study of sixty-three highly successful teachers from a wide variety of fields and higher education institutions. While the study found a variety of factors associated with successful educators, the study concluded that highly successful university teachers achieved much of their success by creating a "natural, critical, learning environment." In this highly interactive talk, participants will consider the essential elements needed to create that environment. Dr. Bain.s book has been widely adopted by universities and colleges around the world, and has been translated into six languages.

Dr. Bain is Vice Provost for Instruction and Director of the Teaching and Learning Resource Center at Montclair State University in New Jersey. He has received numerous awards for his research in teaching and learning as well as his scholarship on the history of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Dr. Bain has also received four major teaching awards.

A wine and cheese reception, following the Presidents' Colloquium keynote will be held in the Humanities Theatre foyer right after the talk.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007, 9-11am

Teaching Large Classes: Faculty Member Workshop
Presented by Dr. Ken Bain.
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329

How can we best help students learn in large classes? In this highly interactive seminar, participants will have an opportunity to explore some of the practices that successful university teachers are using in stimulating and engaging students in large classes. Bring your ideas and come join the conversation.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007, 1-3pm

Developing the Promising Syllabus: Faculty Member Workshop
Presented by Dr. Ken Bain.
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329

Can the make-up of the syllabus influence how students learn? What does the research on human learning say about how best to create a stimulating syllabus? What kinds of syllabi do successful teachers use? What can we learn from one another about constructing a great syllabus? Bring your favourite syllabus and join the discussion. This workshop will help participants work towards a syllabus that reflects findings from the learning sciences and the practices of successful teachers

More information and reviews about Dr. Bain's book "What the Best College Teachers Do":

Wednesday, May 02, 2007, 10:30-11:15am

E-Merging Learning Workshop Meet and Greet Session
Presented by Dr. Mark Morton,.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library, Room 329

The E-Merging Learning Workshop is a professional development program that guides instructors toward designing learning activities that will effectively engage students in an online environment. To date, about 150 UW faculty members have completed the E-Merging Learning Workshop. The workshop has also been delivered to faculty at universities and colleges in Ontario, California, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Participants devote about 18 hours to the workshop over the course of a month; three of those hours are for face-to-face coaching sessions, and the rest for online modules. The facilitator of the E-Merging Learning Workshop is Dr. Mark Morton.

To register or to find out more about the E-Merging Learning Workshop, please contact Mark Morton at markmorton@LT3.uwaterloo.ca or visit E-Merging Learning Workshop Website.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007, 12-1:30pm

Three parallel, informal lunchtime discussions are offered on Wednesday. A light lunch will be provided.

TRACE Events

TRACE workshops

Registration for TRACE Events is usually activated two weeks before the workshop.

3rd Annual Teaching Excellence Academy, April 25-30, 2007

An annual retreat for UW faculty members for course re-design. Faculty members nominated by their Chair or Dean will be invited to attend. Please speak to your Department Chair or Faculty Dean.

UW-ACE news

Using UW-ACE

Individuals, department and faculty groups can contact me to arrange times for sessions on their topics of interest, e.g. gradebook and Quest mark handling, communication via email, forums and calendar, and writing LaTeX-quality math in UW-ACE pages and quizzes using javascript and HTML (without using postscript or PDF documents).

See the Welcome to UW-ACE page for information about

UW-ACE Spring 2007 Course Requests

Request a UW-ACE course for the spring 2007 term by sending a note to Paul Kates or to uwacehelp@ist.uwaterloo.ca. Please give the course abbreviation (e.g. MATH 199), your preference for a new, blank course or one copied from a previous term, and if known, the names of additional instructors and TAs.

Seminars and Talks

Thursday April 12, 4:30pm

Distinguished Lecture Series Seminar, DC 1350
From Viewstamped Replication to BFT
Barbara Liskov, Ford Professor of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Nortel Networks Institute Distinguished Seminar Series

Thursday, April 26, 2007, 1-2pm

Developing and Implementing Successful Intellectual Property Policies for Online Courses
Veronica Diaz, Instructional Technology Manager and Adjunct Faculty, Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction, Maricopa Community Colleges
Patricia McGee, Associate Professor of Instructional Technology, The University of Texas at San Antonio
Requires registration.

The control of intellectual property, including copyright, by higher education constituents is an increasingly important focus of national and institutional policy debates. Over the past 20 years, the influx of technology and the resulting digitization of knowledge, especially in the areas of instructional technology and distance education, have brought intellectual property to the forefront of contested issues in higher education. Campuses across the country are reconsidering and revising intellectual property policies, especially in the area of copyrighted materials, including software and instructional technologies. Traditional notions of ownership, control, and use of educational materials are being challenged by the revolution in communications technology. This seminar will review various existing policies, highlight exemplary policies, and make recommendations on policy development and implementation.

Monday, May 21, 2007, 1-2pm

Top Ten Challenges of the Academic Technology Community
John P. Campbell, Associate VP of Teaching & Learning Technologies, Purdue University
Dennis A. Trinkle, CIO, Valparaiso University
Details to be announced.

EDUCAUSE webcast lecture

The Information Commons and the Future of Innovation, Scholarship, and Creativity
Gigi Sohn, President and Founder Public Knowledge
This recorded seminar from Thursday, February 15, is available online at the link above.

This seminar will discuss how intellectual property law and communications policy affect competition, innovation, creativity, and free speech. Gigi B. Sohn will discuss current policy debates before Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and the U.S. Copyright Office that could impact these values and the higher education community.

Past EDUCAUSE webcast lectures are available from their online lecture archives.

Library eReserves

E-journal articles subscribed to by the library can quickly be made available to a class through eReserves, the library's online course resource system. In these cases no further copyright permissions are needed. See these library sites for more information:

Linking from UW-ACE to your eReserve material is easy:

  1. fill out the online request form for the library's copy of journal articles or books
  2. bring the library copies of your own articles, books, lecture notes, assignment solutions, etc
  3. wait 1-3 days for access to material that doesn't need copyright permission (other material can take much longer to obtain copyright permission - contact the library for advice)
  4. lookup your eReserve UW-ACE page
  5. cut the three line HTML eReserve link from the library page and paste it into any HTML text in UW-ACE (in folder instructions, HTML page, Calendar entry, syllabus, ...) or other web site
  6. note: javascript needs to be turned on in a browser to use the eReserve link to access the library material

Teaching with Maple, MapleTA

Maple and MapleTA upgrades

Maplesoft has upgraded Maple and MapleTA this Spring. Live web seminars for Maple 11 and MapleTA 3 (including connections to MATLAB and Simulink and teaching with Maple and MapleTA) are running April 18th and May 15. Also available is a video demonstration of Maple 11 with cameos by U of Guelph Mathematics Professor Jack Weiner and Dr. Robert J. Lopez, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, USA and author of several books including Advanced Engineering Mathematics (Addison-Wesley 2001).

One student writes in the recent MaplePrimes online newsletter how useful Maple is in Number Theory and Topology courses:

I've got to say, I am super-excited by the announcement of Maple 11. Is there anything I need to do now in order to purchase a student copy in March, or will I be able to simply buy the upgrade for Maple 10 when it becomes available?

I haven't even gotten to use all the features of Maple 10 yet...although this semester I'll be giving the numtheory package a workout. I'm a student at Arizona State University, and there are lots of professors who make extensive use of Maple in their advanced courses. Dr. Matthias Kawski (my instructor for general topology this semester) has an incredibly extensive library of Maple worksheets that I think may be hyperlinked on this site, and Dr. John Jones (a professor of algebra, number theory, and their applications) has a set of Maple labs that go with a book which he co-authored, Discovering Number Theory.

I'm particularly interested in the new theoretical physics and differential geometry packages, as I hope to do research in the latter field and I'm immensely enthusiastic about the former (primarily general relativity).

...

Read about teaching mathematics using the computer algebra system Maple and the computer algebra assignment and quiz system MapleTA.

In addition to MapleTA, June Lowe (x33888) in Engineering uses a quiz system based on Adobe's AuthorWare software to conduct CDTs - Computer Delivered Tutorials. Typically, students work in pairs on short problems based on the concepts and techniques discussed in class.

This quiz system is similar to the UW-ACE quiz system in question types, and doesn't incorporate a computer algebra engine like MapleTA, but unique among the three quiz systems is its flow-chart style construction method and its ability to include control logic (like a program) within a quiz. A demonstration can be arranged by calling June at x33888.

UW 50th Anniversary Events

Details are available for all events. 

    Jan 11(Th) UW's 50th anniversary launch event
    Feb 3(Sa)  FASS 45th Anniversary Celebration
    Feb 17(Sa) 50th Anniversary: fantastic alumni, faculty and staff day
    Feb 19(M)  Ottawa 50th anniversary alumni celebration
    Feb 27(T)  FASS 45th Anniversary Celebration
    Feb 27(T)  TD Canada Trust/Walter Bean visiting professor in the Environment
    Mar 1(Th)  Waterloo Engineering 50th anniversary celebration
    Mar 7(W)   GradFest 2007
    May 24(Th) Toronto 50th anniversary alumni celebration
    May 15(T)  UW Staff Association 50th Anniversary BBQ Celebration
    May 30(W)  Graphics 50th anniversary open house
    Sep 28(F)  50th Anniversary alumni awards dinner

MathFrog and WiredMath

Two sites for playing and learning about mathematics, for grades 4 to 9. Very popular (10s of thousands of hits per month) with kids, parents and teachers.

Term Dates

   Jan 3(W)       Lectures Begin 
   Jan 9(T)       Distance Education Open Class Enrollment Ends 
   Jan 16(T)      On-Campus Open Class Enrollment Ends 
   Jan 23(T)      Deadline to Drop or Withdraw from Courses with 100% Tuition Refund
   Jan 23(T)      Drop, No Penalty Period Ends 
   Jan 24(W)      Drop, Penalty 1 Period Begins, official grades available from Quest 
   Jan 31(W)      Final Date for Fee Arrangements 
   Feb 20(F)      Deadline for 50% Tuition Refund 
   Feb 19-23(M-F) Reading Week
   Feb 27(T)      Drop, Penalty 1 Period Ends 
   Feb 28(W)      Drop, Penalty 2 Period Begins 
   Apr 3(T)       Lectures End 
   Apr 8(M)       On-Campus Examinations Begin 
   Apr 21(S)      On-Campus Examinations End 
   Apr 13-14(F-S) Distance Education Examination Days 
   April 30(M)    Grades Due
   Apr 22(Sun)    Unofficial Grades Begin to Appear in Quest 
   May 22(T)      Standings Available in Quest 
  
   May 1(T)       Lectures Begin
   May 7(M)       Distance Education Open Class Enrollment Ends 
   May 14(M)      On-Campus Open Class Enrollment Ends 
   May 21(M)      Victoria Day holiday (no clases)
   May 21(M)      Drop, No Penalty Period Ends 
   May 22(T)      Deadline to Drop or Withdraw from Courses with 100% Tuition Refund
   May 22(T)      Drop, Penalty 1 Period Begins, official grades available from Quest 
   May 31(R)      Final Date for Fee Arrangements 
   June 18(M)     Deadline for 50% Tuition Refund 
   June 25(M)     Drop, Penalty 1 Period Ends 
   June 26(T)     Drop, Penalty 2 Period Begins 
   July 2(M)      Canada Day holiday (no classes)
   July 27(F)     Lectures End 
   Aug 1(W)       Drop, Penalty 2 Period Ends; Last Day to Drop a Class without petition
   Aug 2(R)       On-Campus Examinations Begin 
   Aug 6(M)       Civic Holiday (no classes)
   Aug 15(W)      On-Campus Examinations End 
   Aug 10-11(F-S) Distance Education Examination Days 
   Aug 31(F)      Grades Due
   Aug 16(R)      Unofficial Grades Begin to Appear in Quest 
   Sep 14(F)      Standings Available in Quest

Past Events

February, 2007 January, 2006
January, 2007 December, 2005
December, 2006 November, 2005
November, 2006 October, 2005
October, 2006 September, 2005
September, 2006 August, 2005
August, 2006 July, 2005
July, 2006 June, 2005
May, 2006 May, 2005
April, 2006 April, 2005
March, 2006
February, 2006

Liaison Information

Paul Kates,
Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison,
pkates@uwaterloo.ca, x37047

This page is located at www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/LT3/events.html.

More information about the services of the Centre for Learning and Teaching through Technology - LT3 is available at lt3.uwaterloo.ca/.

More information about learning and teaching Mathematics, Computer Science, plus a description of the services I provide as Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison is available here.