February Events 2007
Paul Kates, Mathematics & Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison
Announcement
The deadlines for MEF (math) and WEEF (engineering) course development funds are a a few weeks away, at the start of March. Follow the Course Development Funds link to the right for details.
LT3 Events
Seeking Views on Classrooms
LT3 is gathering information on UW classrooms to assist in identifying locations and types of upgrades for future classroom improvements. If you would like to help by offering suggestions for alterations or appraisals of rooms, labs or other teaching areas, please send me your comments.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007, 11:00am-12:00pm
- Enhanced Podcasting
Presented by Alan Kirker.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library, room 329 In this presentation, Alan Kirker, LT3's Information and Interface designer, will look at some of the ins and outs of enhanced podcasting. Specifically, how an audio file with still images inserted at pre-defined "chapters" can be created, distributed, and played. Included will be a review of some current technologies (mac vs. windows implications), and a look at how such a podcast can augment recorded lectures, lab demos, field observations, guided tours and other applications where a portable device might be employed in the teaching and learning environment.
Thursday, February 15, 2007, 12-12:30pm
- E-Merging Learning Workshop: Meet and Greet Session (Introduction)
Presented by Dr. Mark Morton.
Location: FLEX Lab, Lib 329, Dana Porter Library 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 need to 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. After the introductory session the remaining two meeting times are Thursdays, 11:30-1 at LIB 329 on March 1st and 15th, or March 5th and 19th (your choice).
Thursday, March 8, 2007, 2-3pm
- Stay or Switch?
A Learning Object to Promote Understanding of the Monty Hall Dilemma
Presented by Prof. David DiBattista, PhD., Psychology Professor, Associate Dean of Social Sciences, and Chancellor's Chair for Teaching Excellence, Brock University.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library room 329 The Monty Hall Dilemma is especially interesting because many people - including some mathematics professors - struggle mightily to understand the probabilities behind the correct solution, and many highly intelligent people never do so at all. Furthermore, people are often resistant when the correct solution is explained, continuing to insist that staying and switching are equally likely to result in winning the car. Why is the Monty Hall Dilemma so challenging? And why are so many people so resistant when the correct answer is explained? The Monty Hall Dilemma learning object displays an animated, set-based explanation of the probabilities underlying the problem and lets users actively participate in games to increase their understanding of these probabilities.
TRACE Events
- Research Projects Workshop - March 6(T), 1-3, FLEX Lab, LIB 329
- Interactive Teaching Activities - March 7(W), 12-1:30, MC 5158
- Interactive Teaching Activities - March 8(W), 12-1:30, MC 5136
- Teaching Dossiers Workshop - March 14(W), 12:30-2:30, TBA
- CVs & Cover Letters - March 15(Th), 12-1:30, TC 2218
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
- setting up a marking scheme in the Gradebook (assignment, midterm, final)
- configuring UW-ACE courses for first-time and experienced users
- online grade submission via Quest
- full user documentation of the current UW-ACE/ANGEL 7.1 system
UW-ACE Winter 2007 Course Requests
Request a UW-ACE course for the winter 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
Nortel Networks Institute Distinguished Seminar Series
- The Future Friendly Home - Challenges and Opportunities
Dr. Ibrahim Gedeon Chief Technology Officer, TELUS
Monday, February 26, 2007, 10-11 am, DC 1304. Abstract: Ibrahim will talk about the Vision for the TELUS Future Friendly Home, a key underpinning of the TELUS strategy for the Consumer Marketplace. Topics of discussion will include:- The home network - what will the dominant home networking technology be in 2010? Will WiFi take a role in video delivery in the home? Where will UWB be exploited? What is the role of power line technology?
- Home hardware - what devices will dominate? Will media extenders continue to exist as distinct devices? Will displays have ubiquitous Ethernet networking embedded?
- Broadband access technologies to support the vision - how will ADSL,ADLS2+,GPON, WiMax, and DOCSIS interwork? What are the end of decade bandwidth,QoS, and symmetry requirements?
- The role of the network - Will the network the convergence hub in the IMS era, or will convergence occur in the endpoints (handsets, set top boxes, computers, and other internet appliances)?
- The competitive landscape - will telcos become known as broadband application providers? How will MSOs adopt IP technology?
This term, Adel Sedra and Brian Dixon are participating in the Open Classroom Sessions. Please register at the link above.
Adel Sedra, Dean of Engineering, had an almost overflowing room on January 31st when he gave a lecture in his ECE 332 - Electronic Circuits class. More than 20 faculty members were in attendance at the lecture and in the follow-up discussion with the Dean about teaching.
While the date of the upcoming lecture by Brian Dixon hasn't been posted yet, this term Professor Dixon is teaching BIOL 441 Immunology to 146 students in MC 2066 from 10:30-11:20 TTh. Professor Dixon's home page lists his research and teaching interests as Associate Professor and Associate Chair in the Biology Department.
- The Information Commons and the Future of Innovation, Scholarship, and Creativity
Gigi Sohn, President and Founder Public Knowledge
Thursday, February 15, 1-2 p.m.
Requires registration. 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.
UW Computer Game Development Club
Monday evenings the UW Game Development Club meets for tutorials and project discussions. Email club president Kasra Zokaei (kasraz@gmail.com) for more information. MC 4058, Mondays 7-8 pm.
Perimeter Institute Public Lectures
- Life, the Universe, and SETI In a Nutshell
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Dr. Jill C. Tarter, Director, Center for SETI Research
Mar 7(W), 7:00 pm, Tickets available starting February 19, 2007. Background from a 2005 conference press release:
In 2004, Dr. Tarter was selected by TIME magazine as one of the world's 100 most "influential and powerful people". She was chosen in the "Scientist and Thinker" category for her leadership role in the scientific search for evidence of life on other worlds, and for her efforts to promote scientific literacy among youth, particularly girls and young women.
Her work was used as the basis of the 1997 blockbuster film "Contact", starring Jodie Foster. - The K-T Impact that Extinguished the Dinosaurs
Jay Melosh, University of Arizona
Apr 4(W), 7:00 pm, Tickets available starting March 19, 2007.
Outreach
- Waterloo Unlimited plays host to grade 10 students for a week of engaging and enriched learning activities.
Unlimited students will live and study in a creative, articulate community of scholars where the students, staff and professors share a common vision: that a University is a place where people of extraordinary ability and accomplishment come together in their pursuit of knowledge, experience, and excellence across the traditional boundaries of academic disciplines.
Included in the week's activities are four public events:
- MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26TH, 2007: PUBLIC TALK
University of Waterloo President, David Johnston, speaks
about his vision for the Region of Waterloo as
The Knowledge Capital of Canada
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., EIT 1015, Centre for Environmental and Information Technology - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH, 2007: PUBLIC EVENT
Connecting Communities: The Uniting Power of Art, a UW
50th anniversary event celebrating the twinned issues of The New
Quarterly (Canadian Writers and Writing) and Alternatives (Canadian
Environmental Ideas + Action). The evening will feature a panel of
contributing authors from these nationally recognized on-campus
magazines, followed by storytelling and a musical performance.
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., Great Hall, Conrad Grebel University College - THURSDAY, MARCH 1ST, 2007: PUBLIC TALK
Local artist and retired UW professor, Art Green, will present an
illustrated talk that explores the sometimes paradoxical experience
of What We Know vs. What We See.
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m., RCH 305, J.R. Coutts Engineering Lecture Hall - FRIDAY, MARCH 2ND, 2007: OPEN HOUSE
Come see for yourself what we've been able to accomplish in a week!
Meet the Waterloo Unlimited staff and students, view the displays and
find out what it means to be Unlimited.
7:15 p.m. - 8:15 p.m., Festival Room, South Campus Hall
-
At Explorations 2007 about 1000 grades 6, 7 and 8 students and their parents are taken on tours (lasting about an hour and a half) of Engineering displays. Each visitor sees a mix of displays from each of the many departments within Engineering. Tours start at either 5:00 p.m. or 6:45 p.m.
Registration ends Feb 23, 2007.
Campus Day is UW's March Break open house for applicants and their families.
International education fairs
UW reps are visiting education fairs in Russia, China, Mexico and South America this year.
Library Events
Library workshops about building research skills for graduate and undergraduate students are held throughout the winter 2007 term. Learn how web apps like as Flickr, del.icio.us. and Bloglines fit into the picture.
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:
Course Development Funds
To enhance student learning, three 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. Deadlines are
The Mathematics Endowment Fund (MEF) finances projects that benefit undergraduate math students at the of Waterloo. 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.
Examples include:
- student, course or instructor projects,
- lab & studio equipment,
- classroom upgrades,
- course development,
- teaching resources,
- conference expenses,
- education studies,
- student club projects
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.
Examples include:
- student, course or instructor projects,
- lab & studio equipment,
- classroom upgrades,
- course development
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 improve teaching effectiveness. Information and the application form can be obtained from the above link. Also, see page 5 of the TRACE NewsletterTRACE for the Spring 2007 deadline.
Grants will be made in support of both on-campus and distance education teaching.
Examples include:
- development of a training manual for teaching assistants,
- sponsorship of a conference on methods of teaching foreign languages,
- a study of independent learning methods in environmental studies
Teaching with Maple, MapleTA
Maple and MapleTA upgrades
Maplesoft has upgrades to both Maple and MapleTA arriving in March. Live web seminars for Maple 11 and MapleTA 3 (including connections to MATLAB and Simulink and teaching with Maple and MapleTA) run from February 13th to 28th. 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
TVO Best Lecturer Competition
From 100 nominated professors , 10 were selected to give lectures on TV channel TVO in the TVO sponsored The 2007 Best Lecturer Competition. Viewers were asked to watch and grade a lecture on
- clarity and coherence
- energy and performance
- confidence and authority
There are prizes and regulations for grading entries. A prize of $10,000 goes to the university of the winning lecturer when the winner is picked on Saturday, February 14th on the TVO program Big Ideas at 4 pm. Here is the list of the top 10 finalists.
From the University of Toronto:
- Biology - Maydianne Andrade
- Civil Engineering - Bryan Karney
- English - Nick Mount
- History - Kenneth Bartlett
- Psychology - Marc Fournier
- Psychology - Steve Joordens
Finalists from other universities in Ontario:
- Law - Allan C. Hutchinson - Osgoode Hall Law School of York University
- Medicine - Jacalyn Duffin - Queen's University
- Physics - Rupinder Brar - University of Ontario Institute of Technology
- Psychology - Michael Persinger - Laurentian University
The 10 lectures can be watched online. My recommendation is to start with lectures by Allan Hutchinson and Nick Mount. Follow this up with The Debaters on CBC Radio One, Mondays 7:30- 8 p.m., Saturdays, 6:30-7 p.m.
Lecture Podcasting
[Wednesday, February 14, 2007, 11:00am-12:00pm LT3 has an talk on Enhanced Podcasting in mid-February. See the LT3 events listed near the top of this page.
Read about how and why to podcast lectures.
Read about podcasting in the December 2006 LT3 Spotlight.
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.
Vista, Net Neutrality, ...
Law professor Michael Geist writes about net neurality in Canada in his February 12 column Bernier's Troubling Stand on Net Neutrality. In an earlier piece, he examines some of the "fine print" in the recently released Vista user agreement form Vista's Fine Print Raises Red Flags. Dr. Geist is the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa.
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
Past Events
Liaison Information
Paul Kates,
Mathematics & Engineering 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 and Engineering, plus a description of the services I provide as Mathematics & Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison is available here.