Event summaries are presented here. Links give more detail, and may include a registration request.
| December, 2005 events | July, 2005 |
| November, 2005 | July, 2005 |
| October, 2005 | June, 2005 |
| September, 2005 | May, 2005 |
| August, 2005 | April, 2005 |
Some dates to keep in mind:
Feb. 23-24, Thursday, Friday, Math/Eng. reading days.
Educational Games. A Dialogue in Two Parts.
Part 2: Video Games As Entertainment.
Presented by Denis Dyack, Video Gaming Exemplar and founder of Silicon Knights.
Wednesday, January 11, 2006, 12-1 pm
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329
Please feel free to bring your lunch to this event. Drinks will be provided.
Registration requested at: http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca/events/
During his visit at Waterloo he will discuss the changes in the
landscape of video games and how they are becoming the dominant form of
entertainment for the world.
Denis has been involved in the Video Gaming Industry since the early
1990s. He has been involved in the development of a number of video
games.
* Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (2002) (Nintendo GameCube)
* Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (2004) (Nintendo GameCube)
* Too Human (TBA 2006) (Xbox 360)
(http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/t/toohuman/)
Sponsored by LT3 in association with UWgamers.
Background: http://www.siliconknights.com/main.html,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Knights.
Learning by Doing : A Comprehensive Guide to Simulations, Computer Games,
and Pedagogy in e-Learning and Other Educational Experiences
by Clark Aldrich (2005). See reviews at amazon.com and
http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=reviews&article=7-1
As an example of using computer games for teaching and learning,
the United Nations has taken an interest in reaching large numbers
of children to raise awareness of the problems and solutions
surrounding food and global hunger. Their computer video game
Food Force has been a big hit with two to three million downloads.
This non-violent game's popularity compares very well with some
of the top selling games listed at
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best_selling_computer_and_video_games.
Links:
* http://www.food-force.com
* N.Y. Times , Dec. 30, 2005 editorial by Tina Rosenberg.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/12/30/opinion/edrosen.php
* http://www.food-force.com/index.php/press/mentions/
Note: The download size of Food Force is about 220 MB. Get in touch
if you wish to borrow a CD copy.
Presidents' Colloquium on Teaching and Learning
Taking Stock of What Matters to Student Success
in University: Lessons for Waterloo
George Kuh, Professor and Director of the Center for Postsecondary
Research at Indiana University (www.iub.edu/).
Tuesday, January 17, 4-5:15 pm in the Humanities Theatre.
General seating - no registration required.
Hosted by Professor David Johnston, President of the University of
Waterloo and Professor Roydon Fraser, President of the UW Faculty
Association:
Forests and Trees: Rethinking What Influences Student Learning.
ELI Web Seminar Presented by Pat Terenzini, Professor of Education,
Penn. State.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006, 2-3 pm
Location: FLEX Lab, LIB 329
Registration requested at: http://lt3.uwaterloo.ca/events/
Drawing from his coauthored book How College Affects Students (Vol.2):
A Third Decade of Research (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, February 2005),
Terenzini will summarize what 2,500 studies published since 1990 reveal
about the impact college has on student's learning and higher-order
cognitive skills.
After identifying important in- and out-of-class influences
affecting students' academic learning and cognitive development,
Terenzini will discuss six characteristics of learning and
effective educational settings and their implications for improving
undergraduate teaching and learning. These themes, which run
through the research, can serve as touchstones when reviewing
current programs, practices, and policies, and in developing new
ones.
Open Classroom Series - Winter 2006.
Professors "Open their Classrooms" to Colleagues to show
how they engage students in large lectures.
Pre- and post-observation times to be determined.
Register by emailing Verna Keller at vkeller@admmail.uwaterloo.ca.
Also, see the write up on page 6 in the January 2006 issue of the
TRACE Newsletter.
Course: OPT 155 - External Eye Disease
Professor Lyndon Jones, School of Optometry
Thursday, January 19, 2006
9:30-10:20 am
Course: HIST 220 - The Vietnam War and American Society
Professor Andrew Hunt, History Department
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
1:30-2:50 pm
Course: ENV S 178 - Introduction to Environmental Research Methods
Professor Jean Andrey, Geography Department
Monday, March 20, 2006
1:30-2:30 pm
Tuesday, January 10, 2005 through to January 25
UW-ACE training sessions continue in January with courses that give
you a birds-eye view of the system and get you started with the the
quiz tool, action editor, layout designs, and links to learning
activities.
A few quiz questions before class can tell you what students
understand about their homework and how prepared they are for
class. Students who know the ideas want to participate in class,
and those who don't come looking for answers.
The Gradebook records system-generated and uploaded
grades. Averages and percentages can be calculated.
Selected grades can be released to students.
UW-ACE can export final grades in the form required by
the upload grade facility offered by the UW Quest system.
The UW-ACE export facility is located in the Tools section
of UW-ACE, under the title "Quest Gradebook Export Final Marks".
You may wish to use your own spreadsheet of grades, taking
into account the format shown in the exported file. The
help pages at Quest also describe the export format.
The Action Editor sets triggers for a small set of events and
conditions (e.g. quiz mark) allowing a number of different actions
to occur: redirection to a page; email posting; calendar posting
... Details are available in the full UW-ACE manual in the UW-ACE
Help link under Instruction Guides.
Tuesday, January 10, 2005 through to January 25
IST is offering courses in the following areas this month:
Photoshop Elements
Scientific Computing with MATLAB
Data Analysis Using SAS
Library research techniques: Keep Current - Digitally - Multidisciplinary
Scientific Computing with Mathcad (C.U.T.)
Introduction to Parallel Programming
A TEACHER'S DOZEN. Fourteen General, Research-Based Principles for Improving Higher Learning in Our Classrooms by Thomas Anthony Angelo.
Transforming Course Management Systems into Effective Learning Environments by Colleen Carmean and Jeremy Haefner.
Maplesoft.com has many online seminars available.
An Introduction to Maple 10 (42 min)
Introduction to the Maplet Builder (7 min)
Advanced Engineering Applications with Maple (50 min)
Clickable Calculus (54 min)
Click Here to Download the Associated Maple Worksheet for this Seminar
Maple T.A. Demonstration for Instructors (24 min)
Maple T.A. Demonstration for Students (13 min)
Maple T.A. for Blackboard. Software Demo (8 min)
Syntax-Free Computations in Maple 10 (65 min)
Control System Development Using System Identification (43 min)
Technical Solution Deployment Using MapleNet 10 (34 min)
Introduction To Global Optimization Toolbox For Maple (61 min)
Maple in the High School Classroom (10 min)
Modeling Multi-body Mechanical Systems With DynaFlex Pro (65 min)
Implementing Technology in the Modern Math Curriculum (60 min)
Many mathematics lessons are also available using Maple.
Algebra (44) Calculus I (102)
Calculus II (59) Calculus III (23)
Case Studies (4) Complex Analysis (67)
DE's (89) Economics (20)
Elementary School (9) Engineering (68)
Geometry (32) Linear Algebra (22)
Maple TA (5) MapleNet (2)
Maplets (4) Numerical Analysis (15)
Operations Research (1) Physics (88)
Precalculus (42) Quantum Mechanics (19)
Real Analysis (20) Statistics (36)
Trigonometry (4) Vector Calculus (99)
MapleTA is an online assignment and quiz system backed by the Maple
mathematics engine that allows questions to be graded using
Maple to match and evaluate student answers.
Many different question types are available including questions
generated by formula for random assignment to students (students don't
see the same questions, but the form is the same). Questions can make
use of physical units and error bounds. Maple graphs can be included
in questions for display or for interaction with the student e.g.
selecting an area of the graph or plotting points on a curve.
See http://maplesoft.com/products/mapleta/types.aspx.
MapleTA is available at UW on a trial basis. Please contact me
if you wish more information about using MapleTA at UW.
Please contact me if you would like further information.
Paul Kates, Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison, pkates@uwaterloo.ca, x7047
This page is located at www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~pkates/LT3/events.
More information about the services of the Centre for Learning and Teaching through Technology - LT3 is available at lt3.uwaterloo.ca/.
(1) More information about learning and teaching Mathematics and Computer Science, plus a description of the services I provide as Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison is available here.