May Events 2007
Paul Kates, Mathematics Faculty LT3 Liaison
Faculty of Math 40th Anniversary Events
In honour of the 50th year anniversary of UW and the 40th year anniversary of the Faculty of Mathematics, several special events are taking place in the next few months, including a new teaching award.
Up to two awards each year will be granted to teachers in the Faculty of Mathematics who have consistently demonstrated outstanding pedagogical skills and a deep commitment to students' education. The winners will be honoured by means of a public citation along with a cash prize.
Nominations may be directed to fmadt@math.uwaterloo.ca, the Chair of your department or the Director of Computer Science by May 11, 2007.
The award was announced April 5th in UW's Daily Bulletin
- Math@40 Celebration
40th Anniversary Celebration of Waterloo Mathematics and Computer Science
Math alumni, faculty, staff, students and friends are invited to an
evening of 40th anniversary celebrations for the Faculty of
Mathematics. Special guest speaker Ralph Stanton.
Date: May 25, 2007
Where: Federation Hall
Register by Friday May 11, 2007 or call 519-888-4567, ext. 37747. Dinner is $67 per person. - 40th Anniversary Conference
Statistical Science: Present Position and Future Prospects, to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of the University of Waterloo, and the
40th anniversary of the department.
May 30 - June 1, 2007
Please register by April 30th.
- WATSUM 2007
Waterloo Symposium in Undergraduate Mathematics (WATSUM)
The conference is an opportunity for students in math to meet and enjoy
a weekend in the beautiful region of Waterloo. Whether your interests
are in algebra, statistics, computer science or anything else math
related, we invite you to come share them at WATSUM by giving a talk
(or simply enjoy other talks!). In addition you will get to hear
several professional mathematicians describe their research interests.
Date: June 8 - June 9, 2007, UW.
Registration is $30 CAD per person before May 22, 2007.
Sponsored by the Pure Mathematics Department. - C&O@40 Conference In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the department, and the 50th anniversary of the university, the Department of Combinatorics & Optimization at the University of Waterloo is hosting a six day conference June 18-23, 2007.
Learning about Teaching Events (Presidents' Colloquium)
Event descriptions are clipped from the LT3 events page. Registration is requested.
Monday, April 30, 2007, 2-3:30pm - the start of three days of events celebrating teaching and learning at UW
Presidents' Colloquium on Teaching and Learning : "What Makes Great Teachers Great?"
Presented by Dr. Ken Bain.
Location: Humanities Theatre, Hagey Hall
Flyer for talk.
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.
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.
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
Some information and reviews about Dr. Bain's book What the Best College Teachers Do available on the net:
- An excerpt from the book is available at the book's site The Teaching and Learning Resource Center at Montclair State University
- Two reviews (1, 2) from the Journal of Higher Education
- Workshop notes (39 pages) based on the book
- Interesting comments and opinions from the book's Amazon.com page.
Video of the 2006 and 2005 Presidents' Colloquiums on Teaching and Learning are available online:
- Taking Stock of What Matters to Student Success in University: Lessons for Waterloo by George Kuh, Chancellor's Professor and Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research at Indiana University, Bloomington. (2006)
- How Does 'Great Teaching' Relate to Student Learning? by Professor Keith Trigwell, Reader in Higher Education and Principal Research Fellow in the Institute for the Advancement of University Learning at the University of Oxford, UK. (2005)
And, in the spirit of Dr. Bain's main lecture What Makes Great Teachers Great? a reprise of Confessions of an (Innovative) Educator the keynote presentation at the McGraw-Hill Conference on Teaching and Learning, December 2004, by Dr. Howard Armitage, University of Waterloo. Both video and audio downloads are available. Dr. Armitage was awarded a 3M Teaching Fellowship in 2004.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007, 12-1:30pm
Three parallel, informal lunchtime discussions are offered on Wednesday. A light lunch will be provided.
- Aligning your Syllabus: Informal Lunch Discussion
Presented by Donna Ellis (facilitator).
Location: SJU 3020 Bring your ideas and questions about how to demonstrate aligned course goals, assessment, and teaching methods on your syllabus. - Classroom Management: Informal Lunch Discussion
Presented by Dr. Ron McCarville (facilitator).
Location: SJU 3027 Share successful strategies and ask questions about class management with colleagues from across campus.
- Using Technology for Teaching Large Classes: Informal Lunch Discussion
Presented by Dr. Carey Bissonnette (facilitator).
Location: SJU 3016 Share your experiences and bring your questions about using clickers, on-line resources, or other technologies for engaging students in large classes.
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.
This year, grants are worth up to $20,000 under both the Learning Initiatives Fund and the Program Initiatives Fund (which is tied to formal undergraduate academic program reviews). The funds can be used over a two year period.
- Proposals are due by Tuesday, May 15, 2007
- Results will be announced the week of June 4, 2007
- Funding for projects will be available as of June 15, 2007
Proposal guidelines, details about the funds, contacts, past projects and type of projects funded can be found from the link above.
For assistance with proposal and project development see your faculty LT3 Liaison (Paul Kates) or the Teaching Based Research Group (Gail Spencer, x38175, gspencer@admmail.uwaterloo.ca, or Vivian Schoner, 32940, vschoner@admmail.uwaterloo.ca).
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. The proposal deadline is expected to be late June or early July. Proposals can be submitted anytime. Details will be posted when available. Funds will be available to prepare for the Fall 2007 term.
Funded examples include:
- student, course or instructor projects,
- lab & studio equipment,
- classroom upgrades,
- course development,
- teaching resources,
- conference expenses,
- education studies,
- student club projects
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:
- 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
McGraw-Hill Ryerson Student Scholarship Award
The purpose of the scholarship is to give professors an opportunity to reward those students who enhance the teaching and learning environment through leadership, participation, and initiative.
Twenty $1000 scholarship awards are available to any full-time undergraduate student enrolled during the academic year June 1, 2006 to May 31, 2007 at an accredited college or university in Canada in a degree, diploma or certificate program.
For further information, please visit mcgrawhill.ca/studentscholarship. Submission deadline is May 31, 2007.
E-Merging Learning Workshop (LT3 Event)
Event descriptions are clipped from the LT3 events page. Registration is requested.
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.
- Wednesday, May 2, 10:30 am to 11:15 am: Meet and Greet Session
- Wednesday, May 16 from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm: Coaching Session "A"
- Wednesday, May 30 from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm: Coaching Session "B"
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.
Teaching Excellence Academy (TRACE Event)
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 (prep for Spring courses)
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 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 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.
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.
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 and UW-ACE courses
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:
- fill out the online request form for the library's copy of journal articles or books
- bring the library copies of your own articles, books, lecture notes, assignment solutions, etc
- 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)
- lookup your eReserve UW-ACE page
- 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
- 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 of the University of Waterloo's 50th anniversary events are available for all events listed below.
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
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
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.