November Events, 2006
Paul Kates, Mathematics & Engineering Faculty LT3 Liaison
Events Summary
- UW-ACE News
- request a UW-ACE Winter 2007 Course via email to pkates@uwaterloo.ca, or uwacehelp@ist.uwaterloo.ca
- IST recommends delaying installation of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 browser IE7
- LT3 Events
- Seeking Views on Classrooms
- UW-ACE Instructors Group Meeting (Tuesday, December 12, 2-3pm)
- TRACE Events (sessions begin Friday, November 24)
- Consultation Session: Teaching Dossiers
- Research Projects Workshop
- Teaching Dossiers
- Consultation Session: Research Projects
- Understanding the Learner
- Course Design
- Lectures
- International development: How can I have an impact?
(Wednesday, November 15, 7-8:30 pm) - Using computers in more natural and human ways
(Friday November 17, 10-12 pm) - From both sides of the table: How 4 colleagues secured 2 million in funding
(Thursday November 23, 12-1 pm) - SAGE: Software for Algebra and Geometry Experimentation (Monday December 4, 2006, 1:30 pm)
- International development: How can I have an impact?
- CS4U UWaterloo Day (Saturday, November 18, 9:30 am-4:30 pm)
- CS Webpage Banner Contest (Deadline: Friday, November 17th)
- WatITis 2006 (Wednesday December 6 all day)
- MEng Program Open House (Thursday November 23, 5-7pm)
- Library Events (check the library for times)
- Research skills workshops
- E-journals for course resources
- Orchestra@uwaterloo (Thursday November 30, 8pm)
- Lecture Podcasting
- MathFrog and WiredMath (grades 4-9)
- Maple, MapleTA and On-line Quiz Systems
- UW-ACE Documentation
- Liaison Information
UW-ACE News
UW-ACE Winter 2007 Course Requests
Request a UW-ACE course for the winter 2007 term by sending a note to Paul Kates (pkates@uwaterloo.ca) or to uwacehelp@ist.uwaterloo.ca. Please give the course abbreviation (e.g. MATH 199), names of additional instructors and TAs, if known, and your preference for a new, blank course or one copied from a previous term.
Pre-scheduled UW-ACE sessions by IST are no longer being offered. 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, writing LaTeX-quality math in UW-ACE pages and quizzes without using postscript or PDF documents.
A 21 page pdf guide to the Gradebook is available in the Help area of UW-ACE.
Instructions for exporting course grades from UW-ACE for electronic submission to the Quest system, plus Quest import directions, are located at www.quest.uwaterloo.ca/help/howdoi/grades_submission.html
IE7 and UW-ACE
Apple Mac OS X users can skip this section. There are no plans for IE7 on Macs.
IST recommends that installation of the Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 browser IE7 be delayed for the time being because UW-ACE, Quest, Trellis and other software at UW still needs re-tuning to work with the much changed and improved browser. IST's Windows software updating service will not be installing IE7 on PCs until later in the term. This information was presented in the Daily Bulletin on Monday, November 13th, 2006.
If, however, your upgrades come via Microsoft's Automatic Updates service, click the "Custom Install" option to look at the selection of ready-to-install program upgrades and decline the IE7 upgrade, if you wish to. Later, IE7 can be downloaded from Microsoft.
The look-and-feel of IE7 is different from IE6 and other browsers. Here are two recent reviews of the browser from CNET and PC World and some untested advice on how to retrieve the familiar browser Menu bar.
If IE7 is already on your Windows XP/Server machine it can be uninstalled, at which point IE6 will work again. IE6 is still available from Microsoft if the uninstall fails. Microsoft does not support running IE6 and IE7 on the same machine. Unofficial ways to do this are on the Internet. Using virtual machines with separate copies of Windows XP may be the best way to keep IE6 and try IE7.
Making UW-ACE courses part of the university community
As with earlier versions of UW-ACE, access to course content like the syllabus, assignments, FAQs, subject resources etc is controllable through settings made available to course instructors. Confidential information about names and grades is restricted and protected by default. Different access levels - instructor, student (in course), UW member, general public - can be assigned to each command tab and every individual item in the main Lessons folder. Instructors can thus share their course with potential students, other courses and faculty members or the general public.
By default, the Resources tab and the syllabus located within the Resources tab have public-access settings. Using the UW-ACE course search feature, students can read the syllabus of any UW-ACE course.
UW-ACE course Lesson pages look like Windows folders by default, but they are not file directories. Each folder is a HTML web page that instructors can add to - text, style, layout and colour HTML features. Even JavaScript can be used. (See, for example, jsMath, a JavaScript program that translates LaTeX math expressions into LaTeX-quality HTML mathematics.)
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.
- Tuesday, December 12, 2006, 2-3pm
- UW-ACE Instructors Group Meeting
Presented by Sandra Campbell, Lisa Prokopich, and Pat Wainwright.
Location: FLEX Lab, Dana Porter Library room 329 Innovative and effective ways of using UW-ACE.
- UW-ACE Instructors Group Meeting
TRACE Events
See the above link for registration details. Workshops are popular and seating is limited.
- Consultation Session: Teaching Dossiers
- Friday, December 1 Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m., TRACE Library, MC 4051
Prerequisite: You MUST attend the Teaching Dossier workshop first AND you must be a GS 902 participant. (Limit: 15 participants per session.)
- Friday, December 1 Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m., TRACE Library, MC 4051
- Research Projects Workshop (Limit: 20 participants per session.)
- Thursday, November 23, 2006 Time: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. FLEX Lab, Rm. 329
- Teaching Dossiers (Limit: 45 participants per session.)
- Tuesday, December 5 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Location: MC 4060
- Consultation Session: Research Projects
- Friday, November 24, 2006 Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. TRACE Library, MC 4051
Prerequisite: You MUST attend the Research Projects workshop first AND you must be a GS 902 participant. (Limit: 15 participants per session.)
- Friday, November 24, 2006 Time: 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. TRACE Library, MC 4051
- Understanding the Learner (Limit: 20 participants per session.)
- Wednesday, December 6, 2006 Time: 9:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. Location: MC 4060
- Thursday, December 7, 2006 Time: 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. Location: MC 4060
- Course Design (Limit: 20 participants per session.)
- Wednesday, December 13, 2006 Time: 9:30 a.m.- 12:30 p.m. Location: TBA
- Thursday, December 14, 2006 Time: 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. Location: TBA
Lectures
- Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 7-8:30 pm
- International development: How can I have an impact?
Location: The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), 57 Erb Street W., Waterloo (519.885.2444) George Rotor, a UW alumnus, co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders, and one of Canada's Top 40 Under 40 will talk about what you can do to promote sustainable change in developing countries.
- International development: How can I have an impact?
- Friday November 17, 2006, 10-12 pm
- Using computers in more natural and human ways
Independent studies student presentation series part 4.
Location: PAS 1053
Contact: Emma Dines, edines at artsmail.uwaterloo.ca Independent studies student Luke Stebbing will present some of his research and work on computers as tools to store and access ideas in more natural, human ways than the current arbitrary arrangements.
- Using computers in more natural and human ways
- Thursday November 23, 2006, 12-1 pm
- From both sides of the table: How 4 colleagues secured 2 million in funding
Dave Bullock, LiveHive Systems - Why TechCapital Partners funded 4 first time entrepreneurs
Tim Jackson-TechCapital Partners.
Location: Davis Centre 1304
Contact: Emily Stafford, ext. 37167.
- From both sides of the table: How 4 colleagues secured 2 million in funding
- Monday December 4, 2006, 1:30 pm
- SAGE: Software for Algebra and Geometry Experimentation
Dr. William Stein, University of Washington http://modular.math.washington.edu/sage/
Location: MC 5158
Computational Mathematics The goal of SAGE is to create an optimal software environment for research and experimentation in algebra, geometry, number theory, cryptography, and related areas. The speaker started SAGE in 2005 by combining together the very best of existing free software (e.g., Singular, PARI, GAP, Macaulay2, Maxima, gfan, etc), creating interfaces to non-free software (e.g., MAGMA, Maple, Mathematica), and beginning to fill in the gaps with new code. Now many developers have joined him in working on filling these gaps and making SAGE a polished and efficient piece of software. This talk will demo SAGE, and explain how it works.
- SAGE: Software for Algebra and Geometry Experimentation
CS4U UWaterloo Day
Saturday, November 18, 2006, 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
Location: Davis Centre, University of Waterloo.
Register here.
Grades 9, 10 and 11 students, their families, and teachers are invited to CS4U @ UWaterloo Day to see how computer science is changing the world.
The activities of the day require no computer science background - every student and teacher is welcome! Attendance is free. Refreshments and pizza lunch will be provided.
CS Webpage Banner Contest
Deadline: Friday, November 17th, 2006
The David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science is holding a contest to create a new banner for the main CS webpage. They say "... be creative, and have fun with it!".
How To Enter: Create a banner, 755 x 144 pixels (which is the UW standard). Submit your entry to: Suzana Pinto, s2pinto@cs.uwaterloo.ca. Entries will be judged by the School Commons Committee. The contest is open to the UW community.
- 1st Place
- Winner's design will be published on the main webpage
- $150 Gift Certificate for Retail Services
- 2nd Place
- Winner's design will be made into a poster and displayed within the SCS.
- $100 Gift Certificate for Retail Services
- 3rd Place
- Winner's design will be made into a poster and displayed within the SCS.
- $50 Gift Certificate for Retail Services
WatITis 2006
Wednesday December 6, 2006, all day
WatITis is a one day conference for those involved in IT planning, support and decision making at the University of Waterloo. It is an opportunity to see what others are doing on campus in information technology, to exchange ideas, and make new contacts.
See the link above for session listings and registration.
MEng Program Open House
Thursday November 23, 2006, 5-7pm
Information Open House on the new Master of Engineering in ECE,
a certificate in Computer Networking and Security, Management
Engineering, Software Engineering, or Sustainable Energy.
Location: EIT 3142
Library Events
Library workshops about building research skills for graduate and undergraduate students are held throughout the fall 2006 term.
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:
Orchestra@uwaterloo Concert
Thursday November 30, 2006, 8pm
Au revoir, Mozart!
Humanities Theatre in J.G. Hagey Hall of the Humanities
University of Waterloo
Featuring: Jeffrey Quilliam, clarinet, winner in the 2006 Concerto Competition
Program:
Arthur Bliss Fanfare: For the Lord Mayor of London
Johannes Brahms Tragic Overture
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Concerto for Clarinet in A Major
Antonmn Dvorak Symphony No. 8 in G Major
Tickets: $10 ($5 student/senior; free for UW students). Tickets can be picked up from the Humanities Theatre Box Office, noon-5, M-F, or reserved by phone 519 888-4908.
Lecture Podcasting
Read about how and why to podcast lectures.
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.
Maple, MapleTA and On-line Quiz Systems
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-ACE Updated
Starting in the fall of 2006, UW-ACE has been updated to version 7.1 of the ANGEL learning management system. Here's a list of the most obvious changes to UW-ACE brought by 7.1:
- Tab changes:
- MyPage is the Home icon
- Welcome Page replaced by the contents of the Course tab, a view of some of the course stats, calendar and message events
- Syllabus tab is gone - the syllabus is located in the Resources tab
- Class tab is gone - the class roster is in the Communicate tab and the team roster is in the Manage tab
- InTouch tab becomes the Communicate tab
- Tools tab becomes the Manage tab
- a new Report tab contains student info about milestones, student activities
- a new Automate tab is for managing triggers (agents) for student activity
- Icon changes (on the left side of the page):
- MyPage is the home icon
- Exit is the on/off icon
- Help is the ? (question mark) icon
- Learning Object Repositories is the new folder icon
- MyPage Preferences is the wrench icon
- User Preview is the eye glasses icon on the top right
- CourseMap becomes Guide (above the left-side icons)
- versions of the system's web pages supporting PDAs and the US Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508) are icons (left bottom corner)
- mini boxes are used for grouping related commands
- content items like quizzes and dropboxes are no longer added to the course Gradebook automatically
Supported browsers:
- Windows OS: Internet Explorer 6, Firefox, and Mozilla.
- Macintosh OS: Firefox and Mozilla.
UW-ACE Documentation
Documentation about the new look of UW-ACE (ala ANGEL 7.1) is available from the UW-ACE Help page:
And more UW documentation is under preparation. Several ANGEL documents about version 7.1 are also available:
- What's changed between ANGEL LMS 6.3 and 7.1? (1 page)
- ANGEL LMS 7.1 at a glance (2 pages)
- What's new in ANGEL LMS 7.1? (7 pages)
- Faculty Quickstart Guide (7.1) (50 pages)
- Student Quickstart Guide (7.1) (30 pages)
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.