July Events 2007
Paul Kates, Mathematics Faculty CTE Liaison
CTE Events
TRACE and LT3 have joined together to become CTE, the Centre for Teaching Excellence. Also included in the new centre is the LRI group. You can learn all about us by visiting the CTE site above and the FAQ located there. Liaisons will continue to assist with teaching resources and technologies, course development, information about funds for teaching, plus bring news of local teaching events and ideas and practices about teaching and learning from professors, instructors and researchers in our faculties and around the world.
Stories about CTE:
See the above link for details and registration. Workshops are popular and seating is limited at times.
A Matter of Style: Learning From Ontario's Best Lecturers
- Tuesday, July 10, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m., MC 4060 (Full)
- Thursday, July 12, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m., MC 4060 What exactly do TVO's best lecturers do that makes them so memorable? Come and explore how these lecturers communicate their course goals, capture students' attention, provide diverse learning experiences and promote critical thinking in their classrooms.
- Tuesday, July 24, 12:30 - 3:30 pm, Biology 2 (near the ring road), Rm. 350 From the link above: One exciting task as an instructor is to design your own course. But where do you start? In this half-day workshop, you will use one course-design model to start working on your own course. Beginning with a pre-workshop worksheet, you will answer a variety of questions to help organize your planning process and reveal the information needed to design a course focused on student learning. During the workshop, we will discuss setting course learning goals, planning feedback and assessment, and choosing teaching strategies, all in relation to factors such as the context of the course, your students, and yourself as an instructor. Then you will test out your larger design by designing one class. We will also briefly cover course outlines and course evaluation. Although a few large group activities will occur, you will be working primarily on your own or in pairs, with a lot of feedback from the workshop facilitator.
- Thursday, July 26, 12:30 - 2:30 p.m., FLEX Lab, Rm. 329, Porter Library
Understanding the Learner
- Thursday, August 2, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m., MC 5136
CUT Research Project Presentations
- Thursday, August 16, 12:00 - 3:00 p.m., MC 5136
Talks and Conferences
- Computer Science Club presents
Richard Stallman, free software evangelist,
"Copyright vs. Community in the Age of Computer Networks".
Friday, July 6, 4:30 p.m., Arts Lecture Hall room 116.
Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed
to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing
press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer
networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it.
The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for
draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while
suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to
serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright--to promote progress,
for the benefit of the public--then we must make changes in the other
direction.
Look for the online video of this talk soon at the
Computer Science Club media page.
More information:
- Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman
- the transcript of a 2001 talk Copyright and Globalization in the Age of Computer Networks is a useful subset of the Friday talk
- Orchestra@UWaterloo noon-hour concert. Thursday, July 12, Noon, Davis Centre great hall.
- C++0x - An Overview by C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup
Tuesday, July 17, Arts Lecture Hall 116 at 7:00 PM.
Abstract from above link:
A good programming language is far more than a simple collection of features. My ideal is to provide a set of facilities that smoothly work together to support design and programming styles of a generality beyond my imagination. Here, I briefly outline rules of thumb (guidelines, principles) that are being applied in the design of C++0x. Then, I present the state of the standards process (we are aiming for C++09) and give examples of a few of the proposals such as concepts, generalized initialization, being considered in the ISO C++ standards committee. Since there are far more proposals than could be presented in an hour, I'll take questions. Related readings:- C++0x: Wikipedia article about C++0x, the next version of C++ scheduled for 2009
- C++0x blog entry by Herb Sutter, chair of the ISO C++ standards committee, February, 2007
- Software and the Concurrency Revolution by Herb Sutter, chair of the ISO C++ standards committee, September 2006, 80 minute video of talk plus PDF slides
- Concurrent Urban Legends by Peter A. Buhr and Ashif S. Harji, David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, University of Waterloo. Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, 17(9):1133-1172, August 2005.
- Fields Institute Summer Workshop on Environmetrics
Tuesday, July 17 - Thursday, July 19, 2007, University of Waterloo This workshop features experienced researchers and environmental scientists from existing environmetrics programs who will shed light on the key role of sound statistical methodology in environmental protection. It will provide a primer on the breadth of the discipline instead of a focus on any particular research area within the discipline. - Computational Methods in Finance Conference
Thursday, July 26 - Friday, July 27, 2007, Davis Centre Room 1302, UW.
Institute for Quantitative Finance and Insurance (IQFI) This conference will focus on algorithmic and computational issues applied to topics in finance. Topics covered include Monte Carlo methods, numerical solution of partial differential equations, calibration, portfolio optimization and stochastic optimization. - ISSAC 2007
ISSAC, the International Symposium on Symbolic and Algebraic Computation.
Sunday, July 29 - Wednesday, August 1, 2007, Davis Centre, UW.
Register by July 1st to receive reduced registration rates.
Symbolic Computation Group.
- Eight Annual Imperial Oil Summer Institute for Computer Studies Teachers
Tuesday, August 14 - Friday, August 17, 2007, UW
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing From the link above: This Imperial Oil Summer Institute for Computer Studies Teachers is intended to provide educators with activities useful in the computer science and computer engineering classrooms. Our goal is to provide support and discussion on relevant curriculum issues including curriculum content and teaching and learning strategies. The four-day conference will combine lectures, hands-on presentations and computer labs. We plan to have an agenda that will provide information and classroom tools for both novice and experienced educators teaching grades 10, 11, and 12. Each time slot will have a choice of two or three workshops. Sessions will be presented by University of Waterloo faculty members and graduate students, as well as high school teachers. Teachers will also have an opportunity to network and relax in the evenings at planned social events. - Summer Conferences for Mathematics Teachers 2007
Sunday, August 19 - Thursday, August 23, UW
Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing Grades 7-8: Workshops on the integration of problem solving and technology into the curriculum and enrichment activities. Grades 9-12: Seminars on the integration of problem solving and technology into the curricula at the academic level that are directed towards University Preparation. - Fall 2007 Annual Teaching Day at Laurier
Academic Integrity @ Laurier: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow -
Affirming a Culture of Integrity
Wednesday, August 29, 2007 Educational Development is pleased to announce the theme of this year's annual teaching day - Academic Integrity. The day will consist of a keynote address, an afternoon of concurrents, and an opportunity to learn about the new educational and enforcement initiatives championed by the Academic Integrity Committee. Lunch and a closing wine and cheese will also be provided, providing a forum to network, dialogue and exchange ideas about academic integrity/misconduct at Laurier and beyond.
Teaching: Readings, Audio and Video
An Evening With a Nobel Laureate
In this March 9, 2007 podcast, Nobel Laureate and UBC physics Prof. Carl Wieman talks about his passion for science education and why he decided to come to Canada to join UBC in January, 2007. This Celebrate Research Week event was hosted at UBC's Robson Square campus by Prof. Sid Katz, Executive Director, Community Relations.
Some bookmarks for the 95 minute interview:
- first 10 minutes: scientific look at teaching and learning; good teaching and good research; learning in and outside the classroom
- 33 minutes: on good graduate students
- 36 min: intellectual coaching, not lecturing
- 47 min: electronic learning
- 51 min: audience questions begin
- 51 min: what is "thinking like an expert"?
- 55 min: testing content or concepts
- 59 min: active learning in class - physics v arts
- 62 min: learning math techniques
- 79 min: good teaching ideas for all
- 82 min: I didn't leave physics research - I'm doing research in physics education
- 82 min: large classes
- 87 min: challenges of education research
The Presidents' Colloquium on Teaching and Learning presented What Makes Great Teachers Great?. by Dr. Ken Bain on April 30, 2007. His research of sixty-three highly successful teachers from a wide variety of fields and higher education institutions over fifteen-years produced an award-winning book: "What the Best College Teachers Do" (Harvard University Press, 2004).
The book is available at the UW Texbook store for $25. If you would like to borrow a copy please send me email.
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.
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 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.
John Mighton, mathematician, author, award-winning playwright and founder of the JUMP Math numeracy program, has written a new math education book The End of Ignorance. The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Toronto Life have recently written about Dr. Mighton's work and new book. Visit this link to read more.
Course Development Funds
Student Awards & Financial Aid Office
SAFA has funds to hire students for on-campus jobs (e.g. assisting with course development). There are two programs:
- The Ontario Work/Study Plan funds 75% of the salary (up to $1000 max/term) of eligible students employed part-time in on-campus jobs.
- The UW Work Placement program funds 100% of the salary (up to a maximum of $1,850/month, plus vacation pay) of eligible students employed full-time in on-campus jobs.
MEF - funds available every term total $45K-$60K
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 from $45-60K. The proposal deadline for the current term was Friday, June 22, 2007. but, proposals can be submitted anytime. Application forms are posted at the MEF site above. Details will be posted when available. Funds are made available soon after the proposal deadline (usually the middle of a term) to assist with preparation of the following term.
Funded projects include:
- student, course or instructor projects,
- lab & studio equipment,
- classroom upgrades,
- course development,
- teaching resources,
- conference expenses,
- education studies,
- student club projects
CTE - $1K ID fund
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
CTE - $20K LIF/PIF fund
Each May, grants are available 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.
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.
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 CTE Liaison (Paul Kates) or the Teaching Based Research Group (Gail Spencer, x38175, gspencer@admmail.uwaterloo.ca, or Vivian Schoner, 32940, vschoner@admmail.uwaterloo.ca).
UW-ACE help
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 Fall 2007 Course Requests
Request a UW-ACE course for the fall 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.
Or, request a UW-ACE course online through UW-ACE:
- Log into UW-ACE using your UWdir/Quest/UW-ACE credentials.
- Select the UW Request a Course hyperlink found under the UW Home Tools banner on your UW-ACE Home page to see your courses.
- Select the course or courses from the drop-down list and submit your request.
- If a course is missing from your drop-down list, please use the contacts mentioned above.
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
Live web seminars for the new Maple 11 and MapleTA 3 (including connections to MATLAB and Simulink and teaching with Maple and MapleTA) are running on the following dates this term:
- Introduction to Maple 11: July 17(T) (twice), Aug 14(T), Sept 19(W)
- Introduction to Maple T.A. 3.0: July 19(R), Sept 25(T)
- Derive to Deploy: Five Ways to Accelerate your Engineering Design Process: July 26(R)
- Clickable Calculus: Pre-Calculus, and Calculus of one and Several Variables: July 31(T), Sept 18(T)
- Prototype and Simulate Vehicle Systems using Maplesoft's Design Engineering Tools: Aug 1
- Maple Connectivity Tools for Simulink/MATLAB: August 23(R)(twice)
- From Theory to Practice: Maple to Increase Insight and Efficiency in Engineering Education and Research: Aug 29(W)(twice)
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.
Term Dates
- Spring 2007 - 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 Winter term 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 (schedule: www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/exams/finalexams.html) 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 - Fall 2007 - Sep 3(M) Labour Day Sep 10(M) Lectures Begin Sep 14(F) Distance Education Open Class Enrolment Ends Sep 21(F) On-Campus Open Class Enrolment Ends Sept 28(F) Deadline to Drop or Withdraw from Courses with 100% Tuition Refund Sept 28(F) Drop, No Penalty Period Ends Sept 28(F) Final Date for Fee Arrangements Sept 29(S) Drop, Penalty 1 Period Begins Oct 8(M) Thanksgiving Day Oct 26(F) Deadline for 50% Tuition Refund Nov 2(F) Drop, Penalty 1 Period Ends Nov 3(S) Drop, Penalty 2 Period Begins Dec 3(M) Lectures End Dec 5(W) Drop, Penalty 2 Period Ends; Last Day to Drop a Class Without a Petition Dec 6(R) On-Campus Examinations Begin Dec 7, 8(F, S) Distance Education Examination Days Dec 13-21(R-F) Grades Due + Jan 3(R) Dec 20(R) On-Campus Examinations End Dec 21(F) Unofficial Grades Begin to Appear in Quest Dec 24-31(M-M) Christmas Holidays Jan 28 2008(M) Standings Available in Quest
Past Events
Liaison Information
Paul Kates,
Mathematics Faculty CTE 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 Teaching Excellence - CTE 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 CTE Liaison is available here.