Sept Events 2007

Paul Kates, Mathematics Faculty CTE Liaison

Centre for Teaching Excellence Events

CTE Workshops:

See the above link for details and registration. Workshops are popular and seating is limited at times.

Open Classroom with Steve Furino & Follow-Up Discussion (CO 350)

Collaborating Between Faculties - Helping Students Make Connections Using ePortfolios and Concept Maps

E-Merging Learning Workshop - Overview

Matching Courses to Learner Levels

Clickers in the Classroom

Open Classroom with Barb Moffatt and Follow-up Session (BIOL 208)

Course Evaluation Analysis

UW-ACE Instructor User Group

Talks and Conferences

Office of Research Fall Faculty Workshop, Lunch and Tradeshow

Science and Pseudoscience in Hollywood movies

Women in Mathematics Pasta Party

Science Education in the 21st Century: Using the tools of science to teach science

New research on how people learn combined with modern information technology is setting the stage for a new teaching approach that can provide relevant and effective science education for today's students. Dr. Wieman will discuss the failures of traditional educational practices, even as used by very "good teachers"; the successes of some new practices and technology that characterizes this new approach to teaching, and how the results are consistent with findings from cognitive science.

Celebrating 40 Years of Computer Science

From Einstein's Intuition to Quantum Bits

Many experts are convinced that large scale, practical implementations of quantum information systems hold great promise for society, much as the laser and the transistor have already revolutionized the world. This stems from a long history of research that included an intense, raging battle of epic proportions between scientific giants. In tracing these steps, you will learn why Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr argued over the nature of .entangled. states . where pairs of sub-atomic particles are strangely correlated . from 1935 until their very deaths. You will also find out how, decades later, John Bell discovered his famous inequalities that made it possible for experimentalists, including Alain Aspect and others, to settle the great debate and help propel a new era of fundamental understanding with concepts and methods that seek to harness unique properties of atoms to process and transmit information.

The End of Ignorance: Multiplying Our Human Potential

John Mighton talks about his new book, The End of Ignorance: Multiplying Our Human Potential, and shares his insights and experiences from his charitable tutoring program, JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies). Presented by the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Mathematics in partnership with the UW BookStore.

Cybersecurity, mathematics, and limits on technology

This is a posted paper from a talk by Andrew Odlyzko, University of Minnesota, from the C&O@40 Conference June 18-23, 2007.

Mathematics has contributed immensely to the development of secure cryptosystems and protocols. Yet our networks are terribly insecure, and we are constantly threatened with the prospect of imminent doom. Furthermore, even though such warnings have been common for the last two decades, the situation has not gotten any better. On the other hand, there have not been any great disasters either. To understand this paradox, we need to consider not just the technology, but also the economics, sociology, and psychology of security. Any technology that requires care from millions of people, most very unsophisticated in technical issues, will be limited in its effectiveness by what those people are willing and able to do. This imposes strong limits on what formal mathematical methods can accomplish, and suggests that we will have to put up with the equivalent of baling wire and chewing gum, and to live on the edge of intolerable frustration.

Smart Start Spin-off Contest

Go Eng Girl!

Go Eng Girl! is an event that every school of engineering across the province hosts for girls in grades 7, 8, 9, and 10 on Saturday, October 13th, 2007.

The Waterloo event includes special guest speakers, a showcase information fair, opportunities to meet current female Waterloo Engineering students, cool hands-on activities, and a delicious free lunch! The only cost to attend is transportation to the University of Waterloo. Check out the agenda for the 2007 event below.

I Invent the Future

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing 2007 is the seventh in a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront.

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and the Association for Computing Machinery.

McGraw-Hill Ryerson Teaching, Learning and Technology Conference

Teaching: Readings, Audio and Video

An Evening With a Nobel Laureate

Professor Wieman is speaking at UW on September 25th. See above.

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:

The Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) is

a five-year, $12M project at The University of British Columbia aimed at dramatically improving undergraduate science education.

The CWSEI helps departments take a four-step, scientific approach to teaching:

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:

Video of the 2006 and 2005 Presidents' Colloquiums on Teaching and Learning are available online:

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.

Dr. Mighton is speaking at UW on October 10th. See above.

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:

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.

Proposals can be submitted anytime. The proposal deadlines are posted a month or more into each term, and usually fall sometime in March, June and November. Check the MEF website.

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:

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:

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

What is UW-ACE?

UW-ACE (UW ANGEL Course Environment) is an easy way to set up a web page for your course. The basic tools allow you to upload files (HTML, PDF, video, audio etc), create a syllabus, and mark up a course calendar with assignment and test dates (which lets students see all their important term dates from their UW-ACE courses in their UW-ACE calendar).

To communicate with students, UW-ACE has an internal email system (no spam) where students can email instructors and instructors can address individual students, teams of students, sections of students or the whole class. In addition, discussion forums (newsgroups) can be created in any number to handle lecture, assignment and team topics. Forums can even be moderated.

Did students understand today's lecture? It can take days or even weeks to find out if students are not keeping up. Find out with a low-stakes quiz or survey in UW-ACE. Conversely, why spend time in lecture on a topic that students demonstrate they understand very well? A low-stakes quiz can help to manage your class time. UW-ACE can also track if students are using the course materials as planned.

Other UW-ACE features include:

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

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:

  1. Log into UW-ACE using your UWdir/Quest/UW-ACE credentials.
  2. Select the UW Request a Course hyperlink found under the UW Home Tools banner on your UW-ACE Home page to see your courses.
  3. Select the course or courses from the drop-down list and submit your request.
  4. If a course is missing from your drop-down list, please use the contacts mentioned above.

IST sessions on UW-ACE (register here):

Overview of UW-ACE

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:

  1. fill out the online request form for the library's copy of journal articles or books
  2. bring the library copies of your own articles, books, lecture notes, assignment solutions, etc
  3. 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)
  4. lookup your eReserve UW-ACE page
  5. 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
  6. note: javascript needs to be turned on in a browser to use the eReserve link to access the library material

Teaching with Maple, MapleTA, ...

IST Courses on math software: Registration page.

Introduction to Scientific Computing with Maple

Scientific Computing with MATLAB

Statistical Analysis with SPSS

Data Analysis Using SAS

Maple and 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:

Previous webinars available online include:

Calculus II - A Complete Set of Questions and Tests

Professor Jack Weiner from the University of Guelph has developed a new Course Module for Maple T.A. Over 200 questions are used in 10 different assignments, to cover topics in the standard Calculus II curriculum:

  1. Inverse Trigonometric Functions
  2. Derivatives and Integrals Involving Inverse Trigonometric Functions
  3. Hyperbolic Functions
  4. L'Hopital's Rule
  5. Integration by Parts and Integration Involving Products of Trigonometric Functions
  6. Integration Using Trigonometric Substitution
  7. Integration Using Partial Fractions and Improper Integrals
  8. Applications of Integrals (Arc Length, Volume of Revolution)
  9. Parametric Equations
  10. Polar Coordinates

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.

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.

Term Dates

  - 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 7(M)       Lectures Begin for Winter 2008 term
   Jan 28 2008(M) Standings Available in Quest

Past Events

July, 2007 April, 2006
June, 2007 March, 2006
May, 2007 February, 2006
April, 2007 January, 2006
February, 2007 December, 2005
January, 2007 November, 2005
December, 2006 October, 2005
November, 2006 September, 2005
October, 2006 August, 2005
September, 2006 July, 2005
August, 2006 June, 2005
July, 2006 May, 2005
May, 2006 April, 2005

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/.

CTE Liaison activities can assist instructors wishing to learn more about teaching with technologies in the following areas:

Author: Paul Kates, pkates@uwaterloo.ca
Last modification date: Sat Sep 29 01:47:46 2007.