Judene Pretti

Judene became the Director of Centre for the Advancement of Co-operative Education (WatCACE) in May 2011 and would love to hear from you if you are interested in learning more about WatCACE and/or you are interested in pursuing research related to work-integrated learning.

tjpretti@uwaterloo.ca | 519-888-4567 x32355

Through the University of Waterloo's Co-op Math Teaching Option program, Judene Pretti graduated with a Bachelor of Mathematics (Waterloo) and Bachelor of Education (Queen's University).

For nine years after her graduation, Judene was involved in teaching and managing large first-year classes at Waterloo's David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science. Judene pursued many projects related to supporting student learning during her time in Computer Science. She developed two new online computer science courses as well as training materials for large teams of co-op and graduate student employees. She was involved in conducting a study on study habits of first-year computer science students. She researched and implemented best practices for teamwork in introductory computer science courses and was involved as a consultant for the development of an introductory programming textbook.

In 2006 Judene became the founding Director of the Professional Development (WatPD) Program. The WatPD program is a set of online courses that co-op students take during their work terms. Under Judene's leadership, the program grew to include eight courses taken by over 5500 students each term. PD courses help students develop skills in areas such as Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, Project Management, Problem Solving and Conflict Resolution.

Since the beginning of the WatPD program, Judene has been involved with establishing and overseeing the execution of the program's evaluation plan. Each term results are collected, analyzed and used to direct changes to the courses and the overall program. Longer term projects, as part of the program evaluation, are underway including collecting and analyzing feedback from employers, a graduating student survey and a Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO)-funded project.

In 2009, Judene completed a masters degree in Management Sciences through the Faculty of Engineering at Waterloo. Through that program, she was able to pursue research projects related to the WatPD program including work on how to help co-op students increase their reflective thinking during their work terms.