Monday, September 28, 2015

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• Paint the campus red tomorrow
• Make lasting connections at Reunion 2015
• Campus launches safety notification app WatSAFE
• CTE, WatPD team up to introduce faculty to LEARN's Reports tool
• Get ready to run at Reunion's longest-running event
• Monday's notes

Paint the campus red tomorrow

A message from the United Way campaign.

Tomorrow the University of Waterloo is going red to support the launch of the university’s 2015 United Way campaign.

Help us paint the campus red by decorating your office space or wearing your favourite red outfit. Share your photos of the campus going red by posting it on Twitter or Instagram with #UWUnitedWay.

The goal of the month-long campaign is to raise $260,000 in support of the United Way of Kitchener Waterloo and area. Watch your mailbox for your pledge form and learn about all of the ways you can donate.

Join us in seeing red tomorrow!

Make lasting connections at Reunion 2015

by Alumni Relations.

Reunion 2015 is this Saturday, October 3^rd and staff and faculty are invited to attend! Come out and enjoy a full day of activities with friends and family.

Reunion is for everyone who has a personal connection with Waterloo including staff, faculty, students, community members and alumni. So join us and learn about all the amazing things alumni are doing and tell others about all the great things you’ve been up to.

Bring your kids and show them around campus, join the AHS Fun Run or check out the East Asian Festival.  Show your Waterloo pride by cheering on the Warrior football team and finish the day with a keynote lecture from Executive Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC), Raymond Laflamme.

Feature events include:

• the 30^th Annual AHS Fun Run, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.;
• Various faculty events;
• the 21^st East Asian Festival, 11:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.;
• Back Through Time Reunion Luncheon. 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.;
• Waterloo Warriors Football vs. Laurier Golden Hawks, 1:00 p.m. kickoff;
• Keynote Lecture by Raymond Laflamme, 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.;
• Oktoberfest at Bomber – Dinner and After Party, 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

Other events include:

• Engineering Open House, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.;
• Science Open House, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.;
• Institute for Quantum Computing Open House, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; and Q-Kids Science Show from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m..

See the full Reunion 2015 schedule and register for Reunion today!

Campus launches safety notification app WatSAFE

The University of Waterloo has launched WatSAFE, a free safety and emergency notification app that provides immediate access to personal safety and campus emergency resources.

WatSAFE allows members of the University community to take an active role in promoting a safe campus, providing a quick and convenient way to access campus safety and emergency resources, including:

• emergency push notifications;
• in-app alerts;
• emergency contact information;
• emergency plan and safety guide;
• a personal safety toolbox, including flashlight and loud alarm;
• campus maps; and much more.

WatSAFE can be downloaded for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone and is now available for download from their respective app stores.

Simply download the WatSAFE app to your device and explore the safety and emergency resources available. Downloading the WatSAFE app to your mobile device keeps you connected to campus, while the in-app alert and push notification features allow you to stay informed of major campus emergency events, even when you’re on the go.

Current emergency SMS/text messaging practices will eventually be replaced by WatSAFE’s push notification feature, which are received even when the app is not running.

If you don't have a smartphone, you can visit the WatSAFE website to access some of its safety and emergency resources.

Visit the WatSAFE website for more information.  

CTE, WatPD team up to introduce faculty to LEARN's Reports tool

At WatPD, we like to implement what we teach in our professional development courses. In PD6: Problem Solving, co-op students learn to look for “exceptional problems.” We have uniquely high enrollment in an online environment, which means big data that needs to processed into something meaningful. We identified this “problem” as an opportunity to create something that will not only benefit WatPD, but uWaterloo faculty as well! 

The Reports tool, which is located in the upper-right corner of a LEARN course homepage, exports data into a CSV file. In Excel, data can be manipulated in a number of useful ways. Workshop participants will learn what the Reports tool can do, as well as some of the exciting ways that WatPD incorporates this tool into course tasks. For example, use custom Reports to track students who haven’t submitted assignments, or quickly check feedback and assessment averages by TA or marker to ensure consistent and quality feedback.

The custom reporting tool was built as part of a cross-campus collaboration between ITMS, CEL, and WatPD. CTE is providing support and training for the cross-campus rollout, which follows on the heels of WatPD’s year-long trial of the Reports tool. WatPD’s 13 professional development courses, which enhance co-op students’ work terms, maximize LEARN’s capabilities. With class sizes as large as 1800, WatPD needed a tool to process the large amounts of student data available through LEARN. The idea for a custom reporting tool was born.  

CTE is offering a workshop called “Using LEARN’s Custom Reporting Feature” this Wednesday, September 30, in EV1-242 at 10:00 am. Learn what the Reports tool can do for you, your TAs, and your students; if you’re wondering, “Can the Reports tool do this?” come out and find out!

Get ready to run at Reunion's longest-running event

by Naz Kittani, Applied Health Sciences.

All members of the Waterloo community are invited to join the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the longest-standing Reunion event at Waterloo. Lace up your sneakers for the 30^th anniversary of the AHS Fun Run on Saturday, October 3. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Heather Moyse will act as grand marshal for the 2.5 km and 5km race around ring road. Arrive early for your chance to get a photo taken with Heather.

Registration is $15 and $10 for students. Proceeds from the race will support the UW Fitness Teens in Motion program.

Sign-in and race-kit pickups will commence at 8:00 am at BMH.

Fun Run Trivia: Did you know that the AHS Fun Run was founded by none other than Tina Roberts, director, marketing & undergraduate recruitment, during her days in Faculty? Looks like healthy ideas do have the legs to go the distance.

Pictured above: Kinesiology grad Jody Berringer (BSc ’03) runs with Governor General David Johnston at the 2005 Fun Run. Read about Jodi’s Reunion memories on the alumni blog.

Monday's notes

Anyone who reads our daily NewsWatch round up of media coverage of the university, its people and their research will know that Waterloo academics feature often in the news.

To help continue to drive awareness of our work, the media relations team is again partnering Shari Graydon of Informed Opinions to facilitate the dialogue between media and University of Waterloo expertise by offering two half-day interactive workshops as an introduction to engaging with the media.

"Making the most of media interviews" will take place on the morning and afternoon of Thursday, October 22. These highly interactive and experiential workshops provide attendees with practical tools to enhance their capacity to turn media interview requests into education or advocacy opportunities.

Attendees will get tips on how to:

• Understand how reporters, columnists and talk show hosts operate;
• Prepare for and feel comfortable in interviews (print and broadcast, friendly or hostile, long or short, live and taped);
• Exercise more control in interviews by bridging from asked questions to important issues, and by introducing more nuanced context;
• Translate abstract issues into concrete examples, memorable messages and compelling stories;
• Practice the above techniques in the safe and supportive environment of taped mock interviews; and 
• Adapt their approach after viewing and discussing their own and others’ practice interviews.

These sessions are well attended, so early registration is recommended.

As part of the United Way campaign for the Kitchener Waterloo and Area United Way, the Offices of the President, Provost and Secretariat are having a silent auction and BBQ on Thursday, October 1 between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. outside the Arts Lecture Hall. For $3 you will receive a hot dog, apple, chips and a drink. Double the dog for an addition $1.

Silent auction items include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Pebble Watch
• Wings Up! gift cards
• Robe and one night stay at the Delta Waterloo Hotel
• Keurig coffee maker
• GoodLife Fitness gift certificate
• Museum tickets
• Bose Bluetooth speaker
• Ladies Roller Bag, black

The School of Architecture and the DATAlab are hosting Material Matters, an exhibition presenting works of architecture and design. The opening reception is at 6:30 p.m. at the Idea Exchange/Design at Riverside. The exhibition runs until November 8.