Monday, February 27, 2017

Previous | Next

• Tales of a Teacher: Geoff Malleck
• WeRally2021 in support of Canada Summer Games bid
• IST launches email protection service
• You made 2017 our most successful Treat-a-Gram yet!
• Monday's notes

Tales of a Teacher: Geoff Malleck

by Sophie Twardus. This is the first of two Centre for Teaching Excellence Teaching Stories that will appear in the Daily Bulletin this week. 

Principles of Entrepreneurship, Green Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Principles and Practices. One does not have to look very hard to see a pattern in the courses that Geoff Malleck teaches. If there are two things Malleck is passionate about, they are teaching and entrepreneurship.

Malleck is no stranger to entrepreneurship, having taken up the family business straight out of high school. He's had his fair share of good and bad experiences when it comes to running a business. Accordingly, he brings a lot of life experience and personal stories into his classroom. From a pedagogical perspective, this is especially effective as humans are hardwired to think in stories. Researchers at Washington and Lee University showed that incorporating stories into the classroom improves learning.

Self-reflection is also an important part of Malleck's teaching practice. It is necessary to foster deep learning and lasting changes to a person's understanding of the world. Accordingly, in his entrepreneurship courses Malleck asks his students to create an ePortfolio -- that is, an online repository of a their achievements and self-reflection on their learning journey. The ePortfolio differs from a resume in that it is a more honest portrayal of self. Student have to include a personal reflection in which they highlight their strengths as well as weaknesses. An ePortfolio is useful tool for students to get a better understanding of their learning progress.

Malleck has been teaching non-stop since 1997. “I don’t get tired," he says. "I'm as energized as ever!” It's evident that Malleck brings an abundance of enthusiasm to everything he does. “I could never teach a course I didn’t believe was important.” Gowsie Gowribalan, a student in Malleck's course, agrees: "All of the material in Professor Malleck's classroom could be applied to real life.” Gowribalan adds that if he were to sum up Malleck's teaching in one word it would be this: “relevant.”

One of the ways that Malleck encourages students to be entrepreneurial is by having his office door open. He always has time to give guidance to students interested in starting a business. So far he has encouraged over 120 start-ups. “To be inspiring is really one of the bigger joys of my job. Having someone approach me for help is really gratifying.”

Outside of the classroom, Malleck works closely with the President of the University to promote entrepreneurship on campus as part of the Waterloo’s strategic plan.

WeRally2021 in support of Canada Summer Games bid

Be part of the University’s efforts to help our community win the 2021 Canada Summer Games!  

Every two years, the Canada Summer Games comes to a proud Canadian city. Did you know Waterloo Region is bidding right now against Ottawa, Sudbury and the Niagara region to host the Games in 2021? Featuring a variety of sports similar to the Olympics, the Canada Summer Games gives young athletes experience in competing against other athletes from across Canada. Hosting the Summer Games will inspire and motivate youth to get active, and is a great way to bring people, institutions, and organizations across the Waterloo region community together.

The Canada Summer Games evaluation committee will be in Waterloo region on Tuesday, February 28, and the community is going to impress them with a #WeRally2021 campaign in downtown Kitchener. The rally will take place in front of THEMUSEUM at 10 King Street in Downtown Kitchener starting at 11:00 a.m., and will be hosted by two alumni from the University of Waterloo, Mandy Bujold and Mike Farwell. Tomorrow’s rally is a great way for us to show the committee why this region would be the best place to host the 2021 Canada Summer Games. Join your colleagues and King Warrior at the rally, and be sure to show your support by sharing the message on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to use the #WeRally2021 hashtag. You can also register your support on the WeRally2021 website. 

IST launches email protection service

On Tuesday, February 28, Information Systems & Technology (IST) will be implementing a new email security service for Connect accounts called Proofpoint Protection Server (PPS). PPS is intended to detect and block spam email, phishing attempts, and malware for inbound email. Outbound email filtering will be investigated at a future date.

How does the tool work?

Spam

Email flagged as spam will no longer be sent to your Junk email folder. Instead, these messages will be placed in quarantine, and you will receive a daily email report listing your quarantined message(s). You will be able to view your quarantine and  release any misclassified emails for delivery. To log in, use your WatIAM userid as the ID and enter your password.

Malware and phishing attempts

If you believe a message was incorrectly classified as a phish or malware, you will need the assistance of your local IT computing representative to have the message released from quarantine. There is no notification to senders or intended recipients for messages that get classified as malware, but this will only happen if there is a suspicious attachment.

Whitelisting and blacklisting

You can manage an individual whitelist and blacklist from your personal quarantine page.

Additional resources

Please see the Email security resources page for more information, including links to additional resources for Connect account holders and IT support staff. If you have questions or concerns, please email the IST Service Desk, or call them by the extension 44357.

You made 2017 our most successful Treat-a-Gram yet!

A message from the Office of Advancement

Keystone Campaign co-chairs Tony Munro and Lynn Judge want to thank everyone who made a colleague smile on February 14 with a delicious Treat-a-Gram. Check out the Treat-a-Gram video!

This year’s event was our most successful yet, with an extraordinary $15,216 raised through the sale of 4,548 treats! We’d like to give special mention to 36 people who topped up their Treat-a-Gram orders with a donation to the Keystone Campaign. All money raised this year is directed to student wellness initiatives.

It takes many, many volunteers to bring this event to life, and we are sincerely grateful to the many students, faculty and staff who lent a helping hand. A special thank you to the team in Central Stores for doing an amazing job of delivering the treats to the Keystone volunteers across campus; and to president & vice-chancellor, Feridun Hamdullahpur, and our new vice-president of Advancement, Joanne Shoveller, for hand-delivering Treat-a-Grams to the delight of several staff and faculty members.  

Monday's notes

TheGROOVE dance classes are happening on campus this term and are open to all faculty, staff, retirees, students and friends. The classes take place on Tuesdays from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Wednesdays from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. in EV2-2002.

The last classes for the term will end the week of March 27.

Participants should wear clothes which are comfortable for moving around (T-shirts, shorts, yoga pants). Shoes are optional. Remember to bring water for hydration, and perhaps a yoga mat for stretching and relaxing at the end of the class. For more information, please contact Cindy Howe.

Give feedback. Get change. Students still have an opportunity to complete the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). This survey goes out to all first-year and graduating undergraduate students, giving them the opportunity to tell us about their educational experience at Waterloo: How good is the academic advising?? How accessible are faculty members and campus services? How has co-op/study abroad/practicum opportunities helped to acquire a job?

These questions and more have been sent to students via their @uwaterloo.ca accounts. The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete and will be available to students until April 4, 2017. Students that submit their survey responses will receive a $5 added to their Watcard and will be entered in a draw to win $500 and other weekly prizes.

Visit the NSSE 2017 website for more information about this year’s survey. Additional information about the NSSE survey at Waterloo can be found on the IAP website.

• For general student inquiries, please contact IAP survey admin
• For survey ethics, administration and survey results, please contact Jana Carson, Senior Manager at Institutional Analysis and Planning (IAP)
• For student engagement activities and outreach, please contact Laura Stickel

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) measures students’ engagement in their academic pursuits and other educationally purposeful activities. It is administered by the Indiana University Center for Post-secondary research and has included participation from over 1,550 universities and colleges since 2000.