Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Nominations open for President's Community Impact Awards

President Feridun Hamdullahpur with the 2018 President's Community Impact Award winners.

The nomination period for the President's Community Impact Awards is now open. Launched in 2017, the President’s Community Impact Awards celebrate great community leaders and the impact they create through volunteerism, philanthropy, or engagement.

The awards recognize individuals or teams of community members, students, staff or faculty who embody the University’s spirit of innovation and contribute to making Waterloo Region strong and prosperous.

Award winners may be distinguished through such community service activities as volunteer work, public speaking, school outreach, or other outstanding community service.

Up to four awards will be handed out in two categories each year:

Community Leader awards - A Community Leader is a current University of Waterloo student, faculty or staff member who "impacts their community through voluntarism, philanthropy, or other community engagement."

University Champion awards - A University Champion is an individual or organization from Waterloo Region or Stratford who has "demonstrated a commitment to championing the impact of the University in our community either through partnership with the institution or in working with individual students, faculty or staff of the University."

Terms of reference and nomination guidelines can be found on the Office of the President's website. The guidelines for collecting supporting documentation are also available.

Nominate someone today. Nominations close on Monday, September 23.

Lynda.com upgrading to LinkedIn Learning

A message from Information Systems & Technology. 

On July 29, Lynda.com will be upgraded to LinkedIn Learning. University of Waterloo employees and students will continue to receive free, anytime access to learning resources, now offered through an improved LinkedIn Learning interface.  

I have a Lynda.com account 

If you have a Lynda.com account set up through the University’s organizational account, you will receive an email outlining the process from Lynda.com, approximately two days before the July 29 upgrade. After the upgrade, you will receive an email from LinkedIn Learning (LiL) with steps on activating your new account (and optionally linking your LinkedIn account, if desired). Activation is quick, and because your Lynda.com training history will be automatically migrated to LinkedIn Learning, you’ll be ready to pick up where you left off.  

I don’t have a Lynda.com account 

Don’t have a Waterloo-specific Lynda.com account? No problem. After the migration to LinkedIn Learning is complete, an organization-specific activation link will be made available. You’ll be able to quickly create an account and explore these excellent resources.  

Please note, both Lynda.com and LinkedIn Learning will be unavailable on July 29 as content is migrated.  

For more information, please see the full announcement on the IST website.

New site and updates for Course Evaluation Project

The Course Evaluation Project Team (CEPT) has launched a new website designed to bring a higher level of transparency to their work and to keep the campus community informed about the project. “We’ve been very busy working on the project, and are aware that we have not been communicating as much as we should,” says Sonya Buffone, the research specialist for the project. “People will ask what is going on, or whether the project is still underway. I think the website will help answer these questions and others.”

The new website will:

• Detail findings from the fall 2018 pilot test of the new Student Course Perception (SCP) survey, when they become available
• Provide access to formal committee reports
• Provide information about what CEPT has done to date, what it is doing currently, and what the next steps will be, including a consultative process for further development and implementation of the cascaded model    

CEPT is currently in the process of analyzing the findings from the fall 2018 pilot test of the new Student Course Perception (SCP) survey, which received 41,737 student responses from 2,196 courses. A full report of the findings will soon be available. These findings will also be used to inform beta versions of toolkits for instructors, administrators, and students, which will provide guidance on the use of the new SCP survey (also coming soon).

The second phase of the project has primarily focused on the core questions that make up the first tier in the cascaded model endorsed by Senate. After the core questions have been developed, the focus will be on developing faculty-specific questions, which will involve extensive consultation. To design the questions for the second tier, with the assistance and guidance of the CEPT, each faculty will engage in a process of identifying instructional goals that apply to all courses and have not been addressed by the core questions.

Wednesday's notes

Physics will once again be a hub of construction activity as a trailer will be moved in on Thursday, July 18 next to the "hole by Physics" (and I've been advised this is not related to Professor Avery Broderick's recent black hole research) to allow for the removal of some construction items. On Friday, July 19, a crane will be parked by Physics to lift sheet metal onto the building's roof and then remove a Skyjack from the building's basement, as well as any construction material from the basement and a steel platform. The crane will arrive at 7:00 a.m. on Friday and the work will begin shortly thereafter.

This is a reminder that if you're interested in applying to the New Frontiers or NSERC Alliance grant, but still looking for research partners, the Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI) and the Faculty of Science are hosting an interdisciplinary research networking lunch in DC 1301 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. today in conjunction with the information webinar being hosted by the Office of Research from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in DC 1302. Eligible researchers interested in the New Frontiers Research Fund - 2019 Exploration Grant or the NSERC Alliance Grant are encouraged to attend.

While we're on the topic of NSERC, a Discovery Grant drop-in session for faculty will be taking place today from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in PAS 2438. Faculty are invited to attend one of the several scheduled NSERC Discovery Grant drop-in session to prepare for the upcoming Discovery Grant competition and Notice of Intent stage. Faculty are encouraged to attend one of these sessions and to visit the NSERC SharePoint site to access helpful resources and documents.