Monday, April 6, 2020

AccessAbility Services offers support online

A message from AccessAbility Services.

We’re committed to providing our students with accessible online learning. During this pandemic, instructors and faculty members are required to accommodate students with disabilities when offering online courses and facilitating remote graduate milestones. 

While the doors to AccessAbility Services (AAS) and the Exam Centre are temporarily closed, AAS is still available to students, instructors and faculty members. AAS will continue to facilitate alternate format production for course materials and ensure students have access to course notes. Students will receive help with assistive technology, learning strategy support and accommodation consulting to ensure they are appropriately supported in the online space. Accommodation support for graduate milestones continue to be offered remotely.

New tools and resources to support online learning

Online tools and resources have been created to support instructors in accommodating students in the online space, see full list online.

AAS is here to help

Support is also available to help instructors in using technology that will enable their online course or remote milestone (e.g., remote defenses and proposals) to meet the accommodation needs of students with disabilities. Please contact AccessAbility Services at access@uwaterloo.ca to be directed to the student's Accommodation Consultant or Adaptive Technologist.

Go viral in a good way with new goose meme contest

A message from W Store, the Library and the Student Success Office.

Goose who’s back? In celebration of goose nesting season on UWaterloo campus, W Store, the Library and the Student Success Office have teamed up to launch the What Do You Meme, Mr. Goose? contest!

Students are invited to use the Library’s Creative Commons images to create and submit goose-themed memes to celebrate nesting season. The best memes will be shared on the @UWaterlooLife Instagram page for students to vote on their favourite. The top 3 submissions will receive prize packs from W Store’s limited-edition 2020 nesting season collection!

The contest runs from April 1 to 8. Submissions must be received by April 8 at 11:59 PM EST. Voting will take place on the @UWaterlooLife Instagram page from April 13 to April 16 and the winners will be announced on April 17.

To add to the goose fun, the Library is hosting a brand new digital event – Picture Day with Mr. Goose: Say Geese! Students are invited to submit a photo of themselves and to select from several geese-themed backgrounds for the talented Library staff to ‘green screen’ them into. The Library will be accepting submissions from April 6 to April 16.

• Enter the contest here: https://uwaterloo.ca/library/events/what-do-you-meme-mr-goose
• Join the Picture Day with Mr. Goose fun here: https://uwaterloo.ca/library/events/picture-day-mr-goose-say-cheese
• Check out W Store’s limited-edition 2020 nesting season collection here: wstore.ca/featured/nesting-season.html

Please note, the contest is only open to students currently enrolled at the University of Waterloo.

WUSA works to establish Student Support Fund

This is an excerpt of an article originally published on the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) website.

WUSA has committed to establish a support fund to help students who are struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be working diligently over the coming days to outline the details of this fund, including how students can access it. We are currently engaging the University of Waterloo and its Advancement Department to increase funding and support opportunities for students. 

On March 23, our Internal Funding Committee (IFC) committed to establishing a student support fund (as a subsidiary account of the Student Life Endowment Fund) to relieve pressure on students currently struggling with costs they didn’t anticipate, students who are unable to work to offset some of those costs from layoffs or otherwise due to COVID-19, and to support critical student services. The IFC – a Committee of the Students’ Council – controls the granting of funds from the Student Life Endowment Funds (SLEF), the Enterprise Opportunity and Innovation Fund (EOI), and the Special Projects Fund (SPF).

Read the rest of the article on WUSA's website

Yet another batch of very Good Buddies of the University

"This is Stella, my new supervisor," writes Josh Bolender, alumni relations program coordinator. "As far as I can tell, her only job is to stare at me from her sofa-throne while I work. She explained to me that HR insisted she receive treats between her 14 daily naps."

"This is my work buddy Taro!" writes Michelle Hollis, director, HR client services. "Guilty of not practicing social distancing! He’s kind of over Microsoft Team meetings."

"Both myself and Rob are working from home but the Cavalier King Charles and Cat clan gravitates to my office!" writes Sherry Hartung, administrative coordinator in the Arts Computing Office (Spouse Rob Hartung works as a space data analyst in the Space Planning Office). "Left to right: Chloe (little tri-colour, 2 ½), Brodi (tri-colour, 6 ½), Griffin (black & tan, 10 ½), and Jamie, (cat in bed 18 ½). As you can see, they could care less we’re home, but it’s calming having the fur kids close, despite Griffin’s periodic snoring!"

"This is my cat Arthur," writes Mary Lynne Bartlett, student engagement coordinator in the Library Office. "He has been keeping me motivated by being pawsitive in the mornings with waves and his general overall cuteness. Gotta keep working to make that kibble."

"This is Dexter," writes Melissa Moogk-Soulis,design technologist, architectural in Design and Construction Services. "After realizing that he doesn’t enjoy collaborating on drawing review, he quickly settled in to spending the most days curled up under my desk."