Monday, July 13, 2020

Behind the scenes with online learning

By Alana Rigby. This is an excerpt of a story originally published on Waterloo Stories.

When he was in the classroom, Professor William W.L. Wong was known for his ability to break complex concepts down and give his students opportunities to apply the concepts he taught using software in the School’s Professional Practice Lab. Wong specializes in health informatics and pharmacoeconomics, and students appreciated how he brought these complex topics to life with examples drawn from Canada’s health-care system.

“Through demonstrating the practical application of informatics, I help students appreciate that many key concepts in this discipline are actually simpler than they initially seem,” he says. “It was important that I was able to find a solution to replicate this in the current online learning environment.”

When on campus, students worked with Kroll software to complete informatics lab tasks. The labs assessed their abilities using a pharmacymanagement system to document patient information and provide pharmacy services. Students typically use Kroll software to produces patient records, fill prescriptions and visualize drug interaction alerts.

Kroll is only available on computers in the School’s Professional Practice Lab. It wasn’t easy, but through collaboration with Robin Andrade, professional practice instructor, and Steve Bradley, IT manager, Wong devised a solution to continue offering this hands-on learning experience to his remote students.

“It was vital our first-year students had remote access to Kroll, as many of them haven’t seen the dispensing software program before,” Andrade explains. “Like many applied labs, the richest form of learning comes from performing the task instead of only ‘watching’. Professor Wong, Steve and myself wanted to make sure learners had the same opportunity no matter the circumstances.”

Bradley is one of the essential staff members allowed into the School, so he ensured students could access the computers via Remote Desktop and Virtual Private Network technology.

“We knew it was going to be a challenge as most students didn’t have a lot of experience with remote access,” he says. “We had never tried to run the Kroll software in this manner. We knew we had to make it simple without sacrificing content.”

Read the full story on Waterloo Stories.

Peter Meehan begins term as St. Jerome's University president

Professor Peter M. Meehan has begun his term as St. Jerome's University's eighth president and vice-chancellor.

Meehan comes to St. Jerome’s University with a distinguished record of senior leadership in Catholic higher education. Since 2014, he has been the President of Corpus Christi/St. Mark’s College, the affiliated Catholic college of the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he has led the college through a period of new program development and a fivefold increase in student enrollments. Among his many successes at St. Mark’s was a multimillion-dollar fundraising campaign for mission-focused initiatives and implementing a financial sustainability plan for the college. Under Dr. Meehan’s leadership, St. Mark’s has established its place as the “Catholic Centre” of UBC. He also served as Vice Chair of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities of Canada. 

“I am deeply honoured to be chosen to serve as the next President and Vice Chancellor of St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo,” said Professor Meehan when his appointment was announced. “St. Jerome's holds an important and a historical place in what has become the Canadian Catholic tradition of higher education—universities existing in federated or affiliated relationships with public universities. While it will be difficult to leave St. Mark’s and Vancouver, where my family and I have been blessed by the presence of so many family and friends, we are looking forward to coming home to Ontario, and to joining the community of St. Jerome’s University.” Peter and his wife Laura have four children: Peter Edward, Bridget, Claire and Rory.

An experienced administrator, Professor Meehan has a strong track record of working across institutions to create successful partnerships. Prior to taking his post in Vancouver, Meehan was Chair of Seneca College’s School of Liberal Arts and Academic Partnerships and Dean in the Faculty of Academic Quality and University Partnerships, where he was responsible for Seneca’s ground-breaking liberal arts and science partnership with York University and the University of Toronto.

 Meehan received a Doctorate in Education from the University of Toronto. His academic research and teaching focus on the social and educational history of the Catholic Church in Canada. His doctoral thesis was on Catholic education in Ontario and his most recent research, which was commissioned by the Archdiocese of Toronto, details the life of Phillip Pocock, the seventh Archbishop of Toronto.

Meehan succeeds Professor Scott Kline, who was serving as SJU's interim president.

St. Jerome’s University (SJU) is a Catholic university that has been federated with the University of Waterloo since 1959.

Back for July, it's some Good Buddies of the University

They're ba-aack! 

"Saw this pair of beautiful creatures near the psychology building while out for a morning run," writes Professor Deborah Jones of the School of Optometry and Vision Science. "Totally unfazed!"

(Editor's note: we especially like this photo of the deer comparing its antlers to the iconic "pickle fork" sculpture in the background):

"Here is my new good buddy, Abigail," writes Kristin Snell, administrator for the Centre for Sight Enhancement in the School of Optometry and Vision Science. "She likes to live life on the edge. She finds  playing with toys, climbing, exploring and guarding the windows against potential intruders much more interesting than my work. She also works hard at clearing surfaces of “clutter”. Her industriousness ensures that I get up and stretch during the day."