Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Will you rise to the challenge on Giving Tuesday?

A message from the Office of Advancement.

One week from now, on December 1, you can help unlock more than $100,000 in charitable support for Waterloo. It’s your one-day opportunity to make your giving the most powerful it can be all year — that’s especially important when the need for life-changing research and global solutions is more urgent than ever.

We’ve assembled an impressive lineup of 21 challenges to inspire Waterloo faculty, staff, retirees, alumni, parents and friends to get involved, including challenges from some familiar faces on campus:

Check out their challenges and others and decide where you want to direct your support. Then, on December 1, rise to the challenge and celebrate Giving Tuesday with Waterloo and the world.

Using templates in LEARN: keeping it simple and engaging

A message from the Centre for Extended Learning (CEL).

The Templates for Remote Teaching are now available in all LEARN courses. You will see the new option to select a document template when creating pages in LEARN. The Centre for Extended Learning, with support from ITMS and CTE, has designed a series of editable templates you can use to build your content and assignment pages. With these templates, you can add text, images, and videos. The weekly module structure and consistent design can help improve student navigation.

We had a chance to speak with two instructors from the School of Pharmacy to hear how they’ve used the templates. Josephine Orso Simon, Pharmaceutics course/lab instructor, heard about the templates when preparing for her Spring 2020 course. She found the weekly introduction page template the most helpful. It had space for learning outcomes, content, activities, and assignments. She was largely able to use the templates “as is” to create her course.  She was pleasantly surprised when a student sent her this email: "I just wanted to say thank you for the way you have set up the online course. It has been the easiest setup to navigate and to figure out what is expected of us during this difficult transition."

Preet Sian, adjunct clinical assistant professor, heard about Orso Simon’s well-designed course and decided to give the templates a try. Sian used the templates as a strategy to reduce stress for students who might be feeling overwhelmed by the switch to remote learning. She created her own workflow diagrams for students with three clear steps to complete each weekly module. Her students loved the look and feel of her course. It helped her students feel more engaged and curious about future modules.

“Humans thrive on consistency, and these templates provide that," says Sian. "They make it easier for students to navigate a course and help instructors populate information they might have forgotten to add. I found it to be an enjoyable process.”

To get started using the templates, visit the Course Templates page on Keep Learning.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence begin tomorrow

Tomorrow is the start of the campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence. 16 Days was started almost forty years ago by the United Nations to link violence against all women with human rights - emphasizing that gender-based violence is a violation of human rights. The campaign runs between November 25, the International Day Against Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day.

For many years, Waterloo has participated and supported this campaign through a variety of events and opportunities to engage, learn, and take action. This year, things will look different, but there remains many ways to participate and raise awareness.

Through the Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office, and with partners across campus and the Kitchener Waterloo community, there are ways to engage every day during the campaign. For a full listing of events and to register, visit uwaterloo.ca/16-days.

Some highlights of the campaign include:

• On currently, closing November 25: Bridge: Honouring the Lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People

This has become an annual installation since 2016 for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence at Waterloo. On currently, closing ceremonies take place November 25 at 2:00 p.m. with limited in-person attendance.

• November 25, December 10: 16 Films for 16 Days

Now in its third year, this open and accessible film festival calls on global women filmmakers to craft films no longer than 20 minutes, made using phones, cameras or whatever they have access to, and of any genre. All films explore themes inspired by the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign.

• November 25, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: Deepfakes and Digital Harms: Emerging Technologies and Gender-Based Violence

Soroptimist International of Kitchener-Waterloo and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) invite you to join CIGI Senior Fellow Suzie Dunn, PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa for a virtual discussion on a form of violence many experience and often don’t recognize on a daily basis: online gender-based violence.

• December 4, 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.: National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women

Canada changed forever on December 6, 1989 when 14 young women were murdered in a gender-based act of violence at l'École Polytechnique de Montréal. This year we will come together as a community, virtually, and honour the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. The University of Waterloo, in partnership with the Canadian Federation of University Women Kitchener-Waterloo is hosting a special ceremony of remembrance.

• December 8, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.: Male Allyship in the Workplace

This workshop, hosted by Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, will look at ways that men can be allies in their workplace. We will learn about microaggressions, power and privilege, and what practical steps we as men can take to contribute to gender equity.

• December 8, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Responding to Disclosures of Sexual Violence

In this interactive online workshop hosted by the Sexual Assault Centre of Waterloo Region, participants will learn how to respond when someone tells you about their experience of sexual violence and the first steps to supporting them.

Virtual Conference on Student Mental Health Research in review

A message from the Committee on Student Mental Health (CoSMH).

During Thrive Week on November 5, the Committee on Student Mental Health (CoSMH) hosted the inaugural University of Waterloo Virtual Conference on Student Mental Health Research. This forum provided an opportunity to engage the community in a dialogue on student mental health, as well as to highlight the quality and variety of research being conducted in this field. Nearly 300 participants registered for the conference, which featured 18 presentations from students, staff, faculty, and community partners on the following topics:

• Promotion of mental health-care strategies through education
• Suicide prevention
• Equity and wellness
• Harm reduction approaches to substance use
• Mental health impact of COVID-19
• Access to data sources on student mental health
• National Standard of Canada for Mental Health and Well-Being for Post-Secondary Students

The conference also included 14 interactive poster sessions with researchers from UWaterloo and McGill University, who submitted 3-minute videos on a broad range of topics pertaining to student mental health. All posters are available on the CoSMH website.

If you missed a session or you were unable to join the live event, you can watch the morning session here, and the afternoon session here.

Academic Readiness Bursary returns and other notes

The Academic Readiness Bursary (ARB), initially offered to nearly four thousand Waterloo undergraduate and graduate students, is available once again for the winter 2021 term to all students who will be registered in the winter 2021 term who have proven financial need as demonstrated through the assessment of a complete application.  Expenses related to studying remotely in the winter term, as a result of COVID-19, will be considered, up to a maximum of $500. These types of expenses could include:

• computer upgrades, e.g., monitor, webcam, headset
• quarantine-related expenses
• internet access

Students may also seek support for unanticipated expenses directly related to advancing their academic readiness and ability to engage meaningfully with the University remotely as a result of COVID-19. These expenses may include such things as study space set-up or childcare costs.

Visit the Undergraduate or Graduate Student web pages for further details on eligibility and the application process.  The deadline to apply is January 30, 2021.

50x30WR and BRIDGE are hosting a free online visualization workshop for a just, low-carbon Waterloo Region. 

“In the next 10 years we will require transformative action to address the worsening impacts of the climate crisis both here in Waterloo Region and around the world,” says a note from the BRIDGE Centre for Architecture and Design. “But what will these changes look like?”

At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 28, the BRIDGE Centre for Architecture and Design and 50x30 Waterloo Region will host a 2-hour visualization workshop open to all. “Students and residents of the region will be empowered to imagine imperative changes to help us all move towards a more climate-friendly, socially just Waterloo Region,” the workshop organizers say. 50x30WR aims to inspire our communities to help reduce GHG emissions 50 per cent by 2030, in line with climate science, while centring community well-being and social justice,” the note from the workshop organizers continues. “Together, we can create a beautiful, thriving, climate-friendly Waterloo Region.”

Please register for the workshop on Eventbrite. If you have any questions reach out to BRIDGE at bridge@uwaterloo.ca. 

Registration for this year’s WatITis Conference is closing soon: Wednesday November 25. "We are holding this event virtually this year and if you are interested to attend the conference, please feel free to register using the registration page," says a note from the conference organizers. "For more information on the conference, please visit: https://uwaterloo.ca/watitis. Join our mailing list so you don’t miss out on conference updates."

Follow us on Twitter @WatITisConf.